What’s in my NOW? — Danielle Krage – Cool Tools

What's in My Bag

What’s in my NOW? — Danielle Krage

issue #222

Danielle Krage is a writer and creator of Questful World.

PHYSICAL

I’ve just completed Ray Bradbury’s 1000 Nights challenge—to read a poem, a short story and an essay a night for 1000 nights (2.7 years). I’ll include one physical item from each of these categories. Ones that delighted me, and I hope you might enjoy too. (Prior to this I read fiction, but hadn’t touched poetry or short stories since school!)

Poetry collection that I found accessible and dynamic: Machete by Tomás Q. Morín
Essay collection that made me laugh and cry: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Short story collection that was both fun and philosophical: Sum:Forty Tales from the Afterlives, by David Eagleman

DIGITAL

This is the Ray Bradbury talk that sparked it all off. (I also took his advice to write a short story a week for a year.) I love his zest and gusto!https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_W-r7ABrMYU?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
This site sends you a poem a day. (I still chose to read collections of poets I was interested in, but it’s a super easy way to get started if you want to explore more poetry.)

INVISIBLE

I’m now hooked on doing extended creative Quests, and will be starting a new one shortly. My mantra has become:

Make it hard enough to matter—and fun enough to finish.

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09/3/25

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Heart and Brain / Formica Forever

HEART AND BRAIN HAVE EXTREMELY DIFFERENT VIEW POINTS BUT ALWAYS REMAIN BEST BUDS

Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection
by Nick Seluk
Andrews McMeel Publishing
2015, 144 pages, 6.5 x 8 x 0.4 inches (softcover)

Heart and Brain is a wonderful collection of the lovable characters from Nick Seluk’s The Awkward Yeti webcomic. This special print edition features over 75 exclusive comics, as well as dozens of previously published fan favorites. The exclusive comics are the real draw, since they’ll be totally new to you even if you’ve read every single comic online.

If you’re new to Heart and Brain, the title says all you need to know about the characters. Brain is the rational one, always looking out for the logical, safe thing to do, while Heart is all about passion and seeking out the things he loves. Seluk creatively captures the constant push-and-pull between these forces in us all and externalizes them in some of the most endearing characters in comics. It’s hard to not fall in love with Brain’s neurotic over-worrying, and Heart’s blissful aloofness. They’re a perfectly matched odd couple because they come from such extremely differing viewpoints, but they always manage to meet in the middle.

The comics themselves are hilarious. I don’t think a single joke misses the mark in the entire book, which is pretty incredible. Seluk understands his characters on such a fundamental level that everything they do and say feels authentic. They’re just as endearing as other comic duos like Calvin and Hobbes, and their stories have the every day simplicity of Peanuts. The Awkward Yeti is an extremely modern comic, constantly addressing technology and common modern life issues. It can do the office humor of Dilbert, the slice-of-life ease of Peanuts, and the simple punchlines of Garfield. The main appeal to the comic is thinking “I know that feeling!” after seeing Brain humorously stress about past regrets just before going to sleep, or Heart being overly excited about something silly. Seluk’s ability to poke fun at his hang-ups on just about everything makes it easy for the reader to relate their own idiosyncrasies. Seluk will be releasing another collection in October and you can be sure I’ll be picking up a copy. – Alex Strine

FORMICA FOREVER CELEBRATES THE SLEEK CENTURY-OLD MATERIAL AND ITS INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAUTY

Formica Forever
by Formica Corporation
Metropolis Books/Formica Corporation
2013, 408 pages, 6.5 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches (softcover)

This handsome book on Formica is really a love letter written to itself. Formica Forever celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Formica Group with interesting histories, rich visuals, a little chemistry lesson, and cleverly excerpted quotes from literature all in a witty format designed by Pentagram. You’ll learn of Formica’s origins as an industrial material developed as a synthetic electrical insulator (substituting “for mica”), its evolution to a durable and decorative finish material in ships, trains, and, most famously, its use in post-war American homes. That’s when and where the “wipe-clean world” reached its pinnacle, with Formica saving mankind from eons of grime, crud, germs and smells – and looking great, too, due to its indestructible beauty. The spectrum of colors, foils, wood grains, patterns and finishes are well represented in these gorgeous graphics. As a bit of an inside joke, the images of ads, ladies magazine photo spreads, pattern sample chips and endless uses of Formica are printed on pages that have been perforated, just like a tear-out catalog or sample book.

I’ll leave it to you to pick your favorite of all the images of Formica in action. I loved Lee Payne’s giant Neapolitan ice cream and Frank Gehry’s illuminated fish sculpture. Sprinkled throughout are short quotes (printed on the back of Formica “sample chip” cartouches) from famous authors who have used Formica in their writing: John Updike, Sue Grafton, Ian Flemming, Harlin Ellison, and Margaret Atwood. Formica is everywhere!

America’s taste in kitchen countertops has largely moved on to marble, but these classic Formica ads and colorful swatches are still a treat for any fan of mid-century modern design or Americana. – Robert Knetzger

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

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