confessions of a southside catatonic chataholic

...you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.'
~ Albert Einstein

In which Tosca offers up an unusual title she found in the catalogue purely by accident (funny what you find when you perform a keyword search using the word 'fuck' isn't it?), remembers she never congratulated her older sister on her success...two years ago *shamefaced look* and shares a work blog post here.



It's Wednesday so this is my usual wtfery in the way of book titles that give me the giggles (mostly because I'm juvenile). I'm also going to share (because I'm caring like that - ok, you got me, no I'm not) how clever my older sister Kylie is (because she is) and a work blog post that, I think, is important. Because I can.

Title: Fuck this book
Author: Bodji Oser
Year: c2005
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Synopsis: Juvenile, profane, and timeless, Fuck This Book collects images of real public signs that have been mischievously altered by stickers bearing the most expressive of all four-letter words. Addictively hilarious, the results show a world persuasively transformed. Please Don't Fuck the Pigeons, indeed. What happens if one triggers the Automatic Sprinkler Fuck Off Valve? And is it any wonder The Fuck Depot is so popular? All photographs are unretouched - the result of countless hours on the hunt for the almost perfect sign, in need of just the slightest improvement. This is not social commentary. There is no message. It's not meant to offend, exploit, or embarrass anyone. All real stickers. All real signs. All in fun.

My comment? I NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! Imagine if people took the title as a command o_O

My sister Kylie? She's awesome and the post quote is for her. I've never told her that I think she's great, though - like ever - and I'm only just realising it. Two years ago a book she and her colleagues were commissioned to write - He pātaka kupu : te kai a te rangatira - won the the Maori Language category in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. I couldn't attend the book launch :( Being raised in separate cities at opposite ends of the north island makes it incredibly easy for me to be a slack sibling. I would like to point out that she was way awesome before the award, of course :) So, first on the agenda for tomorrow: tell her how awesome I think she is and congratulate her on the award. Two years late. Still heartfelt.

I've been following online articles and discussions in relation to people calling for NZ bookstores to boycott Macsyna King/Ian Wishart's upcoming book Breaking silence: the Kahui case and it's got me more than a little concerned. And with damn good reason. I'm not going to re-blog the whole post here but if you're at all curious about it you can read it on our work blog. C'est tout.