Field Notes "Two Rivers" Edition

“It's a hand-used book so it should be a hand-made product. That's kind of ideal.”
—Jim Moran (Director, Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum)

The Spring 2015 Field Notes Colors edition is finally here, and it's called "Two Rivers". My wallet and mind are ready.

This edition celebrates the history, Americana, and old-fashioned style of wood-type printing — particularly, the kind found on display at the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Watch the trailer:

Using the museum's collection of vintage type and ornaments, the Field Notes crew hand-set several of their own designs, which were then printed in two random colors on one of four cover stocks over the course of eight months. Further variations were introduced thanks to the vagaries of wood type and letterpress printing.

All of this work added up to thousands of variations, meaning no two books are exactly the same. a small sampling of the variations can be seen in photos at the bottom of the store page. (My heart goes out to the Field Notes completionists out there.)

What's more, two bucks from the sale of every 3-pack goes directly to support the museum. If the edition sells out, that means a minimum donation of $50,000. But even more can be donated, if buyers choose to add an extra amount to their order. I hope you'll consider it.

Get a "Two Rivers" 3-pack for $10 at Field Notes.

Cast Iron Skillet Care and Recipes

This morning over on Tools & Toys I published a guide to cooking with and maintaining a great cast iron skillet, plus some recommended accessories and recipes.

Not only do [cast iron skillets] perform awesomely in the kitchen (once they get hot, they stay hot), but with proper care and maintenance they can literally last generations. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to be given a grandparent’s old cast iron skillet, relish this gift and take care of it. It will take care of you in return.

There are so many myths out there surrounding cast iron. I've done a lot of research on the subject over the years, trying to discern fact from fiction and experimenting on my own skillet to see what works. I wanted to write a guide covering the sort of information I wish I'd been given when I inherited my grandma's old skillet after she passed.

A truly in-depth, comprehensive guide would have been far too long for one article (probably more like book-length), but I think I managed to distill a good deal of information into this one-page resource. Think of it as "Cast Iron 101".

A Reflection on One Year of Daily Journaling

Josh Ginter has journaled every single day for an entire year. He explains his process, along with some insights he's learned along the way:

What matters is that [journaling] has changed my life. Recording, recognizing, and signifying important events in the past year has improved my memory and my realism. Pushing the tidal waves of thought and emotion through the nib and onto paper has created a metaphorical bottleneck — my recorded thoughts now have structure, my daily doings now have amplified importance.

In typical Newsprint fashion, there are plenty of lovely photos to ogle while you read.

Typography in Ten Minutes

Matthew Butterick, in his online book Butterick's Practical Typography:

This is a bold claim, but I stand behind it: If you learn and fol­low these five ty­pog­ra­phy rules, you will be a bet­ter ty­pog­ra­pher than 95% of pro­fes­sional writ­ers and 70% of pro­fes­sional de­sign­ers. (The rest of this book will raise you to the 99th per­centile in both categories.)

All it takes is ten min­utes—five min­utes to read these rules once, then five min­utes to read them again.

A short, concise ruleset that can make any website look more professional. So often I come across blogs that would be 10x more readable if they accounted for rules #3 and #4 alone.

If you end up reading through Mr. Butterick's typography guide in its entirety, consider paying him a few bucks (or more) in thanks. He did a wonderful job with it. (Tip: hyperlinks throughout the guide are indicated by prepended diamond symbols.)

The SIRUI T-025X Travel Tripod

Álvaro Serrano wrote a review of the SIRUI T-025X travel tripod for Tools & Toys:

In a nutshell, the T-025X is one of the world’s most compact and lightweight full-size travel tripods, but what really sets it apart from the competition is its incredible balance of performance, features, portability and price. There may be some slightly lighter tripods out there, and tripods that can withstand more load. There are probably also taller tripods, and tripods that offer more stability. But you’d be hard pressed to find one that matches the T-025X in all those features at the same time, and even more hard-pressed to find another carbon-fiber tripod that can do all that at this price point.

You wouldn’t necessarily read the term tripod review and think “interesting read” or “gorgeous photography” but Álvaro nailed it on both counts.

David Sparks, Esq.

David Sparks (aka MacSparky) decided to make a big career change:

So much of my own neurosis screamed out at me to keep the steady job and continue “pedaling” as best as possible. I laid awake at night. I rambled on about it incessantly with my family and closest friends. They all had excellent, well-meaning advice, much of which was contradictory with one another.

At the end of this process I found myself repeatedly coming back to my hypothetical death bed. If I was laying somewhere right now facing down the reaper, what would I regret more? It then became crystal clear to me.

Congrats to David on the new gig. I'm (somewhat selfishly) looking forward to what he will now be able to produce at MacSparky with his newfound free time.

How to Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps

Written by Aaron Bleyaert of the Conan O'Brien TV show. It's not what you think it is.

(Actually read all of his essays, they're damn good.)

Bill Carter on Covering 'SNL' and Lorne Michaels for 40 Years

I've loved Saturday Night Live since I was a kid, so this glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes was fascinating and entertaining to read.

[Lorne] Michaels needed to get station clearances up fast or face ratings doom. So he agreed to talk to me — initially on the phone. One thing he said illustrated how sure he was of his mission: “When we do well, we do the best comedy on TV. That's not ego; that's just the way it is.”

As John Gruber put it, “How [The New York Times] let Carter walk away is beyond me.”

Publishing a Day One Journal as a Book

Donnie Ray Jones:

“My wife and I keep a journal of notes to our twin girls in Day One. After a year of journaling, I wanted to print the entries in a physical book for my wife as a Christmas present.”

Interesting idea, and would make a great gift to family members next time Christmas rolls around.

If you need more ideas for journaling in Day One check out my recent, in-depth review, which offers several ideas and a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of the app.