there's just something about baseball and kevin costner. bull durham created an upswing in minor-league baseball attendance. and that ballpark his character built in a cornfield in the 1989 movie field of dreams still draws about 65,000 fans a year to dyersville, iowa (also known as the farm toy capital of the world). bring your glove and take to the field or borrow one from the left and center field shop behind left field. young and old wait for turns to take their cut in the box where archie "moonlight" graham winked and then hit a sacrifice fly in the movie. quench your thirst at the concession stand, which is operated by the lansing family, who have owned the farm for 99 years.

welcome to middle earth; may i have your passport?
"new zealand is the big example," says mittell. "the interesting thing is that fictional middle earth becomes the brand of this entire country. they have completely branded themselves as middle earth." the lord of the rings trilogy of three-hour visual feasts showcased the country's most notable landscapes: the volcanic crags of tongariri national park and ohakune (mordor), the southern alps and wanaka (the misty mountains), and the farmlands of matamata (hobbiton). there are tolkien-themed adventures (tourism.net
.nz) and books such as the lord of the rings location guidebook by ian brodie (harpercollins).

da gathering storm
much like the harry potter films, ron howard's film version of publishing darling the da vinci code is certain to take this obsession into the pop-cult pantheon (especially considering that tom hanks will star as the story's hero, robert langdon). even before the movie's release next year, bookish pilgrims can take da vinci code barge cruises (eight days and seven nights devoted to bringing the story to life; www.canalsoffrance.com), experience two themed vacations (the secrets of da vinci and breaking the code, which take travelers to historical sites made famous by the book; www