Woodstock: Autumn of Love

 

The newest member of my collection.

I haven't had much time to play around with it yet, but so far it appears that everything works, though the shift lock tends to stick (getting better with use and a little oil), and one of the fraction keys doesn't quite make it all the way to the platen, which is hard as a rock (which means it fits in well with every other typewriter I own. Since there's no money for big repairs or supplies right now, I just use an extra sheet or two of paper and move on).


So this means that I have two machines that need tweaked before Nano, though honestly, this beast is so loud I doubt it will get much use. It also needs one of the feet replaced.

All of these photos were taken before cleaning, unless you count the time spent with the air hose before my dad gave it to me. Most of the big stuff has been cleaned up now, but it still needs some detail cleaning. But at least now it doesn't look like you could catch plague from the keys.

 


I love open sided machines. I've been wanting one for a while. I love being able to see how everything moves, but oh my goodness is this beast loud! I haven't figured out what to call this one yet, but I'm thinking it needs a suitably rock n' roll kind of name since it is a Woodstock.

I looked up the serial number, and it looks like this one is from 1921 (It's a Model no. 5, for anyone who might be wondering).



I've already wound on a new ribbon and done a couple of type-tests on it.Nothing special in terms of font, and after a little oil it's typing almost as well as the KMM. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the KMM--big and sturdy with lots of charm, and reliable as the day is long. How many times to you just pick up a 90 year old machine and have it work like a dream?

The only thing that seems to be non functional at the moment is the paper guide. It's current position is about 1/4 inch to the left of where the platen starts, so the paper creases a little when it's rolled into place. I tried sliding it a little to the right with no luck, but I'll try again when I have more time to play with it.

Of course, Caffrey and Henry will still be getting a work out for Nano. In fact, Caffrey was out for most of the afternoon while I was typing up outlines. Eventually the Skyriter and I will stop fighting long enough to get that draw band hooked up, so that I can have another portable to use for write-ins. It's currently in time out. :/ The Woodstock, though? That one is on my good list. :)

Look, a Distraction!

What day is it? I've lost track. My internal calender is broken. On Saturday I thought it was Tuesday, and Monday I kept thinking it was Friday. Clearly sleep is in order.

I do have knitting to show you, but photos won't get taken until this weekend. In the mean time, may I present early color footage of London, 1927. Someone shared this over on Facebook, and I could watch it over and over again:

London in 1927 from Tim Sparke on Vimeo.

20s Week Part II: Movies

I love movies. Great inspiration for writing, and perfect background for knitting! Last week, I watched another silent film, Metropolis (German, 1927). The restored version of this film is available on DVD and streaming from Netflix, and I encourage you to watch it for several reasons. Even if you don't, click the link above to visit the official website for the film (which also has a trailer), which details the restoration process--fascinating!

The movie itself takes a utopian society with a dark secret, a young, idealistic man bent on making things better, a mad scientist and a robotic woman and rolls them all into a captivating film.

It is another silent film on Netflix. No, I'm not talking about the one with the clown. This is a Clara Bow film, about a female shop clerk who falls head over heels for the son of her employer. Cute and funny, it's a romantic comedy rife with misdirection and miscommunication.

Moving forward, I think I've waxed poetic enough about my love for the The Mummy (Hooray for B movies!). I am however, jazzed (pun so intended!) about the Great Gatsby. Keep in mind, I hated the book when we read it in school. I absolutely could not stand it, and I think the only reason anyone in my class even finished it was because the teacher (who caught on to our hatred) made us read it aloud in class. That being said, the visuals for this film are incredibly stunning. I saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago when Missouri and I went to see Oz: the Great and Powerful (also excellent, by the way). I'm a little hesitant, since it has the same producer as Romeo + Juliet, which was horrible, but I'd still like to see it. Maybe I'll wait until it's on Netflix, rather than shelling out $10 to see it at the theater.

Although, in my opinion, no movie with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead can be all bad.

Lately Downton Abbey has been getting a lot of press. Set in England in the late 1910s-1920s, I watched the first four or five episodes, I think, and couldn't get into it. Even though I love the costumes and the setting, most of the characters made me want to smack them, and the ones that didn't were quickly written off/doomed to die in later episodes. I strongly suspect that Gatsby will fall into this category--the type of thing best watched on mute.

What are your favorite movies from the 1920s, or that take place in that decade?

20's Week Part I: Fashion

Inspired by one of the stories I'm working on, I declare this 20's Week!

Have I mentioned that I love the 1920s? I adore art deco, and the fashion--though I'm far too curvy to ever be able to pull it off. Flapper dresses make me look like I'm wearing a very glittery potato sack. It's a shame, since I love the aesthetic and did I mention? I have a bob now. My hair was down to the middle of my back, but I chopped it all off a few weeks ago. It's now more similar to my profile picture, minus the blue streaks (and even then, only because work would frown upon it. I miss my multicolored hair).

Here's a few (okay, more than a few) images I love of 1920s fashion:

I'll admit, I love the hats. I love a good cloche. I also have a fairly large collection of hats (not huge, mind you, but more than I can generally store). I want to get some command hooks and fill a blank section of all with a hat display. Just for the fun of it, you know. And because I'm more likely to wear them if I can see them.

And here are a few modern takes. I might be able to pull off something like this first one:

Look! Emo flappers:

I bet they listen to blues. :)

Of course, one of my favorite 20s style inspirations is still Evelyn O'Connell from the Mummy movies, but more on that later. Check back on Wednesday for 20s/20s inspired film!

Points of Inspiration

Currently Reading: The Type-Writer Girl
Currently Watching: Misfits

I've been feeling a little out of it lately. This morning when I left for the parent's house to do laundry, I managed to leave behind the book I was reading, my knitting, and the notes for the scenese I'm supposed to be working on for my November goal, the one I'm trying to reach in place of doing NaNo.


This is probably due in part to the fact that I spent half an hour on the phone with the electric company this morning, trying to figure out why they are charging us $70 for 2 weeks of service in a tiny apartment that we are seldom in. I've come up with a few ways we can cut our usage (not many, since we already use energy efficient bulbs, turn off lights when we leave the room, and keep the heat on the lowest setting we can stand), and a few reasons why those first two weeks might be higher (like the bazillion loads of dishes we had to do, since everything was in storage right next to my dad's sandblasting shop), so we'll see how things go next month. In the mean time, I'm trying to find some freelance writing jobs online to earn a little extra cash. Too bad the majority of my skillset (knitting, spinning, sewing) are not terribly marketable in today's economy, unless I want to bill them as "art" and charge exhorbitantly, which I'm not willing to do. Partially because I don't think anyone would pay the fees I have in mind). (Business is not my strong suit, if you haven't noticed.)


In the mean time, I've been obsessively tracking my ebay typewriter, which after five days has only managed to from Aimes, Iowa to Des Moines. *grumble* I still don't quite know how I'm going to mod it. I know that I want to do a style that I call Jazzpunk (steampunk + Roaring 20s), which takes inspiration from things like this:





And this:



To make things like these:













Just for reference, the typewriter is actually an early 60s-ish Royal Royalite, so it has some curves that fit nicely with the feel I'm going for. Now if only I could figure out what to do with them...