moleskinerie

Perfume Legends

'Magnificent. The world's leading writer on the subject.'  The Observer, London 

'It is the first time that a book about perfume speaks about the perfumer.' Francis Fabron, Perfumer (L'Air du Temps, Fracas, etc.)

'This is a fascinating book for anyone with even a passing interest in perfume. Charting all the great scents since the launch of Guerlain's Jicky in 1889 to Mugler's Angel in 1992, this tells the story of some of the world's most famous fragrances. Edwards's passion for the subject makes this more a great read than just a reference book. Information value: Outstanding. Everyone will find the story of the creation, name and design of one of their favourite scents, including Chanel No 5, Tabu, Joy, Nuit de Nol and Opium.' Newby Hands, Harpers & Queen

'There is no other book like it.' Edmond Roudnitska, Perfumer (Femme, Eau Sauvage, etc.) 

'Ex-cep-tion-nel! Sign Michael Edwards, cet album Parfums de Lgende est une petite oeuvre d'art que tous les amoureux du parfum se doivent de possder. Voil en effet, un livre extraordinaire. Pour la premire fois, les parfumeurs, les couturiers, les crateurs de flacons et les dirigeants des grandes maisons de parfums parlent de leur art comme ils ne l'ont jamais fait. Un voyage fascinant dans l'univers des parfums au travers de leur histoire, du savoir-faire franais, illustr par une iconographie superbe et rare, des photographies, des croquis, des dessins et des documents d'archives. Pour le prix d'une eau de toilette, Parfums de Lgende est un livre-rvlation consulter - presque - comme un incunable.' Paris Match

'Essential reading' - Vogue 

Perfume Legends
By Michael Edwards
Amazon Link

Also visit: Fragrances of the World

Portable Analog Storage Device

"My Moleskine classic pocket plain notebook arrived from Ninth Wave Designs' eBay store. But first about the pencils. Until now I've used a Pilot G2 07 pen. Great pens. But I've been wanting to try out pencils. I was in OfficeMax recently and looked over all the pencils and bought some Mirado Black Warrior HB pencils. (That's the black one in the picture. Duh!) The big problem was sharpening them. I have a desk mounted pencil sharpener but the pencil is not always near the sharpener when it needs to be sharpened. I've become a regular at the Pencil Revolution blog and I noted that people seem to use the little handheld blade pencil sharpeners. I thought I would give one a try so at my last trip to OfficeMax (I admit I'm an OfficeMax junkie.)"

Gordon Coale
Visit his blog.

Trainspotting

"I often wonder what people think as they sit on trains - are they wondering about the day’s events either preceeding or to follow this ride? Are they replaying last night’s embarrassment over and over in their minds as their cheeks slowly redden, remember how they tried to kiss that cutie in the club and only got cheek? Or maybe they’re silently cursing the excited old lady, sitting two seats down, animatedly describing something or other to her equally snow-peaked complanion, who’s inadvertently preventing them from catching a nap on the 22 minute journey from Dover to Bugis, yet speaking in an incomprehensible tongue such that they can’t even listen in on the conversation while being kept away..."

"Trainspotting"
Dubdew

Visit.

Tuxedo cat

"This sweet cat was sketched with a Dixon Ticonderoga pencil in my large Moleskine..."

Kathleen Marie
Visit her blog, "So Many Stars"

Manual EXIF

"This is what I have to do to keep track of times and exposures on night photo forays. No EXIF data for me. As you can see, sometimes there are dud shots and screw ups so it's really fun getting the film back and trying to see where the offsets are. That in mind, I started writing down what I shot as a reference. Last shoot was the most confusing, I had 160T and 50 film then was tossed a roll of 400... errr who said we wouldn't need math?

Another important tip, flairs are just a bad idea - use ball point or anything that won't RUN if it gets WET... that's just a bad accident waiting to happen. You'll see grown men (or women) cry"

Judyboy @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR.
© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Traveling Hope

" This project blossomed out of the exchange between bloggers who share one common concern: cancer. If you have read the many beautiful, angry, touching, bitter, honest, caring, inspiring words, then you understand the virtual community that has been built and the value of that support. Unknowingly we have inspired one another with our words and honesty on our blogs. We have found a connection with one another and shared our hearts, our fears, our tears, and our laughter with one another. What if we could take our words, thoughts, even pictures, one step further?

How can we capture this in something other than our archives? How can we get these words into the hands of other people who most need to hear them? Through these questions "traveling hope" has become a reality.

The idea is to send several journal notebooks out to people and have them each enter a journal entry in written words or pictures (or both). Then each journal is sent off to another person and it continues until each journal is full, at which time the journals are returned. The Traveling Hope Project is open to those who have been touched by cancer: survivors, caretakers, family members, medical professionals, etc. The intention is to create a traveling exhibit to bring awareness to cancer. This is intended solely to be used to bring awareness. No one will ever profit financially from this project. The hope is that someday we can have the journals bound and copied and distributed free of charge to cancer patients."

Jeannette
Traveling Hope

VISIT

[via Learfield Creative]

Papersnobbery

"Cartoleria Pantheon, established 1910, is tucked away on a small street beside the Pantheon in Rome. I stumbled across it while on Easter break in 2003, and what a treasure for someone like me! The walls are lined with blank hand-crafted leather books, photo albums, and sketchbooks in many sizes and styles. They also sell old writing supplies - desks, fountain pens, blotters, and ink.

