Along a busy road and train tracks, he stands, tall and eternally startled...
Category Archives: manual typewriter
Unearned Income Credits
Nothing to do, and a whole city to do it in.....
Filed under manual typewriter, Olivetti Lettera 32
NYTimes puts a typewriter pic up….
Today’s Times (3/24/11) had an Olympia (SM 3?) on D1, front of the Home section, and sharing desk space with a MacBook inside… hmmm, looks a bit “proppy”, and no way to tell if the West Village’s Mr. David Coggins typewrites or not. But better keys atop the desk than around the wrist, I always say!
Elsewhere, in Business, Times Personal Tech writer Sam Grobart ponders, “Ditch it or Keep It?” regarding digital jetsam (things purposefully thrown away to lighten a craft–or maybe a life).
His take:
LOSE: Desktop computer, point-and-shoot, camcorder, MP3 player, thumb drive, GPS unit.
MAYBE LOSE: Cable TV.
KEEP: Alarm clock, books. (Yay!)
Hmmm, nothing about my Sony TCM 5000 portable mono cassette recorder, as beloved by NPR correspondents. It weighs as much as three iPads, but has a tanklike quality and is very simple to use. Oh, and since it’s the size of a Webster’s (an ancient, paper-based dictionary), it’s impossible to misplace and functions as a doorstop/bookend between interviews. Keep!
(er, and buy 2 more, and trashpick a box of Maxell Cro II cassettes in perfect condition)
Filed under manual typewriter, Olympia SM 3
life imitates LIFE (magazine)
Olivetti? Check. Deviled eggs? Check. 1/2 pint of Stout? Checked and correct!
What is “Slow”, Anyway?
Encountered as we walked quickly across Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia...
“FOR THE CURIOUS…” read the sign taped to the young woman’s jacket. “I am slow-walking the length of Rittenhouse Square, a distance that, at a normal pace, takes a little over two minutes. I will begin at the southwest corner and end at the northeast corner, where I will resume “normal” speed. Please join me for any length of time should you so desire.”
My wife and I were out on a Sunday afternoon walk, and suddenly our cadence seemed blisteringly fast. I tried and managed to keep, er, down with her for only half-a-dozen five-inch strides. My wife waited ahead, impatiently. I caught up with her, we waited again for the slow walking young lady. Another man read the sign, and slowed his pace, but again, for less than a dozen steps. We watched from a distance as she sloooowly reached the end of the Square, and suddenly shifted back into a regular walk, blending with the crowd.
I had no idea that we’d encounter this, but what a message!–how long should things take? Are we moving too fast? What do we miss as we speed-walk through Rittenhouse Square, or “process words” at incredible velocity? I babbled on about this little bit of performance art for the next few blocks as if I’d been hit by lightning, or maybe espresso. My wife wasn’t so sure, and we completed our rounds at our usual pace. But tomorrow, I may try stepping down from, say 45 rpm to a long-playing 33 & 1/3… and see what happens.
Filed under manual typewriter
Handful of Stalwarts Defy Wintry Mix for Philly Type-IN No. 2
Freezing rain & snow, with a few locusts mixed in, made for a miserable Saturday & nearly iced the Type-IN. But the day was saved by a few folks who escaped meteorological house arrest. A Mr. Jon Roth astonished all (well, the barmaid and myself) by arriving first, from far-flung Cape May, NJ. Mr. Roth, a writer and editor, packed a Royal Aristocrat. Cape May has a wealth of Victorian architecture, but no apparently no typewriter repair shops whatever. Jon checked out some of the machines, especially mcget’s (er, mine) Olivetti Lettera 32 and Olympia SM9 and cried out, “Crikey, this is so easy!” and promptly had an epiphany (which the bar maid didn’t even blink at–as these happen in Fergie’s all the time, she said) which we have reproduced in part:
Second machine on deck was a French-made Hermes 3000, purchased (twice) by Philadelphia Inquirer movie writer Steven Rea. Bryn Mawr College had not one, but two Jens representing them: web-designer Jen Yuan, again with her Olivetti Valentine and Jen Callaghan, who runs a writers’ program at the school. Trophy Bikes mechanic and devout cyclist TJ Seningen stopped by to complete the group. I had no clue when scheduling the Type-IN that Feb. 5th was also World Nutella Day–but Ms. Yuan, better-informed, unpacked a jar of this high-calorie chocolate spread, along with bread and knives so that we essentially were celebrating two events in one, as well as an extra day’s intake of carbs. A pair of writers from Geekadelphia were also on hand and refrained from remarking on the hazards of mixing Nutella and manual typing–we hope their story will be discreet about this practice.
The small field precluded a Typing Competition, though we did see several letters completed. No one opted for a splash of Clinique’s budget “Happy” fragrance–so this mailing was totally scentsless! (sorry) Finally, we did perform a Typewriter Roller Call. This involves a sheet of paper starting in one typing machine, where its owner (or whoever is sitting in front of it at the time) types the make and model, their name and perhaps a sentence or two. (as shown here) Then the page goes from machine to machine, with each person typing a line or two, in that machine’s particular typeface… till the page is full.
This page travelled through several typewriters--and survived!
Now, what would be interesting is to see a few Typewriter Roller Calls, single-spaced, so as to get a lot of typewriter fonts onto a single sheet….
Thanks to all, and now it’s time to get clacking on some letters for International Typewriter Appreciation Month. Why, yes, I can be reached at the address below! :
Michael McGettigan
c/0 Trophy Bikes
3131 Walnut St.
Phila. PA 19104 USA
Footnotes:
Mr. Roth is an editor at Exit Zero, a well-done online guide which will make you want to go to Cape May sooner rather than later.
Ms. Yuan has hacked cats into dogs and shows how here.
Fergie’s Pub is run by Fergus Carey & would be a wonder just for their newspaper ads which (truthfully) declare: “NO TV!”, but they don’t stop there, making sure to have plenty of craft beers on hand, as well as good food & really sturdy tables.
Philly Type-IN, Chapter Two
Philly Type-IN, Chapter Two--wherein we type up a nice Olivetti Valentine's Day note!
OK, some updates. One, if you think you are going to win the Typing Competition Speed Challenge, you better keep practicing–word has it that Matt “Manyfingers” Cidoni will be coming to this second Type-IN. Matt dusted everyone at the last Type-IN with his brilliant command of the keyboard. So be on your game or get left behind.
Two–What is a Typewriter Roll Call? Hint: you need a little paper and a lot of typewriters to accomplish one. And we aim to do a proper TRC at this next Philly Type-IN. If you can RSVP with the make(s) and model(s) of the typewriters you are bringing, that will help us a bit as we work over our detailed seating chart! RSVP to phillytyper@gmail.com. More than that we can not say.
Finally, we’d really like to see a bit more swappiness on the 5th–Sooo… if you see a nice typer at a thrift store, or you’re looking to thin your herd, or get some new machines — do bring some extra typers to trade.
sincerely,
— mcget/the Type-IN.
Could this be a typecast?
Waltham watch (fixed, then pulled the stem out--so unfixed); typecast, eraser.
Filed under manual typewriter, Olympia SM9
phillytyper 
