My little project for the day - figuring out how to set up a double opt in e-mail list - to provide you guys with some visually enticing goodness in your email - b/c i know how happy i am when i get well designed emails with content i want - so while i don’t have the regularity of the list ready yet - just letting you know i’m working on it - and feel free to sign up now, and you’ll be the first to know when i launch one - and possibly even get some sneak peaks at works in progress before side projects go live. Also feel free to use that form to let me know more about what you’d like from us - or your ideas for email list content. I’m thinking we will initially shoot for once a month - and then a few scattered fun ones when we find things worthy of emailing. (You wouldn’t want me promising weeklies, and then force the content, right?)

Alien, ancient, and yawning lifeforms! The Mach 4 version of scissors! And a toy that knows all…

These are Shade Elaine’s picks from this weeks .org-ing. Go check out and contribute your own finds to NOTCOT.org!

SORRY! I feel a little silly apologizing to all of you. But i know i’ve been a bit off my game the last week or two - Oxford was hectic, and jetlag this week has not been pretty! So just wanted to let you know that i’ve had so many different things happening (many relating to NOTCOT projects growing quickly!) - finally got a new car (my first car that wasn’t inherited and my first NEW car) - and spent the very early morning out on the beach with my dad to break in his new kayak (only telling you that to explain the pic up top!). So be nice, and i’ll have lots of goodies to come for you… and the posts will pick back up as well… and please spread the word on NOTCOT.org, its been so much fun getting more people posting to it, and just having a place to share all the random bits we don’t always have time to get on NOTCOT.

Rabbits, Death, Crystal Bodies, Sod Couches, Hoffa Cupcakes, OH MY!

New tradition starting - Hello-Friend is going to do weekly curation of the visual goodness from NOTCOT.org to whet your appetite for what else is there when you need some inspiration and designer fun that often slips through the notcot.com cracks.

Life in Oxford is a bit backwards right now, as is my internet connection and posting ability. But while massive posts are less frequent, we’ve been adding much fun stuff in visual snip-it form over at NOTCOT.ORG! [and thanks to people writing in for passwords, we are looking forward to having more fun additions over there, and also can see many more extensive posts here growing from things people point out to us at .org] Check out the interview with Nokia’s Liisa Puolakka - Head of Brand Visual and Sensorial Experiences as well as some very cool art/figurines. We have the random commentary going there… the soundbites that we exclaim as we come across those images… but don’t be fooled, the content is quality, its just that backpage where (as if it were possible) we care even more about images than we do here at notcot.com!

Feedback on the concept - want RSS/Tagging? should it be sorted/searchable? does bulletin board - post away, and new will pile up over old - work?

Updated by Hello-Friend - NOTCOT.ORG:: Announcing NOTCOT’s community gallery - an internal bulletin board [now open to the public] - a place of inspiration so random some of it may never make it on to NOTCOT.com, yet is always guaranteed amusing. [more info below]

Over two mere months, our small group has amassed 200+ things that have amused/inspired us. Now that NOTCOT.org is public, this number will skyrocket with YOUR contributions.

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… in oxford now, somewhat lacking internet connection, but working on fixing that, might just need a day or two! But lots to come! So please play with and check out the 200+ goodies over at NOTCOT.org until i get this sorted out? Grazie~

So i added RSS feeds and easy adds for all of you who like to FEED NOTCOT TO ___________ , i think i covered most of them? and they should all work? But i dont use all of them, so test them out, let me know others to add, etc etc. I’m also thikning that maybe the banner needs a makeover - more like a reinvention. But i have no solutions as of yet - ideas?

Ciao* Bit swamped today - but will get some stuff up later tonight (west coast california time) - quick question to everyone - Anyone going to be in Copenhagen for their design week May 5-8? I just decided to head out there for that - and will probably be in Sweden and around London/Oxford a little as well… and possibly more for the month of May - possibly into June… Any suggestions? Must see, places not to miss, cool events going on?

Quick update - links page is filling slowly - some interesting/fun stuff over there - so take a peek and keep them coming!

Here’s a quick administrative post - many design sites haven’t been as fun as i’d like lately, and i think i might be missing some good ones you guys know about - so i’ve finally built a basic links page ! So here’s a chance to send in your great links/reads/etc and i’ll post them up there for all. Or if you HAVE a great site and have been asking to swap - here’s your chance.

Quickie - little slow on posts today - been working on setting up these new ads for you. But this neccessary evil make more possible for notcot! Hunted for some that are more visually appealing - and pretty interesting actually! So, check them out and thanks for reading~ more regular content in a few.

TODAY is the official RELAUNCH of NOTCOT! Although not too much has changed on your side of things - the migration and rebuild and sorting of files and much behind the scenes is complete, and the kinks in the new designs have been sorted out, and in the side strings (look left, look right) you are seeing the launch of the NOTCOT Gallery - a space that now and again may be used to showcase artists/designers/curated themes of images and objects which amuse and perplex us. [We’d love input or ideas if you’d like to be featured here, or know someone who ought to be seen.] So i’m taking this moment to say thanks to all of you for supporting us, and in the next few months there should be a lot of fun new stuff going evolving and emerging here… but one step at a time, so check back frequently! Also - can you believe we are officially 1 year old? It blows my mind.

TIME TO MOVE!!! UPDATE - The moving is complete, the site reconfigured and migrated and all is working. So you should be noticing FAR faster page loads, and less annoyances. And well, i suppose that means more posting should occur since i am no longer poking away at the DNS and MT settings.

Ciao* bit slow today, just flew in to the land of these yellow taxis. Or NY. It was so early this morning on my 7am flight over from LA… proof of how tired i was? Apparently that Sex in the City/ex-Melrose Place girl was on my flight, and i didn’t even notice. My friend that was waiting to pick me up saw her come out before me. I got in the plane, sat down, fell asleep and got up groggy on this side of the country. Here for a week. Might be a bit swamped with a top secret experiment, but any suggestions for things i simply can’t miss? [leave notes up top, i am meaning to move/redesign that, but haven’t decided where exactly yet!]