Sziget 2023: Florence + the Machine and Imagine Dragons Sizzle
Europe’s most hyped pop cultural event, Sziget Festival, pompously kicks off its 29th anniversary amid cost issues and oscillating visitor numbers.
Travel
All Aboard Amtrak – Except Queers
Traveling as an LGBTQIA+ individual or couple is hard enough in America these days without services like Amtrak making the experience even more treacherous.
Anthony Bourdain’s Last Word on Travel
In World Travel, readers are once again welcomed to Anthony Bourdain’s world, although that world is trapped in time.
‘The Green Book’-Inspired ‘A Parallel Road’ and American Apartheid
Amani Willett's A parallel Road shows how controlling people's right to travel is central to the racist mindset.
Ivy Mix’s ‘Spirits of Latin America’ Evokes the Ancestors
A common thread unites Ivy Mix's engaging Spirits of Latin America; "the chaotic intermixture between indigenous and European traditions" is still an inextricable facet of life for everyone who inhabits the "New World".
On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey (By the Book)
Paul Theroux is among PopMatters' favorite travel writers. In this excerpt of On the Plain of Snakes, wherein he traverses the Mexico/US border, Theroux takes us to the ancient city of Oaxaca, bringing forth the dignity of its Zapotec and Mixtec people.
‘The Manhattan Nobody Knows’ Guides You Through the City at Eye-Opening Level
New York trekker William B. Helmreich's latest urban walking guide, The Manhattan Nobody Knows, can feel like a series of bite-sized Joseph Mitchell essays, and as such is great fun to read.
The Many Benefits of Travel: Paul Theroux’s ‘Figures in a Landscape’
Travel of the kind Theroux has spent a lifetime doing would compel anyone to develop patience, a love of solitude and anonymity, a constant alertness, and a resourceful toughness.
On the Hidden Lives of Souvenirs in ‘Souvenir (Object Lessons)’
Rolf Potts explores why and how we collect souvenirs, what they have represented to us through the ages, and how we use them to narrate our lives.
Eleven Madison Park vs Alinea: The Ultimate Restaurant Grudge Match
On the comparative merits of Eleven Madison Park versus Alinea, on the occasion of Eleven Madison Park being named the best restaurant in the world.
This Sporting Life: A Brit Learns to Love the Basket
At first, I didn’t have a clue what was going on at this Celtics game. By the end, I still didn’t have much more of a clue -- but I was hooked, anyway.
The Absolution of Paul Theroux’s ‘Saint Jack’ in a World Lacking Irony
The narrative of Paul Theroux's (and later Peter Bogdanovich's) Saint Jack offers a palliative to the high-priced hedonism taking place in an American-owned compound in Singapore.