Current Configuration

  • A New Year

    2006

    Here’s to a good one.

  • Typographica‘s ’Our Favorite Fonts of 2005’

    In the name of further tootelage of one’s own horn…

    Typographica‘s ’Our Favorite Fonts of 2005‘ list is out! Growing interest has pushed the list to two parts this year, which is pretty sharp. This time I chose Porchez Typofonderies’s Deréon. My little piece is in part 1, but be sure to keep an eye out for part 2.

    Our Favorite Fonts is an excellent resource for quickly putting your finger on the pulse of type design and get a quick look at some of the most interesting and notable fonts released during the year. Plus, the authors are type and graphic designers, which gives this list a bit more depth and character than a straight-up specimen list. Lots of great work this year.

    I thought about picking my favorite font that I didn’t choose, but there are just too many. Zingha and FF Maiola struck me at first glance, but each one gets more interesting the more I look at them.

  • FF Absara

    My first full-length article for Typographica is now up. Check it out here.

  • Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

    A cropped image from the credit sequence, featuring the title of the film and the children's silhouettes.

    Alisa and I checked out Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD a little while back, and I must say that it was a very interesting film and a truly gorgeous one. It didn’t meet my expectations, but it didn’t let me down, either. It is very much its own world. I haven’t read the books, but I would guess that the film is more about the spirit rather than the letter of the tales (it takes events from a few of the books in the series).

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  • The House of Representatives Is on the Case!

    House Resolution 579

    Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

    (1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;
    (2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and
    (3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions, for those who celebrate Christmas.

    Well, I’m glad we got that sorted out. We’re all a lot safer now that our hard-working representatives are focusing their attentions on very important empty resolutions to protect things that aren’t in need of protection. Now they can all add “succumbed to pointless and divisive campaign of partisan rhetoric to make a partial syllogism into a federal document” to their resumés.

    Merry Christmas, everyone! I said be Merry, dammit!

  • Bush Sets Up the Groundwork for Dictatorship

    Bruce Schneier combs over the details of the White House’s memos on the subject and analyzes the security problems with the illegal activities of the Bush administration, but I’ll quote him for the purpose of summarizing why this administration is a threat to, well, Americans and American democracy:

    The result is that the president’s wartime powers, with its armies, battles, victories, and congressional declarations, now extend to the rhetorical “War on Terror”: a war with no fronts, no boundaries, no opposing army, and — most ominously — no knowable “victory.” Investigations, arrests and trials are not tools of war. But according to the Yoo memo, the president can define war however he chooses, and remain “at war” for as long as he chooses.

    This is indefinite dictatorial power. And I don’t use that term lightly; the very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law. In the weeks after 9/11, while America and the world were grieving, Bush built a legal rationale for a dictatorship. Then he immediately started using it to avoid the law.

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  • New York Transit Strike Special Line

    To manage the first transit strike in 25 years, they opened up a special line in New York City today, reserved for extraordinary situations like this:

    F U

    I think the craziest part of the strike was not the extra 70 blocks I had to walk, but the complete lack of cars on Madison Ave. today. It was the most concrete evidence I’ve seen that the noise in NYC is largely attributable to cars and trucks. It was eerily but pleasantly quiet as I walked up Madison and watched rollerbladers and bicyclists ride down the center of Madison.

  • Type Seen 002

    A little while ago (November-ish) I was on our friend Elise’s balcony and while looking out over the sterile and bland landscape of Arlington, VA, I noticed something on the sidewalk below.

    Distorted numerals reflected on a sidewalk far below.

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  • The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

    Edmund, in chain mail, swinging his sword, looking determined.

    “Look, mummy! I’ve a sword and a funny metal hat! Aren’t I convincing?”

    We saw this flick over opening weekend, and I agree with my friend Steve Laniel, the first hour is an interesting and shaded experience with some intriguing characters, then it it flattens out and is about as plausible as a 10-year old in chain mail armor leading an army…wait.

    Spoilers alert: If you haven’t read the books, you’ll read big plot points here you don’t know. But, honestly, how do you think this thing plays out?

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  • Type Seen 001

    I was at The Council on Foreign Relations in NYC recently for a thing and saw this gorgeous marble plaque inside their building, which is the former home of the Pratts.

    The plaque reads: The Harold Pratt House given to The Council on Foreign Relations by Harriest Barnes Pratt in memory of her husband Harold Irving Pratt 1877–1939 member of the Council 1923–1939

    It’s a bit crowded, but beautifully so. What it lacks in clear hierarchy it makes up for by rewarding closer examination. The quirks it reveals are a part of that reward, such as the capped ’N’ with the A-like form created by the first leg’s backward step, and that crazy lowercase ’g’ that I appreciate because they are so odd, but work well in the conext. Though I’m still not sure what the motives were for that ’N’. Part of me wonders whether it was a mistake made to appear intentional through repetition (oops).

    It’s not the best example of cut letterforms. I’m not as into the lowercase letters, particularly as they get smaller. Also, there seem to be a few issues of consistency in the second line and the cut of the aforementioned lowercase. But, all in all, it really struck me.

    Thanks to David Bravo for taking the photo for me.