moleskinerie

The World's First Moleskine Bag?

"Real Produce, a Japanese design office, has produced a limited edition bag specifically designed for carrying a pocket size Moleskine notebook.

The "Moleskine Bag" was made in part of a collaboration series - whose concept is to create durable but lightweight and fashionable bags for travelers - by the bag manufacturer Yoshida Kaban (Yoshida & Co., Ltd.), known for its Porter brand line, and Paper Sky, a popular Japanese travel magazine.

The black bag has a small pocket that holds a pen on its front, and has two short beltloop straps at the back, which can be adjusted so that the bag can be worn closely to the waist or hung loosely from the belt, plus two loops for hooking a shoulder strap onto it (shoulder strap not included).

The bag now comes with one Moleskine Reporter notebook and one Recife Reporter ballpoint pen at the price of 14,800 JPY (tax excluded), which is about US$135.00. It seems the bag is sold only within Japan through online orders at the moment.

LINK (only in Japanese)

[Arigato Bemsha!]
..
Jim Six of the Gloucester County Times sent us this alternative site, specifically this item. Thanks!

Recent comments

"I enjoyed the review of the Five Journals. I have been an avid journal keeper for about 43 years. Yes, that dates me! Over the course of time I have used a multitude of different books, different kinds of paper, colors, lined, unlined, grid. I have even used a surveyor’s notebook book and cheap ‘Logbooks’ of U.S. Navy issue.

Not to long ago while searching for information about Noodler's ink, I came across Mike Shea's blog about the permanence of Noodler's bulletproof Black ink. His blog lead me to Renaissance Art. At his recommendation I ordered one of their small journals - (4 ¾ X 4 ¾ ) - $19.00. It arrived with speed as if ordered in a RUSH and sent 2nd Day Air. This journal is of such fine quality and detail to workmanship that I find myself marveling at it. The paper is just smooth enough for a 00/.03 Rapidograph to glide smoothly over the pages.

Over the past 10 years I have predominantly used Leather covered blank books from Crane's with a lovely cream colored paper, blank, and exquisitely smooth surface. I use it as my Morning Pages as described in the book ‘The Artist's Way: A course in discovering and recovering your creative self' by Julie Cameron.

For bedtime writing about the day, I use a Crane refillable journal with the wonderful cotton rag paper which Crane is famous for, but is no longer available. (I bought a stock pile of refills when they announced it was being discontinued.)

I am in love with the idea of fine paper in a blank book. I am a collector/user of fine fountain pens (FP) and what good is an excellent quality FP if you write on cheap paper. Moleskine’s have become my daily companion for anything that needs to be jotted down, from lists of things to do and things to shop for, to new words I need to look up, to quick thought jottings. It fits nicely into my pants pocket for work or a cargo pocket for walks in the woods. With the elastic band to keep it closed I can throw it in a purse or pack and not worry about other things bending pages. Nothing could ever replace it for the quality and size. I have stock piled quite a collection of various models, and a fine nib fountain pen does not bleed through the pages as other thin paper books do..."

Granny Kass
Comments on Mike Shea's "A Review of Five Journals"

Wonderful Graffiti

Wonderful Graffiti

[via "The Artsy Fartsy Blog"]

Flight of Ducks

Flight of Ducks
An online documentary

LINK

[via "Daffy", really]

Books without words inside.

"Those us out there who use Moleskine, we do have an attachment to them — in front of us stands a finite number of lines to trace the circles of our own stories. A sense of ownership of the words written within, even though the book itself is just another product in the current of commerce and stream of marketing. That fact aside, there are some elements about the book that make it the only option, at least for now. (After all, Innovation is always close by.)

Some of those elements include: a pocket to collect the scraps of experiences, and a hard cover that protects the pages from the elements and travails of travel. It’s a sturdy thing, at least on the construction side. Even when I’ve crammed the pocket full or ripped out blank pages for quick notes and such, I find that the elastic-banded pages get out there and back, with lines to spare for an address, a number, or an anecdote (rarities in this era of “Let-Me-Get-Your-Number-In-My-Phone-So-I-Can-Scroll-Over-It-Every-Few-Days-Good-To-See-You-Again.”)..."

AJM
errata non grata

Image: recklesslycurious @ moleskinerie/FLICKR

This Friday on Moleskinerie: "Notebooks a family obsession"

People magazine correspondent and author Ron Arias writes about his family and its long affair with diaries and journals.

"As near as I can tell, my writing habit began more than a hundred years ago on a cattle ranch in northern Mexico. That was when my grandmother, at seven years of age, wrote three words in a little notebook her mother, Cristina Terrazas, had given her: hoy murio mama. No capital H, no accent marks, no other details--little Julia Terrazas simply wanted to record that her mother had just died. 

