Lo-Fi Digital.

I've been interested in photography on and off for a while now, and have often wanted a Holga or other lo fi film camera. Unfortunately for me, the prices of film and processing are too much for my parents to justify, so I'm stuck with my crappy cell phone...WAIT! I could get some practice with said device, it occurred to me a while back-at least there's something here to scratch my lo-fi itch. So, here are some of the best pictures I took with my cell phone, raw and unedited. (The cool part is that there are different color modes; I took black and white pictures, with some color ones mixed in.)

FULL GALLERY: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjw2tEDh

Immortal Tree. [Typecast/Poem]

First Day of School.

Hi fellow bloggers, typospherians, writers and readers,
Today marks the start of my senior year of high school.
With 5 AP classes and no lunch period, it'll be a tough one.
Bottom line: I'll be posting on and off, but I'll post whenever I get a chance.

Vikram

Sunlight Haiku. [Typecast/Poem]

Head Over Heels or Love Poem No. 1 [Typecast/Poem]

I wonder... [Typecast/Poem]

The poem starts at "I wonder..."

Typewriter Ribbon!

So, while I was in Germany, my mom and brother were in India visiting some relatives. 
They asked me what I wanted from India, and of course I replied "typewriter ribbon." At $10 a pop here in the States, plus shipping, I figured, "Why not?"
When they got back, they revealed the ribbons:

 
They bought so many! Pictured here are 12, 5 red/black and 7 black-only; I had to respool one of them onto my Smith-Corona Silent from '52. 
Awesome! In India, these cost, as you can see in the second picture,  37 rupees, which is about $0.81!
Now I'm set for a while!


Vikram
PS More poems and cool stuff coming up!

Suitcase. [Typecast]

Smith-Corona Silent typewriter. [Retro Series Part V]

Whoa whoa whoa. This typewriter thing is getting somewhat out of hand. First I'm cruising along with my Hermes Rocket, a perfect machine for all my purposes, and then along comes the Smith Corona Classic 12, also in great condition but a little dirty and a lot less portable. I'm fine with those two machines for about 11 months...

Then what happens? I get a Brother deluxe 220 from Germany on the 16th of July and then ANOTHER typewriter on the 30th of July-a vintage 1952 Smith-Corona Silent-from an ANTIQUE shop for upwards of $70!!!

There is much to be said about the merits of having supporting parents, particularly a supporting father, who is behind you in all your endeavors, emotionally as well as financially. In my case, behind my typewriter collecting craze.  :P

Enough of this philosophical talk and on to the machine in question.

Model: 1952 Smith-Corona Silent
Serial No.: 5S325980

This machine is just great. When I spotted it at the sixth antique shop of the day (I went with my dad to about 6 or 7 antique shops around Chicago; it was just us two with a Saturday to ourselves. ☺) I was amazed and wanted to try it out. The price tag said 88 bucks so I had no expectations of having my dad buy it for me.

I was amazed not only at the machine itself but at how lovingly it was taken care of. No dust, no scratches, nothing to indicate that it was anything other than brand-spanking new other than a hopelessly dried out ribbon.
You have to understand, before this shop, I had seen other typewriters in various states of decay. Bent keys, jammed keys, dust and mold growing in and out of the cracks, cracked bodies, broken margin stops and shift mechanisms (a couple of Underwood #5's) and overall hopelessly abandoned machines in need of major TLC.
When I saw this one, it called to me. (Figuratively speaking, of course.)

So the guy at the shop said that he would take 20% off if we decided that it was the machine to purchase. For a princely sum of $77 and some change, my awesome dad took it off the guy's hands and put it into mine.

How does it type, though? Well, I will now present to the world my first typecast, a poem written on some vintage looking telegram stationery that I printed (courtesy of machinesoflovinggrace.com). Enjoy!

Changing the ribbon was involved, as I had to wind it onto a new spool and then shove it into the typewriter.

My mom got the ribbon from India for a meager Rs. 37, about $0.83 in USA. She got about 14 of them at my request. Now I have ribbon that'll last me for a while, and won't break the bank. ☻

All I can say is, this one is great. I had a minor problem with the @ sign key jamming on the ribbon vibrator but with a little skillful bending that problem was appeased. :) Now it's in perfect working order.

In the pictures I have included the door for the ribbon as well as highlights, such as the "Floating shift" icon near the typebars and the door for the tab stops.

Brother Deluxe 220 Schreibmaschine. [Retro Series Part IV]

That's German for "typewriter," fitting seeing as I bought this fine machine in the Fatherland.

Model: 1980 Brother Deluxe 220
Serial No.: J03391345


How I got this machine:

When we went to Germany (me and others from my school's German program) on the Exchange trip, I went to a flea market with my host family on Saturday, the 16th of July. It was honestly the biggest flea market I have ever seen outdoors, and believe me, it was huge.

Anyway, I sighted a bunch of typewriters there, and there were many more retro items to be ogled and had for bargain-basement prices. But you have to keep in mind that I was wary of my luggage weight restrictions; too much and I'd have to leave the extra stuff in Germany. So I was on the lookout for a small portable typewriter like my Hermes Rocket.

But the greatest thing about it is, IT'S RED! A nice bright fire engine red. Given that it's only about 31 years old (1980, says the sticker) it's in great condition and I used it on the remainder of the trip in Germany and Austria a couple times, once or twice in the Austrian JUFA youth hostel and in a hostel in Munich (where I and a couple of friends banged out a horror story based on our (mis)adventures), and once in the airport waiting for our plane in Munich!

You should have seen the look on the airport security guy's face when he saw the typewriter in my backpack through the xray machine. :)
Back home, I write poems and journal entries on it. Pretty nifty!

Here are some pictures of this wonderful world traveler.

"One's own"

Once you start cooking
a meal, a dish
You can't stop until you're done
And why would you? It's so much fun
Watching the bubbles rise
as the temperatures do likewise
Seeing the original surface's
beautiful demise.