“Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places.”
― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Labels: Books

Chionging to the new books section at NLB has proven to be an extremely beneficial experience for me. For the first time ever, I actually went home with more than 2 books in hand. As much as I proclaim myself a spendthrift, I have a confession in my tendentious ways of expenditure. Assuming the same way it takes me a mere 5 minutes to persuade myself to spend hundreds on bags/ wallets, the value for books (yeah, knowledge. Whatever.) seems to be pretty negligible in contrast to the immediate gratification of the wants I have for. Other worldly materials.

Back to the point, its the same reason why I cannot go into Borders and spend 15 minutes grabbing a book, reading the blurb and going off to pay. Somehow the 25 dollar price tag does not warrant the pleasures of literary appreciation. Its like some piechart goes off in my mind and instead of the former, all I can think of is 'that's 1/8 off my next shopping trip'. And hence, the average amount of time I spend at borders is. 1.5 hours. And out of that, I buy books only about 10% of the time. Alas, my shopalic tedencies have reached the extents of unavoidability.

But so, back to the library. Most of the times I don't like borrowing library books cos the primary categories after searches are "Old", "Used", or "Not There". So instead of going there with a fixed title in mind I kindof just went to the latest additions part of the JRL. It took me less than 15 minutes (in a sort of shallow "its good and its free" mentality) to find 4 books I wanted. Grab, borrow, go. It's almost cathartic, coming to think of which.

So yes back to the point. Currently reading Iodine by Haven Kimmel. I don't know why but I have a tendency to pick up books (even though not mentioned in any sense) involving the likes of at least one psychotic, twisted character. So yes albeit having huge douses of philosophy at the front that got me pretty much confuddled, I think its a good read. For all is worth, it gives me greater conviction to believe that I am not in self-oblivion when I tell myself I'm not wasting my holidays away spending half my day slacking and the other half sleeping. (Yes all you lazy munchkins out there, grab a book and save your brains!) It's not really working out, but it is a start.

Yet again its really amusing how even though its the holidays, I still can't get rid of my waking up at 6am routine. Seriously, the traces of schooling life never stops haunting you, even in a time of rest and recuperation. But all the same, its back to reading. And it really isn't ironic that I'm trying to keep myself sane (and not have my brain fly out of the window of boredom) by reading about the insane lives of mentally ill geniuses and the likes. Really.

Labels: Books, Holidays

Not sure if its just me or having the amounts of work pile up before starting to realize you actually have to do them, then realizing that there's no motivation whatsoever to get anything done in the first place. Anyhow, was reading Edward Monkton's little wisdom books at MPH at Raffles City Shopping Centre the other day. Guess they don't have a lot of the series but there was just this one and it was labeled happiness. For those who don't know who Edward Monkton is, he's this pretty ingenious card designer Giles Andreae (yeah Monkton's just his persona). Basically he just designs these cartoon designs with random interesting thoughts and statements.

Anyhow, I guess its simply because each page means something different in this slapstick funny manner and that's what makes people fork out the money to buy them (well along with the really cute drawings of course). Just came across two pages of the book that I found were extremely meaningful. One was titled 'That Still and Settled Place' while the other was titled "Love and Happiness". Just wanted to share it both so;

That STILL and SETTLED Place
In that STILL and SETTLED place
There's nobody but you
You're where I BREATHE my oxygen
You're where I SEE my view
And when the world feels full of noise
My HEART knows what to do
it finds that STILL and SETTLED place
And DANCES there with YOU.

I guess once again the poem here's pretty self-explanatory. Though we have all those amazing compositions about love – lyrics, poetry where we have a dictionary by our side and still have not a single clue what they're talking about exactly –don't really think this talks really about all the hot-headed passion, but instead the peace of understanding. The tranquility of just being even though you may not know why or what or how. Just like the confusion sometimes that we all face, sooner or later.

I don't know why, but somehow most of the time works, when talking about love or friendship always discuss the idea how everything's always beautiful and amazing while you're able to confide in someone. But the thing is if there is a problem, then pretty mirages the fantasist comes up with will just be classified as delusional in the world of reality. But what hit me hard about the still and settled place is that. We all know we have to face our problems, eventually, to deal with them one way or the other. But its just that sometimes we do need a break. To stop, sit back in that quiet little place that lets us regain our sanity, breathe and recharge before moving on in that continuous battle.

