Monthly Archives: August 2011

Magic

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For the last week or so I’ve been spending a fair bit of time thinking about magic and various tricks with card, coins, pens, etc. This is entirely because of Dan. We ever made a special trip to a magic shop where Dan bought a book that I then remembered I’d bought online many years ago.

I like going through little fads for a few weeks and then doing other stuff. It’s nice to have some variety. I do wish I could stick with one thing for long enough to get really good at it though.

Last night at the pub quiz I did the only magic trick I know how to do with a coin: making it disappear. That’s not some sort of pun based on spending money. I think it went down fairly well with the Fairmont House crew, so that’s good. Also, at one point Aron was holding a pen and he span it around. It’s something that’s been on my list of things to do for quite a long time, right along with winning a pub quiz. Needless to say neither goals were achieved. 🙂

Initial thoughts on my new Kindle

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I bought my Kindle when I realised that I would be spending somewhere in the region of £200 on books that are part of The Modern Library’s Top 100 list. I figured I could get quite a few of them for free from Project Gutenberg because they’re out of copyright, and I could get the others fairly cheaply because they’re pretty old, and digital media is cheap.

I was wrong.

The prices of ebooks on the Kindle store is bordering on the ridiculous. Most of the books I want were published in the first 3 quarters of the 20th century. You can pick up a second-hand copy at any book store or market for a couple of pounds. You can even buy a copy of some of them from Amazon/eBay for 1 penny (if you don’t mind paying for the postage).

The book I’m reading at the moment is Sophie’s Choice. Amazon’s price list says that a second-hand paperback copy on their marketplace can be bought for £3.05, a new paperback from the marketplace costs £4.27, and a new paperback from Amazon costs £6.99. If you want a digital copy with no associated printing or shipping costs then it’ll cost you £6.64.

I don’t understand how it’s so expensive. I’m not taking up physical copies of the book requiring more to be printed. I’m getting a copy of a digital file. It’s sent to my device automatically by machine. There is no postage, there is no physical storage required in a warehouse somewhere. Does that really only amount to a price difference of 35p?

I’m a little disenchanted by the whole thing, but I do also enjoy owning a Kindle. It is very convenient, and I suppose that’s what I pay for. Also, I suppose the book publishers are the ones who ultimately set the prices and I’d say they’re about as far behind as the music and film industries when it comes to embracing the digital age.

Summer Hours

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This is the first job I’ve had where I (legitimately) get to leave work considerably earlier on a Friday. Sadly it’s only during August, and I have to make the time up during the rest of the week, but today is Friday so let’s not think about the details! 😀

I have a couple of little bits to sort out when I get home, but I should still feel a considerable benefit. If the sun stays how it is now then I might even head up to the roof terrace to read my book and drink a beer. Having said that I’ve already realised that what I will probably do instead is close the curtains, switch the PS3 on and sit on the sofa until Cheryl comes back and yells at me. 😉

Transformers, Harry Potter, Submarine, Zookeeper

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I watch a lot of films. If you don’t already know that about me then you probably don’t know me very well at all and I wonder why you’re reading my blog. 😛

Cheryl and I used to go to the cinema between 4 and 10 times a month when we were in Nottingham so it’s been a bit strange not to go very often while we’ve been in London. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had quite a few visits to various cinemas though and it’s been quite nice.

We went to see Transformers 3 at Paramount’s office in Chiswick and they gave us free drinks and pizza before the film. That was pretty awesome. The film wasn’t too bad either, if you forget about the acting of a certain member of the cast.

Earlier this week we went to Cineworld in the O2 to watch the final instalment of Harry Potter with Dan, Fran, and Hannah. Most of the film was pretty good. A few bits seemed a bit lame, or funny, or just awkward, and then at the end it flashed up with “19 years later” and Dan I looked at each other with a look that said “what the hell?” The last few minutes basically made me come away with a worse impression of the film. it was completely unnecessary.

Yesterday Cheryl and I went to see a screening of Submarine at the Charlotte Street hotel near Tottenham Court Road. After the film–which is brilliant–we took part in a Q&A with the writer/director Richard Ayoade. That was really cool. I’d never taken part in something like that before so it was pretty exciting to be there. Richard Ayoade was very self-deprecating during the whole thing, which is how I think I would be if I ever became famous. I spent the entire Q&A session thinking whether I should ask him the stupid question I’d come up with or not. I went with it for the last question of the night: “how deep is the ocean?” If you’ve not seen the film then you won’t get why that’s funny. Everyone in the room laughed though, so my worries about nobody getting it were baseless. 🙂

Next week we’re going to Sony’s cinema to watch Zookeeper. I’ve not heard a great deal about it, but I’m hoping it’s good. Definitely looking forward to the refreshments. 🙂