Winter Dreams

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Brian D. Butler
F Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald died 71 years ago yesterday of a massive heartattack. He was just 44 years old. This brilliant documentary, F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams, was produced for the PBS series American Masters. The inventive film has no traditional narration, instead the author’s life story is told through readings of his letters, notes and fiction, as well as through interviews with writers, scholars and intimates.

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We Remember

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

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Time To Oil Up the Menorah

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

Many thanks to Alain Granat at the trés hip French website Jewpop for this hilarious Hanukah video. If you are intrigued by New Jersey-born chanteuse Chevonne, you can discover more at the singer’s website Listen2Chevonne. And if you want more holiday music with a twist, you can get Chevonne’s holiday EP titled Unwrap Me.

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Music, Photography and Google

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

This neat photo-set of iconic album cover locations was discovered on Google Streetview and put together by our friends at Whutdat.de. The paired photographs include Eric Clapton’s 461 Ocean Boulevard, the Beatles Abbey Road, Led Zepplin’s Physical Graffiti and more.

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When Books Tell Time

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

The clever folks at Vintage Book Clocks create these unique timepieces from used books that are chosen because they speak to the designers. Whether it’s the striking cover art, book title, subject matter or color; each book represents a specific aesthetic. You can purchase ready-made clocks or order custom book clocks from your own library or design.

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Homage to George Whitman

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

Way back in 2005, the Sundance Channel aired Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man, a documentary that pays homage to George Whitman, the American founder of the most famous independent bookstore in Paris, Shakespeare and Company. Whitman died this week at age 98, in his apartment above the store.

The original Shakespeare and Company was opened just after World War I by Sylvia Beach, but was revived after World War II by George Whitman just in time to provide a home for the Beat writers. Booklovers and bibliophiles around the world have made their personal pilgrimages to the bookstore across the Seine from Notre Dame Cathedral. Some have been fortunate enough to actually live in the bookshop while working-off their rent stocking shelves.

These days, the bookshop is more likely to be crowded with tourists and poseurs than literary giants, but the ghosts remain. RIP George Whitman.

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Pssst…French Books

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

 

The Grolier Club of New York City has fostered interest in, and support for, book arts for more than 125 years. It also offers regular exhibitions, displays, lectures and publications on publishing, printing, libraries, book art and the book trade at its elegant East Side location.

This December, French national treasures from the Imprimerie Nationale will be on public view in the largest exhibition ever presented at the Grolier Club. Highlighting the history of the Imprimerie Nationale, arguably the most important printing house in Europe, the comprehensive exhibition Printing for Kingdom, Empire, and Republic: Treasures from the Archives of the Imprimerie Nationale lavishly documents nearly five centuries of printing art and craft. These books, manuscripts, and objects from their archives have never before left France and will be seen for the first time at the Grolier Club, New York City.

 

 

 

 

On view from December 7, 2011 through February 4, 2012, the exhibition includes more than 200 prized possessions drawn from the vast holdings of the Imprimerie Nationale. It has been organized by H. George Fletcher, retired Brooke Russell Astor Director at The New York Public Library. A major publication, printed in Garamond by the Imprimerie National’s Atelier du Livre d’Art et l’Estampe, will accompany the exhibition.

 

On the schedule is a full calendar of events, including demonstrations of printing processes, lectures, and a day-long colloquium. For an updated list of related events please click here.

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Underground Literature

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

Metro Litteratur is a recently launched campaign that helps to promote talented Danish authors, poets and graphic artists by distributing their works at various metro stations in the city of Copenhagen. The program is a collaboration between the Milan-based organization Subway Letteratura and the Copenhagen Metro Authority and is a result of a competition held earlier this year, which led to the publication of thirteen small booklets that are offered to passengers free of charge. writes. Every booklet is published in 300,000 copies and can be downloaded online too.

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Autolib’ Has Arrived

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

On December 5th, the city of Paris launched an innovative electric-car sharing program called Autolib’ . Starting with 250 all-electric vehicles, and growing to 2,000 by this summer, the collaborative enterprise between the city and private partners is the outgrowth of the wildly successful Velib’ bike-rental service.

The process for renting a “Bluecar” is just the same as the one established for renting a bike. users select from a variety of subscription programs, ranging from hourly to annual, which allows them to take a vehicle from rental stations throughout the city. Renters need a valid ID (a passport will do) and driver’s license, as well as a credit card.

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Trains, Planes and More Trains

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Brian D. Butler

Construction began back in 2000 on the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germanyand has never really stopped. It’s now the largest model railway in the world and one of Germany’s most popular tourist attractions.

Miniatur Wunderland HamburgNow everyone can take a virtual ride across the wunderland and visit the seven distinct areas of the attraction: Austria, Scandinavia, the Alps, America, the Harz, Hamburg and the fictitious city of Knuffingen.

As you’ll learn from the video, it has taken more than 500,000 working hours so far to create this massive miniature world. The most recent addition is the Knuffingen Airport with its 40 airplanes that can actually taxi, take-off and land.

The self-contained world is constantly growing and evolving; it’s not expected to be completed until 2020, by which time it will grow to more than 25,000 square feet. Even now, it takes a staff of 150 to build and maintain the Miniatur Wunderland.

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