Category Archives: USA

Plane Spotting

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Lithuanian photographer Mindaugas Kavaliauskas has spent years working on travel’AIR a project about people, planes, and airports, which has taken him around the globe to capture the fascination that air travel still holds for people. The newest series in the ongoing project … Continue reading →

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Who Needs Turkey

Posted on November 24, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Who needs turkey when you’ve got a Philly pretzel ? This wonderful street art mural appeared recently in Philadelphia’s up-and-coming Port Richmond district. The newest work from the Local Critters Project mural series was created thanks to a crowd funding … Continue reading →

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NYC Layered

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I have never seen anything quite like this very trippy, multi-layered time-lapse video below. Here’s what the filmmaker Julian Tryba had to say about the process: Traditional time-lapses are constrained by the idea that there is a single universal clock. … Continue reading →

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Fillory and Further

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I’m a big fan of author Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy. The brilliant and always entertaining fantasy series is like a rollicking mash-up of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The books come with some very cool Tolkien-like … Continue reading →

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They Promised Me Ponies

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I am not the least bit embarrassed to admit that I am a devoted fan of the Simpsons. The show often offers unparalleled insights into American culture and frequently functions as a guide to moral philosophy. From the first season, … Continue reading →

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Art of the Cover

Posted on November 10, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

As a book collector and a book seller, I have often purchased a book just because the dust jacket art caught my eye. In this terrific new book, The Illustrated Dust Jacket 1920-1970, author Martin Salisbury explores the transition from plain paper … Continue reading →

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At The Bookstore

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

“ I like to loiter around the city looking for interesting things,” the artist Jenny Kroik says. Her painting for this week’s New Yorker cover depicts a serious browser at the Strand Bookstore, the cherished bookshop in lower Manhattan. “I have … Continue reading →

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America 2017

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Sometimes a work of street art perfectly sums up the pathetic state of life in these United States. This week, BK Foxx nailed our national shame with this mural in New York City.

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Wherein I Eat My Words

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I recently posted a story about an amazing, futuristic-looking library that opened in Tianjin, China. In doing so, I also bemoaned the sorry state of library support in the United States and the lack of commitment to public libraries in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books, Libraries, USA | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Norway of the year

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Every year when November rolls around I am reminded of the quote above from the great American 19th century poet Emily Dickinson. I probably first read the line during high school when I was going through that adolescent poetry phase. … Continue reading →

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