“As I scurried down a frost-covered slope into the cave, I couldn’t shake the distinct feeling that I was stepping into the maw of a prehistoric beast.” That’s Mark M. Synott, writing in the March 2017 issue of National Geographic, about a 31-member expedition put together to explore what could very well be the world’s deepest cave.

Called Dark Star, this “monstrous limestone cave system inside a mountain in a remote corner of Uzbekistan” was first discovered in 1984—but another six years went by before a British team reached it and began exploring the system.

The whole claustrophobia-inducing account, complete with great photography and a video, is available online here.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

The Recording Industry Association of America has updated its list of the 100 best-selling albums of all time. Naturally, I have some observations.

Fully 16 percent of the list is made up of “greatest hits”-type records; another six percent are motion picture soundtracks.

In theory, one in 10 Americans owns Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Which seems low, to be honest.

Seven are by Garth Brooks. Seven! Let that sink in for a moment.

Def Leppard, Celine Dion, and Kenny G are on this list. David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Radiohead aren’t.

No jazz, no blues, no classical, no bluegrass—like walking into a Baskin Robbins and discovering that all 31 flavors are subtle variations of vanilla.

Can we draw any conclusions from the music-buying habits of the American public? Probably not. But we can totally be judgmental. Unless, of course, you’re into Def Leppard, Celine Dion, or Kenny G.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Spend any time on the Internet and you’re bound to run into one of those Buzzfeed-type lists of The Very Worst Words in the English Language. In it you’ll find the usual suspects: moist, phlegm, smear, et al.

There’s one word that rarely makes the cut, however, and it’s a particularly appropriate one for Valentine’s Day (or, as the more rational among us might refer to it, Dumbest Holiday Ever™).

The word is lover, and it gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Not only is it a wee bit pretentious and French-sounding, it’s skin-crawlingly prurient in its imagery. It’s far too intimate and familiar; far too suggestive of the sorts of things you do behind closed doors that the rest of us don’t even want to think about you doing behind closed doors. Plus, there’s an air of illicitness around it: “I took a lover.” (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

Then, of course, there’s this.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, stick to boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, or spouse. Even partner, in all of its corporate-sounding efficiency, is better.

Thank you for your cooperation.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

If you’re planning on, um…taking a turn among the cabbages this Tuesday, BBC News has some recommendations for your playlist. Key among their findings? Forget the show tunes—R&B is where it’s at. (Did they really need to commission a poll for that?)

What’s intriguing is that, according to the survey results, hymns are three times more popular in the British bedroom than musicals. Hymns, people. So if your significant other breaks into a stirring rendition of “How Great Thou Art” right in the middle of sexy time, it may not necessarily be an accurate assessment of your performance.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

The word lede is essentially journalism jargon for the introductory sentence or paragraph designed either to (a) provide all the pertinent information of a particular story or (b) simply entice the reader to read the entire article. For a textbook example of the latter, check this out, from an Atlantic story by Ed Yong:

The American novelist S. E. Hinton once said, “If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.” By that logic, boxer crabs are the luckiest creatures alive because they can turn one good friend into two by tearing it in half.

Yong did the impossible. He made you want to read an article about crabs.

And that’s really the trick, isn’t it? I mean, I knew that most people didn’t care about tattoos when I once opened a story about them with “On Thursday, September 19, 1991, high in the Austrian Alps, two German hikers discovered the mummified remains of a man lying face-down in a pool of glacial meltwater.” Sure, it’s a bit dramatic, but I think it worked—in part because, like Yong’s bit about tearing a friend in two, it’s so completely unexpected.

Of course, there’s a downside: the better your opening is, the harder it is for the story itself to live up to its promise. Kind of like relationships, isn’t it? A good first date is a really well-written lede; the marriage that follows is just another story about crustaceans.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

Kickstarter for the win with a whimsical display of personality and functionality. It’s pretty amazing what happens when a brand is self-aware enough to emphasize the creativity and mood behind their core message – and their core function.

This one word – this one unnecessary, five-letter word –  sparked a smile ear-to-ear, conjuring rays of hope and positivity about the future (which, admittedly, have been pretty dim these days).

It also began a mini-movie in my mind about the people who launch a project on Kickstarter and what they’re going through: the ups and downs, the possibilities, the excitement of starting something new.

And on the more practical user-experience side, think of how many people don’t truly know how the internet works. To them, this truly is magic!

It’s a simple thing, but this little word gave me goose bumps. It made me want to help these people achieve their dreams – these people who believe in magic. Because what’s capable of sparking a new idea other than just that?

posted by: Courtney Sowards  |  category: random thoughts the design life  |  make a comment

Back in 2002, I stumbled into what, at the time, seemed like a ridiculously easy career: proofreading at an advertising agency. (They may be brilliantly creative, but, by and large, copywriters aren’t known for their fidelity to any recognizable system of grammar or usage. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.)

And when that proofreading job eventually turned into a full-time writing gig, I started working with—and learning from—art director Steve Kutsch. Ridiculously talented yet refreshingly humble, Steve’s one of those guys that pretty much everybody can’t help but like. And in this business, that’s damn near impossible.

Fast-forward 15 years later, and I get to work with Kutsch the Younger. Steve’s son Steven—say that five times fast—joined helveticka this month after a brief internship. And though he professes to hate reading, he’s otherwise an OK guy with better-than-average taste in music. He’s trainable, too, taking only a couple of days to respond to his new nickname, “Skooch.” And, at only 25, he’s a welcome corrective to helveticka’s aging workforce, nearly half of which is eligible for AARP benefits.

Welcome, Skooch. Now go get me a cup of coffee.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment

Writing in the New Criterion, Eric Gibson describes a visit to Room 6 of the Louvre’s Denon Wing, home of the Mona Lisa:

It’s no secret that its outsized fame has always made seeing La Gioconda a challenge. There is always a crowd, a thick band of people in front of it straining to catch a glimpse or snap a picture. And the painting itself, smallish to begin with, is kept at a safe distance for security reasons. This time there were few SLRs in evidence; almost everyone had a smartphone or tablet. Indeed, I’d never seen so many in one place. Many were being held aloft for an unobstructed shot of Leonardo’s painting. But there was one new feature to the usual Mona Lisa frenzy: the remarkable sight of visitors turning their backs on the painting they had traveled such a long way to see to have their portraits taken with it.

This was written four years ago. An eternity, apparently, because Gibson felt the need to define “selfie” for his readers.

Last Sunday, the Guardian reported that “[a]n exhibition at Saatchi gallery plans to explore the importance of selfies as an art form.” For reals. Read Andrew Doyle’s brilliant takedown over at spiked.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment