Neighbourhood Guide to Fitzroy

Australian Culture…?

By Ben Rizzuto                                                                                                                                                                        30/05/2013

Have you heard this one?  What’s the difference between Australia and a tub of yogurt?

After 200 years in the sun a tub of yogurt develops a culture.  Ha, ha, ha.

When people go to Australia what do they expect to find?  Beaches? Beer? Dangerous animals?  Probably not a cultural experience.

But Australia does have culture, and cultures.  Many cultures, from people who have come from around the world to call Australia home.

In few places is this more apparent than in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.

Go see a game of Australian Rules Football at its birth place, the MCG.

Go for a stroll down Brunswick Street, in the inner city suburb of Fitzroy. 

Hit LygonStreet, in Carlton, for some home made gelato.

Track down one of the growing number of food trucks cruising the streets stocked up with cheap and fresh fare.

Take a stroll down the Esplanade in St. Kilda, where you can lounge at the beach, have a beer at the pub or buy some hand made craft at the market.

Take the time to come and visit, we’re very friendly, and you may just find it difficult to leave.

Melbourne Food Trucks Feature

PRINT BOOKS vs EBOOKS: The Battle Continues...

by Benjamin Rizzuto                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      28.04.2013

I love reading things, especially books.  So before going on an overseas trip last year I bought myself an iPad with the intension that it could replace both my bookshelf and my laptop while I was traveling and I was initially a bit disappointed with how well it did either of these things.  I found that it didn’t have the utility of a laptop and it was difficult (and still too expensive) getting books on it.  By the time the trip was over I had changed one of my tunes, and now positively loved how much easier, cheaper and more practical it was to read things on my iPad.

But when I tried to tell some of the people I knew, people who also enjoy reading things, I found often dismissed and sometimes the target of (apparently) genuine vitriol and anger. How dare I say that ebooks are better then REAL books!?! (Even when that was not what I had said)

I had unknowingly entered a fierce debate that I had not even realised existed, the great drama and controversy of BOOKS vs EBOOKS!

Don't get confused.
Image: Jean Guillaume Le Roux 

I was, and still am, a bit amazed by the strength of some of the reactions that this debate has thrown up, generally in defense of books.  Apparently if you want a real, visceral experience you need a book, you need a discrete object with actual pages to turn and the smell of paper and bindings wafting up. 

Joe Queenan, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, wrote that for people who truly love books “…the objects themselves are sacred. Some people may find this attitude baffling, arguing that books are merely objects that take up space. This is true, but so are Prague and your kids and the Sistine Chapel. Think it through, bozos.”

Then there is Jonathon Franzen’s argument that ebooks, and other such technology, are damaging to society.  Speaking at the Hay Festival Franzen says that “…for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience.”

“But I do fear that it’s going to be very hard to make the world work if there’s no permanence like that. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government.”

While I can relate to the pleasure of looking up at my book shelf, seeing all the books there and the thoughts and memories it triggers when I pull one down, I didn’t know that my liking for ebooks was dangerous for society.

With ebook sales having overtaken print book sales in 2011 there must be some things to like about them, right?

Well the most obvious thing is utility, which was the clincher for me when I was away.  It is literally impossible to carry 50 printed books around with you, but with an ebook this is not a problem. 

Digital editions are also cheaper to purchase, which means you might be able to afford that 50 books.  Which, as Joanna Penn mentions on her website (LINK), is good for authors too.

Some of the older generation, a demographic that stereotypically resists new technology, have been embracing ebooks because of they can up the font size as much as their vision needs it. 

Of course ebooks can also be expensive, fragile, are prone to running out of power before you finish the story (if you are somewhere away from a power source) and I haven’t even touched on the problem of piracy.

So the question is what do you want from your reading experience?  Is the content more important or the object itself?

If it is the content, which to me would be the case in hundreds of paperback novels that I have ploughed through in my life, then the ebook would seem to come out on top.  I would generally rather be reading cracked screen of my iPad than carefully holding a battered, much read paperback and hoping that the pages don’t fall out (or haven’t already).

I do love my books, just having them and seeing them on my shelf.  But I think the majority of them (ie. cheap paperbacks) are going to be replaced by ebooks eventually.  The future of print books could lie in them becoming more of a rarity and embracing their potential as personal and cultural arefacts.  

I agree with Jack Cheng, who predicts on mashable that print books may have a future similar to vinyl.  He explains, "Personally I've gone out and purchased hardcovers of books I first read on my Kindle because I wanted them in a more tangible form."

"Having a hardcover on my shelf is like having a print by one of my favorite artists on the wall."

Maybe in the end we can have our cake and eat it too.  There are many things that ebooks or print books can do better than each other and this is a plus.  If each format can find its niche there is no need for books to become extinct, but it is unquestionable that their role will change and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

This is my first blog post.  You could say this has been a long time coming.

I am still unfamiliar with the ins and outs of this system (and how to make my blogs all pretty) so I'm sure that changes in format will come soon.

I have chosen to use the font Trebuchet because my mind work like a medieval siege weapon.  Perhaps.

Anyway to start the ball rolling here is a link to an awesome blog/magazine that helps prove to me that the creation of magazines is still relevant.

...and away we blog.