Manuscripts

I've begun reading Stephen Hero again, this time taking extra-special notice of the way in which it was transcribed from manuscript to print. Because it was an unfinished text, Joyce left all kinds of cross-outs and extra notes on its pages, and the publisher did its best to represent these things with some limited indicators ([ crossed out text ], « inserted text », *misc. footnotes), and it got me thinking about typing my notebooks again.

Around 2006, I began to put my notebooks in a simple text format that was little more than typing page markers and content. By summer 2007 I had given up on this, opting instead to scan the notebooks in their entirety. This provided me with a nice reference when the real notebook was not nearby, but it was still lacking certain special faculties that make computer documents invaluable: searching for text.

Since my recent experiments with XML and XSLT, my appreciation of markup has increased a little. In theory, I could put the entirety of my notebooks in markup, then write a program to search for them, including specific things like all instances of "Equinox" written in blue ink, all crossed-out passages containing cursive, or looking for all text placed written landscape-style on the page. This would be invaluable, and even more so as an interface to bring up search results in terms of the page where the items were found—I could display a scan of the page!

This is a very attractive proposition and I'd like to explore it a little further. I've begun looking online at documents that describe such systems, usually in conjunction with ancient manuscripts. Keep an eye on the bookmarks in the blog's sidebar (or just look here) if you're interested, too.

White Pages

This week is the beginning of my final phase for Earth Mother .I.. With any luck, Part .I. will be finished soon. I've already begun writing notes for Part .II.; where my "outline" for its plot was perhaps twenty words in length at the time I threw down the entire Earth Mother idea, I have given a nice little synopsis of the events leading up to Part .II., and some of the events that will be included.

My handwriting how somehow gotten even smaller; I suspect that this is because I have misplaced my pen and now use a mechanical pencil to write in my notebook. I'm writing fifteen or sixteen characters per inch, which is probably smaller than an eight-point computer font (size twelve is something like ten characters per inch, while size ten is twelve per inch). The notebook itself has exceeded its sixtieth page; with the generally small handwriting of the past half-year, I am satisfied that Notebook Three packs more punch in every page.

A new sketch war awaits typing. I am unsure if I should post it, as it was the first after a long period of silence, and it makes little sense (in a bad way), but tomorrow will tell.

Speaking of the fine art of writing by hand, I was delighted to find something new in the local Barnes and Noble. For the past few months, this store has not stocked my preferred kind of Moleskine, the pocket-sized, unruled (plain) notebook. After a fairly thorough inspection of other book stores in my area, I have found that no one has it on display. Is the plain notebook that unpopular? Or are they burning all stock off before the coming of the new Softskines? Either way, I couldn't get a new notebook for the eventual succession of Number Three. So I looked around the store a little more, and to my surprise I found a series of small, softcover notebooks that is very much like a long-gone favorite of mine, the Moleskine Volant. The Volant softcover pocket notebook was my first kind of Moleskine, and really the first kind of notebook that I used for writing and ideas, rather than for the purpose of a journal or diary. It was an important milestone in my life. Well, the Volant has been off the market for two or three years now, and I wished I had snatched a few more up when they were still in stores. But the stuff I found from Nava is just as good: a set of twelve 80-page notebooks, one supposedly for each month in a year, in close approximation to the Volant style. That's 960 pages! I probably won't burn through 80 pages in a month, but the notebooks are simply numbered (one dot per month), not named (January, February, etc.). The paper is of high quality, and $25 (at least, that's what I paid at Barnes and Noble) for 960 pages is better than I expected for something of this type--the Volants vere about $6 for three books of 64 pages. Anyway, if you are interested, keep an eye out for Nava Design's "One Year of White Pages" notebook set.

Let's Go Red Sox

Public Dispersion of Equinox Begins

To Be Me

New sketch

Underworld Live Backstage

Phonestrap 6/Autotrader 4 by Underworld is amazing.

