We have a fair number of ginkgo trees in our neighborhood. I don’t pay much attention to them most of the year, except in the Fall. That’s when, in their curious way, they drop nearly all their leaves in one go, not even waiting until they change from green to yellow. That happens after they’ve been lying on the ground a few days. And when they fall, each tree is surrounded by a rich, green carpet of ginkgo leaves.

Unfortunately, some (not all) of them also drop hundreds of yellow, cherry-sized seeds. Or maybe they’re fruits. Or nuts. Doesn’t matter. Very soon, the sidewalks are covered with them and they get trampled on. The mess is bad enough, but the smell is revolting. I wish people who have these trees would at least sweep the seeds off the sidewalk. I guess they don’t go for walks around the neighborhood like me. They probably do it on a treadmill at a health club. Grr.

Pretty leaves, though.

I Rotis for Typophile a few years back…

I Meta man once. I said, “Avenir seen you somewhere before?”

He replied, “I was elected Centaur once. Joanna know what happened? Italia what happened. The Air Force took a Janson me. They put me in charge of Arial maneuvers. But the DIN was terrible. I lost my Tempo and stormed out Didot. I shouted, ‘Avant Gardes posted Ronda clock! To Helvetica Mandarin chief! Peignot attention to him!’

“They said, ‘This Stymie went too far.’ Well, no more Beton Ronda bush. I admit I made some Eras. It cost me my Courier. Univers see it until it’s too late.

“Bodoni hurts when I laugh. Now, I spend my Times Roman the streets.” He walked away singing Myriad a Little Lamb.

I wondered Weidemann was saying all these crazy things.

Franklin, I don’t give a Dom.

(My sincerest apologies. Please don’t bother to Melior complaints to me.)

Yesterday afternoon I went to a packed rock concert with my daughter at the new Minneapolis Public Library. You read that right: a rock concert in a library. The band was Harry and the Potters who, if you have never heard of them, pretend to be Harry Potter (two of them) and play songs inspired by characters and situations in the famous books. (That’s “Bill Weasley” on drums.) The warm up act was Draco and the Malfoys (what else?), who advised the audience that there was no point in staying once they finished. Both bands were very fun, very loud, and very punk rock. Fans do amazing things sometimes.

As a long time fan of the books, radio show, TV series, computer game, etc., I am looking forward to April 29 when The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy finally makes it to the medium of motion pictures. It looks to be very different visually from the TV series (not necessarily a bad thing) but true to the spirit of the stories in all their incarnations.

I’m still sad about author Douglas Adams’ death in 2001, but, according to everything I’ve read, the movie is based entirely on the screenplay he was working on when he died. Whatever is different from the earlier works will be either thanks to or the fault of Adams. (Not that there was ever a definitive version of any of the Hitchhiker stories anyway.)

Website here. Towels here. [Update: The links that used to be here are dead.]

In other quirky British franchise news, Aardman Studios is working on a Wallace and Gromit movie to be released next Fall. (Yippee!)

Flash animation designed to promote my typeface Mostra. Move your mouse over it to mix and match the different weights and alternate characters of Mostra in a playful way. You can also think of it as a puzzle: Scramble the letters up and then try to get them back the way they started. If you give up, just reload the page. Created in 2001.

Note: Flash 5 or later plug-in required for animation.

If you were or are a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 like me, this is pretty cool: RiffTrax. (Via Wired News this morning.)