Micro Krill

wrapped up in books; or why I don't want a kindle

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:07:00 +0800

bibliotheque:

I am terrified of the Kindle in the same way my boyfriend is scared of robots. I just don’t trust them. I always have this moment every now and then where I’m drawn in by how sleek and shiny it is, which is dangerous because this is how I ended up with an iPhone. I see them all over now, people using them at the library at school, in restaurants. I feel the weight of whichever two or three books I’m carrying at the moment in my bag and for a second, I wonder what it would be like to have all my books and newspapers in one device. I have to look away as I consider this possibility, a betrayal to every book I’ve read.

I love the physical nature of books. I learned to read when I was barely two and have been lucky enough to have parents who consider books a necessity in the same realm as food and shelter. From story books whose pages I thoughtfully turned in my lap to the novels now riddled with notes in their margins. I love the moment where you’ve read up to a certain point and you crack the spine, the first milemarker in your journey through that book. I own a lot of the books I read, organizing them at times in alphabetical order, by genre, and currently by the color of their spines. Each book brings back the specific memory of when I first read that book and where, how my legs were dangling over a chair or falling asleep, eyelashes against text; a whole life I’ve lived is inside each one.

The same goes for books I don’t own. I got my first library card at age four and it still amazes me that I can go to this huge building and check out as many books as I’d like for free. Not to mention dvds, I can also get those if I want. I like seeing the erased notes people have made in library books and the things left inside, temporary bookmarks forgotten, business cards and photos and the like. You can go to a library and browse books, use the internet, read, do work, and stay all day and no one will say a word to you. If you do need help, it’s available but otherwise, you can be invisible to the world. It’s a haven for those who need a place to keep their mouths shut and let more information in than they let out for the time being.

The Kindle seems unnecessary to my life. For those who say that they use it primarily to read the news, I wonder if they’ve forgotten that they can still read the news on their computers, even on many cellphones now. There are still actual newspapers for those who have forgotten about those as well. The Kindle is attractive and claims to be a convenient way for people to read but those of who read the news and books on a regular basis are doing so already without this device. I also worry about the logic of having my entire library in one device. There is an intimacy that comes from secluding yourself in one book, lost not just in the pages but in the experience the author has intended for you.

Is this a symptom of the times we live in? At almost 23, I can feel that my attention span has grown shorter over the years thanks to the internet and the constant barrage of information that faces me as soon as I open my laptop. I have to tell myself to slow down sometimes, to close the 87 tabs I have open and to really focus on something at length. There seems to be a loss of focus and attention to detail. I know many people who watch YouTube videos endlessly but rarely sit down to watch an entire film anymore. This is similar to reading with people losing patience with a book, and not allowing the story to take form and and come to life. Truly experiencing a book or any art form has been condensed, packaged, and fed to us in smaller portions so we can save room for more portions to come. Yet, are we left satisfied?

Aside from the visceral experience of actually reading a book, I wonder about what will happen to some of the core institutions of our community. Libraries are already hemorrhaging money and jobs, with many librarians I know seeing their hours and benefits slashed. With our entire library in our hands, buying books with one click, what happens to our libraries? I wonder the same about independent booksellers. I have seen two used bookstores in my area close in the past year, unable to stay above water in this economy and also in the face of the Kindle/e-reader onslaught. We can buy our books at home from our computers, from our Kindles, but what of the personal experience of choosing a book? I can think of nothing better than to discuss a favorite writer’s work or a new suggestion with a bookstore employee or fellow patron. Now we choose what we read alone, having no common ground in the things we are filling our minds with.

