Seattle type-in: July 30

I entirely neglected to mention many things about this outing, such as Elizabeth's collection of fountain pens (including this Lamy Safari that I have coveted for some time), and a couple of crude nicknames that somehow materialized (one based on something very dumb that I said, alas). Mike Speegle, welcome to Washington.

Whoops, one more addition, just learned that Adwoa was in virtual attendance before I even arrived. Sorry to have missed you! Also, we forgot to go to the Fremont antique mall, folks.

Oh man, now I have to update "my typewriters: a list" at left...

Tricked out typers: the gold rush is on

Amendment to this post: note that it is not a critique or endorsement. It's an observation about marketing strategy. OK, with that said:

I'm going to officially declare (where are the officials to make this official?) that we've arrived at a tipping point in the sale of tricked out typers online with my recent discovery of Kasbah Mod (thanks to a colleague for the tip). "Now the Biggest Retailer of Ace-Quality Vintage Typewriters in New York City." (The biggest? To set itself apart from the crowded New York market for vintage refurbed typewriters?) Let's set discussion of prices aside (their prices seem pretty standard for refurbed typewriters aimed at non-collectors) and focus on the hot rod paint jobs (click through to page two for some notable examples, the site doesn't let one link to specific machines). Typewriters have been marketed as style pieces for some time, but I think New York is taking this to a new level at the moment (Brady & Kowalski is another example), and I'd be shocked if other businesses don't soon follow suit.

Perhaps the market has been goosed by Jessica Bruder's New York Times piece with which most typecastinistas are familiar, appearing as it did on the style page. Let me say this: although the typosphere has been painting 'writers for some time, note that New York has fired the starting gun on a general trend of bucks to be made from refurbished, repainted typewriters, marketed stylishly, and promoted on teh social medias to the young whippersnappers. Mind you, this is a different spin than sturdy machines for serious writers (which is how typewriter resellers have marketed them up to this turning point), and depends upon eye-catching paint jobs and gorgeous web sites (eBay won't do. Is there a web site, incidentally, that is uglier and more out-of-date looking than eBay?).

If you're handy with web design, a paint gun and three-in-one oil, I suggest you grab your gold pan and start sifting up big profits in your neck of the woods.

The analog renaissance?

Richard Polt posted an interesting link to this article about the analog renaissance of communications media on typosphere.net, and I'm curious to know what people think - is this really a rebirth and revival, or just a symptom of Marshall McLuhan's theory that we're turning analog culture into art because we cling to a "rearview mirror view" of our world? Or there is a third option: does this article and others like it describe only a very few individuals or retailers, that journalists are falsely claiming is a mass-culture fad? (Or perhaps they are trying to instigate the creation thereof).

People have been fetishizing records ever since they fell from grace in the 80's or thereabouts. Etsy sellers have been hawking handmade books for years. Don't get me started on analog cameras (mostly because I know nothing about them, except that they remain popular with a large percentage of professional photographers). What claim does the current day have on being the renaissance moment of analog communications media? Is it just the typewriters? Really?

Pertaining to this question, I've been meaning to eventually expand the focus of this blog beyond the noble typewriting machine, and into the general pool of analog writing tools and techniques (mail art, books, pens & pencils, handwriting and drawing, sketchnoting, etc). I'll get there someday. In the interim, I wrote this blog post on sketchnoting for the University of Washington Flip the Media blog. Can't seem to get enough of that topic, although so far I have failed to convince anyone in my corporate work environment that sketchnoting is the perfect format for software documentation.

Sakura Gelly Roll pens

Occurred to me just now as I ambled around the typosphere that it's high season for the type-in: they're happening every weekend, just about. Was going to warn those of you meeting up in bars not to drink and type, but I guess it worked out for Hemingway.