a blue rose
“It’s a blue rose, the morning-star is like a blue rose in the Hair of the Archangel.”
—Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody, 1972.
[A]ll that is essential in typography
“[A]ll that is essential in typography can be taught by writing in the sand with your finger.”
—Peter Burnhill, typography teacher, at the Working Party on Typographic Teaching, 1968; from his obituary in The Guardian, June 22, 2007.
gold, glass and hair
“His face was hidden behind gold, glass and hair; his very teeth were invisible behind the bushy drooping of his mustache. The maiden looked straight into the emptiness of the lenses of his prince-nez. . . .”
—Alfred Jarry, The Supermale, translated by Ralph Gladstone & Barbara Wright, New Directions 18, 1964.
the light from another world
“Dawn was breaking, like the light from another world.”
—Alfred Jarry, The Supermale, translated by Ralph Gladstone & Barbara Wright, New Directions 18, 1964.
looking at a peach for 20 minutes
“I didn’t keep a peyote diary & am writing from memory
there were times when I felt little—i’ll describe the high spots
colors were much brighter & richer when I was high
bright color was the main effect on my senses
everything looked exciting and beautiful, & that made me happy
looking at a peach for 20 minutes I was most fascinated, not by the brightred part of the skin but by the subtle changes of tint in the paleyellowgreen part
objects, for example a garbagecan, had an intrinsic visual significance that had nothing to do with words, attractive
the more i looked at one thing the more it interested me
a friend, high, didn’t recognize a familiar street because there was so much she hadnt seen before
it was not like “normal” seeing, where you dully register only what has a, usually false, relation to “practical” purposes
i saw the bright colors reflected from the oil in flying pigeon feathers
the colors must have been there before but i didnt notice them
on peyote you notice everything that can be sensed, without effort
sitting in my store, i saw there is no color white
my white walls were yelloworange from lightbulbs & there was a strong green from the old coat of paint
an eyechart had an unusual quality like old chinese manuscripts because the paper had yellow-browned a bit from age”
—Jack Green, peyote, newspaper #8, 1959; The Beats, edited by Seymour Krim, 1960.
I love Mickey Mouse
“Girls bored me—they still do. I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I’ve ever known.”
—Walt Disney.
Advertising is dead
“Advertising is dead, design is the new advertising.”
—Marc Gob’ of marketing expert Desgrippes Gob’, New York, on the “Jesus machine,” the new iPhone, at Timesonline, July 1, 2007.