For our latest Poop Rainbow™ installment, we bring you the All-Vehicle Edition. Hat tip to our own printer's devil for the Buffalo bus [upper right], inspired by a recent trip there.
Like a reverse Secret Santa, every office has their own Sandwich Grinch. You know, that employee who enjoys pilfering someone else's lunch. Want to avoid being the next target? Protect your grub with these anti-theft lunch baggies from Lost at E Minor. They're preprinted with moldy splotches, making your sandwich an instant turnoff. Viola, no more roast beast for the Grinch.
On the heels of our movie poster post, it's only fitting that we highlight the other place where a film's graphic identity comes from: the titling. A great archive of title stills can be found at The Movie Still Collection, a compendium of hundreds of movie screen shots from 1920s-present.
Like Garfield Minus Garfield, these stripped-down movie posters offer a fresh perspective on something we've all seen a hundred times. Once you peel back the typographic clutter, it's surprising just how identifiable films are by their graphic treatment.
In a pinch for some last-minute stocking stuffers? Let us help you outfit your designer buddy in time for eggnog drinking:
Attention paper fetishists.
On a visit to the homestead, my brother and I sat in the living room playing Wii curling for what seemed like hours. I mentioned to him that a big part of curling involved calling the right strategy. I gave him the old line that curling was "like chess, but on ice." Characteristically, he came back with a wise-ass comment:Every sport tries to bill itself as being like chess. [Imitating a hayseed] "It's like chess, but with big tires and a mud bog!!!"Okay, point taken, James. But what about letterpress?
That Globe poster post got us thinking.
When most people think of a print shop being deeply intertwined with a local music scene, they think Hatch Show Print. For years the Nashville-based shop helped promote the Grand Ole Opry brand of country music.
A little closer to Duckpin's home, the Globe Printing Company has been a mainstay in the DC go-go scene for years. From early pioneers like Junk Yard Band and Experience Unlimited, Globe has been there to spread the word about DC's homegrown music. For much of the 80s and 90s, a trip along DC/Maryland commuter routes offered a cluttered, visual panopoly of Globe posters. Fluorescent-splashed signs tacked to traffic poles greeted you at every stoplight. How many times a week can Rare Essence possibly play? I remember often thinking.
Shop photos by Frank Hamilton, Baltimore City Paper
Train advertising has always been predicated on selling an idea more than the service itself. Ride a train and see the world in style, they promise. Worry-free site-seeing is a noble pursuit, but the reality of train travel hasn't always squared with the sales pitch.
Fifty years ago this month, goaltender Jacques Plante took a stick to the face. It was pretty much just a day at the office for goaltenders of that era. But not for Jacques. The Montreal Canadiens' goaltender refused to skate again unless he was able to wear a mask. Since at the time there were no hockey mask designers, he came up with the structure himself (at left). Soon after, others followed.
Left: Philadelphia Flyers' Wayne Stephenson; right: Quebec Nordiques' Don McLeod
Clockwise from top left: Wayne Stephenson ('80-'81); Gary Inness ('79-'81); Bernie Wolf ('78-'79); Gary Smith ('77-'78)
Bad joke to tell over turkey dinner:
If you're thinking of stuffing a few stockings with printed goodies this holiday season, look no further than Yee Haw Industries' letterpressed calendars. There are a couple dozen crazy-awesome designs to chose from. And if you're looking to stuff our stocking with printed goodies this season, we like these ones. We're just sayin' is all.
We made it to the century mark! Boy, that's a lot of wasted time -- for both you and us. But we managed to learn a bunch, and hopefully you have, too. While we stuff our gourds with celebratory gluten-free cake, click on the links below to enjoy a recap of the highs and lows...
Anytime I feel overwhelmed by the ceaseless march of technology at work, I take a stroll over to the headquarters of the Washington Post. See, outside their front doors, they have permanently moored a Linotype machine from their old composition room. You can see it huddled in the alcove above.
I can't remember if it was Johannes Gutenberg or me who said, "There are few visual successes more elusive than a well-designed infographic." Hand anyone a couple paragraphs of copy and a folder of beautiful photography, and most likely they'll gin up a fairly good layout. Hand someone instructions like "display the likelihood of contracting H1N1 by age group for every county bordering the Great Lakes " and you're likely to see a trainwreck.
The cooler weather has us reminiscing about a jaunt we took to Las Vegas over the summer. With the city sizzling under the early afternoon sun, we ducked into a paradise of gaming: the Pinball Hall of Fame. Housed in a non-descript strip mall (is there any other kind in Vegas?) the Hall of Fame is essentially an arcade stocked with pinball machines from the '40s through the present. All are playable and most cost just a quarter. The machines have been restored and kept in tip-top shape by the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club.