Personally I think most of our hearts don't know what to do. When we get sad, frustrated, angry because there's just too much going on. All the more it gets to me, to hope that someday my heart will know when it needs to find that still and settled place, and to dance there, happy as it can be. Because sometimes we need a break, let go of everything, be wild and free.

Love and Happiness
Let us remember that in this RICH and BEAUTIFUL world there are only two things worth living for – LOVE and HAPPINESS.

The words are just so innocent you wonder why we move along and forget all the simple things like these that make life worth living in the first place. Perhaps its because we derivate, people do heinous crimes, people backstab. Perhaps its because the world isn't as pretty a place as it were with just trees animals and us. Perhaps we all returned to the way things were, decided that fighting was more appealing, that selfish was the way to go. Keep asking myself what exactly is happiness but I never really get the word out, never really understand. Here we are all in the pursuit of happiness, when perhaps we're just never satisfied with what we have? I guess self-satisfaction plays a role in the works of contentment and happiness, but when will we ever be content? How often do we sit down and thank Him for all that we have in our lives instead of grumbling about what we don't have? When do we start appreciating things before they're gone? There're too many questions, but there always are and we can never answer all of them. Maybe all we need to do is just take a step back to the past where we knew the answers straight and simple, and keep it there in our hearts.

Anyhow for those who want to find out more about Edward Monkton, his website and the catalogue if you wish to view more of his designs.

Also, just a call out to all the people out there who actually read this blog; if you're a student who's good at video making/ photoshop/ IT stuff and can commit to a pretty large scale project, please email me at rewindthegun@gmail.com. So that's all for now, while I go back to pretending to study biology.

Labels: Books, Thoughts

Was at Borders from 1-5pm (-cough- with Qihan one floor above me for 2 hours) and chanced by this book which I felt was really meaningful. Don't know how many of y'all have heard of it before but its an ongoing art project called Postsecret. Thinking of which, you've probably seen the video of Dirty Little Secret by the All American Rejects but never really knew about the project behind it (or that all the secrets there are actual submissions), so here goes.

"Like fingerprints, no two secrets are identical, but every secret has a story behind it"

Giving some background, Postsecret began as an art installation for Artomatic 2004 in Washington, D.C. Basically, Frank Warren started the project by printing 3,000 postcards inviting people to share a secret. After recieving 100 secrets mailed back, the project spread and soon 150,000 secrets were being sent just under three years. From then on, people would mail their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard and send it in to an address in USA. Because there're no restrictions whatsoever, its pretty must just a form of expression to release something never said before. The Postsecret website was then created on January 1 2005 to showcase the various postcards sent it.

There's no way to access the archives, so if you want to read old entries you have to buy the book. Ayhow, after reading the published book with some of the artworks sent in, its just interesting how art can be used to somehow free the emotions felt. From criminal assaults to confessions and even hopes that never came true, I think the book just made me think alot. Just thinking, by writing all the secrets you never dared tell anyone, it inspires people to open up and face their fears and yeah. Really amazing how this project can bring about so much impact in the world.

Help, I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
and needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

The promotional video's here if you wish to find out more:


Even though the book I found was only in hardcover and kindof spent my entire weeks pocket money (it's $49.90, if I'm not wrong) on it, just felt that it was really worth the price. For those who just want to take a look at some of the postcards sent in, they also have a Postsecret Blog online where they publish recent postcards sent in. Also, there's the Postsecret Community which has the audio and video submissions from all over the world, and this album which I found on the net which has quite alot of the older postcards.

Taking a quote from an interview by Frank Warren, the purpose of the book was to give people "A place where the secrets they could not tell their friends and family would be treated with dignity in a non-judgmental way." Looking at the phenomenon that Postsecret has caused, it just brought across how virtual communities can be used for a different kind of conversation that can't be carried out in real life. And I think its just the courage that each person takes into writing about their past experience which they've furiously tried to bury in the past and just release it out. Each postcard somehow seems to gives the personw writing it a form of inner healing and its just amazing how through such a simple postcard that people learn to forgive themselves, move on and work their way to becoming better people.

There're alot of youtube videos posted about this project (if you'd just search Postsecret on it) and yep just thought it would be worth the visit especially during the holidays. Hopefully you'd find it as meaningful as I have found it to be. And just another postcard I thought was really meaningful before I end off this post.



"There are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from others and those we hide from ourselves"

Labels: Books