The Mysterious Box

Moby Dick typed on toilet paper

http://www.ebay.com/itm/260940598024

I asked, "I'm wondering what model of typewriter you used."


Response: "So am I since it was done about 15 years ago and I no longer have the typewriter. I can tell you that it was used, electric and purchased from a Good Will store. Also, the neighbors in my apartment weren't too thrilled hearing clack-clack-clack-ding-clack-clack-clack coming through their walls at all hours of the day. Sadly, I trashed it once the project was complete."

Free-riffic

OK, so I have recently become addicted to the heady rush of Amazon reviews. Good or ill, they measure the barometer of what readers think, and I'm totally all about that.

So, on the sage advice of Mr. JA "One Bazillion Copies Sold" Konrath, I hereby tender the following offer: drop me a line at Mike(dot)Speegle(at)Gmail.com, and I will send you a copy of Pen and Platen, totally gratis. All I ask in return is that you post up an honest review on Amazon when you're done reading it.

Cool? Cool.

I Fail to See the Problem

Adopt a Typewriter Today, says Ashland Creek Press. I know the video is supposed to be funny, but how did they get into my brain?

Message from Christopher Lockett

Hello Typosphere,

Christopher Lockett, Director of the documentary film "The Typewriter (In The 21st Century)" here. Tomorrow, we're off to shoot a bunch of interviews, some interesting historic typewriters and generally typewriter-related people, things and events on the east coast. We'll be driving through 13 states in 8 days with a whole lot of interviews in between. Suffice it to say that we can not reach everyone we'd like to feature in the film. But I think we will have an interesting cross-section of people represented by the time we wrap. 

But as you all have been generous with your time, assisting in research and offering guidance, I want to try to include you in the film. Many of you posted videos to YouTube on World Typewriter Day last year. Would you consider sending a 30-second clip of that footage to our Dropbox account? If we get enough footage, I envision a split or multi-screen montage in the film featuring people at their typewriters. 

Let me know if that's something you'd consider doing. I'll be on the road, so might not be able to respond right away, but will get back to everyone who replies. 

Thank you,

Christopher Lockett

Director, The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) 

christopherlockett@yahoo.com

PS (Jan. 11): We've worked it out that whenever anyone emails me, I bounce the email to producer Gary Nicholson and he sends them a Dropbox invite. A few people have already uploaded their videos. I can't view them until I meet with Gary in NYC in a few days. 

ITAM?

Is International Typewriter Appreciation Month going to be an annual event?  Only the typosphere knows for sure.
link goes to last year's commemorative stamp.

With Any Luck, We'll Get in the OED in 2012

A rarely-activated Google news search popped this article in the LA Times by me today:

Patt Morrison Asks: Two from the 'typosphere'

World domination can't be too far behind...

Typewriter Brigade: Take Note

We need to get these things rigged up for next year. Who's with me?

College students hold a type-in / letter-writing social

Manual typewriters are enjoying a comeback at Amherst College.
Like most American institutions, the college has a thriving party scene, where students who want to socialize can knock back a few drinks and grind the night away to pounding bass lines.

"But we also have a large part of the population who really aren't inter­ested in dancing in a dark basement," says Crista Reed, assistant director of student activities. So this fall the college started "Amherst After Dark," a 10 p.m.-to-2 a.m. program meant to provide consistent social options for students who want to stay out late and remain sober.

As one of September's activities, Ms. Reed proposed a "letter-writing social," hearkening back to her own days as a "slightly dorky undergrad" at Roanoke College who eschewed late-night parties in favor of things like writing letters to relatives and high-school friends. This fall Ms. Reed ordered three manual typewriters, some hand-cut quill pens, stationery, postcards, postage stamps, and even wax cartridges for a hot-glue gun so that students could art­fully seal their letters without using open flames.

She was expecting 150 to 200 students to show up. She drew 350. ...

Read more here.