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Interesting article on features to look for in a good UI/screen-legible typeface. Apparently it’s pretty important that there be two-story lowercase as and gs.
I’ll leave you to read his conclusions yourselves. Though I don’t necessarily agree with all of them*, I must mention that I do agree with his recommendation of PT Sans; I’ve recently become quite enamored of this humanist sans and will probably be using it in a future incarnation of this site’s template.
*I don't think we can entirely ignore form in favor of function here, or ever. My favorites of the ones compared are Segoe UI and Ubuntu.
I’m from Chicago. So you may think I’m just being spoiled when I say this, but aside from the occasional painted lady, I find San Francisco architecture uninspiring at best.
Not so the slew of new buildings going up in and around the future UCSF Mission Bay campus. That area contains some of the most interesting examples of modern architecture I’ve seen outside of magazines. The new Madrone residences have extensive rooftop gardens, and there are innovative uses of material everywhere. Even the parking garages look cool. I’d love to see the neighborhood when the work’s all finished, but that’ll take years yet.
If you live in SF and dig architecture, the next time you have a free hour or so, do yourself a favor and walk around down there. There are far worse ways to spend your time. Oh, and be sure to check out the Chihuly in the lobby of the Nektar/Bayer building. Nice.
…the current Bleach filler arc was “nevertheless interesting?” Yeah, totally changed my mind. They had the last episode of that today, and it could not have come soon enough.
And now that it’s so close, of course, I cannot wait for the regular story to come back, which it should next Tuesday. I suppose what this means is that I should take up the manga so that I can be up to the minute on it. Come on, Tuesday!
Yes, and an otaku, too. Just thought I’d get that out of the way first so you don’t have to say it.
I really get a charge out of TV show fan-service where they make references to pop culture or, better yet, other TV shows. It’s one of the reasons I love Psych, or the final Michael J. Fox episode of Spin City where, after he left city hall, his character went to work for a young senator named Alex P. Keaton. Ha!
Imagine how excited I get about stuff like that, and then imagine it going on for 25 solid minutes, as it did in the first half of the Gintama/Sket Dance collaboration that’s airing this week. The casting of these two shows is so incestuous that there was endless fodder for jokes; for example, the voice actor who plays Gintoki in Gintama is the same one who plays Switch in Sket Dance. I was beside myself with delight. So much fun!
He’s somewhat famous in our circle for liking nearly every movie he’s ever seen. Seriously. In the 10-odd years I’ve known him, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he’s said he didn’t like a movie.
The reason I bring that up is to give you context when I say I like every kind of music: I am about music the way my friend is about movies. I can find something to like in just about every piece of music, and rarely meet a piece I don’t like. Nevertheless, though it’s shorter than most, I too have a musical shitlist.
This song, while a “heartfelt” acknowledgement of her struggle with a myriad of mental and physical issues—and good for her, seriously, for getting past them—is a caricature. It’s overwrought, heavy-handed, and Lovato’s delivery of the word “skyscraper” sets my teeth on edge.
I hate this song. It makes me want to stick my fingers in my ears—kinda dangerous when you’re driving, like I was when I first heard this song. Like I said, kudos to Demi Lovato for coming out the better from a very tough time in her life, but the song still sucks.
I’ve been watching a lot of anime, because for the first time in a while, there is a lot of good stuff coming out:
Both Bleach and Naruto Shippuuden have been great lately, though I confess I can’t wait until this (nevertheless interesting) filler arc completes in Bleach. I want to know what happens next!
Adding to my collection of treasured long-running shounen series is Gintama, which I fortuitously completed the entire backlog of just before it came back on the air after a year-long hiatus. I love this one; it is damn funny despite the preponderance of toilet humor, and serious when it counts. Great, great stuff.
I wasn’t sure I was going to like Sket Dance at first, but it’s actually quite funny. Bonus: the ending theme is by the Pillows!
I am very much enjoying Beelzebub so far; this one has great potential.
I like Deadman Wonderland, though I don’t love it. Though it’s well-made and interesting, it is not as good as Blue Exorcist, which is very promising indeed.
Though my interest in The World God Only Knows is waning a bit recently, it’s still entertaining, and I really enjoy its unrepentant otaku protagonist.
Even among all the excellent anime going on this season, Hanasaku Iroha is the clear standout. I completely love this beautifully produced, gently humorous series. If you’re only going to watch one series this season, this should be it.
If you’re a geek, you’ve probably seen this already. If you’re not, here’s the deal: Internet Explorer 9 will support WOFF, the Web Open Font Format, a technology that allows embedding real fonts in websites. Microsoft commissioned a website from some of the best designers around to showcase the typographic possibilities of the web, and this is it. Simply spectacular. My favorite was Atlantis.