Fa la la la la...

As I sit pondering the beautiful ambiance at my job, I think to myself: If only I could curl up next to that fireplace with a good book.  But I like having my job, and curling up next to the fireplace would be unbecoming (and probably result in disciplinatory action).  Ooh, but what if you used a fancy tablet device that you could quickly whisk away?  Well, it's not the same as books and will still probably result in disciplinary action.  If only I had some way to feel like I was reading, without straining my eyes or firing off neurons. 

A book candle!  Oh, you shouldn't have :3

www.libastyle.com



So I did a little bit of research into this.  

http://www.assouline.com/9782843234590.html
http://smellofbooks.com/aromas/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/may/01/1
http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/03/07/smelling-the-books/

Next step?  Finding a DIY version!   Perhaps I can boil books down to just their essence and bottle it?

Google Results Make the Kool-Aid Sour

So I was looking for a short white dress to wear after my wedding reception, and I typically start my search with Google Shopping.  It usually gives me some decent choices, and is always a good starting point when I'm researching a potential purchase.  So for the first several pages, the search results were fine, and I was absent-mindedly clicking through the pages.  And then it seemed like I was seeing the same 12 dresses over and over again. Meh, sometimes the results repeat.

But then I looked at the bottom of the page:

Actual screenshot.  Not shopped!

As the writer for XKCD figured out, Google fudges it's numbers after so many pages.  I was surprised to find that in the XKCD instance, it was 32 pages, but for something like "white dress"  It's 5. 

Flower murder?

Not only do I participate in book murder, but flower murder as well!

I've slowly been buying discounted roses for my wedding and drying them out in my studio.  It seems like a lot of flowers, until you use 3 dozen making your wedding bouquet.  The craft was pretty simple.  Hot glue the roses on the Styrofoam ball, then embellish!  I found out the hard way to add the handle (rose stems) FIRST before starting on with the roses :D  The little pearls are actually sewing pins, which stay in the Styrofoam nicely!

The process--complete with finding my HG Pokemon Game in the wreckage.

It takes a couple months for the flowers to thoroughly dry out, so this is a project I've been eager to get my hands on!  I dry whatever flowers I receive, so the first bouquet my fiance gave me is in it, as well as a boutonniere he wore at a friend's wedding.  Plant matter beware!  The Captain is crafty :3

~The Captain

A Little Less Conversation...

 I had this exact conversation a few times over the past weekend:
"Hey so what's your blog about?"
"Uh...  Book Murder!  Yah, it's about the eventual death of the printed word."
"Oh uh... ok, well, I'll have to check that out eventually...."
*hides children and books in undisclosed location*

In explaining it, I realized I should make some clarifications.   

My Book Murder quest started when I was looking up wedding crafts (yes, I'm getting married).  I'm planning a wedding on a budget, so spent many a day looking for cheap DIY projects.   Well, these projects apparently are limited to 1) paper crafts and 2) rhinestone flip flops.  Don't ask--the wedding world is something I don't understand.  There are SOOOO many projects for ripping up books.  Seriously, I'll never run out of ammo for this blog.

Paper in our society is very versatile, from origami to papercraft, so it's natural that people would want to recycle the paper that's already been used or printed on.  But really?  Whole books?  You monsters!  It's as if our culture has no other use for books than to rip them apart and glue them to, well, everything else.  I had been thinking of blog ideas, and the two really seemed to come together.  I then thought to myself, what else kills books?  Is it a metaphorical thing?  A physical thing?  What makes books useless in the first place?  My answers lay in technology itself, and new media--tablets, video games, youtube, etc, etc.  The cats came into play when I found my cat Arthur ripping a well worn dictionary to shreds. 

What I really want to do with this blog is to start a conversation, and I want to use irony to jump start it.  (Really bookshelves made of books?  That's like piling chickens in a hen house made of chicken bones.)  How much is too much for book DIY?  How deep will a conversation about society go on social media?  Does book DIY count as recycling?  Will tablets completely replace newspapers?  Will I ever not set my house on fire during a book murder work-in-progress?

The answers to this AND MORE later on in our programming.  Stay tuned!

~The Captain



P.S.  Apparently I'm getting hits to my page from something called NetLog?  Can anyone explain this to me?? Many thanks!!

First Book Murder Giveaway!

And the winner is.......


SARAH BETH WILDER GUY!!!

It's been alot of fun running my first giveaway, and I'm happy to say it was moderately successful ^_^  I had alot of fun making the book purse too!  Sarah has won this very special book purse that I made out of a book I loved very dearly:

 The Art of Looking Sideways is a fantastic book.  More of a coffee table book/art piece, it just has alot of neat ideas and things to think about.  I figured it was a perfect fit for a purse ^_~  It had sadly fallen off of my book shelf and broke the spine.  I'm glad it could see new life!  May Sarah take care of it well.


~ the Captain
 

Otakon Wrap-up!

Back home and exhausted! My book dress surprise ended up falling apart, but luckily enough, Ganondorf was still in working condition.  Otakon on a whole was great, as per usual, but I can't help but feel the events were lackluster.  Bandai and Sunrise were missing, and all Aniplex and Funimation had to offer were already existing DVD announcements. As for good things, cosplay on a whole was great this year! The average quality of costumes was better, and I'm seeing many more niche characters.

