Top 5 Guilty Pleasures of 2012

Year end is nigh, time where annual lists come out everywhere, in all forms, and covering all topics. I thought perhaps I'd try my hand at it. I thought about the top ten books I read this year but everyone seems to have a similar list. Then I thought about the top ten short story collections I've read, but realized I didn't have ten for the year I could recommend since I was still compiling my all time favorite short story collection list, and ten still haven't made it. Then of course, there's the movies. I have too many friends who do year end reviews so I'll leave that to them. TV? nah. Music? I just don't follow enough. Besides, this is the time when I discover all the new music that came out this year. I'm lucky if I'm one year behind.

So I came up with this list. Strictly personal and I had to make it only 5 since my typecasting paper is short. I wanted to rush it out as my final blog of the year, unless I feel inspired in the next couple of days. If not, then Happy New Year to all my fellow Typospherians and thanks for welcoming me into the community!

Best,

Typebarhead

Typewriter spotting in Hong Kong (more)

I decided to go on a mini adventure this weekend by seeing if I could find a typewriter I saw in a googled photograph in Hong Kong. My first effort was hopeless. The only info I had was he was an accountant in Yau Ma Tei on the Kowloon side. Here's the link to the photo: http://trace.hayleyho.com/?cat=3
I eventually emailed the owner who told me I would find him at the jade market and so he was, in fact a line of accountants with typewriters working from stalls. It was pretty cool. They were very aged and weathered machines. Most just sat openly but covered. A couple of Olympias, an unusable Underwood, and the big one the elder was using was a Facit. I asked if he minded if I took a photo of his typer which he didn't. I was then going to ask if he was willing to type a letter for me for the typosphere so i could typecast it but as you may see in the photo he was preoccupied looking for something that he seemed to have misplaced. He was working on a tax form that was sheeted on the platen so I decided not to bother him anymore.

Typewriter spotting Hong Kong (again)

I decided to revisit Apliu St. in Sham Shui Po in Kowloon to see if any new typers came up since my last visit here. And Olympias seem to reign this visit. There was a Monica sitting with a pile of used stuff with the street vendors and I saw a Kofa which I never heard of but looked like a cheap 80s machine (couldn't get a photo of that). Inside store number 253 ( someone requested the address last time so I bothered to find out this trip) I found two shrink wrapped again. An sm9 and sg1 I believe.

I saw a typewriter sitting in a basket on the sidewalk in Sheung Wan while I was in a taxi but haven't been able to revisit it since to see if they had more.

Hopefully I'll spot a few more before I leave. Any typewriter collectors in Hong Kong?? Email me, I'm here for another week.

Typewriter spotting - NYC

Saw this typewriter at ABC furnishers near Union Square in New York City. Asking price 495 bucks. :)

Last British Typewriter

I saw this and found it interesting and thought I'd share. I thought I had read about the last typewriter manufactured a few years ago. 

Brother CM-1000

My Grey Royal Quiet De Luxe, x704

I've found it harder and harder to keep up with this blog because one, I'm trying to go cold turkey on buying typers. The good thing is I have no car in NYC so I no longer can go on weekend (or weekday,  for that matter) adventures for typewriters. And avoiding Ebay for now. When the addiction isn't in the forefront, I forget about the blog unless I spot one in the wild. I've also had to refrain from reading the typosphere too much at one time, fearing it may inflame the addiction which is currently in remission (but damn, it's gonna be a lot of catch up!).

   However, I do want to try to commit to writing some thing at least weekly here if not only for discipline's sake. I was going to typecast but realized my scanner isn't working properly, perhaps damaged from the move. But luckily, I scanned a bunch before my move cross country, knowing I would need to put most of my collection in storage. I was only able to bring a handful of typers which is quite ridiculous for a regular person. They were all in boxes until recently. The weather got cold enough that I had to unpack my winter clothes and I found two in the box. One I remember packing, the other, I completely forgot about. It was a nice surprise. Kinda felt like Christmas morning! It was my grey Royal Quiet Deluxe. 

   I've been typing on it all week. Got some decent writing done on it. I do love this clacker model. I don't have an emotion attachment to this one like I did with Rusty, but it's growing on me. It doesn't type great, but it works fine. I didn't clean it at all and stuff is falling onto my desk the more I use it.

   I've decided to leave the other ones in boxes still and perhaps surprise myself at later dates.

Typewriter in NYC Bookstore Window Display

Another typewriter sighting in NYC:

Crawford Doyle Booksellers in UES

This is a beautiful little bookstore in the Upper East Side. Books from floor to ceiling. Wooden library ladders on rails always win me over.  I saw the Corona walking by and loved the Sontag quote. The only issue I have is that the quote is laser printed in a really big font so people can read it from the street rather than actually typed out by the Corona.

So I've neglected my duties on my blog for a few months. My apologies but my recent relocation to the big apple took much longer than anticipated. I'm still unpacking. I left my typer collection back west in storage and brought only a handful over to use (which is still an overkill).  All but one are still in boxes along with my winter cloths which I will likely need to unpack soon.

Maybe I'll get to it since it seems like I'll be stormed in for a few days with Sandy visiting.