Picasso Works Stolen in Paris

Two important paintings by Picasso estimated by the police to be together worth about $66 million have been stolen from the Left Bank home of the artist’s granddaughter Diana Widmaier-Picasso, the authorities announced today.

Paris police officials said the two oils, “Maya With Doll” from 1938 and “Portrait of Jacqueline” from 1961, were taken from Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s house on the Rue de Grenelle in the city’s chic Seventh Arrondissement sometime overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

Read it all at: The New York Times.

That's Sux,

HMK

The Best Time to Do Anything

Have you ever wondered if there's a perfect time to grocery shop, travel, or go to the DMV?

Here are some cool tips that can streamline any routine.

DMV or Department of Public Safety in Texas:
One of the worst places to waste time is at the Department of Motor Vehicles. So experts say try to make an appointment, and if you can't, avoid the morning rush and go mid-week.

Fresh Fish:
If you're buying fresh fish at the grocery store, Thursdays are a good day. That's when shipments for the weekend typically arrive.

And if you've read this far, now is probably the best time to read the rest: Inside Edition.

Thanks to Jamie Zanginer of Real Simple Magazine and Inside Edition.


That's Right,

HMK

Nile FM

Nice stuff for Nile FM.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Freddy over at Ad Goodness.

South Padre Island Sunrise at Home

Discovery HD Theater, seizing on word-of-mouth and blog buzz around Sunrise Earth- an hour of panoramic sunrises shot in HD glory at exotic locations around the globe -- is looking for ways to offer marketing tie-ins to the show.

Though the program is 4 years old, it's now turning up everywhere from yoga classes to real-estate open houses as a plethora of HDTV owners turn into sun worshippers.

Read it all over at Ad Age.

That's Right,

HMK

I shot this sunrise on South Padre Island back in October of 2005, about the same time I thought of the exact same idea. Only my concept was always a live feed called Window to the World where you could sit at a cafe in Paris, enjoy the sunset at Eze or people watch on the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Thanks to By Beth Snyder Bulik at Ad Age

Courageous Clients

Buzz-worthy campaigns turn ad-agency creatives into the cool kids of the moment. But behind every art director or creative cum rock star is a courageous client.

Meet the people who had the guts to greenlight last year's boldest advertising.

My personal favorite is the AMEX My Life My Card campaign. As Diego Scotti,VP of global advertising for American Express puts it - "Authenticity is the thing consumers respond to the most."

That's Right.

Read it at all Fast Company.

HMK

Fluff is no substitute for a concept.

Searching for the Casbah...

Looks like this is definitely an Oscar party consisting of serious Jackie Earle Haley fans...

I was over at flickr and I searched the tag "Casbah" looking for this: THIS and found this awesome shot!

Nice shot.

And the photog ain't bad either... Fresh Direct.

That's Right,

HMK

Verbal Identity

All of these non-latin based, seemingly nonsensical names for brands nowadays just make me chuckle. I mean, where do they come from and can we please see the list of the names that didn't make the cut?

Stuff like BRAVIA, AQUOS, NEXIUM, etc. What the hell?

Each one always sounds like it could either be one of 3 things:

A) A New Technology company, B) A New Drug or 3) a new Star Trek character...

Anyway. Have you ever wondered why certain brands always seem to be present in some back area of your mind, so that you'd only have to see the name and there's an image inside your head?

Bop on over to PingMag and read about 'Verbal Identity' expert Scott Milano as he explains why the sound of a brand name is so important.

That's Right,

HMK

BBFAQ

Had a great group of 30 + friends over last night for the Oscars to witness another star-studded episode in our man Jackie Earle Haley's comeback. Both Jackie and his wife Amelia looked absolutely fabulous last night!

Again, congrats and welcome back Jackie!

Now, we just can't wait for them to comeback home for some Texas Hold'em and some serious BBQ!

And speaking of BBQ... There's a nice interactive beef guide over at Fresh Direct.

That's Right,

HMK

That's Right!

Jackie shows off the shot to Penelope.

Good Luck Tonight Jackie!

That's Right,

HMK

And if anyone knows who shot this please let me know or if you took this and want it removed I'll be happy to make you happy.

JEH! JEH! JEH!

