How would my little dog Dezi's words look in 'talk bubbles'? Would she speak in Comic Sans? Vincent Connare, the inventor of Comic Sans wrote the casual script typeface for Microsoft. They wanted something that would work with cartoon bubbles for children.
It became one of the default fonts in Windows 95, much to his surprise. It was extensively distributed - by Apple, and others.
In an interview with CBC on Saturday, he didn't complain about not receiving any special compensation. He said it was unusual to have a job as a typeface designer and that he loved his job at Microsoft. He was young - the font came out in 1995. He was born in 1960, and currently lives in France. So he's made enough to retire on his various typeface creations. His website is quite brief - it is HERE.
Comic Sans is loved and hated - its intended use was specific - to be casual in informal documents and children's material.
The CBC interviewer asked - should Rudy Giuliani use Comic Sans as a font in one of his submission letters to the Department of Justice? Connare laughed and then responded that there are restrictions on the fonts that can be used in legal documents. Comic Sans MS is not likely not allowed anywhere.
Could it be used for a sandwich shop sign? He found that a curious choice. Not a typical use.
It got me thinking. Which font would Dezi and Baxter speak in if I were to write a story? Baxter's tail tells many stories. He swooshes and wags his tail often - he is most curious about things and attentive to all movements in the yard. I interpret his swooshing as friendly and dominant. You can look up cat charts that show variations of cat speak.
Dezi's tail wags a lot but doesn't swoosh that I've seen. I don't know of any dogs who swoosh their tails. Supposedly wagging to the right is friendly and wagging to the left is trepidation or anger. And then they have lots of things to say with their body positions, ears, and mouths, and their various wiggles. It seems they have lots more to say than cats do. This makes me think they each need their own font.
Our Valentines continue today in graffiti and grunge findings.
Mark Wigmore gave a movie review yesterday morning on JazzFM. He explained what makes the latest Marvel movie - Black Panther - a stand-out movie. He was very excited about this movie. It is the most positive view of black people ever presented. The setting is a technologically advanced African nation. The cast and characters are black people who are smart, powerful and interesting. No movie has ever been made with this premise before.
Reviewers are excited by the social and political message of the movie:
"But Black Panther also offers the kind of story that so many of his fellow superheroes can’t: a legend that empowers those with brown skin, cherishes Africa, and rewrites history to create a black monarchy that rules the most intelligent and powerful country in the world".
Another reviewer describes the social and emotional impact:
"I had the privilege of watching the film while seated in front of Denzel Washington, beside Whoopi Goldberg and in the company of almost every major black actor and celebrity on the east coast: Chris Rock, Gayle King, Tyra Banks, Robin Roberts and more. Denzel was moved to tears by the movie, said he felt like a proud father, and predicted it would make a billion dollars".
This could be called a "social moviement." It seems to hark back to the Black Panther "social movement" of 1966 when this comic was created. There is great excitement building.
Something most of us haven't heard of is at the centre of our North American society in a sudden. It's Afrofuturism - Afrofuturism addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through a technoculture and science fiction lens, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afrodiasporic experiences. More from Wikipedia here.
This picture is one of the buildings on the Ringling Museum site in Florida.
