mike has been getting the same question a lot lately, and actually we both think it's kinda funny. but i guess i should clear things up a bit.

"You don't really write on a typewriter do you?"

yes, he does actually write on a typewriter. it's a vintage smith-corona that his brother, nick, got him for christmas a few years ago when we were visiting in michigan. i believe he bought it at a garage sale or something of that nature, but neither mike nor i can remember for sure. nick showed it to me before giving it to mike and i remember thinking "mike is going to LOVE this.." followed by "how in the hell are we going to get this thing home!?" it was extremely heavy, but we took our chances and placed it in our checked luggage, carefully wrapped-up in our clothes.

mike has said of his typewriter, "I fell in love with it. I actually write on it all the time, I like the sound of the keys* hitting the paper... helps me think."

i think it's the simplistic nature of staring down at your fingers over letters that helps mike. there is no world wide web to distract him. there is nothing "just a click away" except what's in his imagination.

i have to say it's pretty fun showing up at his place to work on an episode and getting handed a pile of typo filled papers with all sorts of scribbled notes along the margins. i like taking the pages and switching their order around.. figuring out how best to present what's been written.

mike recently went out and bought a newer sears electric 12 portable typewriter. here is what he had to say about it:

"I'm going to start writing a lot more than usual, and the manual typewriter can get to my hands after a few days of heavy usage :P

So I found an electric typewriter at the Goodwill to help me write a lot more while not making the tops of my hands ache. It's nice to have both :)"


*you can hear those "keys hitting the paper" in episode 8 as i'm crying and he turns to his typewriter to write what i'm saying.

Labels: Post-Production