I wasn’t going to Inktober this year, but then I thought it might be fun to use the sumi ink I bought three years ago. So I had my gimmick—real ink.
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This concept came easily, with the “a” in the shape of an apple. Brush cursive is always an old standby as a reasonable default.
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I tried using a rustic roman hand for Relic but it didn’t look good at all, so I came back to brush cursive for this piece as well.
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I not happy with my metal nib cursive, but stretching out the distance between the letters gave miniature some room to breathe. Even so, I appreciate the nice comments on the Gettysburg Address a couple of months ago.
Pointed nib cursive is on the list for a long term practice effort, along with black letter.
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Cramming letters together is another go-to move, as with this Cactus.
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Same here, but in this case, I “zoomed out” to make the smack feel small.
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By the way, I’m also back on Instagram this year. I stopped using IG because I was appalled by some of Meta’s general suckitude. But that’s where the Inktober energy is, so I’ve made a deal with the devil, with a slight justification that I’ve included a link to my blog with each post.
Cya next time!
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PS—Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman, 1985
Whoo! Neil Postman takes a flamethrower to popular culture of the mid 80’s, before things really went downhill! It highlights how we got to there and discusses the trainwreck of that time.
That era now seems like a golden age as the devolution of our society has accelerated and his critiques have turned out to be prophetic.
I can quibble that he professes an idyllic vision of a rational past (American has always been a rowdy place), but his main thesis is undeniable. Our form of communication frames our body politic.
Unfortunately, we’ve gone from the logical structure of books, to the short cuts of television, to the completely spasmatic flail of the internet. Postman traces the transition from the age of typography to the age of showmanship, as we have settled into Aldus Huxley’s self distracted Brave New World.
Postman marveled that a former actor (by way of the governorship of California) became president. 2016 gave us a reality TV star (without any pit stop of public service) as our chief executive. The trajectory isn’t good.
Postman is light on concrete suggestions, but the final chapter suggests the main thing is to go meta. A medium always affects the message so one needs to actively press against its framing of our mental state.
As with many things in life, structural problems are indeed a dire issue, but the only actionable advice is to work on yourself.
Hopefully an aggregate of mindful persons will ultimately make a difference in our democracy.
—November 2021
or maybe not.
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PPS—Cookbooks and curation
A newsletter by Chris Boutte asked why people still use cookbooks.
I agree that cookbooks are unnecessary in the age of the ubiquitous internet. I can find multiple versions of any recipe faster than it takes to pull a cookbook of the shelf, flip through the index, and dig through to the correct page.
So why are they still popular?
I don’t buy a cookbook, but an author. Instead of KissTheChef04 on allrecipies, this is a human who has staked their reputation on this recipe. That’s why I keep Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything—I trust him to give me a simple, reliable recipe for everything I might cook.
Curation also comes focused around specific subject such as Sandor Ellix Katz’s magisterial The Art of Fermentation or Chad Robertson’s Tartine 3. Note the “three”, the first Tartine is a fine explanation for baking bread, but they is a dozen such books. This third volume explores many ways to use whole grains in bread making; it encapsulates Chad’s unique voice.
I have to also admit that these books are picture books for adults. Instead of eating better, just buy a totem of healthy food. And travel to other lands to taste exotic cuisines with your eyes.
Unfortunately, the aspirational aspect of cookbooks is the vast majority of my purchases. As someone whose great weakness is buying cheap used books, I’ve got maybe thirty or so volumes (such as Salt Fat Acid Heat) that line my bookshelf.
They collect dust, but they make me feel warm and fuzzy. I think that’s a win, even if it’s not gustable.
—January 2022
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PPPS—Practice
—November 2025
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