The Joy of Books

I personally believe that once a bookstore closes down, each of its stories truly come alive at night. Canadian couple, Sean and Lisa Ohlenkamp, recreates the magic of books through this amazingly crafted stop-motion animation video. This was done with such painstakingly hard work that usually occur at the wee hours of the morning. This quaint, little bookshop in Toronto, Canada named Type became a magical ground of convening the art of literature, and video all in one. For a book and video enthusiast, this will give your eyes something to behold! Just imagine the hours that went into conceptualizing, and finishing a video of this magnitude. The most trivial details were perfected which gives it a million thumbs up! 


Ever wonder what goes on after dark, when the bookshop's lights are out? We can only imagine! Watch this video! :)

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Have you ever wondered what exactly our beloved house pets are thinking and feeling? A man’s best friend has the ability to seemingly feel exactly what their human owners feel, without so much as a word to explain it. The bond between man and dog has been so great, that dogs have been considered not only as a pet but part of a family. Garth Stein captures vividly the thoughts of Enzo, a family dog owned by Denny Swift, a race car driver. Enzo proves to be one of Denny’s greatest source of strength as he faces an ugly battle of custody over his own child, Zoe, against his in-laws shortly after the death of his wife. Balancing both the life of becoming a race car driver and gaining custody of Zoe, Denny is caught in a whirlwind of human tragedies that Enzo witnesses as he grows up. Enzo becomes the compassionate dog who was able to familiarize himself well with the complex human conditions of pain, suffering and yes, even joy. The startling resemblance of Enzo to anybody’s family dog makes this novel an enjoyable and heart wrenching read. You will find yourself at home with the family of Denny, Zoe and the lovable Enzo. Garth Stein was able to draw the reader from the outside of the book into the world of Denny and Enzo where lies all the familiar things we know about humans and their tragedies and triumphs. Quoted from the book, Enzo says, 

"Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves." 

And leaves us with the one of the great lessons the book can impart to you, which is something you will have to discover once you read it.

Staying Creative Series:Tip #4

One of the most important things my parents once told me was to always read. They said that everything could be understood if I simply read, and ever since then, it became a habit. Reading gives you the kind of elation that other things don't. It brings about new knowledge and wisdom that you otherwise wouldn't have if you haven't bothered to read at all. The youth these days have become such big fans of gadgets at such an alarming rate which, in turn, distracts them from reading. I know we've all done reading and researching in school. To some, it may even be such a boring ordeal that they never do during their past time. But, see, reading gives you a whole new world to explore and expands your horizons in ways that your PS3, your XBOX, your laptop/computer can't. 

Staying creative is striving to read new works every once in a while to expose yourself to different forms of writing. One of the most powerful tools to be a good writer is to actually read. This also goes for anybody who wants to experience anything remotely new and unfamiliar, reading up and researching can do great tricks for you. Anything you want to know, learn, and gain knowledge about, you can only do so by reading up and researching.

Happy reading!

Inside Our Brains

We begin this blog by introducing the part of ourselves that pushed us to pursue this endeavor. There were many things that we wanted to achieve with the conceptualization of this blog and none of it would have been possible without inspiration. We wanted you, our readers, to gain access into things that continuously push us to explore the world around us.

Books

 I, Elisha, have been a bookworm ever since I could remember. As a kid, my parents brought home books as pasalubongs instead of the usual Mcdo or Jollibee. The alternate reality present in the fictional books I read inspires me to challenge my thinking and imagination. Every fresh page I turn, serves as way to understand the complex world around me. I often ask myself, where would the world be without literature, and books? 

Muji notebook

My Muji notebook serves as my all-encompassing bestfriend. My emotions, rants, realizations, lightbulb moments and countless other complex observations can be reduced to comprehensible sentences in this notebook. Writing for most only counts merely as a hobby but writing for me has become my passion. There is no other way I can clearly express myself but through writing.

Lenses

 It was in the year 2009 when I, Thirdy, held my first own DSLR and frankly put I had no idea what to do with it. As time progressed, I was determined to learn the nitty gritty details of my DSLR's inner workings. Shutter speed, depth of field, bokeh, rule of thirds were some concepts that seemed alien to me at first but eventually became the same concepts I used every single day.

culinary books

 My daily encounter with food stems from my passion and expertise as a chef. Unknown to many, I cooked my very first sunny side up egg when I was 6 years old and can now cook a mean Eggs Benedict at the age of 19. Food is what defines who I am, and I firmly believe that one's mood can definitely affect one's cooking.




These are the main reasons why we came up with the Culture Vulture project. We believe that our different interests can not only be of use to us, but to others as well. Though we are amateurs who will definitely have a lot more to learn and discover, we hope you take this journey with us and let us share with you our story.


Happy reading!