I would have to say the highlight of my weekend was the Wii U press event in DC.  I made the extra hour trip down there with friends and it was worth it!  It truly felt like a VIP experience.  While I wasn't too impressed with the Wii U, the video controller really changes the game play.  If only I could have that controller with one of my already existing systems, I'd be set.  The price point has yet to be decided on, and none of the Nintendo people could say anything about a hard drive.  They just didn't know.  Check out the video for a look at the demos!

~the Captain

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Night of the first day

First day of Otakon down! I've seen alot of quality costumes this year.  Dealer's room had a different feel without Bandai or Sunrise, but there were others to take their place.  One big regret of mine is not having a charged phone when I walked by the Star Wars shoot ;____;
All in all, a very fun-filled tiring day! I'm hoping to catch the Steampunk panel in the morning, costume willing!

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The Story So Far...

Otakon so far has been amazing! Lots of great cosplays, both from Eastern and Western cultures.  Had a great Zelda gathering at the indoor fountains and hung out with some great cosplayers!
Just got out of my Wind Waker Ganondorf outfit.  I plan on sniping some pictures other than LoZ this evening, and attending a few panels.
~the Captain

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So little time, so much to do!

I've been lucky enough to attend two concerts in my lifetime that feature video game music, and the Legend of Zelda Symphony was simply amazing.   I wasn't able to live-blog it because of a dead phone battery, but hey my GPS held out long enough to get me in the area!  The care that was put into the composition was apparent in every song.  There was even a surprise Wind Waker baton for the second part of the overture.  It was truly a concert by fans for fans, and it did the series justice.  As soon as I get a link to the Wolftrap performance, I'll add it on.

In other news, OTAKON!  Biggest anime convention on the East coast, and I'm there!  Luckily enough, I met up with some other Otakon goers at the concert, and they informed me about the Zelda group meeting up today!  I've painted furiously through the night to finish my Ganondorf outfit.  (Sleep is scheduled for sometime later today.)  Saturday I have a big book-murder-esque surprise to wear around the convention :3

On Saturday, I'll be attending the Wii-U press event in DC, and I hope to have plenty of pics and video, phone battery willing!

One last item on the agenda:  a giveaway!  Share & like this post on Facebook, and you could win a book purse!  Winner will be announced on Wednesday, August 1.

Better nate than lever!

So my planned "weekly carnage" post is on the back burner due to some unfinished issues. Who knew glue didn't dry in 10 minutes?! I was very surprised when I discovered this small but incredibly important fact. Anywho, busy weekend! Not only do I get to attend the Legend of Zelda symphony in Wolftrap, Va, but I've also been invited to the Wii-U press event in DC! Live blogging and tweeting from both. There are also a few other surprises this weekend, and a giveaway to be announced! That is, when the glue dries ;___; For those that cant catch the symphony, here's some Zelda to keep you trucking, here's a fantastic website to help you keep up with all Zelda comics EVER. http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Manga.php

Murderer of the Week!

In my internet travelings, I came upon Guy Laramee, an "interdisciplinary artist" who happens to maim and mutilate tons of very large books.  He specializes in the "erosion of culture."  His "Great Wall"  installment is based on a post-apocalyptic America that China eventually takes over, thereby discovering Ancient China, and securing their own undoing through knowledge. 

I can see my house from here!

 If only I had enough time on my hands to destroy books through such meticulous detail! 

~ The Captain

A note on copyrights!

I feel that starting off with this blog, I should give a mention to the single line at the bottom of the page: "All works held under a Creative Common License (CC) unless otherwise noted."  The creative common license was first proposed by Lawrence Lessig, a big advocate for copyright reform.  

The idea is that as long as you attribute to the original poster/artist/writer, that anything under this license is free to use.  The only stipulation is that others are then able to use it and attribute it to you.  I like to share, and I like it when others share with me.  For more info, here is the actual Creative Commons page.

I include this tag line because I get most of my images from Wikimedia Commons.  It's a great resource tool, and I'm happy it's there!  It would make it much harder for websites and other media outlets to do what they do if the whole Wikipedia franchise didn't exist. 

Another great example of sharing and open-source freedom is the Ouyah.  It's a gaming console, powered by Android (ooooh delicious kool-aid), and it's $99.  It is currently in the Kickstarter stages, originally asking for a mere $950,000 to help build more than just the prototype.  It broke Kickstarter's record by earning $2.5 million in 8 hours. 

What's all the buzz about?  Well, for one thing all the games are streamed live and are free initially, with added paid content.  It's totally open-source, and in fact encourages hackers, and every Ouya comes with a dev kit.  Best part?  Taking it apart doesn't void the warranty! 

So in summary, a $99 game system, with free games, and an established indie following.  So far, it's earned $4.8 million in 5 days up to $5.2 million now!.  Hopefully it sticks around and doesn't go the way of OnLive.

Yay for using things and not being sued by copyright holders!

