Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Deep Map

prayryearthFor a number of reasons, too long to discuss here, I’ve been thinking about a book I read some twenty-odd years ago.
And for a change, I can’t find it in my boxes.
It is called PrairyErth (A Deep Map), and was written by William Least Heat-Moon.
I mentioned Heath-Moon in the past, because he is the author of Blue Highways, one of the best travel books I ever read – a book that actually caused me to start again reading travel books after a decade spent away from that genre.

Now, in retrospective, while at the time it left me perplexed (also due to the translation, I think) PrairyErth is sort of growing on me.
In particular I like the idea of deep map that’s at the core of the book. Continue reading →


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Other People’s Pulps: Marco Polo

Beyond The Black Stump-1I live at the borders of the empire.
Beyond the black stump, like that old Nevill Shute novel, but without the fiery redhead that graces the old Pan paperback.
In my 900-souls village there are people that were born after the war and never was farther than 80 kilometers from the main square of this place.
The web is slow and erratic, we see seven of the few dozens digital TV channels for which we pay a stiff yearly fee, the trains don’t stop in this town and cell-phone reception is better, probably, in the depth of the basin of the Congo.
This is really the back of beyond.

All this to say that I have good excuses for having missed Marco Polo, that looks exactly like the kind of show I might love, and I should cover on Karavansara…

No, really – I completely missed this.

But of course, no Netflix hereabouts – not on a 70K copper cable connection. Continue reading →


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Learning photography, again!

And so I went and enrolled in a new MOOC.
Fact is, you see, I’ve spent a few days (and nights!) going around carrying my trusty oldĀ  camera, and I took lots of photos. And I realized I have lost my touch.
Not that I was ever a star photographer, but I was pretty good, for a self-taught amateur. In the time when cameras still packed a roll of film, I shot in black and white (it was cheaper), and I had lots of fun. I used a Nikkormat EL, back then, and I had studied a lot of photo books and courses and handbooks1. Boy, I loved that camera. An artifact from a more civilized time.

NikomatELWBig

Continue reading →


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The Hooded Man

The website Den of Geek published a long, well-detailed articles about the legendary (and actually quite good) British TV show, Robin of Sherwood.

I loved the series, and I was thinking about doing a post myself – it’s been thirty years since the last episode aired – but the Linos Cathryn Thomas piece I linked above is just perfect.

robin of sherwood

I loved the youthful cast, the mix of history and folklore-based fantasy, and the production values – ironic, considering the series was apparently done on a very tight budget. It also featured some first class writing and an overall magnificent cast.

So, check out the post, track down the old episodes, and – like the Doobie Brothers said – listen to the music…


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Lost and Found

indexAnd then I found my missing camera handbook.
It was in a wooden chest, pinched between The Scientific American Book of Dinosaurs and Eric Anderson’s The Space Tourist’s Handbook.
Which sort of makes sense, in its silly, twisted way.

And I took a leisurely morning off, walking around in Nizza Monferrato, and shooting photographs with my old Canon.
It’s August, I’m on vacation four hours a day.
I also enjoyed a wonderful slice of focaccia for breakfast.


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Like a letter from the past

indexI was going through my shelf-load of photography handbooks, because I’m taking some time off tomorrow to take some photos, play tourist, stuff like that, and I needed a reference from a certain handbook.
Well, what you know, the handbook is not to be found.
Lost when I moved? Lent to someone that kept it? Misplaced?
I don’t know.
I could re-order it for about five bucks – which I hate as a matter of principle.

On the other hand, I found an old hardback copy of Ernest Hemingway Green Hills of Africa, among my photo handbooks. Continue reading →