On being an information packrat

At BrownStudies, one, two, three, four engaging and thought-provoking posts on being an information packrat. Do I identify? Yes, I identify.

[Now where did I put that PDF?]

Lands’ End (back to school)

Just so you know: Lands’ End is offering 25% off everything, and free shipping to the United States and Canada on orders over $50, through 11:59 p.m. Central tonight. Promotion Code: RAINBOW. PIN: 5580. The people to the left: Lands’ Enders, really. The times, they are a-, &c.

Nancy, back to school

[Nancy, September 5, 1944.]

The horror. Nancy awakens in the final panel to say “WHAT AN AWFUL DREAM --- AND IT’S TRUE.” Notice though that even in nightmares, school opens after Labor Day, not in the near-middle of August.

The lines radiating from Nancy’s head on a Tuesday in September 1944 radiate from my head today. School opens next week. And now if you’ll excuse me.

Other Nancy posts
Charlotte russe
The greatest Nancy panel?
Nancy is here
Nancy meets Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo)
Nancy meets Billy Wilder (The Seven Year Itch)
Nancy meets Stanley Kubrick (The Shining)

[Nancy panel by Ernie Bushmiller, from Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943–1945 (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2012). Yes, in Nancy, three hyphens --- “some hyphens” --- constitute a dash. See Art Speigelman’s explanation of “some rocks.”]

Bill Madison on the Ryan nomination

“Ryan is best known in Washington policy circles for a stubborn resistance to government intervention, and for fierce opposition to taxes (‘revenuers’)”: Bill Madison on the Ryan nomination.

Recently updated

David Rakoff (1964–2012) This American Life has posted video of “Stiff as a Board, Light as a Feather.”

VDP on Discover America

“Then all the Trinidadians in LA saw the goat peering out of the trunk of the car just before the barbecue. It was outside the box, and so is this record”: Van Dyke Parks, in a short film by Richard Parks, Van Dyke Parks on Discover America.

Discover America is a 1972 VDP album of calypso and calypso-influenced songs, recently re-released on the Bella Union label.

Also by Richard Parks
Van Dyke Parks on Song Cycle

ca-kyvi-wa-sa

Good advice from David Sparks for keeping things secure online: Good Luck Social Engineering My Security Question Answers.

The Elements of Style, illustrated

[Click for larger views and stiffer fines.]

Maira Kalman isn’t the only artist to have illustrated The Elements of Style. These covers are from a copy of the 1920 Harcourt, Brace trade edition, now in the Cornell University Library. A digitized version is available from the Internet Archive. I’m joking about fines: a better explanation might be that with a scarce book, almost any used copy is welcome. I’d like to know what the artist wrote in the upper-right corner. My best guess for the leftmost writing above the desk: Strunk. The words that follow are clear: AND HOW!

Strange: a copy of the 1920 edition now for sale has a drawing of a dolphin on its cover.

Related reading
All Elements of Style posts (via Pinboard)

David Rakoff (1964–2012)

The New York Times reports that the writer David Rakoff has died. He was a frequent contributor to This American Life. I’m listening again to “Stiff as a Board, Light as a Feather,” which aired in May. It’s unforgettable.

August 11: This American Life has posted the video of “Stiff as Board, Light as a Feather” to YouTube. Thank you, TAL.

The sound of one door slamming

Seven-year-old Seymour Glass writing about his five-year-old brother Buddy:

The very first and last thing you must remember about this small, haunting chap is that he will be in a terrible rush all his life to get the door nicely slammed behind him in any room where there is a striking and handsome supply of good, sharp pencils and plenty of paper.

J. D. Salinger, “Hapworth 16, 1924” (1965).

[This post is for the pencil lovers among us.]