Kowloon Walled City documentary
Posted: November 5, 2011 Filed under: Documentary, Travel | Tags: China, Hong Kong Leave a comment »A 1989 German documentary on Hong Kong’s fabled Kowloon Walled City.
Berlin – Metropolis of Vice
Posted: September 5, 2011 Filed under: Art, Travel | Tags: Berlin Leave a comment »“Berlin: Metropolis of Vice” reveals a modern-day Babylon of cabarets, clubs, and establishments that served up sexual fever dreams in a censorship-free environment.
Cities on Speed – Bogotá Change
Posted: August 30, 2011 Filed under: Architecture, Movies, Politics, Travel | Tags: Bogota, Columbia Leave a comment »
During the early 1990′s Bogotá was the capital city of Colombia and by far the “worst city in the world”. Doomed by corruption, chaos, poverty and violence, Bogotá was at urban decay.
At the midst of collapse two creative politicians with radically new methods changed the city at a speed never imagined. This is the beautiful story of Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa two mayors who created citizenship, culture and democracy in a rotted city.
Upfront Films in collaboration of the Danish Film Institut and DR present a film of Andreas Dalsgaard.
[via Steen Albrechtslund in Hong Kong]
Theme Park From Hell
Posted: August 13, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Singapore Leave a comment »Singapore Paranormal Investigators has everything you need to know about the Haw Par Villa amusement park. Built in 1937, it is dotted with lush gardens and life-size depictions of scenes including the ten levels of hell described in ancient Chinese mythology, torture and dismemberment, humans with the heads of animals, and a women breastfeeding her father-in-law. It has been described as “if Heironymus Bosch built a putt-putt course”. [Source]
Monocle Top 25 Cities on Facebook
Posted: June 15, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Barcelona, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, Monocle, Paris Leave a comment »
Monocle magazine just published their annual ‘Top 25 Best Liveable Cities’ index. The list is topped by Helsinki and fellow Nordic capital Copenhagen in the top three. Bongorama.com crosschecked all 25 cities on Facebook Places and assembled a chart based on the number of Likes. The social media-based list puts the Helsinki and Copenhagen at the bottom of the list and the popular cities of Paris, Barcelona and Madrid on the top. Lissabon, Fukuoka and Kyoto was not listed.
- Paris-France 376,128
- Barcelona-Spain 325,859
- Madrid-Spain 182,051
- Sydney-Australia 143,525
- Berlin-Germany 134,587
- Hong-Kong 126,368
- Montreal-Quebec 121,035
- Melbourne-Victoria-Australia 113,558
- Singapore-Singapore 95,182
- Stockholm-Sweden 86,030
- Honolulu-Hawaii 82,592
- Vancouver-British-Columbia 79,424
- Munich-Germany 76,346
- Seattle-Washington 73,827
- Vienna-Austria 70,260
- Zurich-Switzerland 66,417
- Auckland-New-Zealand 52,751
- Portland-Oregon 48,560
- Hamburg-Germany 47,080
- Tokyo-Japan 46,518
- Helsinki-Finland 36,472
- Copenhagen-Denmark 30,810
- Lissabon-Portugal (not available)
- Fukuoka-Japan (not available)
- Kyoto-Japan (not available)
Note: If Monocle would have included the other Scandinavian capital Oslo in Norway, it would have been number 17 on the list with 52,900 Likes.
Atlantic City’s rise and fall
Posted: June 1, 2011 Filed under: Economy, Travel | Tags: Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA Leave a comment »Four years ago, some Atlantic City casino customers were shelling out $1,000 for a brownie sprinkled with edible gold dust in a Baccarat crystal they could take home. Nowadays, some wait until 11 p.m. to eat so they can get a steak dinner for $2.99. At the beginning of 2007, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos were at the top of a wave of prosperity. Starting with the 1978 opening of Resorts, the nation’s first casino outside Nevada, Atlantic City for years was the only place to play slots, cards, dice or roulette in the eastern half of the United States. The cash kept pouring in, the busloads of visitors kept coming and the revenue charts went one way: straight up. And then, they didn’t. Now, battered by competition from casinos all around it, Atlantic City is in a fight for its very survival. [Source]
Photo: In this May 26, 1978 file photo, New Jersey’s Gov. Brendan Byrne cuts ribbon opening the east’s first gambling casino in Atlantic City. He is surrounded by legislators that voted for the gambling legislation. At the beginning of 2007, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos were at the top of a wave of prosperity.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Secret Life of Hotels
Posted: May 28, 2011 Filed under: Books, Travel | Tags: New York City, Sofitel, The Dominique Strauss-Kahn Leave a comment »The Dominique Strauss-Kahn incident has incited lively conversations among industry colleagues as well as among most of my staff at a private company that supplies concierges to hotels, where many of us come from long histories as concierges in various NYC luxury properties. It has presented a new perspective on what we often shrugged off as nothing more than annoying guest behavior. Colleagues and staffers alike have shared stories. The guest who asks for a pack of cigarettes to be sent up to the room and receives us at the door fully naked. The guest who calls down “just to chat” and has porn blatantly blaring in the background. The guest who explicitly propositioned me to accompany him and his wife to a swingers party—the same party that I had earlier helped him find. Was this a criminal offense? Should I have gone to management to report harassment? But this man was not my boss. He was my guest, and it was my job to make the guests feel at home. [Source]
Street Life in Lagos – Witness – Al Jazeera English
Posted: May 25, 2011 Filed under: Travel Leave a comment »Street Life in Lagos – Witness – Al Jazeera English.
