Category Archives: Europe

Bookstore Tourism: World’s Oldest Bookshop

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Although I have only visited Lisbon once, I had the serendipitous experience of staying in the Chiado district which is home to some of the city’s best cultural attractions, cafés, and the world’s oldest continuously operated bookstore. Livraria Bertrand, which … Continue reading →

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An Epic Story for a Hard Year

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

To be perfectly honest when I first was introduced to the 1,000-year old epic tale Beowulf in high school I was not a fan, but as they say it grew on me over the years. This year, the writer Maria … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Film, History | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

2020 Reading Habits

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic forced most of the world to spend more time at home and provided many with unexpected time for leisure activities. Some folks decided to learn a new language, others took up new hobbies, but booklovers discovered … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Books, ebooks, Europe, South America, USA, Writing | 1 Comment

On Your Bike

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

 

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Handle Without Care

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

These days, it’s sometimes difficult to tell if you are seeing an actual advertisement or something from The Onion. In this case, an Italian company called Crash Baggage is promoting a new line of suitcases that look like they’ve been … Continue reading →

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Everything Points To Nostalgia These Days

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t know about you but I seem to be spending more time these days on random internet rambles. It’s not surprising that some of these trips down the rabbit hole lead to serendipitous bits of nostalgia. Somehow I recently … Continue reading →

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The Freedom to be Free

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Penguin Great Ideas is a series of mainly non-fiction books published by Penguin Books. Titles contained within this series are considered to be world-changing, influential and inspirational. Topics covered include history, philosophy, politics, science and culture. The project has resulted in six series of twenty … Continue reading →

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The Feast of Venus

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Last year, the Belgian tourist bureau VisitFlanders commissioned the folks at SkullMapping to create a wonderful bit of projection mapping to entertain passengers while they waited for flights at Brussels National Airport. With some clever digital trickery, a cheeky little … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Travel, Animation, Art, Europe, Film, Museums, Public Transport, Tech, Tourism | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Another Reason To Envy Norwegians

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Norway has some of the globe’s most scenic geography, one of the world’s highest standards of living, and a genuinely happy populace, and now they also have these amazing passport’s too. Norway’s new passports were developed by creative agency Neue … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Five-Minute Museum

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

British filmmaker and animator Paul Bush‘s  short film The Five-Minute Museum is a mindboggling tour through the history of Western Civilization at breakneck speed. The stop motion trip carries the viewer through the cultural history of civilization by way of … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Art, Europe, Film, History, Museums, Photography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment