Monsters In Philadelphia

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

With Frankenstein and Dracula, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker created two of history’s most memorable monsters. Two hundred years after Frankenstein was published, pages from Mary Shelley’s manuscript will make their only appearance in the United States, to be displayed for the first time alongside Philadelphia’s famed Rosenbach Museum and Library’s collection of Bram Stoker’s notes for Dracula, accompanied by 19th-century scientific, medical, and literary works. These Gothic literary giants emerged from the technological developments, medical breakthroughs, and environmental disasters that characterized the beginning and end of the 19th century, when the novels were written.

Frankenstein & Dracula: Gothic Monsters, Modern Science will explore the pressing scientific and ethical questions that compelled these authors to imagine their monsters, creating stories that still haunt us today.The exhibition gallery features an interactive experience designed to emphasize the connection between the novels by Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker and the scientific and ethical questions of the present day.The experience begins at a kiosk in the gallery that places the visitor in the role of a scientist tasked with defeating one of three modern monsters by creating new technology or modifying a living organism. After concluding an experiment, visitors may opt into learning more about the medical history that influenced Bram Stoker’s tale or about the science and ethics of contemporary epidemiology.

The Rosenbach, which is located on Delancey Place in the Rittenhouse Square district, is an all too frequently overlooked gem. If you love books, be sure to make time for this extraordinary institution.

h/t to the Rosenbach for the information on this special exhibition and the images.

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Isn’t It Romantic

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

England’s famed Lake District has recently been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage region, but it has long attracted literary tourists and nature lovers. The Craig Manor Hotel on beautiful Lake Windermere has produced the charming infographic below to appeal to biblio-tourists and devotees of 19th century romantic writers.

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Kafka Meets The Matrix

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Mexican writer/director Pablo Calvillo’s animated short film Inksect is an intense Kafkaesque vision of a dystopian future where books are burned. Still, there’s some hope for bibliophiles in this surreal world captured in an engaging and original animation style. Be sure to watch it in full screen HD.

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This Is Real Street Art

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Isafjördur is a small city in the extreme northwest corner of Iceland. It’s a remote place with a population of just 2,600 year-round residents, but like the rest of the country it has been experiencing a tourism boom. And with the visitors, traffic problems arrived. To protect local pedestrians, and rambling tourists too, the city partnered with Vegamálun to create eye-catching crosswalks to slow drivers down a bit. Seems like a good concept that would work everywhere.

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Sleep Is For The Weak

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years I’ve tried ever possible gimmick to manage to get some sleep while flying. As a life-long insomniac, air travel usually means a sleep-less night, or at best fitful tossing, turning and squirming in an uncomfortable seat. Even when I’ve had the cushy opportunity to fly First or Business Class, sleep more often than not is elusive. The infographic below, from the international job placement firm Work The World, does however provide some good tips for you normal travelers.

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Not Exactly True

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

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Switzerland: Another Reason To Visit

Posted on October 7, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Just in case you needed another good reason to consider a trip to Switzerland, on October 21st the Camille Bloch chocolate company will open its new chocolate museum and tasting center near the firm’s headquarters in the village of Courtelay.

Devotees of Swiss chocolate—still the world’s best as far as I’m concerned—will be well acquainted with the Camille Bloch line of delectable treats. The family-run company, in business since 1929, produces lots of popular chocolates, including the terrific Ragusa and Torino bars. And don’t get me started on their liqueur-filled chocolates.

So, if you’re on a chocolate-themed trip to Switzerland, it’s worth a detour to Courtelay, in the Bernese Jura near the French border, for a museum visit, chocolate tasting, and factory tour.

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A Village After Dark

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

This year’s Nobel prize for literature was announced yesterday. I don’t usually pay much attention to these types of awards, but I really thought that this would be Margaret Atwood’s year. Still, even though I was surprised by the selection of Kazuo Ishiguro, I am a fan of his work. In fact, I think that “Never Let Me Go” is an often overlooked masterpiece.

The prize announcement reminded me of one of Ishiguro’s enigmatic short stories titled “A Village After Dark” that I read years ago in The New Yorker magazine:

There was nothing I recognized, and I found myself walking forever around twisting, badly lit streets hemmed in on both sides by the little stone cottages characteristic of the area. The streets often became so narrow I could make no progress without my bag or my elbow scraping one rough wall or another. I persevered nevertheless, stumbling around in the darkness in the hope of coming upon the village square—where I could at least orient myself—or else of encountering one of the villagers. When after a while I had done neither, a weariness came over me, and I decided my best course was just to choose a cottage at random, knock on the door, and hope it would be opened by someone who remembered me.

You can read the entire short story here.

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Fun With Kafka

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

If you are a regular reader of TBTP, you know that I’m a big fan of London-based cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld. Along with his weekly comic strips in the Guardian and the New Scientist, Gauld’s work regularly appears in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and many other prestigious publications.Now he has released a new hilarious book of comics titled “Baking With Kafka”, which pokes fun at literary and cultural norms. I’m certain that it will be a huge success.

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Roll Away The Stone

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Last year, Reykjavik-based Studio Granda architectural and design group won an unusual competition, sponsored by Akureyri, Iceland’s second city, to create a monument to mark the spot where the Arctic Circle crosses Icelandic territory. The winning design, called Hringur og Kúla, or Ring and Sphere, is a 8 metric ton, concrete globe now set at 66.56°N on the small windswept island of Grimsey 40 km off of the North Iceland .

There were some significant hiccups in getting the giant sphere to the island, including a minor trucking catastrophe and a long delay. But last week, the official dedication finally was marked with a small celebration.

Unfortunately, since the Arctic Circle actually moves each year, the monument will have to be shifted northward by a few meters. And, sometime after 2050, due to the Earth’s axial tilt, the big globe will wind up in the Arctic Ocean. But for now, you can visit after a 30 minute flight from Akureyri or a stomach-churning 3 hour ferry ride.

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