Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Wild Beasts of Art

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t think that I really appreciated the work of the great French artist Henri Matisse until I saw a fabulous retrospective show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.. After viewing the exhibition, I became a huge … Continue reading →

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Nuts to novels

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Heroes & Villains/Heroes and Villains

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Heroes and Villains is set in a wild, post-apocalyptic world where folks are divided by a rigid social hierarchy —the Professors, the Barbarians, and the mutant Out People. Young Marianne of the Professor class is abducted by Barbarian Jewel and … Continue reading →

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A people who have never experienced autumn foliage are inclined to be backward.

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

When you were an infant in Italy I was very disconcerted to be told that much of the Italian population had never seen the beauties of the autumn foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire. High in the Abruzzi there are … Continue reading →

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Fatherlands

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Mapping the Bans

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The onslaught of reactionary right wing book bans does not seem to be abating in the U.S.. This attack on freedom of expression is just one component of the political/cultural war raging in America. The American Library Association (ALA) reports that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Freedom of Speech, Libraries, Maps, USA | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Below down under

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve been pondering a trip to Antarctica ever since I sat by a beach near the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island and saw a sign that pointed south reading “South Pole 4897 km”. Now, 4897 km is no short … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Photography, Tourism | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

“Amargura Para Tres Sonámbulos”

Posted on September 28, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers” is a 1949 short story by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. Published when he was just twenty-two years old, it is one of his earliest stories. “Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers” by Gabriel García Márquez translated … Continue reading →

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It’s really all about mutual aid

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

It may seem to be a big leap from U.S. Presidential politics to a book published in 1902 by a Russian scientist and anarchist, but this week watching the electioneering I have been thinking about Peter Kropokin’s seminal work Mutual … Continue reading →

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Puffling

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Regular visitors to TBTP will be aware that I am enamored with all things Iceland. Of course that includes the unofficial symbol of the country the puffin. In coastal cities in Iceland, including on the Vestmannaeyjar islands, it’s common to … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Film, Tourism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment