Robotjohnny.com>

Creativity the Key to Success

According to Richard Florida, the success of a city’s economic development is not technology and industry—it’s creativity.

The article doesn’t explain exactly how the gay and bohemian indexes prove to be indicators of economic health, but I know that I myself choose to live in Toronto not just for the employment opportunities, but for the culture of a big diverse, happenin’, energetic city.  So in that sense, I can see how creativity at least keeps me pumping dollars into the economy.

But as much as I want to believe that creativity is the key to a successful city, without knowing more I have to think it’s pretty idealistic.  After all, should we really trust a society of hippies?

5 Comments

Mummy’s Boy

An animated version of my friend Jay Stephens‘s character Tutenstein has been in the works for a while now, and is finally premiering in November, saturday mornings on NBC.

According to Jay, early November was the traditional ancient Egyptian celebration of Ka-Her-Ka,the autumn festival celebrating the death and resurrection of the mummy god Osiris.  How perfect!

Check out Jay’s site for some concept artwork.

4 Comments

Cinema del Artie

In a New York Times article, Art Spiegelman points out what it is about comics as a visual storytelling medium that appeals to me:

“I get narcissistically centered in my work. Film, theater and certainly television require large groups of people working together. At their purest, comics can be made by one, even if multiphrenic person.”

Apart from his uneducated take on mental illness (Artie, schizophrenia is not multiple personality disorder, nor is ‘schizo’ a prefix meaning ‘two’), I can’t help but share the same feeling on comics.

Comics are incredibly cinematic, yet more personal than any film can ever be because one single person does the writing, the costuming, the set decoration, the special effects, the directing, the acting… It’s what appeals to me most about cartooning as an artform—the control.

I also like how he compares cartoon speech balloons to haikus, in their economy of words.  However, he fails to mention that unlike a haiku, speech bubbles have accompanying illustrations that, as the saying goes, are worth 1000 words (that no doubt exceed any syllabic limitations).

13 Comments

Superhero Haiku

Art Spiegelman’s comments on comics being like haiku in the previous entry influenced me to write some!  Behold my brilliant poetry:

Superman
His planet blew up.
But luckily for Kal-El,
His dad planned ahead.

Wonder Woman
She must not forget
Exactly where she parks her
Invisible jet.

Maus
I never liked cats.
Reading this book tells me why.
They are all Nazis.

Batman
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na
Na na na! Batman!

Professor X
With such mind power
Can’t he use telepathy
To make his legs move?

Magneto
I bet he sure hates
The airport security’s
Metal detector

Now it’s your turn!

8 Comments

Oo-wee-oo, I Look Just Like Buddy Holly

I picked up my tickets last night for RES Magazine, a bi-monthly publication of film, music, and culture.  It’s coming to Toronto next week and will be playing at the Royal Cinema.

I got tickets to two screenings: Spike Jonze Rarities and a Michel Gondry Retrospective.  Both Jonze and Gondry are known for their innovative music videos for such bands as Björk, Daft Punk, Radiohead, Fatboy Slim, and Weezer, and both have directed off-kilter movies written by Charlie Kaufman. Both of them also seem to have DVDs of their favourite videos on the way courtesy of Palm Pictures’ new Directors Label.  Sputnik 7 even has trailers online.

I can’t wait to see Gondry’s videos for Daft Punk’s Around the World and Björk’s Human Behavior on the big screen.  But what I’m really excited about is seeing Spike Jonze’s Weapon of Choice video for Fatboy Slim with DVD-style commentary by Christopher Walken!  It should be a fun day.

3 Comments

Designers Replaced With Software?

A new piece of software being developed by Xerox asks the question, “Who needs graphic artists?”

The software uses genetic algorithms to intelligently (and dynamically) layout given elements such as text and photos onto a page until the software “thinks” it looks good.

This reminds me of such hands-off “design” software as The Logo Creator.

Why bother educating people in aesthetics, design, typography and layout, when a computer can do the job for you?  I’m sure some 3D spheres, chunky type and bevelled swooshes is not what the inventors of CAD had in mind when they coined the term “Computer-Assisted Design.”

