Our July cover is retro-themed by the excellent Craig Redman. Although originally, we were going to go with something that tied into an article on Brasilia, we felt the simplicity of this was striking, and adding extra elements would just water down the effect. So far the feedback has been great. If you want to check out the issue, go here.
The Africa issue of Open Skies will be on the plane in a few days. Really excited by the cover, executed brilliantly by Simon Page. If you are flying Emirates in May look out for it.
George Orwell – A Homage to Catalonia
Jason Elliot – Mirrors of the Unseen
Harold Evans – My Paper Chase
Nick Flynn – Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
Jeremy Scahill – Blackwater
Hunter S. Thompson – Screwjack
Ernest Hemingway – The Snows of Kilimanjaro & Other Stories
Mark Twain – The Innocents Abroad
Just back from an extremely interesting trip to Afghanistan. It is a shame more people do not go – it’s relatively safe and Kabul is a fascinating city. Further north, the Panshir Valley is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I was there to get things moving on a Kabul city guide. Eamonn was on RTE in Dublin explaining why and the segment featured a short clip of me at the Bird Market in Kabul.
I met some interesting people who work in the content/technology field, including David Bailey who has vast experience in broadcasting. He also did a short interview with me at an ISAF base in Kabul.
We are aiming to have phase one of the application out by Christmas, so watch this space….
Will be spending the month of July in the rather nice Moroccan town of Assilah working on a mobile app we (URBNTravel) have designed for ADACH. The festival was the brainchild of the town’s mayor and has been ongoing for 32 years.
Myself and Eamonn will be running around for the duration of the festival, interviewing, writing, blogging, tweeting, podcasting, uploading, videoing, photographing, promoting and generally having a blast.
Will link to the official ADACH @ Assilah site when it is up and if anyone is heading over to Morocco during July, let us know – the first green tea is on us.
A piece on Kathmandu 25 years after Pico Iyer wrote about the place in his brilliant Video Night in Kathmandu
The Express Tribune, a relatively new paper in Pakistan, recently ran a piece by George Fulton, a minor celebrity in the country. As I mentioned before it was a bizarre piece of reporting and the Tribune has now published my response to the piece.
Vanity Fair is a great magazine, but looks very tired – which is why I am happy to see this. Finally it looks like the magazine is going to get a face lift. Will Graydon Carter cut off his ridiculous hair during the redesign? We can only hope.
Whether you agree or disagree with the proposed banning of the burqa in France and Belgium, the hypocrisy of some of the Khaleej Times’ readers is breathtaking. Predictably there are no opinions praising the move, and no one seems to find it strange that the readers talk about “freedom” and specifically the “freedom to live your own life” on the same day that this is being reported. So which is it? Live by the rules of the country you live in (however ill-judged) or bleat about human rights. You can’t have it both ways.
I personally disagree with the ban and I am helped to that conclusion by the reliable lunaticism of Daniel Pipes, the Jerusalem Post commentator and all round right-wing nutjob:
“Some observers would ban hijabs from public places, but what legal grounds exist for doing so? Following my rule of thumb that Muslims enjoy the same rights and obligations as other citizens, but not special rights or obligations, a woman’s freedom of expression grants her the option to wear a hijab.
In contrast, burqas and niqabs should be banned in all public spaces because they present a security risk. Anyone might lurk under those shrouds – female or male, Muslim or non-Muslim, decent citizen, fugitive, or criminal – with who knows what evil purposes.
Who knows what evil purposes? Perhaps illegally entering a country to commit an act of murder? Oh, sorry, wrong side.
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