Monthly Archives: June 2024

I know what you did last summer

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Happy Solstice to all. Stay chill . And please ditch the socks and sandals look.  

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Eating your way through NYC

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

57 Sandwiches That Define New York City. I challenge you to read this New York Times article all the way through and not crave one of these amazing sandwiches. NYC is home to ~23,000 restaurants, so choosing where to eat … Continue reading →

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Rules for Writing

Posted on June 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules of writing: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root … Continue reading →

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An Alternate Alice Versery

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I am continually amazed by the seemingly endless variations and spinoffs of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland.  But even I was surprised to discover that beginning in the 1930s, Guinness beer began using Alice in Wonderland and the cast … Continue reading →

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“To walk alone in London is the greatest rest.”

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

It’s surprising to learn that London wasn’t well mapped until the 1500s, but the cartographers, topographers, and historians of the Historical Towns Trust have the decided to remedy the problem by looking back in time to create period maps.. Their … Continue reading →

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Everything is like something else

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

NO LONGER VERY CLEAR John Ashbery It is true that I can no longer remember very well the time when we first began to know each other. However, I do remember very well the time we first met. You walked … Continue reading →

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Anthropodermic bibliopegy is not cool

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Harvard University Library has reported that it has removed a volume bound in human skin from its collection.  A copy of the 19th-century book Des Destinées de l’Ame — or Destinies of the Soul, a meditation on life after death … Continue reading →

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Lucifer’s Big Book

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Codex Gigas (or Devil’s Bible) is a large 13th-century manuscript from Bohemia, one of the historical Czech lands. Renowned for its size and its striking full-page rendition of the devil (found on page 577), it contains a number of … Continue reading →

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Ban This Book book actually banned

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Who could have imagined that an award winning children’s book titled Ban This Book would actually be banned and in the state of Florida of all places. The Indian River County School Board voted to remove “Ban This Book” by Alan Gratz from … Continue reading →

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Data Poetry

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Traditional rooftops slope like the backs of resting camels. Forests play fortresses; secrets held in whistling pine needles. Serene valleys echo a painter’s lost blues and greens. Mountains order the sky, no less, wearing casts of gray ruggedness. Although I am a frequent critic of … Continue reading →

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