Today’s procrastination site is admittedly not quite as mind-numbingly pointless as When Parents Text or Bread People, but it is perhaps the most sincerely fascinating and alluring time sink yet. Check out Letters of Note, a staggering collection of “fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos,” updated daily and largely pertaining to famous individuals and events. You can also peruse the site in archive form here. I haven’t spent as much time swimming through these archives as I’d like to (hello, winter break), but my absolute favorites thus far are this “personal letter” to a fan from Steve Martin and this astoundingly filthy memo from Matt Stone to the MPAA regarding edits made to Bigger, Longer & Uncut for it to qualify for an R rating. A direct quote from the latter memo: “We left in the scenes with Cartman’s mom and the horse as per our conversation. This is the one joke we really want to fight for.” Fight for your rights, guys.
Also, two vaguely related notes:
- I’ve lately been spending more of my procrastination time scourging the internet for good procrastination sites rather than really exploring the ones I find. Again, don’t hesitate to submit your own favorites to staff(at)wesleying(dot)org. If you think it may or may not fit the criteria, it does.
- Speaking of interesting correspondence, the Wesleyan Student Directory should be in your Wesbox this week. Don’t forget to jot down some close friends’ home addresses for winter break snail mail correspondence—you’ll be bored as shit anyway, and a battered letter or creepy postcard really does mean that much more than a lazy “I miss you” wall post. Wesleying alumnus and co-founder Holly makes the point much better in this old Tips for Long Distance Friendships post, which is an excellent guide to memorable ways to stay in touch with friends over breaks or when they go abroad. Excerpt:
I often clip out things like recipes I find in magazines or print out comics I like and put them in my stationery box to include in my next letter to a friend. It’s not much, but sometimes I end up sending an entire letter just composed of clippings and a mix cd. Xue tried this once when I worked as a camp counselor; she sent me an envelope full of wheat wrapped in a drawing of an octopus. It’s the thought that counts.