And, speaking of parodies, did anybody else just get this e-mail from FontLab?
Continue reading “Hitler’s subtitler starts moonlighting in Web development?”
Year: 2008
Hitler’s subtitler gets a cheap font CD
One of dozens of Downfall parody videos. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, but if you haven’t been subjected to them yet, you may find this instance amusing.
Update, 4/26/2010: Sigh. Well, the video’s been pulled, so in its stead, I give you the EFF‘s own Downfall parody:
Weapons of mass respiration
Edith Kollath’s show is at Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, until December 14. Read at NYC Resistor about the zany TSA adventure she had when she tried to take these books to Germany for a show.
Via Bre Pettis, who made the above video.
Continue reading “Weapons of mass respiration”
The Designers Review of Books
Do circuit diagrams count?
Yes, folks, once again it’s that magical time of year: only six days until DrawMo! 2008!
Who: People of the Internets
What: Try to make at least one drawing a day for a month
Where: Offline, online, on blogs, on Flickr, wherever
When: November 1–30
Why: Because it’s fun
To join the DrawMo! group blog, send me an e-mail or leave a comment here or there. You can also join the Flickr group.
I have no idea how I’m going to make time for it this year, since I’m already, like, totally overscheduled, but I’ll certainly try.
“I’ve got science for any occasion
Postulating theorems, formulating equations”
This is so wonderfully geeky I can barely stand it:
Last week I mentioned the atomic pen, which scientists used to construct some awfully tiny letters one atom at a time. These are small letters indeed: measuring two nanometers in height, they’re about 1/40000 the thickness of a human hair, which surely gives their inventor sufficient authority to issue the casual throwdown that “it’s not possible to write any smaller than this.” But it is, of course, and the technique for doing so has been known to typefounders for more than five hundred years.
Go find out who won that throwdown: “Atoms and Aldus” by Jonathan Hoefler, Typography.com (via Tom Christensen’s rightreading.com).
Flattery Will Get You Nowhere
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I should feel jazzed that a person I used to work with, who at that time did not know InDesign from Address Book, is still using my files as templates for new books today in his busy freelance design business. Being a spiteful, negative, unforgiving person, however, I instead find it just kind of disgusting. Because even though this person is apparently now making a nontrivial chunk of his income by designing and typesetting books (and perhaps double-billing for it, too), he clearly still doesn’t know typography from a hole in the ground.
Continue reading “Flattery Will Get You Nowhere”
Calibrate!
For anyone who uses print-on-demand outfits such as Lulu.com, or who has been considering doing so, Cathi points out the following brilliance:
“Dear Lulu” is a test book researched and produced by graphic design students and Prof. Frank Philippin at Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany, during an intensive two-day workshop with London-based designer James Goggin (Practise). The book’s intention is to act as a calibration document for testing colour, pattern, format, texture and typography.
Exercises in colour profile (Adobe RGB/sRGB/CMYK/Greyscale), halftoning, point size, line, geometry, skin tone, colour texture, cropping and print finishing provide useful data for other designers and self-publishers to judge the possibilities and quality of online print-on-demand — specifically Lulu.com, with this edition.
The book’s price is set at Lulu.com’s exact printing cost per unit.
Flash vs. substance
A few weeks ago, Rachel Sugar, one of my coworkers, had an idea—based on a book called Jews and Shoes—to present some illustrated factoids about footwear in Jewish tradition. Staff favorite Vanessa Davis was nominated for the art portion of the project, and I asked if she’d be interested in working on what was then still a very vague idea. She was game, fortunately, because she rocks.
Continue reading “Flash vs. substance”
Build a copyeditor from scratch!
My stats page tells me that that nice Brian Winters has namechecked me again over at Metafilter. This time, it’s to Baethan, who wants to work in publishing. Her question was,
What sort of courses, experiences, certifications, degrees, etc. should I pursue to tailor me for a career in editorial publishing?
When I return to college in the spring, I’ll be a sophomore. I want to use the next three years to make me into a dream applicant for a job in editorial publishing- proofreading or copy editing. Random House’s example of an entry-level job, “Editorial Assistant“, sounds like what I plan to apply for.
I’d like to work in fiction, preferably fantasy, but I’m not too picky. I also have an interest in art history and some knowledge of music. I really like learning and I know from a high school chemistry class that working my way through technical papers is a lot of fun, so I probably wouldn’t mind a nonfiction editorial job. I don’t think I’d like to work for a magazine. I want to stay the heck away from newspaper jobs. Oh, freelancing is also something I’d rather not do for a living (though I suppose it would be good while I’m in college). I love cubicles.
What sort of resume would make me attractive to a publishing company? I’ll be attending one of Connecticut’s state schools (not UConn, probably) so any ideas on majors and classes would be welcome. (SCSU has Journalism and English as majors, so I’m thinking a combination of the two would suit.) I’ve also been looking for relevant distance learning courses, but haven’t had any luck. Money is not abundant, so I don’t want to end up going to grad school.
Finally, what can I learn at home that will be valuable in an editing job? I know my vocabulary could use improving. My knowledge of grammar is lacking- I never learned grammar, I just got a feel for what’s correct and incorrect through reading. Any good websites or books for this?
In short, I’m looking for all your knowledge regarding copy editing. I believe I’ve read all the pertinent MeFi questions, but please point me to any you feel I should pay particular attention to. (Er, to which I should pay particular attention?) Thanks!
There’s some good advice at MeFi already, including the most obvious—study the Chicago Manual and Strunk & White, get an internship, volunteer—but I’m wondering if y’all have additional suggestions.
Continue reading “Build a copyeditor from scratch!”