Ninth Wave Designs

Pencil Monkey: Diastema's Flickr Photoset

I came across this picture, entitled Easily Distracted, in the highly entertaining Flickr account belonging to photographer Diastema.  Since it features a Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil I figured it was almost close enough to being on topic to mention it here.  On topic or not, these photos are worth seeing.
 

This great image is part of a much larger (284 images and growing) photoset entitled Toys, which in standard Flickr frittering-of-time style has distracted me this morning.  This collection of photographs involves any number of small plastic animals in colorful and curious settings, and is nothing short of a visual treat.  I recommend viewing this set using the "View as Slideshow" option and leaving it to run in a continual loop in the background of your computer desktop.   That way you will have an animated wallpaper running throughout the day, with little visual treats between opening and closing programs.  It will be your own personal box of visual Good & Fruity.  Don't forget to brush afterwards!

For a smaller, more concentrated dose of visual goodness, see also her Circus Ursus Maritimus set HERE.  The plastic polar bears are mesmerizing - I could look at these photos all day long!  It is amazing to me how much emotion she is able to capture in these images of small inanimate objects.  Distema's work is one of the things that makes Flickr such a great place - there is always something new to discover when you should be doing something work related instead.

Enjoy!

Free Forest Choice Pencils!

I am running a special on the  Ninth Wave Designs Online store starting today.  You will receive a free box of 12 Forest Choice pencils made by California Republic (MSRP $2.95) when you buy the following pocket size Moleskine notebooks:

• Classic Pocket Info Notebook with Tabbed Pages.
• Classic Pocket Sketchbook with Heavy-weight Pages
• Classic Pocket Japanese Album
• Classic Small Memo Pockets
• Classic Pocket Storyboard Notebook
• Classic Pocket Music Notebook
• Classic Pocket Address Book with Tabbed Pages

You will get one dozen pencils free with each notebook purchased from the list above.  The pencils will automatically be added to your order.  You can see the detailed descriptions of these notebook styles in the Ninth Wave Design Online store HERE.  Forest Choice pencils are manufactured by California Republic, and are made from certified California incense cedar.  This renewable source of cedar is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, making for an environmentally responsible product.  They have a natural wood finish, with eraser tops in a metallic green ferrule.  You can read a detailed review of these pencils on the Pencil Revolution blog HERE.  This offer is limited to orders with US shipping destinations.

Forest Choice pencils are a great all-purpose pencil and write well on the pages of Moleskine notebooks.  Take this opportunity to get these great pencils with one of the creative formats of Moleskine notebooks listed above.  This is a limited offer, with just a few sets of pencils available, so make your purchase early to qualify.  I will update this post to let you know when all the available sets of pencils are gone.

UPDATE 11/1/06: This promotion has ended.

Cutting Corners: Moleskine / Battlestar Galactica Hack

I made a customized Cahier for a friend who is off to college for the first time.  He was kind enough to lend me Battlestar Galactica Season One and Season 2.0 on DVD to watch, so I was inspired by the stylized effect of the books in the show to create this Moleskine / Battlestar Galactica hack.  It is quite literally a hack, in that all I did was cut off the corners of a pocket and large size black squared Cahier using an X- Acto knife.  I added a sticker I made from a promo image from the show featuring the BG logo.

The use of cut corners throughout the BSG world is an interesting stylistic effect, being employed for all forms of paper, print media, picture frames, computer screens - you name it.  My friend is studying computer game programming, so I thought this Moleskine hack would give him some extra geek cred among the other programmers at his school, or at least provide a conversation starter.  Hopefully he will think of me when Season 2.5 becomes available too!

UPDATE 9/27/06:  Someone has recommended this post on the Frak Party blog, for possible party favors for your BSG season 3 launch party.  The rollover in the blog banner is worth the visit alone, but also be sure to see how to host your own Frak Party on the main website HERE.