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Chess Letters, Book Letters, [Bachelor of] Legal Letters. November 9, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, Design, Etcetera, School, Typography.
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No time to blog.


Too busy studying.


Would rather be playing


{ Type Chess Set by Wary Meyers via The Jailbreak }


Or maybe choosing a Book That I Actually Want To Read, from


{ Letters Bookshelf by Pieter de Leeuw via Design Milk }


Instead, there are only four letters on my mind right now:

B.  LLB.*

 

*…Okay, technically it’s B. Comms/LLB. But in the final 5 days of 5 years’ study — having secured the “Comms” bit last semester, and now with only 2 exams to go — those 2 Ls and Bs are my only (very significant) academic concern right now.**

 

** If I had more free time I’d throw something in here about blubbing, study lbs, and curious palindromes. But I haven’t, so I shan’t.

 

 

Sweet (Caramel) Typeface; Sweet (Almost) Freedom October 26, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Blogging, Design, Pretty!, School, Typography.
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…


I have finished my honours thesis.


And after an amuse bouche of post-thesis antithetical freedom, now all that stands between me and the end of 18 years of study (at this end, 5 years of University: 2 undergraduate degrees) is… 19 days, 3 assessments, 2 exams, and a whole lot of study.

Until then, I’ll satisfy my sweet tooth with this delectable caramel typeface.


{ Karamel Sans CE by Marta Maštálková, via dezeen }

OH how I adore caramel.

But I would still give all the toffee* in the world for the impending freedom flitting sweetly on the near horizon.


*Even coffee as well. Seriously.

Through The Looking Glass: Where Coffee = Sleep October 10, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, Etcetera, Laughing, Words.
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Comparing coffee preferences to sleeping habits is probably the most ironic analogy ever made. But outside the asylum, through the looking glass, only the nonsensical truly makes sense. And so, I propose the following theory:

If coffee = sleep, then…


Macchiato

A) A macchiato (a shot of espresso with a mere dash of foam) is the coffee equivalent of “a short but intense nap between 12:30am and 6:30am, as popularised by yogis, yoginis, truck drivers and insomniacs”.



Starbucks Venti Frappuccino

B) A Starbucks Venti Mocha Frappuccino (20 ounces of cream, caffeine & chocolate) is the “persistent vegetative state” of the coffee world.





Somewhere in between lies CATATONIA, which is what happens when you have an incurable weakness for both A) and B) (as regards both the coffee and the sleep).

“Patients with catatonia may experience an extreme loss of motor skills or even constant hyperactive motor activity. Catatonic patients will sometimes hold rigid poses for hours and will ignore any external stimuli. Patients with catatonic excitement can die of exhaustion if not treated. Patients may also show stereotyped, repetitive movements.

They may show specific types of movement such as waxy flexibility, in which they maintain positions after being placed in them by someone else, or gegenhalten (lit. “counterhold”), in which they resist movement in proportion to the force applied by the examiner. They may repeat meaningless phrases or speak only to repeat what the examiner says….

Catatonic excitement is a state of constant purposeless agitation and excitation. Individuals in this state are extremely hyperactive, although the activity seems to lack purpose.

…The only way to cure it is to keep the patient constantly active and the activities must have an end goal or they will not work. Stress must be reduced by not pressurising, keeping life predictable and by limiting choice as making choices is very stressful for catatonics.”

— Wikipedia (of course)


And on that note, I REALLY have to get back to writing this thesis. 13 days and counting…


{images via smh.com.au and wikimedia commons }

Elvis + Helvetica? Hellsvetica yes! October 4, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, Cinema, Earworms, Etcetera, FFFFOUND!, Helvetica, Pretty!, The Ether, Typography, Videorama.
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Firstly: Elvis + Helvetica = brilliant.


{by Hulk4598 on flickr, via FFFFOUND!}

This girl approves.

Now, for a bit of waffle. (Err… waffle).

Note Exhibit A, above. Young Elvis* all dolled up for the film Roustabout, in too-neat leathers with too-tidy hair . Movie tagline: “Elvis Presley as a Roving, Restless, Reckless, ROUSTABOUT”. [Insert sceptical looks here].

But also note Exhibit B:


{also by Hulk4598 on flickr, via FFFFOUND!}

Young Elvis in a rather naff suit, with an acoustic guitar that he never really played much, and a messed-up coiff that looks like he’s just come off stage after this:

(Skip to 1:00 and press play. Watch to the end. DO IT. Honestly. Just trust me on this, okay? You won’t regret it.)

