Experimental Jetset, Trash and Sushi

Oh hi, you're still here? Don't you have anything better to do? No? Ok, I'll try to start posting regularly again.

I've been getting more and more interested in graphic design since I started working in publishing. I've always been fascinated by signage and things like that, but I've really started becoming more actively interested in the theory behind design from a marketing and aesthetic perspective. So much so that I've started seeking out books by Edward Tufte, despite his hated of PowerPoint. Which is not inherently evil.

As part of this newfound interest, I recently Netflixed a great movie called "Helvetica." I meant to check it out when it screened a couple of times in Chicago, but never got around to it. Yeah, yeah. A movie about a font. But it really is an interesting overview of modern and postmodern graphic design. And how both designers and consumers, for lack of a better word, react to visuals, especially the presentation of the written word.

I'm a pretty huge fan of helvetica the font. Despite it's ubiquity, I'm a big fan ofthe modern look and the clean lines, and use it as my standard presentation font. The film does a great job of outlining the history and development of helvetica from the Swiss school of design to becoming a major corporate style in U.S. advertising and marketing. The anti-corporate reactions to helvetica are pretty interesting, with one designer semi-jokingly saying that it was responsible for the Vietnam War. These reactions, along with the influence of drug and music culture on the design world, influenced a move to more freeform, hand drawn typeface and design. And eventually to so-called "grunge" design, typified by Raygun Magazine.

I always had a love/ hate relationship with Raygun. Copies would show up in the mail when I worked in a library periodicals department, despite us not having a subscription, and would usually find its way home with me. The unreadability sometimes drove me nuts, even if it did look cool. In "Helvetica," the editor of Raygun tells a hilarious story about receiving a very cliche, and not very good, article about Brian Ferry (which probably mentioned repeatedly how suave he is and that "Avalon" is a great album), and running it completely in wingdings to make a point about the disposable quality of the writing.

{pretentious attempt to write in wingdings thwarted by Blogger}

But since all things are cyclical, reaction to the over-the-top nature of the more cluttered style led to a return to the helvetica-based, cleaner design done best by the super cool Dutch firm Experimental Jetset. Anyway, check out "Helvetica" the film if you are remotely interested in graphic design or good documentary film making in general.

There are some bands I like to name check, and one of them is Pavement. But I've never been a huge fan of Stephen Malkmus solo for some reason. So I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm digging his new album "Real Emotional Trash." Nice random lyrics and delivery backed by some interesting languid, jazzy stoner rock. Good guitar solos too. And one section of the title track has a definite "LA Woman" vibe. Not too shabby.

This week's consumable is sushi. Tasty, tasty sushi. On Saturday evening I went to a great sushi place called Tank in Lincoln Square. They do sushi the arty way, with interesting ingredients, flavor combinations, and presentation (follow the Flickr link for specifics). I think I still enjoy Tanoshii better for high end sushi goodness, but Tank is worth trip. And the perfect start to a square dance evening in excellent company.

Smash Your Head On The Mashup

Sound Opinions on Chicago Public Radio (and syndicated elsewhere and available as a podcast) is becoming one of my favorite things on the "radio". This week featured a very interesting interview with mashup (for lack of a better word) artist Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk. Gillis uses a laptop to create musical collages from loops of various popular and obscure songs. I'd heard his stuff before and it really is some of the most innovative mashup/ dj type things out there. But maybe the most interesting thing about Girl Talk is his live shows, which are total punk rock dance party insanity. The Sound Opinions guys called him the Iggy Pop of djs or something like that. Take a look at this video to get an idea what he does and see some live clips.



If you dig it, check out this cool movie of him taking a show out on the street in Montreal. And his show at Pitchfork last year got shut down due to crowd control issues. Remember, he is actually playing music live on a laptop by adding and subtracting various loops during all this.

Oh yeah, all of this music is totally illegal. In fact, Gillis records for a label called Illegal Art which is run by someone using the name Philo T. Farnsworth as a protest of copyright law. There is a very thoughtful discussion of the implications of sampling/ mashups/ whatever near the end of the Sound Opinions piece. This undated interview gives some details about the philosophy behind Illegal Art too. Interesting stuff! I'm personally all in favor of this sort of flaunting of our outdated copyright laws. And I have no problem saying that Gillis is as much of a musician as someone who plays guitar or drums or sings. What do you think?

And just to make you hungry, I had an awesome brunch of Huevos Diablos and a bloody mary at the Handlebar in Wicker Park today. Handlebar probably has my favorite brunch and bloody mary in Chicago right now. Sorry Silver Cloud fans (you know who you are). I left my phone in the car, so no documentation. But here is a picture of a spicy alligator sausage from Hot Doug's.



Hot Doug is as much of punk rock mashup artiste as Girl Talk. He just works in encased meats.

Lebanon, Mississippi

Nothing to do with libraries, but there was a fascinating story on Morning Edition this am about Lebanese food culture in the Mississippi Delta. A lot of the story took place in Clarksdale, which I visited several times when I lived in Georgia and made semi-regular trips to the Memphis area. Apparently there is a decent sized population of people of Lebanese heritage in the area. I've actually visited at least one of the BBQ places in the story that serves kibbe every Sunday. It is definitely worth a listen, and the text on the Morning Edition page is pretty comprehensive too. And now I am hungry for some Taste of Lebanon.

Thanks to a conversation on Twitter, I am now listening to the first album by Chicago (or Chicago Transit Authority, as they were called then)on Rhapsody. I actually like the first 3 or so Chicago albums. They have a pretty interesting mix of heavy guitars, vocal harmony, horns, and not much Peter Cetera sappiness. The guitars on CTA are especially nice and psych-ish. Worth a listen for free at least.

I'm going to try to return to the regular weekly publishing schedule this weekend. And am still going to write about the Midwinter experience from the staff side as well. I promise.