1. Moleskine
I have become dependent on using electronics for anything, including writing. I use my iPhone to write notes and I also use it regularly to access my calendar… but I still prefer my pencil and paper for many things.
I have Moleskine notebooks in all shapes and sizes all over my home. I love using them for my random thoughts and ideas. I have one next to my bed so I can jot down my dreams in the morning. I wrote a book using a Moleskine notebook and my pencil for a woman I love. I keep one for random notes where I can tear pages out to take with me. I keep a pocket sized one that’s reserved for my notes when I use Propellerhead Reason. If I didn’t use Google Calendar, I would use Moleskine calendar notebooks. They’re perfect for visual artists as well.
Moleskine provides the sexiest notebooks in the world. They’re so fun to use that you’ll want to find an excuse to write or draw more.
“What is sexy about moleskine?…. I like notebooks with lots of color and sparkles.”
–Jennifer
2. Zines
While you use your Moleskine notebook, go ahead and jot down some ideas for your next zine. What is a “zine” you ask? Here is a great definition from undergroundpress.org:
“A zine (pronounced “zeen,” like “magazine”) is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines are publications done for the love of doing them, not to make a profit or a living. Most zines are photocopied, but their production can range from handwritten or handmade booklets to offset-printed magazine-like publications (but with a print run of hundreds or a few thousand instead of hundreds of thousands).”
Anyone can make a zine. They come in all shapes and sizes and people of all ages make them. There is a huge community of zinesters that you can trade or sell your work to. My first zine was made almost 10 years ago. It consisted 32 pages of my short stories that I hope to continue. I’ve made super tiny zines with super short stories and collages. I’ve made zines where I only printed 50 copies of and shared with a handful of people. I’ve made a zine about my obsession with smelling paper and sold over 50 copies when I debuted it at the San Fran Zine Fest in 2007. I collaborated with an artist and made a handmade comic book/zine and sold over 200 copies. The point is, it’s fun and anything is possible!
Making a zine is half the fun, sharing it is the other half. Get off the internet and experience the power of print and the beauty of using the United States Postal Service! Get started by buying some zines from Parcell Press, my favorite distribution.
3. Watermelon
Let’s take a break and eat some yummy watermelon. Mmmmm I love me some watermelon.
4. Polaroids
It’s sad that they stopped making polaroid film. There are still some field around, but they are expired film and expensive to get a hold of. If you wonder what to get me for my birthday… now you know! Polaroid film! There is something nostalgic about polaroid pictures… don’t you agree? If you are interested in this kind of stuff, check out The Impossible Project. If you’re really interested in this kind of stuff, check out Lomography.
I hope one day they start making polaroid film again. I’d be the first to buy as much as I can and I’d take my camera with me every where I go to capture all those polaroid moments. How awesome would that be? Forget my digital Canon Powershot!
5. Propellerhead’s Reason
Reason is a music software or “virtual studio rack with all the tools and instruments you need to turn your ideas into music. With its generous sound bank and intuitive flow, Reason helps you along in creative process, and is the music software that never gets in your way.” I still have a lot to learn about using the software, but I’ve been able to lay down a couple of beats. I hope I can find the time to learn how to use it more, I’m eager to use it so I can bring my ideas to life!
6. Ghostly International
I’ve never had a “favorite” record label… until I came across Ghostly International. Seriously. Check them out. Listen to their radio. This radio is also a free iPhone app. You won’t be disappointed.
“Ghostly International is a multi-platform cultural curator, a tightly knit aesthetic universe fulfilling the roles of art gallery, design house, clothing designer, technology innovator, music-publishing company—and, yes, record label—in one. In the years since its birth in 1999, Ghostly has grown from a boutique label known for its experimental-pop and -techno acumen to an internationally recognized platform for the work of the world’s best visual artists, designers, technologists, and musicians.
And what does Ghostly sound like? “Genre-less” was a term thrown about a good bit in the early days, and that idea still holds true: Ghostly’s music—all of its artistic output, really—gracefully straddles (or else entirely ignores) stylistic divisions, transcending musty categories like “electronic”, “pop”, “house”, or “techno” and carving out a space in which sounds and ideas can cavort without inhibition. The label itself is twofold: Ghostly International’s output falls under the heading of “avant-pop”—nominally, music of electronic means and pop methodology, but encompassing much more—and sibling label Spectral Sound, Ghostly’s dance-music imprint.”
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