We love documentaries. ALL OF THE DOCUMENTARIES! We didn’t realize just how much we all love documentaries until our staff email chain about this post.
We love the self-righteous enlightenment and intellectual superiority that briefly engorges your soul after something like Jesus Camp, Bowling For Columbine, Food Inc or Inconvenient Truth! We love the fascinating children of Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom and the geektacular splendor of Trekkies or Cinemania and the life-scarring/disturbing/enthralling horror of Paradise Lost or Capturing the Friedmans and we love EVERY SINGLE LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY EVER from For the Bible Tells Me So to The Celluloid Closet to The Aggressives and back again. We’ve talked about some of those, in fact: here’s our review of 8: The Mormon Proposition, our interview with the creators of Fish Out of Water and our list of documentaries about religion and homosexuality.
But this particular list isn’t limited to queer films; this list is our answer to “what documentaries do you think everyone else needs to see RIGHT NOW especially if they ever want to understand a very crucial aspect of the world we live in?” As a result of our enthusiasm, this is much, much more than a top 10.
Consider it Autostraddle’s definitive list of the documentaries you need to see before you die.
Laneia // Executive Editor:
Beautiful Losers
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Beautiful Losers looks at the most influential artists of the early nineties – most of whom were unknown at the time – and how their work affected fashion, music, and essentially all of pop culture.
The interview subjects (Harmony Korine, Shepard Fairy and Margaret Kilgallen, to name a few) were just punk freaks who wanted to do something real, so they did. They spray-painted shit and regular-painted other shit and built things and figured out how to get their points across to people who cared. I mean, if you’re not even more inspired than usual to embrace your weirdo artistic side after watching Beautiful Losers, I don’t know if you should be here. WAS THAT HARSH I’M SORRY THIS FILM IS JUST REALLY F*CKING GOOD AND I THINK YOU’LL LOVE IT.
+ Watch Beautiful Losers now.
The Business of Being Born
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The Business of Being Born examines what it’s like to give birth in America, specifically the stark differences between hospital and home deliveries. The overall point of the film is that women need more information about all of their options, as well as a greater understanding of what their bodies are naturally capable of, before choosing a method of birth.
It was produced by Ricki Lake after her own unsatisfying experience with a hospital birth (something I instantly related to). The film really gets into the monetary side of the medical industry, revealing information that shocked even me, a strong supporter of midwifery.
What I especially liked was how even-handedly the facts were presented. Every woman makes this decision for herself — there’s no right or wrong choice and things don’t always go as planned — and I think The Business of Being Born was very empowering in that sense. More empowering, in fact, than either of the OB/GYNs who delivered my children.
+ Get The Business of Being Born.
Helvetica
After watching Helvetica last fall, I read like, six books on graphic design and made a list of all of the most influential designers of the last 100 years and then I read a few books about them and I STILL wasn’t satisfied. I think the only way to get it out of my system is to either a) take classes or b) hang out with Alex a lot. I have chosen option b) because a) costs too much money and Alex cooks.
I’d never stopped to consider how much control graphic artists have over OUR ENTIRE LIVES. It’s so weird, right? I mean, the way I feel about The Gap is due, in part, TO FONT. That is f*cking crazy!
+Watch Helvetica now.
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Official Favorites of “Julie & Brandy in Your Box Office“
The September Issue
An interesting window into one of Fashion’s most creative and dynamic teams. Julie is the Grace Coddington to Brandy’s Anna Wintour. For anyone who doesn’t already know, Anna Wintour is the bitchy one.
+ Watch The September Issue.
Paris is Burning
If you’re gay and you haven’t seen this movie, you should kill yourself. It’s a crucial part of the history of gay culture in this country. So much of the imagery we see today is culled from this time period and lifestyle (including In Your Box Office). This documentary is Gay and Fashion. Period. It endlessly inspires us.
+ Get Paris Is Burning.
Deliver Us From Evil
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To call this a favorite feels a bit strange. But nothing before or since has been quite so horrifying and moving. It’s one of the better documentaries as far as being unbiased. The filmmakers never judge their subjects. They just simply tell their stories.
+Watch Deliver Us From Evil.
Anvil
This is a must-see for anyone out there following an impossible dream.
+Watch Anvil! The Story of Anvil.
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Riese // Editor-in-Chief:
Grey Gardens
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I was on a date with someone who called Grey Gardens “the worst” and “overrated” and that was our last date. You need to know about the costume of the day, the Marble Faun, the flag dance (which I can do) and about being a S-T-A-U-N-C-H character. It’s considerably more important that you familiarize yourself with Grey Gardens if you spend time around gay men or theater people. Prioritize appropriately.
Oh also it’s hilarious and heartbreaking all at once. The documentary by the Maysles brothers (Gimme Shelter) has since been turned into a Broadway musical and an HBO movie starring Drew Barrymore & Jessica Lange.
+ Watch Grey Gardens or buy the Criterion Collection DVD. There’s also The Beales of Grey Gardens, which features more of the Maysles brothers’ footage.
Killing Us Softly
“Advertising does sell products but it also sell it sells values, it sells images, it sells concepts of love and sexuality, of romance, of success and perhaps most important of normalcy. To a great extent, advertising tells us who we are and who we should be. What does advertising tell us today about women? It tells us just as it did 10 and 20 and 30 years ago that’s what most important about women is how we look.”
If you haven’t already seen it in a Women’s Studies class, you can watch the whole version of Killing Us Softly 4 RIGHT NOW. Yup. Or if the “for preview only” thing annoys you, and it probably does, Killing Us Softly 3 is the one I actually saw, and you can see all of it here, right now.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Hey did you know that But I’m a Cheerleader originally got an NC-17? The ratings board told Jamie Babbit that she had to cut a scene of Natasha Lyonne masturbating over her underwear while fully clothed. Meanwhile, Jason Biggs was masturbating into an apple pie in American Pie, nationwide.
There’s a million reasons to watch This Film is Not Yet Rated, but as a woman or a queer you should know how female pleasure and gay sex have been censored and are still being censored while dudes hammer away. Clearly there’s a group of rich white republicans behind the MPAA, as there is behind all evil things or secret things. Also, the private detectives Kirby Dick hires to track down the MPAA’s members are, incidentally, lesbians!
+ Get This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Roger & Me
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This is one of my favorite movies ever. I rented it ’cause it’d won an Academy Award and I watched it four times in one weekend and decided I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker. Michael Moore has gotten some shit lately for the obvious agenda his newer films mercilessly peddle — which is devastating, because it enables fence-sitters to write off movies like Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko which contain about five good points/revelatory moments for every one ridiculous one-sided stretch.
But before all that, it was 1989 and we had Roger & Me. Growing up in Southeastern Michigan and having visited Flint many times (including a trip to the ludicrous “Autoworld” featured in the film), I’d seen firsthand how the General Motors’ downsizing/outsourcing had devastated Detroit, Flint, and really most of Southern Michigan altogether. The title refers to General Motors Chairman Roger B. Smith, the man Moore tries to track down for an interview. Nobody knew who Michael Moore was back then.
+Get Roger & Me.
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Brandy Howard
Actress, Model, Comedian, Writer and
co-star of In Your Box Office on Autostraddle.com:
Spellbound
Super cute and funny. Very entertaining.
+Get Spellbound.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
This was about as horrifying as Deliver us From Evil. Only it’s not the Catholic Church, it’s corporate America. And they’re not molesting children – they’re raping our parents.
+ Watch ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM.
My Kid Could Paint That
This documentary is fascinating because it begins as one thing and ends as another. In a truly unique structure, the filmmaker changes the subject of his documentary half-way through after being drawn in and almost becoming the subject himself.
+ Get My Kid Could Paint That.
More Than a Game
One of the best sports documentaries ever made in my opinion. Equal
parts touching and inspiring. I cried so many times.
