Saturday September 20, 2008
Next Semester
If you made it to Adult Education on Tuesday, you know that a good time was had by all. Robert Galinsky of the New York Reality TV School shared the 9 commandments of reality TV—e.g. “Thou Shall Never Say, ‘I am an Actor.’” Charles told the true story of his high school physics teacher who turned out to be a proud member of NAMBLA. (So proud, in fact, that he appeared in a creepy documentary defending his beliefs.) Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici told tales of Juicy Campus, while Gersh Kuntzman did that thing he does each week in The Brooklyn Paper, except he did it live and in person.
Next up, on October 14, Adult Education welcomes a panel of collectors to speak on the theme of “Hunting and Gathering.” The line-up is as follows: (Complete details here. Speaker bios after the jump.)
“No Park City”
“Mice, Deer, and Terrorists: Three Things Made Easier to Kill”
“The Ties That Blind”
“America’s Awkward Stage”
All hosted by comedian Charles Star.
BIOS
Paul Shaw is a lettering artist, graphic designer and design historian. He has designed logos for Barbie, Origins, Campbell Soup, Lord & Taylor, Methodist Hospital and others. As a former partner in LetterPerfect he has designed or co-designed 18 typefaces including Kolo, Old Claude and Bermuda. Paul teaches calligraphy at Parsons School of Design and the History of Typography at the School of Visual Arts. He writes on type and lettering related topics for Print, Baseline, and AIGA Voice. He has never owned a car, but he does know how to parallel park.
Daniel Wright is the founder of www.patentlysilly.com and the author of Patently Silly: The Daftest Inventions Ever Devised (Prion 2008, Lyons Press 2009).
Francis Heaney writes puzzles, songs, musicals, cartoons, humor, and maybe a novel if he ever gets around to finishing it. His humor book, Holy Tango of Literature, is so funny that it was immediately taken out of print, lest it render all other humor books superfluous. Most recently, he compiled and edited a book of dirty crosswords, entitled Crasswords. He blogs at www.francisheaney.com.
Alexandra Ringe is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She edited the book Rough Draft: Pop Culture the Way It Almost Was, and her writing has appeared in such magazines as New York, Metropolis, Radar, and Stay Free.
Charles Star is a lawyer sans portfolio and a stand-up comedian sans recognition who lives in Brooklyn with his excellent wife, his awesome cat, and a newborn baby genius. He’s on the web at www.charlesstar.com.
Posted by jim at 09:45 AM || Comments
Tuesday September 16, 2008
The United States of Pantone
Alexandra made this out of an old swatch set for our friend Neil’s birthday. It makes me feel like Lee Greenwood.
Posted by jim at 12:41 PM || Comments
Sunday September 14, 2008
DFW
Call it hubris, but whenever I’m confronted with an accomplished literary work, I think to myself, “I might have written this. I have some of the tools, and the rest I could acquire. Given the right amount of time, concentration, and perseverance, I could have written this.” But, despite its frustrations, I never thought this about Infinite Jest. I couldn’t have written it in 10,000 years. It’s sad.
Posted by jim at 11:04 AM || Comments
Tuesday September 09, 2008
The Curse Returns
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni are having marital problems? Why am I not surprised? The Redbook curse rains on the dull and likable alike, and—as I predicted more than three years ago—it looks like it will pour on the Duchovny/Leonis soon enough. Appearing solo on the glossy’s cover still appears to be somewhat dangerous. Just ask Shania Twain (December 2007), who split with husband Mutt Lange this summer. But the magazine doesn’t even put couples on its covers anymore, and with good reason. The last four couples to grace Redbook’s cover (excluding pre-cursed couple John and Carolyn Kennedy) are, in order: Leoni and Duchovny (April 2005), Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen (February 2005), Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor (July 2004), and Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (March 2004). If I were Ms. Taylor, I think I’d start filtering hubby’s internet connection.
Posted by jim at 11:12 AM || Comments
Wednesday September 03, 2008
And That’s the Way It Isn’t
I have a feature in the new issue of PRINT about the graphic designers who work behind the scenes at The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and the Onion News Network, where they have to be ready to riff on any visual meme that comes their way. It’s like doing real news graphics, only harder. The cover image was created by Greg Duncan, who produced the opens for both The Daily Show and Colbert. As you can see, the cover was generated in that 3D netherworld where all broadcast graphics now take place.
In the same issue, Leslie Savan looks at the modernist trend that is sweeping the baby accessories industry, “stok[ing] the mad hope that you can contain your kid’s id with the clean lines and flat surfaces of Modernity itself.” If you don’t think this article rings true, come on out to Park Slope. Sam Potts also does a nice round-up of design trends in presidential signs and bumper stickers over the last 40 years, but you’ll have to pick up the issue for that.
