Thankful

(click to embiggen)

UPDATE: transcribed for the copy-and-paste challenged...

November 24, 2009

Thankful

I've been keeping a low profile for the past week or so, willing your word-counts past whatever hurdles you might be facing from over here along the sidelines. I'm not sure if my cheering/goading is helping matters at all, or just annoying you to no end: I hope for the former and always suspect the latter. Those U.S.-based members of the typosphere at least get a reprieve in the form of a long holiday weekend, which I hope you're not all spending hunched over the keys, at least not without a slice of pie close at hand. Take strength in the caloric overload of the season, and don't forget what this Thursday is really all about (and no, not for stocking the shelved in dreadful anticipation of Black Friday.) Contrarian that I am, I far prefer making a big fuss over Thanksgiving in the face of the pre-pre-pre Christmas hysteria. You know we'll be sitting tounf the table making handprint-and-construction-paper turkeys while we wait for the tolls to bake or the cranberries to boil. Even that big Parade is so overly commercial that the kids won't sit through it. Take a little time away from the word pile to grab a convenient loved one (child, parent, pet, Olympia) and tell them "thanks" for putting up with you and your eccentricities for another 365.

On Friday, it's all back to business.

The Big Sell-Out

Inspired by a comment in my Shift Freedom photo, I spent a few minutes this morning fiddling with the "Posterize" tool on Gimp, and have entered the realm of typospheric merch.

Behold! Clickthing Swag-o-Matic 6000!

I'm realizing, though, that this offers up opportunities for those who might want to embellish themselves with their favorite scribomechanical devices, without the stigma and righteousness that will rightfully rain down upon you if you were to, say, support a keychopper on Etsy.

This is kind of a joke, unless anyone actually buys one, and then I'm all in. What would you like to see on a shirt/mug/sticker/magnet?

Unexpected

Keys to Romance

Staying heads-down in NaNo land before H1N1 lands on my house (as I feel it is doomed to do) but I had to share this worthy op-ed piece from the Times of India, entitled "Keys to Romance"

"[Y]ou could fall in love with the typewriter. With the comp[uter], one is not very sure."

How true indeed that is. And not that I'm crazy about Geeksugar, since they have promoted/cooed about typewriter key jewelry, but I was surprised (and pleased) to see a pair of my very own machines show up in this post. (Etta the Quiet DeLuxe and the unnamed SM-9, for those playing at home.) I do have to admit to feeling all a-swoon when I open up their cases, which I do far too infrequently.

EDIT: Ah, Olivander has teh stronger Google-fu than I. Check out his link, and also this clip. I think we have a new name for the Brigade rock band: Duffy Moon and the Fate Machine.