~ The Captain

Weekly Carnage!

So I first encountered the art of killing books (and the inspiration for this blog) when I started joining wedding websites to help plan my own wedding.  It amazed me how many DIY boards were obsessed with ripping apart books for the sake of wedded bliss!  So to start off the first of many Weekly Carnages to come, I submit my own murder!

I have an old 1960's copy of the Odyssey, written in Greek.  Why I bought this, I have no idea, but needless to say I could not find a use for it.  Seriously, it even sucked as a doorstop.  And now the murder scene:

Pomander, Boutonniere, and said Greek book somewhere in my studio

I ripped strips of the pages and just rolled them into roses.  I think it turned out quite nice, no?  It's going to be a Steampunk wedding, so I think these fit in very well :3

~The Captain

Comic Con 2012!

It is my dream to one day attend Comic Con, dressed in only the finest of Spartan armor.  Until then, I'll have to live with the constant coverage of every movie trailer, new comic, new game, and new funny panel posted on the internet.  Even CNN had coverage...of everything there that wasn't comics.  But my favorite news so far is the new Deadpool game, brought to you by High Moon Studios.  I'm excited!  The "kickass teaser video" speaks for itself:

In more Marvel news, I've been researching the Comixology app.  I own very few paper comics (still waiting for my old Battlestar Galactica comics to become collector items), and I like the dynamic views the apps provide.  While Comixology doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, it does have a great selection of DC, Marvel, and well, every other comic on the planet.  A quick search yielded over 100 Deadpool comics, and over 1,000 Batman options.  Dark Horse seems to be the only one left out, but that was just a cursory glance.  For anyone who wants to get into the comic book scene, but doesn't want to get their hands covered with nerd, this is definitely a great download for any smart phone or tablet.  Even if you're not a comic fan, download it for the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover series!  Oh yah, Cybermen AND the borg. 

And for those who still say Nay to the comic book scene, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS? D'AWWWWWW!!!!

~The Captain

Drinking the Kool-aid...and getting a refill!

As I like to tell everyone, I've drank the Google Kool-aid.  I was a vehement Mac user for years and I owned the holy trinity of Iphone, Ipod, and Maccy Lappy.  Yes, I owned an old brick ipod AND an iphone.  At the time, I was big into photo/video editing and Apple and I had a good relationship.  Then we both started getting older, we grew apart, I had a few open-source relationships...Well, it was just time to end things.  

My first foray into my relationship with Google was when a friend introduced me to Google Wave.  It was neat for the time (you could go back and edit messages--that was AMAZING), but it drug on processing power.  Safari didn't like it much.  Then I was introduced to Blogspot, Android phones, Google analytics.  Match made in heaven!  Damn, that Kool-aid is good. 

The refill?  I've now messed around with two more products under Google's umbrella--Picasa and the Nexus 7 Tablet.  I've always been a flickr user, but I was just tired enough this evening that I caved to Google's prodding.  Use OUR image site.  Go on--one more can't hurt.  So I downloaded Picasa on my laptop and android, and I'm quite impressed.  For the laptop, I really like how it scoured my laptop for photos, images, wallpapers--everything with a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .xcf, and .psd tag.  It also wanted to tag my photos with names.  May have to mess with that later, but I still find it a little creepy.  I also like how you can do small edits to photos from the program.  I may be a little late jumping on the Picasa bandwagon, but the last "photo sharer" program I used was iPhoto, and that was incredibly annoying.  Hey, have 50 folders with the same five photos!  Turn your sister's graduation sideways?  Here, have another copy!  I'm definitely ready for picasa.  it was easy to upload from my phone as well.  I'm going to investigate the sync between the two's albums later. The sync works great between computer, web, and phone!  You can choose what folders sync to the web, and a quick click for the other direction.

As for the Nexus--it's freakin' gorgeous.  It's a little heavier than a small book with a slightly rubberized back.  It was kinda weird that it wouldn't flip to landscape mode, but I started to get the hang of it.  I've been bugging my friends to get on minecraft incessantly, and I'm hoping the Nexus has enough power to run either a Linux or Windows emulator to run the full version.  (Further posts on our awesome minecraft universe tba).  I think it just might be able to do it!  This thing has a quadcore processor, 16g of storage (8g for the cheaper version), an amazing screen, full Android OS, and it's selling for around $200.  What's not to love?  Well, the only port on the thing is a tiny MicroUSB.  It only runs on WiFi.  It's battery life isn't the best in the world, but it charges quickly.  Thinking of an e-reader?  A tablet?  A smart phone?  Iphone?  Ipad?? Then you seriously need to look at the Nexus 7, because it is a HEFTY contender. 


~The Captain

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The Game Is Afoot!

This blog is dedicated to the ultimate death of books.  Now first off, let me say that I love books, I love reading books, and I love tearing them apart for projects.  So conflicting!  So much carnage to be posted and so little time!  I also overuse exclamation points!  I'm hoping this will be a home for everyone who enjoys DIY projects, cats, comics, and vidya games.  I'm hoping to update twice a week with posts, but we'll see how that goes ^_~

Enjoy!

~The Captain