Five Fave Fridays Baby!!!

Well my 5 Faves post is coming up a bit early because tomorrow I am busy with some Booster Club madness ;) I get to pass ice cream out to cutie Kinders and 1st graders tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it.

So this week has been a busy, stress filled but fun one. I think I have compiled a pretty fun list of faves. So here are the things that rocked my week.

#1. Independent Lens "Helvetica"-WOW! This show totally had me enraptured. I sat there with a pen and paper and was literally taking notes. Talk about inspiring people. As much as I love hand journaling on my layouts because I feel it adds a personal touch to the pages, man I love typography. And if you are into typography then this show on PBS is a MUST WATCH. The whole show was dedicated to the Helvetica font, its derivation, its frequency in its use, etc... The show had on all kinds of marvelous designers (who if I had ever gone to art or design school would have known I am sure LOL) but two designers and their quotes really captured my attention:

Massimo Vignelli- "The life of a designer is a life of fight, fight against the ugliness, just like a Dr. fights disease. For us the visual disease is what we have around us and what we try to do is to cure it somehow with design."

" A good typographer always has sensitivity about the distance between letters. We think typography is black and white. Typography is really white. It is not even black. It is the SPACE between the blacks that really makes it. In a sense it is like music, it's not the notes, it's the space you put between the notes that make the music."

Wim Crouwel- Wim uses a grid in creating his typography and seeing him use it was eye opening. He said " I am always interested in clarity (in typography). It should be clear, it should be readable, it should be straight forward...For me it is a tool of creating order and creating order is typography. The meaning is in the context of the text, not in the typeface."

Now both of these men are modernists in design. Clean, straightforward, simple. The show also featured designers who thought the Helvetica font was basically of the devil. Boring, out of date, constricting. Hell just watch it and be marveled for yourself. I can only sing its praises so much LOL

#2. Simon Pegg- Dude, I love this man! He is HILARIOUS. John and I watched Shaun of the Dead for about the 20th time this weekend and every time we watch it, we find little tidbits that we missed the time before. He is kinda cute in his own dorky way. But most of all he is smart, witty and hilarious as all get out. Other movies by him that you have to watch are Hot Fuzz and Run Fat Boy Run.

#3. Deschutes Brewery Obsidian Stout- I am actually drinking one at this very moment. Super dark, creamy and just down right delicious....this is one of my favorite beers. Now if I could only find someone who will drink it with me LOL. And hey, I just found out via the website that this beer won World's Best Stout at the 2007 World Beer Awards plus 23 others...so I am not entirely cra(x)y!

And in the words of Homer Simpson "mmmm...beer.....ahhhhhhhh"

#4. Counting Crows "August and Everything After"- This album is fantastic. So beautifully written and sung and performed that it will bring tears to your eyes. Round Here is such an amazing song that it gives me chills every time I hear it.

#5. Scrappy Fave of the Week- Well, I am tied between Somerset Studios magazine and The Dares book. I have been reading both of them on and off all week long and absorbing everything they have to offer. Somerset (any and all) of their magazines are works of art in their own rights and The Dares book has made me want to get a little more funky and primitive with my scrapbooking.

And from inspiration from both of those publications, I tried my hand at the Prima's Build-A-Page challenge for January. Here is the sketch if you would like to take a crack at it too:

Here is my take on it. I tweaked it a little bit to suit my design but the general idea is still there. I used bubble wrap as a stamp on my background. I used a Prima flower bottle cap as a "stamp" by putting brown paint on it and stamping on my background to mimic a coffee cup stain. Then I followed the basic design of the sketch and journaled about how I was feeling crappy about my style and skills as a scrapbook designer one day. I bought a Starbucks one particular day while I was feeling especially awful and I happened to look at the quote on the cup and it said the exact words that I needed to hear. Stupid and lame I know, but it was just the right words at the right time, ya know!

So there you have it. My 5 Faves of the Week. What are yours? If you are new to 5 Faves and want to be added to the official sidebar let me know. Half the fun is reading everyone else's 5 Faves.

Have a great day all!