The Silhouette Cat
Originally uploaded by HiggySTFC

Authenticity / Ambiguity / Anonymity

I admit I have an aversion to social networking. I had a look around Bebo, Myspace and Facebook and obviously it is very popular, but I just can't go there. I like to see my friends and family in person and if they're far away I enjoy talking on the phone! I like to see the colour of peoples' eyes and hearing the sound of their voice.
The part that I have trouble with is the need for a persona to protect one's true identity. (Trying to stay 'in character' for the purposes of 23 Things has been amusing but I wouldn't want to do it long term)
The other disturbing aspect is that you can't just cancel your membership or erase your profile, it appears you are there forever. No thanks.

Puss in Boots

Is this a classic? Google Book Search lead me to the author Charles Perrault and the story of Puss in Boots in French and English. Then I went to Project Gutenberg and found his collection of stories in French available to be downloaded in several formats. It was very quick and easy to find. Also the 'audiobook' was available in 'human-voice' (as opposed to cat-voice?!)
Reading about ebooks in general, yes it seems a wonderful thing. (You don't need to pack all those heavy books into your bag when travelling?)Interesting that publishers are using the ebook thing to gauge how much interest there is in a new manuscript before actually publishing it.
'But what about the book as object ?', said my one friend.
for some reason this made me think about collections of letters, my own past correspondence as well as published collections and what the ebook version of these could be? Convenience comes at a cost. Discovering a bundle of love letters or inheriting Nonna's handwritten recipe book is something you just can't 'digitize '. Would you want to?

pasta con le sarde a mare

The only way I can explain podcast is a radio show that you can listen to anytime you like. Podcastpickle or whatever it is called is doing my furry little head in. Ditto Podnova which is unable to find anything I click on. I heard about this podcast elsewhere so am including it for sentimental reasons:http://plainsfm.org.nz/programme/cartolina/
I like the idea of anyone being able to create and broadcast their own 'show', and being able to listen to interesting things while out and about. Maybe I should replace the rather uninteresting feeds I have subscribed to with podcasts!

Nostalgia

Where have I been? I love this! I have been wallowing in YouTube. If you don't get around much anymore this is great. I even found my favorite tango from 'Moulin Rouge', and of course this one featuring the inimitable 'Gatto con gli Stivali'. No wonder this site is so popular, but on the subject of libraries having a presence on this site... well, how can you compete with Banderas?Mmmm.

Unexpected pleasures

Libertango

At last, I actually recognised some names of sites! As I already have accounts with several of them I decided to save myself for later and just browse some that were strange to me. The travel sites appealed: easy to use and fun to plan a virtual world tour. Also lots of hotel recommendations and potential comments from fellow travellers if you sign up.
Having some fun discussing the pros and cons of wikis, blogs, ebooks etc. with non-library friends (something we hardly ever mentioned before!) Don't feel quite so lost, feel like this tango is actually coming together now.