One of the few Gen-X characteristic that actually applies to me is slacker.* I’m about as lazy and unambitious as it gets. So it was with some interest that I read the following tweet this morning:

I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s funny. And if it is true, it sure does explain a lot. I mean, I got the whole treatment, starting with the “gifted” program in an already experimental elementary school, which inevitably led to disappointment when my grades didn’t reflect my special status. Same thing in high school, when the two highest scorers on the Knowledge Bowl team (one of whom was me, though I was way behind the other guy) had the lowest GPAs.

I had always assumed it was my laziness that did me in. But it turns out it was all the well-meaning adults who praised my intellect, sending me into an “existential spiral” and ultimately dooming me to a life of mediocrity. I feel better already.

*Yeah yeah, also cynical.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

The November 16, 1920 edition of the Spokane Daily Chronicle reports on a disturbing trend: University of Idaho undergraduates “intent on murdering their mother tongue.” I suppose the difference between then and and now is that, according to the statistics compiled at the time, freshmen accounted for four times the number of “derelictions” recorded, leading one to conclude that an education might actually make a difference.

A hundred years later, though, adults who ought to know better use reference and impact and transition as verbs while insisting that FBI is an acronym and ask is a noun. And, of course, who think that listing their favorite IPAs on Instagram is “curating.”

So, yeah, the mother tongue is dead. It’s bleeding demised. It’s passed on. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

Over at The Millions, Ed Simon writes about an anxiety that is all too real to me: a fear concerning “the manner in which the enormity of a library’s collection forces me to confront the sheer magnitude of all that I don’t know, all that I will never know, all that I can never know.”

Preach, brother.

“Intrinsic to my fear,” Simon continues, “are those intimations of mortality whereby even a comparatively small collection must make me confront the fact that in a limited and hopefully not-too-short life I will never be able to read even a substantial fraction of that which has been written. All those novels, poems, and plays; all those sentiments, thoughts, emotions, dreams, wishes, aspirations, desires, and connections—completely inaccessible because of the sheer fact of finitude.”

Like I said, it’s real. How do I not throw up my hands in despair, you ask? By regularly reminding myself that reading is a pleasure, not a duty—which means you can happily ignore the scolds who think otherwise. It also means that (knock on wood) there’s quite literally an endless supply of good times ahead. Sure, it’s probably better if you spend that time with Moby-Dick rather than, say, dinosaur erotica, but hey, we’re not here to judge.

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After an “intensive typographical adventure” comprising “hundreds of hours of in-depth research, meticulous drawing, discussion, testing, and refining,” a team of experts from the Plantin Institute for Typography has released “the largest and most comprehensive collection of revivals based on the work of a single punchcutter to date.”

The team? Walda Verbaenen, Michel Paré, and Lukas Schneider. The punchcutter? Jacques-François Rosart, born in Namur, Belgium in 1714.

The Rosart Project has all the deets, as the kids say. It’s a pretty cool story. And if you’re so inclined, you can even purchase licenses for revisions and reinterpretations of Rosart’s fonts, ornaments, and flourished capitals.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment

“That the dead do not always stay dead continues to rankle the scientifically minded.”

An interview with Brian Eno, whose new album Brian Eno (Film Music, 1976–2020) drops next week.

The future we’ve been promised for so long is—finally!—here:

In related news, “for the second time in six weeks, an unidentified person was seen flying using a jetpack near Los Angeles International Airport.”

And finally, an inspirational quote from an unlikely source: “You ought to spend a little more time trying to make something of yourself and a little less time trying to impress people.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

From the November 12, 1945 issue of Time magazine:

In Manhattan’s Gimbel Bros., Inc., thousands of people all but trampled one another last week to spend $12.50 each for a new fountain pen. The pen was made by Chicago’s Reynolds International Pen Co. In full-page ads, Gimbel’s modestly hailed it as the “fantastic, atomic era, miraculous pen.” It had a tiny ball bearing instead of a point, was guaranteed to need refilling only once every two years, would write under water (handy for mermaids), on paper, cloth, plastic or blotters.

Why in the world would people line up to spend more than $180 (in 2020 dollars) for a pen? Stephen Dowling explains how a “stroke of design genius” paired with fast-drying ink “changed writing forever.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

DO read: While spending a few days camping on Long Beach back in July, the missus and I found ourselves in a charming used book store. We left with a stack of titles—one of which, a first U.S. edition of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I finished over the weekend. Highly recommended (the campground, the shop, and the book).

DON’T watch: Just because the great Rutger Hauer is in Hobo with a Shotgun doesn’t make it worth your time. The “Canadian-American black comedy action exploitation film” is neither funny nor particularly good as a mindless beat-em-up flick. In fact, it’s pretty damn awful.

DO listen: On the recent news of Keith Jarrett’s retirement, I can’t stress enough the need for more of y’all to become familiar with his music. Doug Martin does an amazing job of helping newbies navigate the uncertain terrain. If I had to suggest only one, however, it might be The Köln Concert—easily one of my Desert Island Discs.

DON’T get involved: Ever think that maybe—just maybe—one of the reasons we’re in such a sorry state of affairs is that neither of America’s two dominant political parties takes leadership and governing as seriously as they ought to? Let’s not reward them with something they’ve long taken for granted: our votes.

DO cuddle up with a good movie this weekend: Halloween is Saturday, so maybe it’s time to revisit some old horror favorites, like An American Werewolf in London or The Wicker Man (the 1973 original, not the 2006 Nicolas Cage version). Or maybe get to know some of the newer fare, like The Visit, Hereditary, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Midsommar, or The Witch.

“DON’T hate nobody”: Words of wisdom from Eubie Blake.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Out of concern for my wellbeing, my buddy Dave alerted me to some sobering news: Deadheads are being murdered at an alarming rate.

I have thoughts.

First, the present-tense construction of the headline—”Why Are So Many Grateful Dead Fans Being Murdered”—is a bit misleading. We’re talking about cases dating back decades, after all.

Second, having witnessed for myself the “hippie bazaar” of Shakedown Street, I’m not at all surprised at the existence of a criminal element taking advantage of a rather disproportionate number of imprudent, wide-eyed innocents.

Third, since receiving Dave’s text, I’ve taken countermeasures. In addition to beginning an intense course of instruction in Krav Maga tonight, I’ve got the missus training in adaptive pistol combat—and, starting this weekend, half a dozen Dobermans will be patrolling the perimeter of my estate in four-hour shifts.

Because not listening to the Dead is simply not an option.

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