Genie posted a while back about Jeff Deck & Benjamin Herson, the typo vigilantes/grammar police/punctuation patrol (so many opportunities for creative headlines!) who were charging through the country correcting signage with sharpies & wite-out. When the pair visited Chicago, a few shops on Milwaukee Ave. were the recipients of their helpful handiwork, as noted in the Tribune article. But applying their strict standards to a historic marker in the Grand Canyon turned out to be illegal. Vigilantes became vandals, and now these two are on probation, must pay over $3000 to repair the sign, and are banned from national parks for a year.

This has been reported elsewhere, including the NYT (which referenced the Trib article), the London Times, and NPR, but I’m partial to this Bostonist post since it provides some relevant links, amusing speculation regarding the classroom conduct of Deck & Herson, and also turned me on to the addictive minutia of Language Log, which will now be vying with Bike Snob NYC for my blog attention. And then there are the comments, where you’ll find an expanded analysis of the issues at hand, as well as gleeful remarks on “asshat” usage.

Literago attended Featherproof’s opening for Zach Plague’s new book Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring . As the photos show, the party (thankfully) did not match the title of the book. When art and writing mixes gorgeously, it’s a very good thing. Kudos, Featherproof! (P.S.: The last photo of the googly-eyed guy is our author, Mr. Plague.)

Date: Friday, August 8th

Time: 6-10 p.m.

Location: Country Club (1100 N. Damen)

If Facebook is to be believed, at least eight thousand people will be in attendance this Friday at Country Club for Zach Plague’s book-release party, but we’re so excited we thought we’d mention it anyway. This illustrated novel (pages of which are viewable on Zach’s website) follows the apparently boring lives of art students. (When I was in college, I found art students terrifyingly cool, so this premise comes as a great shock to me.)  The poster-sized versions of the book’s unbound pages will be on display. We hope that they’re adequately protected in case anyone splashes them with the FREE PBR provided at the event.