But apparently he doesn’t like it when people watch his films on cell phones. I agree. And that tinkly iPhone music kills me.

The San Francisco cinema run at the Roxie has been extended until January 10th. Sure, you can watch the film on DVD now, but it doesn’t come close to seeing it on the big screen with a bunch of other font junkies!

The benefit auction for my Freitag bag (stuffed with added goodies from the film) and the last few special-edition box sets is almost over!

They sold out in two minutes… this is crazy…

The only ones left are the 10 copies we’re auctioning off as a benefit for A Public Space.

The excellent Brooklyn non-profit arts magazine A Public Space sponsored our New York cinema run at IFC, and now we’re returning the favor by auctioning off 10 of the sold-out limited-edition box sets as a benefit for them. Plus, I’ve donated my personal Helvetica Freitag bag, as seen in the movie. It’s the yellow one with the X on it that you see being made at the factory. Inside the bag, you’ll find a limited-edition box, a Helvetica T-shirt, a copy of the latest issue of A Public Space, and special extra goodies. It’s all for a good cause, so bid now! See all the auctions. I’m sort of having second thoughts about this… I really like this bag!

You probably know that the 1,000 copies of the limited-edition DVD box set sold out the week we started taking pre-orders back in August. After the dust had settled from the shipping date a few weeks back, we discovered we still had 50 copies left in the warehouse. So this afternoon (Monday, December 17th) at 2pm EST, we’ll put the last 50 box sets on sale in the web shop. THERE IS A LIMIT OF ONE BOX SET PER CUSTOMER. Head to the Helvetica web shop at 2pm EST (New York time) today for yours.

Public Radio International’s Studio 360, the excellent show hosted by Kurt Anderson, just broadcast a story that featured Kurt and I walking around New York City, pointing out (guess what) all the Helvetica.

It opens with an audio clip from “Wheel of Fortune” where Pat and Vanna discuss their favorite fonts. I’d heard about this before, but never actually heard it. Classic.

Listen to it on this handy player below. And leave a comment on their site.

Note to self: try not to say “uhm” and “ahhhh” so much…

Apologies for the lack of posts recently… I’ve been trying to get back to normal (whatever that is) following the screening tour, and the DVD release week was nuts. I’m in London at the moment, pretending I’m a cinematographer and helping my friends at Plexi shoot the band Spiritualized in concert at the Union Chapel.

A string quartet… gospel singers… sunglasses… broken-hearted love songs… and I’ve been trying to up my camera skills so this is a nice way to do so.

There are also screenings of Helvetica this week in Dubai (!), another encore run at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago, and a run at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco.

Cheers!

Helvetica was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award this morning, in the Truer Than Fiction category. Lisa Kudrow actually pronounced my name correctly during the announcements. The award “is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.” I feel very honored, thanks so much to everyone at Film Independent!

A delicious-looking yet inedible cake in Atlanta…

So I hosted my final public screening with the film last Thursday in Atlanta. (Thursday was also the closing night of our 8-week run at the IFC Center in NYC.) Thanks to AIGA Atlanta and the Art Institute for organizing a perfect ending to the tour, a sold-out screening at the Woodruff Arts Center and a post-screening Q&A with me and the always astute Matthew Carter. The film will of course continue to screen at public events in the coming months, but without me there to do the Q&A. Really, I love graphic design, and I love typography, but after 100 events in the past seven months I can’t answer any more questions about fonts!

After the Atlanta event, I went to a friend’s wedding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the reception, the rabbi came up to me and said, “I heard you made the Helvetica film?! That’s my favorite movie, I saw it at South by Southwest, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since!” It’s a strange and beautiful world where I can attend a wedding in Tulsa and have the rabbi know my work. Amazing.