Interview with David Miller
Had the opportunity to ask Matador Editor David Miller some questions via email last week. The whole interview is now up over at Written Road. I love finding out what other people in the travel community think about their work and creative process… it’s always interesting. Be sure to give it a read!
A picture is worth a thousand words… especially when you don’t speak the language
Came across this earlier today and wish I had come up with the idea myself. Instead of an obnoxious phrasebook with impossible to pronounce phonetic spellings, why not just point to things you need while traveling? Me No Speak thought that was a good idea and makes these cool passport-sized guidebooks that give you plenty of pictures and phrases to point to while traveling. As of now there are only three language guidebooks — for China, Japan and Thailand — but the idea is so great that I am sure we can look forward to more.
Friday Photo: Ocean lookout
One of my favorite shots from my recent trip to the coast.
A little bit of design love for bike racks
I got tipped off about these NYC bike racks today over at Wend and I couldn’t help posting them here too.
Pology Culturist blog
My first piece of writing ever published online was over at Pology. It’s a fantastic online culture journal with narratives and photography from around the globe. The journal was on hiatus for the better part of last year, but it has come back in full swing. I hadn’t visited the site in awhile and but when I checked it out today realized that I had been missing out on the Pology Culturist blog (actually the source of the video below). Be sure to give it a look.
Time to play outside
I’ve been reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder which makes the public artwork by Bruno Taylor in London all the more poignant. The artist says this about the project:
71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?
[Via Treehugger]
The next thing to put on your reading list
The nice thing about working at Wend is that I get to read some pretty interesting books. This is the one I am currently working on and I must say that it’s proving to be a pretty compelling read. Where do I begin? Bottled water… ok, it’s what I drank all through Asia as to not get sick, but in the US I think it’s one of the most appalling inventions. And it’s not just because of the plastic. As author Elizabeth Royte points out in the opening chapter of Bottlemania: How water went on sale and why we bought it, there’s a moral question at play: should private companies be profiting off of a public resource? So read the book and come up with your own conclusions.
New gig at Written Road
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like the blogosphere has become my life… which it has. Today marks my offical start as a blogger over at Written Road. Sponsored by BootsnAll, Written Road is a blog focused on the travel writing industry, so expect a lot of posts on market leads but maybe a little bit about what it’s like to write for a living as well. I’m actually very excited to be part of the Written Road team because it’s one of the blogs that I have continuously read over the last two years; feels good to be working for something that has been a staple in my own travel writing experiences. So here’s to more time spent blogging… (Oh, and the photo? That’s what my typical morning looks like…)
blog.annabrones.com 