daily distractions: creepy book cover

02Dec09

I wonder what the sausage represents…

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Tags: book covers, books, daily distractions, fail, trauma

the feed

16Nov09

• Awful Library Books was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live this month [ALB]

• A review of a pirated copy of Windows 7 bought on eBay reveals that it’s not all its cracked up to be [Cracked.com]

• Toronto sure has a lot of funny-looking homes and quirky front lawns [BlogTO]

• Sign into Google Dashboard to find out what the company knows about you [Toronto Star]

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Tags: architecture, awful library books, books, feed, google, library, news, windows 7

23 things I learnt when I was 23

16Nov09

I miss being young, careless and optimist. At 24, life is full of uncertainty and there are more bills to pay than a rookie adult can handle. Nevertheless, amid the bitterness, I tried to unearth some observations on growing up, moving out and involuntarily getting old.

1. Your Quarterlife Crisis begins now and probably won’t end until you’ve switched career paths two or three times and travelled to a foreign country to escape the realness of reality. This period is a bit of cliche, as suggested in this Wikipedia entry, but unavoidable unless you have a trust fund or a future.
2. About 30% of your university or college friends will stay in contact with you after graduation, so don’t be offended if [insert name] stops responding to you on Facebook.
3. The phrase “back in the old days” will be used when referring to your childhood.
4. The ’90s is now “retro”.

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Tags: age, birthday, education, old, quarterlife crisis, random thoughts

Happy birthday, Internet!

01Nov09

The Information Super Highway turned the big 4-0 on October 29, and my oh my, how quickly did it evolve. Remember dial-up? Geocities? ICQ? I do!

This blog post is dedicated to the technological playground that enabled information to flourish and techgeeks to become more powerful than an overpaid football player or an elected government official. If it weren’t for the Internet, I’d probably be in the library reading books instead of blogging. I’d have a social life and non-virtual friends. I’d see my family more often and maybe watch TV on an actual TV.

For better or for worse, the Internet has made an incredible impact on the world. So thank you, cyberspace, for showing us the true meaning of life.

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Tags: computer, history, internet, online, web, websites

Reader Review: t.o.night

01Nov09

Haven’t heard of t.o.night? That’s probably because the two-month-old daily newspaper hits the streets mid-day, instead of first thing in the morning, like all the other papers. A strange choice, I’d say. Really stretching the expiry date of yesterday’s news. You can pick a copy up at selected downtown locations. Or just keep an eye out for people dressed as newspaper boys handing them out at street corners.

After hearing about it on BlogTO, I was curious to see what was inside Toronto’s new publication. Provocative news stories? Fresh voices? A cute comic strip starring a sarcastic cat? Nah. T.o.night is just another free commuter paper, one that seems interested in making money, rather than making an editorial statement.

Here’s my review:

The Goods

1. Layout and colour
Despite similarities in format to 24 Hours, the other Toronto daily, I do like the yellow highlighted headlines, bold typeface, and clutter-free pages. It’s bright and eye-catching, which will make it stand out next to a pile of newsprints. Also, you don’t need to worry about smudging the text or getting your hands dirty since it’s published on glossy paper.

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Tags: media, newspapers, review, toronto

daily distractions: bloor cinema sign

24Oct09

Maybe they ran out of the letter ’s’.

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Tags: daily distractions, toronto

Sony thinks its eReaders are sexier than librarians

12Oct09

Have you seen this ad?

There’s a larger version on flickr.

I’m going to try to get my hands on one of these for a detailed review, and we’ll see just how sexy the Sony eReader actually is.

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Tags: advertisements, ebooks, ereaders, librarians, library, media, sony

A relatively bias critique of librarians depicted in YouTube videos

02Oct09

While researching possible topics for a book proposal I am unqualified to write (it’s for school), it was interesting to see that the cranky, fun-sucking librarian stereotype is still prominent in popular culture. Sure, bits of it are true, but times have changed. Librarians can be hipsters as well as professional researchers, information specialists and teachers. So let’s examining the myths surrounding the practice for a better understanding of this image problem we seem to have.

1. Marian the Librarian from The Music Man

The Librarian: An uptight middle-aged woman with a bun, an uncontrollable urge to stamp books and a weakness for men who sing and dance.

Reminds you of: Emma the germaphobic guidance counsellor in Glee.

Signature librarian move: Uttering the phrase “Quiet, please!” and shushing patrons.

Inaccuracies: Few of us have a name that rhymes with ‘librarian.’ We also don’t dance with more than a dozen men at a time because it’s kind of slutty.

The Verdict: A true librarian could tell the difference between a patron and an impostor posing as a suitor. The giveaway is his pick-up line. “What do you want to take out?” “The librarian.” You’re kidding, right?

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Tags: critique, librarians, library, media, review, videos, youtube

iStudent

21Sep09

It’s only the second week of school and I’ve got 150+ pages of readings and an assignment due in eight days. So please forgive me if the blogging slows down. I am but a slave to the system that is Higher Education.

Anyway, the past week I learned what makes a good reference librarian (apparently it requires more than smiling and pointing at books), why technology is like a door (this is an analogy that will make eventually sense and somehow result in me being a better librarian), that Wikipedia is a trustworthy source of information [citation needed], and how many subway trains pass by OISE every two hours (about 30).

A few other neat things to share:

1. We’re no longer restricted to conducting highly organized, anti-fun presentations on PowerPoint, thanks to PREZI.

Watch About Perspective by Adam Somlai-Fischer

(Press autoplay or take control by clicking play again and again and again.)

2. ALA seems to think “hipster librarians” exist. This really should be marked under ‘miscategorized.’

3. I’ve started journalismisizing again. So please pick up a copy of The Varsity when you can. It’s published every Monday and Thursday, and I can assure you that it’s better than the 10 other campus papers, as well as your homework.

4. But if you really need to stalk/see me this month, come out on Sunday to The Word on the Street book and magazine festival at Queen’s Park. I will be volunteering at the Print is Dead Sony Reader Lounge.

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Tags: books, degree, education, hipsters, librarian, library, prezi, school, university

the feed

19Sep09

• RRJ coverboy and Globe writer Ian Brown will be hosting a discussion series called the Writer’s Room with Ian Brown next Wednesday for the launch of the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library. His first interviewee is none other than jPod author Douglas Coupland. [TPL]

• Filing a complaint has never been so easy as Toronto adopts a new contact number next week. Write this down: 311. [National Post]

• Amish romance novels are a hit in the Amish world. And it just goes to show that even G-rated smut sells. [The Wall Street Journal]

• The Walrus finally has some money in the bank. Going straight to the writers, not the interns, of course. [J-Source]

• And the award for Most Ridiculous Use of Research Funds to ‘Discover’ What Everyone Already Knows goes to a recent study that found that poor kids were less likely to apply to university than richer kids. [Toronto Star]

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Tags: amish, amish romance, books, douglas coupland, education, globe and mail, ian brown, magazines, news, novels, the feed, the walrus, toronto, toronto public library, university