Places to See #2

This week's passel o' links I found entertaining or of interest:

► The oldest recorded melody? I find this one particularly fascinating, even a bit spine tingling. If this is anything *close* to accurate, we're hearing music that fell on the ears of the ancients, eons ago.

► Interesting glimpses of New York diaries from all different time periods and very different personalities...as always, I'm intrigued by variances in handwriting and style.

► 10 words that need to die immediately. (They do, they do!)

► The Lamy Safari color of the year, 2012.

► Cats as fonts--cute. (Thanks to notagain at Manual Entry for this one...)

► Guitars in space!

► Speaking of guitar, wanna buy a guitar boat?

► How to make a duct tape rose. Well, *I* thought it was cool!

► And this round's "just because" entry, cat caught barking...

Mandolin Cafe Type-In (Tacoma)

A few of us met up at lunch time today for an International Typewriter Appreciation Month type-in. Thank you, Peter, for organizing this!

Slightly messy type-cast, but such is the nature of the beast, for me, at least.

I spent quite awhile writing with fountain pen, too, enjoying the sunlight streaming through the window. I don't think we were supposed to get sunshine today. To me, it was an unexpected treat.

And then I got to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law and little nieces and nephew. Interestingly enough, one of the topics that came up (and I wasn't even the one to raise it) was the joy of getting a personal letter in this day and age. Which makes me feel guilty yet again about having pretty much ceased and desisted in the practice. I resolve to do better. Again.

Here is the photo I mentioned.

Renaissance Art Leather Composition Book Cover #2

I've already been carting this around a few weeks, so it has a bit of "character" already!

This is now a two Renaissance Art composition book cover household.

Renaissance Art recently began carrying composition book covers as a standard item, and offered an introductory discount. Since I typically have at least two comp books going at once, one as a journal and one for other writing, and since I'd already been thinking about getting a simpler second one without the wrap and tie, I jumped on the offer.

The two covers compared

I considered going with one of their "Rustic Elegance" leathers this time around: these are thinner, and come in all sorts of beautiful colors (from the on-screen swatches, I'm particular fond of the Twilight Blue and the Merlot). They make for a sleeker, slimmer, more civilized looking cover. But in the end, I chickened out and went with what I know: the same thick, rustic brown leather as my other Renaissance Art cover. It's slightly less expensive, and it is bombproof. This leather can also be "distressed", which I find amusing and entertaining. The new notebook cover doesn't seem to change as much with this process as the old one does...not sure if this is age difference, or just variation between two pieces of leather. Still, it's rather fascinating.

Close-up of the old cover--the top portion of the flap has been mangled a la the video I linked to above, while I smoothed out the bottom portion and left it as is.

My new cover came in a matter of just a few days, which was pretty nifty. And there isn't a great deal for me to add to my original review of the first cover. The leather feels and smells great, the cover fits well, and while it doesn't have the classy, luxurious appearance of something like a Levenger Circa Bomber Jacket folio, I like the rugged, homespun look of it. And like my other cover, this will likely outlive me.

Inside, showing how the notebook fits inside...sorry for the funky coloring on this photo...

I like it. Renaissance Art makes good stuff. (Or, for the British, Renaissance Art make good stuff.)

Places to See

I've been too busy to write a real post, so instead, here are a bunch of links to some interesting Internet places I've run across in recent travels:

1. Check out this fascinating gallery of pencil sharpeners!

2. The first portion of this video is hilarious for EDC adherants and fountain pen fanatics alike...the second part interesting to at least the fountain pen geeks.  I love this guy!  Thanks to Ravens March for bringing him to my attention.  He's a member of Fountain Pen Network, but I'd missed seeing his videos before.

3. Can you imagine just happening to find a letter by *Tolkien* in a random book?

4. Utterly gorgeous bookstores--just wow.

5. Couple links regarding a robot writing the Bible with fountain pen: I'm a little unsure how to feel about this demonstration of technology mixed with older writing techniques.  I mean...is it truly calligraphy if it's done with robots?  And yet...this is so cool to watch!

Article...

Video...

Note that it's a Lamy Safari.  Lamy Safaris for the win!

6. And just because...only on YouTube: a Saruman/Trololo guy mash-up (warning: brutal wizard fatality).





TGIF!

Typecast: No Parallels