Through Lines 274

Kate Bush’s Best of the Other Sides was previously only available as part of a long out-of-print box set collection but is finally being made available on its own with a few remixed and enhanced tracks. Like Jeremy, I was late to the Kate Bush fan club, but there’s a magic to it that feels deeply human and endlessly enchanting.

Art & Design

  • The Letterform Archive is turning 10 and as part of the celebration have unveiled a new campaign, The Past is Always Present: 100 Tens, a collaboration with COLLINS kicking off with an event on October 16th at the Archive.
  • Buying off-the-shelf design demos and B-sides isn’t a smart way to kick off building a brand. It’s certainly not a good way to convince clients of the value of the design process which is as much thinking as it might be the execution of that thinking into visual expression.
  • GEN ERA TIV is a collection of little generative toys. I wouldn’t call these tools as most didn’t seem to produce much that I’d call useful, but do suggest approaches that, when tuned appropriately, might produce interesting results.
  • Nigel Cottier’s Alphabetical Playground, a collection of graphical experiments and typographic manipulations as alphabets looks like it would be a nice addition to any design library, my own included.

Type of Note

  • I didn’t quite register the name of Michael Rafailyk’s Noeler right away, but in hindsight, it’s a perfect fit for something that draws inspiration from the swirl of a candy cane or the curves of pasta.
  • Few typefaces share the recognition and appeal of Futura, so Type Together’s massive multilingual Futura® 100 remastering and expansion make it a true global type family.
  • Drama from Poem Editions is a little bit of everything, sharing DNA across a diverse collection of independent styles built around 19th century typography.
  • Aquavit is my least favorite alcohol, but Aquavit the typeface I like with it’s nouveau-inspired swashes, substantial x-height, calm demeanor, and comfortable legibility.
  • What I like about GT Era is a lot, but in particular, its description, GT Era is not perfect type. It is specific type feels apt. A great micro-site from Grilli-Type as well.

Technology

  • …large language models (LLMs) have repeatedly and consistently failed to demonstrate value to anyone other than their investors and shareholders. Ethan sets out simple, clear reasons why this holds up. Can’t help but agree.
  • Speaking of issues with AI, AI Psychosis might well be a growing problem and unintended consequence of a technology we’ve demonstrated we’re not ready for, maybe ever.
  • Oh hello — a custom buildable Mac that runs Mac OS 7 on a Raspberry Pi which is not a thing I realized was possible.
  • The story of how RSS beat Microsoft. I’ve never even heard of the ICE spec so this whole piece was very enlightening.
  • Line height units in CSS seem like something I should spend some time with soon, especially since all major browsers have shipped with them since 2023.

Humanities

  • Look, there’s a good chance you’ve watched the return of Jimmy Kimmel following the chain of events that saw him pulled off the air already, but I’d urge you to watch it again. The silencing of the media by government action is a terrifying turning point in a year of chaos and outright and blatant corruption.
  • If you can’t take criticism, then your staff will let you implement flawed plans or make terrible mistakes. While it often might feel good, the cost of comfort is high.
  • The hunt is built upon friction. Friction is good. Friction is healthy. Friction develops adaptation. The hunt is also born of curiosity. The desire to seek and discover something you don’t know, and might never know. I miss regular trips to the local record shop with no set goal other than to be curious and hunt. Thanks for this Naz.
  • Speaking of messed up things, if being taught by AI is where education is headed, those kids will not be alright.

Music & Film

  • The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer feels like there’s still some hope (and maybe fun) in a galaxy far, far away. A strong Indiana Jones vibe with the titles too.
  • And then there’s Volume 3 of Star Wars: Visions anthology series coming up which looks incredible.
  • Genesis’ eclectic, challenging and surprisingly punk album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is one of my favorites of all time. The new Dolby Atmos mix in particular is outstanding. And it’s nice to finally have the complete live performance from LA in March '74.
  • Since I didn’t get to see one of the shows in person, I’m looking forward to David Gilmour’s Live at the Circus Maximus concert film. This brief documentary along with a performance of the song Between Two Points from the show give me all the feels.
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride looks delightfully unhinged.
  • A House of Dynamite hits home. On edge already.

One More Thing

  • A poem tracks our most important data — what we see and hear, what we feel and experience — but not with the intention of creating an optimized version of a human. Rather, poetry addresses one of the root causes of unwellness: a feeling that our own life has somehow gotten away from us. I find that music achieves a similar thing for me as poetry, though I suspect it’s largely due to my interest in the words as much as the music itself.

Between the new book I’ve been working on for about a month now to a little distraction that had me sidetracked last week, I again fell behind on posting. In the past, this would have bothered me, but I found myself strangely unbothered by it — likely because of the things I could be focusing my energy on at the time, I knew instinctively I had chosen the right ones. The good news is that the book is basically done aside from my continuing to fiddle with the cover and other production details. And the other thing is also just about ready to go too. But before I turn my attention back to either, the whip is calling…