1. i am addicted to reading advice columns online. i am admittedly not very good at taking advice, so i like to absorb mine passively via the written word. salon’s cary tennis is probably the most flowery and roundabout, but yet this is the only way to understand complexity sometimes. even if the letters page for each topic often has people discussing if the letter writer (LW) is deranged or not. carolyn hax is sensible yet thoughtful, as is dear abby, if not a bit short. slate’s dear prudence often draws on pop culture references, which i would expect slate readers to be well up on. psychiatrist gordon livingston’s lifelines is not q&a column per se, but for someone who’s seen most of it all, writes eloquently on the subject.
2. mark borthwick’s work reminds me of hanayo’s, including all the light leaks and children running about. minus the farty noises on hanayo’s website.
3. i should really think of new projects, such as baking a fruit pie from scratch, or learning how to make lino prints (because i read the blog by ah yi) or to use a print gocco machine or make vietnamese coffee. i’m more organised than i used to be, but somehow i am not reading and/or thinking enough conceptually…
4. this flickr set of seoul cafes makes me want to go to south korea. i may have to decipher the hangul for mocha or latte though, before i can order from them.
5. i am however, planning a trip to hong kong next year. these blog posts just remind me how many things i still haven’t seen or eaten.
6. also looking at photographs by wai lin tse here and at her homepage. her photographs have a steadiness about them, and i’m still trying to pinpoint what it is i like about them, which i would like to describe in something other than words.