The Prestige
February 28, 2007
The magician’s notebook is very important. In it are drawings, and notes about the trick. (The Illusionist has a detail drawings of the ‘Orange Tree’ trick.) The use of the notebook visually in the film is a device.
Alfred and, I assume, most magicians writes theirs in a secret code. Robert, Alfred’s rival, tries to get the code to steal the trick. Later on Alfred gives Robert the code “TESLA”, which reveals that the notebook is actually a diary Alfred has been keeping about his affairs with the beautiful Oliver, Robert’s former assistant. A very cleaver form of deceit.
My wife and I watched this film. After wards, we talked about the intricacies of deceit.
My research into: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prestige
reveals:
“The novel is structured essentially into two halves. Both are first-person accounts of the lives of the two protagonists, first Alfred Borden, then Robert Angier. There is also an interlude between the two sections, a prologue and an epilogue, which are all set in the modern day and involve a meeting between the only two remaining descendants of the characters.
The novel is epistolary in structure; that is, it purports to be a collection of real diaries that were kept by the protagonists and later collated”.
“Alfred Borden and Robert Angier rise to become world-renowned stage magicians. Early in their careers, they meet and a bitter feud develops as they constantly try to out-do, and even sabotage, the other’s acts. The frame story involves the great-grandchildren of Borden and Angier and their investigations into how their own lives have been affected by their ancestors’ conflict. The events of the past are revealed primarily through each of the magicians’ diaries.”
Toni Haye’s Epica
February 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by gadget8me2.
I absolutely love the Epica journals. I have maybe 50 journals altogether and it’s mostly a result of looking for that perfect one but having it never be quite right. Since I found the Epica journals though, they are all I use. I don’t write in anything else…..ever! My first one was the 6X9 extra thick (its the perfect size and feels like an old bible in your hands) I filled that one up and then I got the 8×10 handcut (it’s cut so the page ends are kind of staggered giving it that old world look). I use the 8×10 to write in notes on a book I’m researching. Then when I filled up the 6×9 book I got another one because I use these as a regular journal. You can really jam a lot of stuff into it without the spine breaking (granted you may need a band to keep it closed but the spine will not break) I advise against stuffing too much into the book though because it can become a monster and it will stretch! It just won’t break. I also have the smaller 6×8 handcut journal that I use strictly as a work journal. I work in a lab and I bought it on my first day of work and I write everything in it from office spats to what I’m doing in the lab that day. I usually write in it when I first get to work in the morning. Then lastly, I have the monster 4 inch thick 8×10 super thick handcut journal they just made. This thing was expensive and to be honest I haven’t really done anything with it yet but I had to have it!
The cost is rather expensive but for the 6×9 extra thick journals it’s about $90 and I would say that it’s worth every bit! It will last forever and you will be the envy of your friends. Buy that one and tell me you don’t love it! I know this is a lot but hey you asked! lol
-Toni Hayes
Check out her blog with ancient writing machines: analogscribble.blogspot.com
This post was featured on notebookism.com/2007/03/toni_hayes_epic
tags: Epica, journal, leather journal, Epica journal, notebooks,
Index card book marks
February 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by naynay25.
Index Card Book Marks. Great idea. good for taking notes as you go when you’re reading a book. For the Perservationist, the index cards allows you to write the page number of pertinant subjects that you would like to index.
Let’s bring back the whole index system. Let’s go retro and re instate the due date cards. That was a really handy tool to remind me when my books were over due.
Papa’s Diary
February 28, 2007
Yesterday, I found this page perusing through notebookism. It was buried deep in the annals of the blog. With Matt’s permission I post it here again. The some of the entries are like poems. I couldn’t stop reading it. There are reference and and place where Matt is trying to slove the mysteries of Dr. Thom, Zionist Club, and others. He has ask for anyone who knows anything about them to write to him.
Duc:
Since people seem interested in the physical diary my grandfather wrote in, I published a page all about it. I though you might like to know. It’s at:
http://papasdiary.blogspot.com/2007/01/diary.html
Hope you like it.
Matt
telegraph news about war diary
ISphoto
February 27, 2007
Originally uploaded by ISphoto.
Iacopo Sassarini
took this picture with a phone cam, Sony Ericson K. I’ve looked at this photograph a few time. It has a candid capture atmosphere.
I asked Iacopo how he capture this image:
Hi,
sure! I was traveling back home from office on my usual train. That guy was sitting in front of me and he was reading his book. I liked his posture and i liked the fact that i probably could be able to take an interesting image out of such a very common scene…so i started playing with my phone and I finally took that picture 
Ciao,
Iacopo
Commonplace Book
February 26, 2007
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace
I’ve always wonder what is Commonplace book and how to keep one. This book has a lot of history packed into it. George’s small writing makes me want to peer close to the page. There are numbers, codes, and different color systems of text. What does the red line delineate?
update: 3/15/07
I am thinking about an electronic form of a commonplace book. It’ll be a blog with the ability to tag categories. Each entries will have a quotation with the appropriate category tag.
Update: 3/21/07 I’m thinking of using 3×5 or 4×6 cards to capture the quotes because usually, I don’t like to quote more then what can fit in a 4×6. I’ll use the Rollabind or Circa discs to organize the cards.
Related posts:
tags: commonplace book, book, filofax, paper, notebook, binder, quotations
Amalfi
February 26, 2007
tags: Epica, Journal, Porche, notebook, travel,
(above is a picture from Epica)
Let’s go to Amalfi. I’m tired of the rainy Oregon weather. I like this photograph because it has a sense of adventure, travel, and luxury. When I first came across this, it took me by surprise as the general look of Epica is very traditional.
