CoolNotes Journals by teNeues

The CoolNotes product line by teNeues is a Moleskine-like journal that comes in various sizes and color schemes, including colored elastic bands to complement the solid color of the journal--a detail I quite like as it acts as an accessory to my little black notebook and gives it a bit more style.

I recently received a small CoolNotes journal to review and, overall, quite liked it. For some reason my pocket-sized Moleskine decided to hide, so I can't do a comparison of the two. The CoolNotes is definitely smaller than the Moleskine, measuring in at 3 9/16" by 5 1/4" versus the Moleskine's more regular 3.5" by 5.5" size. (In the picture above you can see the CoolNotes is almost the same size as my capped Lamy CP1 Fountain Pen).

The CoolNotes and Moleskine are both hard cover journals with an elastic enclosure, each has 192 pages (96 leaves) of high quality paper, a ribbon books mark, a front page for contact information, and a back pocket that expands to hold receipts, tickets, photos, etc.

The CoolNotes journal has one major difference from the Moleskine: on the 96 leaves, the front side is lined while the back is blank. (Whenever I see something like this I automatically think: an Air Sign designed this. Because choosing one or the other can be very difficult for the Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini-born.) I do like this detail, it seems to give me a choice of how I'm going to write something (blank sheets are more freestyle for me, they take greater discipline to use while lined reminds me of grade school and the teacher looking over my shoulder).

The paper is nice, roughly 80gsm I'd guess. After a lot of pressing the journal did stay flat--mostly, kind of, generally, define "flat." As you can see in the picture to the left, the page is starting to lift, and that's after at least half a dozen pressings. The black gel ink pen I used left a a heavy shadow on the back blank page, as did the fountain pen containing J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite ink, but there was no bleed through of either.

The big question is this: if I hadn't gotten it for free but had to buy it, would I? The answer is yes, if my Barnes and Noble stocks them I definitely will. I'm not sure I'd buy online as the shipping fee is usually too high for my liking, but I'm in Manhattan and can afford to be choosy. If I were back in Allentown, PA, I probably would be online hitting "checkout not" and not worrying too much about it.

I am seriously looking forward to the Fall teNeues lineup for one item in particular: the new CoolNotes Flip Pad. I have reviewed Moleskine's Reporter Notepad, a large hardcover flip pad that I wanted to like but found to be only so-so. It might be that the softcover Reporter is a better notepad, but the cover was only one problem I had with the Reporter. So if the CoolNotes pocket sized flip pad has a fountain pen friendly paper and is stylish as well, that's something I really want to see. I'll be looking for them in the stores that carry teNeues: Barnes and Noble, the Musuem of Modern Art gift shop, The Guggenheim, AI Friedman, and Paper Presentation, and maybe have a review of these new notebooks.

Bitter With Baggage: Sloane Tanen QuickNotes by teNeues

Some years back I fell in love with several snarky, funny storybooks by Sloane Tanen, a self-described 3-D cartoonist who works with chickens (1 inch plastic peeps, really). Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same and Where is Coco Going are among the wackiest coffee table page turners around, following the life and times of small, bright yellow plastic chicks complaining about shopping, calories, boyfriends, yoga classes--everything that gets in the way of a peep enjoying herself. About two years ago the New York subway system included her chicks in an art campaign on the Lexington Avenue line, an enjoyable break from the usual MTA ads.

When MJ from teNeues contacted me and asked if I'd like to review their line of CoolNotes journals and invited me to look over their web site, I was really thrilled to see among their product line the Sloane Tanen QuickNotes cards featuring scenes from Bitter with Baggage. Included in the set are some of Tanen's most memorable lines and scenes, including the all over body wax (not a good idea for a chick, but no one said beauty was painless) and the inadvisability of a chick baking on the beach. When I mentioned the cards to MJ she immediately offered to send me a set, and I am very appreciative.

This is a handsome set of note cards, you can see that teNeues put in a lot of thought in the overall design. There are 20 cards total, 5 each of 4 different scenes from Bitter With Baggage, with crisp, glossy reproductions on thick paper stock--ideal for quick notes and small doodles. In addition to the note cards, this is one of the most attractive and sturdy presentation boxes I've ever seen, worth the purchase all by iteslef if you're a Sloane Tanen fan (or maybe you're a fan of her father, the late Ned Tanen, a movie executive responsible for such films as Jaws, Animal House, American Graffiti, The Breakfast Club, and St. Elmo's Fire).

QuickNotes and other teNeues products (like their amazing art books, e.g. The Porshe Book) are available online at teNeues, as well as at Barnes and Noble, the Musuem of Modern Art gift shop, The Guggenheim, AI Friedman, and Paper Presentation (one of my favorite NYC stationery shops).