Boston is one of those rare cities in the United States that still has an abundance of excellent independent bookstores. One of my all time favorites in Boston is the wonderful family owned Brattle Book Shop. Not only is it one of America’s oldest secondhand bookstores, it’s also one of the best. Take a peek:
“A Postcard from the Volcano”
by
Wallace Stevens
Children picking up our bones
Will never know that these were once
As quick as foxes on the hill;
And that in autumn, when the grapes
Made sharp air sharper by their smell
These had a being, breathing frost;
And least will guess that with our bones
We left much more, left what still is
The look of things, left what we felt
At what we saw. The spring clouds blow
Above the shuttered mansion-house,
Beyond our gate and the windy sky
Cries out a literate despair.
We knew for long the mansion’s look
And what we said of it became
A part of what it is … Children,
Still weaving budded aureoles,
Will speak our speech and never know,
Will say of the mansion that it seems
As if he that lived there left behind
A spirit storming in blank walls,
A dirty house in a gutted world,
A tatter of shadows peaked to white,
Smeared with the gold of the opulent sun.
Book art by Malena Valcarel
While it’s not unusual for books to be made into films, it’s less common for movies to be transformed into print. A24, the New York City-based entertainment company responsible for the films such as Moonlight, Spring Breakers, Ex Machina, Room and The Witch has begun turning its movies into books. With a slew of Academy Award nominations and wins, the company has recently turned three of its most successful titles into books: Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Each of the titles is notable for their visionary writer-directors.
The books include a screenplay and a visual section titled 24 Frames – a curation of full-color stills that are particularly meaningful to the director. The books also have forwards by Frank Ocean and Carmen Maria Machado for Moonlight and The Witch respectively, along with production notes and art work.
I know that I posted a story on this Berlin art collective a while ago, but I recently stumbled on a video about the group and thought I’d share again. The artists involved in the project travel around Europe making prints and clothing with a direct printing technique and water-based inks. You can discover more about the Raubdruckerin on their website and look out for their pop-up stores.
Way back in the last century I had the good fortune to spend some quality time in Scotland. The extraordinary timelapse video below from the brilliant Danish photographer Casper Rolsted is a three minute taste of the experience of a journey through the amazing landscapes of Scotland. Here’s what he had to say about Scotland in Motion:
In this film about the Scottish Highlands you will experience places like Glencoe, The Storr, Quiraing, Fairy Pools and many other places on the Isle of Skye.
The shots are made in May 2019 where I had the pleasure to travel around the Scottish Highlands for two weeks. I had the pleasure to experience the spectacular Isle of Skye with a sunrise at the Storr, a long hike and lot of mist at the Quiraing and the beautiful Fairy Pools. In Glencoe I experienced the lakes Glencoe Lochan and Lochan Urr, Glen Etive with amazing still water, had an interesting and demanding climb to the top of Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in UK and finally made a timelapse at the Glenfinnan Viaduct with the steam train known from Harry Potter.
Ever since I visited the Roman ruins at Arenas de Lutece in Paris, I have been intrigued by the city’s early history. The wonderful video below offers a 3D animated tour of the city from 52 BCE until the late 19th century. It’s only 13 minutes long, but it’s packed with history.
A Child’s Garden of Verse, Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrations by Brian Wildsmith
Travel Between The Pages 