This is something I miss the most, the thing that worries me the most about the Kindle and even the iPhone that I myself own. I miss seeing what people are reading in public, a familiar book cover catching my eye or one I don’t recognize making me all the more curious. I miss starting a conversation with a fellow lover of Nabokov or Roth, and having that brief moment, that sense of community with others who are allowing their minds to embrace the same kinds of art; even better are the people reading something completely unknown to you and making you seek something you had never experienced before. Now we tap away at our Kindles, our iPhones, each wearing a different case but bringing the same kind of disconnect from each other, an uncomfortable quiet. It’s lonely to be a reader now. I’ll keep my books and read them in public, my nose behind the cover art, hoping another reader will understand my signals and ask if I like what I’m reading, both of us stalwart defenders of the physical experience and secrets only a book can reveal about itself and its reader.

Even though the Kindle might be coming to Singapore, I wont be getting it not because of the price but because I want the personal experience one has with a book, to be immersed in it.

Conversations with Sister via IM

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:45:08 +0800

Sister: What do they mean by girl next door?I don't understand that expression. If the girl living next door is some goth chick, is that considered a girl next door l?
Me: HAHAHAHAHAH! No girl next door means that she's innocent, sweet; the kind that you can take home to mom w/o mom running screaming the other way and barring you from seeing her
Sister: Oh, poor goth girl next door
Me: HAHAHAHAHA
Sister: she's not considered your neighbour even though she is your neighbour

What, you’d rather see Edward Cullen instead?

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:49:10 +0800

What, you’d rather see Edward Cullen instead?

"I’ve been told that I have PMS all the time but I don’t. I’m just naturally..."

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:32:53 +0800

“I’ve been told that I have PMS all the time but I don’t. I’m just naturally bitchy.”

- Me

Legolas (Via enthral): legolas lego (via legos)

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:28:19 +0800

Legolas

(Via enthral):

legolas lego (via legos)

The first vampire that I actually, really, liked and looked...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:15:04 +0800

The first vampire that I actually, really, liked and looked forward to watching.

A Walk To Remember. This movie made me cry and it’s my...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:44:47 +0800

A Walk To Remember.

This movie made me cry and it’s my other default movie when I’m in emo mood.

More Animals Choking To Death On Their Prey

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:36:53 +0800

After posting up a link on a snake that choked to death on a centipede, I found links to other animals that choke to death on their food.

Heron tries to swallow giant lamprey. Chokes. Dies. Second heron tries same trick. Also chokes. Also dies.

Perentie tries to swallow echidna. Echidna too spiky, Perentie gets horribly injured. Dies.

This is what happens when animals get greedy. They try to bite off more than they can chew and then they die

Jensen Ackles. He, my friends, is gorgeous, adorable and looks...

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:47:22 +0800

Jensen Ackles. He, my friends, is gorgeous, adorable and looks absolutely delicious!

whytheyrehot:

Why He’s Hot:

The eyes. They have such a mischievous sparkle. But not like an Edward Cullen sparkle. More like a “whatever kind of trouble could be get into in the next five minutes” variety. Jensen eyes do a whole lot of talking. One glance and you’re unbuttoning, unzipping and undressing before he can even say a word. His eye sexing skills are off the charts.

Take it off, baby. A shirtless Jensen has multiple uses: Laudry service center, his abs allow you to wash all your delicates like the thigh high stockings and crotchless panties. His abs serve and as an ideal eating surface. Who wouldn’t want to eat some Ben and Jerry’s off that? A gorgeous canvas for you to write poems and prose on with your tongue. A place to use your lips to convey his loveliness.

He will make you laugh. Sure it’s one thing to be really really really ridiculously good looking. But to be funny too? That’s a cherry on top. He’s the dude who would do the Axl Rose crab dance and wail the words to Sweet Child O’ Mine because he wants you to laugh. Oh and he does a killer Dead or Alive.

Superior muscular build. All the better to throw you around and get nice and rough. He can hold you down and make you suffer in the best kind of way. So get out the tarp and baby oil, you’re gonna be having some fun.

Even dudes want to hit that.

{submission}

This is what Harry Potter looks like under his robes. Mmmm. Yum.

