January 2010
51 posts
Charlie Brooker on how to report the news If you work in a newsroom and continue to do this, you have no excuse. #
The Secret History of Typography in the Oxford English Dictionary
:— Citing usage from 1949, the OED calls this mark the dog’s bollocks, which it defines as, “typogr. a colon followed by a dash, regarded as forming a shape resembling the male sexual organs.” This is why I love scrounging around the linguistic scrap heap that is the OED. I always come across a little gold. And by “gold,” I mean,...
Raise your Tom Collins’ in toast - a JD Salinger round-up The New Yorker has posted every story they published by Salinger from 1946 to 1965. This sandwich has no mayonaise, a 1945 short story in Esquire. The very satisfying NY Times obituary A smiling photo. #
The new rules of libel for Canadian bloggers (and other online types) The Canadian Supreme Court decision of Grant v. Torstar Corp created a new protection for journalists, the “responsible communication on matters of public interest” defense. But as these guys point out, you may not be automatically protected if you are a mere blogger. #
Helvetica cookie cutters Mmmmm. Tastes modern. #
The Ford logo that never was Designed by Paul Rand in 1966, Henry Ford II thought it was too radical. #
Charter Cities - The new Shanghais Paul Romer, a Stanford prof, is championing the idea of international charter cities. Essentially, stable Western countries would – with permission and cooperation of the the host government – set up and run brand new cities in the world’s most deprived areas. The idea is to either create stability through the good example of 24 hour power, proper sanitation,...
Matt Taibi on David Brook’s Haiti idiocy. A must read. A friend of mine sent a link to Sunday’s David Brooks column on Haiti, a genuinely beautiful piece of occasional literature. Not many writers would have the courage to use a tragic event like a 50,000-fatality earthquake to volubly address the problem of nonwhite laziness and why it sometimes makes natural disasters seem timely, but...
Gunboats to Iceland Sean Condon at Megaphone wrote this great piece on Haiti’s 200 year run of exploitation. Condon refers to the US $21 billion that Haiti paid to France as the price of its freedom. The payment at some points took 80% of the government’s revenue and was paid off only in 1947. When Haiti could not make payments, the United States Marines were sent in to ensure the money resumed,...
Polish poster design There must be something in the water that drives the Poles to create such great design. #
Uh oh The mysterious figure who has left roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe each year on the writer’s birthday didn’t make it yesterday. #
Former senator wants to buy pieces of CanWest Former Liberal senator Jerry Grafstein wants the Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, and National Post. #
10 years of No Logo Naomi Klein on trying to avoid becoming a brand herself: The aversion extended even to the brand that I had accidentally created: No Logo. From studying Nike and Starbucks, I was well acquainted with the basic tenet of brand management: find your message, trademark and protect it and repeat yourself ad nauseam through as many synergised platforms as possible. I set out to...
Inside the messy collapse of the Washington Post Print staffers grouse about the quality of the website. “Why does our homepage look so crappy and cheesy?” one reporter says. “Why is it not as nice as the Times’s page?” Others complain that Web producers don’t appreciate the Post’s august traditions. #
The publisher of Stack, the indie magazine service, has an interview with Simon Esterson, art director of Eye.
One day John was having a conversation with one of the publishers over at Haymarket and it became clear that they might be interested in selling the magazine… There were quite a lot of negotiations, partly because I don’t think Haymarket had ever sold a magazine before!...
EU secretly demands that Canada make copyright more draconian The document states that the trade negotiations are a “unique opportunity [for Canada] to upgrade its [Intellectual Property Rights] regime despite local anti-IPR lobbying.” It includes an assessment of recent copyright reform efforts, noting that two bills have died due to “political instability.” The document adds that the copyright...
The stray dogs of Moscow Weird and fascinating. [ Via ] #
London Underground vs Toronto Transit Commission Typefaces Christy posted this article about the history of the Toronto Transit Commission typeface and the TTC’s tossing of a proud heritage. Compare and contrast it to Transport for London’s reverence of the Johnston Font, which remains consistent on busses, rail, boats, taxis, and tube. This is a nice history. #
When should editors “unpublish” online news reports? Kathy English, the public editor of the Toronto Star, has written a policy guide on when to erase a story from the Internet. There is a strong reluctance by journalists to remove published content from websites. As one editor said, “Unpublishing is a word that doesn’t accurately reflect what people are asking. They’re asking us to...
Hunter S. Thompson and the Hell’s Angels
I first encountered Hunter S. Thompson as a teenager when I purchased a used copy of Hell’s Angels from a fundraiser in Scottsdale Mall (Delta, BC).