+ Get More Than a Game
(I’m probably gonna like that new one called Babies too. I’m a sucker for cute).
NEXT PAGE:
Julie Goldman’s picks, Lil’ Wayne, Freeheld, the Dixie Chicks
and more good stuff you need to watch…
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63 responses to “28 Docs Later You’ll Be A Better Person, Just Watch”
Thank you for the list, it looks very delicious.
That Helvetica one, I don’t know how I never heard of it before, but it looks like the closest thing to typeface porn I have ever seen.
If people like Spellbound, try checking out Doubletime which is similar except about SKIPPING!
Also, one of the best narratives in a doc I have ever seen is in A Boy’s Life which seems very straightforward at first but gets so more complex and fucked up as it goes on. It also contains one of the best lines I have ever heard in cinema:
“I’m gonna get a job, get some teeth and BE somebody!”
Oh also, do people like Nick Broomfield docs? I’ve only seen a few of his, but I quite liked Fetishes, though he’s famous for the Kurt and Courtney one.
And Louis Theroux, I don’t know if his stuff is ever shown in the US, but he does lots of docs about America that get shown in the UK, specialising in things-that-give-the-rest-of-the-world-nightmares-about-America such as Westboro and crazy pro-gun people.
I really love his style though, he’s very unassuming and anti-confrontational, and good at gaining people’s trust only to later tie them in knots with their own hypocrisy.
Yeah Louis Theroux has some great ones. His one on Westboro is called The most hated family in America and I found it very interesting. He gets to spend time with the family and you see them on a human level and ultimately realise how Fred Phelps family are all victims of him too.
It’s available a few places online including youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOrz5k0jWdU
I worded that last sentence weird. Apologies.
i already loved Natalie Maines so much and then i saw ‘Shut Up and Sing’ and it was all over. FUTK!
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another great one for the nerds? WORDPLAY. it’s all about Will Shortz and crossword puzzles. Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart and the Indigo Girls are in it.
get ready for precious nerdery- I run a documentary film discussion group for old people. Mostly I have learned that subtitles are evil- but even if you haven’t understood a word of a documentary, you can still comment on it.
apply this to your life as necessary.
Anything from the powerhouses of verite- DA Pennebaker, the Maysles, Leacock is worth seeking out. My favorite is Salesman because it’s the saddest fucking movie I’ve ever seen.
There’s been a wonderful documentary renaissance recently- especially amongst lady filmmakers. “Order of Myths” by Margaret Brown, “12th and Delaware” (by the ladies who did Jesus Camp!) and “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo” by Jessica Oreck are all five stars.
LOVE this topic, autostraddle! thankssssss!
Oh you can put links in here? neat.
12th and Delaware>/a>
The Order of Myths
Beetle Queen
TECH SAVVY!
The Beetle Queen movie was really interesting. Glad you tell me of these things, Miss Caitlin Mae
I will go to the movies with you any time, Alex.
I’m so glad we’re 2/2 on enjoying those docs!
and maybe we’ll invite other cool people who pass muster.
official autostraddle monthly (or BI-monthly) movie meetup?
There’s a really cool movie coming out this fall, Marwencol about an Iraq war vet with PTSD who stages elaborate dioramas in his yard as therapy….
I have a lot of questions about lil wayne for real
Wow. Yes. I won’t rest until I see that Lil Wayne documentary! Genius pick, Rachel. Julie and I plan on smoking very petite pot cigarettes while sipping on some purple cough syrup (mixed with sprite, of course) and making a night of it!
ALSO- I wrote my picks in the dark, in the car, while on a road trip and forgot to mention two crucial docs that I LOVE-
Cocaine Cowboys & The King of Kong
Oh man, Cocaine Cowboys was mind blowing. I had no idea that Miami was literally a war zone. Scarface just scratched the surface.
I adore documentaries as well and I’ve seen most of these picks. Great choices. I particularly love “My Kid Could Paint That”. It’s a film about so many different things and the storytelling is ingenious.
