The Unthinkable.

The Borders bookstore down St Charles Avenue is going out of business. In fact, Borders itself is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Last year marked an important change on Amazon.com : they now sell more e-books and e-readers than paperback hard-copy books. 

Perhaps that doesn't sound all that surprising until the implications are sounded out. People are buying e-books. There is a market for e-books that is growing daily, while the market for hard-copy books is shrinking. Encyclopedias sets are completely irrelevant now. Who needs to crack a dictionary when my phone can pull up 7 different dictionaries simultaneously? Oh, and I have a free dictionary on my kindle, too.

Could it be - is the thought even thinkable? - that we are headed toward a future without bound books? Mom and I were discussing this tonight, and at the suggestion, my every fiber shuddered in revolt - "No!" it cried, "they will never die out, they just can't! How could the human race give up the sweet scent of a newly bought book? The tactile sensation of turning delicate pages?"

I don't think they will disappear completely - not in my  lifetime (I hope). But...production will surely slow down. Getting a book with a spine will probably take longer and be a bit more difficult. But utter replacement by the electronic gods of this age? Surely not!

"Just think about how long books have been around," Mom pointed out.

True. There were stone tablets and papyrus and then bound paper and then handwritten books and then printing presses, and books and books and books. My mind can't even fathom a world without them.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOKS!

But haven't we seen so so so many other amazing and useful inventions give up their thrones to newer and more "useful" replacements? Horse and buggy/cart, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, arrows, revolvers, record players, land line telephones, ice boxes, and I'm sure there are thousands and thousands more that have slipped from society's memory.  Most of these items can still be found, but they're "retro," not mass-produced and only collectors tend to have them (or perhaps, those who can't afford a more expensive technology).

The above photo was found on a publisher's blog who was discussing this very issue, and I found it reasonably comforting to hear someone in the publishing industry reassuringly surmise that print books will never vanish. (Read his thoughts here.)

I wasn't sad to see cassettes become unnecessary, but I know my heart would be sorrowed if we ever did lose touch with bound, printed books. I may own a kindle (one of the best gifts ever!), and love it, but if I ultimately had to choose between it or real books, I wouldn't hesitate to keep paper under my fingertips.

On a totally unrelated note, I was singing the "Bed Intruder Song" inspired by Mr. Antoine Dodson, and it occurred to me to ask: DID they ever find that supposed rapist? I was so curious I wiki'ed it, but only managed to discover that Antoine has made enough off of song sales to move his family out of the projects and start up a t-shirt line (among other things.). You all know what this means, right?

There is potentially STILL A RAPIST ON THE LOOSE.

So please continue to HIDE yo' kids,
HIDE yo' wife,
and hide yo' husband too...

.

Nawlins Spooktacular

The weekend of October 31st is the 3rd craziest time of the year in New Orleans, bested only by Mardi Gras and Jazzfest. October 31st, 2010 was no different.

The hostel was PACKED, we were selling dorm beds in crowded 8-person rooms for $35 bucks or more, and the energy in the city was practically a tangible object. Customers were dashing from room to room to bathroom as they  scrounged up costumes, painted faces, took group photos, borrowed the hostel scissors a dozen times to cut some piece of fabric or another and generally built excitement into the walls.

A group of superheroes (and gladiators) from room 16

We were catching the fever ourselves, because we were going to get to participate this evening! One of our fabulous bosses was giving us part of the evening off to go enjoy Halloween for several hours, so Adam had run to the costume shop that morning and picked out a brilliant set of costumes for us.

It took him a while, probably because he kept trying on wigs. But eventually, he focused, purchased the costumes and came back to join in the hostel bustle of preparations.

Here was the end result of our efforts:

Perfect Halloween irony for a married couple

We actually shaved Adam's head to give him that tonsure, and he had drunk people touching his head all night, to check if it was real or a wig.  :)

It was obviously the right choice of costume - God approved:

Holy beam of light

We hit the town as soon as we were relieved of our duties, squeezing onto the St. Charles Avenue streetcar with an appropriate companion, the Devil, to get to the French Quarter:

He's a pretty neat guy - good conversationalist, friendly, etc... ;)

The first costume we saw after reaching the French quarter was by FAR the most amazing one I have or ever will see in my life. Unfortunately for you, this is how my photo of him turned out:

:(

His/her costume was incredible - it was on stilts, covered head to toe in some sort of Dragon/monster costume, complete with lights running down his spine and glowing eyes. He was super impressive, and Adam couldn't stop talking about him for days after - he asked every single guest who'd been to Bourbon Street that night if they'd seen the Amazing Monster On Stilts. (sadly, no one had)

Anyways, we sauntered the length of Bourbon and then Frenchman Street, gawking at costumes and enjoying the laughs people had when they saw our costumes - some people took pics of us, which was further affirmation that we'd picked appropriate costumes. And then there were all the people who couldn't believe Adam had actually shaved his head. :)

We saw some other really hilarious and well-made costumes, and I tried to get photos of a few of them:

Cheetos guys with body paint

This was a group of Spidermen, including venom and other variations. There were heaps of superheros - the girls all had "sassy" versions,  and we saw just about every superhero on the books at least once

This car wasn't technically made up for Halloween, but it was SO COOL. Those are  matchbox cars lining the rims. And there is a carousel horse on the hood. 

NEAT-O - reminds me of my childhood :)

These vikings had a "vessel" that actually rolled around

Perhaps my personal favorite of the evening: Antoine Dodson

I may have been really tired the next day, but it was totally worth it.

Thanks for the crazy, happy Halloween, New Orleans!


P.S. This post is a request from my Hubbs, and I dedicate it to him. Sorry I took so long, Hon!  <3