Category Archives: Humour

The Splendiferously Bearded Writers Social Club: Sir Henry Taylor

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  • Name: Sir Henry Taylor
  • D/O/B: 18 October 1800
  • Member Since: 1864
  • Status: Charter Member
  • Important Role: Chief adviser on beard grooming techniques and trends
  • Hobbies: Modeling; being friendly with literary giants; clerking; looking intensely soulful
Henry Taylor by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1864

Henry Taylor by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1864

His beard is so awe-inspiring as to deserve a second look:

Sir Henry Taylor by W.J. Hawker, 1885

Sir Henry Taylor by W.J. Hawker, 1885

The Splendiferously Bearded Writers Social Club: Vincent van Gogh*

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  • Name: Vincent van Gogh
  • D/O/B: 3/30/1853
  • Member Since: 1886
  • Status: Active Member
  • Important Role: Giving art lessons to fellow members
  • Hobbies: Going on long walks through the countryside; living intensely; being misunderstood; transforming the art world
Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers by Paul Gauguin, 1888

Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers by Paul Gauguin, 1888. His beard is splendiferous by virtue of its vibrant hue.

*Vincent van Gogh was an exceptionally talented letter writer, at a time when correspondence was an art form. His letters are vivid, intelligent, and beautiful word paintings.

The Splendiferously Bearded Writers Social Club: Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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  • Name: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1st Baron Tennyson)
  • D/O/B: 8/6/1809
  • Member Since: 1862
  • Status: Charter Member
  • Important Role: Coordinator of club poetry workshops
  • Hobbies: Carrying out duties as the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom; coining now-famous phrases; sitting for intense portraits
Alfred Lord Tennyson by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1869

Alfred, Lord Tennyson by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1869

The Splendiferously Bearded Writers Social Club: Herman Melville

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  • Name: Herman Melville
  • D/O/B: 8/1/1819
  • Member Since: 1860
  • Status: Charter Member
  • Important Role: Chief teller of rousing sea-born tales, some of them even true
  • Hobbies: Whale-watching; dreaming of mystifying high-school students for generations to come; maintaining his luxurious head of model-worthy hair
Herman Melville, 1860

Herman Melville, 1860

The Splendiferously Bearded Writers Social Club: Henry David Thoreau

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  • Name: Henry David Thoreau
  • D/O/B: 07/12/1817
  • Member Since: 1856
  • Status: Charter Member
  • Important Role: Chief lecturer and rabble-rouser at all meetings
  • Hobbies: Pondering; thinking; philosophizing; protesting; communing with nature; intensely staring at all and sundry
Henry David Thoreau, 1856

Henry David Thoreau, 1856

 

Oh, Spambots! You’re So Funny!

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A Small Press Life is being hit hard by spambots this week (99% of which is caught by the spam filter, fortunately). These are my 3 faves from today, and my responses to them:

  1. Hello,My name is Job and I’m a professional fraenelce writer with 3 years of experience. ( (Nice to meet you, Job. Perhaps you could give me some tips on fraenelcing?)
  2. Boom shlakaaka boom boom, problem solved. (Boom boom, indeed.)
  3. I much prefer inrfamotive articles like this to that high brow literature. (I think you are on the wrong site, dude. 90% of what I write about is high brow literature, although I try to be as inrfamotive as possible).
Titta Ruffo

Is that you, Spambot? (It’s actually opera singer Titta Ruffo, dressed up as a clown. Circa 1913.)