Accidentally Wes Anderson

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

I have been a fan of Wes Anderson’s off-kilter films ever since Rushmore. I’d have a difficult time picking my favorite, but The Grand Budapest Hotel will do in a pinch. The creators of a wonderful Instagram account called  Accidentally Wes Anderson  which collects and shares images from people around the world have just published a compilation of 200 their best photos. Here’s what the publisher Voracious has to say about the new release:

A visual adventure of Wes Anderson proportions, authorized by the legendary filmmaker himself: stunning photographs of real-life places that seem plucked from the just-so world of his films, presented with fascinating human stories behind each façade.
Accidentally Wes Anderson began as a personal travel bucket list, a catalog of visually striking and historically unique destinations that capture the imagined worlds of Wes Anderson. Now, inspired by a community of more than one million Adventurers, Accidentally Wes Anderson tells the stories behind more than 200 of the most beautiful, idiosyncratic, and interesting places on Earth. This book, authorized by Wes Anderson himself, travels to every continent and into your own backyard to identify quirky landmarks and undiscovered gems: places you may have passed by, some you always wanted to explore, and many you never knew existed. Fueled by a vision for distinctive design, stunning photography, and unexpected narratives, Accidentally Wes Anderson is a passport to inspiration and adventure. Perfect for modern travelers and fans of Wes Anderson’s distinctive aesthetic, this is an invitation to look at your world through a different lens.

Just for comparison, here’s an iPhone shot of the barn in Glenorchy, New Zealand that I shot almost a year ago. No filters.

 

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The Walk

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Good Chance is a humanitarian theatre company founded in 2015 in the unofficial refugee camp in Calais, France that’s often called “The Jungle”. It is behind an exciting  public art project that will travel across two continents and many national borders. (see map below) The Walk will see a 3.5-meter puppet of a nine-year-old girl named Little Amal travel over 8,000 kilometers across Turkey and Europe in search of her mother. According to the project creators, she is “an emblem of the millions of displaced refugee children separated from their families”.

The theater group, which made its name co-creating theatrical shows with people living in the Calais camp, has teamed up with Handspring Puppet Company, the award-winning creators of the puppets in the production of War Horse. From April to July 2021,  Little Amal will travel from the Syria-Turkey border across Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France to reach the UK, culminating in a huge public event at the Manchester International Festival.

Along the journey, more than 70 communities will welcome Little Amal with street parades and city-wide performances of music, dance and theatre. Each step of the trip will be documented and shared online. International audiences are invited to share Little Amal’s story to raise awareness of the plight of displaced people.

An education program will also run in tandem with The Walk’s artistic events. Before, during and after her journey, Little Amal will connect with young people from refugee and non-refugee communities through creative learning projects, developed specifically for each location. The program aims to highlight the millions of displaced children who are more vulnerable than ever during the global pandemic. This will be accompanied by a fundraising campaign to help support refugees, which will take place as Little Amal travels across Turkey and Europe.

You can learn more about the project here.

 

 

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Autumn Rivulets

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

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It’s Penguin Voting Time Again

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

I can’t believe that at this time last year I was packing for a trip to New Zealand and voting for Penguin of the Year. Well elections are on everyone’s mind in the US, New Zealand and beyond.  But advance voting has now begun for the Penguin of the Year. Personally I’m voting for Martin, but Dave is a close runner-up.

One of the many joys of New Zealand travel is the opportunity to see penguins in the wild without going to Antarctica. I was lucky to get close-up with groups of blue penguins like Martin in Fiordlands National Park and I was also able to see the very rare yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula on the South Island near Dunedin. There are only a few thousand of the yellow-eyed aquatic birds in the world and many of them visit the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust each year. You can learn about them right here.

Dave

 

 

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Wandering Tree Project

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Stuttgart Germany’s Wanderbaumallee’s project brings “walking trees ” and bee-friendly patches of greenery to neighborhoods around the city throughout the spring and summer months. The mobile units contain trees, shrubbery and seating areas that are transported and then cared for by the locals themselves. Moving through the city, Wanderbaumallee makes a striking statement about the need for more green spaces while encouraging locals to get involved in changing their environment. In the autumn, the trees are then planted to allow them to grow, flourish and make their permanent homes in the city. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr8hOOE_6LQ

 

The trees are mounted on transportable decks that double as benches and resting spaces for the locals once the trees have reached their temporary homes in the city. The trees then act not only as greenery serving the local insects, but also as temporary community spaces offering meeting points, benches and places for the local community to stop, rest or gather.

Originating from a frustration about the city administration’s process of creating guidelines and policies that allow their citizens take part in urbanism, city planning and greening, Wanderbaumallee defy any city regulations so far. It is this that the striking and impressive moving of the trees through the city emphasizes A small greening army of trees forces the city to reconsider its regulations and give more power to the people.

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I will judge you by your bookshelf

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

If you visit Travel Between The Pages regularly, you probably have noticed that we are big fans of the always clever and insightful cartoon artist Grant Snider. It’s about time that we acknowledge his brilliant book I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf and point you in the direction to purchase a copy.

Signed copies are available from @watermarkbooks​, his favorite independent bookstore:

https://www.watermarkbooks.com/grant-snider-signed-copies

 

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Nature is liberating

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Regular readers of TBTP know that I am a bit obsessed with Iceland. And even though I couldn’t visit this year due to the pandemic travel restrictions, I’ve already made plans for my next trip. So until then I must be satisfied with virtual visits.

Over the past few years, California photographer, biker, and surfer Chris Burkhard has also been a little obsessed with Iceland. You may have seen some of his extraordinary photos from his trips or heard about his insane bike trip across the country from east to west coast through the wild highlands. His wonderful short film below titled Unnur tells the story of Icelandic surfer and photographer Elli Thor and his young daughter. The 19 minute video is a lovely tale of a father-daughter relationship, as well as an exceptional look at one of my favorite places on Earth.

 

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Live Your Way Into The Answer

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them…the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

Kurt Vonnegut // “Why me? That’s a very Earthling question to ask…why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? Yes. Well here we are…trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.”

Toni Morrison // “And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. We substituted good grammar for intellect; we switched habits to simulate maturity; we rearranged lies and called it truth.”

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I Love Autumn

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Home of Chocolate

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Somehow I missed one of the most important stories of last month with the news that Lindt has opened an all new headquarters museum near Zurich. The Lindt Home of Chocolate welcomed its first visitors in Kilchberg, Switzerland on September 15th. The largest of its kind in the world, the museum offers 65,000 square feet of chocoholic content, including an interactive exhibition dedicated to the magic food’s history and production, a café, a Lindt chocolate shop, a research facility for chocolate innovation, a space for chocolate-making classes, and a viewable production line.

Arguably the museum’s main attraction is an enormous 9-meter chocolate fountain situated in the central hall. The impressive fountain features an giant golden whisk that drips 1,500 liters of liquid cocoa into a giant Lindor truffle. The chocolate flows through the sculpture’s 100 meters of hidden piping at a rate of a kilogram per second.

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