Harry Potter Underground

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

Diehard fans of the Wizarding World now have an actual London Underground map detailing the landmarks from JK Rowling’s books with fictional Tube stations—except for King’s Cross and Paddington of course.

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Posted in Animation, Art, Books, Europe, Film, Maps, Public Transport, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Not so secret, but worth a look anyway

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

Love Home Swap, a popular home exchange website, analyzed more than 700,000 travel tips from 70,000 site members to create a list of travel recommendations. here’s the result in their “Top 150 Secret Destinations” infographic. Maybe not so secret, but worth a look anyway.

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Posted in Asia, Canada, Europe, Museums, Restaurants, South America, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Welcome to Dismaland

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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I have never been to the UK seaside resort town of Weston-super-Mare; it’s just not the kind of place that usually attracts foreign visitors. But I’d make an exception to visit Banksy’s new Dismaland “theme park”, which opens today for a six week run. Described as “a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchy”, Dismaland inhabits a derelict seafront attraction called Tropicana.

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Banksy’s take on an amusement park features 18 fairground-type attractions created by dozens of international artists, such as Jenny Holzer, Polly Morgan, Caitlin Cherry, Damien Hirst, and David Shrigley. Visitors will find fun-filled attractions like a migrant boat ride, “Cinderella’s Castle”, carnival rides, a puppet theater, comedy shows, a program of art films, and music by the likes of Pussy Riot and Massive Attack.

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Tickets cots just £3 and the whole shebang runs until September 27, 2015.

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Posted in Architecture, Art, Europe, Film, Theater, Tourism | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Twins Take Manhattan

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Last August, I was fortunate to show up in Vancouver when the Brazilian street art brother act Os Gemeos was putting finishing touches on a huge installation on Granville Island. So I was thrilled to discover that “The Twins”, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, have taken over Times Square in Manhattan with a fantastic animated art show utilizing the enormous screen lining the buildings. Running until August 31st, the synchronized production featuring some of Os Gemeos’ most popular “characters” bursts to life every night from 11:57 until midnight.

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Posted in Animation, Architecture, Art, South America, Tech, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Teahouse with Laserbeams

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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The Japanese artist who goes by the enigmatic name of Segawa Thirty Seven turns classic woodblock prints and paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries into amusing animated gifs. The addition of trains, spaceships, kites, lasers and flying objects bring the static works to life.

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Posted in Animation, Art, Asia, Tech | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Think Globally, Read Locally

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Longmont Colorado financial planner and author Ron Vejrostek found himself frustrated by the lack of opportunities for local writers to market their books, so he opened his own bookshop. But what makes Local Editions special is its policy of only selling books by Colorado authors. Vejrostek has also committed to giving authors 70% of the sale price for their books. The bookshop had its grand opening last Saturday with just 130 titles. With its location just next door to Boulder, I don’t think Local Editions will have any problem attracting regional authors or customers.

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Book and Bed

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Beginning next month, book lovers who visit Tokyo will have a very special place to stay. The Book and Bed Hotel, which is located in the Toshima district, comes fully stocked with thousands of books provided by Shibuya Publishing Booksellers and even has sleeping nooks built into bookshelves.

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Posted in Asia, Books, Bookstore Tourism, Hotels, Tourism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Offworld Vacations

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Chicago-based graphic designer Justin Van Genderen has created a wonderful series of minimalist posters that imagine Star Wars planets as travel destinations.

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Mapping the Wild Things

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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The late American artist and illustrator David McLimans published widely in periodicals as varied as The Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times, and was awarded a Caldecott Medal for his children’s book Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet. I especially like his series of map collages featuring animals and insects.

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Writing Lessons From William S. Burroughs

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Back in 1979, William S. Burroughs taught a writing course for Boulder Colorado’s Naropa University. Thanks to the magic of YouTube we can all learn the secrets of the Beat icon. The three part video series covers Burroughs’s views on writing techniques, science fiction, the occult, neuroscience, cloning, and authors as varied as Paul Bowles, Joseph Conrad, Carson McCullers, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen King.

h/t to Dangerous Minds

Posted in Art, Books, Film, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment