A New Era

I am now blogging, after almost a year, on my new Sony Vaio EA36G, my very first laptop (happy birthday to me!)

Here's to the start of a new relationship. May it be free from hitch, kinks and defects.

Remaining Unread: Every booklovers' lament

Inspired by Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get to Certain Books

Beth Carswell from Abebooks.com thinks these are the reasons why some books in our collection just don't get read.

1. It's a book I feel like I should read
Agatha Christie comes to mind. I bought 4 of her books way back when (at least 3 years ago) and so far I've read only one (1). I bought it when Popular was selling all these paperbacks at a cheap price. I think I got it for 2 for RM5.90 or something. I just couldn't resist. (See also point No. 7).

2. It's part of a series, and I haven't read the earlier ones, yet.
Tales of the Otori series. This one is the call of the warehouse sale. I was working at a children's section of a bookstore and I feel like I should expand my knowledge in the said genre. Lo and behold, 2 1/2 years after my resignation, I still haven't started on the trilogy. The books are now inside the "to give away" bin.

3. Everyone I know is recommending it.
I'm not much to listening to recommendations or looking at bestseller's list. So I'm quite safe in this area.

4. It's intimidatingly enormous.
Don Quixote.

5. It's a classic.
All Dickens. After reading The Pickwick Papers, I just fell in love. After that I've been buying all the titles that I could find. Again, courtesy of the warehouse sales. I have almost all of his books, including the obscure titles, about 7 titles I think and so far I think I've read 2. (See also point no. 9.)

6. My reading stacks get wildly out of control.
It used to be out of control. But I like to think that I have it under control even if just a tad since a got a bookshelf. Now, all my "too read" stacks are put on the shelf. While the rest (read and those that didn't quite make it on the list yet) are neatly packed inside boxes.

Some of the books on the "to read" shelf:
First row:
Kinfolk (Pearl S. Buck)
The World of Jeeves (PG Wodehouse)
The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)
Second row:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die (Note the irony. Talk about pressure.)
Collapse (Jared Diamond)
Banker to the Poor (Muhammad Yunus) - this book is still plastic wrapped.
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Third row:
Dictionaries and Thesaurus (doesn't count)
Cartoon History of the Modern World
Complete Collection of Winnie the Pooh
100 Most Influential Persons in History

When I say just a little bit, sometimes it happens that books that I've always wanted to read will be taken out and then for various reasons that heaven only knows, it's put back on the shelf again. Good examples are Bruce Courtenay's The Power of One and Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

7. The siren call of the bargain bin.
See point 1, 2, 4, 5.

8. The author wrote something else we like.
Amy Tan's something about drowning fish, saving a fish from drowning. God, I can't even remember the freakin' title, that's how bad I am. I've read all of her books. She's the only modern asian author that still interests me. (I know she would have to something to say about me calling her "asian author" but I don't know how else to categorize her unless I say "author that writes about chinese people" but that doesn't sound too intellectual now, does it?)

9. It's a textbook or an assignment.
The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby. Didn't finish when I took the class, still haven't finish now. To make matter's worse, I sold the copy that I used for class and a few years later, I bought another copy, thinking that I should read it till the end, them being classics and all. Well, no prizes to guess what happens next.

10. We have a friend/crush who works at the bookshop, or in my case…
"books ordered as a direct result of work-related book exposure."
Lots of children and young adult books. But I've read almost all of it by the way so it's not much of a problem. But thank God for public libraries. They do have some nice young adult titles. So I don't have to buy much.

I should say that most of the book that has been piling into my collection came from my bookstore career age (4 years). Staff discount and looking at books everyday helped fuel that itchiness to buy something. Most of my coffee table books came from this era. But then coffee table books are not meant to be read, right?
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I think this list can be a 'meme'. Remember those? But I won't tag anybody. Maybe Eyeris if he's still reading this. But anyone who likes to give their take on this topic, do so and post me the link. I'm interested to know what titles that's been the bane of their existence as a booklover.

Interesting....

Came across an interesting article about books and love....

Check it out!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/05/books-date-impress

81st Annual Academy Awards - A so-called review

This is a so-called review of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. want to elaborate further but no time. so here goes....

I love the format for presenting acting awards. Having 5 past winners honoring 5 nominees could be very rewarding. Can you imagine Shirley Maclaine singing your praises in front millions of people. Even if you didn't win you still return as a winner. I wonder if the presenter wrote the speeches themselves? It would be great if that's true.

For the writing awards, they use the format that they used a few years back which I love. the presenter read a snippet of the screenplay, continued with the movie.

Things I don't like:
1) No Peter Gabriel :( John Legend singing Down to Earth? What the heck?
2) Why the stars of Slumdog Millionaire sit at the back?
3) Hugh Jackman and Beyonce do not go together. The performance looked forced. With the addition of High School Musical and Mamma Mia stars, the whole thing look gimmicky.
4) No speech by the Academy Director, I like his speeches. Maybe because they want to make time for the acting awards. that process take some time.

Not to be missed:
1) A clip by Seth Rogen & James Franco from Pineapple Express honoring (sort-of) the year in movies.
2) Tine Fey and Steve Martin as presenters.

NTV7 is showing the award show at 10 Friday morning.

A short post

There's something wrong when you don't have the time to do the things you love the most.

I went through 17 years of school and this is what i got

The one on the right was not even meant for me. It was supposed to be a token for judges but I took it because I want a souvenir for that event - College Open Day. Hey, give me a break. I was a bit of a nerd back then.

The one on the left is the one and only trophy I got throughout my entire school career. I got second place for a Scrabble tournament among librarians. Seriuosly, I'm not kidding.

I don't need anyone to tell me how pathetic my school life was. I was so average. I don't hold any position in class, not even AJK Kebersihan Kelas. I was not active in anything. I wasn't athletic and I wasn't brainy. I wasn't on the debate team, the choral speaking team and nobody knows about cheerleading those days. Even if we have a cheerleading team, I wouldn't be on it anyway.

The only position I hold at the time was librarian from Form 2 and stopped when I was in Form 4 because I went to boarding school. (I'm still puzzled how as mediocre as I am, I still get to go to boarding school.) I applied for the position in boarding school but I didn't get it. It was quite a relief though because they have to wear green uniform and we call them Katak (frogs).

I'd like to think myself as a late bloomer. When I was in primary school, I was a nobody and my teacher hated me. She didn't believe me when I said I got 3As for the main subjects (Malay, English, Math) and eligible to apply for boarding school. However, socialwise I was OK. I have friends and I was never alone during lunch.

Jump to secondary school. I still didn't hold any position but I join as many clubs as I can. I also became a librarian which was really fun. Still no problem in the social scene but still not one of the popular girls or the smartest student.

Form 4, I went to boarding school. I remember I made a conscious choice to improve myself and be more assertive. It's a new environment, lots of new people, a new beginning! Suffice it to say, those 2 years were the best years of my life. I learned a lot, made a lot of great friends who I still keep in touch with until today, hold a few 'important' positions (if you think AJK Biro Kaunseling and Secretary for the choir club as important), had a lot of fun. I was quite popular but I think it was only because I mix with the right people and I was in a gang (that story needs another post altogether). Oh yeah, I also won a couple of prizes for short-story writing, something that I'm really proud of, even though on hindsight the stories sucks big time. I also did volunteer work for a closed netball tournament, that was fun too.

That was my school life in a nutshell. A bit bland but I think I turned out OK. I don't do drugs, never got arrested or ended up in a back alley of a sleazy area. I have a pretty good job, pretty much well-liked by my friends (as far as I know) and so far all my bosses loved me (I guess). As far as life in general, I still think I'm not fulfilling my full potential yet but I'm working on it. In the meantime, I have these tokens to remind me of who I was before.

Guess which one is going to the bin....

Complementing Pictures with Melodies

I love songs with great lyrics. After watching WALL-E, I found a great song which I downloaded as soon as I got back and has been in my "Favourites" list ever since. The song is great in itself, very meaningful with nice melodies. But it becomes even greater because it complements the film WALL-E.

Did you think that your feet had been bound
By what gravity brings to the ground?
Did you feel you were tricked
By the future you picked?
Well, come on down

All those rules don't apply
When youre high in the sky
So, come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Did you think you'd escaped from routine
By changing the script and the scene?
Despite all you made of it
You're always afraid of the change

You've got a lot on your chest
Well, you can come as my guest
So come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

[This is my favourite part]
Like the fish in the ocean
We felt at home in the sea
We learned to live off the good land
Learned to climb up a tree
Then we got up on two legs
But we wanted to fly
When we messed up our homeland
We set sail for the sky

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We're coming down
Coming down to Earth
Like babies at birth
Coming down to Earth
Were gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

Peter Gabriel is a lyrical genius. If you don't believe me also check out Don't Give Up (used for another movie, The Bone Collector) and In Your Eyes (also a soundtrack for Say Anything). Don't forget Big Time, Mercy Street (I think this been used in a movie also) and the 80s classic Sledgehammer.

And you must see the movie. It will certanly makes you want to jump on that dusty treadmill.

This song reminded me of another soundtrack. This song played during the credits of Kate & Leopold. It's by Sting and titled Until. The movie is so-so but the song is great. One of the most romantic song I've heard.

If you've never heard the song before, just read the lyrics. While you're reading imagine this, a dashing and intelligent Duke unexpectedly travelled 100 years into the future where he meets a lovely but insecure girl. They fell in love but have to surrender to love's worst enemy, time. For the melody, imagine Sting during Ten Summoner's Tale's era, imagine Fields of Gold and the tick-ticking of a clock throughout the song. Genius.

If I caught the world in a bottle
And everything was still beneath the moon
Without your love would it shine for me?
If I was smart as Aristotle
And understood the rings around the moon
What would it all matter if you loved me?

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing would I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing's end

If I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon so we could ride
Until the stars grew dim, Until...

One day you’ll meet a stranger
And all the noise is silenced in the room
You’ll feel that you're close to some mystery
In the moonlight and everything shatters
You feel as if you’ve known her all your life
The world’s oldest lesson in history

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing do I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing’s end

Oh, if I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon and we would ride
Until the stars grew dim
Until the time that time stands still,
Until...

Isn't it great? Isn't it romantic?