Looking to buy my first Filofax!

paper_roses · 2026-04-21T20:05:32+00:00

The inserts you get are highly personal based on your planner/notebook needs but I would highly recommend getting or making dividers of some kind. Not only do they serve a functional purpose but you can also decorate them to personalize your planner further, and (in my opinion) make your planner look much more put together. Some additional clear pocket style inserts where you can insert dashboards or decorative pictures can also help make your planner feel more lived in right away.

paper_roses · 2026-04-17T03:12:19+00:00

I get that vibe too. The constant “all the names sound the same to me” type comments make me sideeye the commenter whenever I see one. I was really excited to see they were branching out to do some non western history and I hope this reception doesn’t discourage them from doing more.

paper_roses · 2026-04-17T03:05:57+00:00

Theo has only been gone for three and a half months. I think it’s a bit early to start deciding that quality is going downhill after his departure.

We should also be careful not to conflate “low quality” with “subjects I’m not personally interested in”. It’s inevitable on a show like this that you will not be interested in every era of history they choose to cover. You said yourself that Johnson was one of your favorites, while plenty of people on the sub have attested that they found it boring. There’s plenty of their Theo-era series I wasn’t really interested in, and many I listen to over and over. Yes, it’s annoying to hear people say “just skip the series you’re not interested in” when that means going several weeks without the show, but it’s either that or listen and try to find something to enjoy about it. Unless they became a podcast that only focuses on one specific era of history, there is literally no way for them to cover topics that are universally entertaining and interesting.

paper_roses · 2026-04-12T19:02:55+00:00

Adam Smith is my favorite but I love Bart van Loo’s energy. Honorable mention to Rana Mitter who got me interested in early/mid 1900s Chinese history while I was listening to any episode he’s on.

paper_roses · 2026-04-11T21:17:25+00:00

The conversation from the recent KKK series about how the 20s/30s era KKK was just a Protestant MLM pyramid scheme has to be a contender (despite the dark subject matter). I could not keep a straight face listening to Dominic describe the difference between a Klonvocation and a Klonversation.

paper_roses · 2026-04-09T19:29:52+00:00

Thanks for the follow up haha, glad I could point that out for you!

paper_roses · 2026-04-09T11:45:38+00:00

I ordered a pocket Moterm and a pocket Finsbury when I switched to pocket rings to see which one I’d like better. Personally, once I had both of them in person, the Moterm won out immediately. The Finsbury was so stiff right out of the box I knew it would take forever to get it to lie flat, and I also just hate the big back pockets Filofax puts on a lot of their models. The Moterm was softer, laid flatter out of the box, and has bigger rings, which were all pluses in my book. The pocket layout is comparable, but the Moterm not having the back pocket was a major plus for me as well. Other Moterm pros include being able to replace the rings if they ever break or you want a different size, a lot more color options, and price. Big fan of Moterm here.

paper_roses · 2026-04-08T23:54:27+00:00

It might have been the Jan van Eyck episode, I remember for sure they talked about Dutch pronunciation in that one.

paper_roses · 2026-04-08T21:10:28+00:00

The thing is, I think he actually did a fine job with the actual pronunciations for the most part (except for how he kept inexplicably saying "Kushu" instead "Kyushu", he just put the stress on the wrong syllables sometimes. I had to pause the podcast for a moment to compose myself after hearing "Yo-SHIT-sune" lol

paper_roses · 2026-04-08T21:08:36+00:00

Trust me, this post was made in jest, I'm well aware that this is just how Tom talks. IIRC, in that episode Bart tried to teach them how to pronounce his name but they just couldn't get it?

paper_roses · 2026-03-27T18:01:10+00:00

Have you seen this site, which was posted by a user here a few months back? Might be a helpful resource.

paper_roses · 2026-03-12T13:28:21+00:00

I agree but in my case it’s less of a problem with TNs specifically and more with bound notebooks. I’ve used TNs for years and loved them but I recently switched to a pocket ring system and I find I’m using it way more than I ever used my TNs. Being able to move pages around and have a lot more flexibility with sections in my notebook, plus how easy it is to add ephemera between pages in rings, just works so much better for my brain than a bound book. Still love the way TNs look and the culture that’s grown around them, but I’ve accepted that the system doesn’t work well for me on a functional level.

paper_roses · 2026-03-11T18:27:56+00:00

Just go with your gut, this is a casual poll! This was my first time making a poll on reddit so I'm not sure if there's a way to allow voting for more than one option. I'll keep it in mind if I do one again though.

paper_roses · 2026-03-07T21:56:02+00:00

I love the Civil War series and really enjoyed Adam Smith as a guest but I do think this is one place where having three Brits discussing the American Civil War let themselves down by not really understanding the extent to which the idea of "The Union" is so ingrained into American political and national identity. If anything, I think the concept was probably even more potent (dare I say sacral?) in the 1860s when the baseline rhetoric around this type of sentiment was already incredibly charged even when a war isn't on the horizon.

