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 right in the heart of Boston, which could present a problem for guests who aren’t familiar with Boston and Cambridge before arriving.

Distinctive Amenities: Daily complimentary coffee and tea starting at 6am, daily complimentary wine hour from 5–6pm, pet-friendly accommodations, on-site Bambara restaurant, and free wireless Internet access. Since Hotel Marlowe is a part of the Kimpton hotel chain, join the Kimpton InTouch Guest Loyalty Program before booking for even more advantages and incentives. [More Features]

Interesting Fact: The hotel is directly and conveniently attached to popular CambridgeSide Galleria, which means guests don’t even have to go outside to take advantage of the mall’s three main levels of retail businesses, food court, and two major restaurants, California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. [More Mall Amenities]

Location: 25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, Cambridge, 617-868-8000

Price Range: Moderately Expensive (average price of $290+ per night)

Website: Hotel Marlowe

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 way over to Cambridge, take a moment or two to verify MayFair 2008 is indeed still in the works at the official website. If it is, then…

Gather the family, dress warm and casual, and head over to Harvard Square in Cambridge for its 25th Annual MayFair festival. 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.”

Harvard Square is a hop, skip, and jump from the Charles River, as well, providing easy access to an invigorating, nature-filled walk if the fair gets overbearing. That’s not uncommon when there are huge crowds, almost a given at peak times during any outdoor event in the thriving Harvard area.

Visit HarvardSquare.com for detailed information about the community, in addition to a complete list of all that’s in store on Sunday.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 shorts programs that will be screened at the top of each hour from noon to 4pm at the Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617-876-6837).

As of this writing, the Weather Channel forecast for Sunday is a pleasing upper 40s to high 50s, with just a slight chance of showers. So, although the temperatures sound agreeable for puttering around outdoors and sampling the many, many delights of MayFair, remember to pack an umbrella, too, just in case.

Harvard Square is a hop, skip, and jump from the Charles River, as well, providing easy access to an invigorating, nature-filled walk if the fair gets overbearing. That’s not uncommon when there are huge crowds, almost a given at peak times during any outdoor event in the thriving Harvard area.

Visit HarvardSquare.com for detailed information about the community, in addition to a complete list of all that’s in store on Sunday.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 upon the arrival of a slew of Internet celebrities familiar to tech-savvy people who spend endless hours toiling and/or wasting time online.

You may have heard of Christian Lander or his immensely popular fad blog Stuff White People Like. He’ll be there during a talk called “From WordPress to The New York Times.”

Numerous other interesting discussions on the schedule have names such as “Surviving Internet Fame,” “You Can Get Paid for This?: Making Some Bucks,” “The Fabulous Life of Microcelebrities,” and “Kid, We’re Going to Make You a Star.”

The titles are self-explanatory: the two-day conference is all about learning how to rise to the top of Internet culture — whether for fame or money or both — and celebrating the lucky few pioneers who already have. As the event’s website succinctly states, “Mix up a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics, a big audience, dump them in Cambridge, MA and you’ve got ROFLCon.”

The bad news? Registration for ROFLCon is already closed due to great interest and space limitations. The good news? Now you know about the event, so you can stay up-to-date at the ROFLCon website to learn ahead of time when the next conference is scheduled.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 University Inner Strength Gospel Choir
• Brandeis Voices of Praise
• Kuumba Singers of Harvard College
• Northeastern University JDOAAI Unity Gospel Ensemble
• Tufts University Third Day Gospel Choir
• Wheaton Colleges Voices United To Jam

If you appreciate gospel music, Gospel Fest 2008 seems like a sure way to celebrate your faith in the company of fellow believers while also enjoying an evening of lively, spirited music.

Tickets for the general public are $10 in advance and $12 at the door, and organizers make it easy to purchase them online. Then, just show up on Saturday before 7pm at MIT’s La Sala de Puerto Rico (MIT Student Center, 2nd Floor, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge) for a wonderful time. [More Information]

Take a look at the video clip after the jump for a sample of the MIT Gospel Choir in action. The song is “I Will Sing,” which the group performed during their Fall 2007 Concert on December 9, 2007.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 station is located. He was then hit by a tractor trailer making a delivery to the nearby MIT branch of Shaw’s grocery store and dragged 25 feet to his eventual death.

The huge back wheels of the humongous transport vehicle somehow latched onto Myers, and by all accounts, the driver didn’t come to a stop until people ran after him and flagged him down. Myers was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital at 12:20pm.

