Sarajevo: Rescue and Revival

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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On January 15th in Sarajevo, a new library opened to the public :  the reborn Gazi Husrev Bey Library which is home to a priceless collection of rare books and manuscripts dating from 1106. The original library was established in 1537 by an Ottoman governor in Bosnia.

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Over the centuries, the library grew to house a remarkable collection, including some of the first printed Islamic books, masterpieces of calligraphy and texts in Persian, Turkish, Arabic and Bosnian. During the Bosnian war in the early 1990s, as Sarajevo was under siege, a team of incredibly dedicated volunteers led by the library’s curator Mustafa Jahic smuggled tens of thousands of volumes from the collection to safe houses.

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Now two decades later the historic collection has been brought back together for the first time in a new  Gazi Husrev Bey Library, which was built with funding from the government of Qatar.

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photos © Islamic Arts Magazine

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Books I Love

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

Books I Love is a new social networking app for book lovers that allows readers to share their reading suggestions and critiques digitally with social contacts . The free iOS app lets users both send and receive book recommendations individually or to a list of contacts via email, Facebook or in app. The video below explains just how it works.

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Where is the Lyubov Orlova ?

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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If you’ve been anywhere near a computer or television this week, you’ve probably seen a rash of hyperbolic stories about a ghost cruise ship full of “cannibal rats” supposedly heading for the British coast. Well, the part about the loose, drifting ship is true, but the preposterous “cannibal rat” theory came from Pim de Rhoodes , a Belgian ship salvager with no real knowledge of the MV Lyubov Orlova’s situation.

The ghost ship was built in 1976 as an ice-strengthened cruise ship. Until 2005 it carried tourists to the Arctic and Antarctica. It languished until last year when it was being towed from New Foundland, Canada to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. Shortly after leaving St. John’s the tow cable either broke or was purposely released. Either way, the Orlova has been floating somewhere in the North Atlantic Gyre.

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The U.K.’s maritime authorities are not concerned about an imminent landing, but if you’re interested you can follow the story at the blog Where is Lyubov Orlova.

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Portugal by Design

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

It’s been way too long since I’ve visited Portugal and these marvelous travel posters have me checking-out airfares. The colorful work is all created by Porto-based artist Rui Ricardo. Along with these marvelous pieces, and other fantastic travel posters for European and Asian destinations, Ricardo has written graphic novels, animated films and designed music videos. You can see more of his travel art at his website and even buy some prints to brighten up your walls.

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Wellcome Images

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

V0045037 The Cow as Mother of the World: with pictures of deities all

On Monday, London’s famed Wellcome Library released a dizzying collection of digitized images from its vast archive. The free, downloadable high resolution images are available to copy, distribute, manipulate or edit. The rich and unique collection is wide-ranging, from social history to medical science, from the sublime to the macabre. It includes anatomical illustrations, Tibetan Buddhist art, early photographs, paintings, drawings, advertising art, illuminated manuscripts, maps, and much more. But be prepared to spend hours clicking through the collection of 100,000 images.

C0034454 Wellcome Building, exteriors.

V0017196 The black death. Watercolour by Monro S. Orr.

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V0016638 A perturbed young woman fast asleep

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V0025076 Geography: a map of the world, with local scenes around. Col

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Around the World by Social Media

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

Award-winning French advertising art director Thomas Jullien has put together this amazing stop-motion trip around the world using 852 Instagram photos posted by 852 different users. Crowd sourcing comes to video. You can follow Jullien’s many projects on his website I am Thomas Jullien . By the way, the music is Gold on the ceiling by the Black Keys.

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Creepy, Crawly Indeed

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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London-based book cover designer Jamie Keenan has created a terrific cover for a new paperback edition of Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella Metamorphosis. This version, based on a completely new translation by Susan Berofsky, has just been released by W W Norton in the U.S., and has an introduction by Davis Cronenberg. Bernofsky’s translation “strives to capture both the humor and the humanity in the macabre tale.”

I love the way that Keenan was able to cleverly reference the body of a beetle with an old Italian typeface. According to Keenan, he hoped to convey “that shiny black quality that beetles have and that weirdo, fiddly, twitchy thing that a lot of creepy, crawly things have.”

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On Such a Full Sea

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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My copy of author Chang-rae Lee’s new dystopian novel On Such a Full Sea came with the quaint, antiquated book jacket that you see above. Now I’m coveting the very cool limited edition 3D printed cover version (see below). Lee’s American publisher Riverhead teamed up with the folks at MakerBot to create a 3D book jacket slipcase for the novel. Take a look at the video below to see how it was all done.

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By the way, like all of Lee’s fine books, it’s well worth a read, but with a less than satisfying ending.

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The Burroughs Century

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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William S. Burroughs was an American author, painter, actor, Beat icon, and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. To celebrate the anniversary of his 100th birthday ( February 5, 2014 ), his birthplace, Bloomington Indiana is producing a festival called The Burroughs Century in his honor.

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Burroughs’ manuscripts, correspondence, paintings and memorabilia will be on display. There will also be a film series, featuring Howard Brookner’s definitive portrait of the writer, Burroughs: The Movie, along with art shows, musical events, literary panels, and more.

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Berlin : Cold Paradise ?

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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Russian-born, Berlin-based mural artist Polina Soloveichik describes her new hometown as a “cold Paradise”, but she’s doing all that she can to warm it up with vibrant, colorful wall art. The slickly produced little video below produced by Lufthansa follows Polina as she works her magic from sketches to finished paintings.

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