a travel-inspired notebook

I’ve finally purchased something from Handworks Nouveau Paperie.  This was a gift for a friend whom I’ve known for almost three years now throughout doing my research.  She really enjoys traveling to Europe very much (especially Paris) and she loves to draw - so I thought this would be the perfect combination (plus the fact that I just love notebooks like this).  The tag, stamped with kikki K alphabet stamp set, says “Happy Julia Day” because I thought it would be kind of nice to remember the date that we were born as our day.

p/s: Have you ever tried wishing and thanking your mom on your birthday, just because she was the one who gave birth to you?  I did sometimes, and I think it might have brought out some emotions from Mak :)

Learning Origami: Lilies in a Verdi Vase

Having done a lot of work on the computer and in digital format nowadays, I still yearn to do something manual with things of different materials.  I suppose that's where baking, buying a film camera, cutting/tying/taping things, and constantly brainstorming and jotting down stuff in a notebook with a pen come into the everyday routine.  The experience of doing something tangible like stirring, folding, holding, doodling, jotting, etc can never ever be replaced by anything digital.

I've never learned Origami before, other than the basic boats, boxes and little stars that I made during my primary school years.  I started folding and cutting some stuff again since I began experimenting with my mapping projects last two years; and I was reminded of the feel that you get when you do something crafty with your hands - the feeling of "actual making".  I don't think I'm near 'crafty' by any means, but doing things like these is like a relaxing therapy of some sort - where I get to achieve a small goal within minutes or hours in the midst of my bigger goals or tasks.

I finally found a book on Origami yesterday at the bargain book stall at the mall.  Presenting... Origami Lilies in a Verdi Vase.

Origami | Lilies and Verdi Vase

Book | "Everything Origami"

Publisher | Hinkler Books, Australia

Andiamo! by Kelly Barber

 

 

I started buying and collecting guide books and maps about three years back: starting with our road trip from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu and Kelantan, and then for our first visit to Melbourne and Sydney.  Initially and partly for my research, I became more interested in different types of guidebooks and maps - not necessarily buying them because I plan to visit those places, but to understand how places are depicted in guide books.  And it's always nice to imagine traveling to those places one day, and at the very least, see the visual experiences from those books.

I bought "Andiamo!" by Kelly Barber in July 2009.  I was attracted to its pictorial essay, which is a lot of visuals compared to texts.  Simply said, it's like looking through a travel album of someone else.  It's nice to see the photos people take - some are of scenery while some are of mundane yet fascinating things like a wall decor of a shop.  I haven't seriously had the intention to visit Italy in the near future, but sure, I'd love to visit that part of the world one day.  As it turns out, there's a conference coming up in Italy in November this year.  Seems like a great opportunity for me to lengthen my foot steps there, don't you think?

Books: slanting, sitting, standing

Images | books currently around my table in my workstation

Camera | Olympus PEN

Edit | Photoshop, Curves: adjusted Red, Blue and RGB

(it's fun playing around with this edit to see the possible results that you might get)

I've read some, browsed some, cited some, but sure got a lot more to dig into!

Share me the books around your table? :)

Cook Books

For someone who likes buying books, cookbooks are definitely in the list.  Although books that have amazing photos and styles of food are very much alluring, I find that what closes the deal between browsing and purchasing is actually the recipes themselves.  If I find that the recipes in the book are 'do-able', if the ingredients that are used are easily available, if the food in the book are those that I like or would love to try, and if the price of the book is not ridiculously expensive, then there's definitely a potential purchase.  It is no doubt that you can find almost a recipe for anything on the internet nowadays, but having a cookbook adds a bit more of that seriousness in cooking or baking, or at least for amateurs like me (not that cooking or baking ever have to be serious though).  When following recipes, I like to have them in front of me on the kitchen counter, looking at them step by step, measure by measure.  And I still love the idea of having a physical hard-copy of recipes just like our moms have it.

Cupcake Recipe Book | purchased at one of those bargain stash at the mall

Jamie Oliver | bought at the Sunday Market for more than half of the original price (in new condition)

Turqoise A4 Notebook | My own collection of hand-written/copied recipes

(Not in photo | RASA Magazine I bought from Malaysia)

Photo | Olympus PEN, desaturated edit

Books on Mapping

If you like maps, graphics, arts and just a lot of really amazing ways to "read" places, then you've got to check out these two books by Katharine Harmon.  Both of these books compile different types of maps, and how they are composed.  Usually, we would think of a map as the ones that involve places with reference to geographic locations.  But if we think of "mapping" as a way of "revealing" something, then the definition of maps goes beyond our typical city map, street map or world map.

It took my quite sometimes too to grasp what "mapping" means.  Think of it this way: when we read a map, we can see specific places, buildings, landmarks that are "chosen" to be shown by the mapper, while certain things are left out.  A street map would be different from a subway map, because some things matter to car drivers, while other things only matter to subway riders.

If we look at it that way, we can start to perceive how bias a map can be.  For example, your map of a city will be different from my map of that same city.  Each of us see the world differently through our own eyes and experiences.  It is through sharing some of our "versions" of the world that we can begin to understand places around us differently.

You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination

and

The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography

 

This one is a booklet of collections of 10 Maps.

 An Atlas of Radical Cartography

10 different maps mapping different things

I got all three from Amazon.

Book: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Photo | iPhone 3GS

Apps 1 | PS Express, Black & White

Apps 2 | Instagram, X-Pro II

I'm currently reading this on my way to the city.  I thought I'd fill in my spare time sitting in the tram by reading a book rather than browsing through my phone.  This is the second book of Malcom Gladwell that I am reading after "The Outliers".

"The Tipping Point" is about understanding how little things can make a big difference, just like what the title says.  You know how sometimes you wonder, how come all of a sudden everyone started owning a DSLR and become interested in photography?  The fact that the price of gadgets are getting cheaper may contribute to this craze, but there are other factors that we are not aware of.  Like, how come macarons suddenly becomes the latest craze and trend in Malaysia?  Who started it?  It's about things like that... how suddenly some trends become popular very quickly, how things spread through word-of-mouth, and how certain things suddenly come to a point and 'tip'.

So far, from the two of Malcolm Gladwell's book that I've read, I find the language to be easy to understand.  It is written in a conversational language and for me that's what makes the book interesting to read.  It's not a book that you have to finish all in one shot like a novel.  It's the kind of book that you can continue to read anytime that you're free, and can still pretty much remember the things he has talked about.  And the best thing about reading books like this is you also increase your vocabularies and knowledge of things that you might have otherwise not known.

We bought "The Outliers" and "The Tipping Point" at MPH back in Malaysia, as it was sold as a bundle with some price discounts.