Tuesday, July 29, 2008
India in so many words
A few weeks ago I was given a book by a co-worker. "It's got a lot of typos, but they kind of add to the flavor of the story."
I started reading "Holy Cow" by Sara McDonald and indeed there is at least one spelling mistake on every page. My only guess is that this copy was somehow put through a text scanner and pirated. I have no idea what the impulse is to do this sort of thing with books, but I suppose a literate pirate is better than one dealing strictly in Hollywood fluff.
Production quality aside, the story is a fun read and takes you through at least half a dozen different religions that are thriving in India. I'm not yet finished with the book, but the author has already participated in Buddhist retreats, Sufi ceremonies, met a hugging guru mother worshiped by thousands, viewed holy places within the Parsi Zoroastrian community and more. On top of that, she lives through double pneumonia and a strange estrogen influx that baffles Indian doctors. Reading the story captures the oddity that exists on the subcontinent of India, but also fine balance of a culture that is able to assimilate so much into seemingly impenetrable traditions and trudge on, withstanding globalization and western influence as it develops into a bustling, capitalistic supereconomy.
With only a quarter of the book to go, I'm finding the typos really do add to the dizzying array of experiences the heroine shares, not to mention my own imagination of some tech savvy teenager home-publishing with shareware and a color printer.
India seems indescribable, but in so many words, this book has allowed me to recapture a glimpse of it to jog my memory.
I started reading "Holy Cow" by Sara McDonald and indeed there is at least one spelling mistake on every page. My only guess is that this copy was somehow put through a text scanner and pirated. I have no idea what the impulse is to do this sort of thing with books, but I suppose a literate pirate is better than one dealing strictly in Hollywood fluff.
Production quality aside, the story is a fun read and takes you through at least half a dozen different religions that are thriving in India. I'm not yet finished with the book, but the author has already participated in Buddhist retreats, Sufi ceremonies, met a hugging guru mother worshiped by thousands, viewed holy places within the Parsi Zoroastrian community and more. On top of that, she lives through double pneumonia and a strange estrogen influx that baffles Indian doctors. Reading the story captures the oddity that exists on the subcontinent of India, but also fine balance of a culture that is able to assimilate so much into seemingly impenetrable traditions and trudge on, withstanding globalization and western influence as it develops into a bustling, capitalistic supereconomy.
With only a quarter of the book to go, I'm finding the typos really do add to the dizzying array of experiences the heroine shares, not to mention my own imagination of some tech savvy teenager home-publishing with shareware and a color printer.
India seems indescribable, but in so many words, this book has allowed me to recapture a glimpse of it to jog my memory.
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Vampire Power
I've been using an RSS reader to check news, blogs and favorite sites lately, and even found some new interesting websites this way. One is called information aesthetics, all about visual data. (here: http://infosthetics.com/) The blog features a cool post about a visual amazon store that actually lets you see the shelves when you "browse", which improves the whole online shopping experience in my opinion (if you have broadband). Check that out here: zoomii
And last but not least, today's quirky little video about "vampire power", which is repackaging the message on standby power usage in a way that's is amusing and visually pleasing. I say all public announcements should be done with more style! Here's the vid:
And last but not least, today's quirky little video about "vampire power", which is repackaging the message on standby power usage in a way that's is amusing and visually pleasing. I say all public announcements should be done with more style! Here's the vid:
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