Ink-scented Wretches

Sniff your screen.
That's right, sniff up here close and tell me what you smell. What? Nothing?

That's right. As much as this blog might stink, it doesn't stink. Absent in electronic communique is the familiar scent of ink on paper, a nasal elixir for us printers. For those missing the olfactory experience of reading, enter The Times of New York candle. Combining “hints of guaiacwood, cedar, musk, spice, with a powdery note and velvet nuance," this candle will emit everything you love about your morning paper–except the ink.

What'll it cost you to capture that ol' smell? Just $65. (Or you can subscribe to the real thing for $7.40 a week.)

Look: A Book on Curling. Oh, Wait...

New to the annals of "don't judge a book by its cover" comes this gem. Available from Amazon, the book purports to teach you all you need to know about bowling. So what kind of expert is teaching us about bowling? Well, according to the book's description, "this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing..." So it's basically the internet borrowed and reprinted on paper.

You'd think that the "author" of the book would be able to borrow a better image for a book on bowling. You know, one that actually pictures bowling.

Cashspiel Smackdown

Since you did such a great job last time, we're again turning to you readers for some design feedback.

Above are two possible designs for a poster. The task is to create an announcement for the National Capital Cashspiel at the Potomac Curling Club. Basically it's a tournament for seasoned curlers to compete and maybe make a few bucks. The design brief that the poster should be "very DC".

I decided to take two design paths. To the left, the political convention design, celebrating 19th century broadsides that advertised political party gatherings. On the right is the monument design, with a nod to the federal architecture of DC.

Since we can only use one, do you have a preference—convention or monument?

Click on image for larger view.