Wish Three: Heidi. A giant cake. Lots of poppin'.

Finally sat down last night and watched my pirated copy of Helvetica. Loved it. Not because it was particularly revealing or educational. (It was neither.) Not because I get off on geeky fontsnark. (I don't. But nor do I especially relish being a de facto defender of Times New Roman et. al in the face of attacks from overcaffeinated font snobs who've never meet a grunge typeface they didn't like and use.) No, I liked Helvetica for the same reason I like most documentaries: Creative people doing what they do, talking shop, critiquing, fawning, and generally geeking out in a very matter-of-fact, this-is-just-what-I-do way is infinitely fascinating to me. The Ray Johnson and Henry Darger docs I've enjoyed are more biopic-y than Helvetica but they share these elements. Ditto for Project Runway. Though, if I had one wish with that show, it'd be to see more sketching and sewing and less elimination tedium. (With a second wish I'd ask for more model drama and no more kwazy materials challenges. Just use fabric, and just sew dresses. Simple.)

If you're not up for 90 minutes of ligature and x-height talk, I can also recommend Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The story was only meh, but it was so sharp and snappy... Good stuff.