moleskinerie

Happy ^-^HalloweenM^-^

"^-^HalloweenM^-^"
By Lorretine @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
© All rights reserved.Used with permission.

For your listening pleasure, may we recommend "Into the Land of Phantoms" ?
...
Update: 3.50 P CST

The Brown truck just delivered the biggest Halloween treat ever...

Thanks to "Anonymous"

Philofaxy

"It hit me one day as I fumbled with the Device, attempting to translate arcane scribbles on its screen into recognizable text. I remembered the substance that had sustained me in ancient times. A substance that, alchemically combined with ink, could be manipulated in infinite ways. A substance that, depending on my mood, could be as strictly rule-bound as any computer or as free-form as an artist's canvas.

Paper.

I set aside the Device, and bought a Filofax.  And it was good.  No, great.

The Device now gathers dust, and the Filofax gathers no moss. I carry it with me around the house, to the bathroom, to the family room. I set it next to me in bed.

My relationship with the Filofax is in its infancy. My return to paper occurred in earnest only a couple weeks ago. But I have found there is very little on the internet in the way of planner-love. I know there are others out there, secretly laboring as members of my brotherhood. Planner-lovers, unite! You may be a devotee of Filofax, Day Timer, Day Runner, Franklin Covey, Exacompta, or wall calendars with photographs of puppies and kittens. It matters not. Rejoice in the experience of pen to paper. Rejoice in the use of alphabetic tabs. Rejoice in the critical decisions a planner maker must use: Week on a page? Week on two pages? Page-a-day? Notebook-size? Pocket-size? It's all glorious!..."

Philofaxy

VISIT

"The Orange and the Black"

"Being a little squeamish, I take another route -- the all orange-and-black dinner. Explanations for the traditional Halloween colors vary. Black is certainly the symbol of death while orange is probably a reflection of the fall harvest.

Setting the table for this holiday dinner is easy. Halloween paraphernalia starts showing up in stores toward the end of summer, and the choice is vast: spider web cocktail napkins, foam tabletop tombstones, pumpkin candleholders, wire trees with faces, black plastic spiders. You don't have to go any further than the corner drugstore.

 

For my table, I use an orange tablecloth, black napkins and black plates, all of which I got at yard sales. I have a $1.29 black plastic cauldron from the drugstore that I fill with an orange mum. I use orange tapers in glass candlesticks and votive candles shaped like candy corn and then, of course, sprinkle the table with real candy corn. At each guests place is a little orange and black plastic jack-o'-lantern full of black licorice sticks.

 

Appetizers can be baby carrots and orange pepper slices with a black olive tapenade; red fish roe or smoked salmon on squares of black bread; orange cheddar cheese encased in black rind with dark rye crackers or pumpernickel bread; black olives; blue corn tortilla chips (they look black) and red pepper hummus. If you want to go downscale: Cheetos...."

"The Orange and the Black"
Bonny Wolf
NPR

More: Halloween Tricks and Audio Treats

Write Like Jane Austen

"Paying homage to a favourite author can be a painful and tricky thing, so please don't suppose that this font, though made up out of characters written by Jane Austen, is really quite equal to her handwriting. Like every intelligent person, she commanded lots of varying letter forms, depending on the way those letters were connected, and their position in a given word. Her words are clearly diminishing towards the end. Her i-dots are flying around a good deal, but of course they never collide with other characters (which will happen inevitably, when they are fixed in a font), and, worst of all, her strokes will sometimes look rather blotchy and sometimes rather thin, depending on how many ink was in her pen at a given moment -- and had that pen been recently mended, or was it in urgent need of mending? -- so that it's next to impossible to decide on their intended broad- or thinness. However, creating something like an average image has been the aim of my font, and naturally, this has endowed it with the principal flaw of all typefaces: it's looking far too regular..."

Pia Frauss
Jane Austen Fonts

[via Bookworm]

Little Annie

"When poor Little Annie sat on her swing,
She never suspected a bite or a sting,
But Hazel's pet spider was hungry that day,
And pleased that dear Annie had come out to play!"

GOREY DETAILS

Image link

Greetings to our friends in Santiago, London, Clyde, NC., Toulon,  Abu Dhabi,  St. Petersburg, RF,  Midvale, UT,  Ramsis, Kampala, Moscow, Bangkok, Guaynabo, Bermuda, Dublin and...Transylvania^ _^

AFK*: Chicago Botanic Garden

"Please stay on path. Thank you."

Images: ABF
*AFK: Away From Keyboard

As part of our 2nd Anniversary celebrations (1.12.06 ) Moleskinerie is launching "Moleskine Notes", a series of essays by Moleskine users around the world starting next month. To be considered, write an essay (500-1000 words) on your Moleskine experience and email it to us. Put "MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY" as subject. If chosen, you will receive a gift from Moleskinerie. We look forward to reading your story soon!   

Birthday greetings to our friends @ Moleskinerie/ORKUT:

John Harrigan October 27, Patrick Gage Kelley October 28, Stephan Lamprecht October 29,  Ben Turley October 30, Lauren S November 01, Rob O'Keefe November 03 and Lise Sutherland-Fraser November 05.

Get out, have a life - and write about it! Be back on Monday.

Updates: 10.28.05 6.42P CST

A message from TypePad, our webhost:

- "This Saturday night between the hours of 9PM – midnight PDT, we have scheduled downtime to complete some of these (maintenance) activities."

- Sorbile is selling 2 unopened Moleskines over at LJ. Check it out.

Oh Feltrinelli!

"People have been reporting sightings of this little red book that can only be found in Italy. It is a special edition done for la Feltrinelli and finally I got it! Thanks to a kind lady over there who found a copy from her office and sent it over for me. I appreciate a lot Monica! The copy I got was #14981 obviously a limited special edition just for Feltrinelli. The red color is extraordinarily bright and on the cover there is the Feltrinelli logo embossed. It is a "Weekly Notebook 2005-6" different from the existing one, which the week view is on the left page and lined note on the right. So far I've seen special editions done for corporates such as Moet, Siena University (image here) but this is by far the most outstanding in terms of color and configuration. I have confirmation from Modo&Modo that this special format is going to be all over the world in 2006-7"

Patrick Ng
moleskinearrt.com

MOLESKINERIE/FLICKR IMAGE LINKS 1 2 3
© All rights reserved.

Related discussion at Moleskinerie/GoogleGroups

Welcome Moleskine @ MySpace

Moleskinerie.com welcomes "Moleskine Notebooks for Life", the Moleskine Users' Group at MySpace created by Jeremy.

JOIN

MY MOLESKINE EXHIBITION

Here's your last chance to see "My Moleskine Exhibition" in Japan.

Date:OCTOBER 1 - OCTOBER 31
The exhibition is spread over five different locations :
■ Aoyama Book Center
■ Libro Aoyama
■ Nadiff (Aoyama)
■ Tower Records Shibuya 7F TOWER BOOKS
■ Tsutaya Tokyo Roppongi

LINK

Wil Lau

"Prepping for the HK/Shanghai trip in Nov and I've decided to go with the workhorse L2K. Versatile, holds a tone of ink and not too flashy for customs.

If for any reason I end up returning without it, it's probably the most "replacable" of pens in the current collection.

I am not so confident about the Visconti travelling ink pot. As recommended, I've test filled the Lamy with water a few times without incident. Tested one final time with ink and it worked great. It's the whole capping mecha that seems a bit unsecure. Wonder how cool it'll look when it's wrapped in a Glad sandwich bag for insurance?

[Moleskine journal and 1:500 Herpa Southwest Boeing 737 in background]"

"L2K / Visconti Travelling Ink Pot"
Wil Lau @ FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

Moleskine - lined, or unlined?

"I started with several grid books - having an engineering background it seemed obvious, as so much of my schooling was done on graph paper. The grid is in black ink, though, and with certain pencils and inks writing and sketches tend to blend in a bit too much. The line spacing is also much narrower than the simple ruled books, so you have to write a bit smaller.

The complete absence of lines makes the book look a little too pristine sometimes, and my lines of writing often develop a slant by the end of the page. Most of us were taught to write using lined paper, and there’s something comforting about having lines to get one started. For drawing, however, a blank page is best.

I prefer unlined but they’re so hard to find in stores. The world seems to prefer the lined, followed by the grid.

What do you think? Lines, grid, or no lines?"

Steve
Visit his blog, "Recording Thoughts"

Image: "Out of Focus"
By Eus @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

A Pocketful of Memories

Congratulations! How sweep it is.

Larger, colored version @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR

Maple Leaf

"On the way home from the bus stop I picked up this maple leaf from the wet pavement. Today we lit the furnace. No frost yet, but rain is forecast for the next several days."

Elizabeth Perry
Visit her blog, "woolgathering"

As seen on: Boston Legal

"In the latest episode of Boston Legal (aired on 10/18/2005, named "A whiff and a prayer"), the main character of the show (Alan Shore, played by James Spader) opens a notebook that looks exactly like a Pocket Moleskine.

Eric @ Moleskinerie/ORKUT

[Thanks Eric for the photo]

But which Moleskine?

"A friend of mine, currently studying in London, asked me if I wanted her to buy me any Moleskines. (Larger available range, no extra shipping costs, and cheaper. Besides, while I may not have a fanbase that’s willing to do anything for me, I have friends who love me! So there.) And it’s then that we realise just how evil the manufacturers of these notebooks are. It’s pretty damn near impossible to choose just one!

Decisions, decisions..."

"Moleskine Madness"
By dubdew

VISIT

Image: ABF

New Word: Blogebrity

Merlin Mann

"Why not use blogebrities in marketing? If they're not yet ready for TV, would it work for ad banners? Corporate sites? 

So far I've seen Jason Kottke at Defunker, but nothing that seemed to involve a paycheck since Mark Frauenfelder's Apple ad in 2002. Is there still too much stigma of payola to see Phillip Torrone plugging your circuitboard kit? 

While WIN heartily points out that it doesn't even keep reviewed gadgets, I imagine Gawker Media might let Gina Trapani flash a Fisher space pen. I could see Merlin Mann doing the same, with a Moleskine to boot. 

I'm confident a blogger could sell a product on a corporate site, and maybe even off the web. Does any blogebrity have the chops to promote a product past gadgets and hipster wear? And can amateur bloggers appear in ads instead of hosting ads?..."

Blogebrity

Image: merlinmann @ FLICKR
© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

The Noguchi Filing System

"...a rather unconventional filing system, the system proposed and used by Noguchi Yukio, an economist and writer of bestselling books about such things. Implementation of the system requires the user to discard many conventional notions about how to store paper documents.

The basic elements of the system are as follows.

All the user need prepare is a collection of A4-sized envelopes and some means for marking the outside of the envelope. If some color coding (optional) is to be done, this can be done with marker pens.

All documents, regardless of their class, level of importance, or perceived chance of being required at a later date are stored in A4-sized envelopes, which have the flaps cut off... By "all documents," Noguchi means just that. He puts all categories of documents, including things like membership lists and his passport in envelopes."

The Noguchi Filing System
By William Lise

LINK

[via Rebecca's Pocket]

Moleskine Combo To Go

"My Moleskine hack...I have various accoutrements that go everywhere I do...Moleskine, phone, pen case etc. Little bit of velcro and now i have one secure package."

Rob Findlay
http://robfindlay.org
http://phundle.com

Image link to FLICKR 1 2

Elian Script

"Originally, the Elian Script was intended to be a code by which I could, at a glance, differentiate writings in my notebooks that were still in finished form from those still in the works. Prior to the development of this code I used the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet as sheer phonetic elements; "Tuscany" would thus be written "". However, the more I wrote phonetically in Cyrillic, the more my spelling in English deteriorated - "" back to English would be written "Tskani".

While seeking a new and simple encoding method, I came across an illustration of the numbered nine-square grid. It occurred to me that each of the nine boxes had a unique configuration, and that with the addition of a numeral, be it "1", "2", or "3", it was possible to have a coded form for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. I started to use this grid functionally, as a code, without considering any calligraphic aspects..."

The Elian Script
Conceptual Calligraphy by C.C. Elian

LINK

[Thanks Christian "Mekkaniak" Eriksson]

Holiday Stickers

"I recently purchased a Moleskine Daily Planner (the lg size). I'd like to know if there are any holiday stickers i can use, since holidays are not noted in the calendar. I've seen them mentioned in a moleskine
related blog but now i can't find it. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Mike Jack

"Franklin Covey Stores have some small stickers that will work great. They are relatively small (approx 1/4 inch) and have transparent backgrounds.  They have different sets, but there is one that has a
sticker for each holiday."

Pseudo64

Discussion @ Moleskinerie/GoogleGroups
LINK: Franklin Covey

How Much Is Moleskinerie Worth?

This is hilarious:)

My blog is worth $175,571.94.
How much is your blog worth?

Your blog, http://www.moleskinerie.com, is worth $175,571.94

"Here's a snippet of code you can add to your blog to show the world how much it is worth, based on Tristan Louis's analysis of the AOL-WeblogsInc deal using Technorati's data."

[via BoingBoing]

Thanks J!

"Portable table of content" hack

"I have created some kind of a "portable table of content" for my Moleskines (pocket one). You can see it here (my blog, in French). The idea is to summarize each page's content  in order to find faster what your looking for in the Moleskine(s).

It's available for download in PDF format.

Best Regards,
David

LINK

Prompts: Future Map of the World

"When satellites capture images of our beautiful blue and green planet during the next millennium, will we recognize the shapes they show us? It can be difficult to comprehend all at once the incredible Earth changes which Gordon-Michael Scallion has predicted. What will our planet actually look like after these changes are complete? Based on over 25 years of visions he has received on the subject, this award winning wall map is the definitive illustration of GMS’ Earth change predictions. Giant-sized for easy viewing, this map covers changes for all continents, as well as new islands that will be created, rising from the oceans’ floors. As GMS explains in the map’s text, “I feel that sharing this information will identify areas that should be watched… and supply benchmarks that may be used to warn of impending changes as these scenarios [from 1998 through 2012] unfold.”

Gordon-Michael Scallion
Future Map of the World

LINK

Tenacious Toys

"Uglydolls"
Just in time for Halloween.

These and other cuddly abominations available at Tenacious Toys.

 

Greetings to our friends from Kosovo, Sicilia, Chongquing, Nashville, TN, Agua, (Sao Paolo), Westport, CN, Kyoto, Lancaster,  Netherlands Antilles, Santiago, Hove and Thessalonki.

Moleskinerie needs your support

"My Moleskine Halloween Costume" sent in by Erik T. © All rights reserved.

On this final fundraising weekend, please indulge this last repost of our appeal:

As you may already know, Moleskinerie.com is a personal project run by our friends and myself. With increasing traffic (more than 17,000/ week)  from notebook aficionados all over the world what used to be a hobby now takes a considerable chunk of my personal time. Beside website maintenance, responding to email and written queries has become part of my daily routine.

The little ad revenue we receive goes straight to pay for hosting fees. With a modest budget we need your support to keep Moleskinerie online. 

Our immediate requirement is a notebook PC to replace the temporary equipment we are currently using. We also need help with connectivity, stationery, mailing (for the resumption of the Wandering Moleskine Project) and other expenses.

To help raise funds, we are holding an auction on eBay.  If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

[............................................]

(If the button hiccups, use this email: armandfrasco*at*aol*dot*com. Kindly indicate if you prefer to remain anonymous.

Thanks for making Moleskinerie.com the premier fansite for these legenday notebooks. Help keep us eclectic and free!

Armand B. Frasco
Founder
www.moleskinerie.com    

Thanks to author Jonathan Carroll for his generous help ( check out his new book, "Glass Soup") and Neil Gaiman for the link.  I'd also like to thank Kikkerland Design for donating some items to this fund drive. 

As part of our 2nd Anniversary celebrations (1.12.06 ) Moleskinerie is launching "Moleskine Notes", a series of essays by Moleskine users around the world starting next month. To be considered, write an essay (500-1000 words) on your Moleskine experience and email it to us. Put "MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY" as subject. If chosen, you will receive a gift from Moleskinerie. We look forward to reading your story soon!   

Birthday greetings to our friends @ Moleskinerie/ORKUT:
Venus 81, October 17, Philip Sharman, October 18, Aki Y. October 24 and Guilherme Avila October 26

Get out, have a life - and write about it! Be back on Monday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates

DONORS' LIST a.k.a "Thank-You-Thank-You" !

- "Many thanks for all of your hard work on the website. It is a daily ritual to check the site and I enjoy it very much. Best wishes " Andrew Foster, UK   

- "Not much but at least something (do get a Mac though :-)" Jan Erik Mostrom

- Tricia Leach
- Trumpetvine

- "I'm glad to send a contribution! I've been using Moleskines since 2001 when I found them in London--long before the mania hit the US.  I love your site for its creative links. You've made a significant site that goes far beyond the usefulness of the notebooks!" Nita Van Zandt

- Richard Collette
- Marcus Brownlow
- Wendee Lee

- "I am a long-time user of Moleskines and have greatly enjoyed your website. I particularly appreciate the open-ended way you run it, giving room to many postings that have nothing to do with Moleskines,  but are intrinsically interesting." Armando A. Armendariz

-"I have only known about Moleskinerie for a short while but I visit it every day..." Kate Marshall

- "I've been reading the Moleskinerie for some time now and I'd love to donate a hedgehog to the effort of keeping it alive." Leslie Herger

- Christine MacDougall
- John Gamber
- Theresa Hogel
- Anonymous
- Jonathan Richstein
- Erik Bates
- Michael Shea
- Karen Winters
- Anonymous
- Rebecca Rowan
- Richard Jack
- Kathryn Marshall
- Elizabeth Rotundo
- "Thank you for many enjoyable discoveries, tangents, and pieces of weird, wonderful, artistic news." -
Alia

Update: 8.20 P CST 10.23.05

Congratulations to pointykitty, kgee30 and judex32 for winning. Thanks to everyone else who bid on the items and sent donations. We truly appreciate your help. We have a few more to auction in the coming days.

As of today, this fund drive received a total of $ 972.00 which should help cover our DSL and other bills. We are also excited to announce that an anonymous benefactor is donating a brand new laptop for our use!! We have even received an offer for free office space! How cool is that?

To those who sent their regrets due to personal constraints, etc. No worries - your visits  inspire us and keep us going, too. Moleskinerie.com wouldn't have become what it is today were it not for all of you. Besides, the PayPal button is always "on". ^_^

Dank u wel,  grazie, domo arigato, muchas gracias, merci, obrigado, salamat, thank you!

Now back to regular programming.

Armand
...
Update: 10.31.05 3.50 P CST

The Brown truck just delivered the biggest Halloween treat ever...



Thanks..."Anonymous";)

Update:

Additional donations.

"Hi to you - sorry it is so small but my wife has been on disability for almost 2 years, had major surgery and we are only now beginning to do better; but I was so impressed with your site and the great work, it seemed a shame to not offer at least a little that we can do for now...Keep up the great work. Blessings to you and your loved ones" - J. C.H. 11.8.05

- Lorianne DiSabato
- Jens Schäfer

Eternal “Bullet Proof” Luxury Blue

"Noodler’s Ink has formulated a NEW Eternal Blue with fluorescent, yet conservative blue color.  It has been formulated with “Bullet Proof” qualities so that it is impervious to water, bleach, and light.  It is as fraud-proof as Noodler’s “Bullet Proof” Black. It will be available in one ounce (30 ml.) bottles."

LINK

[Thanks Chris]

Write Places: Cool Tables

Bed of Roses Table

Lichen Table

Lavender Table

farm21.com

[via cribcandy]

Givin me the wild eye

"I was vacillating all week about what I was going to do for the “Draw an Eye” challenge for the Everyday Matters group, and I finally decided to paint the excessively large eyes of my American she-bulldog, Ripley. I don’t know if it’s a birth defect or a characteristic of the breed but Ripley’s very large eyes seem to point in two different directions, giving her a decidedly ‘unfocused’ and inattentive look when she gazes straight at me. We noticed this characteristic when she was a puppy, and when she was in a particularly rip-roarious mood her eyes would widen, exposing even more of the whites for a distinctly rabid, mad-dog appearance. We came to call this “giving us the wild eye.”

"Givin me the wild eye"
Karen Winters

Visit her blog, "The Creative Journey"

Moleskine maniaque

"Ma petite manie à moi est d'une banalité rare (enfin, j'en ai d'autres aussi, mais aujourd'hui je me concentrerai sur celle-là). C'est d'écrire dans des beaux carnets. C'est bizarre, mais on n'écrit pas pareil sur des feuilles volantes style étudiant que sur un zoli carnet à couverture rigide et papier sans chlore dans lequel on a claqué une fortune en le destinant uniquement à l'écriture. Ce qui prouve bien, ceci dit en passant, que le fait de se prendre pour un écrivain ne met en aucun cas à l'abri des techniques marketings les plus subtils (et les plus anciennes en plus, c'est-à-dire faire un bon produit).e

Bref, j'écris sur du Moleskine, les carnets de Van Goght et Hewingway dixit la pub. C'est surtout des carnets qui tiennent ouvert quand on les ouvre, avec un papier agréable, suffisamment rigides pour supporter d'être trimbalés de partout et n'importe comment, et avec en plus une pochette à la fin et un élastique pour les tenir fermés. Accesoirement, ça vous donne l'impression d'être un baroudeur qui écrit depuis l'abri de bambou qu'il s'est construit au sommet d'un séquoia de Palombie pour échapper aux terribles mafias du bois brésilien contre lesquelles il lutte sans relâche, alors que vous êtes en caleçon dans votre lit en train de regarder "ça se discute..."

Badtz Maru
Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France

LINK

Image: SideShowMom @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

The Moleskinerie Auctions on eBay. Check it out!

Proceeds will go to site maintenance and other projects. Thanks to all the donors so far. If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

The things they (used to) carry

Our friend, Lorianne DiSabato lives in Keene, NH where there has been recent flooding. She writes:

"In the opening chapter to Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried, the hopes, dreams, and fears of a group of American soldiers in Vietnam are expressed through the belongings in their backpacks. Laden with too much physical and psychological stuff, the men refuse to carry one ounce more than they must...and yet they still find the room and the strength to tote photos, books, and other mementos. When faced with the bare-bones reality of life and death, people grow surprisingly sentimental. Stripped of everything but the will to survive, only the most desperate soldier will willingly part with the letters, photographs, and other trinkets that remind him of home.

 

Keene isn't Vietnam, and it isn't New Orleans, either. Even compared with the outlying areas that lost entire houses, roads, and bridges, Keene got off easy in terms of infrastructural damage. Even so, sometimes it's the loss of little things that brings bigger losses into perspective.."

"The things they (used to) carry"
Lorianne Disabato
Visit her blog, "Hoarded Ordinaries"

dream after dream...

My name is Asia Gniady, I wrote to you about two months ago, describing my longing for my first Moleskine.Now I can say that my dream came true!!! I've got Moleskine in the most magical way one could ever imagine, but let it be the secret... 

Moleskine is fabulous. I smell the pages, touch them with my fingertips and it breakes my heart. What more to say?

I've just upload some photos of my Moleskine in Flickr's Moleskinerie Pool - have a look...I also would like to invite to visit my blog.

Your site is really wonderful!!!

With my best wishes and the big smile from

Poland,

Joanna

Links: Joanna's blog. FLICKR page.

Day Tripper

"The trip was not a big one.  We reached the entrance to the Swamp Park in about 15 minutes.  This is how close we live in the swamp. The gate keeper was Derric and Katie's baby sister's daughter.  When we pulled up, we reminisced about Derric when he was little. She said he used to run around their house when he was two years old hollering "Are you talking to Me?"  Of course he doesn't remember, but the daughter told him they still say that around their house. She asked him "You didn't think you affected us that much, but you did?" and told him that "Bebay sure was going to be sorry she missed you today."

Unlike the other visitors that paused in the parking lot trying to read their free maps, we knew exactly where we wanted to go.  Straight to the Chesser Homestead and then to the Boardwalk that lead to the Tower.

Derric brought his tools for capturing the trip. In his backpack he had his moleskine notebook, colored pencils, batteries, camera and binoculars.  Katie thought she didn't need anything so she didn't bring anything.   I think she changed her mind, because after ten minutes she started telling us what pictures to take..."

"Day Tripper"
By Swamp Angel

Visit her blog, "Swamp Water"

Photo courtesy of the author

The Moleskinerie Auctions on eBay. Check it out!

Proceeds will go to site maintenance and other projects. Thanks to all the donors so far. If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

The Story of the Three Hunters

"ONCE upon a time, when the world was young and men loved and hated as they do now, in a mountain village there lived three brothers and they were hunters. Each of the brothers had married a wife, and they had one sister who lived with them all. One day they went out to hunt and brought in a deer. When they had all the meat they wanted to eat they gave a leg bone to the sister, who cracked it, took out the marrow and toasted it, so that it looked very good. As she sat eating this delicacy, the wives of the two elder brothers became very angry, just why it would be difficult to say. They were so angry that they decided they would plan some way to kill the sister. They said, "The brothers think so much of her that they won't consider us at all, so we must get her out of the way." 

Again the brothers all went out for a hunt, and the women decided now was the time. The wife of the younger brother would have nothing to do with it and told them it was the wrong thing to do, because the sister had had only her share..."

"The Story of the Three Hunters"
Tibetan Folk Tales

Sacred Texts

A special welcome to visitors from Neil Gaiman's journal. Thanks for the mention, Sir.

Storyboard Your Life

"A storyboard is a sequence of images and words drawn together on a page to form a plausible narrative.

Storyboards are routinely used in the movie making business to 'preview' a movie before a single shot is taken. Not only does a storyboard allow for a dress rehearsal of the final product but by the very fact of being posted on the wall,it elicits early feedback and encourages quick, painless editing, leading to significant savings in time and resources.

Disney was a storyboarding freak!

A storyboard is an apt metaphor for how we make sense of our own life history. Storyboarding can be used to sense emergent patterns in our own life story and to envision the life experiences that we wish to welcome into our future..."

Avi Solomon
Visit his blog, "A Jolly, Socratic Science"

The Roanoke Rambler

"I never knew what a Moleskine notebook was until March of 2004. I discovered these little black gems while I was on a trip with my wife and daughter. Each year we spend the week after Easter on the coast. For those seven days we call Emerald Isle, North Carolina home. We spend the week reading, exploring, eating well, resting, fishing and acting like locals.

