Today Is Wednesday

The offer applies to Field Notes, Jewelboxing and everything else... Heck, it's also valid if you place an advertising schedule on The Deck Network today. But get moving, we expect Thursday to roll in sometime later tonight.

I Think I Read That Somewhere

Summer Reading List

If, like us, your spring and summer vacations are about reading, then here's a place to start. We've collected hundreds of books and had them Field-Tested online, including entries from George Saunders, Jonathan Eig, Jessa Crispin, Steven Heller, Lori Andrews, Michael Bierut, and many more. Or, buy the Field Tested Books Book which is available now for just nine bucks.

Stuff About Stanley Kubrick

I Am Putting Myself
to the Fullest Possible Use, Which Is All I Think That Any Conscious Entity Can Ever Hope To Do

For over ten years we've been collecting links and tossing them into various categories. As you probably have noticed, we're a bit of obsessed with a certain film director. Check our big, messy "Stuff About Stanley Kubrick" archive.

Field Notes Limited Edition

Cultivated

For Field Notes' 14th seasonal release we've gone back to our roots with a box set celebrating America's farmers and the crops they grow. "The National Crop Edition" includes six colored memo books, a souvenir poster and an embroidered patch, all in a custom box. They're available for sale individually and as part of a year-long Colors Subscription.

Plus, Co-Founder Aaron Draplin talks about where Field Notes comes from in a short film, From Seed, and his large collection of agricultural themed memo books from the last 100 years are now online at the Field Notes site.

Field Notes In Action

A Different Shade
of Red

Around Valentine's Day, Bryan and Steve made a touching film promoting our Field Notes Red-Blooded Edition. It got a lot of attention. Our partner in Field Notes, Aaron Draplin, thought it might be time for a slightly different approach starring the awesome Portland metal band, Red Fang. Full-screen and very loud please.

An occasional series Face Time

Classic Display Faces That Deserve Props

Chauncey H. Griffith's Bodoni Poster Black was developed for Mergenthaler in 1929 and features strong verticals and shallow descenders. It's regularly employed for era-specific "Appearing Nightly at the Copacabana" lobby-card-ish announcements and by and large it's serviceable, if not particularly interesting. But, just in case you find yourself in need of a two skinny chicks whispering near the coke mirror, late 70's, Los Angeles sort of vibe, set it tight in all-caps with almost no line spacing. Suggested pairing: Univers Light Extra Condensed.

A Very Short Attention Span

Regrets, I Have a Few

Are you better suited for starting things than you are for finishing them? Are you easily distracted? Do you find it hard to concentrate on any one thing when there are so many other things to check out? Yeah, us too.

To Every Season

Blind Faith

Legends of the Fall, a film we made high above north central Wisconsin in October. The "Fire Spotter" Edition of Field Notes sold out almost immediately but if you trust us to keep making fun, new editions (and the Spring release that's going to be announced in a week or two is plenty fun and completely new) you can sign up for a Colors Subscription now based on blind faith. That way you'll save a few bucks and be sure to get the next four releases, starting with Spring and extra goodies too. Afraid of commitment? Make sure you're on the Field Notes mail list, folks there always get first crack at new products.

Verse By Voice

Poetry After the Beep

On a whim, we asked people to read their favorite short poems into our answering machine for a project we called Verse By Voice. And they did, creating maybe the first-ever poetry meme. To get the idea, make sure to listen to novelist Zadie Smith reading Frank O'Hara's Animals.

Note: we didn't include what is surely not Christopher Walken reading EE Cummings, but that's worth a listen too. Jim talked about this project during his appearance on Public Radio's Hello Beautiful! and the photos are courtesy of Sam Javanrouh's unstoppable Daily Dose of Imagery.

Search Different

For Sale:
1 Billion Dollars

While it's only a couple years old, it's social power and technical innovation makes it a bargain for any cash-rich tech company looking to expand their reach and ecosystem. For a quick billion dollars your company can own the jewel of the next generation of search and change the way people find things on The Internet. "Never Not Find What You’re Looking For Again" with E-Z-Fynd. Secret Himalayan headquarters included, plus Peppermints! From CP Labs, the folks that brought you The RinseCam 9000™, so you know it's good. Serious inquiries only please.

JC at Creative Mornings

What Are You
Afraid Of?

Here's Jim's recent presentation from the inaugural edition of Chicago Creative Mornings. Thanks to Tina, Mig, Gravity Tank and everyone who showed up.

May Guests Sonnenzimmer

Making It Up
As They Go

Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi (nn) first met while interning at Punk Planet Magazine and The Bird Machine, two of Chicago's most beloved cultural institutions. Following their work there, they decided to open a studio together in 2006, naming it Sonnenzimmer. It's there that Nadine realized she really just wanted to make posters with no type on them, despite years of typography education in her native Switzerland. Nick, who studied graphic design, found that he just wanted to make paintings. Their firm now merges typography, printmaking, graphic design and fine art to create hand-crafted posters, books, and music packaging for a wide array of projects and clients. They're particularly proud of their work with Chicago's bustling free jazz and improvised music community, finding a place where experimentation and abstraction are both respected and demanded. That said, we're expecting lots of interesting and varied links as Nick and Nadine step in as our Guest Editors for May.