Many years later, Julia gave her own daughter, my mother Emma, a notebook in which to jot down everyday happenings, thoughts, prayers and poems. Eventually, when I was nine, my mother also presented me with a notebook. I was confined to a hospital bed after having my tonsils out, was restless, and my mother wanted to keep me out of mischief. "Here," she said, "write what you see, write some stories." I did as she told me, and that's how three generations of Terrazas women passed onto me the itch to write."

This Friday on Moleskinerie

Your stories are welcome. See our submission guidelines.

Prompts: Darwinian Gastronomy

"Any world traveler can attest to the pungent truth: Spicy meals tend to be found in warmer climates, while blander foods correlate to colder places. For years, people believed spices were used in the countries where they were grown to mask the taste of spoiled meat or solely for the flavor they add to food.

Alas, nothing in nature turns out to be that simple. Researchers now suggest that a taste for spices served a vital evolutionary purpose: keeping our ancestors alive. Spices, it turns out, can kill poisonous bacteria and fungi that may contaminate our food. In other words, developing a taste for these spices could be good for our health. And since food spoils more quickly in hotter weather, it's only natural that warmer climates have more bacteria-killing spices.

Indeed, the very plants that produce spices use them in this way. Spices that come from shrubs, vines, trees, and the roots, flowers, and seeds of plants protect the vegetation against the same bacteria and fungi that attack our food when we've left it overnight on the kitchen counter. Before refrigeration, food spoilage was an even more pressing problem, which is why some researchers say spices played such a huge role in history -- one Gothic leader in A.D. 408 demanded 3,000 pounds of pepper as ransom. And adventurers from Marco Polo to Christopher Columbus sailed the world mapping routes to spice-growing countries."

Darwinian Gastronomy
EVOLUTION
@ PBS

Write Music: White Moth

Whitemoth is the pseudonym by which I compose and perform ambient, experimental, and new age music. Shikantaza  is the first cohesive recording that I am making available, and it is yours at no charge. It was designed as a guided meditation.

James Bickers
LINK

Topic: "What music do you write to?"

Rhodia

"What's so great about Rhodia pads?

1) They're beautiful, with their orange covers and backs

2) They're bound across the top, with perforations at the top of each page to enable you to tear pages out neatly and cleanly

3) The backs are very heavy cardboard for ease of writing

4) The paper is high quality white vellum with a graph paper pattern, letting you put one letter in each box for an almost magical transformation of your notes and words into something that actually appears of substance

5) Their best feature, though, is so subtle it's not mentioned anywhere I've ever seen, nor is it obvious when you hold one in your hand. The cover of the pad is indented all the way across in three places toward the top. You can see the lines in the photo above, the middle of the three being most prominent. The purpose of those indentations is to let you fold the cover up and back over the pad such that the cover sits perfectly square and flat against the top and back. You have to use one of these pads to appreciate the elegance of this feature."

Joe Stirt, M.D.
Book of Joe

Simplify.

"I find this interesting.

For me, “Zen pockets” actually started years ago. I never liked sitting on a wallet. So, I switched to some combination of money clip and card case. Currently that’s the same device, a thin leather card case with a magnetic money clip on the back, a father’s day gift from some years back, now missing the engraved monogram of my children’s initials.

The money clip contains $22. The card case holds my drivers license, Social Security card (which I only have because I had to take it to my first day on this job, and haven’t yet put it back in my files at home), health insurance card, car insurance card (which needs to go in the car), ATM/Debit card, a photo of my children, and, oddly enough, a Sams Club card I didn’t know was in there.

This goes in my front left pants pocket, where I’ve carried my wallet replacements for ten years. It’s thin, small, and I don’t even notice it.

Coins go in there as well, and get cleared out every night into a jar on the dresser. You’d be amazed how much money you can accumulate in change that you can cash in every few months..."

Chris Thompson
Visit his blog.

Journal writing according to Dilbert

AFK*: A Lake Villa Soiree

Dinner at dusk, at my friends Rem and MaryAnne over the weekend. Good food and interesting conversation on a sultry summer evening. Thanks for the invite.

Visit the AFK* Gallery

Starting a Journal

"like article in NYT today.  Would like to hear from someone about how to start a journal..
I live near Atlanta, Ga.  thank you."

Allen Waters
from the Logbook

Girls with Moleskine

@ Donnie Jeter's blog.

For updates and donations, visit the WMP page.
View the scans at " Journey", the WMP Gallery hosted by  Joachim du Beleg. Merci!

