Tom Gething interviews a semicolon.
Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2013? Emerald 17-5641.
This isn’t actually happening, but it’s creepy nonetheless.
Amsterdam’s oldest members of the oldest profession.
As I’ve been saying for years, whisky can bring sight to the blind.
Three hundred forty-seven zombies have so far been dispatched during the first 27 episodes of “The Walking Dead”—three of ’em via meat cleaver. And while Rick holds the top spot with 84 kills, Michonne has put up some pretty impressive numbers in a relatively short amount of time. The National Post has the full statistical analysis—with graphics!—here.
Dead of heart failure—just a day shy of his 92nd birthday. Ironic, given that timing was what he was best known for.
What more can possibly be said about the man? Let’s just listen. Here he is with his quartet (Paul Desmond, alto; Eugene Wright, bass; Joe Morello, drums) in Belgium in 1964:
UPDATE (12.06): Make that Germany, 1966. Apparently, a copyright claim took the other video down. ‘Cause, you know, it’s more important to worry about a copyright on 48-year-old black-and-white footage with bad sound than to allow us the simple enjoyment of a few moments of music from a remarkable man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJE92phKzI
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be me—and really, why wouldn’t you?—this is a pretty fair approximation. (WARNING: contains some unsavory language.)
I know, I know—we already posted a photo this week. But c’mon. It’s the Ecto-1B! Spotted in the parking lot at Azar’s on Monroe.
It’s not even December, and already we’re being assaulted with “Santa Baby” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” the latter one of the more ridiculous notions ever put to lyrics and a sure sign of the decline of civilization.
Franz Schubert’s Wintereisse (“Winter Journey”), a song cycle composed for voice and piano and based on 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, gets regular rotation on my iPod this time of year. No, it’s not exactly Christmas music, but it sure beats this steaming pile of pomposity.
Here’s the final song, “Der Leierman,” performed by Mark Padmore, tenor, and Paul Lewis, piano (Harmonia Mundi HMU907484):
[audio:https://helveticka.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/24-Der-Leiermann.mp3|titles=24 Der Leiermann]The other day I heard someone utter “hone in on”—something we addressed here, by the way—and, for reasons still unclear to me, it got me to wondering: how many people mistakenly write shoe-in when they mean shoo-in?
It’s a common mistake, according to Professor Paul Brians, helped in no small part by sites like this. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (18th edition) sets the record straight:
Shoo-in In American English, one who is certain to win, especially in a political election. The image, which originated in horseracing in the 1930s, is of a competitor in a rigged race who merely needs to be encouraged across the finishing line with a shout of ‘Shoo!’ in order to win. The phrase, despite the frequent misspelling ‘shoe-in’, has nothing to do with shoes.
So there you have it: a little English, a little history, and the ability to go forth and write with confidence. You’re welcome.
Taken yesterday during a brief lunchtime stroll near AMD world headquarters.
Sorry for the radio silence there, folks. I was gallivanting about the west side of our fair state, gathering intelligence for our upcoming MAC exhibit on Spokane’s Modern architecture scene. Then Thanksgiving happened, and, well…no blog posts.
The exhibit is coming along nicely, though—so much so that I can confidently predict that minds will, in fact, be blown. Want a taste? Here’s what Bauhaus founder, director of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Alma Mahler’s husband Walter Gropius had to say about architecture: “…whereas building is merely a matter of methods and materials, architecture implies the mastery of space.”
BAM.
There’s a lot more where that came from starting March 2 in the main gallery at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.
A longtime reader sent us this collection of cringe-inducing cover letter excerpts. Most fail at a fundamental level (basic misspelling, knotty syntax); some are Hail Marys by folks clearly out of their league; others are just plain wrong:
“It is through the innovational process, as well as media, that the features of an image can be highlighted and brought to the forefront for the consumer viewing.”
Sounds like it was written by a MarCom professional. Then there’s this:
“I’m looking for work because even though my company was profitable last year, this year they are expecting a large defecate.”
Can you blame the guy for shopping his résumé? I mean, nobody wants to stick around and clean up after a large defecate.
An alert reader—and proud Shaw Middle School alum—sent us this photo today. Though we’ve recently talked about cutting folks some slack when it comes to typos, it’s awfully hard to look the other way when said typo is on a school reader board.
Check out the stems on Miss NASA 1968–69 as she herself ogles an RL10 liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine. She’s positively dreamy—and so’s Miss NASA.
It finally transpired. Over the years, a number of clients have asked us what happens if we don’t create anything they like. It’s a question that typically comes up during logo projects, and my response has always been to tell ’em not to worry. It’s never happened. Ever.
Until now.
After an early discovery phase that included a Q&A session, a competitive review, a clear outline of our logo intent and focus, and two design reviews, we learned that a new client was going to take its business elsewhere (to the RFP runner-up, of course).
What’s even more perplexing, however, is that those two design reviews were successful. We provided a full range of logo ideas during the first meeting, from which five were selected for further development. In the second meeting, we reviewed the refined ideas along with some preliminary colors and applications. The choices were narrowed down to three because, according to our client, it was simply “too difficult” to choose only one or two.
Guess we shouldn’t have taken that as a positive sign. A couple of weeks later, we were told that we just hadn’t solved their design problem; that we needed to explore additional ideas. Now, I recognize that our country is in the throes of a political campaign in which flip-flopping on issues is the norm, but this was really a surprise—given that all involved were quite content with our solutions. (We ought to know, after all. We asked a time or two. Or three.)
No problem, I thought. We simply need to understand the client’s new concerns and continue to develop additional ideas—while not incurring any additional costs. What I didn’t fully grasp was that they were breaking up with us. The qualifications that made us win out over other firms had suddenly, and inexplicably, vanished. Goodbye, AMD.
So now when I’m asked what we do if we don’t create anything a client likes, I have a new response: “Well, that’s never happened in the 32 years I’ve been doing this. Except once. So we don’t expect it to happen again until around…2044.”
Leave it to Randall Munroe to put the proliferating presidential prognostications in perspective. (And if that isn’t the awesomest alliteration ever, it’s at least up there in the top ten.)
Starbucks coffee? Meh. At its worst, it tastes like burnt toast; at its best, it tastes like mostly burnt toast. Either way, it’s still better than Dutch Brothers. Call me ambivalent, then.
As for the company’s rather pretentious naming system—what with its “venti” this and “con panna” that—come on. We’re not in Italy. Know how I can tell? The coffee tastes like toast.
In response, British department store Debenhams, diplomatically citing “cappuccino confusion,” has launched a “plain English” menu at its Oxford Street location in London.
“We’re trialling a redesign of our coffee menu in Oxford Street,” said John Baker, director of food services at Debenhams, “so shoppers spend less time playing coffee Cluedo and more time enjoying their favourite drink.”
Hear, hear.