and all its assets were purchased by JPMorgan Chase. All I have to say is, if I now have to use the Chase website to do my banking, I’m moving my money elsewhere.

Nikon is making a new AF-S 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. At MSRP ~$450, it’s pretty steeply priced, but $450 is cheaper than paying more than $500 for a used D80 or D50 body so I can get the AF capability on my f/1.8 50mm prime. Don’t get me wrong, I love my current 50mm lens, but since the D40 doesn’t have a focus motor in the body, I can only practically use it with a tripod or for still-lifes—action shots or candid portraits are pretty tough with it.

for far too long, but I am pleased to announce that I have added a couple of new (archive-related) features to this site:

• An archives landing page that displays a random post from the archives, and enables you to either search or browse the archives.
• A sidebar widget displaying a selection of posts from the archives for your delectation.

Enjoy!

A portrait of Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru constructed entirely from her lyrics:

It’s one item in this great compilation of typography artworks from DeviantArt.

And make sure to read the whole Type Sunday post from ilovetypography.com where I found both: lots of great stuff!

Until recently, my typographical horizons were pretty narrow—I was a strictly sans-serif kind of girl, with a sneaking fondness for Garamond—but they’ve been expanding.

Some of the speakers at An Event Apart 2008 used two Hoefler & Frere-Jones fonts that I want oh so much, and wish didn’t cost the earth: Gotham and Archer. Gotham you might not be surprised by, as it is a beautifully clean sans-serif based on the NYC subway signage, and which, neat factoid, is being used in the Obama 2008 campaign branding.

Archer, however, reveals my recent fascination for that elegant hybrid: the slab serif. The slab serif brings you the best of both worlds: the cleanliness of the sans-serif, the elegance and historical sense of the serif.

Sadly, as all great fonts do, these are not trivially priced. On a disconsolate search for more affordable alternatives, I found some nice fonts, though some are hardly less expensive: Register Serif, URW Egyptienne, the whimsical Farao, Vista Slab, and finally the gorgeous Museo, which (yay!) has some free versions. Also don’t miss Rockwell, which is arguably the quintessential slab serif.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day today! Arrr!

That time of year when I once again put on my dunce cap and pontificate on things about which I know nothing—yeah, shut up, I know I do this every day—it’s the sort-of annual fall fashion trend rant! ♪ Doot do doot do doot do…magical beeeeam! ♪

Now, normally I couldn’t differentiate between a Balenciaga and a Ferragamo even at gunpoint, but most of my vitriol this season will be directed at handbags and accessories.

• The hobo bag. You know, where they beat the tar out of the leather to make it look distressed and cloth-like—And what’s the point of that? I can tell you no hobo ever spent $178 on a bag.—and then gather it in bunches with a drawstring.
• The metal finish. The current trend seems to be to finish accessories, especially plastic and leather, with a ridiculously bright metallic paint evoking cheap jewelry: silver, gold, white gold, pink gold. Who thought this was a good idea? Is Tammy Faye Bakker the current doyenne of all things fashionable? Seriously?
• Fake bling. The bigger, the better. Rivets, rhinestones, you name it. It seems as if this season’s theme for accessories is “tacky”.

This Betsey Johnson monstrosity is going for the trifecta. In fact, most of Betsey’s fall line seems to be an exercise in how ugly she can make bags and still get the sheep customers to buy them. This gem, for example, employs a 6″ leather fringe, a leopard print, a rose cutout, and big brass hardware. Yowza.

Stuff I do like:

• I have never been a fan of the Louis Vuitton monogram line—I find it ostentatious—but I do like the new (well, new to me) Coach monogram print.
• Argyle and houndstooth—I call this look Men’s Trenchcoat—are coming back in, and I love it. Also—pretend it’s not me saying this next bit, and you’ll survive the next sentence just fine—I saw this darling pair of argyle leather ballet flats at the Ferragamo store on Michigan Ave. last week that I have unfortunately not been able to find anywhere online to share with you, but trust me when I say that they were awesome.

to watch it, I’d have been hard-pressed to care less about Beverly Hills, 90210. So now, when its new millennium incarnation, 90210, is on TV, I do care less; who wants to watch the contrived and overblown travails of the rich and spoiled?

This is just a small part of the tragic nationwide phenomenon I like to call PG-13-ization. Most mainstream entertainment in America is being progressively dumbed down and tailored to the preteen girl demographic. Fricking Alien vs. Predator—a monster movie!—was PG-13. Die Hard IV, for God’s sake, was PG-13. That is an outrage.

What about the rest of us? You know, the ones who have money to spend? WTF?

Yeah, you read that right. BEARS!! I have, as you know, the Bears D on my fantasy team, but as the damn server seems to be down, I can’t check to see what my score is right now.

is retiring, effective immediately. Read the full text of his email to Adam Schefter over at nfl.com.

Also: OMG, kickoff tonight! The wait is over. In more ways than one. It was touch and go for a bit, but I did get signed up for 2008 fantasy football in time. My draft happened yesterday, and though my roster is not stellar, it’s quite good:

dt
{
font-weight: bold;
}

dd
{
margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;
padding: 0px;
text-indent: 0px;
}

QB

Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers (meh)

RB

Matt Forte (!), Thomas Jones (!!), Maurice Jones-Drew (!!!)

DST

Bears (aww yeah), Redskins (meh)

WR

Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, Wes Welker (!), DeSean Jackson

TE

Greg Olsen (!), Tony Scheffler

K

Nate Kaeding