Matthew Reinhart's Blog, page 25

Word of the Day: Shoal

Shoal \shohl\ noun

1. A shallow area in a body of water.
 2. A sandbank or sandbar in the bed of a body of water, constituting a navigation hazard. 

Origin: Before 900, Middle English shald, and Old English sceald  'shallow'.

History Lesson: Stephen Sondheim is Born

On March 22, 1930, Stephen Sondheim is born in New York City.  Sondheim is known for his American musical theater work in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.  Not influenced by rock and roll, Sondheim was moved by the Broadway theater that was filled with top hats, chorus lines and big, show-stopping production numbers.  He went on to write the lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy, and then wrote both the words and music for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Word of the Day: Valetudinarian

Valetudinarian \val-i-tood-n-AIR-ee-uhn\ noun
1. A weak or sickly person, especially one who is constantly or overly worried about his or her health.  A valetudinarian is in much worse shape than a mere hypochondriac. 
Origin:  Valetudinarian is from Latin valetudo 'state of health', from valere "to be well".

Artist Watch: Nate Coonrad

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

Just came across the work of Brooklyn-based artist, Nate Coonrad. I love his design sense in the illustration "above/below", but it's his works in paper that really grabbed my attention. The papercraft version of Nate is fun and his recent pop-up book promotion for Nokia is really well done. Working with a team at the ad agency, Wieden + Kennedy NY, Nate created seven pop-up compositions with an inset at the end of the book to house the Nokia N8 smartphone. The designers go a step further and house the "Where should we go?" book in an attractive custom case (which I would handcuff to my wrist so nobody could take away this clever promotion). Since you cannot get the pop-up book in person, check out a nice video of the book in action here.

~Kyle

Weekly Beast: Proboscis Monkey

The proboscis monkey is found only on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.It gets its name from its large, fleshy nose. Its ability to eat mainly leaves gives it a niche where it's the only medium sized mammal living in the canopy of the forest.
~Gio

Word of the Day: Eidos

 Eidos \AHY-dos, EY-dos\ noun 1. The formal sum of a culture, its intellectual character, ideas, etc.  Origin:  From Greek eidos (form, idea), ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see), which is the source of words such as wise, view, supervise, wit.   

Whats Popped Up: Made in Italy

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

This morning we had a special delivery from Italy. After a very successful internship last year with us, we are happy to welcome back our newest paper engineer, Giovanni. I first met Gio at the recent Movable Book Society conference in Portland, where the wild haired young man did his best Johnny Appleseed impression as he entered the hotel holding a tree branch with pop-up apple business cards dangling from the leaves. He then enthusiastically shared some of the pop-up creations he had made during school. Now back in the new year with a new look, Gio will be helping us on some big upcoming projects as he learns what it takes to make a pop-up book. (In fact, with his new haircut he looks a lot like the boy in this beloved Italian commercial for Big Frut.)

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition \juhk-stuh-puh-ZISH-uhn\ noun

1. The act or an instance of placing in nearness or side by side.

Origin: Juxtaposition comes from Latin juxta, "near" + positio, "position", from the past participle of ponere, "to put, to place."  The related verb juxtapose means "to place side by side".

Listen Up: 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)'

There are days where I get the most random song stuck in my head.  Today is a song that we hear regularly at the studio on the 1950's radio station, it's 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)' by The Four Lads.  The song refers to the name change of Constantinople to the Turkish name Istanbul.  It also mentions that New York City was first named New Amsterdam.

The song was originally written by Jimmy Kennedy and was recorded by The Four Lads in August of 1953.  The song peaked at #10 on the Billboard charts.

Check out the hypnotic video of the record and try not to get the song stuck in your head!





--Jess

Word of the Day: Orotund

Orotund \OR-uh-tuhnd\ adjective

1. Characterized by fullness, clarity, strength, and smoothness of sound.
2. Pompous; bombastic.

Origin: Orotund derives from Latin ore rotundo, "with a round mouth", hence "clear, loud," from os, oris, "the mouth" + rotundus, "round".  It is related to oral.