Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Vintage Murakami

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Vintage books has reissued its Haruki Murakami 15-book backlist with redesigned covers based on a unified color palette of red, black and white, and the use of the circle as a central motif. The original illustrations were screenprinted by Israeli-born … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Asia, Books, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ban This Book

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Today is the final official day of 2012 Banned Book Week. I thought we’d “celebrate” with this comic created by Grant Snider. You can see more of Grant’s clever work over at his website called Incidental Comics. Take a look.

Posted in Art, Books, Freedom of Speech, USA, Writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

Ireland, Who Knew ?

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Many thanks to the folks at GoIreland.com for this quirky infographic on Irish inventors and inventions. Take a peek at their website the next time you are planning a visit to Ireland.

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

Injustice Anywhere…

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Polish-born, New York City-based artist Olek yarn-bombed London last month with this awesome four panel knit grafitti installation. The project was in collaboration with Anti-Slavery International and Street Artists Against Slavery. The quote, by the way, is from Martin Luther … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Taxi Stories

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I have been riding New York City taxi cabs for decades and in all that time I have only had one woman driver. So I was intrigued by New York City-based filmmaker Diana Diroy’s documentary on Shonna Valeska and Elena … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, USA | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Sense of Place

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Penguin has created a very cool audio/visual tour of London locales that appear in Zadie Smith’s new novel NW. The “tour” covers four significant locations in the book, including Camden Lock. Users can launch location videos with layered audio readings … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Tech, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Finally Fast (almost)

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Last week, the U.S. train network Amtrak finally began its much awaited testing of 165 mph “high speed trains” on its busy Northeast Corridor route. If these tests pan out, our trips from Philadelphia to New York City should drop to … Continue reading →

Posted in Tourism, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bane of Banned Books

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the United States draw attention to the dangers of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Freedom of Speech, History, Libraries, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Street View Ghosts

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Media artist/provocateur Paolo Cirio has created a new take on street art using images of unsuspecting people captured by Google Street View. Cirio prints life-size pictures of the unidentified pedestrians and pastes the cut-outs on walls at the exact spots … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe, Photography, Tech | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Land of Fire and Ice

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve made two brief visits to Iceland and was awestruck by the stunning landscape. But nothing that I saw compares to the mind-blowing aerial photographs of Iceland by the Russian photographer Andre Emolaev. These bird’s-eye view images of the volcanic landscape offer … Continue reading →

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