"Little Children" Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley whipped out his Blackberry and took a shot of Penelope, Ashton and Demi while he walked the runway in a Dolce & Gabbana suit and motorcycle-style boots at the GM Ten Fashion Show.

Then he showed the shot to the driver of the car he was sharing the runway with. The guy can definitely improvise.

I'll have that shot he took posted here very soon...


And I know I'm not the only one that hopes to see more images like this of Sir Jackie at tomorrow nights Academy Awards!


Go Jackie!

That's Right,

HMK

My Loft Or Yours?

Genius.

This is a fun read. The references are dated but those of us old school cats that have been doing this since Reagan was in office will appreciate it none the less.

Read it all at Crit.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Chris Hutsul, AKA Ace Hammersmith and Clement Wu over at Crit.

Royal Vino

Prince Charles is joining the greatest artists of the 20th century as he becomes the latest painter to feature on Chateau Mouton-Rothschild's label.

The Prince – a well-known watercolourist who delights in capturing rural scenes around the royal residences of Balmoral, Sandringham and other retreats both at home and abroad – now adds his name to a list which includes Braque, Picasso, Miró, Chagall, Henry Moore, Warhol, Francis Bacon and Balthus.

The chosen watercolour, of pine trees at Cap d'Antibes on the Cote d'Azur, was not painted specially for the chateau, but was selected personally by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild.

Read it all at Decanter.

Cheers!

That's Right,

HMK

Time-Based Typography One. Lucky!

I think this is like, totally, the most killer Friday post to date in the 2.5 year history of this here That's Right blog!

Head first, attention to detail freak and student Jarratt Moody is taking a class that probably didn't even exist when I started this blog. I would have been soooo all over this class had it been offered in my prehistoric (technology wise) 1988 stat camera days up at Mass Art in Boston.

The class is called: Time-based Typography I at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Jarratt recently finished up a really nice piece for the first project in the class. The basic idea of the project is to take a piece of audio from wherever (movie, song, poetry reading, answering machine) and then represent that audio on screen using only typography.

Jarratt chose a famous bit of dialogue from Pulp Fiction as his subject matter. The resulting piece is amazing and must be seen as soon as you find time in your oh so busy schedule.

So? What are you waiting for?

Oh, and there' some F-Bomb dropping, so either mind the volume or use your headphones.

Dig it! Intonation.

That's Right,

HMK

Big thanks to Justin over at Motion Grapher.

Money Makin'

Note the curl in the hair, top right: it’s actually one of Oxenaar’s fingerprints. From his middle finger, no less

Creative Review spoke to Robert Deodaat Emile Oxenaar about his work, how he added personal elements to approved designs and how it feels to have your artwork seen and used by millions, everyday, for over 30 years

Robert Deodaat Emile Oxenaar – or Ootje as he’s known – is, at 76, still teaching in the graphic design department of the Rhode Island School of Design. Born in The Hague in the Netherlands he attended the city’s Royal Academy of Art and then, from 1966 until 1985, worked for the Nederlandsche Bank on a series of new banknotes. It was here that he designed what came to be his most famous project and, in terms of currency design, what many consider to be the most beautiful money in the world.

Read the whole thing over at Creative Review.

Dang how I miss the pre-euro guilder age.

That's Right,

HMK

Out-Imagining The Competition

Businesses have to out imagine the competition, to think--to become--more like designers.

As a designer recently unchained from the ego-driven, status minded, corporate machine, I'm more than familiar with questions like "'Why are you doing that?' 'What is the ROI?' These are the questions that kill," says Andrea Ragnetti, Philips's chief marketing officer. "I made a clear point in the boardroom that whenever it comes to design, we have to keep business management out of the process."

If an organization wants to reap the benefits of design, it must do more than just hire "hot" designers or declare itself to be "design oriented." The challenge is to manage the chronic push and pull between a value system premised on what's valid and one based on what's reliable.

As the management theorist James March has argued, by focusing on the intuitive and experiential, organizations explore new sources of competitive advantage. By looking to the provable and replicable, organizations better exploit the innovations they've brought to market.

To prosper over the long run, a company needs to succeed at both. It must mesh the classical workings of a traditional organization with the prototypical features of a design shop, especially in three key areas: reckoning the future, organizing work, and establishing status and rewards.

