After reading in the New Yorker about the great type designer Matthew Carter, and then stumbling across James Kochalka’s personal font, I decided to make a font of my own. It’s a real pain in the ass to letter comics, and I’m always wanting to make revisions after I’ve inked, so if I had my own font, I could simply make the speech bubbles and type the text in after I’ve scanned, finished the layout, etc. Supposedly, you should be able to draw your letters in a vector-based program, then copy them to a font creation program, and voila you’ve got a font. No problemo…if you’ve got the cash for the program. Right now, I’m looking around for a bootleg copy of Fontographer, the program used by the pros (list $300). In the meantime, I’m learnin’ about serifs and glyphs and all other kinds of crap about typography. Here’s a great list of links about font creation, and there’s also this cool Typography wiki at Typophile.com
WHAT’S WITH THE HAT? #1
BAD EYES, PART 1
FAVORITE SONGS OF 2005
10 bands that wrote good songs that sounded good to me this year. Some with legal MP3s, some with videos.
.
Smog – “I feel like the mother of the world” [VIDEO] | [MP3]
…with two children.
Bill Callahan’s songs are the sound of home–the landscape that haunts my head. He recorded it in a new city, with his back to Chicago–and I listened to it in a new city, with my back to Chicago.
.
Andrew Bird – “A nervous tic motion of the head” [MP3]
Somebody should make another spaghetti western, so Andrew Bird could score it. On stage this song becomes epic–toes tapping pedals, looped violins, and that whistle. That whistle!
.
Feist – “Mushaboom” [ITUNES]
collect the pieces / one by one / guess that’s how / the future’s done
i got a man / to stick it out / and make a home / from a rented house
Sheer domestic bliss.
.
The National – “Abel/All The Wine” [VIDEO | MP3]
Abel, come on, give me the keys, man | I’m a perfect piece of ass
Good guitars, good singer, good songs–it ain’t brain surgery, folks. These songs follow each other on the album, so it’s best to just listen to them both.
.
Crooked Fingers – “Sleep All Summer” [WEBSITE]
Sunday morning, moping around the apartment. Heartache, even if you’re happy.
.
Decemberists – “Engine Driver” [MP3]
I am a writer / a writer of fiction / I am the heart that you call home. And I’ve written pages / upon pages / trying to rid you from my bones.
And the creative writing students swoon.
.
Animal Collective w/ Vashti Bunyan – “Prospect Hummer” [MP3]
No idea what they’re saying. Don’t know, don’t care. It’s the beat, and that “wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wooooooooo.”
.
Antony – “Hope There’s Someone” [MP3]
The good stuff is always about death, or the fear of death. Check out that ghost vocal line.
.
Jeremy Warmsley – “I believe in the way you move” [VIDEO]
My mind is in the gutter / but I’m looking at the sky
You get the privelege / of being with me
Sugary singer/songwriter pop with Bjork or Aphex Twin doing the instruments.
.
Wolf Parade – “Shine a Light / I’ll Believe In Anything” [MYSPACE]
Further proof that Springsteen is an unshakeable influence. Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Walkmen…all copping The Boss.
UPDATE: suggestions for making your own list
THE COMBAT SUTRA
I was online researching material for a new story of mine and came across this stash of US Army Field Manuals.
Want to know the best way to kill a man? Or maybe how to load a grenade launcher? Never had time to brush up on parachuting tactics? Stress got you down in a combat situation? Need to snipe somebody?
It’s all there, your guide to life in the “theater of operations.”
On a side note, a few of the illustrations look alarmingly similar to positions you might find in the Kama Sutra:
- ← Newer posts
- 1
- …
- 331
- 332
- 333
- 334
- 335
- …
- 338
- Older posts→