This Sunday, June 26

"In a piece about the popularity of Moleskine notebooks, Rob Walker writes, "[T]he Moleskine just looks like a thing that holds interesting, and possibly important, jottings and sketches. Even if you're carrying it to another boring staff meeting to take notes about sales projections, the notebook makes for a fantastic emblem of creative possibility."

 

Hank Hill, Everyman

Slate 6.22.05
...
Birthday greetings to our friend @ Moleskinerie/ORKUT:
Vikash Sethia on June 29

Have a nice weekend Internet people! Get out, have a life - and write about it.
See you on Monday.

proj:exhibition Taiwan

Date: 22nd June 2005 to 22nd July 2005
Venue: city'super Taiwan store. B2, B1 203, The Mall, Sec 2, Tun Hwa S Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan

To Taiwan Community: I'm sure there are many more of you who love to show your work, especially in Chinese. Please help to broadcast this exhibition to anybody you know in Taiwan.

Special Event: On 25th June 2005, starting from 2pm, we have invited 3 Taiwanese illustrators to come to our store to demonstrate how they use their Moleskine and share their experience with you.

Patrick Ng
moleskineart.com

Update 6.26.05 : New photos here.

Write Places: Quovis Work Table

"Quovis Work Table

Designed by Unknown. Made of stainless steel. (Image)

 

This hardworking, technolicious table will endure anything from your moleskin diary to a 10-pound slab of red meat to sulfuric acid. Will not dent if thrown at a crowd of neo-baroques."

Alexander Trevi
Conspicuous Consumption
LINK

Lost! mood: Distraught!

"The worst thing happened to me two weeks ago. I had previously quilted a little wallet/pocketbook type thing that could fit my moleskine in it, along with the normal wallet stuff. Money, license, library card, IDs, et cetera. Not to mention my favorite pen in the world.

It was a wonderful clutch purse. And then, one fateful day, it was stolen from me. There were only about two dollars in it; the rest of the money I had was in the back pocket of my jeans at the time. So, the person who stole it from me actually only got about two dollars out of the deal, but managed to piss me off beyond all reason.

My money? Fine. My ID? Fine. My library card? Fine. My MOLESKINE? Oh, bitch better step off. You do NOT mess around with my moleskine notebook. I had only had it for about four months, but it was practically half full already. I had all of these thoughts and ideas and notes inside it.. and now they're all lost. I guess that's what I get for bringing things that are important to me to school. I've already gotten around $20 stolen from me at various times, and a calculator. Who steals CALCULATORS anyway? It wasn't even a graphing calculator.

Anyway, I just thought I would post this as a warning to everyone. Be careful with your moleskine notebooks! When in doubt, don't EVER LET IT LEAVE YOUR SIDE."

tehmegz0rz
[mood|Distraught!]
[music|Deerhoof - Dummy Discards a Heart]
Moleskine Users' Group @ LJ
LINK

Related topic: "How much is your Moleskine worth?"
Neither mole nor skin.
Discuss amongst yourselves.

A Review of Five Journals

I love journals.  I love opening up a blank book and running my hands over the grain of the paper.  I love surfing the internet seeking new and high.  I love thinking about the great potential of a blank notebook.  I love knowing that the same construction for notebooks today hasn't really changed for seventeen hundred years.  I love knowing that the words I capture may last another seventeen hundred years, to be read by a future I cannot even comprehend.  Few share this strange and often expensive drive, but those that do know exactly the feeling I mean when we open the cover of a new notebook for the first time.

We like to think how much greater computers are than the written word, but any archivist will tell you, the only way to preserve our writings is to store them in the only reasonable medium proven to last for thousands of years: paper.  Hard drives freeze.  CD's rot under the corrosive gas we all breathe.  The internet runs on a delicate balance of precarious machines.  Anyone who has tried to restore data from as short as ten years ago knows how hard it can be to recover old information.  Yesterday I opened a book over fifty years old, seventeen years older than I am, and it looked as good as the day it came off the press.  Books are the only reasonable way to store information.

For the past two years I have been a great fan of Moleskine plain pocket notebooks.  I have carried one in my pocket for twenty four months.  I have filled twelve of these books from cover to cover.  I have a stockpile of nearly fifty blank ones, enough to last a good long while should the company ever change them or go out of business.

Hoarded Images

All we are saying......is give cinder blocks a chance!

Just another graffito

Lorianne DiSabato
Hoarded Ordinaries

© All rights reserved

please stand clear...

"A woman with white shoes decorated with green hearts looked lovingly up from her soft cover book onto the salt and pepper colored hair of her suit wearing companion, while he, with his lips slightly open, gazed up from his sets of stapled photocopies straight under the skirt of a girl lost between two tiny white headphones.

“Jason” and his girlfriend took over the space next to the door on the other side of the train. We all knew that he wanted her. She wanted more and used words like “stop” and “it” and body language like “yes” and “there” and “why not more, and why not over here?” Out loud. And then louder. And then so loudly that the lady reading the “food and good” book had to move sweaters out of the space between her and her book…

A delicate person was reading about genghis khan in soft cover. The boy next to me read about the pursuit of happiness (his chapter: “the need to sin”.) A gigantic man across from me managed to shuffle his tiny ipod in a rather dainty way and out of sight.

And I should stop right now… because my next memory is of that lady solving a cross word puzzle in Chinese… but that was this morning…
and now the Vornado wind moves over me very softly and I just knocked on wood that this might be a nicely environmentally sound alternative to a full blown air conditioner…
I will complain in a few days, I guess… the wood I knocked on was painted.
Please stand clear of the closing… ding dong…"

Witold Riedel

Image:© 2005 WR/ NYC

Launching iDip's Initiative: MoleBlog

"I'm honoured to share with you my Initiative "MoleBlog" MOLESKINE+Blog. It's my new way of blogging, because I'm fed up with the regular way of blogging.

In the old days people used their pens, pencils, diaries, notebooks ...etc, to log. Nowadays people are Web-Logging (Blogging), so why not adding some sense and passion to blogs, by arranging a Reunion with the ancestor.

Below is my first episode of MoleBlogs, I hope you'll like it (more to come)."

iDip

[via LS who says: "What? Again?:]

The Mole and Sailor

"It takes a me a few months to fill up a Moleskine notebook, so going to purchase a new one is a special event. I look forward to it for several days as I come closer and closer to the end of an old notebook.  And on that day, I almost feel as though I should dress up.

After I’ve touched all the notebooks and made my final selection(s), I take them to the counter where the proprietor carefully takes them from my hands and begins a conversation about anything at all. While he’s talking, he carefully wraps the books into a kraft paper bundle. He has it down to an art now...never a fold showing. When he has the books safely secured in the kraft paper, he ties the bundle with green string.

When I leave the store, my new notebooks are tucked under my arm, in an intriguing looking bundle, rather than joggling around in a plastic bag.

Once I’m back home, I take everything off the coffee table and unwrap my bundle. I carefully slice the vacuum sealed plastic from each book, slip off the elastic closures, open the books and bury my nose in them. Moleskine paper smells wonderful."

The Mole and Sailor
Cider Press Hill

Out of batteries

"After 36 hours of ongoing travel, the powerbook batteries are exhausted and the last couple of trains have no power pockets that work.

Out come the Moleskine notebooks...."

gra @ FLICKR

© All rights reserved. Used with permission

loose socks sketch

"i just remembered that i promised someone to scan my moleskine sketchbook. since i use the sketchbook as a journal as well, there are a few entries i’d like to keep private… so, i thought, having it scanned then blurred certain paragraph would look very ugly. instead, i just take pictures of the pages that i’m comfortable with, and leave the long embarrassing writing out of the picture… so, this is the first picture."

©1999-2005 thalia kamarga. all rights reserved.

Visit her site.

A rare welcome pop-up

0xDecafbad

Congrats!

shandy, ibooks and reading...

"I've been taking things reasonably easy this last week - oddly enough that hasn't included much in the way of afternoon naps which is very unusual for me. In fact I've been experiencing the very odd phenomenon of the full day. Not something I'm at all used to. Without a couple of hours sleep in the middle of it, my days suddenly seem very long. It's not just napping that takes up time, it's coming to afterwards. That tends to take me a good while. Just now I'm able to plan to be out in the world in the middle of the day which is liberating. I'm trying not to think too much of this development, just enjoying the opportunity while it's here.

Yesterday, when otherwise I might well have been slumbering, I was sitting at a cafe table working on a book review. I had planned to be typing away on my beloved iBook, but instead was rediscovering the joys of working longhand as my iBook screen refused to work. I very rarely write much with a pen, and looking at my barely legible scrawl I know why. Legibility aside it made a pleasant change to write instead of typing - helped along by the purchase of large ruled Moleskine. I need to do it more (maybe my handwriting will even improve)."

Michael Nobbs

The Science of Gardening

"Like all great endeavors,
gardening is both a science and an art."

The Science of Gardening
Exploratorium

[via plep]

Decorating my Moleskine

"I believe I've fallen from grace as far as coolness is concerned with this moleskine. But, this is the age of personalization and self-expression. Putting one of my Frida Kahlo stickers on this reporter made it fun. The painting shown is called The Little Hart.

If I had it to do over again, I might have preserved my dignity by putting only one sticker on without the extra moleskine stickers. But, alas, I received the stickers as a gift and wanted to use them. As someone who uses multiple moleskines of the same size, I need a way to tell them apart. Hence, stickers!.."

Tech Ronin

My Moleskine Project

It's just a little black notebook. But because of its pocket-size, iconic elastic strap and illustrious history, the Moleskine has become the Platonic Ideal of little black notebooks. Used by Vincent Van Gogh for sketches, Ernest Hemingway for prose and Bruce Chatwin for travel notes, the Moleskine notebooks have been the favorite for creative minds for nearly two centuries. To continue this tradition, Hong Kong-based design studio Working Unit recently collaborated with Page One Bookshop and East Touch Magazine to launch the "My Moleskine" Project.

Starting in autumn of 2004, more than thirty creative professionals from Hong Kong and beyond were invited to fill a Moleskine of their choice with anything they liked, and return the notebooks by spring of 2005. On April 30th the results were presented to the public in an exhibition at the newly-renovated Page One Bookshop in Causeway Bay-- in a uniquely hands-on fashion. Each notebook was displayed in a clear plastic box with an opening for the audience to reach through and turn the pages (wearing gloves so as not to damage the artworks). After the opening ceremony, which featured special guest local indie rock star Anthony Wong Yiu-Ming, the aisles of Page One quickly filled with spectators, eager to flip through the eclectic array of Moleskines.

AFK*: Backstage

Due to miscommunication on media use of images, we have been asked to delete photos of the June 19th performance of Ballet Manila at Harris Theater in Chicago. This photographer regrets the inconvenience.

WMP #1

WMP #1
Steve and Terrie Miller
Sebastopol, CA. USA

For updates and donations, visit the WMP page.
View the scans at " Journey", the WMP Gallery hosted by  Joachim du Beleg.

Enjoy the weekend Internet people! Happy Father's Day.

Hipster templates by John Norris

" I've been busy working on some Hipster templates as well.  My take is a bit different in that I do not really follow a formal methodology such as Getting Things Done.

My set:

Categorization via the Meta-Line Organizer.
Designed for cheap (gray scale) printing.
Economical use of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.  (Plus more room to write.)

Blank.
Grid.
Checklist.
I'll often keep my 'official' to-do list on this.

Lined.
Tear-away. 

Allows me to give notes to folks and not lose too much paper.

Fold Up Cards.

More formal cards. Yes, that is a picture of poison oak.

Dictionary.

Rulers.
Metric and English. Sorry it is a bit rough when printed.

Conversions.
Metric and English.
Star Chart.
I do a bit of astronomy so it makes sense to me.

World Map with Time Zones.
Chess and Checkers.
Playing Cards.
Go.
The 9x9 version.

Battleship.
For two players.

Sundial Day Planner.
I get fed up with one's life totally planned by the hour so here is my little retort.

Morse Code and Semaphore.
I can never remember this stuff when I could use it...  so like similar stuff, into the Hipster it goes.

Staff (Music)
Do It Yourself Art.
OK, this is along the lines of the conceptual work I do...but totally valid for anyone to use and compose their own art.

Full Sheet.
Because sometimes you just need a full sheet of paper."

John Norris
Hipster PDA templates
LINK

[via Leslie Russell]

Xtreme Hipster PDA!!!

New York Stationery Show

"Kikkerland was certainly very very busy as during my 3-4 times pass by their booth, I couldn't squeeze into it and when I did, there were always people asking questions about Moleskine. I must say it was their main attraction. Perhaps due to limiation of the booth size, Kikkerland couldn't present all the Moleskine products in a single profile of shelves. Instead they had 3 shelves facing different directions. Not surprisingly I found Armand's button! I met Laura Kellner and quickly introduced myself, she immediately asked me to take as many buttons as I wish and threw a dozen into my bag. Thanks a lot Armand! Too bad I couldn't meet Jeroen and Kikkerland was super busy, so I dashed off to other places but came back to peak a few more times :)"

Patrick Ng
Moleskineart

From Sketch to art

Agnes Martin, Untitled #21, 2002. Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 152.4 x 152.4 cm on display in the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale.

Irish Typepad
Moleskinerie @ FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

Moleskine Suggestions

• Don't try to fill your Moleskine up deliberately, just use it casually
  • Prevents 'crap' from being written down and saves pages
• You can read out of your Moleskine, but don't let others read through your it
  • Some material may be personal
• Take it everywhere
  • Just in case something comes up or is worth noting
• Don't rip out pages
  • It's respectful and it saves pages
• Draw at your own risk
  • Mess ups do happen and pen is hard to erase
• Save your Moleskine(s)
  • Makes for a good read later on
• Stickers are OK
  • Having your own personality is encouraged
• Use the Pilot G2 pen
  
  • .7mm or lower, they wont smear or go through the pages
• Recruit those who you think are worthy of using Moleskines
  • Not everyone is worthy
• Tabs
  • Good for organizing sections
• Enjoy

Adam Machado
HACKERATI

[via LS]

BUG

"A VW ad in the 60s described the Beetle and the Coke bottle as the two best-known shapes in the world. It is hard to imagine any other object whose bio-graphy includes as vital players Adolf Hitler, Henry Ford, Charles Manson, Walt Disney, and Woody Allen. As much a character as a car, a hero and an antihero, the Bug has had a Zelig-like knack for appearing again and again on the main stage of history. The car that was first built as a tool of Nazi propaganda was, in the postwar years, transformed by American salesmanship into a counterculture icon, then finally into a product of global marketing.

In his first year as German chancellor, Adolf Hitler described publicly his desire for a real car for the German people, mass-produced and affordable to everyone. By 1938, the vast new factory at Wolfsburg was turning out the Beetle, called the KdF-wagen, designed by the great race-car engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team and financed by the German Labor Front, the Third Reich's labor union. "It should look like a beetle," Hitler apparently advised him. During the war, supplied with labor from concentration camps, the factory manufactured ordnance and tanks. After the war, under British control, it turned out 1,000 cars a month, but they were noisy and lacked heat, and many Germans were eager to put the car behind them.

In America, the few Beetles on the road were those shipped over by GI's. The U.S. auto industry saw no need for a small inexpensive car when there were so many large inexpensive used ones on the market. But in 1959, when VW hired the innovative ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach to build a campaign, the car's greatest liability was diffused: a Jewish firm would sell Hitler's car. Small was beautiful. Souped-up racing Beetles were cool enough for Steve McQueen to drive. Herbie the Love Bug made Walt Disney hip....

Bug is the fascinating story of the automobile that became as famous as Mickey Mouse, not just as a means of transportation but as a critical artifact in the cultural history of the century."

BUG
The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile 
By Phil Patton

Pitch Camp

"A couple months ago, Zach and I were talking and thought that it'd be cool to gather a whole bunch of people to go camping together one night right here in Manhattan. We agreed do a test run in Times Square. On Saturday, June 11th at midnight, Zach, Paul, and I arrived to pitch camp.

Folks from all over the world stopped and talked to us to find out what we were doing. Some bought us supplies (we'd made a pact not to leave our traffic island until morning) and two even brought pizza. Many hung out for a while and left us their names and addresses..."

Amit Gupta
Pitch Camp - Urban camping in Times Square
LINK

Photo: Amit Gupta © 2005 All rights reserved
Used with permission

[Thanks Andy!]

The Russian Avant-Garde Book

The Russian Avant-Garde Book
1910-1934
LINK

[Thanks Kevin]

Sightings: Sean Penn

Hollywood US actor Sean Penn looks at Iranian Shiite Muslim worshipers performing Friday noon prayer at Tehran university. Penn is in Iran as a journalist to cover the Iranian elections for the San Fransisco Chronicle.(AFP/Patrick Baz)

[via LS & Jim]

Color Fields Experimental Colr Pickr

Color Fields Experimental Colr Pickr - Jim Bumgardner
LINK

Thanks Christine!

AFK*: Backstage

Performers are silhouetted backstage at a concert I documented last night.
Reminds me of wayang kulit.

© 2005 ABF All rights reserved.

*Away From Keyboard
...
Happy Monday to our friends in New Zealand and Australasia!

The People Project

"I'm collecting people. I used to collect real people, but that caused trouble with the law ("It put's the Tabasco on its body"), so now I'm just collecting drawings of people in my little notebook, which is much simpler."

Slimbolala
The People Project

The world's next generation of creative voices in art and writing are in you. If you're between nine and 18, get in on the Wandering Moleskine Next project: put YOU on paper in one of fifteen Moleskine journals that will soon wander the planet, one kid at a time. Write. Draw. Paint. Share your creative voice with the world - then pass it on.

Be NEXT. Pass it on.

WMPNext. The Wandering Moleskine Project for Kids.
Coming soon.

Have a nice weekend everyone. See you on Monday.

