Posts filed under ‘travel’
MoCCA Approaches, Along With New Comics
Dear Readers! I apologize. A cursory glance at what’s up on this blog fails to really capture what’s been going on in my life this semester. I’ve been working hard to create new comics, which I will be selling in New York at MoCCA Fest in April. Mostly I’ve been drawing comics about kids jumping through the air on skis, and I’ll soon post pages from that on The Cartoon Picayune. But I’ve also repackaged that short comic about cheese into the handsome $1 mini you see below. Yes, they all actually have a hand-cut window on the cover.
In short, there’ll be more from me soon, that I promise you. In the meantime, here are some pictures from when I was Montreal recently with my girlfriend.
Disposable Europe
We take pictures to supplement our visual memories. Aside from sheer artistic and aesthetic merit, no one needs convincing that pictures we take remind us of people, places, and things. I’ve heard that when we take pictures, it limits and focuses our memories, but it’s easy to give that up for the joy of fondly remembering something from a snapshot. Anyone who has ever had a camera stolen knows what a terrible feeling that can be. More after the jump.
Madrid, Capital of Spain and Cool
I thought I published this back in Barcelona, after staying in Madrid for about a week and a half. Now I’m in Nice, and heading to Paris tomorrow, where the internet is 4 euros an hour, but stay tuned. For most of the time in Madrid, I stayed with my friend Molly in a quiet but convenient neighborhood called Embajadores. It was relaxing. I spent a lot of time in nearby Lavapies, a ethnically diverse and architecturally barrio. For the first couple of days, I couldn’t help comparing Rome, where no one would dream of there being an openly gay neighborhood like Madrid’s Cuerca, to the modern bustle of Spain’s capital. Indeed, I once again found myself in a “stand on the right, walk on the left” escalator city. Madrid has a better Metro system, more interesting fashion, and much more interesting nightlife. However, they have far more Starbucks, McDonalds, and Burger King. Still, the two countries have many of the same social problems. They are both plagued by high real estate prices, unemployment, and incapable governments. More after the jump. (more…)
Chump-less Checklist to Doing Rome: Generalities
Personally, I’m sick of travel guides. I love Let’s Go, but their accommodation advice is useless to me and restaurants can be hit or miss sometimes. I have a guide of Rome that seems to have been written in the mid-fifties and that might be my favorite because of its tone. There are so many things that guide books are not going to be able to tell you, and that’s understandable, but as my semester here draws to a close I thought I’d put together my own brief guide for those coming to Rome for a few days. Of course do the touristy stuff, but keep my sentiments in mind (after the jump).
Keep on Moroccan in the Free World
The weekend before last I went to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, to visit Mia. Traveling took literally all of Thursday to get there and all of Sunday to get home, but I feel like I saw a lot for two days. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I’m going to avoid making my trademark generalizations about a place I’m definitely no expert on. However, I’ll do my best to describe my stay, as a lot of people seem to be dying to hear about it. It was disorienting to be in a country where I can speak neither of it’s main languages (French and Moroccan Arabic). Above is the Hassan Tower. Across from it is the Mausoleum where the two previous kings of Morocco are buried. The current King, Mohammed VI, has ruled since his father died in 1999. The Tower still does the call to prayer, which Mia can hear from her nearby house. More pictures and stories, after the jump.
