We confess that we are retro.
Crane stationery display at National Bookstore.
We read printed books.
We listen to albums.
We spell out all the words in our text messages and use punctuation.
Spectacle card assortment from Crane & Co. Studio, 8 cards/8 envelopes, Pho 510.
We actually know all our friends.
We watch movies at the cinema.
If we hate you we will require more than 160 characters to express it, unless we have opportunity to punch you in the face.
Notes hand engraved with gold initial, 20 notes/20 lined envelopes, Php 890.
We suppose we are “retro”.
We know it is less “efficient”.
We use quotation marks to indicate awareness that the words enclosed are not being employed in their usual sense.
Acquiring the physical book and music album, spelling out all the words correctly, sharing meals with friends, going to the cinema, finding the appropriate words and tone with which to convey contempt, and being clear about what we mean take up much more time than downloading, txting, facebooking and tweeting.
A quote from Dorothy Parker. (We should have used a pen with a thicker point.)
That is why we’re not as bored and listless as you are.
And if we really like you, we send you notes handwritten on good paper. We travel far and wide in search of the right stationery. Fortunately we don’t have to go very far.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 27th, 2011 at 11:54
Finally, a Crane shop in Manila! I have an old personalized design that is now depleted and that I need to reorder. Are they in all National Bookstores?
I too spell out all the words in my text messages and use punctuation. Someone I had sent a text message to actually showed it to her colleagues as if they had just come across a near-extinct butterfly species.
I guess very few people actually text this way. I’m quite illiterate in text language and get a headache trying to decipher some texts that I receive.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:53
The stationery is now at National Bookstore’s Rockwell and Greenbelt 1 branches for sure. Other branches to follow.
When we get texts that are not spelled out we assume they are from people we don’t know and delete them.
October 27th, 2011 at 19:24
I very much agree with this article.
Regarding text messages, there really is no excuse for “textspeak” with most phones allowing more than 160 characters already. Some “textspeak” I’ve seen are also so strange – the dismal spelling is even longer than the original word, which sort of defeats the supposed purpose of textspeak. I mean, really.
October 27th, 2011 at 20:09
omg in other cultures – it sounds like “a hipster’s manifesto”.
:)
October 27th, 2011 at 20:21
I love you Jessica Zafra. I felt normal when I read your entry. And I can’t wait for Crane stationery to hit other National Book Store branches (specifically the ones here up north). I love you JZ. Hihi.
October 27th, 2011 at 21:17
Yay!!! New stationary!!!
I still write to friends. Using scratch paper, or old paper bags and I fold it in an ikebana-ish, heart-shaped way that irritates the heck out of the recipient hahaha. But it’s fun!
October 27th, 2011 at 23:17
Speaking of acquiring physical books, have you seen the new Haruki Murakami book yet? Holy moley, anyone could substitute one of those for a dumbbell!
October 27th, 2011 at 23:32
I love this post. One of my major pet peeves is text speak – cant stand that crap, maybe because it takes me a long time to read it and it just comes across as illiterate.
October 28th, 2011 at 10:57
I am an unapologetic user of text speak. In texts.
What I cannot stand is text speak on the internet when someone has a computer and a full-sized keyboard at their disposal.