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Moleskine "pretentious", And All-Weather Notebooks?


markh

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Today's Wall Street Journal Magazine has an article

 

http://on.wsj.com/1HNmuxD

 

titled: David Hare's Favorite Things

 

Here is a quote:

 

ALL-WEATHER NOTEBOOKS are used by most playwrights of my generation. We love them because they’re incredibly sturdy and practical, unlike Moleskines, which are just so pretentious

 

 

 

If in the article picture is the notebook he is talking about. Anyone know what an All-Weather notebook is?? Is it a specific brand, or a type???

 

Apparently David Hare is at least prolific, if not famous. I've never heard of him, but that's probably a fountain pen isn't one of his Favorite Things....

 

Thanks,

 

 

.

...

"Bad spelling, like bad grammar, is an offense against society."

- - Good Form Letter Writing, by Arthur Wentworth Eaton, B.A. (Harvard);  © 1890

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www.alwych.co.uk

 

Are these what you mean? Never used them myself but they were referred to in a thread recently - sorry, can't remember which one.

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He's a biggish deal over here, at least to the extent that that a theatre director and playwright can be a biggish deal.

I think he's Welsh, so perhaps he means these things?

 

(Well that's me beaten to the draw again, then...)

Edited by dogpoet
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(Well that's me beaten to the draw again, then...)

 

Ah, but you get brownie points for knowing how to insert a link. :D

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Never cared for Moleskine anyways, they're not designed for fountain pens or rollerballs, and will even tell you that if you complain about your FP/RB bleeding/feathering badly on their pages, as they're specifically designed for ballpoints and pencils, and they have no plans to make them friendlier to liquid ink.

 

But course that doesn't seem to be the market they're talking about in the article :D I just like to rant.

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The Alwych looks like the right thing.

 

Anyone know how to get them in the U.S. ???

 

Are they fountain pen friendly??

 

 

.

...

"Bad spelling, like bad grammar, is an offense against society."

- - Good Form Letter Writing, by Arthur Wentworth Eaton, B.A. (Harvard);  © 1890

.

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I bought a bunch of Alwych notebooks in a closing-down sale, only because they were silly-cheap. When I tested them with various fountain pen & ink combos the paper was terrible :-( The bleed-through was awful. I may still have a test page; I'll look later. Shame because they're well-made notebooks.

Verba volant, scripta manent

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I've been bewitched by Moleskins in the past but there are so many more cheaper brands that are virtually identical, the cache seems to be based on Ernest Hemmingway having once liked them.

 

I bought 12 of these (though not in that colour) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-x-Nu-Elite-A6-PU-Soft-Cover-Notebooks-Pink-100gsm-160-Pages-EL00346-B9CY-/331578006085?hash=item4d3396da45:g:ktEAAOSwl9BWIPir I can't believe how cheap they are!

 

 

Edit - Mine were A4s. Same price, though!

Edited by missuslovett
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Never cared for Moleskine anyways, they're not designed for fountain pens or rollerballs, and will even tell you that if you complain about your FP/RB bleeding/feathering badly on their pages, as they're specifically designed for ballpoints and pencils, and they have no plans to make them friendlier to liquid ink.

 

But course that doesn't seem to be the market they're talking about in the article :D I just like to rant.

Agreed.

Anyone like Ray Bradbury? Please read "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair" if you have about 12 minutes.

 

You will not forget this wonderful gem that is largely obscure and sadly, forgotten. http://bit.ly/1DZtL4g

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My gf uses Moleskine for her notebooks at university but that was because I bought a stack of them for a stupid cheap price at Marshalls on a trip to Michigan on the recommendation of a pencil wielding friend. At the time I didn't know the terrible things a B nib could do to them and now it seems pretentious to throw out books because they are inadequate for our fountain pens.

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If anyone is looking for a nice, cheap notebook, Clairefontaine "Age Bag" notebooks get my vote. They're something like €2.50 here on planet Euro.

(They also make a variant of the same thing with piece of black elastic eager to embrace your collected newspaper clippings, toenail clippings, a forelock of hair from Admiral Nelson, dead flowers, train tickets, etc. But this piece of elastic doubles the price of the notebook, which is silly. Still - A lot cheaper than the Moleskin one, which doesn't even have decent paper.)

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  • 1 month later...

Today's Wall Street Journal Magazine has an article

 

http://on.wsj.com/1HNmuxD

 

titled: David Hare's Favorite Things

 

Here is a quote:

 

 

 

If in the article picture is the notebook he is talking about. Anyone know what an All-Weather notebook is?? Is it a specific brand, or a type???

 

Apparently David Hare is at least prolific, if not famous. I've never heard of him, but that's probably a fountain pen isn't one of his Favorite Things....

 

Thanks,

 

 

.

 

Anything that can be even remotely linked to fountain pens can be viewed as pretentious. Who cares. I live in England where the class system is obvious to the foreigner (but not the local) and anyone who read more than two books in his life is seen as pretentious by many. Again, who cares. If you like it, use it.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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Never cared for Moleskine anyways, they're not designed for fountain pens or rollerballs, and will even tell you that if you complain about your FP/RB bleeding/feathering badly on their pages, as they're specifically designed for ballpoints and pencils, and they have no plans to make them friendlier to liquid ink.

 

Coming in a bit late here, but thanks for the info; I didn't know that. I have a Moleskine and tried my fountain pens in them, and the results weren't great. Some were OK, but in many cases I couldn't use the back of the page because of bleed-through. If Moleskine is specifically designed for pencils and ballpoints, they admit that, and have no plans to change, then I'm not going to buy anymore because practically all of my notes are taken with fountain pens.

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I have bought my notebooks in a Hallmark store, and they are fountain pen friendly for less. A very nice Halloween theme notebook I bought for $2 in November in the grocery store is fountain pen friendly.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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The $1 and $2 notebooks (A5 size) We have picked up in Ikea are pretty good. There is a small amount of bleedthrough with some inks and nibs, but they are pretty good otherwise. The $1 version has a brown paper cover. The $2 version has coloured covers and an elastic cord to keep it closed.

 

Using a fountain pen can be considered pretentious. I wonder if being able to read and write will be considered pretentious soon. We already have text to speech and speech recognition software.

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