the Anal Retentive Moleskine User

the Anal Retentive Moleskine User

After a year or two of trial and error I came up with the following set-ip for my note taking needs. I use a pocket Moleskine notepad and doctor each new one up as follows as soon as I get a new one.

THE INSIDE FRONT COVER: On the inside front cover is a 15 month calendar customized from TimeAndDate.com - because you can't really be an anal retentive note taker if you're not dating things properly. Also inside are several different size post-it notes which always come in handy - 4 or 5 post-its seem to be the limit before making the Moleskine bulge too much.

The upper right hand corner of the first 25 pages are cut to make it easy to distinguish between this section (which is for more important day-to-day info) and rest of the book (which is for more trivial info and other poo).

THE BACK COVER AND POCKET: Because post-it notes on the front cover aren't enough - I keep two different size index cards in the back cover. Five or six seem to be the limit before it bulges too much.

ANAL RETENTIVE NOTES KEY: Pretty much most of my Moleskine is to keep track of books, albums, movies, and websites I want to check out and interesting words and phrases. By coming up with some symbols before certain entries I can refer to them quickly - it helps when I'm in a record store with a few dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

Here's my sketchbook set-up - a Moleskine sketchbook, about a dozen pens (even though I tend keep going back to the same 2), and an image morgue of about 15 pages tucked into the back pocket of the Moleskine.  The image morgue pages serves as references for drawings and idea starting points for cartoons. The pages rotate, but most of the images are things pilfered from stock photo sites, photoblogs, and anywhere else on the net where I stumble upon images. All of this fits in a larger mesh bag that's always in my messenger bag.

return of the cat pictures!

ABOVE: Charlie Hodges in front and Chinaski up top in back

 

Mix Disc Covers: even more single artist best-ofs

It's another batch of single artist best of mixes...

[ CLICK THE COVERS TO ENLARGE ]

ABOVE: Madness and Stereolab   BELOW: Arcwelder

ABOVE: Depeche Mode and Led Zeppelin - both mixes are double discs and pretty much replaced me ever playing whole albums by either band again. The Zeppelin mix is subtitled "What Sort of Dumbass Makes a Led Zeppelin Mix In This Day of Age?"

BELOW: A double disc set of Superchunk.

some pictures around new York

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"Scoop. Pray. Eat." 2007

 There was a Banh Mi place that I had to hit on every trip to New York - a small deli counter in sewing supplies/video store - but the place is gone and it looks like the building is being renovated for condos. Now that my favorite place for a Banh Mi is gone, this place will have to do.

 

 I have no idea what these Travis Bickle, Bronson, Hanibal Lecter flyers I saw in Chinatown are for, but they looked damn cool.

I love a good sandwich, and the sandwiches at this insanely good smelling market were some of the best I've ever had.

More Mix Disc covers

Here are some more old mix disc covers.....

[ CLICK ON THE COVERS TO ENLARGE ]

ABOVE LEFT: WHAT POOR GODS WE DO MAKE, A Naked Raygun best of that might be the mix of mine that I've played the most

ABOVE: Two Roxy Music best-of mixes, splitting their career into two halves. The cover collages are supposed to be a parody/homage to Roxy's use of glamour girls for their covers.

BELOW: A Beach Boys best-of made up of only pre Pet Sounds era music and a collection of my favorite mash-ups (the ones that actually stand up to repeated listens)

More pictures of Chicago

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Shuffle-a-gogo: the randomness of the MP3 player

When it doubt, shuffle-a-gogo. 10 songs on shuffle with real time comments.

1. the SWINGIN NECKBREAKERS - The Girl Can't Help It - Supercharged garage fun. Times ten.

2. ZOMBIES - Whenever You're Ready - Pretty much anytime a Zombies cut comes up on shuffle it's a good thing.

3. FAD GADGET - Saturday Night Special - Fad Gadget dies creepy and eerie, while still being catchy, like nobdy else.

4. JOE STRUMMER and the MESCALEROS - Mega Bottle Ride - Ummmm....this song sounds kind of boring at the moment. I love Joe Strummer, but now I'm wondering why I put this on the MP3 player.

5. WONDER STUFF - Astley in the Noose - the Wonder Stuff CDs are mastered soooo damn low that it kind of bums me out every time they turn up on shuffle.

6. NELSON RIDDLE - My Three Sons - "His name is Bud, he cooks the food".

7. AEROSMITH - Come Together - Love it as much today as I did back in Jr High.

8. the LYRES - Not Like the Other One - There's a ton of marginal stuff in the Lyres catalog, but On Fyre is about as perfect as garage albums get.

9. ARLO - Runaround - One of those songs that I can (and have) listen to ten times in a row and still want more. That riff just kills me every time.

10. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday - War is still my favorite album from U2. For about a decade after this came out I was pretty down on U2, but I still played War on a regular basis.

That and a dollar will get you a ride on the bus.