But, enough of this rational banter - has everyone turned in their timesheets today?

That's Right,

HMK

Read both Jennifer Reingold's Design Intervention and Roger Martin's, dean of the Rotman B-school Tough Love to get the full-on scoop.

Thanks to the good folks over at Fast Company

You'll Appreciate This, Really.

Before we even get into any more Web 2.0, how about a little website hosting 101.

Thanks to the smart folks over at Agency Byte , I now have a better understanding of How Website Hosting Works, (in plain english, thank you) and this is a perfect piece to pass along to my clients as well.

That's Right,

HMK

Jamaican Lable Art

Ya Mon! Here's a nice collection of Jamaican lable art and related ephemera.

Take me to the Ire Jamaican Lable Art!

That's Right,

HMK

Less Is More

Check out this slideshow of these smart little prefab modern cabanas.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the New York Times.

Giant Space Eye

Comets Clash at Heart of Helix Nebula

A bunch of rowdy comets are colliding and kicking up dust around a dead star, according to new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The dead star lies at the center of the much-photographed Helix nebula, a shimmering cloud of gas with an eerie resemblance to a giant eye.

Take a closer look and read all about Helix nebula over at the Spitzer Space Telescope official site.

That's Right,

HMK

Play The Advertising Agency Game

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be the Big Boss? Well then, this is the game for you!

It's the smoking hot new Advertising Agency Game where YOU are in total control of Your Universe as the Creative Director and Mastermind of an Advertising Agency!

Play the Advertising Game now!

Almost as fun as Snood and perfect after a nice long mid-morning nap.


Patience Grass Hopper, it'll take a few seconds to load!

That's Right,

HMK

Contemporary & Modern Cha-ching!

Detail from Andy Warhol's "Brigitte Bardot," 1974.

A new phenomenon was observed at Contemporary Art sales in London last week.

Records were set for works by Peter Doig, Frank Auerbach, Gerhard Richter, Piero Manzoni, Alberto Burri and Francis Bacon while works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly and Roy Lichtenstein also fetched high prices.

Warhol's portrait of the French actress Brigitte Bardot bagged £5.39 million (that's roughly 10.5 million US!) points to new forces at work that auction professionals had not anticipated.

Read the rest: International Herald Tribune

That's Right,

HMK

The Nissan Qashqai

Awesome spot from TBWA, London.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks Freddy!

The Candid Man

Chameleon, voyeur, outsider, Sammy Davis Jr. used his camera to create one of the greatest unknown picture archives in show-business history.

Check out this glimpse of the previously unpublished images, from the new book Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr. over at Vanity Fair.

Really amazing shots.

That's Right,

HMK

New HMK Cards!

Sweet. I finally got a fresh box of my new HMK cards just in time for SXSW and beyond!

Viva stochastic printing! (Thanks Neenah!)

I'll soon have a bunch of my work, both past and present, up and online.

For now I've got a small set of recent illustrations over at my flickr site: HMK Illustrations

And a Grande Gracias to my true blue network of amigos and support system, you know who you are - I couldn't do it without y'all!

That's Right!

Big Love,

HMK

A Little Slice of Weird

The world doesn't always make a whole lot of sense.

Less so because of these people.

A little slice of weird, everyday at 0015.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the cool folks at Coudal Partners

Comedy Central

These are genius!

Why? Because they understand some basic rules of comedy.

Rules like - "Only a guy in a wheelchair can give another guy in a wheelchair a gift like ice skates for Christmas."

One of my mom's rules was "Never make fun or tease someone about something they have no control over or cannot change." The ice skate joke works dispite this rule because of the expression of the gift giver, the guy on the right, as we're laughing with him and not at the guy getting the skates."

Super funny stuff from the Kempertrautmann agency in Hamburg.

If you've got some rules about comedy to share, add them in the comments.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Freddy over at Advertising Goodness.

Jackie Earle Haley on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley's looking pretty happy on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

And don't miss this great Washinton Post article.

That's Right,

HMK

Super Fresh

Now this is nice.

