Category Archives: Europe

Springtime in Paris

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Brian D. Butler
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Dublin in the Drizzle

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

The 2018 winner of the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year award is Manus Boyle Tobin. His short story “Drizzle on the Windscreen” is a single sentence narrative about a homeless Dublin taxi driver. Tobin has said that his … Continue reading →

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Philadelphia Stories

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

About three years ago I did a post on the introduction of Short Édition short story dispensing machines in France. These brilliant kiosks provide users with one, three, or five minute reads on slim receipt-like paper strips for free. Last week, the Free … Continue reading →

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Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel (Les songes drolatiques de Panatgruel) is a bizarre, Brueghel-esque volume of humorous and grotesque woodcuts published in Paris in 1565. Based on the satirical Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel by François Rabelais, the book … Continue reading →

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Paper Matters

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Many years ago, I tried my hand at paper making. I think that I still have files of homemade paper stashed away somewhere. I wasn’t very good at papermaking, but I developed a real appreciation for the skill involved in … Continue reading →

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Copenhagen Now Has A Parkipelago

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

CPH-Ø1 is a 215 square-foot handmade floating platform with a tree planted in the center. The min-island represents the first piece in a new project from local design studio Fokstrot. The “Parkipelago” is an innovative concept in public spaces coming to Copenhagen’s inner … Continue reading →

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Death Before Decaf

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

As a life-long coffee addict and devoted aficianado, I was thrilled to get turned-on to a periodical that is “about coffee, the people who drink it, and the cities they inhabit.” Drift magazine is all about the joys of wandering great cities, … Continue reading →

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Un Bouquiniste et Notre Dame

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

The last few times that I’ve been in Paris I’ve been disappointed to find that the traditional bouquinistes or booksellers along the Seine have been slowly replaced by vendors of tourist tat. This photo from 1931 by Jean Pierre Yves Petit (aka … Continue reading →

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Reading 1932

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Pablo Picasso, La Lecture (The Reading) 1932 : The artist’s “muse” Marie-Therese Walter asleep in a chair with a book in her lap.  

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How far is it ?

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

I’m a big fan of Helsinki-based geographer Topi Tjukanov’s always innovative presentations of data from new perspectives/ This clever graphic examines just how far you can drive in one hour from twenty different European capitals.

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