Cultural Connections

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I hesitate to promote apps because so many turn out to be disappointing. However, I really like the Bloomberg Connects app which offers access to exhibitions, collections and renowned artists at over 350 museums and other cultural organizations. Bloomberg Philanthropies created the app as a part of their mission to make art and culture accessible to all – in-person, at-home, anywhere.

The list of institutions and cultural attractions is already impressive and more are being added on a regular basis. The museums and attractions cover nearly 30 nations and regions. The app covers a wide range of sites from sculpture parks to museums, and living history attractions and botanical gardens.

Check it out here.

 

Posted in apps, Architecture, Art, Asia, Canada, Europe, Libraries, Museums, South America, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ghostwriter

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Designer Arvind Sanjeev has designed Ghostwriter , a smartly named answer machine that uses Open AI’s ChatGPT language model to answer queries manually entered by users, based on a modified old Brother typewriter. Tradition meets modernity.

The Ghostwriter is a poetic intervention that allows us to take a moment to breathe and reflect on this new creative relationship we are forming with machines. It tries to ease anxiety around AI by inviting people to co-create with it in a safe space. Thus helping them think, reflect, inspire and create fresh perspectives on this new tool. As Garry Kasparov (the first chess champion who beat an AI) puts it, human-machine centaurs are far more powerful than an individual human or a machine on their own. By interacting with Ghostwriter, creatives understand that true power is unleashed only when a human combines their emotional intellect with the computational brute force of an AI.

 

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Stages

Posted on March 24, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Not all those who wander are lost

Posted on March 23, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Each year on March 25th fans of J.R.R. Tolkien celebrate Tolkien Reading Day.  Around the world folks reread the books, discuss them with friends, and participate in Middle Earth related literary events. The Tolkien Society established Tolkien Reading Day in 2003 after Sean Kirst, a newspaper columnist in Syracuse, New York, suggested a Tolkien holiday similar to Bloomsday, which is devoted to James Joyce. The purpose of the observance is to honor the vast literary work of John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R.) Tolkien and to encourage educators and library groups to promote Tolkien reading in their communities and ensure people have access to his works.

Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year. The date of the 25th of March was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo’s quest and vanquishing the evil Lord Sauron.

The Tolkien Society has created three lesson/interactive plans that you can download for free and use to run events. Focused on our theme of ‘Service and Sacrifice’, they include a range of activities relating to art, literacy, and drama. Click each link to download the plan as a PDF.

Storytelling – Tales of Service and Sacrifice in Middle-earth

Art – Echoes of Middle-earth

Drama – Paths of Destiny: Exploring Moral Choices in Middle-earth

Posted in Books, Europe, Film, Libraries, Writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New York State of Mind

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Both branches of my family emigrated to New York City from Eastern Europe during the late 19th century. So, it’s natural that I’ve always viewed New York as the center of the known universe. Back in the 19th century, marketers began promoting the great metropolis as “the wonder city” in magazine and newspaper ads, enhancing the city’s allure for visitors and settlers alike. Now, Poster House in Manhattan is celebrating New York with an exhibition curated by Nicholas D. Lowry and designed by Ola Baldych, Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters (on view through Sept. 8).

By the end of the 19th century, New York City became a major tourist destination that required the printing of travel posters. “A host of images as varied as her ever-shifting identity, seen from the water, from the ground and, eventually, from the air,” states the exhibition website. This special exhibit shows how the city was marketed to  millions, from tourists to immigrants.

Poster artists were able to capture the excitement and drama of the world’s growing metropolis, magnifying the bright lights and the imposing structures, “as well as managing to capture some moments of intimacy and slice-of-life imagery within the canyons and among the ziggurats.”

 

Posted in Air Travel, Architecture, Art, History, Museums, Photography, Public Transport, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

How big was it

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Growing up in and around New York City I have always been fascinated by the process of urbanization. So the animation (below) by Ollie Bye intrigued me. The examination of the growth of the world’s largest cities from 3000 BCE to the present day offers a brilliant visualization of urban growth and decline. I had to pause the video multiple times to actually look up some of the cities that I was unfamiliar with just to get some perspective. While watching, it’s important to consider what leads to urban growth at specific times in history: a mixture of economics, agriculture, technology, demographics, social movements, empire/colonialism, public health, and the like.

NB: If the video fails to open in your browser, please click here.

 

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Film, History, Maps, Middle East, South America, USA | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Bookstore Tourism : Paris

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Anti Public Library is a blend of record shop and book store combined with a bar set in Paris’ always hip Le Marais district. Created by artist Henri Levy, founder and creative director of the avant-garde brand Enfants Riches Déprimés, in collaboration with artist-architect Didier Faustino, the space is characterized by dark wood accents and a diverse collection of books and vinyl records spanning punk culture, art, design, photography, architecture, erotic themes, and more.

Additionally, visitors can find Enfants Riches Déprimés self-published zines and books on design, architecture, art, and photography by renowned figures like Pierre Chareau and Jean Prouvé. Notably, a selection of books from Tom Verlaine’s personal collection, including those purchased from Television’s frontman himself, is available.

 

 

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Coffee Stories

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Regular visitors to Travel Between The Pages know that I am passionate about both travel and coffee. So, I fell bigtime for the wonderful blog project called Coffee Receipt Stories. Four years ago, Japan-based Odding Wang was sitting in a cafe, bored, and so they doodled a small comic on the receipt for their coffee – from that, the site was born, collecting hundreds of tiny vignettes, comics, anecdotes and pictures sketched on the back of receipts. These are charming – small pictures of moments, snapshots of places and people and windows into a life of travel, work, and coffee. I really love the project and hope that you will too. You can also follow along on Instagram if you swing that way.

 

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How could they leave it out

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Last week, the Atlantic magazine published a list of great American novels — 136 of them. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve only read 60 or so novels on the list. However, when I took a closer look at the list I noticed some glaring omissions. Now, I was not a Lit major, but I have always been a voracious reader of fiction and have strong opinions about American Literature.

Here’s what the Atlantic had to say about the list. Take a look for yourself and see if you agree with some of the great books omitted from the list that I have noted below.

This list includes 45 debut novels, nine winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three children’s books. Twelve were published before the introduction of the mass-market paperback to America, and 24 after the release of the Kindle. At least 60 have been banned by schools or libraries. Together, they represent the best of what novels can do: challenge us, delight us, pull us in and then release us, a little smarter and a little more alive than we were before. You have to read them.

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

Black Boy, Richard Wright

Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry

The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson

Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut

 

 

Posted in Books, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

One man’s junk is another man’s museum

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I’m not much of a collector, other than books, but I have to respect this guy’s commitment to his beachcombing project. The video below is an intimate portrait of retired plumber John Anderson and his 46-year obsession with collecting manmade objects that wash up on the obscure beaches of the Pacific Northwest. Narrated entirely by John himself, this poetic and philosophical documentary short includes images, items, and stories from his one-of-a-kind Beachcombing Museum in Forks, Washington, culminating in a raw, firsthand look at what he calls „extreme beachcombing.

 

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