Erik’s Blog

indicted for setting up and running a scheme whereby the filthy rich could discount large profits by writing off bogus losses. It’s estimated that billionS (emphasis on the “S”) in taxes weren’t paid because of this.

It appears the company itself will emerge out of this unscathed because they allowed themselves to be investigated and they’re willing to pay $456 million in fines and returned fees.

Let’s see… Billions that could have gone to helping tsunami victims or African nations with AIDS epidemics or — heaven forbid — properly armored vehicles for our troops overseas, airport/airline security measures, or “No Child Left Behind” are lost. Only $456 million is “paid back.”

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p> Sounds like a sweet deal to me. ]]>

This will go down as my typography semester. Two of the three classes I’m taking are geared toward type, either setting it or studying it. To non-designers, type is something that’s just sort of there and is read without much analysis. However, there’s actually a lot that y’all Gentiles take for granted. Well designed “body” type is more or less invisible. In other words, if the designer did his/her job correctly you won’t notice any design at all. It’s when type is set incorrectly that you’ll notice it.

This is actually one of the major frustrations experienced by designers. Folks look at what designers do and say “what’s the big deal, I could do that.” No, you can’t.

Trust me, a lot more goes into typography than you think. Pick up a trade paperback copy of Haruki Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and look at how clean and easy to read the body text is. Then, pop over to a rack of mass market paperbacks (fantasy and science fiction books are almost exclusively small, mass market books) and look at how their type is set. There’s a world of difference, and believe it or not it has a profound effect on things like eye strain and comprehension. Design is important stuff, folks, in spite of what Eric Raymond may think about it or the “art fags” that employ it (have I mentioned that I think he’s a gasbag? Perhaps).

The third class that I’m taking is simply a 3rd year design student project class. I don’t have details on what’ll be in it because the first class doesn’t start for about six hours. However, I’m sure it’ll involve magazine design, motion graphics (After Effects, baby!), and other fun stuff that I have yet to learn about. This semester is going to be a bear, but it sounds a lot more fun than last semester.

We’ll see.

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p> Expect my mood to go downhill as the semester progresses. Hey, I’m just being honest.]]>

things could be worse.]]>

What happened…

Friday night I finally saw Sin City. It was worth the wait. I was prepared for a lot of special effects and a so-so story line. Yeesh, was I wrong. The story and the visuals worked perfectly. The casting was also amazing (Elijah Wood’s character still gives me the chills. Very small part, but WOW, there’s something about that guy’s face…). I haven’t seen many movies at all this summer, but of the few I’ve seen this one definitely takes the prize. If you haven’t seen it and you don’t mind stylized violence, language, some nudity, etc., RENT THIS MOVIE.

Saturday night B. and I went to Usana Amphitheater to see James Taylor. Her company forked out the dough for the tickets. I’ve seen JT before and he’s a pretty good entertainer when he wants to be. Unfortunately over the years I’ve shifted my view of what is and is not favorable for an outdoor summer concert and JT doesn’t quite fit the bill. I still like a lot of his stuff but he’s very, very light. I tend to prefer more drama and excitement in my summer concerts. Also, Usana isn’t the best place to see bands perform. You’re basically in the middle of nowhere with no trees to speak of and you’re watching a band play inside a large concrete box. Compared to WolfTrap in Vienna, VA, or Deer Valley and Red Butte Garden here in northern Utah, Usana is severely lacking in personality.

Basically I’m glad I went, but I don’t know that I’ll do it again, not at Usana, and not JT. (The Salt Lake Symphony performed their annual 1812 Overture concert at Deer Valley on the same night. All I could think about was how much cooler that show would have been.)

Today was spent making bread, cleaning, running errands, etc. The usual weekend stuff. I stuffed a 35mm roll of expired film in my Holga (the B&W roll of 120 film is shot and in need of inexpensive local/mail-order development) and took a few shots out back. I’m still experimenting with the thing. Half the fun of Holgas is you never know what you’re going to get.

Um… That’s about it. Not a mind-blowing weekend, but a nice, calm wrap up to a nice, calm summer.

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p> (Except for last week’s fiasco with our sewer lateral. I want to stay in a good mood so I’ll address that some other time.)]]>

get over yourself.]]>

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p> It feels like Christmas in August. Yeah, I’m that pathetic.]]>

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p> With that disclaimer out of the way, it

DesignObserver.)

Saul Bass is a design legend. He’s responsible for a fair amount of branding including AT&T’s famous globe logo, but he’s best known for his work with the film industry. A majorly cool web site has managed to string together film title shots that he produced and offer them in a clickable, Myst-esque package that is too cool for words. Nope, it’s not streaming video, but it’s the next best thing.

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p> If you’re a fan of retro film titles you MUST check this out…]]>

Here’s the scoop: techie terminology goes over great with techies but not so great with Joe and Jane Sixpack. Folks who don’t know what DHCP is may understand what a “dynamic network address” is. Ditto for Firewire vs. RFC 1394, AJAX vs. JavaScript XMLHttpRequest objects, aspirin vs. acetylsalicylic acid…

So now Microsoft is trying to slap a humanistic name on RSS news feeds: “Web Feeds.” Screw purity, I say go for it. The more average humans use it, the more popular the technology will become (not that it isn’t popular now). DAV didn’t die when Microsoft added “Web Folder” support to Windows, did it? Nope, it didn’t.

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p> So don’t get your panties up in a wad over this. RSS will be RSS whether or not it’s available with a different name on Windows. If Microsoft changes RSS (why on earth would they want to??) they’ll be the ones who suffer.]]>

Give it a shot: check out a random handful of CDs from your collection and see if the 6th song is good.

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p> Hey, I pay attention to these things.]]>