Responding to the Quiet

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

10-Lucid-Stead-by-Phillip-K-Smith-III-yatzer

Here at TBTP we’re always keep an eye out for attention grabbing street art and dynamic installations. This mesmerizing work by California-based artist Phillip K. Smith III seized our attention immediately. As you will see from the video below (if you invest four minutes of your time), Smith transformed a seventy year old, deserted homesteader’s shack in Joshua Tree, California into a day/night exploration of light, shadow and reflection.

Smith draws his inspiration from the landscape, the reductive geometries of minimalism and the California Light & Space Movement. The resulting work is emphatically straightforward and eminently accessible.

4-Lucid-Stead-by-Phillip-K-Smith-III-yatzer

12-Lucid-Stead-by-Phillip-K-Smith-III-yatzer

Posted in Architecture, Art, Film, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Hunger Games Are Real

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

A non-profit organization called The Harry Potter Alliance has launched a clever Hunger Games-themed social justice campaign called “Odds In Our Favor”. The group has released a rabble-rousing video called “The Hunger Games Are Real”, which uses events from Suzanne Collins‘ trilogy to share disturbing statistics about poverty, hunger, social justice, worker safety and income inequality in the United States. Even if you are not a fan of the books or films, you should find the video engaging and inspiring.

Happy Thanksgiving

Related articles
Posted in Books, Film, movies, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mild Case of Bibliomania

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

As a seller of antiquarian and collectible books, I’m frequently asked to explain the attraction of “old books’ to non-bibliophiles. The questions usually come from customers seeking to purchase a book as a gift for a book lover in their lives, or more often from a book buyer who thinks the prices of antiquarian books are just too high.

In this wonderful video, “A Mild Case of Bibliomania”, Raymond Russell, the founder of the independent publisher Tartarus Press, shares his experience as a life-long bibliophile.

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Europe, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Middle Earth (travel to)

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

10927138974_eac2887d32_o

Posted in Books, movies, Tourism | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Middle Earth (more of)

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

With “The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug” hitting theaters everywhere on December 13, 2013, and another Middle Earth media blitz, Google has released “Journey Through Middle-earth, A Chrome Experiment“. This interactive application provides a first person perspective for a trip through Hobbit-related locales in Middle Earth . It’s a bit hokey but fun if you’re a true Tolkien fan. Take a journey right here (but use Google Chrome, of course).

Posted in Animation, apps, Books, Film | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Another Day in Middle Earth

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Back in 2012, Air New Zealand produced an amusing in-flight safety video called “An Unexpected Briefing” with help from Peter Jackson and the Hobbit gang. They recently followed up with a new promotional video titled “Just Another Day in Middle Earth”. The new video includes actual Air New Zealand staff, as well as actors from the Hobbit trilogy and a voice over by the 7th Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy, who plays the wizard Radagast the Brown.

12

Posted in Film, Tourism | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Buy Them A Book This Year

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I’m always a sucker for witty bookshop signage, so I was tickled by the staff’s clever efforts at Kaleido Books in Perth, Australia. If you would like to see more, or connect with the independent bookstore, which is located at Perth’s railway station, just visit them at their Facebook page.

enhanced-buzz-18011-1385057925-24

enhanced-buzz-17800-1385057688-27

enhanced-buzz-19053-1385057733-27

enhanced-buzz-27075-1385058003-26

enhanced-buzz-18391-1385057800-19

580268_357953237642012_1495958467_n

1015500_387292554708080_337938069_o

1463960_447336212037047_895585089_n

1146535_410789079025094_643883323_n

Posted in Art, Books, Bookstore Tourism | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Transforming Topography

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Pennsylvania_700

Ed Fairburn is a Cardiff-based Welsh freelance artist who melds geography and art in a powerful marriage of form. His evocative and moving map art is complex, richly textured and always visually stunning. You can see more of his phenomenal work and read about his process on his personal website, and you can support the work by purchasing prints right here too. Take a look:

Galloway_editresize7003

Cambridge700

Western-Front-Cutout-I_700

Norwich2700

Die-Milche-Strasse

543156_471457239574799_24717965_n

Related articles
Posted in Art, Europe, Maps | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Genuine London

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

camden

London-based illustrator and designer Jack Noel has created an ongoing series of shrewdly observed, colorful prints that celebrate the distinct personality and character of London’s boroughs. The project wisely eschews most of tourist London for the genuine, quotidian city.

Jack-Noel-Street-View-Lambeth

You can see more from the collection and even purchase limited edition prints here.

Jack-Noel-Street-View-Hammersmith-and-Fulham

Jack-Noel-Street-View-Southwark

Jack-Noel-Street-View-Hackney

wandsworth

islington

Posted in Art, Europe, Tourism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Literary Coffee

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

22_kafka

Gianluca Biscalchin is an accomplished food and cookbook illustrator, and you may have seen his wonderful series of author illustrations called “Scrittori”. Now he has created this marvelous graphic (see below) called “Literary Coffee”. Enjoy:

literary-coffee

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment