Categories
- Africa
- Air Travel
- Animation
- apps
- Architecture
- Art
- Asia
- Books
- Bookstore Tourism
- Canada
- Car rentals
- Cartography
- Comics
- ebooks
- Europe
- Film
- Freedom of Speech
- History
- Hotels
- Libraries
- Maps
- Middle East
- movies
- Museums
- Music
- Photography
- Public Transport
- Restaurants
- South America
- Tech
- Theater
- Tourism
- Travel Writing
- Uncategorized
- USA
- Writing
Share this Blog
Translate
-
Author Archives: Brian D. Butler
First Around The World Trip
Ever since I was indoctrinated as a young child with filiopietistic reverence for Columbus and the entire panoply of European explorers, I’ve been fascinated by their extraordinary journeys. Recently, I discovered a wonderful website that traces the route of Ferdinand … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Europe, History, Maps, Tech
Tagged Ferdinand Magellan, Indonesia, Philippines, Spain
Leave a comment
The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World ?
Over the past few decades nearly every listicle on the world’s “most beautiful bookstores” has included the incredible Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal. I am embarassed to admit that although I was briefly in Porto, I never made it to … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Books, Bookstore Tourism, Europe, Photography, Tourism
Tagged Bookshops, Porto, Portugal
Leave a comment
Just a postcard from Kafka
I recently stumbled on this postcard from the German National Library that is dated 1918 from Franz Kafka to his publisher Kurt Wolff. Personally, I never sent postcards to my publisher, but then again he was a terrible person. And … Continue reading
“When coffee is gone, it’s over.”
Language-learning app Duolingo has opened a “Museum of Wonky English” in Harajuku, Tokyo, and is giving mundane phrases that have been mistranslated new and novel meanings. Duolingo is inviting people to step into its Museum of Wonky English, a tongue-in-cheek … Continue reading
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip
I was today years old when I discovered that America’s greatest living short story writer George Saunders published a children’s book more than 20 years ago. Issued in 2000 by Villard Books, an imprint of Random House, The Very Persistent … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Books, USA, Writing
Tagged book illustration, Children's literature, George Saunders, goats
1 Comment
Recognition At Last
Each day, nearly 12 million French consumers visit a bakery and leave with an iconic loaf of bread. Each year, French bakeries produce more than 6 billion baguettes. It is an international symbol recognized as part of the daily life … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, History, Restaurants
Tagged bakeries, bread, France, Paris, UNESCO World Heritage
Leave a comment
Chain Gang
When the public library in Rawicz, Poland needed to move its entire collection from it’s 70 year-old library to a new building 350 meters away it put out a call for help from the local community. On November 25, 2022, … Continue reading
What’s the Word
Merriam-Webster dictionary reports that its word of the year is the manipulative, misdirecting term that causes the target to question the surety of their own sanity, is taken from the title of the George Cukor 1944 classic film Gaslight. Although in … Continue reading
Posted in USA, Writing
Tagged codify, dictionary, English language, gaslight, oligarch
Leave a comment
Some You May Like, Some You May Need
What better way to start the week than unexpected photographs of animals being amusing from the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. Who wouldn’t love to spend an afternoon riding a tourist train in Japan’s verdant countryside powered by leftover ramen broth. … Continue reading
