Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Yikes!

Several years ago, I was the first designer to work on REEL Canada. That project brings Canadian films into high schools as a traveling film festival. It's a great way to connect kids with great films such as Last Night or Thirty-two Short Films About Glen Gould ... or, if they're unlucky, complete crap like Bon Cop, Bad Cop. The selections are a rich tapestry.

I checked in on the REEL website the other day to see how things were looking and was greeted by ... this:

AAAggggghhhh ... that hurts!

After you finish with a project, you hope others will come along and build on it and improve it ... not turn it into a scrap heap. How many different kinds of ugly have they managed to squeeze in? The only element I created that's survived the years is the blocky REEL lettering on the logo. Even 'Canada' and 'Our films in our schools' has been mucked up by somebody. What's stunning about that page is that there is absolutely nothing right about it. You'd think that at least one thing would have worked out by accident ...

People just seem to love to wreck things. A few months ago there was an open house on our street and we went for a look and the old house had been perfectly maintained -- we were stunned when we saw it, it was that impressive -- and was in beautiful condition. Someone bought it ... and GUTTED IT! Same thing happened recently to the house I grew up in. My parents had planted a cedar hedge and built a rustic cedar post fence around the back yard and it had grown up and aged really well. But, after the house sold last year, the new owners ripped out the fence and replaced it with the cheapest-looking, ugliest new fence you could ever imagine.

Oh well ... sing it, Tom: