Thanks, all!
Labels
- 20th Century Stuff (4)
- Books and Reading (28)
- Burmese Cat (11)
- Cameras and Photography (10)
- Clothing and Accessories (9)
- Cutting and Pasting (8)
- Food and Drink (12)
- Gaming (4)
- James Bond (35)
- James Bond (Fan Fiction) (8)
- Life (257)
- Magazine Ads (6)
- Misc. (14)
- Movies & TV (24)
- Music (5)
- Pen and Paper (12)
- Travel (8)
- typewriters (80)
- Watch Reviews (5)
- watches (250)
- Writing (20)
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Blogger pictures- Why don't they show up like they used to?
Short and to the point. Not having a dig at Blogger, by the way. I just can't figure out why the change in viewing photos has occurred. Wow, another badly constructed sentence!
Thanks, all.
Monday 21 November 2011
SM3 that needs repairing...so I took a chance with some tools and...
This circa 1954 Olympia SM3 arrived about a week ago. It was safely packaged, but the box had split slightly and the typewriter itself had seen better days.
This was gonna be a tricky fix for me. However, I remember M. Scott Peck writing in "The Road Less Travelled" about how he had to repair some machine or other and what he did was sit and stare at it for several minutes to get a grasp of what pieces went where, and which section was attached to which other section. Anyway...
A few minutes with the Leatherman tool and part of a coat hanger and...
Voila! I had to make sure that the little 'hook' at the end would be small enough to go through here...
Yes, that narrow gap of light in the middle of the frame. Heh, heh!
It would appear that the carriage sits a fraction too low. I bet all it needs is a slight adjustment of some tiny little screw somewhere, I'm not typewriter-repair-savvy enough to attempt to fix this. Besides, aren't there like, about 637 ball bearings on the carriage rail that come spilling out the minute you undo it?
Sunday 20 November 2011
Minor Gripes of the Week- A Mild Rant
It's a mixture of stuff that I've stored away in the garage. Really of no use to anybody but myself.
John Le Carre? Cold War's over, old boy.
35mm Photographer's Handbook? The world's gone digital.
Esquire magazine from 2005? The fashions went out of fashion about 20 minutes after that issue hit the news-stands.
Vanity Fair from 2008? May as well be from 1908.
Screenplay to "Thunderball"? A very poor photocopy that's almost impossible to read.
A book on fountain pens. Fountain pens???In the age of the iPhone?
See? Of no use to anybody.
And in case you're wondering, yes, these figures of Solid Snake are mine. He's the hero of the "Metal Gear Solid" game series on the Playstation. The first game was released in 1999 and it was amazing. Very atmospheric and tension-filled.
By the time the fourth game ("Metal Gear Solid 4-Guns of the Patriots") had been released, I felt as though I had grown older with this guy and it was heart-wrenching to see him go through this mission. I kept reminding myself that it was just a PS3 game, but the writing, the voice acting, and the graphics helped create this incredible world. There were times when the hair would stand up on the back of my neck, there were times when my heart would race, and there were times when I would get choked up. This game was a greater emotional experience than any film made in the first decade of the 21st Century. Seriously.
My wife didn't like the stamp I made. She said it looked like a crucifix. I told her I was aiming for a lower-case 't'. She said it looked very "Se7en". She and I say that when we're out and about and we see something creepy or seedy. That was a great film, btw. Best crime investigation film since "Chinatown".
Friday 11 November 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
My Trip to Thailand Typecast, Oct 2011
This will probably be a long post, folks. I'm putting it up so that I can refer to it years from now when I've forgotten what I actually did on this trip.
While the idea of bringing a typewriter with me and posting 'dispatches' here was good in theory, I soon realised that it might impinge on what was meant to be a relaxing holiday with the family.
Plan B was to perhaps find a cheap typewriter in Thailand and use it there before maybe mailing it back home or returning it to the seller (without expecting a refund. Call it a rental.), but we landed in Bangkok on a Monday so we had therefore missed the famous week-end markets where I'm told you can buy virtually anything.
Ahh well, there's always next time.
So anyway, I bought a cheap faux-skine A5 sized notebook and decided to keep a journal of the trip that I would later transcribe onto this blog via typecasting. This also gave me a chance to do some long writing on various typewriters of mine. This was a good exercise, because it allowed me to really road-test these machines properly. As such, I have decided that my Imperial Good Companion 5, while a nice typewriter to use, doesn't do anything that my Olympia SM2 and Remington Quiet-Riter can't do. So, it looks like I'll be putting the Imperial on eBay sometime soon.
I also carried a small pocket-sized Moleskine notepad in my back pocket at all times for jotting down notes and such.
I've transcribed directly from the journal and I've noticed that my writing flits between past and present tense depending on what I did, and what I was gonna do. I've left it exactly as I wrote it, in the interests of confusion.
So if you're staying for the duration, thrill-seekers, put the kettle on, pour yourself a stiff one, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and away I go...
We arrived ten minutes ago. The Concierge told us our room would be ready at around 7:30!
Still, the view was nice.
...I didn't see one accident, heard no screeching of tyres or blaring of car horns. And, if road-rage exists here, then it's done very quietly.
While the idea of bringing a typewriter with me and posting 'dispatches' here was good in theory, I soon realised that it might impinge on what was meant to be a relaxing holiday with the family.
Plan B was to perhaps find a cheap typewriter in Thailand and use it there before maybe mailing it back home or returning it to the seller (without expecting a refund. Call it a rental.), but we landed in Bangkok on a Monday so we had therefore missed the famous week-end markets where I'm told you can buy virtually anything.
Ahh well, there's always next time.
So anyway, I bought a cheap faux-skine A5 sized notebook and decided to keep a journal of the trip that I would later transcribe onto this blog via typecasting. This also gave me a chance to do some long writing on various typewriters of mine. This was a good exercise, because it allowed me to really road-test these machines properly. As such, I have decided that my Imperial Good Companion 5, while a nice typewriter to use, doesn't do anything that my Olympia SM2 and Remington Quiet-Riter can't do. So, it looks like I'll be putting the Imperial on eBay sometime soon.
I also carried a small pocket-sized Moleskine notepad in my back pocket at all times for jotting down notes and such.
I've transcribed directly from the journal and I've noticed that my writing flits between past and present tense depending on what I did, and what I was gonna do. I've left it exactly as I wrote it, in the interests of confusion.
So if you're staying for the duration, thrill-seekers, put the kettle on, pour yourself a stiff one, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and away I go...
A work colleague of my wife would be looking after the house and cat while we were away. We fed Her Ladyship and left her on the couch. As were we leaving, she was nowhere to be seen in the lounge room. We were wise to her tricks, however. A quick look in the bedroom and...
Still, the view was nice.
View from our room at the Centara Grand Hotel at CentralWorld, Bangkok, Thailand. |
First tuk-tuk sighted.
|
I don't know what this said, but it looked beautiful. |
Detail of the Golden Palace, showing the gold leaf tiling. |
And the skywalks positioned above the roads meant that you could walk one end of a busy street to another without being at ground level.
Not sure if this photo really captures just how wonderful this resort looks. Nestled between the huge rock formation and the shore off the Andaman Sea. |
Yes, I know we had a whole ocean within spitting distance, but we spent most of our time in the pool.
|
We hung a towel off the railing of our room so that we knew which one it was for the photo. |
To the three of you still here, thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)