Jaunted

Bowling

Destination: Milky Way Lounge and Lanes

May 1, 2007 at 9:10 AM | 0 Comments

If you're of the variety that like to drink & bowl, then be sure to hit the lanes at Milky Way Lounge & Lanes in Jamaica Plain, Mass. They've got the 1950s-style bowling, candlepin, where the ball's a lot smaller and it's a lot harder to hit the pins. But the kitsch factor keeps it fun. Seven lanes are available for the taking, as is a full bar, to better improve your score.

The interior's a bit dim, and walls are even plastered with dusty magazine cut-outs, a la your seventh grade locker door, but the crowd's young and fun, and it's just $25 per lane to bowl for an hour, shoes included. If you're hungry, you get to order snacks from Bella Luna next door, where you can try the surprising dried cranberry and goat cheese white pizza and fresh salads.

[Photo: abbyladybug]

Boston

The Museum of Bad Art

February 20, 2007 at 12:30 PM | 0 Comments

You've had it with class and grace. If you see another Monet you're going to have nightmares about killer water lilies. Why not cleanse your palate at the Museum of Bad Art outside of Boston?

Founded by Scott Wilson after he discovered a cache of bad art by the side of the road, the museum now owns some 250 cringe-worthy works and has a public gallery in downtown Dedham. Bet you can't look at just one! Too late -- you already did (above, "Lucy in the Field With Flowers"). And in case you've already been burned by high-price tickets to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, cheer up: It's free.

Open Monday-Friday 2-10 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and Holidays 1-10 p.m. $0.

Related Stories:
· Museum of Bad Art [Official Site]

Boston

Mini-Mall Madness

October 20, 2006 at 9:39 AM | 1 Comment

Might as well make it mini-mall week. The Garage, in Cambridge, MA, is a curious little place we've been attached to for a while. Its stranglehold on us might have something to do with the fact that the inside feels exactly like a Habitrail.

The Garage is, in fact, a converted garage near Harvard Square. It's perfect for wasting an hour while you're waiting for friends, or, in our case, for getting in touch with your inner hamster. Most importantly it houses a holy trinity of retail outlets: Ben & Jerry's, tattoo place, and a Newbury Comics. There's a sweet stack of free papers outside Newbury here, making it an easy-to-find go-to when you're stuck for something to do at night.

And yeah, there's a Starbucks too. Feel free to shoot us now for loving it.

[Photo: bunge/callmissy]

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· Guide to Cool Tokyo Record Stores [Jaunted]

Boston

Seen and Heard

May 17, 2006 at 12:48 PM | 0 Comments

When faced with the worst floods in 70 years and eight consecutive days of hard rain, what do Bostonians do? They take refuge in knowing that there are other parts of the physical world where rain is currently less rampant. What better way to celebrate this than a field trip to the Mapparium.

Situated in the heart of the Boston Christian Science Center and every amateur cartographer/historian's wet dream, the three-story spherical globe was constructed in 1935 by Chester Lindsay Churchill and still boasts the original 1935 map of the world.

As a forewarning, be sure to take advantage of the acoustics in the room, which were renovated in the past decade. Standing at fixed points on the bridge, looking up and around at the world, your voice will sound exceptionally true-to-life. In the middle of the bridge, what you hear is the exact sound that other people hear when you talk. It's a surreal experience and one that no outgoing voicemail playback can quite encapsulate.

Boston

Newbury Street News

May 15, 2006 at 11:35 AM | 0 Comments

Situated in the heart of boutique-y Boston lies a bookstore/cafe that seeks out the culturally astute making their way up Newbury street. Trident Booksellers & Cafe is an anomaly, a mecca for the culturally astute. Plus, on any given afternoon after perusing the eclectic bookshelves, you can take refuge at the bar and order up any one of their smoothies: Stress Reliever, Fresh Complexion (the most important for book-lovers), or Body Cleanser.

One of the greatest attributes of the Trident menu is their "Comfort Food" selection. How many bookstore cafes will serve you a chicken strip basket with a side of fries just to satisfy your late-night urges? We suppose that's where the Body Cleanser smoothie comes in handy.

For the cheap yet pretentious, Trident offers free Wi-Fi so you can sit at the bar and type away endlessly while sipping on your Cherry Bomb (Mango iced tea, cherries, vanilla ice cream, and bubble pearls) to get you mulling thru that essay/article. Also of note, Trident is open till 11:30, practically unheard of in Boston. Maybe Murph and Sully will stop by after a Sawx win and have a chai latte?

Bus

LimoLiner, Part II

April 17, 2006 at 10:36 AM | 0 Comments

Time to have a fuller consideration of the LimoLiner. Truth be told, we probably experienced it in the incorrect order of transportation. When car salesmen try to get people to buy something expensive, first they let them test drive the Corolla, then they have them drive the Lexus. That way, you get a fuller appreciation of buttery leather, wood accents, and sarcophagus-like quiet. Those things were certainly on our mind when we were fighting our way through traffic on the Greyhound back to New York City last night in our seat across from the bathroom. Oh, LimoLiner, how we missed you!

The value, $79 OW, is heavily dependent on what JetBlue is charging for a similar weekend. For something like Easter weekend, LimoLiner is better than JetBlue, because JetBlue's fares depend on demand; during a slow time when you can snag a $45 OW (after taxes) fare on the low-cost carrier, and it's a whole different set of circumstances.

The LimoLiner's wireless connection isn't perfect; we were able to post and use IM, but it took us an hour to get it up and running, and images loaded quite slowly. Driving in the city and overcast weather both give the connection trouble; the satellite TV cut out quite a bit too. That wasn't annoying during the local news, but we missed the full effect of Tom Cruise's craziness on Primetime Live as a result, and that was frustrating.

The best aspects of the LimoLiner are the seats, the service, and the bathroom. The bathroom is larger than an airplane restroom, had two mirrors, flowers, and nice handsoap, and was remarkably clean. Of all the ways a person could travel to Boston, the LimoLiner has the cleanest bathroom options, for those who find that of great importance.

The seats are big, leathery, and had enough legroom to seat a 6'3" online travel blog editor comfortably. Hard to argue with that. And you don't even have to get up to receive as much coffee and soft drinks as you'd like (with ice!). It made the bus a far more pleasant experience than it should be, by rights. LimoLiner may not be the fastest way to get from NYC to Boston, but it's certainly one of the most comfortable.

[Image via clamber/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Liveblogging the LimoLiner [Jaunted]