Category Archives: Writing

Devotion is full of arrows

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

ON KINGDOMS Joanna Klink Who is ever at home in oneself. Land without mercy. Interstates set flickering by night. When I speak to you I can feel a storm falling blackly to the roads, the pelting rains the instant they … Continue reading →

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

Censorship Is A Dead End

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last … Continue reading →

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

Pulp Fiction Fictions

Posted on September 19, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Screenwriter Todd Alcott, creates these wonderful digital mashups  that combine the language of pop music and the visual language of 20th century pulp fiction paperbacks. While Alcott finds many of his vintage book covers online, he still discovers a few … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Music, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Beckett’s Theories

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Two short works from underappreciated Canadian poet, essayist, Greek scholar Anne Carson.      

Posted in Books, Canada, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

These songs of freedom

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Paris-based Mathematic Studio produced this wonderful animation for Bob Marley’s timeless “Redemption Song.” Directed by Octave Marsal and Théo de Gueltzl, the video draws heavily on imagery and iconography surrounding the Rastafarian movement.

Posted in Africa, Animation, Art, Film, movies, Music, Writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Little Roadside Poetry

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

From Maine to New Mexico and from Alabama to Minnesota a series of roadside poetry signs have been popping up across the United States. The often philosophical works are all based on Japanese Senryū  style a sister poem to the … Continue reading →

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

Dune, Now and Then

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Science Fiction fans around the world—myself included—were excited to see the first trailer for the new Dune film last week. (see below)Although I enjoyed the first cinematic interpretation of Frank Herbert’s interstellar saga, like many I found David Lynch’s version lacking in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Film, movies, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dear Book People

Posted on September 10, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

  Sincerely Erik, is a moving short film written and directed by Naz Riahi about one bookseller struggling in these plague times. Although it is fictional, it poignantly reflects the reality that many folks in the book trade are experiencing all over … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, movies, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

For in the beginning of literature there is myth

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote” by Jorge Luis Borges Translated by Andrew Hurley Weary of his land of Spain, an old soldier of the king’s army sought solace in the vast geographies of Ariosto, in that valley of the moon … Continue reading →

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

The Parable of the Author

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

I am not a big re-reader of books, but at the start of the pandemic I picked-up a copy of Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower. If you are not familiar with the novel, it was published in 1993, but was … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment