Wait a minute. What?

Farhad Manjoo.  My man.  He was interviewed today by Terry Gross, of Fresh Air fame about his article this month in Fast Company, "The Great Tech War Of 2012 "Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon battle for the future of the innovation economy."

As an aside, they talked about why it isn't necessary to double space after a period.  I don't think I can stop double spacing after a period.  I'm sorry.  I've been a long term graphics addict with a typography focus, so I don't say this frivolously.  I worked at Pentagram in London and had an up close and personal view into how completely critical the shape and angle of a serif can be.  Or not.  My career in design spanned the conversion from real typesetting and kerning to being able to "slug" type on a computer.  (Okay, okay I'm not THAT old, but I'm talking about commonly used practices, readily available technology.)

Honestly if I'd really thought about it I could have come up with the same conclusion, that two spaces aren't really required.  But sometimes we do things not just because of habit, but because it's the right thing to do.  Like putting down the toilet seat or opening the door for someone.

On whether to put one space or two spaces after a period in a sentence

"Two spaces is wrong. ... The reason two spaces were put into practice was because of the manual typewriter. And there was a type of font on the manual typewriter called 'monospace font,' which means the space between every letter was the same, and the width of every letter was the same. So in that type of font, it looked slightly more readable to have two spaces between sentences than it did to have one space. But when we switched to computers, we went back to using the kinds of fonts called proportional fonts. With proportional fonts, every letter has a different width that corresponds to what it is used for. Because every letter has a different width, the space after a period has its appropriate width when you use just one [space after a period]. So that's how many you use. ... The two-space rule is really a holdover from typewriters. The reason you were taught it in school was because your teachers learned to type on typewriters, but we no longer type on typewriters."

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El Día de los Muertos

I found a UU Fellowship on Vashon Island and it's a lovely thing to do on a Sunday morning, take the ferry at the end of my street over to the Island.  It's like a mini vacation. 

photo source

It also reminds me of all the reasons I wanted to move up here: water, trees, undulating land.  It's important to remember these things - I'm letting the daily grind obscure my vision.

Today the fellowship celebrated El Día de los Muertos by having people bring up photos of people that they have lost and sharing some memories and then lighting a candle. 

The young man (35~ish!)  who does the coffee is developmentally delayed and what he said seared me.  He held up a photo of three lovely children and in his halting slurred speech said that they were his children that he got to see last summer and they weren't dead but he had to pretend they were because if they were alive then they should be with him and not their mother.  Where do you even go with that?

The Official Church In Front

The fellowship hall is behind a "real" church in what appears to be a double-wide trailer.  It's quite cosy and just the right size for the 30-ish people that attend.  One of the members is an artist who had decorated the walls with beautiful fall foliage - there was an unusual lime green, also burgundy, red and orange.  Delicate little tendril-y boughs of Japanese Maple and natural swags of vines with red leaves the size of dinner plates.

I drove around the island and it was glorious.  Misty, with fog woven between the red, orange, and green trees on the hills. 

Walking around looking at the treasures that the ocean had cast up on shore - I came across all sorts of mussel shells and Dungeness crab bits and bobs.  Yes, the seagulls here are VERY spoiled.  However no little crab cracking tools, melted butter, or lemon was spotted, so I guess they're roughing it.

I've spent most of my life surrounded by the land oceans of the Plains and NOT near a real ocean, so humor me.  Looking out over the rocks, I could see numerous dinner plate sized - erm- clear white flabby stuff that looked like snot boogers.  I'm sorry, but they did.  I just couldn't figure out what the hell they were until I remember the kids' story of kayaking this summer and trying to fling jellyfish at each other with the paddles and a light went on.  Some might say a very dim bulb, but ANYWAY.  Stranded jellyfish, not snot boogers.  Mystery solved.

Vashon Island Roasterie had their annual pumpkin carving festivities and the display was delightful.  Anyone who comes into the Roasterie is invited to carve a pumpkin to be put on display.

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I'm hot for Idris Elba

Idrissa Akuna "Idris" Elba to be exact.  He's the man.  He played Russell "Stringer" Bell, on "The Wire" on HBO and he was epic then, and he is now on his BBC America series "Luther".  I had absolutely no clue that he was a Brit from his performance in "The Wire" - his American accent was impeccable and I assumed he was from this country.  Silly ethnocentrisim on my part.  Or he's just that good.  I'm going with that.

If you haven't seen "The Wire" you have to.  There are very few things on TV that are mandatory, and this is one of them.  It is beyond description.  Story line.  Actors.  Filming.  Depth and breadth.  Idris is one of those actors that completely occupies every frame he's in.  You can't look away.

Don't miss him.

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I'm hot for Idrissa Akuna "Idris" Elba

Idrissa Akuna "Idris" Elba.  He's the man.  He played Russell "Stringer" Bell, on "The Wire" on HBO and he was epic then, and he is now on his BBC America series "Luther".  I had absolutely no clue that he was a Brit from his performance in "The Wire" - his American accent was impeccable and I assumed he was from this country.  Silly ethnocentrisim on my part.  Or he's just that good.  I'm going with that.

If you haven't seen "The Wire" you have to.  There are very few things on TV that are mandatory, and this is one of them.  It is beyond description.  Story line.  Actors.  Filming.  Depth and breadth.  Idris is one of those actors that completely occupies every frame he's in.  You can't look away.

Don't miss him.

 

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Stockholm Metro Photos

photo source:  La Boit Verte

Friday Eye Candy.

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"...If you haven't gotten naked or cried during a critique...

...you're not in art school."

~ Ali Yaqubian  10.21.2011

Yesterday one of Ali's fellow students named David asked Ali "to kick the shit" out of him for his conceptual art project.  David was going to wear a camera on his head and document the beating.  Apparently David's artistic point of view is about sadism and "the edge of sexuality" and the art he creates is about that.  I guess the concept was that the camera would document the effects of each blow.  Art school, right?  In college, there's always someone that is doing that; in art school you kind of have an excuse, a justification for that kind of exploration.

Ali, a pacifist, couldn't do it so he called "The Icelandic Viking" out to do the the job.  Bigir is built like a redwood, taller than Ali (so maybe 6' 7"), fists like canned hams, as Ali says, HUGE.  You can hear him coming - the floor shakes when he walks.  Although he was working in the photo lab, Biggi sounded excited at the prospect.  "I get to hit David?  I'll be right there."

Bigir & his kids

 

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tUnE-yArDs

Did I talk about Merrill Garbus already? 

Well, once is never enough with Merrill.  She is having much deserved success and great press and the thing I really love about her is her womanly shape and being utterly unafraid of how she looks.  You'll see what I mean from her video.  Merrill contorts her face, sticks her tongue out, yodels and croons - in the service of creating the sound she wants she is fearless.  I love it.

And here's the great thing - in her fearlessness, she becomes so beautiful.

Another example of her fearless nature is that she slept on my living room floor with her band, back when I was living in Kansas City.  She came through town with her previous band, Sister Suvi, and plopped at our place because she and Lina (and the other bandmates!) were all friends from their Montreal days.  I took them all out to Heaven On Earth, aka Oklahoma Joe's.  Sublime BBQ. Wonderful dinner and conversation.  Good times.

photo source:  Elena Dorfman, The New Yorker

Sasha Frere-Jones, the music critic for the New Yorker is pretty smitten with her, which is great.  In addition to the article in the May 2, 2011 issue, there was a nice sidebar in the September 19, 2011 issue.

Merrill was interviewed last week on Q with Jian Ghomeshi on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I think.) via KUOW2.  Jian - can you say hunkapalooza?

Sidebar:  A cool thing about living in the PNW is the diversity of public radio!  There are so many stations available: KUOW, KPLU, KUOW2, and four other ones I don't have time to listen to.  KUOW2's programming is usually CBC and the BBC, with a sprinkling of other awesome-ness thrown in for good measure.

Another artist I adore in her womanliness is Annie Lennox, originally of The Eurythmics.  Back in the '80s when I was living in Crouch End, N8 in North London I used to walk to the end of my street where there was a florist who also sold a small amount of antiques.  Mr. Sorrell was the floral front of house, and Mrs. Sorrell was the antiques maven.  I reckon she may have had too much stuff in her house and Mr. Sorrell put his foot down ("... 'ere, luv.  Let's unload some of this pony and trap...")  and made her put things up for sale.  Ultimately, I think the antiques proved to be more profitable that the flowers.

photo source:  Martin Addison, Flickr

A lot of my brass and copper collection was purchased there.  On the right, the "Floral Hall" (a very tiny place for such a grand name) and on the left is the Church. 

photo source:  Rob Cubbon Design

(I know, RIGHT??  Hogwarts?!)

