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Aug. 17th Ambitious aging: Madonna is 50 and Roger Black is 60!

The media are celebrating around a huge cake with 50 ambitious candles as Madonna, forever the pop princess, turned 50 Saturday, August 16.  Newspapers worldwide are devoting full pages to the event, complete with on line photo gallery retrospectives of the Material Girl in her many reinventions.

One of the best headlines was in Spain’s El Pais, which commented, tongue-in-cheek, about a possible Gray Haired Ambition Tour for the singer whose Blond Ambition Tour filled venues globally in 1990.

We give you glimpses of how several newspapers covered Madonna’s important landmark birthday.  Bild Zeitung, of Germany, made the best utilization of space by showing a collection of miniature photos of la diva as he reinvented herself from her First Communion in 1967 to striking a provocative pose for promotion of Hard Candy, her best-selling CD of 2008.

MY FIRST GLIMPSES OF MADONNA: Not surprisingly, I was introduced to the young Madonna when my sons Mario and Brian were in elementary school,  It must have been 1983 and one of her songs was playing as I stopped by Corpus Christi School, in Temple Terrace, Florida,  to pick up the kids after a school dance.  The kids did not want to go home “so early”, so I stayed and listened to that girl with the clear voice and lyrics that made some of the nuns in the room roll their eyes.

FROM EVITA TO HARD CANDY: I can say that truly became a fan when Madonna appeared as temptress Breathless Mahoney with Warren Beatty in the Dick Tracy movie (1990).  I still play her hit “Sooner or Later” from that flick.

Then she reinvented herself in 1997 to play the suffering Eva Peron in Evita and, by then, I was convinced she would be around forever. 

Most recently I downloaded her Hard Candy CD, and the 4-Minutes track (featuring Justin Timberlake) with its tick tack tick tack that has accompanied me through many a morning run.

So, happy 50th, Madge. We know your post-50 reinvention is about to happen as you start your next tour, Sticky & Sweet, August 23, in Cardiff, Wales.

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THE BBC even offers a graphic chart depicting the diva’s high and lows: from reinvention to reinvention. Must see.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7447895.stm

Madonna: Unlikely 50-something inspiration
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/15/madonna-unlikely-un50-som_n_119239.html

ROGER BLACK TURNS 60

And, while to the world of pop, the 50th birthday of Madonna is a remarkable moment to be celebrated, to the world of news designers and typography lovers everywhere, the 60th birthday of Roger Black, is also something to celebrate.

Roger is celebrating the event in his Texas ranch, surrounded by family and a group of his closest friends (I was honored to be invited, but could not make it, but I am sending best wishes across the sands of Dubai).  We are sure that Foster Barnes, with his video expertise recently authenticated by a degree from New York University, will provide us with footage of the event.

WHEN MARIO MET ROGER: I first met Roger in the early 1980s at a Poynter Institute event. Soon after, we were sitting by the side of my swimming pool at home in Tampa, sketching the first concepts for our collaboration in the redesign of Novedades, a Mexico City newspaper.

Those were the days: with no Macs around, we had huge sketch pads, tons of sharpened pencils, and I still recall Roger drawing the word Novedades on paper in what was almost a perfect rendition of every detail of the Caslon font he had in mind for the logo.  His drawing of the letters was exactly what we would see today on the computer screen if we typed a word to test a font. This was the kind of work I will always cherish, as I learned much about type from the master, and fell in love with the Caslon font in the process.

THE 1984 MEXICAN EARTHQUAKE: A devastating earthquake in Mexico City uprooted the newspaper’s printing press off its foundations and shook us up, but the show went on, and Novedades’ design was launched on schedule, to be highly praised by the design community (SND Silver Award), as well as individual honors for Roger and me from the Mexican Academy of Design. We were happy to count with the assistance of Novedades art director, Claudio Rodriguez, whose talents enhanced our work.

THAT PALATINO LAUGH: Hundreds of projects later for both of us, I am still in owe of Roger’s quick wit, his knowledge, humor and ability to recite a historical design moment quickly, and usually end a sentence with his legendary Roger Black laugh—-I call it the Palatino laugh, but that is another story, for another day.

Since Roger and I have worked together, taught together and traveled together for both business and pleasure, I still learn from him. I also try to keep up with him, which is probably why I started blogging long after he created his own blog and called it The Last Blog (http://www.rogerblack.com).

No, Roger, mine IS the last blog. And, although this is not about competition, I remind you that I got to the age of 60 ahead of you (in 2007), and I can tell you that I agree with –Reeve Lindbergh, author of Forward From Here, a reflection on aging, where she wrote that “sixty is the youth of old age.”

So, welcome to the youth of old age, Roger. Although you obviously did not have the last blog, I hope that you will always have the last Palatino laugh.

Feliz cumpleaños, Roger!

 

Tbe Dubai Report: daily postings from Dubai, the city with the largest number of cranes in the world, but also one where newspapers in both English and Arabic thrive. New ones, such as The National (published in Abu Dhabi), appear, while the others rethink their roles in what many refer to as “the city of the future”. During this week TheMarioBlog will examine the news scene in the UAE, with emphasis on Dubai, while interviewing media personalities who make it all happen.

Following our posting of The Guardian’s front page detailing the daily diet of Olympic swimming mega star Michael Phelps (eight eggs for breakfast), two of you sent me emails inquiring about my own breakfast choice.

“You are a runner, Mario, so what do you yourself eat for breakfast?,” asked a North Carolina reader.

Thanks for asking. However, although I have been a runner for many years, I am what you would call a leisure runner, not an athletle, and, definitely could not follow Michael Phelps 12000-calorie per day diet. Just about 1800 calories per day is good for me.

However, I eat breakfast after my daily morning run, and it usually consists of the following, which never changes regardless of where I go:
Glass of grapefruit juice, fat free yoghurt with two spoonfuls of granola cereal, fresh fruit salad and a piece of dry wheat toast with honey. One cup black coffee, no sugar.

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on August 17, 2008