These are some of the things I’ve been meaning to write:
These are a few of my favorite fonts
Inspired by a previous article about Helvetica, Slate asked a bunch of authors about their favorite fonts. Andrew Vachss uses Courier? Fascinating. I stick with Times New Roman when I fire up a word processor because I’m just too lazy to change the default, but for things web, I’ve pretty much stuck with Verdana, Tahoma or Trebuchet MS. Yeah, I know — so 2002.
With the cover art for Eponymous 4, I use the fonts that come with Microsoft Windows, particularly the system fonts used in software interfaces. Chalk that up to laziness as well, but I like the idea of putting system fonts in another context.
Restraint employs Lucida Console, which is the font used for the Blue Screen of Death, while Imprint uses Lucida Sans Unicode. I believe Lucida Sans Unicode is the default font when you launch Notepad. A Ghost in My Shadow features 20th Century (Tw Cen MT), while Revulsion makes do with Century Gothic. I think the only non-Microsoft font I use with any regularity is Friz Quadrata, most famously featured as the typeface on Law & Order.
I’m particularly fascinated by the typeface used in the New York City subway system. According to this debate, Helvetica is used for the more recent signs, but a variation of Akzidenz-Grotesk named Standard Medium was used in the ’60s and ’70s. (Link actually points to Standard.)
When I was a kid — had to be when I was around 4 or 5 years old — I was endlessly fascinated by street signs. Back then, the way color conveyed message spoke to me somehow, and I have a strange fondness for the typeface of highway signs. There is no actual typeface for highway signs, just a a set of federally-mandated specifications. Blue Highway is often cited as the computer font of choice to emulate a highway sign, but back in 2004, the federal government sanctioned ClearviewHwy as an official alternative.
I’m no typegeek by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m sure if other things didn’t distract me, I could very well have become one.
Austin Music Hall might actually live up to its name now
The Statesperson is reporting (registration required or not) the Austin Music Hall is being torn down and renovated to the tune of $5 million. The renovations will expand capacity to 4,000 and add a restaurant.
Thank diety. I’ve been to exactly three shows at Austin Music Hall, and I’ve hated every one.
The first show was the Community Service Tour in 1999, featuring the likes of Crystal Method and the Orb. I didn’t know what to expect, so imagine my bemusement at being packed like cattle into a warehouse. The sound was awful, and the view of the stage wasn’t much of a view. The second show was Weezer. OmarG had an extra ticket, and I wanted to see what the whole Weezer fuss was about. A frat boy made me spill my beer on me, and he had the nerve to tell me to watch it. Also, I ended up not liking Weezer. The third show was the Smashing Pumpkins. It wasn’t a bad experience, but I enjoyed seeing them at Pink’s Garage in Honolulu ca. 1992 way, way more.
The Austin Music Hall was just a bad idea. Plop a stage in a warehouse, call it a music hall and stash as many bodies into the pit till it’s a fire hazard. Uh, no.
Bands I like don’t tend to play at the Music Hall, so avoiding the place hasn’t been much of an issue. Even if I did like a band, their booking at the Music Hall would be the dealbreaker. "Yeah, I like you, but not that much …"
So, good riddance, Austin Music Hall of Olde. When the renovations are finished, perhaps then I can enjoy a show there.
Birthday swag
CDs I bought for myself during my Hawaiʻi visit:
- CHARA, UNION
- Tommy heavenly6, Heavy Starry heavenly
- Quruli, Zukan
- ACO, Kittenish Love
- bloodthirsty butchers, blue on red
- SUPER JUNKY MONKEY, Parasitic People
- SUPER JUNKY MONKEY, Screw Up
Gifts bestowed on me:
- New pair of shoes
- $15 iTunes gift card
- Cash totalling $280 (it went straight into savings)
Being the materialistic bastard I am, I wouldn’t be averse if belated birthday swag came in the form of:
- Guitar Center gift card
- Sheet Music Plus gift certificate
- Gift certificates from Amazon US or Amazon Japan
Maui wowie
It’s a good thing I tell all the bots to bug off from spidering this site because I’d hate for the title of this post to attract folks searching for a certain mind-altering vegetation.
I wrote about driving up Haleakala over at my Vox site. The entry in question also makes a recreational pharmaceutical reference. Wonder what that says about my interests.
In reality, I have to say I understand why visitors are more fond of Maui than Honolulu. Having grown up in Honolulu, I’ve only known city life. Maui is a nice middle ground — just enough urban not to feel isolated but more than enough rural to maintain some rustic. I can only sum up my visit with, "Wow." And I want to return to do all the stuff I didn’t give myself time to.
Oh, and there are pictures.
Debut EP!
Here it is, folks … the reason I’ve been neglecting all my weblogs in the last week:
Yes, those are actual printed CDs. Sort of. They’re all actually blank, but they’ve been printed with the artwork I provided.
I experimented with using a service called Mixonic, which is the short-run duplication arm of Discmakers (both links point to variations of the same site.) Mixonic allows you to print as few as one CD and as many as 1,000. The whole transaction is self-service through an online interface, right down to designing the cover.
Cover to cover to cover
So what have I been doing that I neglect every blog I write? Once again, I’ve been indulging in my wannabe package designer.
A few months back, I bought a cross upgrade to QuarkXpress 7.1. I had an ancient version of PageMaker 6.0 lying around, and I figured I’d leverage it for a switch to Quark. I got it in my head that a layout program such as Quark or Adobe InDesign is a must-have for CD cover design.
Further research revealed that may not actually be the case. A number of local CD duplication services use templates in Illustrator, and the self-service Disc Makers site offers Photoshop templates!
After reading up about how CD duplication works, I started cleaning up the original Eponymous 4 cover designs with actual industry specs and went on a roll. I own a 10-year-old black-and-white laser printer, so the canned covers I could produce with Acoustica were limited. With Quark and Photoshop, I created artwork with a bit more color. (For some, not all.)
I’m still not graphic designer, but I like having tools that give me options.
Adventures in vinyl transfers, or I’m sick of waiting for a boxed set by the Waitresses
I bought a laptop. And because I want to work on studio stuff with that laptop, I also bought a USB audio interface.
A while back, I considered taking out an old boombox that had a phonograph input and setting it up next to my computer to transfer some vinyl. I have some records I bought from the Austin Record Convention that I never actually listened to because I don’t have time to sit and spin sides. With my mixer, external sound card and industrial strength audio software, I could make a decent transfer.
The thought occurred to me again today, but laziness, of course, reared its head. I didn’t want to disconnect my record player from the entertainment system and set it up in my cramped bedroom. Then I realized I now own a laptop, and the USB audio interface contains the drivers to power the industrial-strength audio software.
So this morning, I embarked on transferring Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful?, the long out-of-print debut by the Waitresses.
Beware! I live!
Myself? I can’t play any games that were made after 1985.
声
My online journal is still officially retired, so I don’t know what this is.