Creative Commons-licensed, copyright thetourist. This is an Olivetti Valentine portable typewriter, photographed in the Musem of Modern Art. I just bought one, which inspired this post. Aside from my obsession with letterpress, I’m also obsessed with pen and paper, clay, photography (darkroom work, especially), Polaroids (1, 2), old postcards, unusual collage media, antique engraved book […]
Earlier today, I had a sad phone conversation with Tracy, the illustrious organizer for Ruby East 2007. The gist is: I can’t make it. I couldn’t finish my talk and would have had a difficult time making the trip because I’ve got a sprained shoulder. (Is there anything I haven’t sprained yet? Yes—but don’t ask […]
Obnoxious but required: if you like the sound of my SXSW talk, wouldja vote for it? John and I will be going either way but it would sure be fun to help spread the multi-talented love. Also, based on my experience last year, I feel like SXSW could use a few more well-prepared presentations rather […]
A while back, Tatiana Apandi—my long-suffering editor at O’Reilly—asked if I’d be interested in writing an essay about women in technology for a project she was working on. I was a little skeptical at first, being naturally suspicious of things that put the focus on sex rather than, oh, I dunno, how a person thinks […]
And the joy of craft. The nicest thing as anyone’s ever said about my work is ‘It’s always so suitable to the purpose.’ Yes, make it attractive, but make it be what the text needs it to be. Whereas in the wild and wooly world of computer typography, there are no rules. The old guys […]
Another experiment. I dug up yet another scribbly half-baked essay and decided to turn it into an audio entry. I have a nice mic that I bought for this purpose and I’m learning a bit about audio production here and there (thanks Geoff!). The final result, not edited except to remove 3 “ums” (which I […]
Found this nugget in an essay I started a while back. The rest of the essay’s mostly a waste, but I like these questions! What do you think? Do you cook from rote? Do you envy people who can wander into a grocery store, grab a seemingly incoherent list of ingredients and, without any guide […]
