Letraset and other brands of rub-down type literally put typography in the hands of the people. Rub-down type made it possible for students, professionals, and everyone else to design with real typefaces, without needing professional typesetting services. A cheap and easy way to experiment with typography and other graphic elements, Letraset put a lot of care into making type easy to use well, but it also resulted in a lot of ways to use type badly, but with interesting results. With some care and attention, however, it was a great way to develop an eye for typography.
This talk was a look at Letraset’s type and other graphic supplies, showing how they put the tools of professional design into everyday hands. It also looked at how people had to improvise with Letraset, and made the most of the materials at hand.
A couple of years agoI wrote about a trend in magazine cover design that felt like was becoming a real cliché — centered title, single image with a border, maybe a bit of non-hierarchical list about what’s inside. After a recent visit to the newer, larger Magma shop in Covent Garden, I can see that this very homogeneous style for independent mags is still deeply entrenched, and spreading.
[Originally posted to thecuntoftheminotaur.tumblr.com]
This film has been very difficult to find. Previously, Inventaire mentioned it was remastered by a company called to DCP, and he also posted an excerpt of the director’s previous leather manifesto. What I have uncovered this film seems to retell the classical myth of Narcissus by recasting the boy who fell in love with his own image as an archetypal Leatherman, played here by a man named only as Fernando.
Narcissus is an important myth for homosexuality because it recounts a conceit in homosexual desire to direct one’s attention not at the opposite gender – and by extension, reproducing — but towards one’s own self. This lust most often takes either an auto-erotic form or seeks it’s own specular reflection. Without the need to bestow and diversify one’s genes, it seems the narcissus is content in admiring his own.
From what bits I have found there appears to be a scene where this narcissus walks around Manhattan in full butch drag. He stares into himself through a metallic butterfly ball oblivious to the dangers of the city around him. Caught by beauty, it’s an abyssal image; a man made so simple as to be entrapped by his own skewed — but ultimately recognizable — image.
I found two scenes for the film which were included in a compilation tape called White Hanky (don’t look it up, it means masturbation). This is a common practice in porn, especially when studios fold and sell their assets to other companies who then re-release or compile the new footage. It’s also common for erotic films from this era to depict solitary or masturbatory acts. Hardcore penetration, especially anal, doesn’t really appear until the ‘70s. This suggests that these are the only two pornographic scenes in the film.
In the ABOVE SCENE Fernando takes his motorcycle as his object of sexual gratification. It’s the earliest Bike ‘Bate scene I’ve encountered. Most of those happen in the early-mid-70s before they largely disappear in favour of penetration scenes. I suggest you don’t watch it to be aroused.
Above is a still from THIS VIDEO which is probably the climax of the film. Some really interesting cross-dissolves and in camera tricks circumvent the era’s propriety values and imply oral sex and same-sex kissing. Then he masturbates via a mirror onto his own image while complementing himself, basically.
The above image may or may not be part of the film. No other corroborating evidence has been found. It could be a scene depicting a sex act, it could be a narrative scene like the aforementioned Butterfly Ball sequence or it could be a result of a misnamed Google search.
It’s unclear how faithfully Avery Willard follows the myth. He seems to be more concerned with Narcissus in the act of loving himself and not the heart-spurning or suiciding sides of that story. There doesn’t seem to be an Echo and a Nemesis character who are causally important to the story, but in this context I would question if that really matters.
Just over 15 minutes of the film still remains to be seen, including THIS wonderfully shot double-exposure sequence I first found on a trailer tape.
Today commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the obscenity trial sparked by the artist’s controversial exhibition “The Perfect Moment” at the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati.