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:35:51 +0800

This is what Harry Potter looks like under his robes. Mmmm. Yum.

hopeily: theballroomblitz: whytheyrehot: Why He’s Hot: ...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:21:42 +0800

hopeily:

theballroomblitz:

whytheyrehot:

Why He’s Hot:

He’s Dean Winchester. Not Jensen Ackles, no - Dean Winchester. He can make us laugh. He has that clever, smartass, quirky sense of humor that makes you laugh til you cry every single fucking time. Don’t believe me? Watch this. This. And this.

He drives a muscle car. A motherfucking black 67’ Chevy Impala. He also loves old school rock music. AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Mötorhead. He has amazing taste in music, and women too. But just imagine it, he’s driving you down some deserted road in God knows what part of America he’s supposed to be now. Listening to rock, when he suddenly stops and takes you in the back seat while blasting Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer. I know I just jizzed my pants.

No one rocks a weapon like Dean Winchester. NO ONE. Guns, wooden stakes, axes, knifes, shotguns. You name it, he has it. And let’s not forget those muscles. He has those big, strong, arms that you just want to hold and squeeze and bite and nibble and… Yeah, you catch my drift. And when he gets all mad and fierce he emanates this raw, hot, sexual tension that makes you want to say TAKE ME RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW YOU SEXY BEAST. And I know you ALL want a piece of that.

He’s fucked an angel. OH THE HORROR. But seriously, you’ve never heard of anything like it. I don’t think anyone has the power to fuck an angel but Dean Winchester. Hmm… Dean Winchester, I like saying his name. Rolls off the tongue nicely eh? Just imagine yourself wrapped between those strong arms and going ‘Oh DEAN.’ Aroused yet? No? Look at that then. Yeah, you’re jealous of her, admit it. I was.

Dude has got style. Whether he’s rocking a suit, his usual jeans and flannel shirt attire or he’s shirtless we all just love Dean Winchester. And we know he has style. He can also rock a lederhosen too.

{submission}

This, right here, is the reason why I want Dean Winchester to be a real person and mine. ALL MINE! This totally made me giggle like a schoolgirl and my blood rush.

How Twilight Works - The Oatmeal

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:39:30 +0800

How Twilight Works - The Oatmeal:

Flogging a dead horse but seriously, this is worth the read for the lols.

Snake 195 mm long eats centipede 140 mm long. Centipede too big. Snake dies. : Tetrapod Zoology

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:14:12 +0800

Snake 195 mm long eats centipede 140 mm long. Centipede too big. Snake dies. : Tetrapod Zoology:

Gah! Can you say GAH! Two things that creep me out, one inside of the other. GAH!

hopeily: (via splitroads) hear hear!! WORD.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:30:25 +0800

hopeily:

(via splitroads)

hear hear!!

WORD.

GIRLS!! Stop being so friggin pathetic!!! It's disgusting!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:00:10 +0800

hopeily:

Someone cut and pasted this for me. I was appalled!

Yesterday night I couldnt go to sleep because my crush had denied me so I grabbed my Eclipse book and read where Edward said “You are the only one who has touched my heart, It will always be yours, sleep my only love.” and I pretended I was Bella and cried myself to sleep. Edward is perfect. MLIT

SERIOUSLY WTF?! There’s more to life than the TWILIGHT SERIES!

Morning isn’t a cat’s best friend. I want to face...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:12:36 +0800

Morning isn’t a cat’s best friend. I want to face plant into the couch too.

Book about Threatened Trees Threatens Trees : Guilty Planet

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:42:38 +0800

Book about Threatened Trees Threatens Trees : Guilty Planet:

Oh, the irony of it.

My never ending love for Dean Winchester.

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:37:46 +0800

My never ending love for Dean Winchester.

“You Belong With Me” (The Jacob Black remix) One of...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:52:17 +0800

“You Belong With Me” (The Jacob Black remix)

One of the funniest New Moon parodies.

I'm Thankful For The Muppets

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:13:46 +0800

Nothing like The Muppets to make an already awesome classic even more awesome.