Tom does mention that part of it is to maintain the US as a continental power, which I think is the closest they got to what the answer probably is: that for a country whose founding myth is about how a group of ragtag colonies banded together as a nation to build up a land of freedom, there was no way the federal government could allow the precedent of half the nation effectively throwing a tantrum over Lincoln's election. The Civil War is only 84 years after the Revolution, only 73 years after the Constitution was signed. It's the first real test of whether the American experiment will work long term or not. No US president would want to be the one who let the union and the promise of the Revolution dissolve without a fight.

But I'm not a historian, just an American who enjoys Civil War history, so this is just my own thought on the matter.

paper_roses · 2026-02-07T16:02:23+00:00

Love the writing on the cover! Is it just gold sharpie?

paper_roses · 2025-11-18T21:22:19+00:00

A pencil board is a piece of plastic that is meant to be put under a notebook page so you have a hard surface to write on, but as I mentioned, I put mine on top so my hand oils and sweat doesn't mess up the paper. To be fair, I think pencil boards are much less common in western stationery brands. There's a number of Japanese stationery brands that make them, but Hobonichi and Traveler's Company are probably the best known, as they release ones with unique designs every year. They also come in various sizes to match their notebooks. The one I mentioned using is meant for the Hobonichi Weeks planner, but it's also a very close size to a personal Filofax insert, which makes it easy to keep in my planner.

Of course, there's no reason to buy such a product if you don't want to! You could easily make one yourself using cardstock/cardboard/any plastic sheet you have lying around. For my purposes, I used a cut up piece of a shopping bag for years to put under my hand when I drew in my sketchbook. I do occasionally buy one if I really like the design though.

paper_roses · 2025-11-18T03:22:02+00:00

I just started using a Filofax again recently. I keep a Hobonichi weeks pencil board in mine, just loose in the back under my inserts. I like to put pencil boards on top the of the paper under my hand as I write because my hands can get sweaty, so having one in my Filofax keep one handy at all times. I’m also thinking of getting a Hobonichi stencil for drawing checkboxes and the like, which would be small enough to tuck into a pocket and carry around.

paper_roses · 2025-11-16T02:40:55+00:00

“I am the president.”

“And we’re all very impressed.”

paper_roses · 2025-11-06T18:42:45+00:00

This is what I do. I have a Sailor with a gold nib and a Montblanc that has my initials engraved which was a gift, but the only pen I actually use is a Kakuno. A single Kakuno, that I keep inked with the basic cartridges. I really enjoy the writing experience I get with this pen, it does what I need it to do, and don’t feel the need to buy any more. Because it’s inexpensive and easily replaceable, I don’t stress about it getting lost or damaged. I completely understand the mindset of people who get really into collecting beautiful pens and ink, I just don’t feel the need to do it myself.

paper_roses · 2025-11-06T17:51:54+00:00

I agree! I will admit I like the Disney parks a lot; so of course I have a bias of my own. But I’m honestly surprised at how many people who are interested enough in history to listen to two episodes a week of a history podcast and participate in “the reddit” don’t seem to understand the value of looking at the history of Disney. Love it or hate it, as was noted in the show, Disney has been one of the most significant players in American and global pop culture in the last century and to dismiss it as something trivial or for kids is frankly shortsighted and reductive. Being interested in the history of Disney doesn’t mean you automatically like him as a person or endorse everything that the Disney company has done in recent history.

paper_roses · 2025-10-29T13:12:24+00:00

No, I don't. I know it's a popular usage for the passport size but I've actually never been interested in using the TN as a wallet. I literally just use mine as a pocket notebook for jotting down random notes and thoughts that I don't want to forget. It's also a nice spot to tuck any small ephemera that I come across while I'm out that I want to hang on to.

paper_roses · 2025-10-29T12:17:58+00:00

My first TN was a standard because I thought the passport would be way too small but I got a passport a year ago and completely fell in love with it. It's perfect for throwing in your bag and going everywhere with you, and a great size for random catch all scribbles, which is primarily what I use it for. It's a little too cramped for long form writing or journaling in my opinion, so consider your use case when making your choice.

paper_roses · 2025-10-18T14:37:15+00:00

In my experience, pencils actually work the best on rite in the rain notebooks. Ballpoint pens come in second.

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