The Boston Traveler

Advantage: This 236-room, eight-story, luxury-class boutique hotel is conveniently located in easy traveling distance to downtown Boston (via the Green Line’s Science Park T Station, which is right down the block and across the street), MIT, and Harvard University, and in easy walking distance to the Museum of Science. It also boasts décor and furnishings that are funky yet sophisticated, and it offers a full range of services for business travelers, including meeting space and a business center with computers.
Disadvantage: Past guests point out that many rooms have inadequate or no drawers for storing items, and the location isn’t …read more

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That’s right — I dare to bring you the same Weekend Highlight this week as I did last week, and for good reason. Thanks to generally lousy weather and unforeseen exploding manholes, May 4th’s scheduled MayFair celebration was canceled.
Those excited to attend need not worry about having to wait another entire year for the event to roll around again, however. It’s back on the Harvard Square roster this Sunday, May 11th — or at least it is as I write. So, before you throw the kids in the car or on the bus/train and head all the …read more

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This Sunday, May 4, gather the family, dress warm and casual, and head over to Harvard Square in Cambridge for its 25th annual MayFair festival, which coincides with the last day of Harvard University’s yearly, four-day Arts First celebration.
From 12pm-6pm, attendees will enjoy a diverse selection of activities, entertainment, shopping opportunities, and foodstuff, all for the admission price of $0.
According to organizers, this year’s MayFair features “six stages of LIVE entertainment, 30+ Restaurant Vendors, hundreds of Street Vendors selling artwork, jewelry, vintage clothing, neighborhood sidewalk sales and Chalk on the Walk.” And, that’s not even to mention the free …read more

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Who’da thunk? Yet another convention inspired by geeks is heading the Hub’s way, thanks to the collaboration of enterprising academics at brainy MIT and stately Harvard.
This one, dear readers, is called ROFLCon, and if your mind doesn’t instantly translate the first four letters to their long form, it’s highly probable you won’t care what the event is. To be kind to those not in the know, the abbreviation ROFL means “Rolling on the floor laughing” in acronym-crazy, ultra/annoyingly cutesy Internet speak.
This Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, the inaugural edition of ROFLCon will take place at MIT …read more

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How about a little college spirit!
When I think of Cambridge’s renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a lot of things instantly come to mind, first and foremost the treasure trove of brain power the university has among its students and professors.
This weekend, however, the 35+-year-old campus gospel choir will give the public something else to associate with the school, namely a love of gospel music. That’s because on Saturday, April 5, the first-ever Gospel Fest celebration will bring eight Boston-based college gospel groups to MIT to perform in a massive concert. Participants include:

MIT Gospel Choir
Boston College Voices of Imani
Boston …read more

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Why the alarmist title? Let me explain.
Yesterday morning at about 6:45am EST, 28-year-old New York native Isaac J. Meyers was on his way to school. The Cambridgeport resident and Harvard University graduate student took a route to the Red Line subway station that I, too, have walked hundreds of times before, after, and while I lived in the neighborhood bordered by the Charles River, Harvard, MIT, and Central Square.
At the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street, Meyers entered the crosswalk to get to the other side of the wide and commonly busy street, where the outbound train …read more

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And, no, I’m not making that up. There actually is such a thing as “mini-med school,” at least if you believe the brilliant scientific minds at Harvard Medical School in Boston (and who, pray tell, wouldn’t?).
Amazingly, the seminars offered at mini-med school are available to the general public … free of charge. That’s right — for free! At Harvard! If you’re not familiar with how much money just one Ivy League course costs, please take my word that this “price” is a ming-boggling bargain.
Even better than that is the fact that not a single examination is …read more

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On Friday, February 15, I wrote about Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken’s trip to Cambridge to receive his Hasty Pudding Theatrical honor as 2008 Man of the Year. Lucky me, I recently found more in-depth footage of the event in addition to the short video I included with the original article.
If you’re a true Walken lover or just really, really keen to see what a 64-year-old man looks like as he dances while wearing a wig and a bra, check out the extended report that local journalist Joyce Kulhawik presented at exactly 11:10pm on the WBZ-CBS4 newscast that day. …read more

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Tonight at about 8pm EST, ultra popular movie star Christopher Walken graced Cambridge with his presence.
The 64-year-old Academy Award winner was in town to accept the honor of 2008 Man of the Year from Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals troupe, a group of mostly male members who have a thing for dressing up in drag. Even so, their annual celebration of their chosen Man and Woman of the Year always gets lots of press around these parts and the entire world.
Just last week, Walken’s fellow Oscar winner, actress Charlize Theron, stopped by Boston to accept her Pudding Pot for …read more

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Lovely 32-year-old actress Charlize Theron traveled to Harvard University in Cambridge on Thursday and showed everyone what a classy person she is. The occasion was the formal bestowal of a Pudding Pot for being named Hasty Pudding Theatrical’s most recent Woman of the Year.
As is customary, before receiving her honor, Theron participated in a public parade through the streets near Harvard Yard. Tons of onlookers stood nearby to get a look at her and the Hasty Pudding male members dressed up in flamboyant, costume-y drag … but mostly her.
I love the way Theron stated at the beginning of …read more

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