A list of all the brilliant people who have helped us by guest editing Fresh Signals can be found here.

Other recent features are listed on Page Two.

Fresh Signals

Codex 99 on The Esquire Pin-Up Calendar. Not safe for work if you boss disapproves of girls in their underwear with umbrellas near a pot-belly stove. jc-today

For BB, camera cookie cutters. dw-today

Field Notes in action, and with two different people at Chicago's Field Museum. jc-today

Vladimir Nabokov, John Philip Sousa and Andy Warhol, together at last, on the surface of Mercury. sd-today

Corn too beautiful to eat, thanks to good ol' genetics! bb-today

Director James Winters' tribute to MCA: Sabotage starring kids. sd-today

Definitely the most entertaining documentary you'll watch all week, if not month/year: A Brief History of John Baldessari, narrated by Tom Waits. sd-today

How Parisians Mess with New Zealanders. sd-today

Some help with the last link: some CB lingo bb-today

From my new favorite blog: MO'C's CB Calling Cards (NSFW). bb-today

Amazing hyper-graphic screen prints by Leo Maranz, the founder of Tastee Freeze. nn-today

Relink for Coop. The funniest thing a parent will ever read. "Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass." Ian Frazier's Laws Concerning Food and Drink. kg-today

Tangentially related to the last. The trailer for Ryan Woodward's animated graphic novel Bottom of the Ninth looks amazing. More about this ambitious project here. jc-today

Fourteen sketches of Major League ballparks by Gene Mack for The Sporting News, 1946-47. What ever happened to this sort of editorial cartooning? So great. jc-today

Statement from McSweeney's Chairman Regarding Recent Losses, by Ben Greenman. jc-today

"Make yourself suffer, you swine." Jedermann bike races in Germany. jc-today

On the shore of an idyllic white sanded beach in New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula rests an elegant hut. dw-yesterday

Very cool. Ditto uses 3D imaging to help you shop for sunglasses. Via Ryan Singer. jc-yesterday

Most of Man Ray's work is locked up at an auto body shop on Long Island. Can I borrow $20 million? bb-yesterday

Bird vs. Snake, Human saves both. Via Book of Joe. ms-yesterday

29% Blue, 1% Checked. dw-yesterday

Collider reports Terrence Malick's next film has been titled To the Wonder. jc-yesterday

Vintage photos of exotic pets. dw-yesterday

Star Wars Reykjavik Invasion. Via The Khooll. ms-yesterday

Everyone is. ms-yesterday

"My theory is that it dates from the 18th century and the silver mines in Mexico, because in those mines the word 'taco' referred to the little charges they would use to excavate the ore." A professor at the University of Minnesota attempts to answer the question, "Where Did the Taco Come From?" sd-yesterday

Abbey Road Walkcycles. sd-yesterday

Local note. The spinach for Big Delicious Planet's salads today were picked this morning from their urban farm, right next to the Canteen. Yum. Hubbard and Wolcott, check it out. jc-yesterday

A really great triple decker gig poster for Jack White, designed and printed by Matthew Jacobson and Bryce McCloud. sd-yesterday

"Don't use an exclamation mark in a moment of anger. If you insert one in a fit of temper, lay aside the letter until morning. You will be surprised how silly it will seem then -- not only the exclamation mark but the whole letter." —James Thurber. jc-yesterday

By taking a closer look at Shakespeare's words – specifically his insults – we see why he is known as a master playwright whose works transcend time and appeal to audiences all over the world. dw-yesterday

FotA Jessica Hische's book covers for Barnes & Noble's classics series. sd-yesterday

"During the Games an aircraft carrier will dock on the Thames. Surface-to-air missile systems will scan the skies. Unmanned drones, thankfully without lethal missiles, will loiter above the gleaming stadiums and opening and closing ceremonies. RAF Typhoon Eurofighters will fly from RAF Northolt. A thousand armed US diplomatic and FBI agents and 55 dog teams will patrol an Olympic zone partitioned off from the wider city by an 11-mile, £80m, 5,000-volt electric fence." A look at the security for the 2012 London Olympics. ms-yesterday

Time-lapse map of Europe, "fast forwarding from 1000 AD until 2005 showing shifting borders, alliances, unions, territories, occupied land etc." Via Orbiting Frog. jc-yesterday

Aerial Nudes. Nuff said. Via Feature Shoot. jc-yesterday

Cool Hunting visits Michael Shindler's tintype portrait studio in SF. Fascinating. jc-yesterday

The 20th Century in color, as demonstrated by crayons, by Adrian Walsh. Via Quipsologies. jc-yesterday

Dinah Fried, a RISD grad student, knows what book you should read. jc-yesterday

"In May of 2011, Neil Young drove a 1956 Crown Victoria from his idyllic hometown of Omemee, Ontario to downtown Toronto's iconic Massey Hall where he intimately performed the last two nights of his solo world tour. Along the drive, Young recounted insightful and introspective stories from his youth to filmmaker Jonathan Demme." Trailer for the documentary Journeys. ms-yesterday

The world's tallest LEGO tower. ms-05.14

Page Two contains the previous 40 Fresh Signals, recent features, a key to the icons and the categorical archives.

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