Bill Simmons rolls out Grantland.com

Bill Simmons has launched his new website today Grantland.com named after Grantland Rice, a writer known for his elegant prose. For those who aren't familiar with Simmons, he is arguably the most popular personality in the ESPN stable, at least in my neck of the woods. Simmons was born in raised in New England, went to college at Holy Cross, and is one of the most vocal Boston sports fans of all time. His columns, podcasts, and twitter are account are among the most read throughout the internet. His writing style is often crude and he is not known for conciseness, but he is really funny and he hits on a lot of topics that I am interested in. I think he overdoes the popular culture aspect, but I can't really blame him, as that is his passion, especially living in Los Angeles.

Grantland is supposed to be an outlet for more creative, unfettered sports and pop culture writing. It has been advertised as free from the corporate overlords, which means everything will be a little more raw. This will not be Sportscenter, and if you have read anything by Simmons, you know there will be mentions of betting on sports, Simmon's friends, and certainly never less than 1000 words per article. I am actually currently reading his book on basketball, which I do recommend if you are as big of a basketball fan as I am. I look forward to following this site, and its promise of podcasts in addition to the B.S. Report is very appealing for me, as I listen to podcasts regularly during the day job and working out.

In other matters, Bruins are going to need to continue the offensive effort of Game 3 tonight. I am looking forward to Tyler Seguin being effective, in replacement of the injured Nathan Horton.

Pocket Notebooks

The Simple Dollar is by far one of my favorite blogs, highly recommended. I have been subscribed for over a year, and I constantly find myself agreeing with owner Trent Hamm on many issues, although the topics we write on are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. I follow the financial market extensively, and The Simple Dollar is not part of that, Trent writes on productivity and personal finance, and is indisputably a frontrunner in that genre of blogging.


Today he wrote about something especially close to home, pocket notebooks. You can read all you want about "Getting Things Done," but you do not have to follow that system to make significant productivity headway through using a little notebook. As a college student, it's something I could not function without. Organizing projects, taking down assignments, capturing my random thoughts, to-do lists, blog post ideas, gift ideas, contact information and the list goes on. At the end of the day I sync this with my Google Calendar/iCal/Address Book, which automatically syncs with each other and my Blackberry, meaning I always have my notes.


I use the iconic Moleskine notebooks and cahiers primarily, as they satisfy my quality requirements and are fairly easy to find. I definitely explore other brands; Field Notes, Clairefontaine, Rhodia, and other off-brands, I have also developed a penchant for fountain pens and other fine writing instruments. A surprisingly expensive hobby!

Another notebook I am looking forward to checking out is from Postalco, previously I had only heard of it's goodness, but now available at a rapdily becoming favorite shopping destination J.Crew.



Look for me to compare Moleskine and Field Notes cahiers in the future, if there's any interest, or I get bored of writing about clothing!