Celebrity-handwriting crisis

In the news, or “news,” a celebrity-handwriting crisis, or a celebrity handwriting-crisis:

The handwriting of today’s teen stars “is so atrocious, it’s talked about and recognized through the industry,” says Justin King, a Toronto-based paparazzi for Flynet Pictures and independent autograph seller. “With stars ages 30 and above, they generally have a much more full, legible signature. When you deal with these new people like [teen actress] Elle Fanning, you’re lucky if you get an E and F and a heart for her signature.”

Nation of adults who will write like children? (CNN)

Justin Bieber could use some help with spelling too.

Related reading
All handwriting posts (via Pinboard)

111

If you were born before the year 2000: add the last two digits of the year of your birth and the age you will be on this year’s birthday. The answer will be 111. If you were born in 2000 or later, the answer will be 11. If you were born in 1899 or earlier, the answer will be 211. (If you were born in 1899 or earlier, you’re probably not reading this post. If you were born in 2000 or later, you should be out playing.)

The year 2011 is the year of 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, and 11/11/11. And adding age to year always ends in eleven. Pretty mysterious, eh? Not really. Snopes has an explanation. Maths Questions has a more elaborate one.

[It amuses me that I learned this trick not from an online source but from my dad, who got it from a neighbor. Neighbors: the original Internets.]

Condiment challenge

[“Assortment of condiments to accompany lamb curry.” Photograph by John Dominis. United States, 1964. From the Life Photo Archive.]

I don’t know how I found my way to this photograph. I do know that I cannot identify all sixteen condiments. (I can identify just five.) How about you? You’re welcome to leave your best guesses in the comments. To identify condiments, think of them as forming four rows, left to right, from the top: 1, 2, 3, 4; 5, 6, 7, 8; and so on.

Here’s a larger version of the photograph that might help. Clicking on “Back to image details,” lower left, will give you the answers.

A Great American Dream Machine thought

The fortieth-anniversary special aired on my PBS affiliate last night, and it made me realize that 1971 is a long time ago. The editing and graphics that once made The Great American Dream Machine look so great look faux-retro now. (Not retro: faux-retro.) My son Ben wondered whether people really thought and spoke as they did in the anthology’s clips, particularly in a series of short interviews about martial fidelity. “It’s 1971,” said one fellow, meaning that the time for loyalty to a partner had passed. A married thirtyish woman explained the rules of adultery: good taste, no tell-tale signs. At the other end of the spectrum, a segment on Fascinating Womanhood, offering instruction in wifely subservience. (Yes, FW is still around.)

Missing: Kramp Heritage Loaf, a parody of the recipe commercials that used to litter television (“brought to you by Kraft”). Sorely missing: the conversations among Studs Terkel and company in a Chicago bar. (How can you have a GADM retrospective and leave out Studs Terkel?) Surprisingly present: Andy Rooney, who turns out to have been a regular, as tiresome then as now.

The best thing in last night’s show: Elaine Stritch singing Stephen Sondheim’s “The Ladies Who Lunch” with piano accompaniment, a performance not to be found on YouTube.

Related viewing
Kramp Heritage Loaf (The Groove Tube version)
“The Ladies Who Lunch” (recording session footage)
“The Ladies Who Lunch” (a later performance)

Alice Notley on “non-careerist”

In the preface to Coming After: Essays on Poetry (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005), the poet Alice Notley considers neglected poets (the so-called second generation of the so-called New York School) and observes that “‘non-careerist’ . . . is not the same as not professional.” That’s a useful distinction for makers and practitioners who are deadly serious about what they do but unconcerned about making the right moves or pleasing the right people.

Orange pencil art

[Click for a larger view.]

Gunther at Lexikaliker sent me an array of German and Japanese pencils, one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. Above, three orange examples of the art of pencilmaking. From top to bottom: an A.W. Faber Faber 6 copying pencil, a Lyra Orlow steno pencil, and a Lyra Orlow-Techno.

[Click for a larger view.]

These pencils have the appeal of well-made tools: everything about them bespeaks careful attention to detail. I like the contrast between the stately A.W. Faber and the sans serif Faber 6. I like the contrast between the capitalized cursive Orlow and the modernist lower-case orlow-techno. I like the scales and lyres, especially the lyres. I like the different shades of orange. I like everything about these pencils.

Thank you again, Gunther!

[Photographs by Michael Leddy.]

David Marsh on the subjunctive

With a nod to Macbeth, David Marsh looks at the subjunctive: If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done correctly (The Guardian).

(And he quotes OCA on if I were and if I was.)

The Great American Dream Machine

Coming soon to a PBS station near you, unless it already has or isn’t ever: The Great American Dream Machine 40th Anniversary Special.

As a high-school student all those years ago, I was crazy for The Great American Dream Machine, which felt like an oasis of hipness and intelligence. Here’s one clip, Marshall Efron grading olives.

Related reading
The Great American Dream Machine (Wikipedia)

Flurries

One of the rewards of keeping a blog is spotting (via the excellent StatCounter) what I will call flurries — mysterious surges of interest that lead searchers to a post. One day several weeks ago, several dozen people across the United States were searching for Mongol 2 3/8 and found my post on that great pencil of the past. Today, several dozen people in Great Britain have searched for director of White Heat and High Sierra and found my post on those films (directed by Raoul Walsh). My guess is that an an eBay item prompted the Mongol search; a crossword clue, the Raoul Walsh search. I’m happy though to remain in the dark, with flurries.

[Mysterious, really? Okay, slightly mysterious.]

Ben Leddy on YouTube

He’s playing Balkan and French-Canadian tunes, clawhammer-style.