see | The Worst Must-See Movies

I started this blog close to two years ago. And in that time I have written (on and off) about the ‘best this’ and the ‘greatest that.’ But as we all know, without the bad, we wouldn’t know what good is. So for this round of entries, I am going to write about the crappiest things around us. It’s going to be a celebration of the bad and cheesy.

I realize that there is a mess of people who’ve dedicated a lot more time to this type of research than I, and to those patient folks I tip my hat, but to my friends and readers, I present to you a list of the worst must-see movies ever made (there are thousands of bad movies to avoid watching; this list is not about those):

5. Robot Monster (1953): This movie is so bad it’s almost unfair to list it. The super low-budget flick (created in four days) explores the relationship between an alien killer robot (or a gorilla with a diving mask) and the remaining few humans on Earth that it tries to wipe out. There are elements of horror, sci-fi, romance, and philosophy in this tale.

4. Snakes on a Plane (2006): The highest budget and most recently made on the list. I’m sure you remember when this movie came out—a summer blockbuster, featuring the one and only Samuel L. Jackson. He’s had it with these motherf@%#in’ snakes on this motherf@%#in’ plane! And who cam blame him?

3. Death Bed, the Bed That Eats (1977): It eats fruit, fried chicken, and people. It’s hard to describe how bad this movie is, so I’ll just leave it up to the clip below to do its magic.

2. Black Belt Jones (1974): This one is a staple in a line up of Blaxploitation movies, a film genre that came from 1970s America and catered to an urban black audience. Jim Kelly, martial artist-cum-actor plays the role of an FBI agent avenging the death of a Karate schoolmaster.

1. The Room (2003): Where do I begin with this one? The Room is a story about love, lust, marriage, friendship, family, betrayal, life, death, cancer, sex, drugs, alcohol, work, money, and football. There aren’t many topics out there left unexplored in this masterpiece. The movie was written, produced and executively produced, funded, and directed by the main actor, Tommy Wiseau. I recently attended a special screening of this at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver; it was hosted by the legend himself (Wiseau) who has learned to bitterly embrace his cult following and success and not-so-skillfully avoid answering questions pertaining to the movie. The Room is my favourite bad movie ever; it is a must-see!

As I previously mentioned, I am certain there are movies not mentioned above worthy of this list, but these are my picks for now. I’ll post another list if I’m ever inspired by another batch.

You Guessed It—This Blog is Kinda on Hiatus

Dear readers.

It pains me that I haven't written in so long, but believe me—I've intended to. There is much to talk about and to share with you, but I've simply had no time. As some of you may know, I've gone back to school (a hellish intensive program), and it's taken up every waking minute of my life for the last six months, and will continue to do for the next six. I don't plan to leave you hanging for that long, but this is a quick note, saying "I'm alive and well, and will come back on soon."

Have a look at this promotional video I've made for my school program (it was a zero-dollar budget class project):

Design | Text is Beautiful

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love typography. So when I came across an article titled "Text is Beautiful" on Donkey Ink’s blog, I wasted no time reading it. Donkey Ink is a Vancouver-based design shop run by my friend and fellow graphic designer, Jamie Purches. I enjoyed his article so much that I asked him if I can share it with my readers, and he was nice enough to let me do so. Now, without further ado, here it is:

Typography is a very important part of design and if executed correctly it should either stand out immediately, or be virtually unnoticeable. If you're like me you both notice, and love, typography. There is nothing worse than seeing a typographic error in an otherwise well designed and attractive print (or online) piece. For me, that's the sticking point and it doesn't matter how much I like the rest of the design, if there's too much space between a couple of letters in a word, or if the baselines of two columns of text aren't aligned, that's all I can focus on. It hurts my eyes and makes me want to break inanimate objects with other inanimate objects. 

I recently stumbled upon a great resource to assist in making the most of your typography. It's a poster called Thirty Four Typographic Sins, produced by Jim Godfrey, a graphic and web design instructor at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. His website features the poster copy and offers the option of a PDF download. 

A lot of the thirty four sins are pretty easily avoided if one knows what they're doing, but I was surprised at how many of these I recognized as having slipped by my discerning eye in the past — proof that I will benefit from referring to this guide myself on occasion. I can even see myself referring to this list when I'm feeling naughty and looking to break some rules.

