Font-focused feature film

After seeing the Hot Docs film Helvetica, I now notice how frequently this font is used around the city, like subway signs. It's so common, it's like air, says one of the graphic aesigners interviewed in the documentary. Throughout the film, city montages of street signs illustrate how so many companies use Helvetica.



In this 90-minute documentary, the film traces the origin (birthplace, if you will) and development the font Helvetica. Graphic designers who have designed other fonts are featured in this film, with their take on the featured font and the impact of Helvetica in the graphic design world and their explanation of why this font is so popular. The documentary was a delight to watch. It was definitely worth standing in line for more than an hour in the rush lineup. Ironically, a person was handing out flyers about a book that was "anti-Helvetica" or "pro-indie" fonts about to be released to people in the line for this film.



After the film was completed, the filmmaker made an appearance to answer questions. He also said the movie will be in Toronto theatres sometime in the future (before fall) for about a week. Also, there will be a DVD available of the film possibly in the fall.



Note: Ironically, I don't have Helvetica font on my computer at all! So I've used arial, which is a copycat font.

Wee bit o' Irish in town

Just when I think life is a bit ho-hum, I need not look further than the local transporation system for amusement and reminder of St. Patrick's Day.

I almost forgot it about this holiday until I happened to be at St. Patrick's station. Actually, the station name wasn't what triggered the holiday. On the subway platform was a guy holding two placards and a plastic bag. One of the signs read 'Bad Cop, No Donuts'. "I thought that was kinda funny," he bragged a thick Irish accent akin to Brad Pitt's in Snatch. The elderly lady standing on the subway platform listened politely. The guy asked if she knew where the protest was being held. He went on about how he was badly mistreated by cops and wanted to join the protest. "They had a boot on the back of my head," he recalled. He muttered more details, but I couldn't quite understand him.

"I'm from Ireland and I thought I would stop by St. Patrick Station since it was St. Patrick's Day," he explained to the elderly woman. The woman, who happened to be visiting from out-of-town, apologetically said she didn't know where the rally was and suggested maybe she knew where it was (as I happened to be standing beside her at that point). I hemmed and hawed, not sure what to say. After the affable Irish guy figured he couldn't pump any useful information from us, he said "God bless, lassie," and headed up out of the subway station to search for the rally somewhere in Toronto.

daylight savings

This Saturday evening, we get to turn our clocks one hour back for Daylight Savings. That's three weeks earlier than usual. I'm not sure I like that idea ... maybe that's because I just want that extra hour for those three weeks.