Orange Crate Art

Thursday, March 30, 2023

DFW on the shelf

On MSNBC just now: on a bookshelf behind Nick Ackerman, former Watergate prosecutor, a copy of Infinite Jest. You’ll have to take my word for it.

*

Not anymore: the episode is now online.

[The Beat with Ari Melber, March 30, 2023. Click for a much larger view.]

Infinite Jest is above Mr. Ackerman’s head — literally, that is. To the left of the Jest: Consider the Lobster. Three more steps to the left: that might be The Grapes of Wrath. I also see The Poetry of Robert Frost, what must be a biography of Frida Kahlo, and Lynne Truss’s (awful) Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Is Hoot a children’s book? Is Revival the Stephen King novel? Are there books here that you can add?

All OCA David Foster Wallace posts (Pinboard)

TRUMP INDICTED

I turn off NPR, put on Lassie, fold some laundry, and look what happens. From The New York Times:

A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald J. Trump on Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, according to five people with knowledge of the matter, a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation’s first former president to face criminal charges.

An indictment will likely be announced in the coming days. By then, prosecutors working for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, will have asked Mr. Trump to surrender and to face arraignment on charges that remain unknown for now.

[“Gift” link, no subscription needed.]

“The Corridors of Insomnia”

Steven Millhauser, “Cathay,” in In the Penny Arcade (1986).

Related reading
All OCA Steven Millhauser posts (Pinboard)

Word of the day: spiv

Ex-con Leo Martin (William Hartnell) questions the questioner, detective inspector Roberts (Robert Beatty). From Appointment with Crime (dir. John Harlow, 1946):

“So I suppose you think I did it.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you’re a copper, and I’m a spiv.”

Green's Dictionary of Slang has it covered: “a flashy, sharp individual who exists on the fringes of real criminality, living by their wits rather than a regular job.”

Jonathon Green offers four possible origins: (1) the Romany word spiv, sparrow, a derogatory term for “those who existed by picking up the leavings of their betters, criminal or legitimate”; (2) a reversal of V.I.P.s; (3) a police abbreviation for “suspected persons and itinerant vagrants”; (4) a derivation from spiff, a dandy.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the word is of unknown origin but points to spiff, spiffy, and Henry “Spiv” Bagster, a London newspaper seller and criminal:

Bagster’s court appearances for loitering, theft, assault, and selling counterfeit goods are reported in the national newspapers between 1903 and 1906. The nickname is recorded from 1904.

Not clear though why he was called “Spiv.”

And now it’s back to my law-abiding life.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Two Manhattan addresses

Two Manhattan addresses with considerable history:

64 East Seventh Street in the East Village, still standing, and now the subject of a song cycle, lyrics by David Hajdu, music by various composers.

And 14 Gay Street in Greenwich Village, now gone.

Thanks, Stefan.

The Internet Archive in the courts

From The Washington Post:

A federal judge has sided with four publishers who sued an online archive over its unauthorized scanning of millions of copyrighted works and offering them for free to the public. Judge John G. Koeltl of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled [March 24] that the Internet Archive was producing “derivative” works that required permission of the copyright holder.

The Archive strikes back:

“Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products,” Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle wrote in a blog post Friday. “For democracy to thrive at global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society — owning, preserving, and lending books. This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors and we plan to appeal it.”

A blog post at the Internet Archive has more. And if you want to support the Archive, here’s the link for donations.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Handwriting, again

The New York Times looks at handwriting, good and bad. This article appears to be the one for which the Times solicited samples of bad handwriting last October. The paper has been worrying about the future of handwriting for some time now. In 1967, the enemies were electric typewriters, tape recorders, and Xerox machines.

Here’s the handwritng sample I sent — pretty legible, alas. Here’s a worse one that might have had a better chance.

Related reading
All OCA handwriting posts (Pinboard)

[This is a day when I’m in flight from real news.]

Crocs rising

“While other brands that thrived with customers in quarantine have dropped off, sales of the easily slipped-on clogs are up nearly 200 percent since 2019”: The New York Times reports on Crocs.

I have a pair for around the house and another for garbage duty, desultory strolls, &c. Crocs are great.

One caution: a neighbor, hale, hearty, non-fragile, broke an ankle when he slipped on a grassy slope while wearing Crocs. That gives new meaning to the words “easily slipped-on clogs.” Crocs are not the best choice for a slippery surface, though there are slip-resistant ones for work wear.

[This is a day when I’m in flight from real news.]

Break-room signage

[The Human Jungle (dir. Joseph M. Newman, 1954). Click for a larger view.]

Captain John Danforth (Gary Merrill) confronts slacker detective Lannigan (Lamont Johnson). There’s more than coffee in his cup.

On the wall, to the left: “Put all money for coffee & donuts in box.” But it’s the sign to the right that’s the interesting one: “Don’t be a [sponge]. Pay for your coffee or Join the Club.” That is, a coffee club. I like the hand pointing to the sponge — just in case you missed it.

Related reading
All OCA signage posts (Pinboard) : MAdison 5-1234