Regardless of how one wants to use it, I thought I'd post it here so my fellow designers are also able to add it to their resource arsenal if they wish.

On another typography note, I thought I'd share with you the Colloseotype project by Cameron Moll, a fellow designer (and drummer even) based in Florida. In Cameron's words, it's "an artistic endeavor to reimagine the (Roman) Coliseum with type." The website features closeups of this amazing piece of work and a video documenting the printing process. Producing the "If You Love Type..." image at the top of this article was far more work than I thought it would be when I started it, so I can only imagine the labour of love (and perhaps, at times, less-than-love) that must have been undertaken in order to produce Cameron's masterpiece. Nice work indeed.

taste | Commercial Drive Eats

With a restaurant-per-capita ratio that rivals that of New York, Vancouver offers a diverse range of cuisines that would surely satisfy any taste. Unfortunately, with an increasingly large number of choices, finding the right place becomes a daunting task. As a food lover, I have long intended to write restaurant reviews in hopes of helping my fellow foodies find the best our city has to offer. My criteria is simple: quality food, service, ambience, and value. Each category is a possible five stars and the restaurant scores the average of the four numbers.

Expect to see reviews regularly on SeeHearTasteDesign, but don’t expect to always see them listed by neighbourhood; sometimes I may group reviews by type of food or value. One day I may even pass the pen to someone else to write a review, maybe someone in a different city, or a different country for that matter! For now, I am staying local and I want to tell you about a couple of new(ish) places that are well worth trying. The next time you find yourself in the Commercial Drive area of Vancouver, and if you’re hungry, treat yourself to any of the following three restaurants:

Falconneti’s East Side Grill ★★★★

1812 Commercial Drive | t: 604.251.7287

Food ★★★★

These guys make really good sausages (that’s their specialty), and they offer several different kinds of gourmet hotdogs. I always, ALWAYS, go for one item here: Tacos Sausiche. You pick one kind of sausage (I like the vegetarian) and they will chop it up and serve it in three soft shell grilled tacos with homemade salsa verde and guacamole. Beware that when they say something is spicy (Yucatan Chicken Sausage), they really mean it.

Service ★★★

Nice and friendly but pretty slow...

Ambience ★★★½

If you’re lucky and get a table on the new patio (upstairs), you will enjoy a lovely view in a comfortable and sleek setting. If, however, you sit inside, bring earplugs as they usually crank up the volume of whatever music they’re playing (I don’t understand why).

Value ★★★★½

The Tacos Sausiche, my favourite dish there, costs $9! That’s a big bang for a few bucks.

The Pond ★★★½

1441 Commercial Drive | t: 604.254.2548

Food ★★★★

The Pond offers a variety of homemade Spanish tapas. Some are better than others, of course. I have tried a few, and my favourites are the paella, the house salad (which comes with grilled red peppers), and the mushroom dip. Mmmm…

Service ★★½

The place has a few friendly faces, but none of them know enough about restaurant service. We had empty glasses sitting on the table that were neither cleared nor refilled, the server wasn’t good at explaining what the dishes were, and we felt a little neglected at times.

Ambience ★★★

It’s nice and cozy in there. But the music is very cheesy and elevator-esque.

Value ★★★★

If you’re going there for a tapas-type meal, it won’t be cheap. But if you have the paella (which is only $10) as a main dish, and add a couple of appetizers, then you’re in for a well-priced treat.

Timbre Restaurant ★★★★

2068 Commercial Drive | t: 604.215.7515

Food ★★★★

Timbre specializes in Canadian (or northwestern cuisine). I ate there during Dine Out Vancouver 2011, and it was delicious! I had spinach salad, BBQed duck with mashed potatoes, and amazing strawberry shortcake for dessert. These items are not on the regular menu, but they have a handful of unique dishes that are well worth trying.

Service ★★★★

Friendly, attentive, and professional staff.

Ambience ★★★★

It’s small in there, but they’ve made it look good and feel comfortable. They occasionally host live music (from jazzy dinners to bluegrass brunches). Sometimes, they burn a little wood to give the room that special ski lodge vibe.

Value ★★★

The portions may be too small for this to qualify as good value, but it is quality food in a lovely environment.

Go out and try those places, if you haven’t already, and tell me about your experience. I’ll be back soon with more restaurant ideas and food recipes.