Sunday, August 30, 2009

IKEA changes font, font-obsessed fans fume

I have to say... I don't care that much.

But when IKEA changed from a font that they've always used to Verdana, Time writes, some people were pissed off.
"Ikea, stop the Verdana madness!" pleaded Tokyo's Oliver Reichenstein on Twitter. "Words can't describe my disgust," spat Ben Cristensen of Melbourne. "Horrific," lamented Christian Hughes in Dublin. The online forum Typophile closed its first post on the subject with the words, "It's a sad day." On Aug. 26, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition to get Ikea to change its mind. That night, Verdana was already a trending topic on Twitter, drawing more tweets than even Ted Kennedy.

Cliff Lee isn't superstitious

Most baseball players, especially pitchers, are very superstitious. If they have a no-hitter going, no one acknowledges it. In fact, the pitcher will sit alone in the dugout because no one wants to talk to him and say something to jinx the no-hitter.

But new Philadelphia Phillie Cliff Lee, who was traded from the Cleveland Indians? Well, he doesn't care about that kind of stuff. His manager, Charlie Manuel, told Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) of Lee, "A lot of guys might have put pressure on themselves coming over here, but it doesn't faze him at all. His first game with us, he had a no-hitter going through five innings at San Francisco. Well, you know the superstition about not talking about a no-hitter, but he comes in the dugout after that fifth inning and says, 'Hey, I've got a no-hitter going.'"

Pretty cool.

A Jerry Lee Lewis song without piano?

Jerry Lee Lewis is as inextricably tied to the piano as Elton John or Billy Joel. But in his latest single, the 73-year old rock icon has a song that is completely devoid of piano.

There's just something wrong about that.

The New Yorker writes:
In a post on YourItList.com, [Cal] Morgan points out that “Lewis has rarely sung without the piano beneath his fingers; it is hard to imagine him without it, any more than we can imagine B.B. King’s voice without Lucille’s tart counterpoint.” But the new song’s lyrics challenge the listener to think twice about who Lewis really is—“If you think I’m a voodoo doll, that’s what I am”—and, as Morgan points out, the rocker’s motives are anyone’s guess.
It just seems weird.

He also sounds a lot like a poor man's Johnny Cash, perhaps because the song is written by Kris Kristofferson.