Michael Winslow’s “History of the Typewriter Recited”

via very short list
“Directed by Ignacio Uriarte, The History of the Typewriter Recited by Michael Winslow is a 21-minute performance that features Winslow’s audio impersonations of 32 typewriters. The film is as funny as we hoped it would be. But as you’ll see, it’s also an unexpectedly musical, and oddly moving, history lesson…”


 

A great tribute to old technology!

Music Typewriter

via Ministry of Type
“I’ve never seen one of these before, and I’ve never even heard of such a thing. A typewriter for music! I must admit it does seem like an obvious idea, but I’d had in mind the scene of a composer in some drafty garret, gripped by an urgent muse, scratching out notes on parchment with a tattered quill by feeble candlelight. Or is that just poets?…”
More on it here.

Type-O-Matic

via letterology
“Tired of that same old forgettable e-mail message in Arial? Nostalgic for old technology and real postage stamps? Want to make a unique impression with your correspondence? Now you can with the new Type-O-Matic monospaced typewriter service. Just feed your text and mailing information into the official Type-O-Matic order form, and your lovingly hand-typed letter will arrive in your recipient's mailbox within days. For just £9.50 (approximately $15 US) your letter will be typewritten (up to 200 words) on white watermarked heavyweight writing paper with matching envelope and can be mailed anywhere (with appropriate Air Mail postage if necessary) to your recipient...”
Read the rest here, visit the Typo-O-Matic site here.

Image of the Day: Underwood Ampersand

Spotted in an antique store near Belleville, PA.
A few other examples can be found here.

World’s Last Typewriter Factory

via a friend

“As ubiquitous as iPads may be, the typewriter is ‘far from dead,’ says Ed Michael, General Manager of Sales at Moonachie, NJ-based Swintec… ”

Read the rest here.

The Interrobang, Part II

via shady characters
“The interrobang’s arrival on the keyboard of Remington Rand’s Model 25 typewriter brought with it a new wave of interest in the character. In common with its appearance in Richard Isbell’s Americana, the mark’s transition from hot metal type to the typewriter keyboard was the result of a happy coincidence: a Remington Rand graphic designer saw ATF’s sample brochure for the font and lobbied in turn for its provision on his company’s typewriters. The Model 25’s replaceable key and typehead allowed different characters to be installed as required, providing the perfect vehicle for promoting this as-yet unproven mark of punctuation. Remington Rand entertained ideas of effecting a revolution in punctuation with its new interrobang key. . . ”

Read the rest here; part one can be found here.