Why men prefer shopping online

I've been reading in the news lately about how brick and mortar stores in Australia are struggling after a surge in online shopping. I know this is bad news but with the strong dollar and plenty of online stores offering free shipping, sometimes it's just better online. I have to admit, I've probably bought more things online in the past 6 months than in an actual store. I know this type of behaviour can hurt the domestic economy but I just can't help it. When you're sitting in bed about to fall asleep and you realise you need a new eye mask, or a new set of pyjamas, it's easier to just hop on Etsy or Asos, find what you want, punch in a couple of numbers and wait for your purchase.

I've also read in the news about how men are outspending women online. This is not really surprising because women actually find pleasure in shopping and most men (including myself) don't. When I think of shopping, I think of sore feet, intimidating sales staff, feeling vulnerable in changing rooms and coming home with more than you intended. Men are also different types of shoppers compared to women. We don't like to browse or window shop - I find this excruciating. Men are hunters. We know what we want and we find it. When I walk into a store my eyes literally zoom across the room and then it hones in (like a sniper) towards what I want to buy. It's easier to do this on the Internet. I would rather use a search engine than dilly-dally in a number of stores. From personal experience I find women love to dilly-dally (I love this word!) 

Dilly-dally, dilly-dally, dilly-dally. Woo!

Anyway, time for everybody's favourite. Shopping porn! Here's what I recently bought online:

Personalised tumbler from Glitzy Glam. Don't judge.

A box of Criterions from Barnes & Noble

Airplane eye mask from BibBon via Etsy

iPad Moleskine case from Pad & Quill via Etsy

All images are owned by me and cannot be reused without permission

Read Forever

This makes me want to make myself a cup of hot cocoa and snuggle with a book (or my iPad).

I don't like the assumption that e-readers are killing off physical books. Unless someone discovers that paper is poisonous and are a danger to our health, books are never going to go away. Sure, we may buy less hard copies of books if we opt to purchase a digital copy instead but I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm sure there's enough room for all formats. I can already hear the trees breathe a sigh of relief. Think of the paper we save!

After purchasing my iPad and using it to read books I've actually found myself purchasing more physical books because the iPad has instilled inside me this intense hunger for reading. Now I can call myself a voracious reader - I've always wanted to say that!

Currently reading at the moment:

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Various university textbooks and academic readings.

My first Criterions (thank you Barnes and Noble)

The end of year Barnes and Noble Criterion sale has passed and I have in my hot little hands my first ever Criterions. I have a couple others coming very soon (next week, fingers crossed). I've already talked about Criterions in a previous post, but for those who don't know, they are a film distribution company that restores important classic and contemporary films and jam-packing them with supplements which adds so much to the experience of the film. I have to say, Criterion is unmatched in terms of quality. No detail is overlooked. Every single edition is beautifully package and they instantly become the centerpiece of any DVD collection. Now, enough drooling over Criterion, let's talk about what I have so far:

The Ingmar Bergman trilogy examining the silence of God (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence). Very heavy and emotionally exhausting. I'm still trying to appreciate Bergman's films, but honestly, they've all been disappointing. Granted, I've only seen this trilogy and I saw The Virgin Spring last week at the Chauvel. I'm going to have to wait until I see Wild Strawberries at Cinemathque on Monday before I decide whether I should hop on the Bergman Bandwagon. I have to say every element of his films are perfect - the photography, the acting, the music, the mood are all brilliant and I always feel I'm in the hands of a director who knows what he's doing. However, there's something about his films, I cannot quite put my finger on it, but I find them excruciatingly dull, and at times, cliched. I've started to re-watch the films and fortunately, I've found that they have improved so much more on a second viewing. 

The Criterions are excellent. Beautiful covers, well-written essays and the box set also comes with a fourth DVD called Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, this is a five-part documentary on the making of Winter Light and it is fascinating. 

I also have the Adventures of Antoine Doinel box set, which includes four films: The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, Love on the Run and also includes the short Antoine and Colette. As expected, it is packed with special features (oops, sorry they call them "supplements") that provide context for the films as well as include interesting interviews with Truffaut and his collaborators. It also contains a booklet with various essays and notes. The covers look amazing as well as you can see here:

The last one is The Last Emperor and this is a four disc set. One contains the film, one the television series and the other two supplements. I'm still going through this DVD but the film is exquisite, a tad melodramatic/Asian soap opera in some parts, but still a brilliant film.

I cannot wait until I receive the other three, I'm already counting down the days.

Note: All photographs were taken by yours truly. I would appreciate it if you inform me if you intend to use any of it. See my contacts for details. Thanks.