It's from PUBLICIS and the Creative Agency Team Publicis II for Premium-Distributie Grups mints brilliantly called FRESH.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the good folks at 24.

Holy Bat Blog!

Quickly Robin! To the Bat Blog!

That's Right,

HMK

Stay On Top or I Can't Wait!

Check out the Museum Of Modern BETAs.

This a nice little site that gives everyone a hint as to not only what's on the horizon but what's on the minds of those hoping to be the next big thing scooped up by Google.

Updated each Saturday, MoMB lists the 50 most anticipated applications in the webosphere, as measured by the number of bookmarks at del.icio.us for apps which are not publicly released yet.

Though what I really like is the fact that it's also a groovy little source for researching all the amazing new names for future stuff too - a nice, unintended byproduct for research trend junkies like me.

As of today, Scrybe is numero uno, fast forward and check out their demo video: Scrybe.

Have fun! Museum Of Modern BETAs.

That's Right,

HMK

Meet Clocky!

Oh boy. Our pups Ringo & Dazy are gonna just love this!

Meet Clocky, the alarm clock that runs away and hides when you don't wake up.

Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide. Clocky is kind of like a misbehaving pet, only he will get up at the right time.

Nice! Meet Clocky!

That's Right,

HMK

Strange & Fascinating

It's easy to get lost looking at all these cool and, yes, Strange & Fascinating Maps.

The above map by Johannes Vingboons (1639) is from the American Treasures of the Library of Congress.

That's Right,

HMK

Happy Valentines Day!

Did this little collage for my Chrissy!

That's Right,

HMK

Readius

This is kind of interesting, my buddy Raygun, from GearNut, sent me this this morning.

Answering the question: How to get a 5-inch display in a device the size of a mobile phone?

Check it out: Readius.

That's Right,




HMK

Fountain of Fonts

The fine folks over at Fountain have some pretty sweet Pro Bono fonts available for both Macs and whatever those other computers are called.

The above font, PAVEMENT, was designed by Peter Bruhn.

As Mr. Bruhn describes it's origin, this font was "Made in the late hours after coming home from a Pavement concert."

Fill your font cup over at Fountain.

Wowee Zowee!

That's Right,

HMK

Dynamic & Changeable

Well, we've all seen the ever changing Google logo on special days of the year.

The latest dynamic dynamo is the new Saks Fifth Avenue identity.

A 1973 Saks signature logo was revived — and refined — by the Pentagram design group, then sliced into 64 components that are arranged in different configurations on bags and boxes. "Fragmenting the logo gave it energy and bravura," said Michael Bierut, the Pentagram partner who led the Saks project. "And now we can create numerous permutations of the logo."

Dynamic identities fly in the face of the conventional wisdom that consistency is essential to an effective corporate identity. The more we see the same corporate symbol — or so the consistency camp argues — the more likely we'll be to recognize and remember it. Companies adhered to this throughout the 20th century; and the designers of some of the most successful identities, such as Jan Tschichold at Penguin Books in the late 1940s, and Paul Rand as a consultant to IBM from the 1950s to the early 1990s, were renowned for their rigor.

Tschichold specified how every element of design at Penguin should be executed — down to the spacing of the letters in its books — in the Penguin Composition Rules. Rand did the same at IBM in a series of documents with self-explanatory titles, such as IBM Logo: Use and Abuse. Their objective was to protect the purity of their carefully planned design systems from being botched by dodgy printers and overzealous local managers. Both designers occasionally broke their own rules, but resisted the right of others to do so. As Tschichold wrote: "It is the master who establishes the rules... and is permitted to break the rules, even his own."

Read it all about it: International Herald Tribune.

And here's the word directly from Pentagram.

That's Right,

HMK

The Ara Chest

Winner of the 1st prize at the Elle Decoration competition. The simplicity of this chest and its wood melange gives the interior an extravagant yet minimalistis look.

I totally dig this!

More info at IQ Matics

Thats Right,

HMK

Thanks to the kids at Design Milk

Balloon Bling!

Lights for your balloons … Lights for your Party

Now you can light up your nightime parties with Balloon Brites. No assembly needed, just inflate with helium. Balloon Brites is perfect for any party decorations.

And they're totally affordable: Balloon Brites

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to: Brain Fuel

Merci! Danka! Grazi!

