I used to carry pen and paper a lot. And when I travel I write down my observations and collect little stuff (ex pink flamingo feathers when in Africa). I love it. I just opened up my diary and read my entry from Kilimanjaro and it really brought back memories and made me feel good since past few years crazy hours, psycho girlfriend and school work started to catch up with me and I needed a lift.

I think the point of having a journal is to write the truth in it and not sugar coat anything to make it look cool. I would love to supplement mine with great drawning and tracings but I could barely draw a straight line so mine has a lot of cut outs and little labels. I write everything from due dates, to quick notes, to part of the lectures. Lately I'm forced to use electronic devices that contain paramedic protocols, drug databases so more and more my journal stays in my pocket which worries me.

I know that bookstores in the US sell nice leatherbound books for $10 which will last you for a while.

On the different note... In the movie we only see Junior going thru maybe max 15 pages of the journal. On average book like that has 120 pages or so. If you get a replica what is the book filled with?

The Journal you describe sounds precious. I think you only enrich it with local articles etc. You don't need to be Van Gogh to include personal drawings. Any drawing created gives a sense of achievement for me. But little is drawn-created with the introduction of the camera <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> OTOH now I can include photo's which in turn tell a thousand words.

I'd love to create a Journal you describe. Even if it is only from local camping trips. Adding natural foundings in the book complemented with photo's and drawings. Sounds great, only wished now that I started sooner... <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

On the repllica note I wouldn't have a idea what it would be filled with. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Interesting...I've been a newbie here for about 3-4 months, and this past weekend I found the indy gear site through my own stumbling around. Of course, being outdoors gearheads it seems to fit. On the forums at that site, they have several threads talking about what they EDC in their MKVII gas mask bags.

About the Grail diaries. In addition to the 15-20 pages or so that you see in the Last Crusade, a computer game came out from Lucasfilm that had a printed grail diary as a companion. That grail diary had around 100 pages of mostly handwritten text with some illustrations that gave a very good outline of the grail legend. That is what most of the people who do grail diary reproductions use as filler material. You can also find very similar leather bound journals on that site as well.

After spending too much time on that site this weekend, I think I'm going to do an Indy costume for Halloween, if for no other reason than half the gear is stuff I'd wear most of the time anyway. Plus the MKVII bag looks like a great everyday bag for EDC and this would be a good way to ease it in at work so that I won't get the "man bag" comments.

Here's a replica of the WWII era MKVII bag: http://www.whatpriceglory.com/mkviibag.html

I'm planning on buying the long sleeve safari shirt from Cabelas as it matches the outfit and seems to be a decent piece of outdoor clothing. I'll probably usually sport my Tilley hat with it instead of the Indy fedora, though.

Well, I can testify that the "look" was apparently pretty authentic.

My paternal grandfather spent a lot of time in China and Tibet in the '30s and '40s, and I remember as a child seeing pictures of him on his travels wearing a leather flyer's jacket and fedora. When I first saw "Raiders" my jaw dropped... that "look" was just very dated and sort of quaint before it was glorified on the big screen. My grandfather didn't look anything like Harrison Ford... he was brought up as a cowboy, though, and he owned pistols, and braided lariats and whips as a pastime.

I'm not sure a modern reproduction of the bag is going to hold up like the orignals. I carried a WWII musette bag for some years, almost every day as a shoulder bag (LONG before "Raiders"), and can testify to the durability of canvas stuff from that era. Even though the material didn't seem that thick or heavy, it wore like iron. The only reason I don't have it today is that it was at my feet when some twit girl on the bus I was riding threw her lit cigarrette on the floor, it rolled up against the bag and burned a hole in the bottom. I've been told that some of the canvas stuff from that era was made from hemp canvas instead of cotton, which supposedly wears better, but I don't know if that's true.

I carry a shoulder bag on my daily commute ('bout time for another one, actually- this modern stuff does NOT seem to hold up), I sometimes wear a waist jacket, and on occasion might wear a Tilley in the rain. I own real fedoras and leather jackets. It's all very functional stuff that has worked for generations, but I have to admit that I'm far more concerned with NOT looking like a wannabee, so I try to avoid combining them at all.

I agree, it can be hard to avoid looking like a wannabe. That's why I use my Tilley Hat for all my outdoor excapades and will probably only wear the fedora once or twice a year.

Too bad to hear that the quality on most of the replica bags is lacking. The guy who makes them gives a pretty good guarantee though, and I've heard good things about him, so I'll probably give it a try and return it if it doesn't look like it's going to hold up. Thanks again for the input.

>>Too bad to hear that the quality on most of the replica bags is lacking.<<

Didn't really mean to imply that- I don't know anything about this guy's merchandise, the quality could be very good... it's just that it seems to have been really extraordinary in some authentic "period" pieces.

Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Schotsman,
Keep us updated. Intrigued to know what you think of it. Could you include some pictures at all?

Ryan

Ryan,

Here's the photo from the website:


As my employer(a children's book publisher) greatly encourages it's employees to dress up for Halloween, I'll probably buy this for the costume, and if it seems durable, start using it after that.

Thanks for the reply Scotsman. When writing my post I misworded it. What I meant was whether we could see a haloween picture of you dressed up as Indy? My mistake.

Reinhardt