Hub residents have been spending substantial time discussing this event online, initially because some commuters and those who work and live in the area noticed that busses and general traffic were making odd and unexplained detours around Central Square on Monday morning. The main issues at the center of the exchanges are (1) who was at fault for the accident, Meyers or the truck driver, and (2) what is up with the way people bike/drive/walk in Boston?

As long ago as it was, I still remember when I first moved to the Bay State from metropolitan New York. Although Boston drivers have a well-known reputation for their allegedly atrocious attitude and behavior, except for a handful of incidents, my personal experiences with them have been very, very courteous.

I’m constantly amazed at the number of drivers everywhere who stop to let me cross the street when I don’t have the right of way, even when I’m not paying attention and they have to wait for me to recognize their gesture. That rarely happened in the areas of New York I frequented.

Nonetheless, I’m writing about this tragic accident as a reminder to people who both live in and visit Boston that you must remember to use extreme caution on the streets of the state always, whether you’re driving a vehicle, riding a bike, or walking. Become familiar with the rules of the road (and believe me, I know how difficult it is to track them down; you’d think the state government would make it easier), whatever your mode of transportation, and then heed them at all times. This way, we can all do our part to avoid another disastrous and unnecessary event like what happened yesterday.

Condolences to the family and friends of Isaac J. Meyers.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 administered in mini-med school. Heck, participants don’t even have to have any prior training in science or medicine. Not a lick!

By now, you might be wondering what exactly this too-good-to-be-true get-up is. Let me explain.

Mini-med school consists of four seminars offered at Harvard Medical School’s Longwood campus on two days each in March and April. All will take place in the chic and sleek Joseph B. Martin Conference Center (77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, 1-866-790-7000) from 5:30pm to 7pm, evening scheduling that gives potential participants who work full-time jobs extra incentive to attend.

Don’t let the cost-free status of the courses fool you, either. People who attend at least three of them will receive an official mini-med school Certificate of Completion, while public school teachers who attend all four become eligible to earn ten professional development points (PDPs) after submitting an assessment form for each session.

Moreover, every seminar will have several knowledgeable professionals from both Harvard Medical School and prominent, affiliated local hospitals as leaders. For instance, the first scheduled seminar, March 5th’s “The Ups & Downs of Daily Life,” will be overseen by three individuals who work at Cambridge Health Alliance and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in addition to the medical school.

If any combination of the following four seminars sounds appealing, make sure to complete advance registration online at the Longwood Seminars website or by phone at 617-432-3038. Interested parties can also find more details about the curriculum at the registration website just provided.

The Ups & Downs of Daily Life

March 5 | 5:30pm–7:00pm

What’s normal? Bereavement, the challenges of daily life, clinical depression, and mood disorders — how to tell the difference and what you can do to help.

Muscle Tone: Getting and Keeping It

March 19 | 5:30pm–7:00pm

Muscle tone and overall health — how one affects the other and what you can do to improve both.

Intelligent Drug Consumption

April 2 | 5:30pm–7:00pm

Beyond the marketing hype — what you need to know and what questions you need to ask.

Your Gut: The Long and Short of It

April 16 | 5:30pm–7:00pm

The gastrointestinal system — diseases, treatments, and prevention.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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. It’s all after the jump.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 2008 Woman of the Year. She also graciously participated in a parade around the chilly streets of the Harvard Square area.

Fortunately for Walken, all he had to do was sit through a brief roasting by college dudes, dance a little, and then give a short speech. Attendees were thrilled all the same, I’m sure, and would do it again in a heartbeat if they could.

Take a look at an 84-second clip of what Walken had to say during the festivities, courtesy of the omnipresent Cambridge Chronicle. The video follows the jump.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

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 the outdoor spectacle, “I am Woman of the Year. If there was ever any doubt that I’m a man, it’s been erased.” Cute — now we all know she has a good sense of humor, too.

The video following the jump comes courtesy of the local publication the Cambridge Chronicle. Take a look to see for yourself just how charming and fun Theron was during the festivities. If you didn’t like her before, how can you not now?

Also, stay tuned for coverage of actor Christopher Walken’s journey to the Square next Friday, when he’ll drop by to accept his very own Pudding Pot for Man of the Year while no doubt entertaining onlookers at least as much as Theron did yesterday.

Post from: The Boston Traveler