Each morning I head out before sunrise. My destination is usually Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier; where the fishing is usually good and the conversation is always better. One cool morning both the fishing and the conversation was slow so I made my way over to the local bookstore. It is an independent store that has all the charm and warmth that you would expect from such a place at the beach. I was looking for a new journal when I came across what would become a new companion...."

Calvin Lassiter, Jr.
The Roanoke Rambler

Image: ABF

The Moleskinerie Auctions on eBay. Check it out!

Proceeds will go to site maintenance and other projects. Thanks to all the donors so far. If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

Writing is craft and skills you can learn

"Talent is great, but it can also destroy you if you think that all you need is talent and the world will beat a path to your door. The willingness to learn and write is much more important than talent. Writing is a craft, like knitting or painting or pottery.

Because it is a craft, it means there are techniques and methods. You can and must learn the techniques. All you have to do is read and think like a writer, and store your ideas like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. And practice, practice, practice. :-)

How do you "think like a writer?" You ask yourself what the writer wanted to do with a piece of writing, or how the writer wanted you to feel. What techniques can you find in the writing? How could you use those techniques in what you're working on right now?

Ask yourself--- what's the technique? How do you do that? It's useful to read an ad, an article, a novel or a book straight through first, then reread and study to dissect it for the craft it can teach you. You write by writing and reading. Write. Read. Rinse, lather and repeat."

Angela Booth
Visit her blog.

Image: problemloeser @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
© All rights reserved.Used with permission.
...

Slip-on Moleskine Covers

Buttero, a Japanese company has come up with slip-on Moleskine covers.

LINK

The Moleskinerie Auctions on eBay

Jonathan Carroll's Waterman "Opera" fountain pen with Card of Authenticity
View eBay Item # 6570523104

Chris Collicott's "Men Leaning" bookends from Kikkerland Design
View eBay Item #  4412056792

Fort Knox Souvenir Simulated Gold Bar
View eBay Item # 4412061147

Handmade Black Leather (Hedgehog) Journal by Leslie Herger
View eBay Item #  6983233199

The Moleskinerie Auctions on eBay. Check it out!

Proceeds will go to site maintenance and other projects. Thanks to all the donors so far. If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

Product Review: Renaissance Art Leather Moleskine Covers

Fifteen hundred years ago Christian monks from St. Pachomius stored their leather-wrapped books in sealed jars to hide their library from the wrath of Athanasius who considered such works heresy. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1945, these books were discovered by a local farmer and after changing hands between thieves, smugglers, aristocrats, and government officials, they found their way on display in Coptic Museum in Cairo.

About a year ago during my own journal hunting crusade, I ran into my current favorite leather-bound journal, the Renaissance Art large leather journal. One only has to compare the picture of this journal with that of the Hammadi library to see the similarity even over fifteen centuries of technological advancement. It is this lineage that attracts many of us to handwriting in journals in the first place.

I wrote about the Renaissance Art large leather journal before in my review of five journals. Since then I have filled three of the books with stories, maps, drawings, and notes. Every time I take one out of its cloth cover and untie the long tie, I begin to feel the excitement of creative energy unleashed.

Like many others, however, I am a Moleskine user. I love my Moleskine notebooks. They are built from tradition, they are very high quality, they have great utility, they are very durable, and they are built to last. They have one major advantage over the Renaissance Art journal. They're cheap.

I never thought my two journal worlds would blend together until I spoke to Arthur from Renaissance Art and found out that he had begun working on a Moleskine cover. After I had sent a few frantic and enthusiastic emails, I managed to try out his first prototypes.

Renaissance Art offers three types of Moleskine covers including the wrap-and-tie, the snap closure, and the open sided version. After a month, I continued to prefer the wrap and tie style. Heritage and tradition are the reasons I love these leatherbound covers and carrying a journal in my pocket with the same basic build as the 1500 year old Hammadi journals gives me a special thrill.

The snap closure journal is probably the most practical of the covers. It is not any larger than the wrap-and-tie and snapping it open and closed is very convenient. The two-toned cover, brown for the base leather and black for the closure flap looks excellent. For a daily carry-around cover with a more modern look, it is perfect.

Gandhi's 11 Vows

Ahimsa - Nonviolence
Satya - Truth
Asteya - Non Stealing
Brahmacharya - Self Discipline
Aparigraha - Non-Possession
Sharirshrama - Bread Labor
Aswada - Control of the Palate
Sarvatra - Bhayavarjana - Fearlessness
Sarva Dharma Samantva - Equality of All Religions
Swadeshi - Use Locally Made Goods
Sparshbhavana - Remove Untouchability

LINK

Greetings to our friends in Red Bank, NJ, Vlueten, Iborg, Nicosia, Rabat, Trondheim, Edmonton, Haifa, Hurlingham (Argentina), Perugia, Cairo and Riyadh.

