Book review: Border Districts, by Gerald Murnane

(Read about typewriters at the library)

Robert Messenger on Murnane: post 1, post 2

Here's a fascinating New York Times interview with Murnane. I read it after reading the novel and writing this post. I suggest that you read his work first, too, if you want to be introduced to his world without too many preconceptions. Also quite interesting is a video interview that you can find on one of Robert's posts.

Typing myself a letter ... indirectly

When I opened the mailbox yesterday, I was excited to see an airmail envelope. Could this be a letter from one of my typospherian correspondents in Mexico, Germany, or many other countries?

But no—on closer look, it was retro-styled mail from a nonprofit organization.



I almost tossed it in the recycling, but decided to rip open the envelope and found a fundraising letter from FINCA, which promotes microloans and other economic solutions in developing countries. The letter was adorned with an image of a Polaroid, with a "typewritten" message on it ...



... But wait! That's my Remington Noiseless font!

It is a very odd experience to be one of thousands of recipients of a mass mailing, and then to discover my own creation within the mail, based on the typing of my first and dearest typewriter.



Remington Noiseless is a popular font, and I've run across it in unexpected places before, as I did on a recent trip to Oakland.

If you'd like to have it, please help yourself.

As for microloans, they have mixed success.

Panic not to this docile juice

Ian Brumfield alerted his followers on Facebook to this bit of artificial intelligence. The RPC-4000, a computer system incorporating a Royal electric typewriter, was programmed to write poetry and generated these verses.



I actually think this is a delightful piece of nonsense. Does it stack up against today's AI? I don't know. Someone who likes talking to computers, please ask Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or some other entity to compose a poem, and let us know what happens.

PS: In 2022, AI poetry has gotten pretty good. But I still prefer the 1962 version!