ultranow

oh my gosh helvetica is a great movie

i so recommend you get helvetica on dvd.  yes it's a documentary about a font. a fine fine fine documentary that designers and non will love.  intoxicating and precious.  did i mention helvetica is possibly the most ubiquitous font in your life?  from corporate logos (american apparel, sears, american airlines, staples) to signs (no pissing on sidewalk, please smoke here, don't stop) to famous as hell posters to magazine titles to the side of the space shuttle, it's so everywhere.  the film is simultaneously about that which defies yet begs observation.  something omnipresent yet unnoticed.

once post wwii optimist modern, then something to rebel against (paula scher of hand illustrated font fame is my favorite in that respect), then something inspiring in both its limitations and possibilities.  the insights from the myriad designers and typographers are fascinating.  you actually get to see zapf of zapf dingbats fame - it's a real guy - as well as those who knew helvetica's creators and pull out original notes and mockups (make the s thicker here).

bet you didn't know it was a modern update of a 19th century german font called (in english) accidents grotesque.  bet you did know that extended montages of uses of helvetica in public life are fascinating.  i saw it so many times today it made a nothing day suddenly seem worthwhile...mary tyler moore theme song anyone?  one of my favorite observations was how those knowledgeable about / obsessed with type can find flaws in historical movies, i.e. "hey the font on that storefront in that pearl harbor epic wasn't invented until 1993, snap!"  helvetica evinces pure fascination and offers surpising visual intrigue.  if font is the same, yet used in so many contexts, is more emphasis placed on content?  the film functions on multiple levels (a doc within a doc about these people who are so obsessed with a font - um, these people are me).  so after it i saw it i had to make this super quick.  i've got to do something between quarters at design school.

wrongwrong: a directory of horrible things

• pumpkin porn
• pumpkin pie vodka
• holy sh*t

geek vs. chic in one object

rubik's cube table by jellio.  $600 for a 16" square that could maybe be a super low table.  still love it, but it should be able to rotate and get messed up.  then it'd need giant geek hands to solve it.

potential sources of his red eye

• demonic possession
• angelic possession by the rare "red angel"
• camera flash
• blushing eyes due to nudity embarrassment
• wallpaper

after the nsfw jump.

this is available at ikea, right?

the stool, i mean.

genre dissonance

is he a cowboy?  is he greek architecture?   is he a swimmer?  is he a row of potted plants?

i've got clutter right here in river city and that starts with a c and rhymes with butter and that's not fine with me

i don't know what clutter is but i know it's bad.  i'm a mess.  my apartment's a mess.  the opposite of feng shui.  my apartment is delta burke's makeup drawer and  i don't know how to fix it.  so i'm fixing parts of it.  tiny parts of it.  and i can't even handle that too well.  maybe one too many erma bombeck books as a kid lamenting the labor and peril of housework?  maybe a subconscious minefield of clutter to keep out the bogeyman?  maybe being lazy and good for nothing?  okay no on that last pair because i'm not lazy and i am good for something.

i'm going to define then eliminate clutter.  which will then leave belongings of purpose only.  then i'm going to have to bust my ass and keep those scrubbed, polished and faced.  that last one's a retail term, like when you put all the bratz dollz facez frontz soz peoplez canz seez howz sluttyz theyz arz.

entering my apartment and realizing everyday that i don't live in pee-wee's playhouse imparts a heaviness to my body.  i feel weight on it.  i feel slow and tired and defeated.   and then i watch some interior design show or segment and feel like saying gee nate berkus i could make my apartment look great too if i had an unlimited budget or gee house flipper i could make my apartment look great too if it were a house that i could alter because i owned it.

but those are excuses.  no matter how non-wealthy i am, i can still cultivate my own sense of style.  i can still create a nurturing, stimulating, welcoming environment that feeds instead of drains.  so this clutter has got to go.  except my alan alda memorial soccer ball with chocolate center and genuine imitation silver moon applique.  it may be clutter but if i throw it out alan will know and beat the shit out of me, which is so unlike a male feminist.

shabby chic

when a porn set tries too hard

alternately, the where's waldo of porn pics.  can you say "busy"?  after the jump.

beauteous