Category Archives: USA

Summer in the City

Posted on August 9, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I can’t imagine a better way for book lovers to spend a summer evening in New York City than at a Books Beneath The Bridge event. Sponsored by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservency and local indie bookstores, the atmospheric weekly event features … Continue reading →

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We can have our pick of seats…

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“Edward Hopper’s New York Movie” by Joseph Stanton We can have our pick of seats. Though the movie’s already moving, the theater’s almost an empty shell. All we can see on our side of the room is one man and one … Continue reading →

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Pack up let’s fly away

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I have always been enamored with classic travel poster art. And there’s nothing better than the old school posters that were created for TWA in the 1950s and 1960s by David Klein.  

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A Long Goodbye

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

There have been numerous editions of the classic Raymond Chandler noir detective novel The Long Goodbye since its initial publication in 1953. But to my knowledge there hasn’t been a fully illustrated version until now. The upcoming publication was created for Chinese … Continue reading →

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Victory

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“Victory” by Denis Johnson the woman whose face has just finished breaking with a joy so infinite and heavy that it might be grief has won a car on a giveaway show, for her family, for an expanse of souls … Continue reading →

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August

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

 

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THE STRANGE HISTORY OF A MYSTERIOUS BEING

Posted on July 29, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I recently fell down a rabbithole after seeing a reference to 19th century American “Hollow Earth” proponents who toured the country giving lectures on the purported existence of a society living within the earth’s center. Some of these so-called explorers … Continue reading →

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trembling with the same cicada sound

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Here in the Northeastern U.S. we are experiencing the emergence of a brood of 17-year cicadas. Sitting in my garden listening to the noisy insects, I was reminded of this very short piece by the late American poet W.S. Merwin: … Continue reading →

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one person out of 8,000,000

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“Personal Poem” by Frank O’Hara Now when I walk around at lunchtime I have only two charms in my pocket an old Roman coin Mike Kanemitsu gave me and a bolt-head that broke off a packing case when I was … Continue reading →

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Sunday Plans

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

No one knows who the solitary man smoking a cigar in this paintings by Edward Hopper titled  “Sunday”  was, but for many viewers he embodies the ennui of a Sunday morning. Painted  in 1926, the work has often been seen … Continue reading →

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