It’s a robot! No, it’s a pencil sharpener!

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Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Please don’t assume I’m tired of pencils, dear reader — I use them every day.

I’m hoping to shift a bit and start posting more photos than text. I have a brand spankin’ new iPhone 4S with a great camera built in (see the robot holding the pencil above), and hope to take some shots of some of my new acquisitions.

I hate to be one of those bloggers who check in after months of inactivity just to give excuses of why they’ve been lax. But it seems I’m doing just that!

Meanwhile, a coworker brought in something that combines two of my favorite things: pencils and robots. And while it’s a fairly poor sharpener (his chest plate opens up to a sharpener that winds its feet as it sharpens), it’s a great desk prop, wouldn’t you say? Here he is holding one of my favorite notetaking pencils, a blue Palomino.

So don’t give up hope yet, my friends! I haven’t given up Woodclinched.

Pencils.com engages in a Klout perk *UPDATED*

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Two of my favorite things, as many of you know, are pencils and social media. Much of the time, these two interests don’t often converge. Sometimes, however, I get lucky and realize that it’s not just me spreading the love of pencils to my network.

The social innovators at Pencils.com recently ran a Klout Perk. In order to promote the Palomino Blackwing and their new Blackwing-themed microsite, Blackwing Experience, they gave away a limited number of Blackwing sampler packs (three PBs and three PB 602s) mix of introductory items to Klout members who meet the following criteria:

  • Those with a Klout score 50 or more
  • Those who are influential in these topics: actor, business, or gadgets

Unfortunately, that means I don’t qualify! (*sniff, sniff*). It’s all right. I don’t need a Klout Perk to spread the joy. UPDATE: See the comment from WoodChuck below to learn more about the selection process.

A lot of people don't know that I'm actually a time lord.

I’m also not entirely sure where they came up with those topics — I can only conclude that this was recommended to them by Klout (who have mysterious methods in picking influencing topics for users — as of right now. mine are time travel, sweater, and nonprofit).

Unfortunately, it looks like the Perk is closed. Sorry to those who didn’t get in quickly! I wonder to how many they limited the perk.

I know a couple of the people who took advantage of the perk — I’ll try to publish something here when they have a chance to try them out!

Music Video with pencils!

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A Facebook friend shared this music video with me. From the description on the video’s Vimeo page:

The new music video for ‘Against The Grain’ from emerging Melbourne indie-folk artist Hudson sees him collaborate with film maker/animator/VJ Dropbear (aka Jonathan Chong), producing a vibrant and colourful clip based around a mainstay from our humble artistic efforts throughout childhood – coloured pencils.

Beautiful! Make sure to hit the full-screen HD version, if your internet can handle it. It really looks amazing! Here’s the band’s Facebook page.

Woodclinched +

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Because I am supposed to be a social media strategist by day, and I’m trying to figure this Google Plus thing out, I created a Woodclinched G+ page! I’ll do my best to pioneer the Google + pencil presence.

If you happen to be on Google Plus, surf on by to follow! I’ll admittedly reaggregate posts that I make here, but also try to share some short linkables that I’ve run across.

Who knows? Maybe we can initiate some pencil related hang-outs!

Review of the Pencils.com Palomino-branded hardcover notebook

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About a month ago, Alex from Pencils.com was kind enough to send me a box of new paper products Pencils.com is selling — I wrote about them on this blog previously.

It’s been a month, and I’ve been using a few of those products pretty thoroughly. My very favorite is the hardcover Palomino Luxury Notebook, sized medium.

A contemporary of the Moleskine and its kin, I lament the passing of Black Cover, the blog in search of “the perfect little black notebook” that gained so much momentum in its fairly brief existence and its even briefer re-appearance early this year. Nick, the blogger, is a tremendous reviewer — I wonder if he ever got one to try!

In order to appreciate these little hardcover notebooks, you have to embrace the subtle differences. Relatively speaking, almost all of the $15-$20 5×8″ notebooks are generally the same quality, serve generally the same function, and are styled generally the same. I’ll try to highlight the differences here, as I see them:

Style and Features
The Palomino Notebook’s most obvious, and to me, the best difference between it and others is the orange stripe that runs along the spine. I love orange, and I especially love Palomino Orange (and Golden Bear orange). When I’m using one of those pencils, it makes a great match. When I’m not using one of those pencils, it still looks great on its own. What a difference a splash of color makes!

I love the orange spine on this notebook.

The little stitched pattern on the sides are nice, too — I’m not sure if it is a tribute to something, or is a style all its own, but it gives it the look of an old, hand-sewn Italian stitch.

Like a Moleskine it has a cover page spread where you can put your name and contact information in case you lose it. It’s on a really lovely heavyweight paper that just drinks in your ink (Yes, I used a pen to put my name on this page, since it should be permanent) and doesn’t bleed through.

Also like a Moleskine, it has a pocket in the back! It’s made out of what looks like folded-over tear-proof paper, so you can put some stuff back there (sometime I hoard cash in it, but don’t spread that around) without tear.

One feature lament: I really, really like gridded pages. I’d love to see a Palomino notebook sporting that option, besides the lined or plain pages currently offered.

Quality
It is of superb quality. It has more of a hardcover book-like binding the Moleskine, and though it’s a bit stiffer when I lay it out on a tabletop, it’s getting better, and I don’t feel like I’m pulling the paper out while doing it.

The paper itself is nice. In a discussion with John at PencilWrap.com, he mentioned that the paper was really smooth. Agreed. (Also, go check out his review of the “flex notebook” cahiers, because he took way better pictures than I did, and compared them side-by-side to the Moleskines!)

Though it’s very smooth, I felt like it had a bit of tooth, since it’s supposedly optimized for a pencil. A pleasure to write on, at least with a Palomino Blackwing 602, a Dixon Ticonderoga, and a Golden Bear, all three of which I’ve had with me this week.

I also think that the cover of the Palomino is better. It’s a bit more leathery, a bit more supple, and does not bubble up like some of my Moleskines have been known to do.

If, say, the Moleskine was the standard of which people use hardcover notebooks, and if we set that value at 10, I’d give the Palomino notebook a solid 13. It’s a great price, at $17.95, exactly the same as a Moleskine. Admittedly, Moleskine has a better variety of pages (they have formats for storyboarding, music composition, etc.), and currently offers a special Star Wars collection, which would clinch me right there if I was actively in the market for a notebook.

However, I love the California Republic brand, and the Palomino line, so I’m excited to have a notebook in this brand, too.

Coming soon(ish): Thoughts and photos of some of the other notebooks!

Disclaimer: As I’ve written before, I am formerly an employee of Pencils.com. I no longer work there or receive any money from them, so this review is not being funded by them. This product was sent to me free, however.

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