Dessa Can’t Do Without Her Pilot Razor Point
Pen snobs suck: the loud talking about fine lines and ink flow, the zipper cases, the theater-kid pledges of absolute devotion to a singular make and model. And yet here we are. For me, it’s Pilot Razor Point, write or die.
Dessa is a brilliant recording artist and poet. If you never engaged with her work, I highly recommend it.
A Short History of the Daily Planner – by Jillian Hess
For this New Year post, I decided to look at how people have used daily planners in the past. What I found was a fascinating origin story of tracking time in notebooks.
Fascinating. Essentially, the beginning was basically using it as a Daily Log, something I’ve been doing for over 20 years now.
How I Pocket Notebook | cygnoir.net
Much has been written by smarter minds about the pocket notebook and its myriad uses. For this post, I’ll be focusing on my particular setup and sharing how I use it in the hopes you might also find it useful.
The hack with the magnetic clips blew my mind. It’s genius!
Shunned in computer age, cursive makes a comeback in California | Reuters
Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting, after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age… Experts say learning cursive improves cognitive development, reading comprehension and fine motor skills, among other benefits. Some educators also find value in teaching children to read historic documents and family letters from generations past.
Yep. My daughter went to a Montessori preschool where cursive is taught exclusively and it still benefits her to this day.
Eminem’s Boxes of Notes – by Jillian Hess – Noted
Anyone who thinks notes ought to be neat and tidy should look at Eminem’s lyric sheets.
Always fun to see an artist’s creative process. Even more fun when it is a crazy handwritten explosion of ideas out of which nuggets of pop/rap gold flow. Via Austin Kleon’s always excellent newsletter.
Long-lost Gershwin musical found by University of Michigan researcher – mlive.com
Because even in this digital age, if you want to to last long enough to be discovered later, you’ll choose paper.
What using ten years of Field Notes look like.
The Tools of Excellence v4, 1: The Notebook & Pencil – Nicholas Bate
1: The Notebook & Pencil Paper and pencil. There it is: no power needed, discrete, ultimately flexible. Portable. Breezes through security. On a plane, on the beach, back-backing in the Western Isles. The tool which allows you to plan, record, create, schedule, sketch, brainstorm and write a love note. Never be without the pair.
A handwritten blog by Hansjörg Schlüter. Though I’ve seen others before I still find it a neat idea that there should be more of.
Montblanc asked Wes Anderson to direct its ad. He did – and designed a pen | Vogue Business
Anderson agreed to their brief, which involved directing a short film focussed on the brand’s famous heritage and craft, but he also wanted to be the main character in front of the camera. Then, when he showed up on set in Berlin, the filmmaker presented a prototype pen of his own design that he asked the German company to manufacture. He’d even named it: the Schreiberling, which means ‘the scribbler’ in German.
10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can’t Live Without | GQ – YouTube
Even if you’re writing comedy, a legal pad says. “I am taking this seriously.”
What we believe in.
(via Cultural Offering)
It was an earlier time filled with layout boards, non-repro blue pencils that made lines invisible to production cameras, technical ink pens to create registration marks, and typography and photography output on photo paper.
It was hardcore analog, with nearly everything done manually.
What we believe in.
Your reading list, periodically shipped to you in a beautiful print issue… Each issue includes five slots for reading. You can pick an article, essay, interview, recipe, blog post, or almost any text-based content for each slot. Or you can connect your Twitter + Newsletter subscriptions and let us pick for you.
An interesting idea. Sure, you could print things yourself. But, likely not with the layout and binding this service provides. Might be worth trying with those really long reads I’ve have stored in Instapaper that have been guilting me forever.
On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion (PDF)
But our notebooks give us away, for however dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable “I.” We are not talking here about the kind of notebook that is patently for public consumption, a structural conceit for binding together a series of graceful pensees; we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with
meaning only for its maker.
A wonderful essay about the what and why for the author, Joan Didion, of keeping a notebook. Which may be different than the what and why you may have. And it is a point she writes so eloquently about here.
I may have to copy this whole delicious thing into my commonplace book.
A good assistant to your future self – Austin Kleon
He touches on why I keep a diary, why I keep it on paper, and the magic of keeping a logbook. The mundane details can bring back sublime memories, and what you think is boring now may be interesting in the future: “What seems bland when you write it down… will seem epic in thirty years.”
What we believe in.
Fun facts about the BIC ballpoint pen (video) – Boing Boing
Some interesting history and details here. I learned a thing or two.
What we believe in.
The Typewriter Revolution blog: Notebooks I have known
Bob Sassone was curious to know more about the notebooks I use. So here is a rundown—of interest, maybe, to readers who love to write by hand (I suspect there’s a significant overlap with typewriter lovers).
A nice rundown or interest to readers here. Also highlighting because Typewriter Revolution is a blog worth following a well.
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