I hate Moleskine notebooks. I hate how pretentious their ad copy is, I had the irritating, pretentious way that people talk about their notebooks. Because that's all it is, it's a freakin' notebook, it's not your little helper, it's not a magical portal into the talent you don't have, it's not anything other than a bound bunch of paper in a convenient size. I mean, I remember one person I know saying "My fingers are itching and twitching because I left my moleskine at home." It's a notebook. It doesn't have any affect on your fingers, unless you're allergic.

And the ad copy! Jiminy Crickets, "Moleskine is a reservoir of ideas and feelings, a battery that stores discoveries and perceptions, and whose energy can be tapped over time." Note that it's referred to as if it were an entity, rather than an object. In fact, earlier versions of the copy were even more egregious, talking about "the brand having a soul" and other nonsense.

Astute readers will wonder how I came by the ad copy. But I broke down and bought one, because I'd been looking for a while for something that had a specific format to keep more organized at work. I wanted something that had a page with a substantial block of dated lines - something like a page a day or so. And then also blank space that isn't dated right next to each of those pages - as well as a chunk of blank pages in the back. Ideally one could also insert pages next to the daily pages. So at the bookstore I saw a page-a-week academic planner that is exactly like that, except for the inserting pages part. Loathing myself, I got it.

...and within a day realized it was perfect. It's well bound, it had just the right amount of space per day as well as weekly blanks for notes in meetings. There's useful stuff at the beginning, like travel itineraries and personal info and the like - but I doubt any of that will be of particular use. The pocket in the back is handy too, I threw a few post-it tabs to mark out particular stuff in the blank part at the back.

It's not poetic. It's not magical. It's not beautiful. It's just a good notebook that has what I need. I still hate it though, it's like your little pretentious friend that pays for drinks. Stupid Moleskine - excellent notebook.