I sometimes feel out of time and space

When doing my hobby, I take comfort in that - aside from preserving fanfiction and/or interesting documentation - I am creating something tangible and useful with my own hands. A way of having my own physical work in an era of the digital. I also take heart in the community I have found and the knowledge that I am a continuation of a skill that is valued across the world, bridging peoples and faiths across the winds of time and distance.

And from what I've been hearing, I'm not the only one. A recent Guardian article reported how many people now value traditional 'hands-on' trades such as metalwork and boatbuilding since most office jobs are in danger of being replaced by LLM's. Weaving and crocheting took off during the pandemic, introducing many people to a tactile hobby that is still larger than it has been a decade ago. I myself went to an illustration fair earlier this year where original artists showcased their work to a packed audience.

With the ubiquity of computing, people are taking more attention to crafts, skills and trades that have physicality.

But late last week, I stumbled across an article that asks us to question this return to hands-on labor. Are we doing this out of nostalgia? For a past that is seen through rose-tinted glasses? Are we doing this for self-improvement, or for escapism? If physical skills are valued, are we aware that it can lead to some dark messaging about labor? Of what sort of person to idolise or demonize?

For me, at least, I do bookbinding because it served several things: to help me pass the time; to save and conserve stories from internet deletion; to document histories people prefer to forget; to show my love and appreciation for media that has often been seen as childish, trite, or disgusting. From joining the fanbinding community, I also see myself as continuing a tradition that, for some cultures, errs close to the divine.

I don't see myself as being on a poster with a chiseled jaw and emphasizing masculine labor, but I can also see why some people would like me and others like mine to be that. For our case, a lot of us don't fit that image and would laugh at such an attempt. So my response to that article is this: so long as we take hands-on trades and crafts with an open mind, so long as these repopularisation of labors come with acceptence of the queerness of ourselves, we will never become the people on those masculine posters. And may we be all the better for it.

One of the things I have never really let go off from the pandemic days is the Dream SMP, and there is a part of me that misses how it was an internet phenomenon. So when I scrolled through Twitter and stumbled across a rec list of Tommyinnit fics, I was instantly intrigued.

Ben’s Ultimate Collection of TommyInnit Vigilante Fics : Sheet1

My first impression is how they are all fics where Tommyinnit has superpowers or live in a superhero / supervillain / vigilante AU. During the latter days of the Dream SMP, these AUs were really popular among fans and such fics garnered massive views as fans shared them widely across social media.

These AU fics were a bit of a hit and miss for me - I liked Tommyinnit's Clinic for Supervillains and a few others, but much of them felt too My Hero Academia-ish for my taste (I always thought these fics were inspired more by MHA than the Dream SMP). That said, I now feel a sort of nostalgia for these fics, given what happened to the SMP and to some of the players. That era was wild in more ways than one, but it was also a time where fans were on overdrive to create some incredible works.

One of the fics on the list is now deleted, which induced me to download every other  fic on the list so that I have a personal archive. If any of them get wiped away, I'll now have them to enjoy offline.

Several days ago, my birthday came and passed by with barely a change. Part of this was due to everyone being busy, but part of it was also because I wanted a day to myself, especially given the Independance Day holidays. That said, I did indulge myself by buying expensive macaroons and pairing them with nice bitter tea after dinner. My personal celebration marked with a sweet tooth.

Then came today, where my family and I went to my sister's housewarming party. I realized early on that the party was also to celebrate my birthday at at a time when everyone's schedules allowed for free time, and sure enough, I spotted a 'Mango Jasmine Cake' in the car. Intriguing.

During the housewarming/birthday, my parents asked me about my milestones; now that another year has come and gone, what do I want to do for the next earthly cycle? And to be honest, I don't know. I could easily focus for a better job or a room filled with bookbinding tools. I could have asked for millionaire money or a house that is self-cooling. But when that question was asked, I really didn't know what to answer.