After spending a half hour looking and deciding, I settled on a 5.5″x7″ leatherbound traveler’s journal (similar to those seen here). The creamy paper and dark brown pebbled calfskin are exquisite. When I paid for it, the owner placed a small golden seal on the inside cover, with the name of the shop in Gothic black writing. This attention to detail and obvious love for the products in the shop was infectious and very romantic. It makes me wish I was a writer!..."

Papersnobbery
Visit.

Captain William Bligh's Logbook

"Captain William Bligh, Captain of the Bounty in Tahiti in 1789, was cast adrift in the middle of the South Pacific in an 18-foot longboat by mutineers lead by Fletcher Christian. He and his remaining loyal seamen sailed nearly four thousand miles in that longboat, from near Tahiti in the South Pacific, to Java in Indonesia, where he reported the mutiny to the authorities. In spite of Bligh's shortcomings of character, this is still recognised as a feat of seamanship unsurpassed by any since..."

Captain William Bligh's Logbook
[Thanks Stephen Shelley, visit his blog]

MLK BLVD

"Sometime in the mid 1990s, I became interested in how many cities have a street named for Martin Luther King Jr., and how many of these MLK Blvds seemed to have an awful lot of abandoned property, scary-looking bars, and small groceries that accept food stamps. I though it would be interesting to do some sort of book, a photo book, on the subject of this “legacy.” In 2000 we moved to New Orleans, where I had many, many occasions to drive up and down the length of Martin Luther King, day and night. Just to give a sense of it: The business I found most intriguing was Project Food Store, which was just across the street from a housing project.

Anyway, by that time I had decided that it might be smarter to create a web site, and turn “MLK Blvd” into a sort of “open source” journalism project — interested parties could send in their own photos, or histories, or interviews, or documents. It could be open-ended. It would be a great thing for students of journalism or sociology or urban planning to participate in. I would be particularly excited if I could attract contributions from people who actually live on or near an MLK. Of course what I actually did about this was pretty much nothing. Except: I did take these photographs, in 2003....

Now I have somewhat belatedly become familiar with Flickr, and decided upload a batch of my MLK Blvd photos from 2003. These are now part of a "group pool," and anyone who has pictures — or wants to make pictures — of any MLK Boulevard, or Avenue, or Street, can contribute."

Rob Walker

Visit MLK BLVD on FLICKR.
© All rights reserved

Moleskine Charity Auction in Portugal

INDE (www.inde.pt), is a Portuguese non profit organization whose objectives are to contribute so that the people, the communities, and the institutions and/or the associations that these people and communities constitute can strengthen the capacities to decide in its way of life, can guarantee material conditions of a life with dignity, that is guaranteed the basic rights to it to the democracy, the education, the culture, the influence in the social transformations, and to the participation in the different spheres of activity and the exercise of a citizenship asset.

INDE is having an Moleskine auction. This auction starts the 28th  November and it's composed by Moleskines of several Portuguese celebrities. You can find Moleskines from Music bands, journalists, actors, writers. Names like Ruy de Carvalho, Xutos e Pontapés, Eunice Muñoz are some of the few artists that gave their Moleskines to this charity auction. You can find all the details and photos here: http://www.inde.pt/EmFoco1.htm and the auction is being held here: http://www.miau.pt/actividades/indeMoleskines.jsp. All the sites are in Portuguese but you can check them with Google's translation  tools.

Ricardo Saramago
Obrigado!

MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY: "Joy and Revolution"

Moleskine. “What is it? What do they do?” These were the first things I asked myself when I saw a buddy of mine pull his [Moleskine] out.  A clean black textured cover, giving it a very modern and classy look, a bound black elastic band to keep it’s precious contents safe accidents and weathering, and a clever purplish ribbon placeholder. In class I would peak over his shoulder to see what he was doing with it [drawing]. This wasn’t just any ordinary notebook or diary, you don’t treat notebooks  with as much care as he did, there was a feeling of pride that he exuded. May 6, 2005 at 3:50 pm: This was the first time I was introduced to the Moleskine and bought one of my own (and I have documented proof).

I was never the type to keep a weekly planner or notebook. I always found it easier to rip off a piece of paper, make a note ,and stick it in my pocket to find and remind myself later on in the day. I had tried to keep a weekly planner for school, my mom insisted so,  but I would always forget to write down my assignments or to check it when I arrived home after school. So I gave up on that idea. A half decade later I began my freshman year of college at Southern Oregon University. Assignments are flying at me from every direction, scheduled meetings with fellow classmates for midterms and quizzes, and notes I need to make myself in order to keep my school and social life stable. I went through the entire first two terms this way, rushed because I’m forgetting materials and meetings. During that frantic time I met a friend that would change all of that and would eventually lead to becoming a front liner for advertising the Moleskine to others.