The Church had been decommissioned and turned into a recording studio, and Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were recording there.  I was astounded to find myself standing next to Annie in the Floral Hall, both of us waiting to pay for the small treasure we had found that day.  To be completely honest, I don't think I would have recognized her, but for her lilting Scottish burr which made me look at her more closely and I suddenly realized it was her.  She was taller than I imagined she was and lovely and feminine, despite her ultra short hair. 

Annie's androgynous look was intriguing and fit right in with the other music of the time that was rolling across London, including David Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" phase, Freddie Mercury of Queen, Boy George, Adam and the Ants (check out the face paint!!  Merrill - full circle on this post!  Woot!!)

One of the recording labels in London during that time was Stiff Records who had an incredibly deep bench, including Elvis Costello and Devo.  They had an epic button that someone I was related to (cough cough ~ Annie) used to wear:

Closing up this video heavy post is a classic Stiff Records band, Madness, and their video "Our House."

Good times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wait a minute. What?

So Sprint finally creates a semi-intriguing ad that doesn't appear to be created by a clueless ad agency with no sense of humor.  On the face of it, an excellent thing.  With the i-Phone 4 & 4S Sprint is finally is in the Big Boys Club with ATT and Verizon, and Jobs dies, all in the same week.  And then there's the October 27th issue of the Rolling Stone:

Nice, right?

Now the back cover:

Simple, elegant, Mac-like in its elegant spareness.  I actually glanced at it four different times thinking at some level "wait, that doesn't make any sense" before I noticed the "copyright 2011 Sprint" in the bottom right hand corner.  I went "oh" in admiration and then I went "ugh", cringing at the opportunism.

For me this is the height of ambivalence, like that old joke:  Ambivalence is watching your mother in law drive over a cliff in your brand new car that you have on a payment plan.  I'm sad he died, glad that Sprint has someone with a little bit of design sensibility on our marketing team, yet appalled that we are turning the death of someone into ad copy.

I was talking to my brother Peter about all this death hulabaloo and said "It's almost like Jesus died again." and he said "There's a difference?"

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Bonneville Salt Flats, guest photographer Gordon Smith

Gordon is married to my best friend in the entire world, Eleni.  Eleni and I met in London within two weeks of my arrival in 1976.  She was studying architecture at the Polytechnic and I had come to study at University College London.  After our studies were complete, I was lucky enough to land a couple of different jobs and when they asked if I knew anyone who needed a job (ie. another cheap student like me to do scut work) I would always recommend my Greek friend, Eleni.

Eleni is a complete character, stunning, opinionated, with a heart deep and wide.  When you hear the phrase "peau de soie" (skin of silk) Eleni leaps to mind - she has the most exquisite pearly fine grained skin, even to this day.  She knows absolutely everything about EVERYTHING and isn't shy about stating her opinion if your viewpoint varies from her perceived reality.  Not overbearing, but passionate in her interests.  It makes me smile when I remember some of our conversations - life is never dull around Eleni!  She is a true polymath; I am only a dilettante.  And I'm totally okay with that. An example of a text today with E:

me:  Elefteria is the name of the tanker docked at the grain silo on the Puget Sound. What does Eleftheria mean?

E:  Liberty.  Or freedom.  It is also used as a female name.  There is also the male version:  Eleftherios, however, when one refers to Liberty or Freedom, only the female version is used.  Interesting, non?

Do you see what I'm saying?  Add to that a killer accent, dramatic face and hand gestures, and a rollicking laugh and you have an idea of what Eleni is like.

Our mutual interests were a love of film, art, music, travel and The Muppet Show - we were devoted followers and watched every week.

Every single week we always would giggle together over Gonzo's surprise about what came out of his trumpet at the end of the intro. And the grumpy old men in the balcony.  And the chicken.  And the Swedish Chef.

