Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

NYC by Tiny Train

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Even if you can’t make it to New York City this holiday season, you can experience a virtual visit via the MTA‘s miniature train show. On display for the 11th year at the historic, century-old Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, … Continue reading →

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A letter from Santa Claus

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Illustration by Dave Thomson A Letter From Santa Claus My Dear Susy Clemens, I have received and read all the letters which you and your little sister have written me … I can read your and your baby sister’s jagged … Continue reading →

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Santa vs Backpacker

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Brian D. Butler
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Just In Time for Christmas Shopping

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Harry Potter fans have flocked to London’s King Cross Station for years in search of the secret Platform 9 3/4 . Now they can part with a few pounds at the new Harry Potter Shop appropriately situated between Platforms 9 … Continue reading →

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Outdoors Indoors At The Library

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Earlier this month, students from Cornell University Department of design and Environmental Analysis managed to “bring the outdoors indoors” by installing areas of real grass lawn in the Mann Library lobby Images © da wei. A sign in the lobby … Continue reading →

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We Remember

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and … Continue reading →

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It’s A Very Dickensian Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Following an extensive eight month, £3 million restoration and redevelopment project, London’s Charles Dickens Museum reopened on December 10th just in time to celebrate a Dickens Christmas and to top-off the Dickens 2012 Bicentenary year festivities. The beloved author’s Bloomsbury … Continue reading →

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A Christmas Miracle (almost)

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The English North Yorkshire town of Malton seems a likely place to figure in a Charles Dickens tale and this year it does. When residents of the old Roman town learned that a rare specially bound and signed copy of … Continue reading →

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Crime and Punishment

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I was gobsmacked by Polish filmmaker Piotr Dumala’s extraordinary animated version of Dostoyevsky’s classic novel. This pared down version of the story is told without dialog and takes place entirely at night. Trained as an painter and sculptor, Dumala has … Continue reading →

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Polar Express

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Last weekend a passenger on a Szczecin to Warsaw Poland regional train got a very chilly reception when she visited the train’s lavatory. She was shocked to discover that the toilet was encased in a three-inch thick block of ice. … Continue reading →

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