I met Don my second term of college in my Environmental Studies class. One day he asked my what kind of soda I wanted, it was a lecture class and I never had time to eat before, so I asked for a Pepsi. When he proceeded down the stairs, I saw him pull out this little black book and flip to the back. Inside there was a “secret” pocket that concealed a few dollar bills used for emergencies or giving others change. When he arrived from the pop machine I immediately asked about his little book. “it’s a Moleskine,” Don exclaimed. I replied with “What the hell is a Moleskine?” For the rest of the class he let me check out his M and answered any questions I had about them: Where to purchase them, how much they cost, are they worth it. He had his present one for about a year so he knew a bunch of  “hacks” I could use when I first started off: Tab hack, TOC hack, and the hyperlink hack. The first thing I wrote in my M was “Applied science paper,” then below that “Topic?” I couldn’t stop writing in my Moleskine. I wrote ideas that I had about everything and anything, about school, work. I also wrote outlines for papers and works cited pages. Events of the week and how much money I have spent were the most popular of everything I wrote. And the most fun I had with my Moleskine is the drawings, especially when you see or hear something really awkward and funny going on, little pictures/doodle made the experience worth while. Towards the end of my first Moleskine I started longer entries, usually about how school or work went, or specials events I had with my friends. Those are the best to go back and read no matter what: Good, bad, funny,  or sad, it was always interesting to see what was going on at that time in my life. Memories are memories.

Currently I am working on my second Moleskine. I bought it just before my second year of college started. This one is mainly long entries. Now that a lot of my friends have gone our separate ways in life and school I don’t get to see them as much. When I start to think about them, it always helps if I write it out in my Moleskine to get it off my mind or to remind myself to call them. I made a Phone number page in the back that I can transfer throughout my future Moleskines. And of course I have the usual “To-Do” list and other ideas I might think up. I also have started to make notes on what to post on my weblog, HACKERATi.blogspot.com. It seems that the uses for just the pocket Moleskine are endless, not to mention the uses for all the other M’s. I am impressed with what a simple notebook can do. I find that I am more organized throughout the day, and that my writing has improved and just seems to flow better. And the best part of all, I have all my memories form the past  hidden in this little black book that wont short circuit or burn out like a computer does. This is special. This is permanent. This is a Moleskine.

"Joy and Revolution"
By Adam Machado
A MOLESKINE NOTES ESSAY SERIES ENTRY

Image: Karen Winters
© All rights reserved. Used with permission

Randomness:
- Discover and join the Moleskine Communities at MYSPACE, FLICKR, ORKUT, LIVEJOURNAL & GOOGLEGROUPS.
- Birthday greetings to Lohr Miller, November 22
- If you're in Taipei, check out Workingunit's "MyMoleskine" exhibit.

Shameless plug:)
Please check out my new project.
Get out, have a life - and write about it!
Happy Thanksgiving. See you on Monday.

Sigur Rós Special Edition Moleskine

The Sigur Ros Moleskine Cahier featured earlier is now available online.

"A Fantastic set of 3 Cahier's note books made by Moleskine. Sigur ros artwork on the front of each one with the text Sigur ros on the back cover."

Order page.
Related link.

[Please note: Moleskinerie has no connection with this online store]

Moleskine Diaries 2006 Display AND Things I'm Not Allowed to Tell

We can almost hear Patrick typing breathlessly...

"Today I touched the actual prototypes of a few new models, I even took pictures but I'm not allowed to share with everybody for now, but these I can tell:

 

    * Watercolor Notebook: Pocket and Large size, due to arrive Hong Kong about Feb 2006. 60/72 detachable pages, heavy paper 200 gsm - 25% cotton fiber - cold pressed, expandable pocket, no bookmark. To get the best quality paper that has same quality surface for both sides of a page, Modo&Modo sourced the paper from France. You use these watercolor notebook horizontally..."

Patrick Ng
Moleskineart.com

How do your pronounce "Moleskine" ?

antigone:

"I've always pronounced it mo-LES-kin... guess that ain't even nearly right. But how exactly do you pronounce 'molaskeena' anyway? 'Mol-A-skeena'? 'Mol-A-skeen-A'? 'Molaskeen-A'? Can you hear the last 'a' (like in 'china') or is it somehow swallowed? English isn't my mother's tongue, so I find it rather hard to imagine how a word in a foreign language would be pronounced with another foreign language's accent.

And Evan, how do you pronounce 'moleskine' like 'animal epidermis'???"

Discussion @ Moleskinerie/GoogleGroups
JOIN

Sightings: Threshold

"the episode was "The Order," which aired on 10/21/05. Actor Rob Benedict, who plays  "astronautical engineer"  Lucas Pegg, the anxious nerdy member of the Threshold team, refers to his notes in a Moleskine while talking on his cell phone. I noticed because he's using the elastic strap to hold down the used pages of the book, something I don't do with mine, so it caught my eye..."

Rana W.

Threshold/CBS

Aurora Borealis

The onset of cold weather always remind me of these heavenly wonders.

 

"Northern lights is the name of a light phenomenon often seen in the northern regions. The lights have been around since Earth formed an atmosphere -the dinosaurs saw it, early humans saw it and our descendants will se it. The scientific name for the phenomenon is “Aurora Borealis”, aurora for short."

Nordlys

Incredible images, selected from the works of Jan Curtis. Photographs were taken in and around the Fairbanks, AK area.

Visit

Seattle Bon Vivant

Viv over at Seattle Bon Vivant has this to say about her new Daily Planner:

" As much as I love technology and all the nifty gadgets that make our lives easier and more fun (can we say Sidekick?) my daily planner, the one I use to write quick notes, plan lunches with friends, dinners with Mr. C, food and wine shopping lists, places to visit around the city, blog topics and holiday schedules--remains analog.

In fact, only last year did I finally decide to switch from my long time friend, a black leather (Personal) Filofax to the just released large page a day Moleskine Daily Planner 2005.

A week ago, a friend in the know warned me that Kikkerland, the Moleskine distributor in the US is out of stock on the planner and might not be able to fullfill orders before the new year..."