The last job we both worked at together was for a US firm, and we were on the Citibank team (christened SillyBank by Gordon.)  Gordon (originally from New Jersey) is an extremely talented designer and had been handpicked by the head office in Atlanta to design two SillyBank projects.  Late nights of drawing and model building and photography of architectural models (did you know that if you turn the camera upside down to get a better shot of a model that it doesn't come OUT upside down?  That you can actually turn the photo around so that it is right way up?  Late night genius question on the part of yours truly.  "But won't it be upside down?"  I've never lived that one down.)

The next thing I knew was that Gordon and Eleni were travelling around Europe before returning together to Atlanta.  I found this card in amongst my things, written in E's gorgeous, epic handwriting.  (Also check out the "stamp" that I'm sure Gordon drew adjacent to the official French stamps.  He is always doing something subtle and humorous.)

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Her abundant nature comes through in her writing.  I have kept everything she has ever written me because the handwriting is so exquisite and the card is always thoughtfully chosen.

ANYWAY.

Eleni and Gordon (aka as ET & G) came to visit me at the Dollhouse this summer, after Gordon's annual trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats outside of Wendover, Utah.  You see, Gordon is also a polymath and in addition to being the VP of Design at the architectural/engineering corporation (THE SAME ONE) that he works for after all these years, he is also an ardent bike rider and involved in racing Alfa Romeos.  Oh, and books and movies and music (especially jazz.)

I know, RIGHT?!?! 

Every year in August, Gordon goes to Utah with a team (not Alfas) that he has been on for years - the Dripps- Gibby Racing team.  Robin Dripps was Gordon's first studio professor in 1972, and they've been friends since then.  Rob Gibby and Robin grew up together in Philadelphia, so another long friendship.  Robin is the designer and driver of a car that now holds two world land speed records.  I love that Gordon is so passionate about standing around on salt, in intense heat, surrounded by fellow enthusiasts who are all tinkering with these roaring, growling machines.  Every team is attempting to defeat the natural forces of gravity, drag, aerodynamic downforce and friction and go faster than any human rightfully should go.

Here are some of Gordon's photos, with his comments.  Thanks, Gordon!

Sign at the entry

The 1932 Ford Roadster, on the tow rope after a run.  It went 202 mph this year.

Part of the old air base in Wendover, NV, where the Enola Gay trained prior to the main event.

Very small, very fast.

The Roadster, in line for a run.

Atmosphere

Rain.  It was short, but intense.

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Wait a minute. What?

From "The New Yorker", September 25, 2011.  An article about the life of a small town druggist.

"Dr. Don" by Peter Hessler:

"...At the Apothecary Shoppe, Don never wears a white coat. He takes people’s blood pressure, and he often gives injections; if it has to be done in the backside, he escorts the customer into the bathroom for privacy. Elderly folks refer to him as “Dr. Don,” although he has no medical degree and discourages people from using this title. He doesn’t wear a nametag. “I wear old Levi’s,” he says. “People want to talk to somebody who looks like them, talks like them, is part of the community. I know a lot of pharmacists wear a coat because it makes you look more professional. But it’s different here.” He would rather be known as a druggist. “A druggist is the guy who repairs your watch and your glasses,” he explains. “A pharmacist is the guy who works at Walmart.”

He keeps watch-repair tools behind the counter, and he uses them almost as frequently as he complains about Walmart, insurance companies, and Medicare Part D. Since 2006, the program has provided prescription-drug coverage for the elderly and disabled, insuring that millions of people get their medication. But it’s also had the unintended effect of driving rural pharmacies out of business. Instead of establishing a national formulary with standard drug prices, the way many countries do, the U.S. government allows private insurance plans to negotiate with drug providers. Big chains and mail-order pharmacies receive much better rates than independent stores, because of volume. Within the first two years of the program, more than five hundred rural pharmacies went out of business. Don gives the example of a local customer who needs Humira for rheumatoid arthritis. The insurance company reimburses $1,721.83 for a month’s supply, but Don pays $1,765.23 for the drug. “I lose $43.40 every time I fill it, once a month,” he says. Don’s customer doesn’t like using mail-order pharmacies; he worries about missing a delivery, and he wants to be able to ask a pharmacist questions face to face. “I like the guy,” Don says. “So I keep doing it.” Don’s margins have grown so small that on three occasions he has had to put his savings into the Apothecary Shoppe in order to keep the doors open..."

And there are questions about why we are almost in another depression?  Shame on us.  For shame.  Again, Big Business in bed with the Legislative Branch.  This infuriates me.

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