Moleskinerie needs your support

As you may already know, Moleskinerie.com is a personal project run by our friends and myself. With increasing traffic (more than 17,000/ week)  from notebook aficionados all over the world what used to be a hobby now takes a considerable chunk of my personal time. Beside website maintenance, responding to email and written queries has become part of my daily routine.

The little ad revenue we receive goes straight to pay for hosting fees. With a modest budget we need your support to keep Moleskinerie online. 

Our immediate requirement is a notebook PC to replace the temporary equipment we are currently using. We also need help with connectivity, stationery, mailing (for the resumption of the Wandering Moleskine Project) and other expenses.

To help raise funds, we will be holding an auction on eBay starting this Monday.  If you wish to help we'd like to hear from you. You can also donate any amount via

[.....................................]

(Kindly indicate if you prefer to remain anonymous;)

Thanks for making Moleskinerie.com the premier fansite for these legenday notebooks. Help keep us eclectic and free!

Armand B. Frasco
Founder
www.moleskinerie.com    

Thanks to author Jonathan Carroll for his generous help. Check out his new book, "Glass Soup". I'd also like to thank Kikkerland Design for donating some items to this fund drive.
 

As part of our 2nd Anniversary celebrations (1.12.06 ) Moleskinerie is launching "Moleskine Notes", a series of essays by Moleskine users around the world starting next month. To be considered, write an essay (500-1000 words) on your Moleskine experience and email it to us. Put "MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY" as subject. If chosen, you will receive a gift from Moleskinerie. We look forward to reading your story soon!   

Best wishes to Eric Diamond on his birthday, October 15.

Get out, have a life - and write about it! Be back on Monday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates

DONORS' LIST a.k.a "Thank-You-Thank-You" !

- "Many thanks for all of your hard work on the website. It is a daily ritual to check the site and I enjoy it very much. Best wishes " Andrew Foster, UK   

- "Not much but at least something (do get a Mac though :-)" Jan Erik Mostrom

- Tricia Leach
- Trumpetvine

- "I'm glad to send a contribution! I've been using Moleskines since 2001 when I found them in London--long before the mania hit the US.  I love your site for its creative links. You've made a significant site that goes far beyond the usefulness of the notebooks!" Nita Van Zandt

- Richard Collette
- Marcus Brownlow
- Wendee Lee

- "I am a long-time user of Moleskines and have greatly enjoyed your website. I particularly appreciate the open-ended way you run it, giving room to many postings that have nothing to do with Moleskines,  but are intrinsically interesting." Armando A. Armendariz

-"I have only known about Moleskinerie for a short while but I visit it every day..." Kate Marshall

- "I've been reading the Moleskinerie for some time now and I'd love to donate a hedgehog to the effort of keeping it alive." Leslie Herger

- Christine MacDougall
- John Gamber
- Theresa Hogel
- Anonymous
- Jonathan Richstein
- Erik Bates
- Michael Shea
- Karen Winters
- Anonymous
- Rebecca Rowan
- Richard Jack
- Kathryn Marshall

"Floral Notes"

Got an unexpected surprise tonight - flowers from my Night blooming Jasmine (Cestrum Nocturnum). I've already moved them in for the winter. Who would have thought they'd still bloom this late? Free intoxicating tropical smells everyone!

Image: ABF 10.15.05

Nita Van Zandt

Nita Van Zandt

Visit her blog, "Inktracks."

[Thanks Crystal Mohrmann]

Happiness

"Definitions: Happiness

Happiness
Noun
1. State of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
2. Emotions experienced when in a state of well-being...."

The Most Comprehensive Definition of Happiness...evar.

LINK

Image: RSG

Journal

This line was not scrawled in shorthand,
jotted into a journal on some smoke-
pumping train romantically ranging
the north, although I do have a journal
for such a purpose.

Perhaps you have the same one.

Mine is wrapped in black and fastened with elastic,
and boasted from a store shelf of being the tool
of terse Ernest, and Chatwin whom
I reddened at not having read.

Pocket-sized, although my pockets are full
of keys and a telephone.

A safety net for musings, although I work
in a school, where ready paper blooms
from all corners as if it grew on trees.

Yet I keep it, because someday I may be
the dark-haired figure in one of Europe's cafés,
a smoke in the hand not holding the pen,
attracting glances from girls;

because I am more concerned with being
than with doing.

--Ian James

Image: Paul Watson @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
Some rights reserved.