Count the Ways With Field Notes

We made a red one. And this film to go with it. Get some for your main squeeze from Field Notes.

When you're your own client, and there's no one to step all over your ideas, what happens? Well for us anyhow, we wind up with a series of promotional films that hardly ever mention the product, or only mention it tangentially. Fire Spotter, Northerly, Monona County Fair. Hmm, maybe we're onto something?

A CP Film Above the Sun

And God Was Alone With Him

"One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen." —Rene Daumal. Why did we do it? Because it is there. Or was anyhow. Presenting Above the Sun, a true story. Local Note: the film was part of Tom Skilling's blizzard special "Snowed Under," on WGN which also ran again on the anniversary of the storm.

Collections Department

Winter at The Museum of Online Museums

The Winter Exhibitions are now live at The MoOM. It's a big update with lots of variety including The Internet Movie Cars Database, Sneezecount, 9000 TV Channel Logos and The Computer History Museum, where we found the above image, from The Take Out Beverage Lids Gallery. Plus, the second episode of our documentary series The Curators is coming soon. Consider joining our quasi-prestigious Board of Directors. There are virtually no benefits, snootiness or responsibilities, and as an added bonus, it isn't even tax free!

From Field Notes Brand

Northerlies

This film documents our latest project from the workshop. More on our newest limited release, "The Northerly Edition" at Field Notes. 3packs of this bright white and silver release are now sold out but there are still a few available as part of a COLORS subscription.

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.

I Think I Read That Somewhere

Field Tested Books

If, like us, your New Years resolutions include reading more and better books, 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.

Search Different

Search Different

We've been working on this new project in secret, keeping the window shades drawn tight and shredding the paperwork along the way. And now we can finally announce it. Say hello to the next generation of search, a new product that promises to change the way people find things on The Internet. "Never Not Find What You’re Looking For Again." Plus, Peppermints! From CP Labs, the folks that brought you The RinseCam 9000™, so you know it's good.

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 the last 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.

Oh This Old Thing?

Button Button

So you know. We've seen a little pick-up in Pinsetter orders lately so we thought we'd let you know that Pinsetter is still, um, setting pins.

This Plus This Equals That

Are You There Godsmack? It’s Me Margaret

This is the sort of thing that Twitter is especially good for, but a washroom full of chalkboard walls works too. A while ago we hosted a quick contest called Booking Bands in which we asked people to combine the name of a book with the name of a band. We received thousands of entries, posted a ton of them and then randomly selected three and sent those people the book and a CD from the band that they mashed together. The process of coming up with funny or unexpected associations in this contest became a central part of a presentation that JC gave at SXSW.

Poetry After the beep

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.

February Guest Megan Stielstra

Story Time

Megan Stielstra (mgs) is a Chicago-based writer and expert of all things literary. She spends her days teaching at both Columbia College and the University of Chicago, as well as serving as the Literary Director of the the popular storytelling series, 2nd Story (if you've never been to one, do yourself a big favor and go). Her story collection, Everyone Remain Calm was published to rave reviews in October, and her fiction and essays have appeared in places like Other Voices, Punk Planet, and Monkeybicycle, among many others. A regular at literary events, Megan has told stories at Steppenwolf, Chicago Public Radio, the Goodman Theater, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Online, you can find Megan at her site, on Twitter at @meganstielstra, and in one of her latest projects, Times Are Tough All Over (more info here). And for the month of February, you can find her right here, graciously stepping in as our Guest Editor.

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

Music vid of the moment, M. Ward's The First Time I Ran Away. ms-yesterday

And the week is done, now that North Korea and A-Ha intersect. Oh internets, how I love thee so..... ms-02.03

Can't make any friends? SocialCobra.com will buy them for you. Are corporate social media executives writing these guys checks from their personal accounts to keep their jobs? bb-02.03

A visual representation of the constitutions of classic cocktails. ms-02.03

Jamie 37 and I are fans of DigitalRev and Kai's silly but insightful camera reviews, he's put out this great video about Street Photography Dos and Donts. bb-02.03

Apparently, only to be seen in Canada but it sure beats any Super Bowl commercial I've seen so far this year, BudweiserCanada's Flash Fans. For BB, MJ, and JC. ms-02.03

"One of the sublime moments of life..." McMillian mixing the King of Cocktails. jc-02.03

