Archive for Interesting Places
January 7, 2009 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places, Decay, History
History was always my least favorite subject in school. The endless lists of names, dates, and places did nothing but make me sleepy. Events that took place hundreds or thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia, or Rome, or Russia may be extremely important, but I could never picture them, never really come to grips with what they were like. Besides, the problem with history is that there’s just so much of it. There’s no way I could keep it all straight. So about 20 years ago when the topic in class was World War II, I managed to absorb just enough information to get through the exams, and then promptly forgot most of it. I understood the broad outlines—or so I thought—but the details mostly eluded me.
I knew, for example, that France was occupied by the Germans, that the Allies landed on D-Day and routed the invading army, and that […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
January 5, 2009 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places, Decay, History
One year for my wife’s birthday, I bought her a book called Ghost Towns of Northern California. I was excited to find it, because Morgen is not an easy person to shop for. Ask her about her favorite things, and “decay” will be close to the top of the list. By this she doesn’t necessarily mean antiques; age itself is not the issue. She likes artifacts with visible signs of the passage of time. What do you buy for a person who likes decay? I figured a book on ghost towns might be just the thing—especially since many of them were close enough that we could actually visit them. And I was right: the book was a hit.
We decided to rent a car and drive to one of these towns over a long weekend. After perusing the book thoroughly, we chose Bodie, a day’s drive east of San Francisco, near […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
January 2, 2009 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places, Food & Drink, History
For the past decade or so, I’ve been in the habit of reading every new Michael Crichton novel as soon as it’s released. I like the stories, but what appeals to me more is the depth of historical and scientific research he puts into his work. It’s often had to tell where reality ends and fiction begins, which I’m sure is exactly what he’s aiming for. Given my fondness for France, I was especially interested in his book Timeline, published in 1999 (and made into a disappointingly forgettable movie in 2003). Most of the book’s action takes place in the Dordogne river valley in southwestern France—partly in the 14th century and partly in the 20th. In particular, Crichton’s description of the town of Sarlat caught my attention. It’s the site of just one minor scene and is only given a passing mention. But what the book describes is a quaint […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
November 28, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Music & Sound, Interesting Places
Last night I did something I hadn’t done in perhaps 20 years, and thought I’d never do again. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but under the circumstances it seemed like the right thing to do. I…um…drank a cup of instant coffee. Now I realize this will come as a shock to those who know the seriousness with which I approach coffee. (I have a saying: “You can take your coffee light, but you must never take it lightly.”) But there was a method to my madness, and I hope that a few words of explanation will put my behavior in context. The scene of my transgression was a little-known San Francisco institution called Audium. It is the world’s only venue devoted exclusively to the performance of pure sound.
Audium is a unique and highly specialized theatre. The room where the performance takes place is actually a building-within-a-building, completely isolated […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
October 22, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places, Science & Nature, Mind & Body
Allow me to get this disclaimer out of the way right up front: today’s interesting thing might not exist. But let’s be fair—I am not one to judge something by its ontological status alone. If it does exist, it’s very interesting indeed, and if it doesn’t, the widespread belief in its existence is equally interesting. I am referring to a natural phenomenon supposedly found in several places around Sedona, Arizona: something called an energy vortex.
The town of Sedona, about two hours’ drive north of Phoenix, is situated in an area of rare and stunning natural beauty. Towering rock formations and iron-rich reddish soil give the landscape an otherworldly appearance. This looks like what you imagined as the Old West, and countless films have been shot here. Kids will recognize it as the habitat of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. If you’re looking for a scenic vacation spot, Sedona is […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
October 20, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places, Society & Culture, Language & Literature, History
In my senior year of high school, all the students in my English class were required to write two term papers. But two of us were granted a special exception. The teacher gave my friend Nick and me the option of handing in alternative projects in lieu of the second paper. In my case, I had written a funny yet tragic account of an unhappy relationship—I use the term loosely—that I had experienced the previous summer. I was writing it just for fun, but my teacher found out about it and said I could type it up and turn it in as my second essay. I did—and got an A, too. Nick was the only student in class who was not required to type his term papers. As long as I’d known him—since kindergarten—he had said he wanted to be an architect. And he had developed an architect’s handwriting: every […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
September 22, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Interesting Places
Volcanoes are generally considered rather scary, unsafe places. There was that whole Pompeii incident, of course, not to mention Mt. St. Helens. Any sensible person knows that you don’t want to be anywhere near a volcano when it erupts, and that volcanoes have the nasty habit of erupting at unpredictable and very inconvenient times. Nevertheless, dozens of active volcanoes around the world have become major tourist destinations. PR types minimize the danger, of course (“Over 27 months without a tourist fatality!”), and, statistically speaking, the odds do indeed favor a safe visit. But many thousands of tourists take the risk because volcanoes are so strange and interesting. Most of us know volcanoes only from stories that are set in faraway places and therefore have a mythological character; seeing an active volcano in person seems a little bit like seeing a unicorn—something that doesn’t seem like it could really exist.
In central […]
Original post by Joe Kissell
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