… the bone… would surely have more for you to look at soon-ish. Although, I must admit, reading books is a very personal thing – always show an individualistic preference towards ones liking. I’ve read books recomended by others that seem to have little or no effect on me. …end of the day treat the list below as a mere recomendation of what seemed to have grabbed me, your passion for reading could very well be…*D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T* well who knows… surprise me !
The Matchmaker of …
Archive for the 'Books' Category
Wouldn’t be so wonderful if people shared, recycled, gave away old books and computers and or IT related hardwares. So often I have seen bookshops like Dymocks, Borders, Angus and Robertson to name a few… who hoard old computer books in the sheer thought of getting every cent out of it? I just got back from Borders in Hornsby a couple of hours back. They have had the Dreamweaver 3 book in their computers section for the last few months now. Also the Microsoft Exchange 5.5. My suggestion is to discount old computer books and sell them off at a lower price for students or to who ever might be interested.
Continue reading ‘Recycling old books and computers’
Here is an assortment of various things I enjoying dipping my fingers into. These are not in an particular order of liking, just an outpour of things that ran down my head. Enjoy the randomness!
Photography
- Adobe Lightroom resources
links to tutorials, videos, books, podcasts and lots of Lightroom resources. A must see if you’re a photographer - Adobe Lightroom Preset collection
- Photography Related
- PhotoShop Action Brushes textures and Tutorials
Web Development, Design
- CSS goodies
- Colour Links, Tools and Calibration
tools that help you design websites better using good colour schemes. Tools that helps keep your monitor clibrated - WordPress tweaks, addons that would make the already best free CMS even better
- WordPress Themes
collection of themes that can be used for WordPress - Accessibility tools
links to Accessibility tools for web design
Miscellaneous
Good books are so hard to find thesedays… Among the lines of what I do enjoy reading, I certainly think Iyanla Vanzant has carved a niche for herself in my heart. Her books are downright honest and realistic, her messages simple and clear. Who ever said simplicity is not good. In fact keeping things simple is the key to many successful avenues if not the only and most recommended way. In the past I have read Iyanla’s ‘In the Meantime‘ This book will make you cry and tear up in joy.. .well it did to me. I am also reading here ‘EveryDay I Pray‘ … and now… ‘One Day My Soul Just Opened Up‘.
Who is Iyanla Vanzant?
Iyanla Vanzant is a Yoruba priestess, a talk show host, a doctoral candidate, a spiritual life counselor, and the author of the 1994 Blackboard Book of the Year, Acts of Faith, and the best-selling Value in the Valley. She lives in Silver Springs, Maryland. If you have never read her books you might like to try them someday.
It’s been a while I printed some of my own photos that I’ve been taking over the years. Only this time, I am doing it for myself. Eventually, it would also be nice to make my very own photo-book(s) from some of the good prints. Thank you Maxine for inspiring me! Post Maxine’s sojourn to Japan she has made 2 absolutely gorgeous photo-books. Maxine, if you are reading this I hope you put some of those photos online. Having had the pleasure of seeing them I can clearly vouch that every photo in there stands out unique. So there am I, working on framing photos 
here’s a start.
I haven’t read any of Kiran Desai’s books but something tells me this is going to be a damn fine story. Alright truth be told… I’ve been reading reviews of this lately and gave in to my book-lust tonight. I probably would have thought twice if there were more copies strewn around the new arrivals section of Borders. Given, this was the only one left, I saw myself pace up and greedily snatch it off the rack. It was coming home with me. And like a few other books I started to read this year, hope this doesn’t add to my growing list of utter dreary and tedium. Well, a part of that is possibly just me… have you sometimes felt, no matter how good a book you had in hand, it was hard to do justice, be it time, frame of mind, the hormones in your body or just sheer boredom. Lethargy. Admit it, I know its not just me.
Continue reading ‘The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai’
I couldn’t have been happier when Nancy (lovingly Nan) called to tell me that she joined the Follette International Library Resources. It was a long sequel of events that led her to meet Chuck Follett, at Follett International in McHenry, Illnois. Nan’s primary reason to get in touch with Chuck was to see if some help be available from Follett Library for her Rotary International project in Dhanbad, India. Nan is also the president of Maysville Rotary, in North Carolina, USA. Subsequent weeks that followed led to an exciting trip to Chicago to get inducted to the Follette resources and the workings of the group. Even though she has put up an entry about her jottings of the Follettes and pics on her flickr I thought this needed a worthy mention. Educating the future, gratis, without seeking any in return is a very noble and worthy call and seen far and few between in this day and age. In fact its reaching out beyond ones social scene and cultural peripheries — that in itself is a call very few can answer. Well done Nan! Very proud of you!
