Studio Notes #107

Hello hello, Good People. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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An ode to the iconic typography of Topps trading cards from 70s and 80s. There is something about the flat, offset printing on the back of the chipboard-ish card that always stops me in my tracks. Somewhere, deep down in the untouched part of my basement is a hefty collection of Topps baseball cards from the early-mid 1980s in a giant ring binder. Who knows what treasures are hiding there. It seems trading cards, in general, are as popular as ever, and I really love that.

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A massive travel hack I don’t think I’ve mentioned here before: When traveling, bring a Roku stick for the hotel room TV. Most of the time it’s fairly easy to plug it in a vacant HDMI port and if you’re lucky the hotel TV remote will have in INPUT button making the switch simple. On a trip to NYC this past weekend it was a little more challenging, but a combination of unplugging the TV and restarting caused the Roku to be recognized. This little rogue television hijacking ritual has become the first thing I do after checking in. It’s always worth it to have all your streaming services with saved logins when you’re decompressing from a trip.

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It’s always humbling to discover an artist whose work dates back to the 1800s that you don’t ever recall seeing before. John Atkinson Grimshaw’s moonlit night paintings are haunting and beautiful, and his use of light and realism for that time period is extraordinary. It also seems to the be the right time of year to be discovering this vibe.

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I'm a sucker for lo-fi mini displays that show widget-worthy data, so LEDABLE might be an interesting one to back. Sounds like there’s already a good app ecosystem and custom options. See also Tuneshine (likely mentioned here in a past issue) which I use every day to show the album cover of what’s currently playing on the Mac. And Tidbyt, which is neat as well.

This Week’s Poll

Last week I asked about classic, analog toys and it was nice to see the Kendama in the #3 spot. If you haven’t tried one, it’s both maddening and highly addictive.

Featured Good

I still have a small number of these wool-and-felt Ampersand Caps—now $10 off!

Danmade This Week

As I work through more Flyrail tweaks and adjustments, it’s important to test various words and letter combinations. You know, real random stuff. V-O-T-E is always a good one to try. Especially around early November.

I hope your weekend is filled with laughs—and hope.

Cheers!