frame of reference.

this summer I spent a good deal of time in boston. the first night I was there, I told my brother my main complaint with boston. a lack of straight lines. when I think about boston I see the curving banks of the charles river, which is much different than my experiences with rivers (see: the hillsborough, the los angeles) which are usually tamed by large concrete walls, except when things go wrong. the houses themselves have these curves and flourishes in the northeast, the interiors usually have some amount of clutter, and coat rooms and vestibules, designed to keep out the elements. when I spoke to Ben about it I described it as a city built entirely in serif fonts. when what I really crave is the helvetica-like streets of washington dc.

yesterday I was walking on hillhurst though, and I realized I live in a neighborhood of curving(I live on the right side of that image) streets, above ground power lines, hills and infringing wildlife. objectively I life in a serif landscape, but when I am going about my life, walking to the grocery store, and seeing and old professor (one of the great unexplained characters on the west wing) they all melt away and I live my ideal san serif lifestyle.

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As a side note: I was cast as Hamlet in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead performing in November in Long Beach with the Alive Theatre. It opens Nov. 5.

gary hustwit

it wasnt until six months ago when I got netflix instant that I really got a taste for documentaries. I have always had a minor obsession with typography and fonts stemming from the days when me and my father would attend tampa bay lightning games, at a time when tampa was really bad. so, with the hockey not worth watching I began to take an interest in the array of logos and typefaces around the ice palace, in particular the old numerical font for the lightning (the new one is so boring). The documentary Helvetica by gary hustwit really delves into the emotional connection which people instantaneously form with fonts and typography. Hustwit interviews designers of fonts who originally designed helvetica and the circumstances around the creation of it. Helvetica seems to articulate ideas that everyone has about the signage and design that surrounds us everyday. there are people in the documentary who have an entire artistic vocabulary which many of us have never even fathomed, but when spoken it makes perfect sense. For anyone else who is frustrated and stimulated by design in the world, particularly if you live in a hyper designed city like los angeles, Helvetica is an engrossing film that I have watched repeatedly to satisfy certain visual cravings.

last night I watched another of hustwit's documentaries, objectified. again I was totally blown away watching this movie. at one point the film delved into the design of the handle on a pair of hedge clippers which was absolutely amazing. understanding the thought and intention of every object we touch is amazing. as an artist who stands in front of people in a 'look at me' sort of way, seeing these other artists intentionally mining away in total anonymity but having a much more profound effect on people's lives it was pretty humbling. I go back and forth on how I felt watching this movie, from being completely absorbed by it, to feeling a slight depression at how fundamentally silly it is to worry about the handles on a pair of clippers.

I routinely feel overwhelmed by the world, and how vast it is. I have trouble going on vacation because actually putting a face to all these other people that exist is really troubling to me, and the fact that I will never get to know them, and that they have whole background stories, and commutes, and toasters and favorite t shirts is totally inconceivably huge. Objectified touches on that same idea, only considering objects instead of people. The amount of backstory which goes into something as simple as a toothpick which can be a deeper reflection of cultures is really inspiring. The documentary essentially views everyday items from an anthropologist's perspective, except, where as anthropological studies usually focus on historic or antique objects, this is about the present.

I highly recommend setting aside an evening to watch one of these movies then to sit and soak in the amount of design all around you.