LINK

Favorite Kind of Moleskine

"My favorite kind is the Pocket Ruled. Although I'm starting to see the virtues of the Pocket Sketchbook for some collage work.

I had a pack of 3 cahiers, but they were a little too flimsy for me. Just not worth the price, IMHO.

I don't own any regularly-sized Moleskines notebooks and I doubt I ever will. I like a different style of notebook for my large ones. Something a little more regal.

I recently introduced my girlfriend to them. She now has a weekly 2006 calendar, a set of small memo pockets, and two pocket reporters (she's left handed).

What do you guys like? And why? What is it about your design that you love so much? Why does it fit you so well?"

Fiveyearwinter @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR.
Join the discussion here.

Image: Alcarwen

Gardening with Moss

“Moss is wonderful because it doesn’t need to be mowed and it eliminates the use of pesticides, fertilizers and liming,” says Cook, who describes herself as an “ecological” landscape designer. “It also doesn’t need much water or weeding, is evergreen, and deer don’t eat it.”

Bryologists, who study moss, do not have an exact date for when this type of plant first emerged, but it may be as far back as 350 to 700 million years ago. “Scientists now think moss was likely the first type of land plant,” explains Cook.

Moss can grow in an enormous range of conditions, from sunny to shady and from hot to cold. Moss is classified into 15,000 different species, 1,200 of which can be found in North America. With so many types of moss the odds are there is one that thrives in your conditions..."

Gardening with Moss
By Stephanie White
eMagazine.com

Image: flowers-photo.com

[Via Rebecca Blood]

First Thoughts

" On parchment, my words are free to come slowly. A thought must be well thought lest it drop to the paper and lie incorrectly.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to write down everything that I say before I actually said it. Wasted spoken words are surely as great a tragedy as wasted paper and ink..."

Randy Bohlender
Visit his blog. "stuff i think".

My Moleskine: Wolf Kettler

"I only just realised that keeping notes on paper is much like making photographs on film: It slows one down and makes the process deliberate and therefore meaningful. I want to be slowed down, I want to be made to think about my photographs before I create them.Nothing is worse than a collection of hundreds of cheap, colourful, bad little digital pictures that have been made for no reason at all (correction - they are not made, they are truly taken), that have no meaning at all and that nobody wants to see because there is nothing to see..."

"Attached is a snapshot of one of my own Moleskines, which I use as my ideas repository. It is full of notes and sketches, produced with my Aurora fountain pen - ideas for photographs. I find it satisfying to keep ideas for a period of time, revisit and re-work them, and only then to realise them on film. Very satisfying. Another Moleskine lives in my equipment bag and is used to record shooting data, names and locations, etc."

Wolf Kettler
Visit his website.

Greetings to our friends in Racine, WI, Perth, Port Moody, BC, Osaka, Berlin, Lyon, Croiva, Lancaster, Parow, Curutiba, Malm, Amman, Oaxaca, Kerala, San Salvador, Guayaquil, Lisboa, Petaling Jaya, Tel Aviv, Lahore, Ikeja, Toscana, Bogota, Kwanju, Lima and Montevideo.

Sightings: "The Poseidon Adventure"

" I was watching the remake of the Poseidon Adventure on NBC (Sunday at 8 pm) and the main character, an undercover agent for Homeland Security (Adam Baldwin) used a Moleskine along with a digital voice recorder to keep his notes..."

Jered

The "Secret" Magnetic Strip

"Has anyone else found the "hidden" magnetic strip inside their Moleskine? I knew that there was one on the packaging, but this is the first Moleskine, of mine, I have found with the strip inside as well."

Adam
HACKERATI

MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY: "Black as Sin"

It has taken me twenty years and being thousands of kilometers away from home, just to find the perfect journal. At the time, I had no idea what a Moleskine notebook was.  My search for the ideal journal had been narrowed down to very few but crucial qualifications.  The quality of paper and the notebook itself must be suitable for lefties like me: a spread-easy spine that allows the notebook to open up to a full 180 degrees, smooth paper—one that must dry quickly lest I end up with word road kill and smudges on my hand.

Back in September 2004, my friends and I decided to go around Europe; Rome, Florence, Venice, and finally, Paris for a few weeks.  At the time, I had the knickknacks I needed in my mailbag to feed my wanderlust: Lonely Planet guidebooks, a copy of A Moveable Feast, maps, a bottle of water; my large journal—brand new, hardcover and ring bound, passport, wallet, pens, double-sided tape, camera etc. It was heavy. My shoulders burned from the sheer weight of my bag. Every time I'd slip my fingers in to pluck something out, the metal rings of my journal would get in the way and my knuckles would get sore.  I figured the only way to take some weight off my shoulders was to get rid of things that I didn't need. Everything else in my bag was indispensable and irreplaceable — except for that journal (which only had a few notes). Luckily, I was standing a few feet away from a corner bookstore. Without hesitation I immediately ran inside, nearly running over a large and sleeping St. Bernard sprawled by the doorway.  I shifted my attention to the attendant who had just lit a cigarette and asked if they had small journals.

I was pointed to the direction where notebooks with Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Vitruvian Man, cherub details from Raphael's Sistine Madonna, and photos of the Vatican on the cover were arranged next to a stack of black notebooks with yellow and orange bands.  I had no time to choose which artwork I preferred the most so I chose the most inconspicuous journal for three reasons: It was black. It was small. It was black.