On the other hand, I’m all for keeping people with zero design skills from even attempting page layout.  I wonder if other professionals are equally wary of do-it-yourself solutions.

20 Comments

Archi-yechhh-ture

When the final design of the to-be-refurbished Ontario College of Art and Design building was proposed, I thought it was a joke.

I still think it’s a joke.  It’s as if they held a contest, and of all the proposed designs, they chose the loser.

I see the construction on it every day when I walk to work, when I look out of our office windows, when I go to lunch. 

I half-expect the architects to pop out from behind at any minute as I stare slack-jawed at the monstrosity of steel girders and candy-coated pillars and say, “HA!  We’re just messing with you!”

But instead, a billboard depicting the finished design mocks me by illustrating just how horribly and ironically the fine people at the OCAD plan on polluting the Toronto landscape with its floating dalmatian-spotted box perched atop a rainbow of… I guess those are paintbrushes. 

Yes, I’m aware that art is supposed to provoke discussion and opinion, so surely there’s somebody out there who thinks this is good design.

13 Comments

Latest Font Sightings

A few weeks ago I was walking down Bloor street and saw that the new Bubble Tea place was using my font Girls are Weird on their posters, menus, and now I see, their website as well.

I also rented Season 3 of HBO’s Mr. Show on DVD.  And, like the first DVD collection, they use my font Horse throughout the interactive menus.  So thank-you, Bob and David, for your keen typograhic eye!  TARADALOO, THE BOB! TARADALOO!

And one reader wrote in to tell me that he spotted my font Canker Sore near the end of the latest issue (#52) of Daredevil.  I popped into the local comic store at lunch today to check out, and lo and behold, there it was!  I can’t say I’ve ever read a Daredevil comic, and I’m not going to start now, but it’s still pretty cool.  Besides, it gives me a leg up on the old “Six Degrees of Ben Affleck” game.

Let me know if you see my fonts anywhere else!

14 Comments

…And the Nightmare.

The Armchair Garbageman took his own spin on yesterday’s post, and since I’m not one to shy away from stealing ideas (and since he doesn’t have commenting available), I now present to you my Nightmare Jeopardy! categories:

1. Cars and How They Work
2. Football Trivia
3. Tupac and Biggie
4. The hours of 5am-9am
5. Advanced Geophysics
6. Israel/Palestine Relations
7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

And for Final Jeopardy!: Early American Presidents

You know the drill… What are your nightmare categories?

9 Comments

Still

Waiting for the subway today I saw an ad for Jennifer Lopez’s new fragrance (read: odor), Still.  It read, “In the eye of the storm I am… Still.”

No doubt, the calm before the storm is this period in between Gigli and the release of her next crappy movie, Jersey Girl.  Enjoy it while it lasts, J.Lo.

But if you’re planning on producing a sequence of ads based on the above slogan, might I offer a few more?

“My boyfriend’s brain activity, like the vast reaches of space, is… Still.”

“My career will soon be like a dead fetus… Still.”

“I will grow old and drink my sorrows away all thanks to a… Still.”

2 Comments

My Dream Jeopardy! Categories

I’m stealing this idea from Ben, who in turn, stole it from someone who stole it from Douglas Coupland.

If I was on the Jeopardy!, the seven categories I’d want to compete with, as announced by Mr. Alex “No Moustache” Trebek, would be:

1. Elvis Costello
2. Junk Food
3. Being Snarky
4. Robots
5. Cartoonists
6. Star Wars
7. Wordplay and Puns

And for final Jeopardy!:
Homestar Runner

(note: Like Ben, I’d have chosen the Simpsons as my final Jeopardy! category, but I didn’t want to look like a copycat...)

What would yours be?

16 Comments

Step Right Up and Behold the Mighty Silver Discus of Untold Powers!

I love it when I’m looking at the back of a DVD that is a clearly a bare-bones, movie-only feature-poor release.  Invariably the studio will try to market the movie as LOADED WITH SPECIAL FEATURES! 

Why, it’s practically bursting with supplementary material!

But, of course, after careful examination, the aforementioned “special features” usually turn out to be an exciting combination of COLLECTABLE BOOKLET! and INTERACTIVE MENUS!

Holy shit, I’m really getting my money’s worth here!  I will surely experience CRITTERS 3 the way the director always intended—WITH 2.0 STEREO SOUND! and SPANISH SUBTITLES!

What I love even more is that every single title on DVD is either a Collector’s Edition, a Special Edition, a Platinum Edition, or—if we’re really lucky—a Special Collector’s Platinum Edition!

NOW WITH SPECIAL KEEP-SAKE PACKAGING!

I haven’t seen such blatant hype over selling a product since I was swindled into a buying a bottle of Cousin Horatio’s Medicinal Snake Oil at the county fair.

But I couldn’t help myself.  It was only $39.95 and it came in what I was told was a collectable bottle that clearly stated: NOW IN LIQUID FORM FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.

Hell, I couldn’t NOT buy it.

9 Comments

William Steig Dead at 95

New Yorker illustrator William Steig died last night in his home.  William Steig created beautiful childlike illustrations that were romantic, playful, and sometimes very abstract.  He was also the author of several children’s stories, including one that was turned into a really awful movie.  For more information on William Steig, I recommend reading The World of William Steig by Lee Lorenz.

4 Comments

Creepy Ghost Girl:
The New Horror Movie Cliché

I love horror movies, but recently I’ve noticed a trend that must be stopped!  This trend is quickly becoming a tired cliché (are there any other kinds?).

What cliché am I talking about?  A cat jumping out at a tense moment?  Every main character dying off one by one leaving a lone heroine to just barely escape alive?  No, I’m talking about what I like to call the Creepy Ghost Girl

I’m sure the first real instance of Creepy Ghost Girl was in The Exorcist in which an ordinary sweet little girl is taken over in a demonic possession.  Suddenly sweet little girl ain’t so sweet no more.

And it was scary.  It really was.  But now EVERY horror movie that comes out seems to have a Creepy Ghost Girl in it, undoubtedy under the assumption that we’ve never seen it before.  Like I’m going to wet my pants with fear thinking, “Wow, I was expecting a wolfman or something, but I sure wasn’t expecting a little harmless girl.  That shit is eerie!”

Creepy Ghost Girl also usually acts calm and serene, she’s usually dressed in a nightgown, and she speaks in an otherwordly ethereal voice.  Usually she says things like, “Go back!  You should not have come here.” Or else she’ll say “Please help me,” and then either evaporate or walk away in a quick, disjointed skeletonlike manner as if to remind us: she’s Creepy Ghost Girl.

The poster for a remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead seems to be the latest offender.  But Creepy Ghost Girl has also been popping up in the trailers for Matrix: Revolutions and Halle Berry’s seemingly cliché-ridden Gothika.

Now, you may feel free to substitute ‘ghost’ for ‘zombie’ or ‘alien’ or ‘vampire’ as you see fit.  Creepy Ghost Girl’s resume includes such hits as The Ring (and its American remake), Dark Water (and its inevitable Ameircan remake), Ghost Ship, Fear Dot Com, the Sixth Sense, The Others, Stir of Echoes, 13 Ghosts, Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, Resident Evil, Angel, and, of course, The Shining. (Note:  after compling these links I found that 6 of them are Warner Brothers movies.  Why does that not surprise me?)

So might I suggest other types of creepy ghosts, such as the effective Creepy Grandma in Exorcist 3?  What about a Creepy Ghost Hamster?  Or a Creepy Ghost Mortgage Broker? 

Please!  If I have to see another little girl with hollow eyes named Samantha whisper to me, “He’s coming for you.  He’s coming for you all!” only to slink off into the shadows again I might just stop watching horror movies altogether.

10 Comments

Everything’s Coming Up Rosario

Luckily for me, my frivolous, yet in-depth graphical analysis (seen below) of the campaigning parties’ websites also agreed with the political side of Robot Johnny.  This morning I did my part to help reelect my riding’s popular MPP by placing an X next to NDP candidate Rosario Marchese.

I voted.  Did you?

3 Comments