Off the top of my head, a few more of my favorites that were not mentioned: Crumb, Capturing the Friedmans, Trembling Before the Eyes of God, Jesus Camp, Titicut Follies, The Cruise, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple.
Also, it’s interesting there are no Errol Morris films on anyone’s list. And as a documentary enthusiast I’m ashamed to admit…I’ve only seen Fog of War and I wasn’t crazy about it.
YES. Also any documentary about high school (High School, Seventeen)
I am a huge doc enthusiast and while I liked fast cheap and out of control, it really took me a while to get into it. I respect what errol morris is doing but new york abstains, courteously (from seeing any more of his films.)
I can’t believe I forgot the devil and daniel johnston.
Anyone else have a HUGE problem with Born Into Brothels?
GOD documentaries are the absolute best. I have maybe 40 in my instant queue and just added 15 more…thanks Autostrad
Another strange but powerful documentary along the same lines as Jesus Camp is Hell House. I watched it on youtube and it follows a church as they construct a hell house for Halloween that they hope will scare people about hell so much they will turn to Jesus.
My girlfriend and I just recently watched Hell House. Man, that was some weird, messed up shit. I mean, I experienced some of that bizarre religious dogma first hand – but nothing quite as extreme and over the top as that.
Yeah I find the more removed I get from that the more I’m like wow I used to find this normal. Like seriously Jesus Camp was basically my childhood but now I’m like WTF?!
I love documentaries so much. I’ve recently just watched Shine a Light and No Direction Home and they were both so riveting and beautiful.. I cannot wait for Scorcese’s film about George Harrison.
Another beautiful, heartbreaking and fantastic film is Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. Y’all, that movie is so devastating. I think it was the only thing to make me cry more than Freeheld. So good. You should watch it if you haven’t.
Oh and CNN just aired a short doc called Gary and Tony Have a Baby. And that one was really sweet and lovely.
Netflix keeps insisting that I watch Zachary, but I keep putting it off. Now I’ll definitely have to watch it. Thanks!
YOU GUYS i forgot to say that the film Alma is AMAZING. here, i’ll transcribe the blurb from the back of ye olde disc container:
“Alma Thorpe’s bizarre views on sexuality, motherhood and mail-order sweepstakes make her a living, breathing shrine to Southern Gothic. In this intimate and darkly humorous film, director Ruth Leitman follows Alma’s daughter Margie on her journey with a mentally ill mother and an abusive, alcoholic father.”
it’s like Grey Gardens meets Intervention meets Bastard Out of Carolina. it’s nowhere near as good as Bastard Out of Carolina, but it’s SIMILAR.
Nobody mentioned “Born Into Brothels” or the best documentary I’ve ever seen in my life… “The Farmer’s Wife”
Loved The September Issue. Blown away by Grace. Interesting once you see where the real brilliance behind something lies.
I thought Born Into Brothels was hugely problematic in terms of its white savior complex.
Sadly I’ve seen four or five other docs with the same problem recently…
I totally agree with you, BFC, about how phenomenal Grace was in The September Issue.
I DIDN’T REALLY CARE FOR THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
there i said it
It may not necessarily be life changing BUT Sounds Like Teen Spirit is amazing, it’s about the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and it’s so funny and heart warming, it follows the stories of a few of the contestants and it’s just a really good watch. Think people that like Spellbound would enjoy it.
Also second recommendations of Exit Through The Gift Shop, Anvil and My Kid Could Paint That. Great article
Oh oh oh, I really want to see Sounds Like Teen Spirit. I really wanted to see it when it came out but I could not find anyone else with sufficient Eurovision obsession to go and see it.
Thanks for the reminder, my films-to-watch list grows ever longer…
Thanks for the list, guys! I’m going to watch more than a few of these. I love a good documentary.
Has anyone seen The Cove? It was pretty painful to watch, but it was a good documentary. I also recently watched Anvil, which I didn’t like quite as much as I thought I would. Some bits seemed a bit staged… I dunno.
This is a very comprehensive list guys, and now I feel like I need to go watch a million documentaries.
