Doerr

Font sensitive?

“I think sometimes that being overly type-sensitive is like an allergy,” said Michael Bierut, a partner in the Pentagram design group in New York. “My font nerdiness makes me have bad reactions to things that spoil otherwise pleasant moments.”

This week, on the NY Times’ small-business blog, restaurateur Bruce Buschel posted items 1-50 in his list of “One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” The next installment comes next week.

At first glance, it seems like an overwhelming rundown of persnickety points — and some of them are — but many of the items make perfect sense for restaurants where customers are paying upwards of $30/person for a meal:

8. Do not interrupt a conversation. For any reason. Especially not to recite specials. Wait for the right moment.
14. When you ask, “How’s everything?” or “How was the meal?” listen to the answer and fix whatever is not right.
50. Do not turn on the charm when it’s tip time. Be consistent throughout.

The NY Times has a really inspiring story about chef Thomas Keller and his relationship with his father.

Mr. Keller ate many of the dishes in the book with his father at Ad Hoc. Even after the accident they would go, despite the physical challenges of getting his father out of the house. Ms. Cunningham said she used to worry about how customers might feel watching the famous chef feed his father. “Here he was taking care of his father just like a baby,” she said. “For Thomas, it didn’t make the slightest difference. Whatever he could do to make his dad comfortable he did.”

Want to add some style to your blog posts? Typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische can help add some flair with The Daily Drop Cap project. Each day she posts “a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.” .

Simon Attwater turns little lost lists into typographical treats on his blog

John Ortved divulges in The Daily Beast how hard it was for his Simpsons unauthorized history to get into print.

The problem, or delight, in writing an unauthorized history is that someone’s feathers are bound to get ruffled (by the lawyer’s reaction to my book about The Simpsons—an entity that has earned upwards of $3 billion for its parent companies—it seemed that I had engaged less in an act of ruffling than total depluming). In the case of my Simpsons history, the squawking started early, only a few months into the project.

Back in 2006, as a 26-year old associate at Vanity Fair, I was delighted to be assigned my first feature—the oral history of The Simpsons, something I’d pitched knowing that it would be short, fun, pegged to the release of a major film; a cakewalk for a green reporter. Dead. Fucking. Wrong.

Director Spike Jonze’s take on Maurice Sendak’s classic tale Where the Wild Things Are hits theatres tomorrow. The soundtrack is made up of Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and The Kids. The Kids are some of the creme of the current indie rock scene - including members of The Bird and the Bee, Deerhunter and The Raconteurs - with a children’s choir thrown in.

And if you want some WTWTA props, pop into the pop-up shop at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles. Decorated with a giant trunk etched with Max’s iconic “M” heart and monster claw scratchings, it’s also stocked with Max-inspired jumpsuits, dolls and prints.

John Maloof runs the blog Vivian Maier. What’s interesting is that John came in possession of Vivian’s negatives and rolls of film while at a furniture and antique auction.

Central Camera (110 yr old camera shop in Chicago) has encountered Vivian from time to time when she would purchase film while out on the Chicago streets. From what they knew of her, they say she was a Jewish Refugee from wartime France who came to the U.S. in the early 1950’s (some of her earlier work shows New York where she must have resided for some time). They say she was a very “keep your distance from me” type of person but was also outspoken. She loved foreign films and didn’t care much for American films.

Vivian was a prolific street photographer (mostly Chicago, some NYC) leaving behind 30,000 negatives, many still in rolls. If you’ve ever attempted to do street photography, is is NOT as easy as she makes it looks