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... in which I have serious rage about WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE.
So, today I stopped by my art supplies shop, and bought paper. A couple of A4 cartridge pads of drawing paper, and a three-pack of small notebooks.
I bought the notebooks because they're unlined paper with a soft but sturdy cover - ideal for a sketchbook/notebook I can stick in a pocket, or toss in my back without it adding too much weight or bulk. And they weren't overly expensive, although all of the other, hardcovered notebooks on the rack were.
This is because these notebooks were all Moleskines.
Now, mocking the "History of Moleskine" leaflet inside is a whole other post, because, see, I remember reading, in some old book, reference to a "moleskin notebook", and I was wondering whether this was some typesetter error, or if there were once notebooks called that, without the e.
And what I have discovered is a tremendous collection of what the hell is wrong with you people about Moleskine notebooks, including the following:
- People talking about how to use your Moleskine as a PDA.
It's not a PDA. It can't be. PDA stands for Personal DIGITAL Assistant, and a notebook is the very essence of analogue. What you are, in fact, using it as, if you use it to keep track of to-do lists and what you've been doing and suchlike, is a NOTEBOOK.
- Instructions for a "Moleskine markup language", that appears to consist of numbering the pages and then using arrows to indicate "continued from page X" or "continued on page Y". That's not a markup language, that's how people have been keeping track of notes for about the last five hundred years, since that doesn't sound overly dissimilar to how people like Leonardo da Vinci, who was ahead of his time but not exactly into the digital age, kept track of notes.
- Sentences like: "A Moleskine without a writing implement is a shadow of its full potential."
Because apparently "hipster status symbol" is apparently an actual function, since it's about all it would be good for without something to write with? What's even better is the list of suggestions for attaching a pen, which includes, more or less, clipping it on with the pen's own clip because many pens are made to do that. ASTONISHING.
- Discussion of what pen is best to use with a Moleskine.
Including talking about fountain pens. You know what pen is best to use with a Moleskine? The same pen as is best to use with any other notebook, that being, the pen you are most comfortable using. A fountain pen is going to be an exceptionally poor choice, though, because if you are carrying a fountain pen around, you are very nearly guaranteed to suffer some kind of catastrophic ink leakage at some point, because fountain pens fountain ink.
I've used them - for a calligraphy class. I like fountain pens, but what they are good for is, in fact, calligraphy. If you are just wanting to write, so as to have words on the page, they are not as good as a gel-ink or ballpoint or even fineliner pen. If you are wanting to sketch they would be painfully useless.
If your choice of pen is about what makes you look oh-so-cool, there is something wrong with you.
- The section on "creative uses for your Moleskine"... that includes "recording ideas" and "travel diary".
IT'S A FUCKING NOTEBOOK. You know what, I can do creative ideas too.
Creative Uses For Your Kitchen
- It's a handy place to store all your cutlery, crockery, and cooking utensils.
- It's also a really good room to use for cooking your meals!
It's like I've come across an entire apparent subculture talking about how to use extremely basic items for their obvious intended purpose, just like people have been using them for centuries, and talking about it like it's this crazy brilliant idea that's totally cutting-edge.
I find it strangely infuriating.
Fortunately, the ones I bought have no obvious brand-marking now I've removed them from the packaging. (Which, by the way, had a QR code thing on it... which encoded nothing but the URL to the product page for the item it was attached to. Completely gratuitous. It's like they needed a way to make it that bit more wanky, so they *had* to attach a smartphone thing to it.)
I bought the notebooks because they're unlined paper with a soft but sturdy cover - ideal for a sketchbook/notebook I can stick in a pocket, or toss in my back without it adding too much weight or bulk. And they weren't overly expensive, although all of the other, hardcovered notebooks on the rack were.
This is because these notebooks were all Moleskines.
Now, mocking the "History of Moleskine" leaflet inside is a whole other post, because, see, I remember reading, in some old book, reference to a "moleskin notebook", and I was wondering whether this was some typesetter error, or if there were once notebooks called that, without the e.
And what I have discovered is a tremendous collection of what the hell is wrong with you people about Moleskine notebooks, including the following:
- People talking about how to use your Moleskine as a PDA.
It's not a PDA. It can't be. PDA stands for Personal DIGITAL Assistant, and a notebook is the very essence of analogue. What you are, in fact, using it as, if you use it to keep track of to-do lists and what you've been doing and suchlike, is a NOTEBOOK.
- Instructions for a "Moleskine markup language", that appears to consist of numbering the pages and then using arrows to indicate "continued from page X" or "continued on page Y". That's not a markup language, that's how people have been keeping track of notes for about the last five hundred years, since that doesn't sound overly dissimilar to how people like Leonardo da Vinci, who was ahead of his time but not exactly into the digital age, kept track of notes.