Epica has a line of hand-made paper from the Italy region of Amalfi. I remember first time hearing about this region was in a GQ magazine. At the time, it was a great travel destination for the trend setters. It was their new “secret spot”. Little did I know that there is a great ancient tradition of paper making that dates back to the 14th century.
“The Amalfi coast is famed for its production of Limoncello liqueur and home-made paper used throughout Italy for wedding invitations.”
Since 1380, the Amalfi mills have produced paper from fine cottons; using the first developed methods from the Medieval Ages. Historically, Amalfi cost is renown as the finest paper mill in Europe. Today, there are only two such paper mills on the coast of Italy. Epica imports the paper and the pages are bound by hand. One of the first city in Italy, perhaps Europe, to make paper. The Museum of Paper is dedicated to the city’s craft.
Sources: http://touritaly.org/magazine/amalfi03.htm
tags: Epica, journal, leather journal, Epica journal, notebooks,
An Epic Friday
February 23, 2007
It’s been an uneventful morning until I open up my gmail on this fine Friday. Thank you Tari (and the fine folks at Epica) for your Generousity!! Some times I feel like a monk with an alm bowl extended asking for samples of luxuries. I’ve asked Epica to sample one of their fine fine journals and I’m excited to report that Tari has agreed to let me have one of the journal to review. I look forward to having the journal to sample and write about it here. It’s an adventure. Sometimes we are affraid to ask for what we want in life. I am terrified of rejections. But I think that now I must earn it through hard work.
I came across this bit of about the Benedictine libraries and their use that I wanted to share.
The vow of poverty forbade individual monks from owning books (Christ, 19)
The use of the library by monks and nuns was regulated by Benedictine Rule, which permitted only one borrowing per year, at the beginning of Lent. Otherwise, books were distributed each morning and returned each evening (Christ, 45)
The librarian was a well-educated monk who reported directly to the abbot (Christ, 27)
The installation of a libraian was a festive religious rite (Christ, 19)
Sources: http://www.csuohio.edu/english/nr1.html
tags: Epica, journal, leather journal, Epica journal, notebooks,
Epica I
February 22, 2007
(above is a picture of a journal entry from Elijah Allen Scheidler, in his Epica journal. He started the journal addressed to his unknown future wife. His testimonial is about how his search for love, when documented in a journal, began to change his life and character for the better. Elijah’s penmanship is amazing.)
The Epic continues…I had a post earlier about Epica which I found through a fellow Flickr, Toni. I read a testimonial from Tracy. She bought an Epica journal for her husband’s journey to Iraq. It will be an important journal for him to document his experience for their children. It’s a touching tale and I conjure up images of Penelope sending her Odysseus off from the shores of Ithaca. I haven’t left these shores for a long time. Either did Emily Dickinson. Just because I’m not a regular traveller doesn’t mean that I don’t have thoughts to write about. Emily Dickinson stayed in her modest family house in Amherst and day dreamed upon the pages of her journal. She wrote over a thousand poems. Only a hand-full of her prodigious works were published posthumously. Upon her death, her family found 40 hand-bound volumes of more than 1700 of her poems. Why am I drawing allusions to ancient times? Perhaps I’ve been looking at Epica‘s journal and dreaming lately. I’m no poet or warrior, but I like to think that my notes are important to me. I’ve day dreamed too and scribbled on my modest and now faded journal. Sometimes, I regret not using a durable and precious journal to preserve my memories. Reading ‘Leaving a Trace‘, has encouraged me to upgrade my journal to a precious format.
Years and pages of writing that have fade away or not cherished in a journal like Epica is a pity. I remember an old girlfriend showing me a simple spiral and tattered notebook that she carries about with her for comfort. In it are writings from her mother when she was convalescing after an illness which eventually took her life. I remember thinking, if she had a better quality journal she could have preserved her words to her children. I like to use Douglas Johnston’s model to evaluate something that is expensive and justify a purchase. There’s a fine Ration of Value of money and the Ratio of use. (I think it’s similar to the mortage business Loan to Value Ratio.) Will such an item be used often? A journal will be used everyday and then saved and cherished for years to come. A beautiful journal will encourage more writing. Mr. Johnston also wrote about how to break the barrier of preciousness and begin the writing or drawing, and use of a precious journal. Look at Toni’s journals. They are filled with writing, cut and paste, maps, wine tasting adventures, grape juices and life. She’s always tauting how tough it is. Tony writes “I jam all kinds of things into these books and they can take a beating!“. That stuff adds life to a calcified page. How, over time, the book, the contents, personal dreams and writings, will elevate a book journal into more then something about price. The journal can become priceless. Divide the cost of such a journal into 365 days of the year. A $100 journal will cost .27 cent a day; less then a candy bar?!?!
I found this book of drawings about Emily Dickenson: pomegranate.stores.yahoo.net/a129.html
tags: Epica, journal, leather journal, Epica journal, notebooks,
Chet’s Custom Circa 3×5 and A6 size
February 22, 2007
Doesn’t this look like a perfect marriage of Apple and Circa?
Chet has a wonderful site on Wordpres:
http://chatter.chetscorner.com
She likes Pandas and does good work to help them.
Update: notebookism.com/2007/02/gift_from_leven. Congratz Chet, enjoy your prize I’m sure you’ll put it to good use.
The “Bookography” comes in two sizes, Letter and Junior, or Classic size. I had thought about an index version and how would it look? The above pictures are inspirations. Perhaps there should be a version of Bookography in leather folded over circa index size?!?! I’m working on a version of my own to be revealed at a later date.