Softskines

My Moleskine dream comes true

Notebook not ARChed

I found me a soft-cover Moleskine that is similar to the little pocket Volant series. It was bundled with the useless (to me) pocket daily planner (special red version). Look in the link for a "Twin Set." It really wasn't worth the high price, especially because I have a nice notebook already, and because the little softskine has only 48 pages (40 if you are like me and don't count idiotic labels as pages). It's still nice to look at. I might find a use for it at some point. Until then, I'll consider it a prototype for the NeoVolant line that will come out on my birthday.

This made me think of Lisa. It was a pleasant thought:

Core Dump

It just came to my attention that the Armored Core text on my site has an embarrassing error. You see, when I typed the story, I used a Mac. The software inserted UTF16 characters, and so I ended up getting really stupid stuff like "smart quotes," ellipses (instead of "..."), and weird em-dashes. Well, when I decided to put these stories on the site, I wrote a conversion script to strip all those 16-bit characters from the text and replace them with something more reasonable. Somewhere along the way, I made it convert all the funky em-dashes into "..." and now the story seems really vague. Converting back to em-dashes isn't going to work, since I already had instances of "..." that will get caught up in the conversion process. Oops.

In other news, I finally found someone who wanted the UW/NYC tickets! That's a huge weight off my shoulders. I didn't want to be stuck with two unused tickets for the rest of my life. Talk about regret! In an e-mail to the "winner" of the tickets, I revealed this about how I think when I buy things:

[...] When I buy things, I consider the money 100% "lost." Well, I guess a better term would be "100% non-refundable." Thus, I tend to try to get as much enjoyment out of that thing as possible, but if for some reason I lose it or can't use it, I don't feel that I have to recoup my losses. It's probably a bad philosophy for business, but it lets me stay calm when things don't work out as I expected. And it probably encourages me to make more careful purchases.

With that out of the way, it's time to get psyched for UW/Boston. Maybe I'll even see the guys wandering around the city! It's funny, because I drafted a letter to Underworld about a year ago, but I never sent it, mostly because it was really short, didn't express what I felt, and asked too much about Mother Earth/The Hump. I think I'll rewrite that letter. But I'll still keep my eyes open for Karl and Rick in Boston.

Notebook 3 has a few more ideas in it. Most of them are related to my classes, but as usual, there are a few thoughts of unknown origin. When I get back from class today, I'll write a little more "Equinox." Now that I've spent so much time fiddling around with it and winding it up, it will be fun to let the story loose, to see where it will go. I think the conclusion of "Equinox" will also be the conclusion of my beloved writing notebook, a Moleskine Volant, my last surviving specimen of the Volant series. I really miss those things; while the largest Cahiers are actually of excellent quality, the smaller two sizes, especially the pocket ones, seem as though they were thrown together. The paper is also less receptive to my ink. What's odd is that almost a year ago, I sent an e-mail asking where to find any left-over Volants. Here's the exchange (my message is quoted):

from: Info Modo & Modo

to: Jon Irons

date: Oct 13, 2006 10:43 AM

subject: R: Moleskine Volant

Dear Jon,

you are not the first nor the last to lament the loss of the Volant, but don't despair, we're working on something. For now I can just give you the contact of our US distributor who might still have some remnants (we don't, sorry)

Kikkerland Design Inc.:

LKellner@Kikkerland.com

Tel. 001-212-678-2250

www.kikkerland.com

I remain at your disposal if you have other questions.

Best regards

Silvia Contestabile

Commercial Department

MODO&MODO

V.le Porta Vercellina 10

20123 Milano

www.modoemodo.com

-----Messaggio originale-----

Dear Modo e Modo,

I began using your Moleskine notebooks a few years ago, starting with a set of three small Volants and a set of three large Volants. I enjoy just about all of your notebooks, but I feel that the new Cahier line is lacking a solidarity that I felt from the Volant.

I understand that the Volant was discontinued, and I won't waste our time begging that you bring it back (but, please do!); I would simply like to know if you have any stock left that I can purchase, or know of any distributors still selling them. I live in the United States of America, if that helps.

Thank you for reviving the wonderful Moleskines. I use them every day.

--

Jon Irons

Since then, I've never seen any announcements for a new volant-style book. However, Modo e Modo came out with a soft-cover planner that made me hopeful that we would soon see a Neovolant. That still remains to be seen.