Type Articles in March/April Print

Brian, great pointer - thanks. I thought most of the pieces you mention were pretty informative.

On the other hand, I thought some of Ross McDonald's sentiments were way off. As far as the all-important user is concerned, letterpress is about the result, not how it was made. Sadly, ignoring the user is exactly what artistes do so well.

hhp

>On the other hand, I thought some of
>Ross McDonald?s sentiments were way off.

I have not read the article in question, but would just like to speak up on Mr Papazian's comment. As Voltaire wrote, "I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I apply this courtesy to Mr Papazian, even while he denies it to Mr McDonald.

I find it ridiculous for Mr Papazian to state that Mr McDonald's "sentiments were way off", when they are Mr McDonald's sentiments, and are therefore cannot be judged as right or wrong, as "way off".

Best,
c

> cannot be judged

Humans "judge" everything - they can't help it. On the other hand, when it comes to "punishing" people do differ - but I for one have no problem leaving Ross McDonald to enjoy his life in any way he sees fit.

hhp

BTW, just call me hhp.

hhp

I typically disagree with somewhat more than 50% of everything Hrant writes, but I defend to the death (as long as it isn't mine) his right to judge McDonald's sentiments. He's not denying McDonald's right to his opinions, he's stating his disagreement with them.

50%?!
;-)

hhp

Not to be picky, but if you do the math Mr. McDonald seems to be guilding the lilly about his experience. He states he was born in 1957--by his 16th birthday (1973) he had apprenticed to a papermaker, typefounder & took a job as a pressman on a Hiedelberg (on the nightshift no less). A year later (1974) has him starting his own letterpress shop with his brother--the next paragraph says it was during this time "the early 70s" that he took up illustration and focused on being a "starving artist"! What gives? Is Canada this vast Gulag for teenagers? Who knew our neighbor to the north flaunted child labor laws so openly! Methinks McDonald gushes a bit, take the rest of what he says with a grain of salt. What happened to fact checkers? Can't they be built into the program like spell check?

Mr Hudson,
indeed, I too "defend to the death etc." Mr Papazian's right to air his opinions. What I objected to was his negation of Mr McDonald's "sentiments". It is one thing to say that one disagrees with someone's sentiments, and quite another to flatly state that someone's "sentiments are way off."

Yes, I'm being nit-picky, but I felt that I had to speak up for open-mindedness, sensing that it was in great peril.

Best,
c

I'm as open-minded as they come, baby.
I don't even mind necrophilia.

Maybe you're angry that by using the term "sentiments" I'm putting down his feelings, and that's something you never want to see repressed? Well, me neither. But saying he's wrong is not repression. Putting him in a cell for what he thinks, that's repression.

hhp

Mr Papazian,
what I objected to was not that you expressed an opinion, but that your opinion negated and nullified Mr McDonald's opinion. An increasing "judgementalism" has invaded design discourse of late, with style and personality being the subjects of discussion rather than communication, care, attention to craft, and dare I say it, love.

Best,
c

Look, if you don't stop calling me Mr Papazian, I'm going to start calling you Breaster or something.

hhp

What a non-Hrant thought of the Ross McDonald piece:

"The featured printer was taking this holier than thou attitude about letterpress...claiming his work wasn't 'plastic'. He may not have been using polymer, but he sure in the hell was pretentious. His claims that his printing was 'real' was about as fake as it gets..."

You know what gets me the most, though? Inking rollers were invented very recently, like in 1814*. So throughout the history of printing (including all the Grand Greats), most printing was done by inking with "printer's balls", not rollers. So clearly, Real Printers shun ink rollers. I just can't believe what a wannabe that McDonald guy is, pretending he's the real thing... Pffft.

* From June 8 down here:
http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/30/10851.html

hhp