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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