 

Ah Gelato!

"I'm so amazed you don't need a prescription to buy it"

Capogiro
Gelato Artisans

LINK

[Grazie "Stellaluna"]

Epson unveils their flexible E-paper

Maybe oneday we will have moleskines full of these.

"During SID 2005, Epson presented their 320x240 e-paper on a 2" screen with a 200dpi resolution. According to Epson, this technology will be on the market within 1 or 2 years. For those of you who are new to the whole e-paper thing, we can explain it in a simple manner by saying that you could take a PC screen, reduce its thickness to that of a sheet of paper (roughly, it's a bit thicker in fact) and make this sheet flexible. hence you would end up with e-paper."

Akihabara News

via Leslie Russell

Moleskine at the BookExpo

"Moleskine, for one had a home down amongst the bookmarks, reading pillows and greeting cards. Nathalie, the Tireless Ed Champion and I swept down upon the Moleskine booth and started pitching potential customers (theirs), interviewing the sales manager (Ed did this), and lifting a handful of the new reporter's notebooks (I got two of those and three of the small ones).

They barely knew what hit'em, but since I've written about their fine little notebooks before, I felt entitled to a few freebies - enough so that when they offered me unruled notebooks as part of the press pack, I snubbed my nose at them and asked for something more appropriate for the pencily challenged.

I also confirmed (and I use that word loosely in this case), that it was indeed a Moleskine notebook that Che Guevara (Gael García Bernal) used in the recent film "Motorcycle Diaries."

Bud Parr
Chekhov's Mistress

Photo courtesy of the author
Used with permission
Related link: "Motorcycle Diaries" on Moleskinerie

Renee Pearson

"If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud."
   
Emile Zola

A page from the journal of of Renee Pearson
Visit her site.

Lightning 101

"The time between seeing a lightning flash and hearing the thunder it produces is a rough guide to how far away the lightning was. Normally, thunder can be heard up to 10 miles from the lightning that makes it. Lightning heats the air around it to as much as 60,000 degrees, producing sound waves by the quick expansion of the heated air. Since light travels at 186,000 miles per second, you see the lightning the instant it flashes. But sound, including thunder, travels about a mile in five seconds near the ground. If 15 seconds elapse between seeing a lightning bolt and hearing its thunder, the lightning was about three miles away. Lightning closer than about three miles away is a warning to take shelter immediately. Successive lightning strikes are often two to three miles apart. If the first stroke is three miles away, the next one could hit you."

How to estimate lightning's distance
USA Today Weather
Source: Ronald Holle, National Severe Storms Laboratory

© Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
...

"If you feel it coming, dive!

Can you tell when you are about to be struck by lightning? There is often a warning: a feeling similar to what happens when you touch a static electricity generator, or when you take the clothes out of the dryer and separate a staticky sock from a towel. This is to be expected, since lightning starts as static electricity that breaks down the air to neutralize the charge. The result is that people about to be hit can feel the hair on their bodies stand on end and sometimes report a tingling sensation. If you are in a storm and feel this, act immediately. This is all the warning you are going to get. Get as low as you can to the ground. If you are not the highest point around, you are less likely to be hit. If you can find a nearby ditch or draw, get into it. Rolling to the ditch is much smarter than running there. Rolling in something wet will also help to get rid of the charge accumulation on your body. Avoid holding on to anything metal. If you have a tool in your hand, drop it. If you are touching a metal object, get away from it. If you are on a roof, get off. Don’t do anything that will make you a more attractive target for the lightning."

Everybody talks about lightning and yes, there are things you can do about it
by Albert H. Carlson
@ backwoodshome.com

© Copyright 1998 Backwoods Home Magazine
...
[Parenthesis:]

Thunder and Lightning

by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

   Let me drink your lips--
   Let me swallow your breath--
   Let me taste the perspiration of
   Your windtangled skin

   Your black hair cascades
   In love's throes--
   Your face lightning-thunder
   A drunken flower.

   [circa 1912]

"Flip flops in the storm"
Taking an ozone break @ Moleskinerie Central
5.20.04

Image: © A.B.F.

[Originally posted 5.21.04]

Expensive writing implements and associated distress

"Sure, Moleskines and journals filled with paper aged in special Grecian water and hand-beaten by young virgins who've recently bathed in pure olive oil are lovely to behold. But I can't scribble bad dialogue, inept character studies, and poorly-rendered scenes on paper that costs a buck or more a page.

 

I know because I've tried. Friends have given me beautiful journals and notebooks imported from whoosy-whatsy, and I've sat in donut shops staring at the blank pages for hours before writing three words and carefully crossing them out. Now the notebooks sit in an ornamental stack at the corner of my desk.

