Monthly Archives: August 2010

For When You’re Looking for Emily Fox Gordon But Find Emily Gordon Instead

The world of Emily Gordons is an honorable guild of creative workers, with only a few exceptions–and those exceptions get a free pass because they’re undergraduates and, lord knows, we would have made awful fools of ourselves if we had been online then. (By “we,” I mean “me.”) Notable Emily Gordons include the polymathically brilliant Emily Gordon, writer of Gynomite! and, among many other things, a licensed therapist who gives me platinum advice for free. And for more than a decade, I’ve been following the writing career of Emily Fox Gordon, whose beautifully crafted essays, fiction, and book-length nonfiction are a pleasure to read. Now she’s working on a new novel, and, speaking for all Emily Gordons, we are very excited to read it. –Emily Gordon

Even When It’s Bold Italic: Typefaces to Love and Serenade

“Obsessing about fonts is a form of procrastination, so of course I have indulged in it ever since I graduated from a TRS-80 Model III to a Macintosh.” –Caleb Crain
“The main thing, though, is to use some nonproportional typewriter-style font–you need the sentences to look their worst until the dress rehearsal of the galleys, when all the serifs come out dancing.”
–Nicholson Baker
Emily Gordon writes:
My Chicago actor pal, taking a break from rehearsing Speed-the-Plow, just pointed out this 2007 gem from Slate: “My Favorite Font: Anne Fadiman, Jonathan Lethem, Richard Posner, and others reveal what font they compose in and why.” I wonder if they’ve all changed their minds by now? Caleb, how about you?
That thought sent me searching for this hilarious Jessica Hische post from earlier this year, a mini-autobiography of a typophile called “My Evolution of Type Taste from Grade School to Present”–click to enlarge and read her arch asides on questionable font attractions. Meanwhile, ambling along the googleway, I landed on this post about various other designers’ favorite faces.
All this brought me, musically and giddily, back to the song that is in my head 1) every time I see my sunscreen, which is called Sport Face, and 2) every time I hear Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” Yes, it’s DD40’s (Jason Kinney and Mark Searcy) Gaga-meets-typographer beards spectacular, “Neutra Face.” Here’s what Michael Conroy at the Wired U.K. blog wrote about it:

In a video that smacks of “it’s Friday afternoon, why not?” four guys have remixed Lady GaGa’s Poker Face into an homage to Neutraface, the light and airy modern font that I’m sure you’re all very familiar with…or perhaps not.

Either way, the sight of four hirsute men reimagining the Poker Face clip to perfection (“You’ll read my, you can read my Neutraface…even if it’s bold italic”) is sure to make you smile, not least their brilliantly choreographed moves portraying “bold” and “italic”, which should be licensed for use on dance floors everywhere.

Check out this and other songs DD40 have released – on cassette tape, no less – at their website.

I’ve seen this video several dozen times since it first rocked the world of fonty montys everywhere, and I still think it’s incredibly funny. And (as the YouTube commenters well know) damn sexy, too!


Speaking of design and Art, and Speed-the-Plow, aren’t these handsome posters for the American Theater Company’s new season? (Click on “the plays.”) If anyone knows who the designer is, let me know. (Update: DesignScout. Thanks Lance!) I will not be missing this (R-rated! sassy!) production of Grease.
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Finally, check out this fantastic 1932 map of Harlem nightclubs, drawn by the cartoonist Elmer Simms Campbell. I love this for many reasons, including the appropriately prime spots for Cab Calloway and the Savoy Ballroom, and the hand-lettering is just so. Happy procrastinating!

¡Time’s Up! Put Down Your Pencils; Punctuation Will Now Answer Your Letters.

That’s our fervent hope, anyway. In the meantime, we’re sifting the nearly 150 entries into our write a letter to a punctuation mark contest. Mail call brought gladness to the ampersand, the grawlix, the Oxford comma, the underline, and everything (everyone? the marks have all been so brilliantly personified that we can no longer think of them as mere shapes on a page) in between. We’ll pick five top finalists this week and list them here, and we’ll want to hear what you think about it. Got a favorite entry? Have a beef to hoist? Tell us here!
As you know, the final finalist will get a signed and hand-punctuated copy of Ben Greenman’s new collection of stories, What He’s Poised to Do. Mr. Greenman will choose the top letter himself. May the best mark win! –Emily Gordon

This Is the Last Day of Our (Fun Contest’s) Acquaintance

If you’re old enough to understand that reference, you’re old enough to write a letter to your favorite punctuation mark! If you’re not old enough, that’s OK; we would love to have, and if possible, exploit, your unique Gen-Y take on the matter. If you’re too old to have listened to a Sinéad O’Connor song sixty-five times in a row, we especially welcome your submissions, because you remember when paper was paper and music was music and people didn’t sprinkle around exclamation points so promiscuously. To all of you, we issue this grave but encouraging reminder: This is the last day to enter to win a signed, specially decorated copy of Ben Greenman’s book What He’s Poised to Do, and to win our hearts and the deep and eternal regard of your fellow man. We can’t wait to see what you do, but hurry. (No exclamation point, as a gesture of respect to our elders–for there are still, at the time of this writing, people older than ourselves.) –Emily Gordon
Very much related: National Punctuation Day.

Daily Comic: The Semicolon vs. Lady Asterism

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Uh-oh! Cliffhanger! Will The Semicolon be able to foil Lady Asterism’s mysterious plan? Stay tuned! In the meantime, “write a letter”:http://emdashes.com/2010/07/so-you-love-punctuation-write.php to a semicolon or an asterism and win a book. Read all about asterisms “here.”:http://emdashes.com/2010/07/asterism.php Read the “first adventure”:http://emdashes.com/2010/08/semi.php of The Semicolon.