arial & helvetica

on friday, i hosted a screening of helvetica for some buddies of mine that didn’t know that there were other typefaces besides times new roman. it turns out, there ARE other typefaces and one of them is helvetica (and another of them is papyrus.)

the documentary does not explore the relationship between helvetica and microsoft’s derivative, arial. so to help ignite the post-viewing dialogue, i made this supplement illustrating the key differences in letterforms. however, in place of any spirited debate, my buddies decided instead to take turns delivering roundhouses to my jaw, saying “a documentary about a font is as interesting as it sounds.” i could not agree more.

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update (9/22/2009): welcome internet-at-large! i am ostrich-feather-tickled that you are finding this chart to be such as gas. should you want to see my other type-related posts, you can give this a gentle click. should you want to see a collection of my favourite posts, you can get dirty with this link. should you want to close this tab and see what else is on the internet (hint: pictures of cats), you can hit cmd + w and be on your way.

the other day, a friend and i decided it would be a hoot to watch leatherheads. boy were we wrong! at-any-rate, at some point during the snapless dialogue, i remarked that renée zellweger was probably the most periody thespian in modern cinema. once the actual sentiment of what i was saying registered with my companion, he immediately countered by throwing a cate blanchett in my face. and thus the seeds of this chart were sewn.

mean periods: ms zellweger—1923. ms knightley—1812. ms blanchett—1942.

notes: certain quasi-period pieces were omitted: star wars (ms knightley was in star wars?) and lord of the rings. also, both of ms blanchett’s elizabeth films (ca. 1570) and ms knightley’s arthur (ca. 460) have been left out. when an actress was in an epic movie that spanned multiple decades (ms blanchett in benjamin button), i selected the decade that best matched the actresses’ actual age during filming. as always, it is within your power to click this image and DOUBLE its girth.

johns wilmot, depp, and malkovich

there have been many fascinating characters to come out of english restoration but none are more intriguing than the poet (and johnny depp look-a-like) john wilmot, the second earl of rochester—a notorious rake known throughout england for his debauchery, dirty jokes, and drunken hijinks. yet he was admired by literary all-stars by the likes of tennyson, voltaire, hazlitt, and goethe. a listicle »

• he graduated from oxford at the age of 12 and earned a master’s by 14.
• he married a famous actress two years after he attempted to abduct her.
• he was briefly exiled by his friend and patron, king charles the second for writing a satire on charles which labeled him a sex maniac.
• while exiled, he masqueraded as the quack “dr. bendo”, a gynecologist specialising in fertility. he also assumed the role of “mrs. bendo” presumably so he could inspect young women privately without arousing their suspicions.
• he was renowned for drunkenness, vivacious conversation, and “extravagant frolics” as part of the “merry gang” a “mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease.”
• he died at the age of 33 from the effects of venereal disease and alcoholism.
• he was portrayed by johnny depp in the 2004 (direct to dvd) movie, the libertine. incidentally, john malkovich played king charles.

an aside: the movie smells.

UPDATE: a further aside: but the intro to the movie is rather marvelous.

there is a third option

i will be watching deep water tonight (not to be confused with deep impact which is a bruce willis movie where he and ben affleck drill for gold on mars). normally i would lob some predictable adjectives at you like profound and gripping and haunting. i’m not going to do that this time. i WILL tell you that it’s about a solo yacht race around the world, but i will also hint that it’s REALLY about so much more than that. this is a movie that will stay with you in the way that only the best book or movie or song can.

also: (if you can help it) don’t read up on the documentary (or the race that it documents) beforehand, there are some twisty turns that take place in it that are best experienced WITHOUT prior knowledge and the internet loves to spoil.

other doc recommendations: this one and this one.

we shall not cease from exploration

the [possibly apocryphal] ad placed by ernest shackleton for his 1914 imperial trans-antarctic expedition. the documentary is not to be missed, especially in these tough economic times.

SPOILER ALERT: clone wars was abominable. the only redeeming feature is that george lucas was somehow able to get truman capote to do the voice for jabba the hutt’s super-nasty uncle.

up on the up series

friends,
one of the things that i don’t do is tell you what to do. i don’t tell you that your breath is too garlicky on certain days (it is) or that you post too many pictures of gimmicky knick-knacks captioned only with “WANT!!!” I don’t tell you that, while your posts about clipping your toenails are enthralling, they should not be written entirely in the title field because some people (not me of course) could find that to be obnoxious.

i don’t tell you these things so that on the rare instance that i do tell you something, you will take me seriously. and now is one of those times. watch (if you have not already done so) the up series. a wikinopsis:

The Up Series is a series of 7 documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films new material from as many of the fourteen as he can get to participate.

it might not be all happy, it might not follow a hollywood script, it may even be boring in parts, but it is the drama of human life—presented in a way that no other work of art can. and trust me, this is a work of art.

for maximum effect, watch the whole series in marathon fashion over the course of a weekend. rent it from netflix, buy it from amazon, violate its copyright, or borrow it from me. watch it with a loved one. it will be worth it.