This was the back of Mum’s 1985 tax assessment slip from the IRD. Helvetica, in metal. The bold looks a bit narrow: a condensed cut, or just a compromised version because of the machinery used?
Not often seen, since by this time phototypesetting was the norm, though one reason Car magazine was a good read was its use of metal typesetting until very late in the game. I know there are many reasons the more modern forms of typesetting are superior, least of all fidelity to the designed forms, but there’s a literal depth to this that makes me nostalgic.
Posts tagged ‘1985’
Helvetica in metal, 1985
03.03.2021Tags: 1980s, 1985, Aotearoa, family, government, Helvetica, magazine, New Zealand, retro, technology, typeface, typesetting, typography
Posted in design, New Zealand, typography, Wellington | No Comments »
Why I ran
24.04.2014In two elections, I told people some blarney on why I decided to run.
In 2010: āI was working at Lewās Diner and this guy had been picked on. I told him, āStand tall, boy, show some respect for yourself. Do you think Iām going to spend the rest of my life in this slop house? No, sir, Iām going to night school. Iām going to make something of myself.ā Some weird guy sitting next to him in a life preserver chimes up, points and me, and says, āThatās right, heās going to be Mayor!ā And thatās when I got the idea. Mr Carruthers did say, āA coloured mayor, thatāll be the day,ā but it didnāt deter me.ā
In 2013: āI was wondering whether to stand again and decided to chill out and watch Doctor Who. In that episode, Jenna Coleman turns to the screen and says directly to me, āRun, you clever boy, and remember.ā So I did.ā
You have to admit these are better answers than the stock politiciansā ones.
With that, ladies and gentlemen, have a blessed Anzac Day.
Tags: 1980s, 1985, 2010, 2012, 2013, Aotearoa, Back to the Future, BBC, culture, Doctor Who, film, Hollywood, humour, mayoralty, New Zealand, politics, TV, UK, USA, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara
Posted in culture, New Zealand, politics, TV, UK, USA, Wellington | 2 Comments »
Wellington’s most dangerous intersection (in fiction)
13.11.2010While chatting about the movie Shaker Run with one of our Lucire team (who was not born when the film was made), I noticed that the intersection at Courtenay PlaceāTaranaki StreetāDixon Street was rather treacherous in 1980sā fiction (start at 1’56”):
Fast forward to 1986 and the Hong Kong film ęä½³ęęŖåéęå·®å© (marketed as Aces Go Places IV). Watch from 28″ on:
When I still had a blog on Vox, I noted that the car chase in this film played extreme liberties with New Zealand geography: you turn from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on to Willis Street, Wellington; and fly in a Holden Torana from a Viaduct rooftop, leaving the Lombard car park in Wellington, and landing in a Ford Cortina on a soundstage in Hong Kong.
Tags: 1980s, 1985, 1986, Aotearoa, film, Hong Kong, humour, Jack Yan, New Zealand, retro, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara
Posted in cars, culture, humour, interests, New Zealand, Wellington | 3 Comments »