when you travel for work, then come home and work work work. Plus, if you're a bit off colour. It's hard to maintain a blog.

Anyway, Thailand this time round was better than the last. I have a few revelations, coming out from this trip. (Which i'm going to write about another time, perhaps after i file my report) Still, a little food for thought - each country in South East Asia, perhaps entire Asia are demographically unique - so how do you sell books, English ones here? Think about it. Who reads them???

Share with you a pix for the nice, nice, nice people in Bangkok. I think it's their culture - they are naturally nice folk. Us, we're another species altogether. (But i like being me!)

SONG FOR A MOOD
Tsumetaku Shinaide - Miwa Yoshida. Don't know what the title means, but i think this song is simply too cool. I bought the album (Beauty & Harmony Vol 1) in my first trip to Bangkok, long time ago. She released her second solo a few year back. In case you don't know, Miwa is the voice of DCT (Dreams Come True) Thought it will be a nice song to share, thinking about Thailand.

But? In Malaysia, where else.

M's 3rd album, Explore M has recently been released in various versions (Japan, Taiwan & Hong Kong). One wonders if it'll ever find its way here.

So sad. They need to take a course in Geography 101 - Asia isn't only limited to those three countries.

Just to say i've put up the pix from my 'so-called' honeymoon, in Hokkaido. Sometime in October 2006. It's very, very random and really depended on my moods. So i guess i missed many sights which i still keep in my memory.
Peep in here.

There was this discussion about how low risk it was to be in book trading. Which may just be the case if you compare us to those supermarkets that sell perishables. After all, there are laws about how long you can display such goods before writing them off or how close to the expiry date you can keep the stuff. Plus, the cost of importing them includes damaged goods which i'm sure happens easily - think plums, grapes or some soft fruit.

Not that we are actually comparing books to food - even though they are food for the brain, just as essential to some people. Take it as 'food for thought', though.

Do books expire?

Hardcovers become unsaleable after the paperback is release, yes. Old editions are obsolete as soon as a new edition is released, except research libraries that keep them, others will trash. Old theories get debunked and pushed off relevancy. Genres lose their appeal, and suddenly no one writes or publishes them anymore. New covers will show you how ugly the old ones were. And author dies and the books start to go out of print. Yes, yes and yes.

Various means will end the life of a book.

We always complain that some titles are out-of-date. Being 'trained', i'll look at books covers and cringe at the US covers of self help books which look like they were grandparents to the books freshly published. Well, they are still relevant though and just as well-received by readers.

Relevancy, universal appeal, rare art and deep substance will make classics out of books, making them live longer and travel farther. My job is at times to feed them a little Amrita, at times to help to bury them when they die, be it prematurely or naturally. Like any reader and loverof books, i feel glad with every long-lived, well-loved book ... and sad to have cross paths with nasty books, unhappy books, sickly ones ... and perhaps a little gratified to have met ones that are short-lived but burned brightly. It sounds odd, ya. At times, i feel it is as such.

SONG FOR A MOOD
Fast expiring strawberries/Kuai guoqi de cao-mei - Vivian Hsu. She is a popstar with a past who has managed to walk away from it quite successfully. Having spent a long time in Japan, her style and music reflects the soft, sexy, kittenish types like Chara and Bice. i liked her cos she's so pretty. Now i see her in a different light - if you didn't know this, Jay Chou's first single had words penned by Viv. Then i also followed her incarnations in DEP and Lil' Viv. Such a chameleon. i wish her the best for being incredibly 'long-lived' in this fickle world of entertainment. Song from one of my utter favourite albums, Qia ban de tien shi/Disguised as a Fairy.

i realised that i forgot to put this in. About the 'Go Green' thing.

Recently, Penny Tai has announced that she's not releasing any albums this year, or rather any CDs. Her latest pain-to-the-ears, called Blow the Whistle (Cui Bi-bi) will only be available online and you can pay to own your own copy. So i thought, why ah? Cost of producing an entire album, in CD is expensive? Maybe. Trying to be environmental-friendly? Because imagine you print 5,000 pieces and the terrible pirates print double, then there is 15,000 of your CDs, of which people like Lil' Eri will buy the pirate at say 10 a pop. She'll nicely stick it elsewhere and promptly forget about it. Thus creating unwanted, forgotten waste. Then, this makes digitally downloadable music much more green, ya? But where does all this data hang out at? What is the virtual world but metal, plastic and electricity ... servers somewhere. And more and more servers and other hardware to keep the software. Still, it is a little more eco-friendly, i guess to keep MP3s or music virtually.

But... on the question of books, though... an electronic book versus a paper one?

Music is different because cassettes and CDs will end up being waste that cannot be broken down easily. Poison to Mother Earth.

Books, which means less trees however does not necessary equal to poisoning of the same earth that will grow more trees. i'm making this sound so complicated.

Imagine this - electronic books made of plastic or metal components, and servers that house the digital books can end up in the garbage as unrecyclable, or needs special means to safely dispose. Which ultimately could mean it'll poison the land.

Then imagine this - books are made from trees which we are unendingly cutting down and may not be planting back as fast. When we trash books (for goodness sake, donate them or give them away before you do that!), they may be recycled as another book or paper something else. Now trees will be harder to grow on 'poisoned' land. But you might still be able to write on recycled books.

MP3s, not too evil.
E-Books ... not too great, you see.

I guess you can see that i much prefer the solidity of books, the feel of paper between my fingers, the woody, heady whiff of ink and forests. So help me ....