Now isn’t it ironic that despite the extra “L” in Exhibit A ["Hell for leather[s]“, anyone?] Elvis was actually at the peak of his corrupting deviance not as a “Roving, Restless, Reckless, ROUSTABOUT”, but as a cheeky, messy-haired rockabilly boy?

Clearly, the 1950s were hella good for the Rebellious Youth, in music and typography.


*[as opposed to Old Elvis: let's just not go there, okay?]

PS. Much as I appreciate the sentiment, I’m not such a fan of Helvekitty.

PPS. Whatever happened to Elvis movies on Sunday afternoon TV? Oh well, at least we’ve still got:


Spot the Dustpocalypse: Life on Mars/Earth September 26, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Cinema, Earworms, Etcetera, Pretty!, The News, Videorama.
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Spot the difference:


{ Sunrise on Mars, via NASA }


002
{ View from my ferry (7.20am, Saturday 24.09.09), Circular Quay, Sydney, Earth }

Sydney saw the Dustpocalypse twice this week: two epic dust storms sweeping eastward from the inland deserts. The first on Wednesday morning, came with full-force opaque orange skies, visibility nil, and undertones of other-worldly terror.

Tom Coates’ Red Dust photo gallery says it best:


{ I adore the deathly reflection }

The second — this fine Saturday morning — resulted in a greyer shade of haze, and that uncannily Martian ice-blue sunrise.

Both eventually cleared to reveal clearer-than-clear bright Springtime afternoons.

Now how on Earth (or Mars) can anyone who lives on this planet honestly say that the weather is just  a topic for idle small talk?


Playing in my Head

Movies: Total Recall

{ via giflix }

Music: Life on Mars, David Bowie.lifeonmars

Plastique Fantastique: Typographically accessorised September 22, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Design, FFFFOUND!, Helvetica, Pretty!, Typography.
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4 comments

THIS. This is what awesome looks like through the eyes of a typophile.

Laser-cut acrylic necklaces…


…and rings

for the ultimate in beautiful, witty, typographical (okay, nerd) accessories.

Okay, uber nerd:


All from Plastique’s etsy store.


Now hurry along with credit cards a-flashing, dear fontgeeks. Stocks are limited, and I need someone to buy them out before I surrender to temptation.

Venn Redux September 14, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Blogging, Design, Etcetera, FFFFOUND!, Laughing, Pantone, Pretty!, Technobabble, The Ether.
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Okay, remember when the internet started leaking a steady supply of hilariously reworked periodic tables and I developed a tiny obsession (then revisited it) despite a distinct lack of real scientific knowledge?

Well, it’s happened again, this time with Venn diagrams. Usually, I try to avoid anything remotely mathematical (unless of course it’s Craig Damrauer’s New Math).

But there are Venn diagrams, and then there are Venn diagrams. These are the latter:



{ Douglas Adams loved giant, spotty, placid whale sharks, and so do I. via Behance }



{ I love both unicorns and narwhals, and this is genius. My original favourite, by ArgyleWhale via horkulated }



{ I’m also a fan of colour standards, so CMYcake is my new favourite, via FFFFOUND! }

There’s also something rather nice about memes that are gradually exuded throughout the ether like this. As opposed to those high GI memes that burn twice as bright but half as long, before hitting maximum saturation and maximum irritation at almost precisely the same moment (see also: Rickrolling, Squirrel Crashes, and — as much as I hate to say it — Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat).


PS. For a permanent source of often puerile, seldom unfunny, and not at all mathematical diagrams and graphs, you might like to bookmark GraphJam:

…but only if you can afford to fritter away vast swathes of time on a regular basis)

PPS. This one is conclusively prescient:


{ Enough said! via BuzzFeed }

The multifarious meanings of ‘Momental’ September 12, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, Pretty!, The Ether, Words.
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Today’s email inbox Oxford English Dictionary Word Of The Day is…

Momental

momental

As far as ‘knowing thyself’ goes, momental is a fickle creature, caught seven ways between obscurity, rarity, statistics, maths, and philosophy. Behold:

1. Lasting only a moment; momentary.

2. Of or relating to momentum.

3. Of or relating to moments of time.

4. Of or relating to a moment or element, especially of a conceptual entity.

5. Of or relating to a moment of inertia. [see #2, smirk at the complete contradiction]

6. Of or relating to the moments of a random variable.

7. Momentous; of value or importance.

Now I know it’s been a while between OED Word Of The Day musings, but momental is so unexpectedly interesting that I couldn’t help but share. For though it is an unassuming word, its multifarious (and muddled) definitions give it that je ne sais quois that some like to call randominity.

Randominity is a specialised neologism, not entirely unlike The Dirk Gently Navigation Method:

“My own strategy is to find a car, or the nearest equivalent, which looks as if it knows where it is going and follow it. I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere that I needed to be. So what do you say to that?”

“Piffle.”

“A robust response. I salute you.”

{ Yes cheers, [Saint] Douglas Adams ( The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul) }

Now, momental clearly doesn’t know what it wants to mean. But all its various definitions are so nice in their own way that it hardly matters which one you intended to express in the first place (Ephemeral? Moving? Inert? Random?). Odds are you’ll be saying something of value or importance. Momental even.

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Verdana is IKEA’s font of the futura. August 25, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, Design, Helvetica, The Ether, The News, Typography.
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03.09.09 UPDATE:

  • Great coverage of the issue on idsgn.org, which, I have just discovered, is a Bloody Brilliant Blog (BBB).
  • You can sign the anti-Verdana “IKEA please get rid of Verdana” petition here.
  • And TIME.com has even cottoned on to the debacle: The Font War: Ikea Fans Fume Over Verdana.


{ from Please Copy Me, via user Raumschiff on Typophile }


After 50 years, IKEA is changing its font from Futura to Verdana.
{ Follow through for the full story & discussion on  Typophile.com }


I love IKEA. I can honestly attest that almost every item of furniture I have ever owned (since childbirth) has been from IKEA. IKEA is the Helvetica of the furniture world. It is a blank canvas. A neutral. Sufficient character to stand up on its own (pun intended), but muted enough that it doesn’t drown out what you’re really trying to say * .

I also love the kooky IKEA language, and the crazy nomenclature around which it is built. A mirror known as FRÄCK; a tiny plush owl toy called SOT; a computer table that answers to the name DAVE. Every book I’ve ever owned has lived on a BILLY bookcase.

Part of me worries that none of these will look or sound quite so Scandinavianly edgy when printed in Verdana…


*Probably something along the lines of “I like low prices, simple lines, white-on-white,  and am handy with an Allen key“.


Playing favourites with pretty words August 14, 2009

Posted by Olivia McDowell in Cinema, Pretty!, Words.
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Winter holidays long gone, I’ve been rather busy studying relatively bland legal verbiage… which is what I ought to be doing now …which would make this the perfect time to wax lyrical about some new personal favourites in the ‘beautiful’ end of the linguistic spectrum!

1. Ambrosial

Huh? Immortal, divine, celestial, ethereal. Belonging to or worthy of the gods. Also suggestive of golden deliciousness.

As in? As in the amrit vela: “the ambrosial hours just before dawn” (when yogis and the sun rise in unison).

Why? Because it both means and sounds what it is: divine.


2. Equanimity


Huh? The quality of having an even mind. Resilience. Evenness of temper. Being undisturbed by emotion, elation or depression. Contrary to popular belief this DOES NOT equate to apathy or a dispassionate disregard for the vicissitudes of life. I’m pretty sure that one CAN be both equanimous and ecstatic, or equanimous and outraged: it’s the capacity to return to even kilter that matters. Far easier said than done, of course (the sea of life is tempestuous and full of serpents).

As in? Anvaya: looking equally upon friends and enemies; enjoying the fair and taking no umbrage at the unfair… and magnanimity*, which, according to Democritus, “consists of enduring tactlessness with mildness”. Nicely said, old man.

Why? For such a relatively small word, equanimity ripples with polysyllabic prettiness. And I’ve been looking for the right word to define “excitably tranquil” for quite some time.

See also: Sangfroid…


3.  Sangfroid


Huh? Yeah, okay. it’s pretty much the same as equanimity. What can I say? I really like the whole concept.

As in? See above.

Why? Because it sounds so Frenchy-pretty (as most Franglais does). And although when translated literally from the French, it means “cold blood”, I like to think that the “cold” is in this context more like “cool” – and it never hurts to have a chilled, chic outlook on life, the universe and everything. And speaking of chilled-and-chic…


4. Nebuchadnezzar

Huh? An extremely large wine bottle,especially for champagne, equivalent in volume to twenty standard bottles, or 15-16 litres. Used primarily for the novelty factor, and rather large parties.

As in? Well, Veuve:


(The big one. via Whisk Hampers ).

Why? I find it gleefully ironic that all the really ridiculously large wine bottles are named after biblical royalty. And let us not forget, The Neb’ was Morpheus’s ship in The Matrix **.


{ via comingsoon }


* Itself, a charming word.

** Let’s just keep it to the first one, shall we?


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