Overseen On The Train
Spotted over someone's shoulder, in The Sun newspaper, new ipod for books ( you can store hundreds of books on a portable device and read them whenever and wherever you like).
I don't want to piss on Apple's chips, but don't we already have a portable device that we can use to read our fiction or non-fiction favourites? They're called books. You can take them anywhere, they don't mind being battered about, you can carry on tomorrow where you left off today.
Of course, if anybody wants to read 100 books at a time, or maybe wants to read an encyclopedia at random, then the new device will be very handy.
Overheard On The Train - 1
The portable music device, however, has transformed countless lives. You can even listen to spoken word versions of books on them, handy if you want to explore Dickens but feel the need to drift off during certain long, tedious passages.
I know how people moan about hearing other people's music on public transprt. It doesn't usually bother me. But it did yesterday.
A 45 minute fret-wank guitar solo, that's all I could hear. Some heavy metal shit. And then the bloke stood up and he was carrying a canvas shoulder bag with those silly band patches on. Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Manowar. So...
BASICALLY HE LIKES ANYTHING WITH LOUD GEETARS!...EH? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!...I SAID THE GEEZER'S GOT SOME TASTE. SOME, BUT NOT A LOT! HIS EARS ARE FUCKED!...EH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?
Overheard On The Train - 2
"Last night? It was alright. He went Spanish and I chilled out."
"He wants to be careful. He's walking on thin ice...He might tip her over the edge."
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
2 hours ago
I know someone who listens to books on trains as she can never get a seat and it's too tricky to juggle her bags and a book and train surf at the same time. I also know a bloke who read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica on the train. Not randomly and not all in the same ride.
ReplyDeleteYou're the second contemporary person I know to use the term fretwank, the other being me. Did you used to read Sounds too? I like loud guitars but not all of them.
ReplyDeleteMJ - I've listened to a few novels on the train (I went through a period of a few months where I didn't use my eyes at all on the train). The classics tend to be easier to listen to than read in my experience but maybe that's because I've got a short attention span.
ReplyDeleteRichard - Yes, I did read Sounds for a while in the late seventies I think. It's so long ago. I read NME from the early eighties till about ten years ago. Now I read about 1/10th of Uncut. I don't know who first coined the term fretwank but it's a good description if used to describe something unlistenable. If it's used as a form of praise then the user has a real problem...
"Yeah man, we had a really great jam. Nigel's fretwanking was out of this world."