As soon as I paid for it, I took out the plastic, ripped off the yellow band (not even reading what was written on it) and shoved it in my bag. That night, back in our room, I flipped through my new journal and realized that its pages had grids. I scanned through it, hoping to see a blank or ruled page when a leaflet fell from its inner pocket; it read Storia di un taccuino leggendario. I turned it over and finally discovered the history of this legendary notebook. My inability to properly breathe shortly gave way to shrieks of excitement when   I read that Van Gogh, Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin also used Moleskines. I took out my copy of A Moveable Feast and scanned for pages where Hemingway wrote about writing in his pocket sized notebook. It was only my second day in Rome and I knew then, that I had to buy some more and this time I knew the right (band) color to pick. I took it as a sign, a moment's burning bush, that I would be the writer I've always wanted to be and that I would try to make every single corner of that notebook count—every sentence, every word.

I had it with me throughout my trip; wine-stained pages and notes from Rome, doodles of sunflowers from a road trip through Tuscany, watermarks from autumn drizzles in Florence, short poems and pasta sauce from Venice, coffee stains and musings in Paris. My entire trip documented and fastened in that notebook. As an afterthought; one year, three worn and fully used pocket-sized Moleskines (and a stockpile) later, I'm happy brought the wrong journal with me.  It led me to find the last journal I will ever use. Now, like any other Moleskine fan that cannot readily avail of it, I have become greedy. I hoard. I scamper around dark cyber-alleys for good deals. I ask friends for favors. All because it's impossible to find these notebooks in my country for the simple fact that it isn't sold here. It's quite expensive but worth every cent because I know that every time I turn a blank Moleskine page and dip my pen into it, I share that sinfully delightful and cathartic moment of writing with thousands of others. These days, I never leave home without it; maybe Hemingway said it best in A Moveable Feast  "wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you..." an indulgence that moves with me, goes where I go, and bears witness to the many facets of my life.

"Black as Sin"
By Pia Marquez-Matic
Manila, Philippines
A MOLESKINE NOTES ESSAY SERIES ENTRY

Image: "I Like You" by Nocas @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Randomness:
- Discover and join the Moleskine Communities at MYSPACE, FLICKR, ORKUT, LIVEJOURNAL & GOOGLEGROUPS.
- Birthday greetings to Mark Wehrhahn, November 20
- Thanks to Jens Schäfer for her recent donation.
- If you're in Taipei, check out Workingunit's "MyMoleskine" exhibit.

WIN A COPY OF TWINS!

Tell me why you must absolutely have and own a copy of this book. The best emailed response (in 300 words or less) gets the prize. Deadline is Sunday, November 20th at 12 Noon Central. Write 'TWINS" on the subject line. Winner will be announced on Monday, 11.21.05.

Get out, have a life - and write about it! See you on Monday.

The Boy Wizard's Notebook

"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right... and what is easy."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Image: ABF @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR.

JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank

"Features:

-Carries cargo or a crew of up to five internally or on the roof.
-Piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch.
-6hp Tecumseh gasoline engine, top speed 40 mph.
-Includes head/tail and turn signal lights, trim and underbody lighting.
-400 watt premium sound with PA system, plush interior, and external camera."

JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank
By NAO Design
$19,999.95
Available at Amazon

Reviewer:
"I feel like a superhero with this tank. Whenever a jerk won't let a little old lady cross the street, it's easy to wipe out the offending vehicle, and believe me, everyone else stops after that! There are also no problems with tailgaters; the rear vaporizer just makes them disappear."

[Tanks JC. I mean, thanks!]

Design Your Life

I noticed this site via, what else but the Design Observer. It does make you stop, smell, notice and THINK how design affect our lives.

"...I was noticing that the women around me were doing design, too. One friend wanted to open a chocolate shop and was working on a graphic identity and business plan using desktop tools. One of my students had ventured into “altered books,” the grittier, edgier corner of the scrap-booking movement; a talented web designer as well, she was documenting these one-of-a-kind objects on her new site, itself designed using collage techniques. Another friend and her sister were taking their love of sewing and fabric into a scarf-making business; I was thrilled when they asked me to help design a logo, business card, and web site.          

Gradually I began to realize that I was designing my life, and that many other women and men were embarked on similar paths, thanks to changes in technology, a heightened sense of design among consumers, and the rise of DIY workshops, magazines, and communities...."

Julia Lupton
Design Your Life

Their Manifesto:

"Over the past fifteen years, the word “design” has been bandied about in the popular press, as designer jeans, designer teapots, and designer drugs have captured our imagination—if not our understanding. When we hear the word design, we often think of a sleekly styled product or a great piece of fashion or an attractively decorated room. We might also think of the professional designers who have been trained to create such objects or environments.

DESIGN YOUR LIFE is not about shopping or decorating. Nor is it about a caste of specialists endowed with mysterious talents and impenetrable secrets.

DESIGN YOUR LIFE is about thinking."

Visit.

Design Observer

You got any paper clips?

Adam Machado came up with this handy tip:

"This is a new hack I think. It isn't much but I thought that it came in handy. At least once a day at school I had someone ask me for a paper clip; So I bought a bunch of these larger "gold" ones, one fits in perfectly and can be taken out just as easy. But put it in just like I did, the other way gets stuck and will mess up the spine. I have first-hand experience:( "

Adam
HACKERATI

Image link.

WIN A COPY OF TWINS!

