Category Archives: Entertainment

Borrow Kindle books, from the library!

Entertainment, Geek, Materialism, , , ,

I’ve had a kindle for quite a while now. I read a lot when I first got it, but then the reading the slowed down. That is, until I loaned the kindle to some friends. Then I realized how I read much more on a kindle.

I rarely buy books now, mostly because I have no room for any more. And I never buy eBooks or books on Kindle either. I borrow them from the library. Yes, I borrow eBooks from the library. Most of my friends are surprised when I tell them about that. If you’re paying taxes, might as well get your money’s worth, right? Plus, I never liked borrowing actual books from the library because they’re pretty nasty. By borrowing and reading on my kindle, I can read in bed and not be grossed out.

How to borrow from the library

It’s pretty awesome. You have 24/7 access to a digital library catalog of thousands of titles or books. It’s like going to the library in the middle of the night, but not really. You can search for the nearest library at www.overdrive.com. I go through the San Francisco Public Library’s site at http://sfpl.lib.overdrive.com/. From there, you can search for Audiobooks  eBooks, Music, and even Video. And you don’t even need a kindle. Any eBook reader will do or you can use their app that works on most devices or just read in your browser using overdrive read.

If the title you’re looking for is available, you can start reading immediately. I’ve found there’s usually a long wait list for popular books. I guess the library has limited “copies” of each title. You can place a hold on the books that you want, but sometimes it takes weeks before you actually get to start reading.

Limited lending period

Apparently, the lending period is determined by your library and can be for a period of 7, 14, or 21 days. At the end of the lending period, titles will automatically “expire” and return to the collection. At least you don’t have to worry about paying fees for overdue books. Sadly though, titles cannot be renewed, but you can check them out again if they are available. Which means, you have to place another hold and wait a few more weeks before reading the book again. And that’s a problem for me because I feel like I’m a slow reader. Of course, some books I finish faster than others, but I guess it depends on the book. I have several books on my goodreads that’s been in my “currently reading” list for a looong time because it was automatically returned and I had no patience to get on the wait list again.

Hack for longer lending period

BUUUUUT!!!! I think I’ve found a loop hole, or hack, if you will, that will allow you to keep your borrowed titles for longer than the maximum loan period of 3 weeks. When you “borrow” a book, it’s downloaded to your device. Technically, your device knows that your book is “overdue” when and IF it has access to the internet, right? So here’s how I tested my theory. Before my book’s “due date” last week, I put my kindle on airplane mode (no data connection) and I’ve been reading the book all this week! It’s a loooong book, so it’ll take me a while to finish. I wonder if anyone else has done this. Is this bad? I just need more time!

The Grandmaster (Movie)

Entertainment, Personal, , ,

I thought I posted about this already, but it seems I haven’t yet. It’s nothing new, but I can’t wait for The Grandmaster to open in the US. Directed by Wong Kar Wai, starring Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, and Cung Le.

Here’s the trailer and also an extremely interesting mini-documentary “The Road to The Grandmaster” (both Chinese only). Wow, the director thought about making this film back in 1996. Such a long journey (like Lincoln). Was fun to watch Tony Leung practice.

All this time, the spotlight has been on Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li and his beautiful moves. Ten years ago, nobody was talking about anything REMOTELY related 詠春.

I need to do a marathon of all the Ip Man movies to get myself ready. I just hope the action shots aren’t just a bunch of close-ups where you can’t really see what’s going on.

KRNFX

Entertainment, , , ,

First PSY and now this beatboxer guy KRNFX is everywhere. Them Koreans are movin’ up. I just saw a clip today of him on the Ellen Show with dancer/choreographer Mike Song.

Then tonight, my friend Christiana sent this to me, where he hooks up with Walk Off the Earth for a Taylor Swift cover.

Bonus (can’t wait for the show to start up again):

2lxdow7 KRNFX

K’naan Videos on Vimeo

Entertainment, , ,

My music of choice has always been hip hop and r&b. That’s the stuff I grew up with but I can’t really stand any of the junk on the radio these days. I really do appreciate artists whose work focuses on topics that matter. Check out Bono and K’naan’s interview on CNN:

And I never knew the following videos were out there until I came upon director Nabil Elderkin. His videos feature many of my favorite musical artists like K’naan. Great songs with great visuals. If you’ve sat in my car, you’ve probably heard these songs.

Here’s the song from the 2010 Fifa World Cup:

Spotify Invites

Entertainment, Geek, , ,

So I’ve been playing with Spotify, the new music service that will let you stream all you want from a library of 15 million songs for free (for the next six months, after which it will be capped at a limited number of hours TBD). But to add features, like listening to music on the go, you have to pay a monthly fee. What’s cool is that you can integrate your own tracks with their library, share your playlists, and even collaborate on playlists with your friends.

Grab your free invite here. It usually takes an hour or two for them to send it over. If that doesn’t work, leave a comment and I’ll try to get one to you–I have a few of my own.

Cinemetropolis by Blue Scholars

Entertainment, , , ,

Remember when I posted a video by these guys? I wanted to title this post “what I’m listening to” but I should just write “what I want to listen to.” Because I’m still unemployed, I’ll have to listen online for now.

But all you working people can get their new album here.

AMC Silver Experience Ticket – $1 (Limit 2) @ Groupon

Entertainment, Materialism, ,

Groupon has AMC Silver Experience tickets for $1 each with a limit of 2 per account. It’s via a special link.

Fill out your shipping information as the tickets are physically mailed to you. When you submit your information there will be no order confirmation, but you can confirm it by clicking “My Groupons” under your account information.

Silver experience tickets cannot be used on new releases through the first two weekends, or 10 days if the movie opens on a Friday.