Autor: kulturnation

Die ersten 300 Worte hatte ich schon geschrieben. Doch je länger ich über Wolfram Schüttes im Perlentaucher als Debattenaufruf veröffentlichten Vorschlag, die Literaturkritik vor der Bedeutungslosigkeit zu retten, nachdachte, desto trostloser wurde es.
  
Ein Jungsclub (nein, sicher ist es nur der besseren Lesbarkeit geschuldet, daß er immer nur die männliche Form verwendet) soll zusammen mit der Buchindustrie aka Verlagen,

Lektoren, Verlagskaufleuten [sic], Kritikern & interessierten Lesern

etwas schaffen, dessen sich doch das Feuilleton selbst bereitwillig und mit bis zur Kenntlichkeit entstellender Selbstbehauptung entledigt hat: Substanz. Dank “KritikerInnen”, deren Selbstbild und eigene Wichtigkeit immerzu knapp vor Johann-Heinrich-Merck- oder Alfred-Kerr-Preis zu stehen scheint; und die doch alle, mehr weniger als mehr gekonnt, wiederkäuen, was alle in den Waschzetteln der Verlage vorfinden. Immerhin gewürzt mit eigenen Geschmäcklereien, mit denen sie sich oft genug über die besprochenen Texte (und AutorInnen) zu erheben suchen.

Sondern?

(weiterlesen)
„Verfahrenheit 451 – oder: Neues aus Plundersweilern“ weiterlesen

Today I visited a small shop in Zouteland (The Netherlands) that sells newspapers, books – and some stationary. I was quite happy to find some Dutch pencils. The brand is called Bruynzeel, and the price was 90ct for a piece. Interesting that they have different brand typo: a more painted one on the 4B, a grotesk font on the Burotek H. They had some more Buroteks with 3H, 4H and even 5H – but I am as a writer more on the soft side.
The H is is writing fine, no scratchy behaviour, I just prefer a darker line on the paper (this is a Kangaro 60g college block paper). The line is quite smear resistant.
I prefer the 4B as it is writing with a nice dark line that needs no pressure. Of course, the graphite smears a lot easier.
Next to the Bruynzeels I saw two versions of a „Happy children“ pencil produced in Shanghai (50ct). Showing no grade they differ in the color of their end. I would judge the red as a B or 2B, while the black cap gives me the impression of a HB or B. Both write well, the graphite seems well mixed.
At least, I take them as souvenirs and good allday pencils with me.

Yesterday I saw this set of 4 Stabilo® ExamGrade® pencils, an PVC free eraser and a little container sharpener. For only EUR 2,99 this was a no brainer. All in stylish black & red, it looks quite decent.
The sharpener is quite a surprise: expecting not too much, it did a good job. The sharpening felt smooth, no resistance when chopping the wood. And the tip was not perfect but well done.
They say that these HB pencils have a lot of graphite for writing „darker – cleaner – stronger“. Well, as you can see it is darker than the FC 9000 HB. But writing with it it felt also smoother, so I could not say if I would call this really „HB“ – maybe it has some „B“ aspects 🙂
Nevertheless, the first impression is good, the eraser is doing a good job if your writing is not too black. And the matte surface of the pencil feel fine when writing. I think they use some lightweight wood, the four pencils weight is about 12-14g, while 4 Mitsu-Bishi go up to 18g (on my semi-amateurish scales …).
For me the Stabilo® „Exam Grade“® is a nice on-the-road-set.