Friday Drink Links, bottoms up. jc-02.03

Thibault de Fournas and Christopher Wilson's lovely animated ode to the typeface, Futura Le Specimen Animé. Via The Casual Optimist. jc-02.03

You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands. mgs-02.03

John Pavlus for Fast Company on our Red-Blooded video. Thanks for that. jc-02.03

Field Notes in action, and in the workshop for HGTV's "Kitchen Cousins." jc-02.03

The Art of the Sentence series at Tin House unpacks famous literary lines. Most recently, Virginia Woolf. mgs-02.03

Stacking Green, a vertical garden. mgs-02.03

Rarely seen footage of The Clash at The Palladium in NYC from 1979. "A sublime slice of rock history." I'll say. #TOBTM jc-02.03

"Some agencies go paint-balling together, or quad biking, group bonding days... We invite everyone to come and dress up and get into character for a day." The Isobel Agency's Fantastic Christmas Cards. Bravo. jc-02.03

"...we've put together a gallery of the original packaging art to the G.I. Joe action figures... and sent Chris Sims and resident fashionista Bethany Fong into the trenches to see who has the most style!" G.I. Joe Fashion. Via Mefi. jc-02.03

Trailer for On The Ice. ms-02.03

"In other words to be fully awake to everything about you & the more you learn the more you can appreciate & get a full measure of joy & happiness out of life. I do not think a young fellow should be too serious, he should be full of the Dickens some times to create a balance." A letter to 16 year-old Jackson Pollack from his pretty spectacular Dad. ms-02.03

An early entry into the Friday Drink Links, Das Beer Boot commercial. I really don't even know what to say about this... just watch it. mcj-02.02

Tineke Meirink finds hidden images in photos of everyday things. mgs-02.02

When you're your own client, and there's no one to step all over your ideas, what happens? Well for us anyhow, we wind up with a series of three promotional films that hardly ever mention the product, or only mention it tangentially. Fire Spotter, Northerly, Red-Blooded. Hmm, maybe we're onto something? jc-02.02

Relink. Everything and I mean everything that you ever wanted to know about International Heraldry and Heralds. jc-02.02

Teaser for the animated Le Meurtre by Cube Creative. Fascinating style. Via Yewknee. jc-02.02

"...'This is the prettiest manhole [I have] ever seen,' could lead to some dirty minded readers misconstruing the point." The Art of the Japanese Manhole. mgs-02.02

"Building an extreme sport from scratch is no easy task." The budding sport of wall trampoline. mgs-02.02

"'I think it's my most... skillful film,' Stanley Kubrick stated in his calm, equanimous voice, the day after screening the first assembly of A Clockwork Orange." Mike Kaplan tells the story of being there in 1971. jc-02.02

"Artists bring what schools need." Nick Radkin of the Teaching Artist Research Project on the future of education. There's a panel discussion on the 15th as well. mgs-02.02

Analog audio equipment made of paper. mgs-02.02

"Some of the ladies talked about going to the hairdresser," Mayor Pons said. "But the hairdresser won, too. And she said, 'I'm not working today.' So that ended that." Just about an entire town in Spain wins the lottery. ms-02.02

TED announces worldwide auditions in 14 countries on six continents, crowd-sourcing at least half of its 2013 program. mgs-02.02

24-packs of awesome temporary robot-heart tattoos in time for Valentines Day. For the 24 kids in your son's class, or the 24 ladies you'd like to... woo? mgs-02.02

Cool old trucks, especially this one. jc-02.02

Chalet Béranger in the French Alps, by architect Noé Duchaufour Lawrance. Sublime. jc-02.02

OK Go helps the kiddos learn about Primary Colors. ms-02.02

From photographer Alan Sailer, Explosions. ms-02.02

"I suspect that a consultant has convinced too many companies that it's best to have as few moving parts as possible and therefore the future will be all about unsatisfying pokes and swipes at lifeless stretches of glass." Touching the Void, by Tyler Brûlé. jc-02.02

Draft of the public service announcement for the Fair Housing Alliance. ms-02.02

Kabuki disco metal outfit Kiss is like Star Wars, in that even if they're just a sad licensing empire today, conventional wisdom insists they were awesome in the '70s. Well, here's proof Kiss was just as terrible 33 years ago. bb-02.01

Clock for an Astronomer and Clock for an Architect, by Daniel Weil. Via Things. jc-02.01

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

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