James M. Cain on Los Angeles

A catalogue of signage, from James M. Cain’s “Paradise,” a 1933 essay on Los Angeles, just reprinted in the Los Angeles Times :

Rabbit Fryers, 50¢; Eggs, Guaranteed Fresh, 23¢ Doz.; Canary Birds, 50¢, Also Baby Chix, Just Hatched; Car Mart, All Makes Used Cars, Lowest Prices; Orange Drink, 5¢; Eat; Drink Goat Milk for Health, Drive Right In; Pet Cemetery 300 Yds., Turn to Right; Finest English Walnuts, 15¢ Lb.; $100 Down Buys This Lot, Improvements Installed, No Assessments; Eat; Scotty Kennels, 100 Yds.; Pure Muscat Grapejuice, 35¢ Gal., We Deliver; Eat.

Homemade music

Yesterday morning, half an hour before we had to leave for the airport, Rachel and Ben began trying out this song. Just enough time for Elaine and me to learn it. It’s “Half-Acre,” by Hem. For added realism, watch with a mirror.

2012 calendars

I’m a sucker for a good free calendar.

Compact Calendar 2011 David Seah’s calendar-in-the-form-of-a-spreadsheet fits a year to a page.

PDFCalendar This customizable calendar is great for the student or teacher who wants to map out a semester on one page.

TM Micro-Mini Calendar I’ve never had occasion to use Claude Pavur’s ultra-minimal calendar, but my inner child finds the idea of it irresistible. The Micro-Mini is no doubt the choice of ten-year-old secret agents everywhere.

UNIX calendar command The UNIX command cal is handy for making a three- or four-month calendar to tape into a notebook. Thanks to Hawk Sugano for sharing his knowledge.

One more: I’ve made a plain and dowdy 2012 calendar, three months per 8½ x 11 page. That’s a sample to the left. The font is Gill Sans Bold; the colors are Licorice and Cayenne (otherwise known as black and dark red). If you’d like a PDF, send me an e-mail. (If you’re reading in a reader, click on through: the address is in the sidebar.)

And still one more: Elaine in Arkansas suggests Patrick Merrell’s 2012 calendar, directions included: “1. Cut out. 2. Use.” Thanks, Elaine.

New Year’s Eve 1911

[“ No Sign of a Lid on New Year’s Eve: The Police Not Anxious to Play the Part of Joy Killers of To-night’s Celebrations.” New York Times, December 31, 1911.]

Happy New Year, reader. May 2012 be a year of bright moments and remarkable dances. See you there.

Further reading from Wikipedia
Grizzly Bear
Shanley’s Restaurants
Turkey Trot

[Healy’s? Jack’s? The Madrid? The Whirlwin? I am using my imagination.]

Hi and Lois watch

[Hi and Lois, December 31, 2011.]

Yes, Hi appears to be setting the alarm on the face side of the clock. But what really catches my eye (or head) here is at. Do you set your alarm clock at, or for?

Related reading
All Hi and Lois posts (via Pinboard)

[Lois, you deserve better than this.]

Philip Gove on student writing

Before turning to dictionary work with the G. & C. Merriam Company, Philip Gove spent fifteen years directing freshman English at New York University. In the mid-1950s, he was at work with Merriam, editing Webster’s Third. The Dartmouth News Service wrote to offer Gove (a Dartmouth graduate) samples of student writing to illustrate current usage. He declined and explained why in a letter:

There’s an almost invariable rule that writing prepared under assignment and therefore artificially under pressure has certain forced awkwardnesses that make it quite different from genuine human utterances. Most of these writers, you will remember, didn’t want to write the theme in the first place, didn’t have anything they wanted to say in the second, and cared only about satisfying some artificial and quite likely false standards set up by their instructor. I know because I have read thousands of them.

Quoted in Herbert C. Morton’s The Story of Webster’s Third: Philip Gove’s Controversial Dictionary and Its Critics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

How to challenge the “almost invariable rule”? One way is to ask students to write critically about “college”: what it’s for, what’s wrong with it, how it can be improved. It’s exciting to see students become critical observers of their own experience.

Related reading
Paul McHenry Roberts, “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”

Television antennas and other relics

Diane Schirf is remembering relics. The latest: television antennas. And previously: letters and mailboxes, “the one-color, non-sticky postage stamp,” and mail chutes.

[Yes, antennas. Garner’s Modern American Usage: “When the reference is to insects, antennae . . . is the usual plural. But when the reference is to televisions and electronic transmitters, antennas is better.”]

Overheard

While shopping:

“Holy crap — they have Valentine’s stuff out already!”

And they do, right next to the meat-flavor-flavored potato chips and other New Year’s Eve items.

All “overheard” posts (via Pinboard)

Meat-flavored potato chips

“We then top them with the flavor of thick and juicy steak”: Herr’s Kansas City Prime Potato Chips. The horror.

[As there’s no meat in these chips, perhaps I should’ve written “meat-flavor-flavored.”]

Improved to-do lists

“With the new year comes the urge to accomplish all the things that were meant to be done the year before, and it often starts with long to-do lists.” Thus Sue Shellenbarger offers some advice for making workable ones: Conquering the To-Do List (Wall Street Journal). The poster-like illustration seems especially helpful.

Other posts with lists
“Ambercroombie & Flitch” (Ways to be cool)
Amy Winehouse’s to-do list (“When I do recorddeal”)
Blue crayon (Supplies for an imaginary camping trip)
John Lennon’s to-do list (“H.B.O. Guy coming between 3–5”)
Johnny Cash’s to-do list (“Kiss June”)
Review: Liza Kirwin, Lists (Artists’ lists)
Whose list? (A found list)