Studio Notes #39
Dear, Super Friends. Here's issue #39 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. This week is unintentionally product-heavy, but a reminder I don't get kickbacks from anything I recommend here. Because I'm not all that business-savvy.
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It's currently sold out, but this GiiKER Super Decoder looks like a game from an alternate reality of the early 1980s. Hi/lo-fi in full effect here. A puzzle involving breaking a "code" of color patterns using a single, giant, plastic knob dial. Imagine seeing someone bust this beauty out on a flight or train ride. I just love that things like this are being made in 2025. I hope they restock!
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Speaking of hi/lo-fi things that I surely don't need, there's something about this Nudge Counter that is calling me. It's expensive for what it does: Keeps an analog count for you from its one-button "interface". That's it. The maker, NANU, markets this little thing as, "...a handmade tabletop tally counter for personal reflection...". Perhaps I could tally how many times our dog barks at people walking by the house, or how many times my partner Melissa finds something immediately that I insist isn't where it's supposed to be. Or, maybe I could just tally the number of times I contemplate purchasing non-essential but well-made things that look cool on a desk.
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One of my anxiety-disorder-triggers is heat. Like when it's damn hot and I'm in a situation where I'm "trapped" (not literally—but where I have no choice but to endure that aforementioned heat). I'm always looking for tools to help keep cool. Like putting solar on the roof to completely offset our abnormally-high A/C usage. I can also recommend the Mission Cooling Towel after using it last week. It's like a little scarf that you soak, wring out, and "snap" to activate some mysterious cooling technology weaved into the fabric. Wear it around your neck and it keeps you cooler. And it works pretty well. They also make baseball caps with the same tech, and I'll let you know how those fare as well.
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If I was feeling ambitious, I would absolutely follow the instructions for building your own NFC-triggered movie cartridge player. I love everything about this hi/lo-fi project's design, where the nostalgia of physical media meets instant digital playback with no tape rewinding. The build is rather complex, but slipping in a chunky, plastic cartridge of, say, TRON, and it playing automatically to your AppleTV or whatever...alright it's an awful lot of effort to rekindle the analog-to-digital magic moment of yesteryear—but it just may be worth it?
What are you working on?
Taking a few days to celebrate Summer, though I'm not feeling very patriotic this Fourth of July. So I'm flying the Flag of New England, an unofficial historical flag used to represent New England territory during the Revolutionary War. The pine tree icon was/is used often in other flags of the region. Focusing on positive things immediately surrounding me is, I hope, a way forward through a sea of overwhelmingness.
I hope you have an excellent, restful weekend and thanks as always for reading.
Cheers!
