Wednesday, May 22, 2013

"The Typewriter (In the 21st Century)" in San Francisco

"The Typewriter (In the 21st Century)" will screen at the San Francisco Public Library this Saturday (May 25) at 3 pm. Details here.

Meanwhile, here's a great interview with producer Gary Nicholson and other interesting people at the first L.A. Type-In:


 
SCVTV.com 7/2011 Out & About with Roger Martin: Type-In from SCVTV Santa Clarita on Vimeo.

UPDATE July 2013: The whole film is now available on Hulu (for US viewers):


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

"Mail Bonding" in Santa Ana, California

How many letter-writing projects have we started in the 'sphere? I know I've personally disappointed dozens of people with my intermittent correspondence habits. Yet there's no denying that the act of writing -- and receiving -- a hand-typed letter is special. Keith Sharon, a journalist for the Orange Country Register in southern California tried a little experiment of his own lately, sending out a passel of letters from an Smith-Corona 88 he'd won from eBay. His rate of return was just about as good as anyone who's tried to extract a letter from me:

Here are the Project 88 totals: I wrote 33 letters – about 85 pages total.

I got one response.

Ouch. Undaunted, Keith's trying again and would love to hear from you. His address is:

Keith Sharon
625 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92701
USA

His original article is behind a paywall at the newspaper site, but he was kind enough to send it directly... by email. Those with sensitivities about the improper use of cooking sprays might want to look away! The full article follows below the jump.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

NBC Nightly News Story About Typewriters

NBC Nightly News aired this video this evening. There are some familiar faces; mine notwithstanding.


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This second video is an on-line extended footage extra featuring some kids from my classes. I also wax philosophical on the typewriter's past, present, and future.

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Interview with Christopher Lockett on Typewriter movie

Here's an interview with Christopher Lockett in The Los Angeles Downtown News.

His film "The Typewriter (In the 21st Century)" starts a one-week run at the Downtown Independent theater in LA tomorrow.

In the interview I'm referred to as the guy who "runs the Typosphere." We know, of course, that the typosphere is gloriously anarchic — I disclaim any such authority.

But I do like the saying on one of the shirts created by artist Louise Marler, referred to in the interview: "Talk QWERTY to Me!"