- Sentences like: "A Moleskine without a writing implement is a shadow of its full potential."
Because apparently "hipster status symbol" is apparently an actual function, since it's about all it would be good for without something to write with? What's even better is the list of suggestions for attaching a pen, which includes, more or less, clipping it on with the pen's own clip because many pens are made to do that. ASTONISHING.
- Discussion of what pen is best to use with a Moleskine.
Including talking about fountain pens. You know what pen is best to use with a Moleskine? The same pen as is best to use with any other notebook, that being, the pen you are most comfortable using. A fountain pen is going to be an exceptionally poor choice, though, because if you are carrying a fountain pen around, you are very nearly guaranteed to suffer some kind of catastrophic ink leakage at some point, because fountain pens fountain ink.
I've used them - for a calligraphy class. I like fountain pens, but what they are good for is, in fact, calligraphy. If you are just wanting to write, so as to have words on the page, they are not as good as a gel-ink or ballpoint or even fineliner pen. If you are wanting to sketch they would be painfully useless.
If your choice of pen is about what makes you look oh-so-cool, there is something wrong with you.
- The section on "creative uses for your Moleskine"... that includes "recording ideas" and "travel diary".
IT'S A FUCKING NOTEBOOK. You know what, I can do creative ideas too.
Creative Uses For Your Kitchen
- It's a handy place to store all your cutlery, crockery, and cooking utensils.
- It's also a really good room to use for cooking your meals!
It's like I've come across an entire apparent subculture talking about how to use extremely basic items for their obvious intended purpose, just like people have been using them for centuries, and talking about it like it's this crazy brilliant idea that's totally cutting-edge.
I find it strangely infuriating.
Fortunately, the ones I bought have no obvious brand-marking now I've removed them from the packaging. (Which, by the way, had a QR code thing on it... which encoded nothing but the URL to the product page for the item it was attached to. Completely gratuitous. It's like they needed a way to make it that bit more wanky, so they *had* to attach a smartphone thing to it.)
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But mostly they just seem to be used for LOOK HOW UP-TO-THE-MINUTE WE ARE purposes.
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Thank you for writing such a hilarious rant. And I say that as someone who uses them. They're great notebooks.
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- They're currently made by an Italian company, which means if you want to be wanky you should pronounce it mol-eh-skin-eh. EXTRA EH.
- But they were last made by a French company based in Tours (this is in the leaflet that came with them that I'm totally going to mock later), and pronouncing it Frenchily would just be "mol'skeen", and patently more correct.
I am seriously considering pointedly pronouncing it mole-skine, with an I like in "line", JUST TO BE CONTRARY.
You're welcome for the rant. :D I agree that they do seem like really nice notebooks - I had noticed that the paper is good, and stitch-binding has all the lie-flat advantages of spiral binding without the "and then the spirals get bent and it doesn't work at all" disadvantages.
BUT THEY'RE STILL JUST NOTEBOOKS, basically.
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though i take mild exception to the fountain pen comments. one of the pens i am most comfortable with is a fountain pen. i wrote with fountain pens before ballpoint pens became widely available, and i am used to them. and honestly -- i've only had two leaks over 4 decades. i've had ballpoint pens leak more often (smear collects at the writing point of cheap ones, and if one carries them without cover...). the benefit is that i can actually still read what i wrote years later; i get awfully sloppy with ballpoint pens. these days i write out very little long hand, and it feels kind of like a nostalgic throwback, and the fountain pen goes with that perfectly.
and because i am pedantic: it depends on what pen you're comfortable with, and the paper.
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Although realistically, my favourite writing implement is a mechanical pencil. Pencils *never* leak or smear, and they have just enough friction to write neatly. (Which may be your distinction with fountain vs. other.) And mechanical pencils don't need to be sharpened. (Wooden pencils are better for drawing, though.)
If fountain pens work for you and they're what you're used to, that's totally, totally reasonable and understandable and I will not mock it, but will mock those who oppose you. What I cannot abide without mocking it really hard is if you've never used a fountain pen before in your life and you get one to pair with your Moleskine because it's "more stylish".
And you have a point about paper as well, but I mostly consider pen-comfort more important, probably because I've only ever used fountain pens and the like on high-quality paper. Crappy ballpoint pens will be horrible regardless of the paper quality, and nice pens will work regardless, as a rule.
I hate those bad-ballpoint ink smears. I think they were the initial reason I switched back to habitual pencil.