Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Doppelganger


My friend Liam just made me aware of this business out West that sports the same initial logo as my name and blog onomastics.
Hm.
It does look awfully close to me.
(However, I do realize that there is a basic difference, i.e., inversion applies to their R and my B.)

As I noted to Liam, I wonder which one came first, the BR or the BR. Is this a case of two mutually exclusive parties being hit simultaneously by a wave of graphic inspiration, while being thoroughly independent of each other?

Not to be petty or anything, (oh, who am I kidding? For the sake of argument, let’s, let's be a tad petty), the logo with my initials was first conceptualized by designer par excellence and close friend, Camille well over seven years ago. The logo first made it on my business card back in ’03. I suppose I could be even more petty (or is it pettier?) and I could ask to compare design notes with said company and determine which came first. If I end up lower on the hierarchy, I’ll be a man and retire my laurels as holder of BR.
Hm.
Onomastics is, after all, never inconsequential. Or is it?

Tip of the hat, Liam, for keeping an aesthetics-informed eye out.





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Dignity and, um, Tory Burch?


Let me see if I can start on the right foot here.

Generally, the writing of NY Times David Brooks is, to me, like a Tory Burch outfit. It's all fine and dandy when it's out there but I wouldn't quite go out of my way to pursue it, if you catch my drift.
Brooks' today piece on the Times, however, begged for my attention this morning. His summary of some of the recent events made me think about how quickly lexemes shift and acquire new meanings in order to adapt to new cultural modifications.
In today's piece Brooks wonders about the philosophical and social meanings of the term dignity. 'Whatever happened to it, eh?'-wonders Brooks along with a litany of other voices.
A paragraph of note:
" First, there was Mark Sanford’s press conference. Here was a guy utterly lacking in any sense of reticence, who was given to rambling self-exposure even in his moment of disgrace. Then there was the death of Michael Jackson and the discussion of his life. Here was a guy who was apparently untouched by any pressure to live according to the rules and restraints of adulthood. Then there was Sarah Palin’s press conference. Here was a woman who aspires to a high public role but is unfamiliar with the traits of equipoise and constancy, which are the sources of authority and trust.

In each of these events, one sees people who simply have no social norms to guide them as they try to navigate the currents of their own passions.

Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system."

Read it all here.


graph per tory burch




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