This post is now part of our Painting Step-by-Step article.

The most joyful thing in this month’s Total Guitar isn’t surprisingly the pictures of James Hetfield, nor is it the tab for Nothing Else Matters. Oh, no. The most delightful discovery in this month’s TG is the return of the Danelectro 56. Twangy chipboard fun for all!

More info later, and maybe a review in the not-too-distant future if our friends in Arnold give us a chance to get our grubby little hands on it.

The New York Times has an article on Moleskine Notebooks.

(See the Moleskine Notebooks page in our Wiki.)

(Thanks to Merlin at 43Folders for the link.)

Fox’s Music sell practically every kind of instrument you can think of. If you feel an urge to take up the didgeridoo, this is probably the best place (in the Notts/Lincs/Yorks area anyway) to get one.

In Store

Though there’s always staff on hand to help when you need it, you’re pretty much left to your own devices. All the instruments are easily accessible, and there are practice rooms available if you fancy trying an instrument but don’t really fancy trying it in front of everyone else in the shop. The store we’re most familiar with, in Arnold, is bright and airy with plenty room to drool over guitars, pianos, saxophones or indeed didgeridoos. The staff there are friendly, they know their stuff, and they’re very helpful.

We like Fox’s. Possibly a little too much. Each time we visit, we come away with something that we can’t afford, including our favourite guitars, my ESP LTD M-50 and Michael’s Line 6 Variax 500.

Online

Fox’s web site is currently down, and we don’t know if it will return. They’re now part of Williams.

Everybody wants to be more creative than they already are.

“Few things are easier to justify than the killing of the soul. I didn’t need my soul anyway. It was in the way. It was a burden. I have this important job now, and all these important people to see. Too much soul in the mix would hamper my quality time with all the movers and shakers.”

It was this sort of stuff from Hugh (see his original How To Be Creative article – no, really – it’s interesting, and there’s cartoons) that really inspired PigPog – or at least gave us the idea to turn it into a site all about creativity.

We’re enjoying it, and it seems to be going pretty well.

Only the Japanese could make a 360km/h train, and give it cute cat-ears. It’s just a shame it’s not painted as a Hello Kitty.

Honda have made a nice little flash game – Change Something. Well, I say little. Actualy, it’s kind of big. Takes a while over a modem, but worth it. Cute bunnies, turning bad things to good through the use of a sledgehammer.

Trust me – I know what I’m doing.

(Thanks to Boing Boing.)

An alarm clock that wakes you up with the sound and smell of cooking bacon.

I can’t remember who pointed this out just recently, but this is an excellent article written in 1999 by Douglas Adams…

How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet

Still seems just as relevant today, too, even down to the way BBC presenters read out web addresses. Turns out we’re all just evolving back to our natural selves.