Behold - the most important part of anyones identity system or personal stationery.

The only thing better than recieving one is sending one.

The Thank You card. Not an email.

The above is a working sketch of the first in a series of six cards I'm getting ready to print to aknowledge everyone I can think of for helping me get to where I am today and to those for just simply believing in me.

There's no substitute for what's sadly becoming a rarity:
A heartfelt, simple, real deal handwritten thank you note of sincere appreciation, acknowledgement or just some good old fashioned, humble Gratitude.

Thanks to Robert Fulgham's "All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned..

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.

Thanks for reading!

That's Right,

HMK

Poor Bird!

I was sitting with my coffee this morning and looking out the window and a huge flock of these little birds, I'd guess a few hundred of them, loudly swooped down in the yard and then suddenly off and on their way.

A few seconds later, smack! This little thing hit one of our windows and faceplanted right on the bench.

What really made this kind of weird was the fact that just moments earlier we were listening to a piece on NPR about Bernard Herrmann's work as the sound designer on Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds - which we had just watched a few nights before.

According to eHow, it's estimated that more than 90 million birds are killed each year as a result of hitting windows.

Damn.

I waited a bit to see if our little guy was just stunned but I'm sorry to say that this one didn't make it.

That's a bummer,

HMK

Pimp My Bus!

The Volkswagen bus: 1960s beach bums dug it, brah.

And no wonder. It was cheap, had plenty of room for surfboards, and was about as complicated as a lawn mower. That’s why, when Volkswagen of America’s Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto wanted an unassuming vehicle to house some of its undercover tech, it settled on a roomy, 21-window Deluxe Microbus from 1964.

Dubbed Chameleon by the ERL team, the van — purchased on eBay for $20,000 — has been completely restored, converted to electric drive, and stocked with the lab’s souped-up automotive electronics.

But the best part?

It still looks boss on the beach.

Read the rest of Mike Spinelli's cool article over at WIRED.

That Right,

HMK


Thanks to: Wired Magazine

Cool Room Divider

Check out the custom room divider solutions over at: dVider.

That's Right,

HMK

Teaching The Machine

So. Just exactly how did we get from handwritten text to Web 2.0?

Here's a super nice short attention span theatre version: 101 To 2.0

Thanks to: Reaction

That' Right,

HMK

The envelope above is courtesy of Eunice and Ron Shanahan

Are You Experienced?

Experience is everywhere from cave paintings to broadband websites but what exactly is it?

Read psychologist Tom Guarriello’s primer on defining and designing experience. I know it might sound sort of boring and it's a 3 page article but it really gets great by the end of page one.

If you have anything to do with advertising, design or the web, you'll dig it, I swear.

And as Tom Guarriello put it (as a comment to the original article) "I like the way you describe the designer’s challenge: mix, shake, color, pre-vision, re-vision, en-vision, and let it go. The new emerging from the re-conceptualization of the existing."

Go read: Are You Experienced?

Thanks to: UX Magazine and Jeff Simpson for the inspirational Hendrix photo.

That's Right,

HMK

Steve Wacksman

Check out the super tiki bongo illustrations of Steve Wacksman.

Thanks to the awesome folks over at: Drawn, an excellent cartoon and illustration blog.

And while we're on the subject of illustration, check out some of the rock stars of contemporary drawning at Picture Mechanics.

And then there's the awesome Ray Fenwick!

That's Right,

HMK

Audio Wall Paper For A Nice Day

The HMK Mysterey Stream is the perfect stuff to get you into the groove before and during long pixle pushing sessions....

Make It Louder: HMK Mysterey Stream Number Five

That's Right,

HMK

Nice Font: Las Perdidas

Las Perdidas is a super cool new gritty font by Rian Hughes inspired by a stenciled sign on a South American bus.

With seemingly mismatched characters, it rumbles out of the station, fueled by pure urban grit.

A Veer Exclusive: Las Perdidas.

That's Right,

HMK

Vote For Jackie Earle Haley!

Hey all you JEH fans!

Vanity Fair has an Oscar poll that takes less than 30 seconds.

Vote for Jackie Here! Vanity Fare.

Thanks!

That's Right,

HMK