Tell me why you must absolutely have and own a copy of this book. The best emailed response (in 300 words or less) gets the prize. Deadline is Sunday, November 20th at 12 Noon Central. Write 'TWINS" on the subject line. Winner will be announced on Monday, 11.21.05.

2005 Graceful Envelope Contest

And the winner is...pass the envelope please...

" The Graceful Envelope Contest, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers and administered by the Washington Calligraphers Guild, congratulates this year's winning artists. Out of close to 350 entries received, a panel of three judges selected 19 envelopes as “Winners” (including two given the distinction "Best of Show"), and awarded “Honorable Mention” to 31 entries in the contest’s adult division. The judges, who met in June, also selected winners in the junior and children's divisions."

"2005 Graceful Envelope Contest"
Calligrapher's Guild

Visit.

[via inaminuteago]

Prompts: E-Mail Time Capsule

"Forbes.com will collect thousands of letters that our readers have written to themselves. And we'll deliver them up to 20 years later.

Preserving a physical time capsule is simple: just shove it in the dirt and forget about it. But the process gets a lot more complicated when you're trying to store something digitally...."

Building an E-mail Time Capsule
FORBES

Link

Image: "iBook and Moleskine"
by Tachyonxero @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

Why I Bought a Moleskine

"As you can probably tell, I generally don't like silly accessories for writing. You hear people talking about how writing with a lead pencil on paper feels more natural, or about using a typewriter with one continous stream-of-consciousness roll of paper, like Kerouac, or sitting in coffee shops for inspiration, etc, etc... These are all just excuses for not having any ideas. It doesn't matter how or on what you write something. It's all just displacement activity (like ranting in a blog), so you don't have to do any actual writing. Think about it, you're at home, and you think, Hey, I'm going to go to a cafe and write the greatest dealie ever, so you have a shower, put on some half-decent clothes, get in the car, drive to a cafe, order a coffee, get out your Moleskine and fountain pen, tap the pen against your chin for a while, look at your watch, and decide that if you want to get home in time to make dinner you'd better finish your coffee and leave, and you're writing day is over, stopping to pick up a continous roll of typewriting paper on the way home, because maybe that's what's wrong, the lack of such.

I bought it 'cause I wanted something to write my rhymes in, in a more permanent sense. I have a million 32 cent notebooks for random ideas and on-the-run-drafts. Well, a million is a bit of an exageration, obviously. The Moleskine is for final drafts of wordy things under about 300 words.

I don't have any good excuses, really."

The Steet of the Lifted Tom
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Visit.

Image: "Poppy 1" by Visual Impact @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
Some rights reserved.

Lightbox Compositions

"Since I wanted to create an abstract image of the Moleskine notebook, I set the focus very close to the notebook (pocket, squared pages) so that the image would turn into a blur, locked the exposure on its black surface in order to open up the lens despite the bright fluorescent light of the lightbox underneath it, then recomposed the image so the curved corner would come up front while showing the elastic band on the right."

"I was intrigued with the contrast showing on the Rotring Core rollerball pen on the bottom left side so I composed the whole image around it..."

Photos by songlines @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR
© All rights reserved

Image links 1  2

Wallet Vs. Notebook

"I carry around a notebook instead of a wallet now. I use a Moleskine Notebook. I like it cause it has a pocket for cash, and cards and receipts. Anyways, I write stuff in it obviously, but I have lots of things I want to write, like a ‘todo list’, Articles and thoughts that might make it to my blog, and also stuff about my life goal (Love). So far these are the things, I need a way to seperate the different areas, so I use different colored paper clips, to mark them. I hope to mark the beginning and the current page, one of each of the same color(or perhaps a piece of tape over the edge of the paper to mark beginning). This way I can easily switch between different modes or states of my notebook, and still keep my stuff separate. This so far seems to be working out really great."

Craig
"Wallet Vs. Notebook"

Visit.

Image: ABF

New Bonsai Tree

"I took the Juniper out of its ugly black one gallon pot and shook all of the soil loose from the roots. After looking around with shifty eyes, I took the stolen chopstick and used it to untangle the roots of the tiny tree. After the roots were untangled, I held the poor tree up, it looked as if I was holding one of those Troll dolls by the ankles. I cut back all of the roots almost to the root ball and positioned the tree into the porcelain tray and filled it in with soil and watered it. Again while Jamie was preoccupied I took out the stolen chopstick and began to aerate the soil with it by stabbing…STABBING…STABBING… Sorry about that, I got carried away.

After looking at my new bonsai tree from many different angles through a square made between my thumbs and index fingers, I carefully placed my statuette.

And here is how my bonsai ended up looking after all my work:

"New Bonsai Tree"
Scattered Thoughts

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Moleskine at Lovemarks

"I've been in search for perfect notebooks and pens for years. Moleskine notebooks are by far the best that I've come across. The classic look and the quality of paper with the little pocket are just so perfect for me to carry them around and jot down my thoughts and sketches."

Shugatastic, United States - 2 November 2005

"I love my moleskines. I have used the small weekly diary for a year now...the paper, the layout, the pocket and the strap, simply brilliant. I have some small and large notebooks too and they definately promote creativity!"

Jenny, Sweden - 1 November 2005

"Without Moleskine, my life would be disorganised, and my inspirations would be between inferior leaves. It is a love love love thing. Never leave home, or start a company without one!"

Deborah, United Kingdom - 25 October 2005

Recent testimonials @ Lovemarks.

