From Mascots (dir. Christopher Guest, 2016). Greg Gammons Jr. (Fred Willard) is watching a pencil-and-sharpener mascot performance:
“That’s one of the last joys in life, sharpening a pencil. It’s hard to do that wrong.”Mascots is streaming at Netflix. Not the best Guest, but still a pleasure, with all the usual suspects and a special Guest appearance.
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comments: 4
As I was sharpening a pencil one afternoon, I thought about this very thing - the joy of sharpening a pencil.
Maybe it is the making a sharp point of the graphite from the dull, rounded thing it had just been, like the pleasure of shining metal objects to make them sparkle. Or, maybe, it is the anticipation of the very fine line the sharpened point will make in the beginning, going on to mark broader and broader lines. It could be the odors that arise from the slightly heated wood casing and the graphite rod, caused by the friction exerted on them by the sharpener's blades.
I decided, in the end, that the action of sharpening the pencil had the same effect as Proust's madeleines - triggering nostalgia for lives and times past.
Probably all of these things, I suppose.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who feels deep nostalgia when sharpening a pencil. That aroma!
Yes, but I disagree it's hard to do it wrong--
I have sometimes whittled a pencil down to nothing, trying to get a good point.
--Fresca
It’s likely to happen when the lead is off-center. But I still stand with Fred Willard. :)
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