The Cooper Review, a very funny satirical blog edited by writer/comedian Sarah Cooper, recently posted this funny but true airplane seating chart. Although she’s chosen to specifically skewer Delta, it sure applies to every air carrier that I’ve flown in the past few years, except Air Canada.
I first stumbled upon some of French street artist Charles Leval’s (aka Levalet) imaginative paste-ups of black and white figures last year in Paris. Thanks to TBTP reader Maria Milan, here’s a series of his reading related pieces. Some were even augmented with actual books and printed pages.
Between 2012 and 2014, photographer Kien Lam traveled 80,000 miles through 15 countries snapping thousands of photos along the way. When he returned home, he turned them into this joyous, frenetic, amped-up time-lapse video called “Time and Again”. You can read all about the trip and Lam’s other work at his website Where Wander.
Hog Island Press is a well regarded print shop in historic Philadelphia. They recently created this terrific map that “documents” our unique American cryptozoology. I can’t vouch for Mothman or Big Foot, but I did spot the Jersey Devil once many years ago on a late night jaunt through the Pine Barrens in New Jersey. Although to be completely accurate, there was some mescaline involved.
You can have your very own copy of the Monsters in America map for just $25 right here.
Over the course of an entire year, London-based conceptual artist and photographer Rolf Sachs took a series of captivating photographs that straddle the line between abstract art and landscape photography. Taken from moving trains, “Camera in Motion: From Chur to Tirano” captures the stunning countryside of the Swiss Graubünden along the UNESCO recognized Rhaetian Albula/Bernina Railway. Now a century old, the route is a testament to the pioneering days of railroad building in Europe.
I have found memories of riding this route for weeks one summer long ago while camping and hiking throughout the Upper and Lower Engadine and the Graubünden. Without a doubt, this is one of the most beautiful areas in Europe. Especially if you can get off the train and explore the mountains, valleys and villages.
London-based artist Simon Jones imagines what classic album tracks would look like as well-thumbed paperback books. He lines up the “used paperbacks” with the book spines each featuring a song title from the same album. You can see more (and buy prints) on Jones’ etsy site Standard Designs.
Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong worked some magic of his own when he secured permission from the Abbot of the historic Admont Monastery in Styria Austria for a decidedly Disneyesque fashion photo shoot inspired by Beauty and the Beast.
Bibliophiles will probably know all about the 900+ year-old Benedictine abbey due to its astonishing 18th century Baroque library. With more than 200,000 volumes and a priceless collection of early manuscripts and incunabula, the abbey’s library is one of the largest in any ecclesiastic institution in the world. Originally constructed in 1776, and restored during the late 19th century, the library is 70 meters long, 14 meters wide and more than 12 meters high. The awe-inspiring frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte are a monument to book culture.
Yesterday was Public Domain Day in the United States and in many other nations around the world. The first day of every year creative works that have outlived their legal copyrights enter the public domain and become freely available for all to use. Sounds great right, but the labyrinthine system of copyright law in the U.S. has drastically limited the number of works entering public domain and has made it increasingly difficult for the unlawyered to understand copyright regulations.
This very helpful infographic (see below) developed by NeoMam Studios may explain the murky rules and clarify the opaque system.You can also learn more about it all here and at the fantastic website Public Domain Review. And if you’re really into this stuff, you can download a free copy of Tales From the Public Domain: Bound By Law, a great comic book about the convoluted system in the U.S..
As part of an exhibition called Contemporary Venice, Geneva-based artist/illustrator Istvan created a stunning series of city maps that blend uncannily with their environments . Printed on large panes of acrylic, the maps represent the indelible connection between urban areas and their surroundings.
Travel Between The Pages 