What's All This Then?
This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce. [Next]
What's All This Then?
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Wednesday Edition
A full hour of beautiful, just beautiful things.
Jim on Hello Beautiful on Chicago Public Radio.
Coudal Partners
Field Notes Colors Subscriptions
A digital still camera, a shopping trip to a craft store, some moss and a shiny pop song from a band from Canberra, Australia who we found through Twitter. Those and about 30 hours are the ingredients that made up this video about our first year of Field Notes COLORS. Thanks a million to Margaret Helen King for Amen.
How Smart Are Your People?
Check Out the Big Brain on Brad
Our logic puzzlers are perfect for starting arguments at home or at work. Einstein's Fish, School of Government, Da Vinci's Other Code and, of course, Which Porn Star Ate the Most Hot Dogs? C'mon Brainiac, let's show 'em what you got.
Vox Vocis
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. Make sure to listen to novelist Zadie Smith reading Frank O'Hara's Animals and Laura Demanski reading Gerard Manley Hopkins' Spring and Fall. 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 Daily Dose of Imagery.
Vehicle ID System Update
I Brake For Quasi-Religious Symbols
We have word that recently two readers in New York, who followed our guidelines for updating their vehicle identification systems, pulled up alongside each other at a traffic light and celebrated their common bond by honking and pointing. Excellent. Our plot is beginning to take hold. Write for yours free today, but hurry, we only have tens of thousands left.
A Retail Experiment
Today Is Not Wednesday
We're all about experimenting with stuff. Recently Michele came up with a totally simple idea for a promotion for our Field Notes Brand. We've done dozens of "buy two get one free" and "save $10" and "free shipping" offers over the past couple years but this time we decide to do something completely straightforward, without any preconditions, and make it as simple as possible. Here's what we offered. Results? We booked hundreds of orders and only a very few people bought a really cheap thing, like three pins from Pinsetter for $3, in order to get the $10 freebie. (We're looking at you Norway.) Anyhow, as with everything else it seems, simple always wins. Maybe we'll do it again someday. Maybe we won't. Subscribe to our mail list at the bottom of the right hand column to find out.
A CP Film Copy Goes Here
How Do You Spell Courage?
For the proper effect, check the trailer first and then please take a few minutes (eleven actually) to watch our short feature film about words, pictures and bravery, Copy Goes Here. In case you missed it, here's what our home page looked like when we debuted the movie.
a short film that seems longer
Long Day’s Journey Out of Iowa
Our Steve Delahoyde is a man with an iron will. An iron will, a subcompact, a girlfriend and an idea on how to make a regular drive more, er, interesting. Note: All the driving worked. Claire and Steve are now Mr. and Mrs..
Two For The Dead
All Hallows’
It's often lost in the candy-coated, super-styled proceedings of the holiday, but Halloween is really all about departed souls and dealing with loss. Also for Halloween, Jason Santa Maria has collected some short writings on the subject of candy. Jim has contributed a warning in verse. Heed this well, young costumed beggars.
Einstein's Puzzler
Whose Fish?
An annual tradition. It's never too early to start planning what your family is going to argue about at this year's Christmas party. Enjoy the day and remember, our Albert Einstein's Fish Puzzle is available as a nice-looking, free, printable PDF file. It's perfect for proving to your Uncle George that he's not all that, brain-power wise, and it's certainly more enjoyable that talking about health care.
Vermouth and Beauty
Perfect
Many things are debated in this studio: Politics. Sports. Books. Film. Especially film. While there may be room for argument on this subject, there's very little room for vermouth. We're not sure why you'd want to, but if you'd rather order up something different from the bartender, you'll find a ton of ideas in our huge collection of Friday Drink Links.
Not Quite so
Fresh Signals
A pulpapalooza, 1686 Carter Brown paperback covers.
RIP Bruce Graham, architect of The Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.
You're Not Funny by Earl Pomerantz.
Relink. "70 workers are building a wooden 4 x 12 m 'digital' time display in real time: a work that involves 1611 changes within 24 hour period. Seamlessly documented and shot on HD video, a 24 hours movie or clock is now available." Standard Time by Mark Formanek.
Am amazing house in the trees.
So you know, a very brief history of the pocket.
Chile, nine days later.
Youtube closes down for the night.
Apples in Stereo presents Exploring the Universe with actor and/or Chair of the Physical Science and Physical Education department of Drain Creek Middle School, Elijah Wood.
Music vid of the moment: DJ Stern's Manouche.
Put your special 3*Type glasses on now and read that FotA Ben Greenman has just unveiled unveiled the future of print print.
"I half-smile as she slides the book back to me, and signal for another beer. I am going to need it." Former Field-Tested Books contributor Jay Hathaway had another story to tell, this time of spending his last few dollars in fancy NYC bars while reading John Cheever. Have your own memory of a certain book in a certain place? Send it in!
So great, a re-envisioning of the beloved childhood classic for the Star Wars fan, Goodnight Forest Moon.
The Toronto Museum Project explores the history of the City of Toronto by telling 100 intimate stories about 100 objects and artifacts from the city's 150,000-item historical collection.
Uncle Jack, a short film-as-promotion for Pentax's new video-shooting DSLR. Directed by Ink's Jamin Winans. Via Denver Egotist.
So you know, how to upgrade your original 1984 Macintosh to run Snow Leopard.
Falling in love with vintage farm ads, tractors, land ownership, and more.
For BB, second trailer for The Runaways.
Accidentally running through this field at night, would have pretty much guaranteed a heart attack for me.
The Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever, utilizing the overly explanatory speech Steven Soderbergh developed for Schizopolis.
Mike Barzman's slow-motion destruction fest, Pink Terror. Maybe Barzman was the same guy who was throwing all that stuff at the band Tortoise in Salt the Skies.
"Enter a number and I'll tell you everything you wanted to know about it but were afraid to ask." Number Gossip.
DEVO's Focus Group Color Study.
So you know, 137 years of Popular Science magazines are now available online.
Song of the moment, Reni Lane's Place For Us.
Still life with coffees.
Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment. How about that?
If you missed it Friday take a few minutes to check the third Layer Tennis Exhibition Match. Photos were shot and uploaded live from all over San Francisco and Toronto while a composer created a soundtrack on the fly.
A brief homage to Franklin Gothic from MoMA. Via Dinosaurs and Robots.
"Wolfe showing up to many meetings with freshly-written material, which Perkins would read, admire, and mostly cut." On this day in 1935 Thomas Wolfe's Of Time and the River was published.
"Can we call ourselves an institution yet?" The sixth edition of The Morning News Tournament of Books kicks off today.
Hollywood gets it right, for the most part.
Welcome to Google, Kansas.
Second trailer for Iron Man 2.
The graphic design of racing cars and Sven Voelker's Go Faster.
Back to the Cover Page.
Find a JobIcon Key
What all those little square icons in Fresh Signals mean.
A post from our monthly guest editor. The complete
listing af all the people we owe favors can be found here.
We love these products so much we even paid for them.
A post with this icon may well end up in our Museum of Online Museums.
About Depth of Field.
Not to be missed.
A Friday Drink Link. Hic.
Film feed. Short attention span video theater.
Having to do with our Field Notes Brand.
What we just talked about at lunch.
A Thing We Made:Field Notes
Field Notes Brand memo Books and more. "I'm not writing it down to remember it later. I'm writing it down to remember it now." A CP/DDC joint.
Some Other Things We Made:
We hated the options available for custom packaging DVDs and CDs so we created a brand that gives creative professionals and hobbyists the tools to make great stuff. Here's a bit from the latest Jewelboxing weblog entry:
"If you want something that isn't available or doesn't exist, there's no reason not to just make it yourself." Read the entire post.
Pinsetter: Spell with buttons.
The Deck Network. Interested in getting your product or service in front of millions of savvy, curious remarkably good-looking people? Give a shout.
