racket, paddle, ballpoint pen

I have been watching reruns of Layer Tennis over here at Coudal Partners. it all got started officially while I was away in Canada. the 'while I was in Canada' line is one I use a lot as an excuse to spend valuable time reading things on the internet. so much catching up to do.

what am I getting out of these spontaneous competitions? amusement. a subtle and addicting thrill all over my wannabe-designer skin.

this one is my favourite so far, by Kevin Cornell, from the very first match in the archive.
I might also say I'm learning to appreciate what years of experience can give a designer. what better place to employ those years of experience than in fifteen-minute battles of graphical wit?

the whole things reminds me of a game my siblings and I used to play, where one of us drew a little segment of a person/monster/animal and folded the paper over, leaving just a few little pencil lines from which the next person had to continue the drawing. I wonder if any of those hideous concoctions are still in existence anywhere.

it's kind of like that kid's game of telephone as well, in a way. one person gives a phrase and whispers it along until it becomes hilariously unrecognizable.

there should be a writerly version of layer tennis. start with a paragraph, handwritten or typed, and then mangle by turns it into oblivion. or if not oblivion, at least spectacularly shattered brilliance.