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L.T. Hanlon

Category: Typewriters

The song remains the same: It stinks

May 6, 2019May 6, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

TImage is of the following typewritten text. Smith-Corona Silent-Super. 65-pound Southworth Linen by Neenah Paper Inc., Neenah, Wisconsin. Nightmare in Music. I had trouble falling asleep last night so I listened to recordings of thunderstorms and then country music — and off I went to Dreamland. The music played on as I slept … and then suddenly I awoke in horror to Mr. Bojangles, my second-least favorite song. My No. 1 least-favorite song is The Little Drummer Boy. I think that what happened is that Spotify played the thunderstorm tracks, then proceded to a playlist of rodeo songs, then began going MOTS. This more of the same plodded through a dozen or more songs and then — BAM! — up popped Mr. Bojangles. Jerry Jeff Walker, who wrote this song, is one of my favorite country artists but this song has never done it for me. I think the problem is that everybody who covers Mr. Bojangles ends up sounding like Bob Dylan. Warning: This typecast has not been edited.

 

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I’m not a poet … and I know it

May 6, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. Hanlon1 Comment

Monday, May 6, 2019. Chicago, USA. Canon Typestar 5. POETRY! POETRY! POETRY! I just found out there's this cool group of folks here in Chicago who create poetry on demand. They're Poems While You Wait (poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com) and their stuff is A-OK and absolutely first-class. I’m also very envious of PWYW because I've always wanted to be able to write good poetry. There are two things that are stopping me, however. 1. I have no patience. 2. I have no talent. I do remember poems that impress me. Many decades ago, Mom brought home a book by Mason Williams, the guy who created Classical Gas. The book contained photos, graphics, and poetry. One of Williams' poems has stayed with me all this time. Death. You will know me by my touch. It is the last. Another poem I recall from about that time is far less sophisticated. Roses are red, violets are blue, and you've got a nose like a B-52. Warning: This typecast has not been edited.

 

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Collecting typewriters the airline way

May 5, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. Hanlon4 Comments

Image is of the following typewritten text. Sunday, May 5, 2019. Chicago, USA. Smith—Corona Silent—Super. Boeing or Airbus? I own four mechanical typewriters and one electronic model. That’s two Olympias -- SM3 and SM9 -- and two Smith-Coronas -- both Silent-Supers. And a Hermes 3000 should arrive tomorrow. In many ways, I feel like an airline with a fleet of planes from different manufacturers. Is this a good thing?  With the exception of when it briefly had Boeing 717 planes when it merged with AirTran, Southwest always had flown Boeing planes. And, no, I don’t really consider the 717 a Boeing plane; it's a DC-9 / MD-80 that became part of a blended family. If I recall correctly, Southwest leased the 717’s to Delta. Both Olympia and Smith—Corona are fine machines, but I’m thinking of standardizing my fleet and releasing the Olympias into the wild. That will make me an all-Smith-Corona airline. What about the Hermes? Well, that'll be my executive aircraft like a Caravelle.

 

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Stanley Kubrick screws up

May 5, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. Hanlon2 Comments

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I hope I don’t have GAS

May 4, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

That’s “gear acquisition syndrome.”

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Make up your mind!

May 2, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. Hanlon2 Comments

Today’s typecast is printed on thermal paper, the kind used for cash register receipts. Want to know more about thermal typewriters? Joe Van Cleave explains.

Photo is of a bright yellow cash register paper receipt tape. This is thermal paper. Text follows. Thursday, May 2, 2019. Chicago, USA. Canon Typestar 5. Freedom of Choice. Hardly a week goes by that scientists and other know-it-alls don't change their minds and make a public spectacle of themselves. Frequent flipflops include red wine, beer, saturated fat, sex. And now chicken skin. Yep, I just read a story in which it's now OK to eat this. Translation: East whatever you want because folks don't know crap!

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Deja-vu, Hollywood style!

May 1, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment
Photo taken of a large sign for Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood on a bright sunny day. The dark green sign features the restaurant's name in white cursive lettering.
Musso & Frank Grill is a Hollywood tradition. Writer and author Scott Holleran introduced me to this wonderful place. (Photo copyright © Leigh Hanlon)

The following text appears in this photo as typewritten characters. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Chicago, USA. 1970s Olympia SM9. I've seen this place before. One of the neat things about watching movies and TV series shot in Los Angeles is that when you do visit the area there's a bizarre sense of deja-vu. I experienced one such moment while watching the Amazon series Bosch. During a scene with supporting cast members Amy Aquino and Troy Evans the pair dines at Hollywood's famed Musso & Frank Grill -- a place introduced to me by author and writer Scott Holleran. Scott recommended Musso & Frank's spaghetti with meat sauce, which he correctly described as having a classic supper-club taste. I loved it! But back to Bosch. Season 5 is a lot more of an upbeat police procedural than the previous seasons. Not that police work wasn't on display in 1-4, of course. This latest story arc just gelt more like the savvy offspring of The Rockford Files and Double Indemnity. We even get a cameo appearance by Jeri Ryan. How cool is that?

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I’m going to be an indie author

April 30, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. Hanlon3 Comments

Image of the following typewritten text. Tuesday, April 30, 3019. Chicago, USA. 1954 Smith-Corona Silent-Super. Today I renewed my commitment to becoming an indie author and banged out more than 3,000 words. That might sound like a lot, but I need to become lots more productive if there's any hope of developing this into a source of income. The past week, in fact, I've started treating my freelance work as just that: work. I have a space set aside to work and I spend close to eight hours a day working there. I'm also planning on posting at least one item daily on my blog — either a standard electronic post or a typecast like this one. In fact, maybe I'll start my day with the blog as a kind of warmup exercise. In addition to sharing professional information, I'm also going to include some personal observations about life, the universe, and everything. I'm unlike to include much about politics because I've long held the opinion that political opinions are like assholes: Everybody has one and they all stink.

[As usual, this typecast is not corrected for typos.]

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Putting up with a problematic gearshift

April 11, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

Via Olympia SM3 typewriter.

Photo of a typewritten page with the following text. Thursday, April 11, 2019. Chicago, Illinois. Via Olympia SM3. Unlike my Smith-Corona Silent-Super, this Olympia SM3 calls attention to itself.

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Lessons From High School #1

April 4, 2019May 5, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

Sometimes what we’re taught long ago is of use throughout our lives. That’s the case with me and a class I took from Miss Paula Pearcy.

This image is of a typewritten page with the text that follows. Paula Pearcy’s Pangram Problem. I attended Jefferson High School in Edgewater, Colorado, and graduated in the long-age year of 1972. One of the few teachers who taught me a lifetime of lessons was Miss Paula Pearcy, who presided over journalism. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t benefit from Miss Pearcy’s expertise. She taught us about ledes, nut Grafs, fitting hens with the J-FLIT system, and sizing and resining photos. One of the most memorable moments in Miss Pearcy’s class occurred when we were testing our typing skills. She told us that she disliked the traditional pangram The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog for two reasons. First, it fails to convey complete information. Readers only learn the color of the fox. Second, because of this incomplete information, the sentence also lacks the expected parallel structure. Miss Peacry, of course, provided the solution. The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog. She explained her decision to assign colors is based on most readers assuming that a fox would be some shade of red. She also said she learned this new and improved pangram from a college professor of her many years previously. As for me, I discovered my favorite pangram in an edition of Writer’s Digest in the early 1980s, if I recall correctly. Dumpy kibbitzer jingles as exchequer overflows. That definitely creates a more vivid image than a leaping fox.

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