 

The literary greats may have a justifiable attachment to their drafts, but mine are crap. Although I write longhand anywhere -- in bed, on the subway, walking down the street -- I tear out each page and throw it away as soon as I type the words into the computer."

Maud Newton
Visit her blog.

Craig Frazier

Craig Frazier
Visit his SITE.

[Thanks Joy!]

Street Sounds

Marché des artisans
Bamako, Mali, 2001
©  Cl. Vittiglio/TV5

Listen @ RUAVISTA

Christine Le Roy

Christine Le Roy

[Thanks Joy!]

Who owns the brand?

"The internet makes it possible for communities to form around great brands.  In this hyper-connected world we now inhabit, the equity of a brand will be measured by its connectedness.  The most heavily awarded marketing campaign in the last year is Crispin Porter’s Subservient Chicken campaign – largely because it was a viral phenomenon that appeared in every in-box.  It was very connected.  But it was a “manufactured” experience.  Designed by marketers.  Shared by fans.  Applauded by critics.  Feared by agencies.

A truly connected brand is one that grows organically in communities united by a common passion.  Moleskine is such a brand. Every new Organic and every new client gets a special gift from our company – a Moleskine notebook…to collect ideas and inspirations, jot down ideas and work through problems.   The Moleskine notebook itself is an exceptional experience.  And, many ardent and admiring communities have formed around “…these little books.”

Mark Kingdon
Three Minds @ Organic

Summer Journal

"Summer Journal"
© 2005 ABF

Book Ninja

Ok, so the whole Moleskine thing is a big marketing ploy. That much is obvious. But a few years ago I ordered one from the US (because I couldn't find one here) to see what they were about. Now I don't write longhand in anything else. They really are a superior product. That said, I've noticed some inconsistencies in the quality, book to book, which is no doubt a side effect of mass production. Considering the price and that the books are shrink-wrapped in the store, I'd either like to feel more secure in the quality or be able to leaf through the book before I buy. My new elastic is not as tight as the last one and there are some loose threads in the pages here and there... still the best book to write in, for my money. They take quite a beating and still look great. There's a reason, other than the clever viral marketing campaign, these things have a loyal, somewhat fanatical, following. (A while back I had a hard time finding new copies of the large lined one, so I did some internet searching and read that they are discontinuing them in favour of a soft back, saddle stitched version of the same. Say goodbye to my dollars, Moleskine.)

"Buying In"
Bookninja

Dial Up M

Pardon the slow response time. We are moving to a new DSL service and will be in dial up purgatory for a while, hopefully not too long.

"O tardium gaudium meum"

Feeling retro? LISTEN.

first summer sands

"went to virginia beach this weekend, it was perfect weather with no wind in sight and not too hot either. max found it amusing to be running and rolling in a giant sandbox. i collected handfuls of seashells to bring back and display on my nightstand. brought my moleskine and sketched little girls in cute bikinis burying themselves in giant holes while i was listened to some ben lee on the pod. one of the girls i was drawing found this blowfish. it was a nice introduction to summer."

Queenthings

Images:  © 2005 by J. Vorwaller
Used with permission

The world's next generation of creative voices in art and writing are in you. If you're between nine and 18, get in on the Wandering Moleskine Next project: put YOU on paper in one of fifteen Moleskine journals that will soon wander the planet, one kid at a time. Write. Draw. Paint. Share your creative voice with the world - then pass it on.

Be NEXT. Pass it on.

WMPNext. The Wandering Moleskine Project for Kids.
Coming soon.
...
Best wishes to our birthday celebrants at Moleskinerie/ORKUT:

Rachael Barry June 02
Fredrik Appelberg June 07
Sylvia Minarovic June 08

On your way out please drop by the Moleskinerie Shop. Your purchase will help keep us going. Also, Perrine at Kikkerland need your opinions. Check out her short survey.

Sightings: "Sharkboy and Lavagirl"

"Sharkboy and Lavagirl"
MOVIE LINK

[Thanks Diong!]

My Idea of a Good Weekend

"What did you read this Memorial Day?"

Dale Kieger
LINK

For the birds

"The bird ate my homework"
© 2005 ABF

Sightings: "A Lot Like Love"

"Just saw the movie 'A lot like love' today and wanted to let you know that the the character Emily(Amanda Peet) uses a Moleskine as her little blackbook of guys. I thought it was funny and good 'exposure' for the Moleskine...  I don't have a screenshot but if you see the movie you can't miss it.

Cheers,

Darice de Cuba"

MOVIE LINK

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