Drive Time Radio

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Drive and Listen is a terrific mashup of city driving videos with the same city’s local radio stations. Pick a city and cruise the streets to tunes, news and talk that you can’t hear at home. Each time you select one of the 50 or so cities you’ll get a different combination of radio station and driving footage shot at differing times of day or night. But be aware that it can be oddly addicting. In these stay-at-home times, it’s both nostalgic and liberating to be able to wander the streets of your favorite cities in the U.S. and around the world.

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but whenever Monday comes…

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Julio Cortàzar

h/t Anisa Makhoul

LydiaDavis

Driving in Iceland is not for the fainthearted. Route 1 north of Hofn in southeastern Iceland passing Eystrahorn Mountain.

Charles Bukowski

Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores
Pictured: Illustration of Words on Water (London) by Bob Eckstein

 

 

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Couldn’t Hurt

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

h/t Wild Detectives Books

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Just One of the Reasons We Love Iceland

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

According to the 2020 Global Peace Index, Iceland is the most peaceful nation on the planet. Since 2008, the Institute for Economics and Peace has ranked Iceland first. This year, it is followed by New Zealand,  Austria, Portugal and Denmark on the list. 

Each year, 163 countries and independent states are rated across three domains: Societal safety and security domain, Ongoing domestic and international conflict domain, and militarization domain. Countries are also evaluated according to their economic cost of violence.

Since the list has been published, European countries consistently rank in the top 20. In fact, for 2020 13 of the top 20 most peaceful nations are in Europe. For comparison, the United States ranked number 121 again this year.

You can view the full report here.

 

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Notes on a native son

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The unfolding events of recent weeks in the United States have fostered a long overdue interest in the writings of many Black American authors. Few African American writers have had the deep and lasting impact on our culture that James Baldwin demonstrated for more than six decades. More than thirty years since his death, Baldwin’s work continues to resonate for us all.

The animated video below from political science Professor Christina Green is an excellent introduction to the iconic author, his life and his writings.

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How Dickensian

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

A big thanks and a tip of the hat to TBTP reader Lucy from the UK for sending me the marvelous Dickens cartoon (below) by the great Tom Gauld. If you follow this humble blog, you will be aware that this week marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens.

 

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“From these garish lights I vanish now for evermore…”

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens. Among the commemorations, there was this stunning sound and light installation which was projected onto Westminster Abbey’s iconic West Towers last weekend. The projection was created by light and sound specialists, Luxmuralis, in collaboration with the Charles Dickens Museum and Westminster Abbey.

The work is rich and vivid, saturated in color and dense with visual effects set against a stirring soundtrack which builds to form a dramatic and poignant tribute to the writer. It features illustrations, quotes and a new colorised photograph of the author taken from the exhibition ‘Technicolour Dickens: The Living Image of Charles Dickens’ which will launch at the Charles Dickens Museum as soon as it is able to re-open.

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How You Can Help From Anywhere

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned 16th Street N.W. near the White House to be painted with the words “Black Lives Matter,” and renamed the nearby street, “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”

If you would like to help the Black Lives Matter movement but don’t know how, or are not able to contribute financially, a group of thoughtful YouTubers have created monetized videos that directly support affiliated organizations — all you need to do is stream.

According to Tone Deaf, Zoe Amira created the first video (below) — an hour-long clip comprising music, poetry, and art from black artists. One-hundred percent of the advertising revenue will be donated to various organizations offering bail funds, financial support for families affected by police brutality, and advocacy groups.

In order for the video to be profitable, you must disable ad-blocker and keep the video volume on (you can mute the tab though, to keep it running in the background).

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Freedom Suite

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

This striking performance (below)of North Carolina-born drummer Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite,” a medley of “Tears for Johannesburg” and the triptych “PRAYER / PROTEST / PEACE,” was recorded by a television station in 1964—the same year the Civil Rights Act deemed discrimination based on race, color, religion, and gender illegal. Referred to as “an early soundtrack to Black Lives Matter” by the North Carolina Arts Council, the tracks addressed injustices in the US and in South Africa—including repulsive reactions to sit-ins in Greenboro’s Woolworth’s Department Store and the Sharpeville Massacre in the apartheid-stricken African nation. Roach, with Abbey Lincoln (vocals), Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (piano), Eddie Khan (bass) and Clifford Jordan (saxophone) dedicated their artistic abilities to justice. Largely improvised, the piece struck a nerve among white jazz-listeners and was praised within Black communities as revolutionary and representative. In the liners notes of We Insist! (the album on which the tracks appeared), the triptych is explained as the “uncontrollable unleashing of rage and anger that have been compressed in fear for so long.

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Types of Readers

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

 

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