
Lifestyle
Food and Drink. Music. Photography. Sports. Shopping. Technology. Everything that doesn’t fit in the travel category will probably fit in this one.

Branded For Life
Branded For Life is a depressing look at a few people who allowed themselves to become human billboards for dotcom companies in the 90s. If this isn’t bad enough, all of the companies are now defunct.
Elif Shafak reflects on Ankara, Turkey
“Mid-1970s Ankara was a grim place. At times the air was so polluted you had to wear a mask, there were long queues for basic necessities, and political strife had become so common, our favorite game as children was “communists versus fascists.” Still there was room for magic. Going to Youth Park on a weekend…
Best Book: The Poetry of Paths in ‘The Old Ways’
Robert MacFarlane’s “The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot” is one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2012 and an ideal gift idea for lovers of travel literature.

Japan Introduces Glow-in-the-Dark Manhole Covers
The Japanese city of Tokorozawa recently unveiled an initiative that will please both manhole cover obsessives and anime fans. The manhole covers, which illuminate via solar-powered LED lights from dusk until 2am each day, feature more than two dozen anime and sci-fi animation characters from 23 different franchises. Here’s a short video about the Tokorozawa…

Winston Tseng’s Fake Ads Tell the Ugly Truth
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But imitation is also a way to leverage a scathing critique. Winston Tseng’s politically provocative posters are great examples of this. The New York-based graphic artist takes the highly recognizable templates of ads from Facebook, Apple, Gap, and others and turns them into effective visual…

‘The Anomaly,’ France’s Hot Quarantine Novel, Now Out in English
L’Anomalie, the only book that has ever been nominated for the Goncourt, Renaudot, Medicis, and Décembre prizes in France, has now been published in English as “The Anomaly.” And, it looks like American readers will be gobbling it up soon. Here’s the synopsis: When an Air France flight from Paris to New York experiences extreme…
Pico Iyer and Andrew McCarthy on Traveling and Writing
Videos of Don George talking to Pico Iyer and Andrew McCarthy at NG Live!

What I Read: David Farley
Travel writer David Farley’s media diet.