Another screenshot, this time from Episode 1 of the Dirk Gently TV series [1]Episode 1, I thought, was not as good as the pilot from 2010. There are several pencils in this episode. One of them is easy to identify and plays an important role: it’s being used for shading paper to reveal a message.
The TV series seems to be loosely based on the book, with different episodes picking up different plots from Douglas Adams’ book (at least that’s the impression I have so far, after watching the pilot and episode 1. Future episodes might be different).
Update: 11 March 2012: Today would have been Douglas Adams’ 60th birthday.
The photo of the pencil has been taken from episode 1 of the Dirk Gently TV series. I believe that the use of this image falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.
What a shame – my local pen shop, Platts of Preston, will cease trading end of next week. I bought a few nice pens there and my wife’s favourite pen for years, the Lamy Pico, was bought there. I overheard the shopkeeper telling another customer that the new lease for the shop would cost £800 per week – which might be acceptable for some locations, but to me sounds ridiculously expensive for a shop that is in the location this shop is in a city the size of Preston.
They will continue to trade at plattspens.co.uk and I wish them the best of luck for their future.
In a previous blog post from 2010 I had a look at Banditapple’s notebooks (carnets). What happened since then? Banditapple released a few limited edition carnets. Another interesting development is that the manufacturing process of the next generation of Banditapple carnets uses less chlorine while VOCs were reduced, too … and the new version of these notebooks is out. The current generation (2G) of notebooks is available in three colours: Gingerbread, Manuka Honey and Finland Pine.
Since I’ve been very happy with the 1G carnets and use them regularly at work I asked Arnie, the man behind Banditapple, whether I can order a few of the 2G carnets directly from him as he does not have an online shop yet. To cut a long story short, in the end he send me four of the new notebooks and I only had to pay the postage (€5, ~$6.65; £4.20). The package he sent to me last year only took a few days to arrive, but unfortunately it wasn’t treated very well by one of the postal services involved. Luckily, after storing the maltreated 2G carnets under some heavy books, they were (nearly) back in shape. I specifically asked for the tablet sized notebooks as I find this to be the most suitable size for daily use, at least for my purposes.
The peewee sized notebooks (9×14 cm) are ₩2500 each (~£1.40; $2.20; €1.70).
The tabled sized notebooks (13×12 cm) are ₩4000 each (~£2.30; $3.60; €2.70).
CdA edelweiss, Stabile LeftRight, Staedtler Wopex, M&G AMP33701 and Pelikan Souverän 605 on a 2G carnet
The new notebooks are still sewn, not stapled and the cover is still made from coloured paper, something I like very much as this enables me to label the notebooks using a white pencil [1]Like the Faber-Castell Goldfaber Heft&Tafel 1133 or the Eberhard Faber 1410 in white.. The paper quality of the 2G carnets is possibly even better than the quality of the previous generation. It copes very well with ink and I cannot think of a paper that is better in terms of erasing graphite without leaving traces.
1G Hanoi Red (used) and the new 2G colours
Conclusion
A great, but difficult to get notebook.
Prices and exchange rates: February 2012.
Paperandco, an online shop from Paris still has a few of the 1G carnets in Hanoi Red and Saigon Black in stock.
The official Banditapple website and blog can be found here.