The Line of Beauty , appropriately named or not, or am missing the link still, sure makes for an enthralling story that takes place in the Thatcherian UK — early 80s when Britain is experiencing the winds of change. Reading the reviews in the newspapers the other day I wondered if this would go wayside but soon caught my attention as I started watching the drama on ABC last night. The story starts with Nick Guest(Dan Stevens) moving in with Toby his best mates family — the wealthy Feddens. All through his graduation years at Oxford Nick has fancied Toby but moving in with the affluent Feddens at their London home brings about a sea change in the young heart of Nick. He experiences his sexual urges, falling in love head over heels after losing his virginity, drug induced highs and lows… dysfunctional and dramatic living, till things start to heat up. Amidst the euphoria of the champagne and parties, Nick witnesses political scandal, the deception and hypocrisy of the rich and desperate tragedy of the outbreak of AIDS. It truly makes for a gripping family drama. I’d say its a must watch if you’re reasonably broadminded. Here is a review from The Guardian Unlimited.
Ah you guessed it. I am currently reading Scott Kelby’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 book. This is one amazing book and if you are anywhere halfway keen on good photography and or workflow like I am the technical inputs with save you precious time and headaches galore. Besides, after using Lightroom 1.x for over a year this book went out to say to me I was barely scratching the surface of Lightroom. Its written with practicality in mind and even if you have never used Lightroom version 2 or Lightroom 1.x you will be easily work your way through step by step in no time.
THE FIRST THING I was ever told about Jews was that every Christmas they would take a Christian toddler, put it screaming in a barrel, run knives between the slats, and drain the child of its blood. While christians celebrated the birth of Jesus, Jews had a mock ceremony at midnight in their synagogues, before images of their horned God, where they drank the blood of the sacrified child.
I’m reading an amazing book at the moment. It is the biography of Michel L’Herpinière. Bittersweet memoir of French Indochina. I have only finished the first three chapters and it is terribly exciting to say the least. To a point that I find it hard to put this book down…. It is reminiscent of our holidays there last year. The little boys journey traversing though the landscapes of Paris, Morocco, south to Madagascar, Khenifra and then on to Ho-Chi-Minh City and finally the enfant d’Empire — french quarters of Hanoi. 1936.
Berrima also has quite a few giftware shops and galleries along Jellore Street right off the Berimma Post office. Being on a strret a little of the main patch of the small town it can easily be neglected. We’ve been to Berrima many times and have never explored these little hideouts. Among these Bowral Antiques, A Touch of Brass and Berrima Village Pottery definitely stand out from the crowd. It was getting a little hot and the sun was right overhead so we decided to head back to the car but going past the little park opposite the The White Horse Inn we notice some men in medieval clothing. Good God! We hopped on the car and drove up the hill on old Hume highway.
Have you ever watched a movie you really wanted to thinking it would be good or had the possibilities or potential to be a showstopper but… it kinda never happened. Well in a nut shell thats what Duplicity is. Sounds pathetic huh? Well, wait tell you watch it. I’d say save you dosh and time to watch paint dry instead.
It was time to board soon and I walked in as seating area 2 was called. David had booked lovely aisle seats for long flights. The walk through the first class, business and then onto Economy is really a tease! In a while I saw a couple come up and stood infront of me. Mary, had a lovely soft and peaceful smile. Our eyes met… I kind of gestured: Are these your seats? Mary softly replied: I’m afraid so! Soon we were taxing for take-off and we were air-borne. It was noisy! But Mary and I got chatting and much before we knew… we were cruising over Fiji at thirty-four thousand feet, very close to sunset as I noticed through the small window next to Chuck, Mary’s husband. Sunset hues over relatively unpolluted almost pristine air is breath-taking. These are things a photographer craves to capture. Unfortunately, I couldn’t shoot any picture during my flight but I wasn’t very keen either!
UPDATE: 31st July 2008: Lightroom 2.0 was released worldwide on 29th July 2008. Remarkable improvements. Really love the new version. However, Adobe is selling the donwloadable upgrade version of the program by jacking up its pricing for international users. Really unfair to Lightroom users outside USA. The Australian price for the upgrade should be around AU$ 106.00 but Adobe is charging users AU$165.00. More here and here. Make sure you make your voice heard.
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