But I have to recommend one more: Darius Goes West!!
It seriously is a life-changing doc. The guys who made it were all still in high school or college (except for one 25 year old they got to drive their RV) at the time, and they paid for it by pre-selling movie credits. It seriously gives you hope that the world can be better. And the director, Logan Smalley, is one of the best public speakers I’ve ever heard.
http://www.dariusgoeswest.org/index.php
YES. One of my best friends was actually directly involved in Darius’s mission in Athens, GA. His touching story definitely made me reevaluate how much I take my daily life for granted. I highly recommend this one.
Today you’re trying really hard to implode because of your own awesomeness.
I already watched “Killing Us Softly”, I just couldn’t stop once I started and now I want to show it to everyone I know.
Nice list, definitely found some titles I need to check out. Lake of Fire and Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator are some of my fave docs.
This list is marvelous
And YES, god, Roger & Me. That movie changed my life.
Thank you so much for this article. I looove Docs I want to be a Documentary Filmmaker one dayyyyyy!
hands on a hard body is one of the best movies i’ve ever seen. i didn’t know a filmmaker could make me care so much about a radio contest.
FUCK YES TO THIS
This list is gonna keep me busy.
I recommend The Times of Harvey Milk. It’s old but important. You can watch it on Hulu.
And you can watch a lot of documentaries on Logo’s website, like:
Southern Comfort(listed)
Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Pick Up the Mic
I only recently realised how much I LOVE docs, so perfect timing with this article!! Along with all the docs on this list, i’m especially looking forward to seeing Beautiful Losers, Helvetica and Killing us softly.
I just watched ‘Art & Copy’, now I don’t think i’ll ever be able to watch a commercial or look at an ad in the same way…infact, it kinda made me want to drop my degree and take up advertising haha
OMFG
HOW ARE THERE THIS MANY DOCUMENTARIES I HAVEN’T WATCHED
I fucking love you autostraddle.
But stop reading my mind.
Documentaries usually manage to make me feel both extremely self-satisfied and profoundly inadequate at the same time. Since that is my preferred state of mind/comfort zone, I really like watching them, so I appreciate all of your recommendations very much. Consider your recommendations very much appreciated.
Also, I didn’t know “The Carter Documentary” existed and now I need to watch it (even though I admit I’ll never be ready for that shit).
Also II, if I stop visiting AS it probably just means I saw “Beautiful Losers” and thought it was baloney.
In the interest of preventing a potential misunderstanding, I just want to point out that I haven’t seen “Beautiful Losers” and I meant that last ‘Also’ as something that could eventually happen (but not really). More importantly, I meant it as an unfunny joke. So, if no one though it was at all funny, just keep in mind that that was exactly what I was going for.
“Beautiful Losers” probably is baloney, though.
[comfort zone: occupied]
Aileen Wuornos: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer is good. Also, Capturing the Friedmans gave me bad dreams for about a week. Documentaries can take the whole concept of mindfuckery that little bit further than film, I think… Because, y’know, it’s real and there is an ACTUAL answer out there, somewhere, but chances are you’ll probably never see it.
Zero Day was a good mockumentary, too. Just, uh, FYI and shit.
One of my faves is Cinemania, a film about 5 obsessive movie-goers in New York. A mate of mine randomly picked it up at the video store and we were both blown away by it.
Catch up on your queer history with
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
The Times of Harvey Milk
Before Stonewall
Kind of a new one – The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is *really* well made, and is a portrait of two amazing women.
i loved cinemania. my favorite part is how they were super competitive with each other about who saw what movies, and they’d like look at each other in the theater and be like, “ugh of COURSE she’s here,” etc. also i liked how serious they were about their schedules.
Ugh I go to the movies with those people. I am terrified about my friends becoming those people- they’re pretty close already except that they’re younger and have slightly better personal hygene. I remember when Roberta (who has since passed away) belching loudly in the middle of a quiet contemplative scene in a Japanese movie. Talk about killing the mood.
