Travel Between The Pages

Performance Enhancing Drugs for Writers

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

You may have seen Grant Snider’s terrific “Ban This Book” comic created to “celebrate” Banned Book Week this year. You might also be familiar with his brilliant “Haruki Murakami Bingo” comic which appeared in the New York Times , or you may even follow him at Incidental Comics. But if you’re not a big fan as yet, Snider’s latest work (see below) “Performance Enhancing Drugs for Writers” will win you over.

Poster versions of Snider’s comics are available on his website.

Snider says, “I don’t advocate drug use—unless it leads to great works of literature.”

New Haruki Murakami novel to be published in April (japandailypress.com)
What’s Haruki Murakami’s new novel going to be about? (guardian.co.uk)
New Murakami in the Pipeline (themillions.com)

Posted in Art, Books, USA, Writing | Tagged Banned Book Week, Comics, Haruki Murakami, New York Times | Leave a comment

Behind The Secret Door

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Google Street View has made just about the whole world instantly accessible from our digital devices. We can easily locate not just urban spots, but also mindblowing wild landscapes and the hidden interiors of buildings. Now the mesmerizing (and time sucking) website The Secret Door offers totally random and serendipitous opportunities to instantly travel the world using navigable Street View images.

The Secret Door casually drops the user at an arbitrary spot. When boredom sets in, the user just pushes a button and is instantly whoosed to another spot around the globe.

Posted in Tech, Tourism | Tagged Google Maps, Google Street View | 3 Comments

a strange harmony was found

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Mobstr is a cheeky London street artist who has cleverly manipulated municipal anti-graffiti crews into unwitting participation in his wall art/lit projects. In his series called “The Story”, Mobstr added a sentence to a wall and waited until it was painted over to return and continue the story.

This episode of “The Story” is composed of seven related wall posts.

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged Graffiti, London, Street artist | 1 Comment

What is Modernismo ?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Barcelona’s home-grown Art Nouveau movement known as Modernista or Modernismo dates from the late 19th century, but remains an ever-present influence in this glorious city. On my last visit, I wish that I had this inspired new map of the city from the folks at Barcelona Modernista. For the reasonable price of €10, you can discover Barcelona’s many UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as dozens of lesser known manifestations of Modernista in the arts, literature and architecture.

By the way, the city tourist office has an excellent guidebook called the Moderniste Route, which also provides admission discounts that more than cover the cost of the book.

Art Nouveau in Riga: a comprehensive guide through Jugendstil architecture (essenziale-hd.com)
Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona (localnomad.com)
Travel Photo of the Day: Sagrada a Noche (travelrelapse.com)
Art Nouveau Interior Design: get the style (essenziale-hd.com)
Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum (maiterodriguez.es)

Posted in Architecture, Art, Europe, History, Maps, Tourism, Travel Writing | Tagged Art Nouveau, Barcelona, Barcelona Modernista, Catalonia, UNESCO World Heritage Site | 3 Comments

Get That Next Flight

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

If you’re anything like me, you always get to the airport way early and then start looking for earlier flights while you kill time. Well, now there’s a great new app from the folks at touchmeme that offers a handy way to search for available flights from every airline at your airport. Next Flight covers the current day, as well as the next two days. All you need to do is enter your origin, destination and departure date, the app provides all available flights. You can then drill down to flight specifics for additional information such as Terminal and Gate, and Departures and Arrivals. Next Flight is available for both iOS ($2.99) and Android ($3.99).

Posted in apps, Tech, Tourism | Tagged Airport terminal, airports, Android, IOS | Leave a comment

Up In The Air (nearly)

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I first discovered John Schabel’s melancholy and haunting photos years ago in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In his series entitled “Passengers”, each evocative image was taken during that uncertain limbo that occurs when passengers have been seated in a plane, but the flight is not ready for take-off.

Schabel began the series in the early 1990s, but has just released the collection of gelatin silver prints in a new book from Twin Palms Publisher aptly titled “Passengers”.

Posted in Books, Photography, USA | Tagged John Schabel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | Leave a comment

A Night in the Slammer

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Nearly two years ago, the 19th-cenutry Het Arresthius prison in Roermer, Netherlands, just north of Maastricht, was been transformed into a very unusual upscale hotel. The interior was transformed with boutique hotel-chic décor, while preserving its rich history as a former prison. The 150 holding cells have been repurposed as 36 luxury rooms and seven suites—four of which are distinctive suites known as The Jailer, The Lawyer, The Director (former warden’s office) and The Judge.

Each of the rooms has a double bed, rain shower, air conditioning, and free WiFi Hotel Het Arresthuis’s communal areas include a bar and restaurant, where the establishment jokingly assures that guests will be offered more than just water and bread.

Posted in Europe, Hotels | Tagged Hotel, Maastricht, Netherlands, Travel and Tourism | 4 Comments

Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Have you ever wanted to spend the night in a fairytale castle or a troll’s lair? How about in the hold of an ancient boat, or in a giant wodden horse? If you have, the quirky little La Balade Des Gnomes Hotel, outside of historic Durbuy, Belgium is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you.

With uniquely designed rooms ranging from faux-medieval to nautical, the hotel is anything but ordinary. The rooms in the former farm complex have been constructed from cob, an oldfashioned natural building material composed of straw, mud and lime. Room rates start at €115 per night.

Posted in Europe, Hotels, Tourism, Uncategorized | Tagged Belgium, Durbuy, Travel and Tourism | 1 Comment

She’s No Angel

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Pulp ! The Classics is a brilliant new imprint from Oldcastle Books that offers iconic novels with cleverly reimagined pulp fiction-style retro covers. The lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek cover art is currently featured on such classic titles as The Great Gatsby, Tess of the D”Ubervilles, Robinson Crusoe, Pride & Prejudice and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Other titles from the imprint are due Spring-Summer 2013.

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, Writing | Tagged F. Scott Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby, Oldcastle Books, Robinson Crusoe | Leave a comment

Literary Passports

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

A passport, with all of its stamps and visas, can reveal quite a bit about the bearer. How many travelers have played the where have you been game by passing passports around a train compartment or a hostel common room ? Imagine what we could discover from the passports of our great writers. Here are a few examples to ponder: