A few months ago, I borrowed the Marie Kondo book, Tidying Up, from the online library, after hearing so much about it. There was a long wait for the book, so lots of other people must have heard about it too. And now she has a Netflix series too, and last week’s deep freeze was the perfect time to stay indoors and watch it. The content was fun, but the subtitles weren’t!
Tidying Up
Tidying up my home office is an ongoing process, and by that I mean that lots of old hardware and software has been moved to the basement. I did put a ton of old computer books into the recycling bin though, so that cleared lots of shelf space.
Many of those books had CDs in them, and I dutifully tore those out, because they can’t be recycled. I stored the CDs on a shelf, in case they were ever needed again, and so far, haven’t touched even one of them. Actually, I don’t know if any of my laptops even have a CD/DVD drive now.
Folding Clothes
Anyway, back to Marie Kondo, and her Tidying Up book. It’s an interesting concept, and if you went all in with her method, it would certainly be life changing.
I wasn’t sold on the whole method, or ready to get rid of everything that doesn’t “spark joy.” But, I did try her “stand up” method for folding clothes, and will never go back to the old way of flat-stacking my clothes in a drawer. Even my change-resistant husband folds his clothes that way now.
You can see everything that you have, without digging through piles of stuff. And it really does make me feel calm, to open a drawer and see things neatly arranged. As you can see, I like clothes in a wide variety of colours, as long as they’re blue.
Tidying Up on Netflix
The Marie Kondo show started on Netflix recently, so I finally logged in to watch in the bedroom television. It’s tedious to log in there, using the arrows on the TV remote to enter your user ID and password, but I finally got in and found the show.
The show doesn’t go into much detail on the steps for tidying up. Marie shows up the clients’ home, and tries not to look horrified at their piles of belongings. After a tour of the house, Marie kneels in a bare spot on the floor, and takes a few minutes to greet the house.
Then the family gets to work, starting by piling all their clothing in one spot. Marie gives them a few instructions about keeping the things that spark joy, and saying thanks and goodbye to everything else. She comes back a week or so later, to check their progress, and get them started on the next step.
Terrible Subtitles
Frequently during the show, Marie speaks Japanese, and subtitles are shown at the bottom of the screen. My eyes are bad, and it’s difficult to read any small print, but those subtitles are the worst that I’ve ever seen.
The text is in a small white font, and there’s no fill colour behind the text – just the video in the background. And Marie loves clean, light-coloured spaces, so it’s usually white on white, or a very pale background. If she was giving us important tips or details on tidying up, they were lost on me!
Netflix on the iPad
Despite the subtitle trouble, I enjoyed the show – you feel slightly better about your own mess, when you see someone who’s even messier! When I complained about having to log in again, Keith suggested that I use Netflix on my iPad, where it can store the password.
So, I tried that last night, and there was another benefit – the subtitles had medium grey backgrounds! I could actually read all the subtitles, and it certainly made the show more enjoyable.
Accessibility Reminder
So, if you’re building anything for people to see on a computer or a television, or anywhere else, please make it accessible. Use a generously-sized font, and make sure there is plenty of contrast between the font and its background. Thank you!
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Bad Subtitles Do Not Spark Joy
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