The best was when two olds got in a FISTFIGHT at an Anthony Mann western and actually rolled out into the aisle.
Wow, I’ve only seen Helvetica (in class) and Fish out of Water (obvs) from this list. Several of these are on my ‘to see’ list but many of these I’ve never even heard of. One of my fav documentaries to watch is Mad Hot Ballroom because I am a sucker for kids being cute & artistic & doing things to help improve their situations/fulfill their dreams. I also got Pageant for my birthday but I haven’t watched it yet…
LOVE Paris Is Burning. I watched it a few years ago in my visual culture class, and I remember these two bitchy girls behind me going on about how it was so totally gross, and that they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
I also really loved $ex $laves. I’m Ukrainian, and I was so thankful, after watching this, to have been born in North America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6KUP9kFvUE&feature=related
Actually, this is the version of the sex traffic doc that I saw. It’s basically got the same stuff, but provides more of a backstory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7JqbOUrRVM&feature=related
KING OF KONG!
unrelated: moving sucks
I don’t think I saw this in the comments, but the doc “Man on Wire” is AMAZING. It won the Oscar in 2008, I think, and it’s about Philip Petite, a French tightrope walker who walked between the WTC towers in the 1970s. Really really well done, and Philip Petite is the perfect interview subject — really expressive and dramatic and just awesome.
Also – GREY GARDENS FTW.
I declared today Documentary Day and watched The Carter Documentary, Helvetica, The Weather Underground and Paris is Burning pretty much back to back. Now I’m watching Paper Clips. ONLY LIKE TWENTY MORE TO GO. Then I’ll be a better person right?
Brianna you my girl!
Damn straight.
I just finished watching Anvil. I’m thinking Beautiful Losers will be next.
The Weather Underground is my favorite so far. I didn’t know much about it either.
yes.
I just finished watching Freeheld and bawled like a baby through the entire thing.
A week later: still working through the list. I have now seen…
the carter documentary
helvetica
the weather underground
paris is burning
paperclips
anvil
beautiful losers
spellbound(which I realized I had watched before)
freeheld
clearly I have too much time on my hands.
Malls R Us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6m0KwBzOpU
Not easy to track down, but I recorded it a few months ago when it aired on CBC.
love docus. takes you on such an emotional ride.
before i slept last nite helvetica, burning, and beautiful losers were loading unto my comp – when i woke up everythings gone. grrr
anyhu, thanks for the great list, again
I LOVE this post – thank you so much! I’m going to take a few on my vacation.
Another documentry lover…thanks for the recomendations, there are a bunch I havn’t seen yet. (I’ve already watched a couple, since reading this article on fri…)
I was super excited to see that I could watch Freeheld on logo.com…and it’s not even geo-blocked for us canadian/international folk
Great list but you have to see ‘Touching the Void’, you can watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0slYY_YaCrY
and actually it looks like the whole thing’s been uploaded to youtube in 12 parts…
Anything at all, even if you don’t like the subject matter, by Ken Burns. ‘Unforgivable Blackness’ especially.
Recently watched ‘Training Rules’, that was really good. ‘The Aggressors’, amazing.
David Sutherland did two riveting documents, ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ and ‘Country Boys’. Both enthralling and I highly recommend them. If the Appalachian region interests you, (and you are interested in photography) then *definitely* check out ‘The True Meaning of Pictures’.
Love documentaries. Just watched “The Devil’s Playground” about a group of Amish teenagers going through “Rumspringa” where they get to go crazy for a while before getting baptised into the Amish faith.
One of my favourite docs is called “Être et avoir” (To be and to have), about a year in a tiny rural French primary (elementary?) school. It is adorable.
‘Paris is Burning’ is so great. I stumbled across it at the local Blockbusters (movie rental place – is it UK-specific?)
Assume that someone working there is queer, cos there were a bunch of great gay films on the shelves.
Annnnyway, great film. I’m going to order Helvetica RIGHTNOW for my gf who gets a little *too* excited by fonts.