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Moleskine Fan Video

Presenting the first Moleskine fan video I've seen:

"I don't know if you've ever featured a video about Moleskine but I would like to submit the following video to share with others. Late 2004 I played the part of a vengeful, katana-welding guy waiting for the chance to exact revenge.  I started to become a fan of Moleskine August 2005 and went back to look at the footage of this project to find out that a prop I used was none other that a Moleskine Plain Paper Pocket Notebook... that I was writing in upside-down no-less.  So I decided to re-edit the footage to feature the notebook.   What resulted was the most random little thing I have ever produced.... 

Features the song "Nothing At All" by Rob Dougan
Graphics borrowed from MoleskineArt.com and moleskineus.com"

Michael Shu
www.michaelshu.com
www.uscshinkendo.com

Watch.[Quicktime]
...
I know this is just the beginning. The Molies, anyone?
Thanks Michael!

Anonyrrie: Speechless

Somebody sent us this link to Carla's blog, Anonyrrie and I found this exquisite drawing:

"So what did I do? I opened my new moleskine and doodled this lady with flower power. I drew her with a micron pen and then colored her with markers and colored pencils. The background is photoshop"

Carla

Visit Anonyrrie.

We understand she's feeling a bit under the weather and wish her well.

Write Places: Airstream

"We stopped at a McDonald's near Malibu Canyon to go to the bathroom the other day. A father and his kids got out of a truck pulling a gorgeous vintage Airstream. And it hit me. You already know that I've been fantasizing about my someday home office, and now that we are starting to daydream in the house direction....well, I thought, why not build my office in an AIRSTREAM!!!!"

"Airstream Mania"
Jen Leo

Visit her blog.

Why I write

" I try, with varying success, to live an examined life. For how must life be lived, according to one thinker, than for it to have meaning and direction, and not as fate would, perchance to an unseen hand.

In this conscious self-examination, I seek comfort in the private world of words. I have long given up poetry in favor of its more practical cousin. Writing poetry is something too divine for me--to simply write is but a human need. Not a special gift for anthologies to rot on but a brutal honesty to oneself. To live on.

I believe then that--more than most people mistake for the higher ground that is literary expression--it is the extrapolation of thoughts into words, and conversely, the condensation of words into thoughts that make for a deeper understanding of one's life. Most people think otherwise. Reflection through literary expression is a specter of confusion beyond their ken, and they don't trust it. Nobody seems to stop and think anymore, thinking is becoming a self-impotant activity reserved to academics, career writers and bloggers with too much time in their hands. Writing, to paraphrase a famous line, is too precious to be trusted to writers..."

"Why I Write"
Norman Nimer

Visit his blog, "Norman Bold Italic".

My Moleskine: Prettyjjbean

Here's a series of excellent Moleskine sketches by prettyjjbean
" doodle, doodle, draw, draw...this is what i do. " she says.

Moleskinerie/FLICKR.
© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Greetings to our friends in Jersey City, NJ., Nerrina, Cologne, Harari, Caracas, Tartu, Puebla, Mauritius, Lebanon, Haarlem, Leningrad, Cork, Zagreb, Osaka, Istanbul, Monaco, Eskisiher, Algiers, Tanner Hill Estate, HK, Besse-sur-Issole and  Redmond, WA.

The Bedside Book of Birds

"Birds have ever been the symbols of our highest aspirations. As divine messengers, symbols of our yearning for the heavens, or avatars of glorious song and colour, they have stirred our imaginations from the moment we first looked into the sky. Whether as the Christian dove, or Quetzalcoatl—the Aztec Plumed Serpent—or in Plato’s vision of the human soul growing wings and feathers, religion and philosophy have looked to birds as representatives of our better selves—that part of us not bound to the earth.

 

With the passion of a birdwatcher and hoarder of words, Gibson has spent fifteen years collecting the literary and artistic forms our affinity for birds has taken over the centuries. Birds appear again and again in mythology and folk tales, and in literature by writers as diverse as Ovid, Thomas Hardy, Kafka, Thoreau and T.S. Eliot. They’ve been omens, allegories, disguises and guides; they’ve been worshipped, eaten, feared and loved. Nor does Gibson forget the fascination they hold for science, as the Galapagos finches did for Darwin. Birds figure charmingly and tellingly in the work of such nature writers as Gilbert White, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat and Barry Lopez.

 

Gorgeously illustrated, woven from centuries of human response to the delights of the feathered tribes, The Bedside Book of Birds is for anyone who is aware of birds, and for everyone who is intrigued by the artistic forms that humanity has created to represent its soul..."

 

The Bedside Book of Birds
An Avian Miscellany
Written by Graeme Gibson

Random House

Moleskine on top of the world

After the "My Moleskine" exhibition organised in Hong Kong in April 2005, the exhibition is now moving to Taiwan. 32 artists will exhibit their work on  Moleskine notebooks, with the addition of 8 new Taiwanese artist. The exhibition will take place in Taipei Page One on the 4th floor or Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world) from November 4th to December 31st, 2005.

Working Unit, in collaboration with Page One bookstore, has launched in early 2005r an artistic project called My Moleskine.  Its straightforward concept is sure to evoke some remarkable insights into the creative process: artistic minds from various professions – writers, painters, graphic designers, musicians, photographers and architects – and different geographical locations - Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Japan, Canada and the USA – were each invited to choose one model from the Moleskine collection in which to give expression to their own unique and individual process of artistic development.  While each artist was encouraged to freely fill his or her notebook with any media and content, the notebook’s journal-like format inspired numerous contribution of a more personal nature. 

