December 4, 2008
Critic's Choice
DESTINATION: TOKYO
To the East, a classical crescendo
Yoshikazu Mera stands less than 5 feet tall, barely a head higher than the closed lid of the piano next to him. His face appears ensnared in eternal boyhood. His hair is cut in a cuddly Beatle mop. He is wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and shoulders, billowing gold lamé pants, platform shoes and a dramatic cape. He is the Hello Kitty of countertenors, men who sing in a woman's range.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | CHILE
Chile: 4x4 by 4,000 miles
I 'VE got a thousand miles behind me and three thousand to go. I've got a dashboard tan. Hammer down. Radar love.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | POLAND
Dance in unexpected places
The Barbakan area of this city's Old Town teems with antique splendor: church spires, gingerbread houses, brick towers, even a nearby drawbridge. But tonight the members of a 4-year-old dance collective named Bretoncaffe are throwing themselves against the walls in "Slam," a free, outdoor performance that depicts trapped energy curdling into fierce aggression.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | SYDNEY
Oz at the head of the table
Put me at a table at one of the most spectacular beaches in the world where I can look down and practically see the stitching on the surfers' wetsuits as they angle to catch a wave. The light has the clarity of late fall. Not a shred of cloud in the sky. The glass doors to the terrace are open; the salt-laden breeze plays over the white linen tablecloth, across the sparkling silverware. I take a sip of light, fragrant red. I twirl the spaghetti around my fork, admiring the violet of the clam shells against the green-gold olive oil and the emerald parsley in my spaghetti alle vongole verace.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | DUBLIN
Dublin, beyond the Blooms
THE notion of a holiday built around literature is a contradiction, which makes Dublin the right destination for those inclined toward the literary life.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | BERLIN
A portal to the new Berlin
For Westerners, the center of Berlin suddenly shifted east when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The geographic heart of the metropolis still lies in the bohemian neighborhood of Kreuzberg, with its big, loft-like apartments and sometimes raucous night life. But reunification of East and West has meant that the city's spiritual core has returned to Museumsinsel — Museum Island — a spot of land in the Spree River that is home to an array of seminal art museums stuffed with astounding collections. Nearby, the once drab East Berlin neighborhood around Auguststrasse, just a short walk across the river, has metamorphosed into the liveliest contemporary gallery scene in Europe.
CRITICÂ’S CHOICE | BARCELONA
Barcelona's new beat
If you come to Barcelona for its nightlife, jet lag will be your friend.
CRITICÂ’S CHOICE | LONDON
Are you ready to rock?!
If all the connections worked, I figured I could make it by bus Tuesday afternoon from the FlyAway depot in Van Nuys to LAX for the overnight flight to London's Heathrow Airport, where I could race through customs to the Tube (stick with the Piccadilly Line, much cheaper than the express line), then on to King's Cross train station for a late afternoon ride to Leeds.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / MILAN
Milan, the land of the spree
On a drizzly February morning, a bride and groom posed for photos in the barrel-vaulted Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world's oldest and grandest retail arcades. They held hands and kissed in front of the Louis Vuitton and Prada stores, the latest "it" bags spotlighted in the windows behind them.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / HAWAII
How lost can you get?
When I say I sneaked onto the set of the popular ABC drama "Lost," trudging along a deserted beach and cutting through a bit of jungle to find the cast and crew, it sounds more intrepid than it actually was. In truth, I wasn't anywhere near lost; in fact, I knew exactly where I was: the North Shore of Oahu, the most commercial of the Hawaiian Islands, which only confirmed my suspicions as an avid "Lost" viewer that if the camera panned too far to the left of the deserted beach and the banyan trees, one would see a home, perhaps, or even a Starbucks.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / SHANGHAI
Shanghai: Sky's the limit
After just two trips to Shanghai, I've already developed a first-day routine that I'm sure I'll stick to on future visits: As soon as I drop my bags at the hotel, I head directly for one of the rooftop bars and restaurants lining the Bund, the city's famous riverfront boulevard and the best place from which to assess Shanghai's sometimes daring, sometimes schizophrenic attempts to balance Chinese urbanism and outside influence.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | PARIS
Paris, with popcorn
Nobody writes songs about January in Paris. It's cold and bleak, and the impenetrable rain clouds make 8 a.m. as dark as midnight. It's perfect weather for going to the movies, which is what I do.
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