Carving Rushmore

After the auction, what's next...

2009-12-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well, now that Cormac McCathy's typewriter has sold, I need to figure out what I want to do here. Just playing the high wire walker (when will he misstep?) ain't exactly enough to keep butts in the figurative seates. And I'm not exactly going to switch midstream and make this into a Tiger Woods blog - all about missteps and not being about fixing mistakes. So I'll move on. Today I'm going to go into a pawn shop when I need to take a break from writing. I'm going to start researcheing manual typewriters. I'm going to look for other websites that might do this sort of thing. I've done a cursury job of the research in the recent past. But I've never even been into a pawn shop. Certainly, that's a part of our collective urban culture that I've been missing. Check back for what I find.

And we have a winner, folks

2009-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

Wow. I just saw what I think is the winning bid for Cormac McCarthy's Olivetti. $254,500. I. Lost. It. On. The. Last. Bid...

On another subject, I'm struck by the tension realized by typing with the subconcsious (see?) knowledge that I can't correct mistakes. To type 5 million words this way would be rough.

Looking in at the party from the farthest reaches of the upper deck

2009-12-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

Earlier this morning, I registered with Christie's acuction house to be able to track the sale of Cormac McCarthy's typewriter. I feel like the rabble with a far below deck berth hoping to catch a view of the launching party. Yet I'm in on the fun, albeit entirely vicariously. I should receive email updates when the saile is set to begin and then we'll see how in on the action I can be.

I'm not qualified to do so, but I need to place a bet on what it will go for. Honestly, this seems like a treasure. So I suggest that an anonymous buyer will spend $67,000. Any other bets?

eBay surfing for a gem, seeing oceans of sandy pebbles

2009-12-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

I like to do the occasional search of eBay listings. This afternoon I searched once more for "manual typewriter" and the results are shocking and consistent. The top listing was a 1957 Royal with the original ribbons (which I must assume are just for show these days). With 20ish minutes left in the auction, the one bid was for $50. Shipping from Ohio was $50 and change. Nutty.

I can't say that I nknow enough to buy one. I think I'll satart in pawn shows or shops (don't know if there's such a thing as a "pawn show"). Plus, tomorrow is the Christie's auction for Cormac McCarthy's Olivetti. I'll be watching. Click clack, um, moo?

No going back, no adding links - welcome to the future of blogging...

2009-12-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

This may be the start of something interesting. Or just a short folly. But I am inspired thanks to yesterday's NYTimes piece about the auction of Cormac McCarthy's manual typewriter. When was the last time you wrote on a typewriter? When was the last time you couldn't use the "delete" key even if you wanted to do so? How good is your typing? Can writers create in the old form of clacking keys on paper and feeding the roll of paper piece by peece? There you have it - my first mistake. I'm surprised I made it that far. So maybe this will become an annoying projmect. Or maybe something elese. I don't have a name for it yet. I took the title from the NYTimes story - a quote by the rare book dealer describing McCarmathy's Olivetti where he compared his body of work coming form that machine was like using a Swiss Army knife to carve Mount Rushmore. One mistake and there goes the nose, George.

Thankfully, the pressure on me is just to avoid the "delete" or "backspace" keye (if you can see me on a PC).

Until tomorrow and beyond, keep on typin'.