Above all, My Moleskine focuses on the creative process. It is an exploration of works-in-progress, rather than a conclusive presentation of final artworks.  A journey through the inventive trajectory, this exhibition is a discovery of how projects evolve and what inspires an artist to choose certain directions while abandoning others.

My Moleskine: Taipei Exhibition

No Moles Were Hurt : Volume 1 No. 1

I've been asked a lot of questions about how this blog came to be and what the hell was I thinking when I started it nearly two years ago. As they say, its a long story but I might as well start telling it. Beginning today, I will be posting an occasional commentary from the trenches - a behind-the-scenes peek at Moleskinerie.com.

"The product always comes first" was, is and will always be my mantra. After all we're talking about "The Notebook" here. However, I have since realized that the people who use this notebooks are a quirky lot and have a lot of stories to tell. I promise that the innocent will be protected and those who don't wish to be will remain unnamed.

Lately I have noticed marketers talking about our little blog and how it has become a case study for something they call "brand loyalty" and creating "passionate consumers." I never even thought about that on the day I started. All I knew was that I got approximately 60,000 results when I. Googled for "moleskine" at that time. Now there are 2,070,000. That Moleskinerie.com is number 5 on that list is mind-boggling. Imagine the number of blank pages waiting to be filled with stories and sketches and empty pockets waiting to be crammed with tokens, tickets, stamps, and other keepsakes.

If there is one overwhelming emotion that I feel it is gratitude. From the astronomy student in Poland who wrote apologizing that she can't afford to donate anything but her efforts (I asked her to gaze at the stars for the rest of us) to the profuse "arigato" of a Japanese friend whose photo we coincidentally  featured on her birthday ("Doitashimashite" is the proper response says Tatsuo), to "anonymous" who gave us a spanking, brand-new laptop, to our volunteers and everyone who visit us daily or infrequently - thank you very much.

Rest assured no moles were hurt in the making of this blog.

-A.B.F.

TWINS

Mention of "notebooks" are all over the place. NYT's Judith Miller talked about hers multiple times in one radio interview. Add to all that this excerpt from the new book TWINS:

" The week before school started, I went shopping for school supplies, and every night before I fell asleep, I would look over my purchases. I bought a pink three ring binder and two thin spiral notebooks made from recycled paper, two boxes of extra fine pens, one black, one purple, a box of number two unsharpened pencils, two packages of pastel colored index cards, file folders, a lime green stapler, three pink high lighters, and a translucent pink pencil case. I had filled this pencil case with one purple pen, one black pen, a pink highlighter, an eraser and index cards. I had also bought an introduction to French book and a French-English dictionary, a Webster New World dictionary and two SAT study guides.

I hid these supplies under my bed but Sue found them. I had no lock for the door, and Sue found them one night when I was in the shower.

"You used to buy make-up," Sue said, tapping a pink highlighter on top of the dictionary. "Clothes."
I shrugged.

I used to be interested in clothes and make-up, but it seemed hopeless now. Lisa Markman was gone. Even though she wrote every once in awhile, I knew that we would never be friends. Even if Lisa continued to like me, Sue wouldn't allow it. No one who got close to me would ever be safe. That summer it began to feel ridiculous to worry about my appearance if I could not expect to have either friends or a boyfriend, so I decided that I would be smart instead of pretty. Every night, I studied for at least an hour before I went to sleep: irregular verbs for the French class I would take in the fall, vocabulary for the SATs.

"They have nothing to teach us at school, you know." Sue flipped through the pages of my SAT guide. She was rough with the book, purposefully ripping pages as she went. "I say we run away, join the circus or maybe go to Alaska on a fishing boat."

Sue put down my SAT guide and opened a new spiral notebook, uncapped a new purple pen, wrote Chloe and Sue's Adventures in Alaska. The notebook was ruined."

TWINS
By Marcy Dermansky

Book Link

[via Lauren Cerand]
...
Update:

WIN A COPY OF TWINS!

Tell me why you must absolutely have and own a copy of this book. The best emailed response (in 300 words or less) gets the prize. Deadline is Sunday, November 20th at 12 Noon Central. Write 'TWINS" on the subject line. Winner will be announced on Monday, 11.21.05.

MOLESKINE NOTES ENTRY: "Little Black Gems"

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.

I picked up the small notebook and opened it up.  When I did a small piece of paper fell to the floor. I picked it up and read “The history of a legendary notebook.”  Bruce Chatwin’s story was enough to win me over, but when I discovered that Ernest Hemingway had used them I had to have one immediately, so I bought two.      I went back to the pier to see if the fishing had picked up.  I carried one of my new notebooks in my coat pocket, determined that if the fishing was still slow that I could write until I had nothing else to write about, but it would end up being days later before I ever printed the first word in it.

At first I could not bring myself to write in it because I could not think of anything that I would or could write that would be worthy to put in such a fine book with such a rich history.  Finally I thought of the words of Herb Brooks, who was the coach of the 1980 United States men’s hockey team that won the gold medal against astronomical odds.  When asked by his wife what he liked most about the young men on that team, he told her that he admired them most for “sacrificing for the unknown.”  So, on the first page of my very first Moleskine I wrote that quote and I begin to fill the remaining pages with my own words, telling who I am, what I am doing and sharing the dreams that I hope will one day come true.  When I go back and read what I wrote I realize that what I had to say was worthy, and that the words bel