Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Middle East Pow Wow

The floating international street art festival known as POW! WOW! has recently wrapped up a visit to Israel and Jordan. The always exciting collaborative effort is documented in the entertaining video below from director Andrew Tran.

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New York Loses Its Voice

The Village Voice, New York City’s iconic alternative weekly newspaper, has announced the end of its print publication. Co-founded by writer Norman Mailer in 1955, the Pulitzer Prize winning free paper is shifting to a completely digital platform. The paper has … Continue reading

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How Meta

I ran across the gif above on a book blog and was skeptical when it was described as a clip of Humphrey Bogart on the set of Howard Hawks’ 1946 film noir classic The Big Sleep. With just a little sleuthing, I … Continue reading

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Another Roadside Attraction

Historian and self-taught photographer John Margolies spent the last three decades of the 20th century wandering the back roads, small towns, and old highways of the U.S. capturing images of a disappearing culture. His saturated Kodachrome images of kitsch signage, … Continue reading

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Welcome to Fishtown

Philly locals have been in on the Fishtown secret for years, but tourists are just discovering the up-and-coming riverfront district. With hot new restaurants, hip music venues, art spaces, brewpubs, fab coffeehouses, dozens of bars, and the world’s first pizza … Continue reading

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Can You Trust Airbnb Reviews

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North to Alaska

I have only been to Alaska once and I only spent two weeks in the enormous state, but it left a lasting impact. The stunning video below captured many of the extraordinary wilderness areas that I was lucky enough to … Continue reading

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Amsterdam: Tag you’re it

I recently received an email from KLM about their new “KLM Care Tag” project. The video below explains how it works, but it’s basically a cleverly designed location-aware luggage tag that provides voiced tips for tourists in Amsterdam. The speaker-equipped … Continue reading

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Manhattan Cowcatcher

I recently read Kim Stanley Robinson’s outstanding—but way too long—climate change, post-apocalyptic, science fiction novel “New York 2140.” Although much of the plot takes place in Manhattan’s Met Life Building, the characters frequently comment on the neighboring Flatiron Building. It … Continue reading

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Sharing is caring

When I was scrambling to learn a little Russian last year prior to a trip, I naively thought that shared letters between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets would somehow make the task a little easier. Of course that proved to … Continue reading

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