Archi-yechhh-ture
Friday, October 10, 2003When 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.
Latest Font Sightings
Thursday, October 9, 2003A 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!
…And the Nightmare.
Wednesday, October 8, 2003The 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:
- Cars and How They Work
- Football Trivia
- Tupac and Biggie
- The hours of 5am-9am
- Advanced Geophysics
- Israel/Palestine Relations
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
And for Final Jeopardy!: Early American Presidents
You know the drill… What are your nightmare categories?
Still
Tuesday, October 7, 2003Waiting 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.”
My Dream Jeopardy! Categories
Tuesday, October 7, 2003I’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:
- Elvis Costello
- Junk Food
- Being Snarky
- Robots
- Cartoonists
- Star Wars
- 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?
Step Right Up and Behold the Mighty Silver Discus of Untold Powers!
Monday, October 6, 2003I 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.
William Steig Dead at 95
Saturday, October 4, 2003New 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.
Creepy Ghost Girl:
The New Horror Movie Cliché
Friday, October 3, 2003
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.
Everything’s Coming Up Rosario
Thursday, October 2, 2003Luckily 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?
The Sketchbook Journal:
Some of This Week’s Faces
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Overheard at the R.E.M. Concert
Wednesday, October 1, 2003Leadership By Design
Tuesday, September 30, 2003The Ontario election is this Thursday. It is my right and my privilege to vote, and I find like any voter, I like to be well informed on what the political world likes to call “the issues”.
What issues affect me, the young, urban designer? Education? I’m done school and I don’t have any kids. Taxes? I don’t own any property, nor am I a corporation. Auto Insurance? I don’t own a car. I’m not a senior, a child, First Nations, a woman, a Francophone, homosexual, or homeless.
Well, dear God, what issues am I supposed to find important? I guess I could base my decision on the quality of their web design. That would at least tell me which party has an eye for colour and aesthetic. That’s important in a global economy, isn’t it?
So let’s get down to it:
The Liberals
Well, it’s not hideous. But it’s nothing too special. The Reds’ site is well laid out, information is easy to find, and I dare you to tell me that Dalton McGuinty isn’t a happy-looking fella. He sure is that.
They seem to have videos available, so the Libs are embracing the technology at least. Unfortunately, it’s Windows Media and Real Video. I’m not even gonna touch it. Yecch.
All in all, get rid of the messy hard-to-read top banner and you’ve got yourself a perfectly functional site!
The Conservatives
Yowza! What’s worse—a splash page with bad typography, or a splash page with Ernie Eves’s smiling mug? How about a splash page with both!
Once inside, the PC’s site has a crisp corporate look to it. Coincidence? We have a useless piece of flash throwing buzzwords at me like “strength” and “leadership”, and the site is laden down with reams of information all displayed in an unnattractive manner. It’s a good thing these guys are such pricks or else I’d feel bad that they have such a sucky website.
Maybe one of the MP’s told Ernie, “Hey, I got a nephew who knows computers!” and that’s how this mess was made. Who knows. Either way, the design looks like it was left over from the dot com crash when everyone wanted to look corporate and respectable. “We’re profitable! No, really!”
The New Democrats
Am I seeing things correctly? Attractive site design, good typography, simple intuitve navigation… the NDP’s on the right track!
Video in Quicktime! And with thumbnail previews! And MP3s, too… nothing like a little street cred!
If I can find only one real problem with the site it’s that the photo of Howard Hampton that’s on EVERY page makes it look like he has to take a crap. Lighten up, Howie! Take a page from the book of McGuinty and smile a little!
The Green Party
Oops! Another splash page! That, plus Frank de Jong telling us all at the debates to go out and vote on the 3rd (hint: the election is on the 2nd), the Green Party isn’t off to a good start.
Now, I appreciate and understand the message of the Green Party, but does the website have to look like it belongs to a landscaping company?
Another problem I’m finding is that several links take me to a pop-up window with information from what looks like a previous site design. So bonus points for social justice and environmental responsibility, but a couple demerits for consistency in design. I know you hippies hate looking corporate, but even raging against the machine can benefit from proper branding.
The Communist Party, the Libertarian Party, the Family Coalition, and the Freedom Party are all equally hideous in ways that are best left unsaid. Go take a look and see for yourself.
Heck, the Provincial Confederation of Regions Party has a “404 Page Not Found” for its site. Way to campaign, guys. I mean, if you can’t even keep a website running, how can I trust you to provincially confederate my regions?
The Result:
The winner by a long shot is the NDP! Following them are the Liberals, then the Green Party, and trailing at the end are the Tories (not including all those ugly “lesser” parties, of course).
But, as far as non-partisan election-related sites go, Elections Ontario is pretty slick. Contemporary typography, professional photography, and the understanding that a website needs to be more than a bunch of Word documents with the same background colour and some clipart make this site the real winner. It’s a great looking site. Too bad I can’t vote for them!
Brand X
Monday, September 29, 2003In a move reminiscent of the release of Windows XP, OS X, and Macromedia’s MX suite, Adobe has tagged on some pointless acronyms to its product line-up in lieu of actual version numbers.
The latest versions of its creative products will be named Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, etc…
CS stands for Creative Suite, so at least there’s no X in the acronym.
On the plus side, Illustrator (I’m sorry, Illustrator CS)will finally have some built-in 3D features.
Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts!
Monday, September 29, 2003It’s news like this that makes me squeal “Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod!” like a little kid.
Fantagraphics is going to be reprinting every single Peanuts strip from its entire 50-year run in a series of chronological hardback volumes! I can’t even tell you how excited I am at the thought of this.
At two volumes per year, it will take 12 and half years for the entire set to be completed. And according to the article, half of the first volume has never been reprinted since its debut back in 1950. That’s a real treat for me because I particularly love the earliest strips. Schulz’s drawing style hadn’t yet evolved to its simplistic shaky perfection, the gang was more innocent and childlike, and Snoopy actually looked like a dog.
As a bonus coup, Toronto cartoonist Seth will be designing the books. Other than maybe Chip Kidd who designed the gorgeous Art of Charles M. Schulz book I can’t think of a better choice than Seth. Apart from being a known collector of comic art and comic-related books, Seth’s own artwork itself harkens back to the 1950’s with its Saturday Evening Post look (I also just read news somewhere that Schulz’s pre-Peanuts comics from said magazine will be published in the coming year as well!)
Fantagraphics is currently putting out complete reprints of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. With Peanuts on the way in 2004, I wonder if we can expect any other complete archival projects like this.
I’ll cross my fingers for Walt Kelly’s Pogo and EC Segar’s Thimble Theatre (aka Popeye). I’ll also be on the lookout for this heavy brick of a book.
I’m going to need to get a new bookshelf. Good Grief, Charlie Brown!
The Sketchbook Journal:
Who Are the People in Your Neighbourhood?
Friday, September 26, 2003
Here’s an entry from my revamped sketchbook journal. Instead of documenting my oh-so-exciting life in comic format, I’ve decided that every day I will draw someone that I’ve seen on the street, on the subway, at work… Here’s the lady that prompted the idea:
In my previous journal I had to think back through the day to what I could turn into a comic. This new journal makes me contantly aware of the people around me—I’m always looking at faces, thinking of who and how to draw them. So for that reason alone I think that this is a much better project. Anything that makes me constantly think of drawing is a good thing. I’m off to a Bingo parlour tonight which should prove to give me some interesting faces to work with.
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RobotJohnny.com is the personal weblog of Toronto illustrator and cartoonist John Martz. Read more...
The blog is made up of regular entries, Cinema Toast movie reviews, and Warm-Up Drawings.
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