Thompson didn’t go undercover or infiltrate the Angels, he merely befriended them and spent a year or so living with them. The resulting book was extraordinary.
Just today, I learnt that the...
Why yuppies are allowed to move into a neighbourhood and start suing
Did you ever think that it was unfair that, especially in gentrifying neighbourhoods, people could move in and then start insisting that noisy pubs, which had existed for years, or shops of an adult nature should move, even if they have been there first.
You can thank Dr Octavius Sturges of 85 Wimpole, London, for this. In...
Hampstead Heath and Colin Wilson Another Nickel In the Machine has a cracking story on author Colin Wilson, Britain’s first celebrity existentialist intellectual. #
The Ted Turner of Rural TV One of RFD’s biggest hits is a Larry King Live copy called RFD TV Live. Instead of Tyra Banks or Bono, executives from John Deere show up to chat about their new tractor line. I’ve never seen this network – but I like the idea. It’s been a long time since television was created to serve a community rather than a psychographic. #
Berkeley Breathed interview Also on VICE is this interview with Berkeley Breathed #
The designer behind the Doomsday Clock Design Observer has a nice story on how the clock on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cover came about. #
Vice Guide to Liberia trailer Former warlords General Rambo, General Bin Laden and General Butt Naked give us guided tours of some of the most dangerous, impoverished areas including jails, brothels, and heroin dens. I’m looking forward to this. #
7 Books We Lost to History That Would Have Changed the World I realise that the 21st century Cracked.com is a million miles from the Mad magazine rip-off of my childhood but I have to note this because I have never expected to read jokes in Cracked based on On Sphere-Making by Archimedes or Ab urbe condita libri by Livy. Mad maybe, but not Cracked. #
Orson Welles on police brutality The Internet Archive features a series of recordings of American radio broadcaster Orson Welles, in particular a recording from 1946 in which Welles reads the Affidavit of Isaac Woodard regarding his abuse at the hands of corrupt police officers, followed by a highly emotional and impassioned speech by Welles on the subject of bringing justice, corruption, and...
Paul Krasner published this well-known poster in The Realist in 1966. Here’s the story behind the story. The art is by Wally Wood. Did not know. Link
A great eight minute film documenting London’s seedy underbelly – Soho. Link
Need your iPhone speaker to be amplified? Drop it in an empty pint glass. Link
Stop and search in UK ruled illegal by EU Court of...
Most of my non-British friends are stunned when I tell them that the UK police are permitted, by statute, to stop and search any person at will.
At. Will.
This is not the well recognised powers of the police to stop and search a person whom the officer believes is actually doing something illegal at that moment.
It is not even the power to stop and search you if they don’t like...
Time Out needs £3m from owner to stay afloat
Reprinted for no particular reason. Link
Wacky Packages art now available for your wall
The largest sizes – 7 feet long – are around US $170. Link
Executioner's song
Julie Lasky, the last editor of I.D., writes about the final days of the magazine. Link
Small cap cage match
Many people have linked to this story where Al Gore requested a single number change from a type foundry. Others then linked to Joe Clark’s insightful comments on small caps, numbers, and acronyms. (I confess, I have been an acronyms-in-small-cap snob. I now recant.) The Ministry Of Type then accused Clark of trash-talking Lastly, but probably not finally, Clark responded by updating his original...
Maakies!
Nicholas Gurewitch, father of the Perry Bible Fellowship, a weekly comic strip filled with a morbid mixture of sex, aliens, children, fantasy, et al, probes the mind of Tony Millionare, outlandish cartoonist most well known for his syndicated comic strip Maakies. ( Juxtapose ) Link
The legal case for Conan
The Hollywood Reporter legal blog has a short analysis of Conan O’Brien and NBC’s contractual rights. NBC has argued that O’Brien’s contract says nothing about his show being broadcast at 11:35pm.
For years, O’Brien hosted a comedy show that was characterized (either explicitly in his deal or implicitly by anyone who has watched TV) as the second network show following the local...
John Kricfalusi is answering questions on Reddit. Link
A photo essay on Doel, a 700-year-old village in Belgium that is being surrounded and usurped by a nuclear power plant. Link
Copyright is an institution and like all social institutions remain in existance only for as long as its members continue to support it. There is a substantial and growing number of digital identities (people, organizations, projects, etc.) that exist outside of that institution. ( Girlintraining ) Link
We’ve seen before that sometimes there are two Boris Johnsons: there’s Mayor Boris, who cares about London’s disadvantaged and low-paid, and there’s Telegraph Boris – ker-ching! – who cultivates his national support base by pandering to its ancient prejudices. We see the latter at work today. ( Dave Hill ) Link
