Every journalism major remembers the AP Style Manual – a style manual that’s still an excellent guide (I’ve worn out three over the years, but you can avoid wear & tear with their online edition).

Now FakeAPStylebook has created a hilarious sendup of AP’s Style ubiquitous style manual, and metered it out via a truly “LOL” Twitter feed (see, I’m still cutting edge):

Need a laugh? Give FakeAPStylebook a follow.

Keep laughing, Tom Chandler.

I wrote my first copywriting projects on a typewriter (I should be posting this on GeezerCopywriter.com), and while that late 70’s electric hardly qualified as an antique, I’m like most writers – I get a shiver up and down my spine when I see a really old typewriter.

That’s why antiquetypewriters.com stopped me in my tracks.

For those stuck on the machines writers formerly used to put words to paper, this site represents the motherload. It’s somebody’s antique typewriter collection, lovingly photographed and put on display for all to see.

In an era when novels are being written on cell phones, big, mechanical, clunky typewriters have undergone a transformation.

From the machines which are recognizably “modern” in design to the oddball constructs, typewriters no longer bear the burden of useful tools; they’ve become little mechanical works of art, and I simply can’t look away.

For those who have never done it, writing on a typewriter demands a level of commitment word processors don’t require.

And while I wouldn’t trade my out-of-control text processor addiction for a typewriter (I can stop anytime I want), I admit writing’s current “fire hose” approach to productivity lacks the elegance of thinking first, and writing second.

The kind of thinking forced on us by clunky mechanical beasts who now occupy museums, not desks.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

• The 2010 "Name of the Year" Ballot – vote for the… err…. winner? http://bit.ly/doWogs #
• Writing with almost-green ink: a 98% biodegradable pen http://www.dba-co.com/pen #
• The "Up All Night" Dept: Putting together a WordPress-based site for new conservancy. At least I'm losing sleep for a good cause… #
• Bad Language blog lists 40 essential online apps: http://bit.ly/dCME5R #
• RT: @steve_hartley: From AdAge – 10 Essential Rules for Brands in Social Media http://tinyurl.com/y9y9btf (a surprisingly good article) #
• Living on the side of a 14,000' volcano offers a lot of benefits, but a fast Internet connection isn't one of them… #
• RT: @CopywriterMaven: Join me for a FREE landing page review (3/24) at "Landing Page Copy that Converts" http://bit.ly/aVKxhx #
• Tired? Overworked? Ditch your worst clients, reclaim your life: http://bit.ly/dtIKJv #
• Blogger Casey Hibbard's "Stories That Sell" marketing book wins gold in biz book awards: #
• Near realtime design competition – two motion artists mess with each other's work. Great stuff: http://layertennis.com/100319/ #

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Taddy Hall’s excellent Ad Age article about social media offers us analytic types something unique:

Actual data-driven recommendations for brands using social media marketing.

I wouldn’t be the first marketer to suggest many of the social media “gurus” now flooding the Internet are working from an astonishingly small experiential base. It’s the result of a tidal wave of social media hype, much of it coming from people scrambling to establish their credibility in an emerging market – disguising the fact their bona fides are paper thin.

Here’s a thought: Social media really isn’t very different from other media channels.

The same strategies – altered slightly to fit new distribution methods – still apply (“what’s in this for me” asks the reader).

Keep writing (and marketing), Tom Chandler.