Matthew Reinhart's Blog, page 12

Word of the Day: Nonplus

Nonplus \non-PLUHS\ transitive verb

1.  To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.

Origin: Nonplus is from the Latin  non plus, "no more".  To be nonplussed is to be at a point where "no more" can be said or done.

What's Popped Up: Center for Book Arts

Last week I was fortunate enough to pay a visit to the Center for Book Arts to view their two newest exhibitions.  One is curated from their permanent collection and the other is 'The Un(framed) Photograph'.  Both are really well thought out and I feel the artists took the idea of photographs being unframed but still arranged (whether in book form or other wise) and ran with it.  There's even a giant pop up book on display by Colette Fu!  So if you have a chance to visit NYC, swing by the Center for Book Arts and check out these exhibitions!

Word of the Day: Deciduous

Deciduous \dih-SIJ-oo-uhs\ adjective

1. Falling off or shed at a particular season, stage of growth, etc.
2. Shedding the leaves annually, as certain trees and shrubs.
3. Not permanent; transitory.

Origin:
Deciduous derives from the Latin dēciduus, "tending to fall."

Word of the Day: Torrefy

Torrefy \TAWR-uh-fahy\ verb

1. To subject to fire or intense heat
2. In pharmacology, to dry or parch drugs with heat
3. To roast, as metallic ores.

Origin: Torrefy stems from the two Latin roots torrēre "to dry up" and facere "to put, or make so"

Vintage Moveable Review: Pennsylvania State Bank

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Somewhere in between the S&L bank crisis in the 1980's and the more recent Subprime mortgage crisis the Pennsylvania State Bank decided to send a "thank you" to their loyal customers and offer to refinance with a home equity loan. Now, I know U.S. banking history is not too interesting, but their promotional material is of interest to me. When you open the tri-folded business letter a woman's hand offers a handful of small bills. This is the first time that I have seen a small pop-up inserted into a business letter. After all these years, it's exciting to see something new. I could not learn too much about this pop-up advertisement, but my guess is the letter was produced around 1993 based on the documentation. It seems Pennsylvania State Bank has come and gone and now PNC is at that address. Maybe too many of their loyal customers took them up on the home refinancing offer.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Eldritch

Eldritch \EL-drich\ adjective

1. Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

Origin:  Eldritch perhaps derives from a Middle English word meaning "fairyland,
 from Middle English elf, "elf" (from Old English aelf) + riche, "kingdom" (from Old English rice).

 

History Lesson: Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton

On July 11th, 1804  one of the most infamous moments in U.S. history occurred on a windswept plain at Weehawken, New Jersey when sitting Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shot the former Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.  The two men met in a duel after Hamilton had publicly disparaged the wealthy and influential Burr.  Though the idea of two respected government officials settling their differences in such a brutal manner may seem bizarre to us today it was a socially acceptable course of action at that time though few proclaimed duels actually ended in shots being fired.  This event has been reenacted in many plays, movies, and T.V. shows and was the basis for a very successful T.V. commercial for milk!  Hours after being shot Hamilton died in Manhattan.  Burr was accused of murder in New York but was able to finish out his term as vice president with immunity.  However his political career never recovered its earlier luster.

 ~Will

Artist Watch: Yowayowa Camera Woman

I've stumbled across this great website of a Japanese artist's photography.  Natsumi appears to be levitating in her photos, but in fact she's jumping!  It's all about time and when the camera shutter actually opens.

I'm really in love with the whimsical feeling of these portraits, Natsumi makes it look so easy to just fly off the train or hover in a telephone booth.  Check out more of her work here:

http://yowayowacamera.com/




~Jess

Word of the Day: Recidivism

Recidivism \rih-SID-uh-viz-uhm\ noun

1.  A tendency to lapse into a previous condition or pattern of behavior; especially, a falling back or relapse into prior criminal habits.

Orign:
Recidivism derives from Latin recidivus, "falling back," from recidere, "to fall back," from re-, "back" + cadere, "to fall".  One who relaspses or who is an incorrigible criminal is a recidivist.

Whats Popped Up: Acuity Storybook Year

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Paper engineer, Andrew Baron has had a Storybook Year so far. Andy teamed up with illustrator, Aaron Boyd and the masterminds at Dufour Advertising to create quite an impressive book. Actually, it serves as an annual report for the Acuity insurance company based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

As in years past, Acuity was determined to come up with a creative way to inform their shareholders about the state of the company in a visually pleasing way. They decided a collection of colorful nursery rhymes popping off the pages was the way to go, and that is where Andrew came in to provide his signature touch. Most pop-up fans know his expertise in creating intricate movables activated by pulling a tab, and will be pleasantly surprised to see his mastery of large dimensional compositions. One of my favorite scenes is a nervous Humpty Dumpty teetering over not a safety net but a frying pan as the king's men race towards him. There are dozens of other Easter eggs and sight gags hidden in the pop-ups and I can tell that the group had a lot fun developing this title.

Less than twenty thousand books were assembled in China and sent out to shareholders at the annual board meeting this February. Currently it is not available in any bookstores. We can only hope (or demand) that they consider adapting the annual report and release a children's book in the future. Until then you can check out more photos and videos at the custom website, and read about the pop-up process from Andy here, or even keep up with the awards and accolades this project is getting at their Facebook page.

~Kyle