Guilty Pleasures

 My most favorite way to waste time on the internet? That would be scanning recipe websites, restaurant review pages and food blogs like a fiend. There’s not much I like to do more than eat or cook, and there are an abundance of sites and thriving communities on the Internet that succeed in exacerbating those desires. 

 What I love most about this genre of blogging is that is seems to hark back to old values; that even in the fast-paced, somewhat transitory world of the internet, people are still expressing, for their own amusement and for the appreciation of others, those very simple, traditional acts of being human, which unify us all. I especially like blogs that are dedicated to breakfasts because they seem to celebrate a time that I  believed was long behind us or, at least, would be in the not too distant future. I mean, what kind of dreamy, idealistic lives are these people living that they can prepare such breakfast delights every morning and find the time to photograph them?!

Restaurant review pages are also a source of endless distraction for me, as I’m always on the lookout for new places to eat and nothing angers me more than an overpriced and poorly cooked meal. There’s nothing quite like an anonymous review to really get an idea of what you’re in for, and although I appreciate the recommendations of a ‘professional’ food critic, there does seem to be something more authentic about reviews from regular patrons who are unafraid on stepping on the toes of restaurant owners. Sometimes, it seems like one of the only ways to navigate my way through the abundance of restaurants in Melbourne, although it proves troublesome at times, as my ‘to-eat’ list isn’t getting any shorter and I spend what could be perceived as an atrocious amount of time simply thinking about where I plan on eating next.  

Independent Publishing Houses & New Media

After reading this article I got to thinking about the ways in which digital media, especially the Internet, has and will most likely continue to change and shape the publishing industry. There are a few independent publishers around the world that I keep a keen eye on, McSweeney’s , Heartworm and Fugue State Press being some, and upon reflection I wonder if I would even be aware of them in the first place, had it not been for the Internet. Obviously, these publishers all utilise and, at times, rely upon the web for exposure and the promotion and distribution of their products, but it is also the nature of the Internet, in all of its hyper linking glory, that allowed me to wander upon them in the first place.

Shelfari

To be perfectly honest, I am nothing short of perturbed by the attempt to translate everything to an Internet compatible medium. Perhaps this is not such an ideal mentality for somebody studying a subject such as this. I haven’t pinpointed the root of my aversion, and have concluded at times that, perhaps, I’m just plain old regressive? That would be a convenient answer and not something I’m necessarily opposed to, except it just doesn’t cut it. I’m no Luddite.

Technology?

 ‘The “it” is a kind of force that gives rise to technology, something undefined, but inhuman, mechanical, lifeless, a blind monster, a death force. Something hideous they are running from but know they can never escape. I’m putting it way too heavily here but in a less emphatic and less defined way this is what it is. Somewhere there are people who understand it and run it but those are technologists, and they speak in an inhuman language when describing what they do. It’s all parts and relationships of unheard-of things that never make any sense no matter how often you hear about them. And their things, their monster keeps eating up land and polluting their air and lakes, and there is no way to strike back at it, and hardly any way to escape it. 

just bare bones at the minute. will post something asap.