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Author Archives: Brian D. Butler
Odds and Ends
Regular visitors to TBTP know that I love my coffee but I’m not sure this is a good idea. Vampires are typically depicted as being weakened or even incinerated by sunlight. Now the Department of Computer Science at the Eastern … Continue reading
Bookshop.org’s 100 Bestselling Books of 2025 (So Far)
The online bookseller bookshop.org recently released a list of their bestselling books of the year (so far). The list is quite a bit different than what you might see from larger booksellers and looks more like what your local bookstore … Continue reading
Posted in Books, USA, Writing
Tagged Bookselling, Hunger Games, Octavia Butler, Timothy Snyder
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Rediscover Your Childhood Reads
The books that we read in our childhood often guide us through the world all of our lives. They make us reflect upon our actions and how they can impact those around us; and, perhaps most of all, they outline … Continue reading
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”
I recently finished watching the outstanding Star Wars prequel Andor, which IMHO is the best one yet. But while viewing the series I was at a loss trying to place the planets featured in the program. Fortunately, there’s a terrific map of the Star … Continue reading
the struggle of memory
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Czech Republic, Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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Baggage
Baggage is a short, stop-animation film by Lucy Davidson about the sometimes complicated experience of being seen — when going through airport security. As a recent student of Aardman Academy, which is operated by its Academy Award-winning namesake animation studio, Davidson tapped into … Continue reading
Posted in Air Travel, Animation, Art, Comics, Tourism
Tagged Air Travel, airports, Luggage, stop motion animation
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Wish You Were Here
I recently discovered the dubious concept of Beforehand Postcards. The conceit behind Beforehand Postcards was that, if you were going on vacation to Europe, you could buy your postcards from them beforehand. Then you could address the cards, and maybe even write … Continue reading
The Poet Anticipated the Shortcomings of AI
The author Rainer Maria Rilke anticipated the inevitable shortcomings in the use of AI in the arts. He articulated the essential conditions for creativity in his only novel, reflecting on what it takes to compose a great poem, but also … Continue reading
Short Stuff
I frequently find myself baffled by abbreviations and acronyms that I run across both online and IRL. It’s particularly confusing when one is traveling in another country and the acronyms are hyper local. So, I was happy to stumble on … Continue reading