I don't know if that means I'm indecisive, or clueless, or unambitious. But I also wonder if it's because I'm now in a time of life where I don't really need anything else. I have my parents, my siblings, a house, tools that are enough to make books, etc. and it feels like I have ticked-off everything that an aspirational person could ever want.

Or maybe my milestones don't need to be settled instantly upon my birthday. No one ever said it is a mandated deadline. All I want right now is to enjoy the holidays, and maybe that could be a milestone in of itself: to enjoy time.

The thing about reading is that sometimes you have to push against your comfort zone to try something new. This book is certainly not one I would have picked up if not for curiosity.

Typewriters are a machine that most people imagined to have gone extinct, yet they have had a surprising revival as people began to search for a way to write without delving into the surveillance-ridden digital world. This forms the backbone of Evertype, a fiction novel by Richard Polt.

To not end the weekend on a sour note, I managed to finish editing an image to be used for my next bookbind.

I'm currently typesetting a TurnSaps fic for future fanbinding. For the uninitiated, think 'Militaristic dictator falls deeply in love with political refugee.' In the fic, the dictator Turntapp wears a crest on his chestplate that's described as "fancy" and "unique":

It was fancy, much nicer than most of the ones he’d seen in passing, though just as scratched and dented. He stares at it for a bit, trying to memorize the unique pattern until it seers into his brain.

But then there is also this remark later on:

[...] simple and neat, no fancy embellishments or decorations or anything that would impede movement.

Normally, a writer would just expect the reader to make something up. But I am a stubborn person when it comes to hyperfixations and I want to visualize this simple-yet-fancy-crest.

So I searched. I searched through websites and images about ornaments, I looked through dozens upon dozens of crests, I waded through watermarked designs and AI-generated results. Eventually, I made a folder containing all the designs that might be most suitable for the bookbind. Chief among these was an old page about war-like ornaments from 1896 that contained an intriguing draft.

It was a forestry sketch, yet it seemed to match the dictator's nation pretty well: a sword-knife down the middle, an axe to the right and an implement that can be construed as a pickaxe on the left. It also had tree leaves flowing about and an empty scroll that I could edit-in a motto.

From there, I started to edit. I wasn't sure if the tree leaves were too much embellishment and so scrubbed it out using Krita. I made two different versions of the edited crest, compared them, put them both into the typeset, and eventually made my decision.

A crest that is both fancy and unique, yet also simple and neat. Weapons fitting a militaristic nation, surrounded by a circle—the outline of another crest I edited-in—and scrawled with an abbreviation of the nation's motto: May Only the Strong Survive.

Not a bad way to end a tiresome weekend!

I have heard of zines and have brought a few of them over the years, but I have never been to a zine festival before. That changed on the 8^th of August when I finally attended my first ever zine fair hosted by a group called Kuala Lumpur Zine Etc.

The fair ran from 7^th to 9^th August and was held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. However, what they didn’t say was how the fair was held on the smaller spaces of the second floor and not in the main hall. In fact, there was even a wedding photoshoot on the front steps when I arrived!

Despite the small space, I was surprised at the diversity of stuff around. Zines were aplenty, but there were also several booths selling indie books and even one stall that sold indie rock cassettes and CDs! There was one booth that was full of youth works from Kelantan, the northeasternmost state of Peninsular Malaysia that's known for being very conservative. So to see rebellious indie youth books and posters from there, especially in the Jawi script, was an eyebrow-raiser.

Sadly, I didn't get a photo of their booth 😔But I did find this! One booth brought the one tool all bookbinders want!

Of course, I pestered the artists on where they got a book press! Apparently, these book presses are super rare locally because there aren't that many around to begin with, being only used by typesetter shops who had the money to import them. So the only way a bookbinding hobbyist can get one is when these shops are closing down. And almost all are out of business.

Up till today, the only other place I recently know off that had these are in Melaka. But apparently the artist group, Lostgens', has a place at Jalan Panggong that houses several. They even say they sometimes host bookbinding classes!

All in all, I spent about two hours at the fair before my aching feet and hungry stomach forced me to leave. This book fair was, despite the small scale, definitely enjoyable.