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[wombat]

OK, I'll bite too. Since I have so many books, we finally had to put a bookcase in the living room where it is conspicuous. I only keep what I think are nice looking books there, and they are actually organized - all the comics together, all the Japanese together, all the animal books together, etc.  (Unlike the shelves in my office which are two books deep and, while they show the remnants of an attempt at organization, whenever I try to find something I eventually end up moaning that this is why we should go to e-readers - because all our books will be stored in alphabetical order.)

So, maybe you hate me too. But at least I don't have that girly zig-zag thing like Mr Trout. That is a brave thing to admit, there.

[Mr Trout]

oooh, Wombat's getting snarky!

Isn't this coming from the lady who drives around a bug, the car with a built-in flower vase?

[AugustWest]

I'm pretty sure we have bookshelves in every room in the house.  Bathrooms included.

[jaydub]

Well, if you count the top of the toilet tank, so do we.

[KeithHernandez]

I have speakers in every room.

[wombat]

oooh, Wombat's getting snarky!

Isn't this coming from the lady who drives around a bug, the car with a built-in flower vase?

At least it doesn't have built-in bookshelves.

[robot_god]

Above the books you can see the famous wall boobs.

Them wall boobs are creepin me out to the max.  Why'd you put that creepy shit up there?

[littlefallsmets]

Because the wall is becoming a lady.

[lprkn]

Are You There, God? It's Me, The Wall.

[Mr Trout]

Them wall boobs are creepin me out to the max.  Why'd you put that creepy shit up there?

They were there when I moved in (I think they used to hold old sconces?) I just left them white when I painted the wall.

[fanta]

It's 2010, and you can pirate all this shit on your phone while driving. 

tee hee. 

If the much maligned troll may be allowed to make an honest contribution: 

Okay so I don't really understand what you are complaining about exactly *****_god.  Is it the use of books as decoration?  Yeah, that is likely to come off as pretty lame and pretentious or merely just gauche and artificial and clumsy.  But that in general describes a huge segment of the interior decoration industry, doesn't it?

There is what I consider to be a legitimate aspect to interior decoration - that which concerns it's self with function, and with basic universal aesthetics that are somehow hard-wired into the human psyche at a fairly low level... things like beautiful symmetry and asymmetry, and nice color and form... these can be fairly universally agreed upon, at least to the extent that anything can be universally agreed upon.

But then there is that component of interior decoration which veers off into the culturally specific.  What's cute and adorable and warm and welcoming for one person might give another the urge to run screaming from the room, or spill kerosene or even white phosphorus all over.  What's one person's normal self-expression of culture and personality is another person's prima facie evidence of a shallow and arrogant soul, perhaps one that was raised exclusively on mass-produced pop culture. 

My few encounters with the craft of interior decoration have been via our pop culture's mass media, so it is probably not surprising that I haven't liked what I have seen of it.

I dunno, I think my books comprise an excellent component of my interior decoration.  A cursory survey of my bookcase reveals a diverse array of subject matter, yet also a troubling level of specificity and depth.  As one friend once put it when he visited my house about a decade ago: 'I like what you've done with the place... it's very... very... Unabomberesque.'

With respect to DVDs, and audio CDs... rarely do I keep the liner notes, much less the bulky case.  I keep the physical disc, and that's it.  This has allowed me to procrastinate the task of sorting through and making a strategic decision of what to keep and what to throw away. 

Certainly, I plan to rip all my audio CDs to my computer, but first things first; I'm currently converting several boxes of audio tapes and VHS tapes to digital format.  These are the oldest and most bulky, and therefore are the most pressing concerns.

off subject, but here's the pictures of me fixing one of the hard drives I was sorting through the other day.

[robot_god]

My problem is that we collectively have to face the facts:  books are now outdated and unreasonably expensive as well as DVD's too.  People kept bookcases because they had books they didn't want to throw away so they say, "Fuck it, it's now my decor, my badge of honor, symbol of credibility."  Then the books lied there for eternity until they were covered in cobwebs, pages turned yellow and the person died.  The nieces and nephews dumped em in a box next to a thrift shop.  The people surrounded themselves in the only information they knew and without realizing they had BUILT THEIR OWN COFFINS.

In my mind these bookcases have become an icon of in-adaptability.  And to see a 25 year old woman decorate her dwelling as if she is looking over her shoulder for great-great grandma's approval makes me die a little bit inside.  We have the opportunity to treat this age as a whole new world.  Tradition can suck my dick.  My Asian friends referred to my disregard for pointless tradition saying, "you [being mixed nationality] like don't really have much culture in your life," and I stood up, slammed down my glass and shouted, "my culture is 'THE SHIT I SAY AND DO IS RIGHT'!"  They lolled hard, but I was dead fuck*ng serious.

I guess I just am striving to become the most adaptable man in history and I see these bookshelves as hampering that goal.  I want spend time living in Japan, Vermont, Sweden, Italy, California, Georgia, France, Manhattan.  What good will bookshelves do in accomplishing my goal?  I can read these books for free, or maybe three bucks on my phone if I want.

I want to fill my dwelling with those digital picture frames, and they will show no pictures and only my favorite viral videos.  I want to have a dining room with a circular table, all the chairs have wheels on them and on every wall is a seperate, reasonable TV so everyone can watch sports or whatever during dinner.  I would happily divorce the love of my life for that room.  I want to place a beautiful geode in a room, and design all the decor of the entire room around that one simple piece.  I want to be a god damn innovator and these old outdated bookshelves ARE AN INSULT TO MY VERY SOUL.  WE GOT TO LIVE IN THIS BORING ASS UNIVERSE, LETS AT LEAST MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT INTERESTING AND FUN FOR CHRIST SAKE.





The Japanese get it.  Fuck.

[greenkoolayd]

i dont disagree with the sentiment.

at the same time, i really hope youre not losing sleep because you dont like that some people think its ok to display their own books in their own home for any reason.  its even sad if it makes you ill at ease.

[KeithHernandez]

I want to fill my dwelling with those digital picture frames, and they will show no pictures and only my favorite viral videos.

If I could ever make myself throw out my old Bob Dylan poster (it took like a decade to talk my friend in to it.  He final just said I don't even like Dylan, you can have it.) or the Soviet Cosmonaut propaganda I would decorate my living room with nothing but one huge, empty picture frame.  There ain't a god damned thing you can do about it.

[fanta]

Wow I love you **#** God.  I love you.  Are you female?  Or gay?  Or bicurious?  We should meet.

I agree 100% with what you said.  Except that while it doesn't change the substance of what you said, one can still debate the pros and cons of books in some limited contexts.  But yes probably at least 80% of what gets printed on paper could and should very easily be switched to digital format with no loss at all.