This evening I was able to watch three short movies: GI Jane, directed by Ridley Scott (although you'd never know it) starring Demi Moore and with (the reason I rented it) Viggo M. Viggo was very good and Anne Bancroft was also really good as a Texan congresswoman who was head of the armed forces committee (based on Ann Richardson?). By the numbers but about an important subject--letting the first woman trainee into the SEALS program. Interesting what a difference twelve years can make.

Ice Age made me cry. What can I say? I enjoyed it immensely.

But... the real winner tonight was Helvetica the fascinating documentary about the ubiquitous typeface. It's entertaining and informative, with several type designers discussing the font's genesis in 1958, how it seemingly took over the western world, the backlash against it (there were a few designers who seemed almost unhinged in their reactions to it), and the current state of opinion on it. I found the movie riveting.
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From: [identity profile] ellen-datlow.livejournal.com


Me too, and I appreciate even more how easy it is to read and how versatile it is after seeing some of the post-modern, um crap dreamed up by those who feel helvetica fascist and bourgeois (simultaneously) :-).

From: [identity profile] ellen-datlow.livejournal.com


I always knew Wired was unreadable for a reason (and assumed, possibly wrongly, that it wasn't the content. I could never get TO the content I was so distracted by its overdesign).

From: [identity profile] catsparx.livejournal.com


Helvetica is the vanilla of the font world. People fob it off as boring, but it goes with everything in a way that other fonts -- and boysenberry ripple -- don't
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