Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Link Between Creativity, Mood Disorders?

Moss Rose Brine Creature
According to experts like Terence Ketter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University, sensitivity to one's surroundings is associated with both creativity and depression.

Creative people in the arts must develop a deep sensitivity to their surroundings -- colors, sounds, and emotions, says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

Such hypersensitivity can lead people to worry about things that other people don't worry about as much, he said, and can lead to depression.

"The arts are more dangerous [than other professions] because they require sensitivity to a large extent," he said. "If you go too far you can pay a price -- you can be too sensitive to live in this world."

Hmmm... I knew there was some logical reason I always cry watching old beer commercials.... But what about us folks with such hypersensitivity that truly couldn't care less about things that other people don't worry about as much? Sure, I believe that yes, perhaps one can be too sensitive to live in this world, but once you understand that this whole scene we call life is just a blip on the life of your soul, it's so much easier to simply aknowledge that yes indeed - life's a freakin' tragic comedy, learn to live with it, try not to bitch too much and move on as you enjoy the ride as you do your best to be appreciative, thankful and nice and try not to be a miserable jerk along the way.

Read the entire piece: Experts Ponder Link Between Creativity, Mood Disorders.

And hey, don't miss my big Soul Doubt Show at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Complex!

That's Right,

HMK

Experts ponder link between creativity, mood disorders

Friday, October 03, 2008

My Birthday Hawaiiabera Rocks!

My Birthday Hawaiiabera Rocks!

Pssst....

Hey....

Dig this - Go to www.hawaiiabera.com and use the code: thatsright and you'll score an amazing brother-in-law deal on your very own Hawaiibera...

Dude, you'll be so glad you did!

www.hawaiiabera.com

That's Right!

HMK

Thanks to everyone that came to my Soul Doubt Show last night and to my bud and Grande Kahuna, Reagan Wiliamson for the sweet new Hawaiiabera!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

HMK: Soul Doubt Show



So psyched!

Thanks to curator Chuck Ramirez, I’m excited to announce a dream come true - my first official show at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center! Each piece comes complete with it's own soundtrack, Click Hear: HMK: Mystery Streams.

HMK Soul Doubt Show Invite 5x5 A

HMK: Soul Doubt Show
Opens First Friday October 3, 2008

Gallery 4
Blue Star Contemporary Art Center
Members Opening Reception 10.02.08 6-9pm
First Friday General Public Opening 10.03.08 6-10pm

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday-Sunday
12pm-6pm

Address:
116 Blue Star
San Antonio, TX 78204
210.227.6960

The show runs throughout October – if you're in San Antonio I hope you can make it!

That's Right,

HMK

Monday, September 29, 2008

Who's To Blame?



We are being hypocritical. We are all to blame.

That's Right,

HMK

Thinkubation



Above: Alberto Frias' Sleep Pod.

I've always found that after any long period of intense study or problem solving that it's best to just stop and move on to something else while I let the smart part of my brain figure it out. I like to think of this as part of my thinkubation period. Taking a quick 15 minute nap when I'm stuck or need to quietly gel for a few moments almost always seems to help reboot my thinking and approach, thus improving the final result, which is the other part of my thinkubation period. When a quick nap doesn't do the trick and if time allows, I simply forget about it, give it a few days and let my smarter and much more intuitive subconscious find the most effective and creative solution.

Mowing the lawn, walking the dogs or a taking a spin around the neighborhood on my bike seems to work wonders as well, but there's something special about giving your body something it needs to truly function properly - rest.

Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, once defined creativity as “just connecting things.” Sleep assists the brain in flagging unrelated ideas and memories, forging connections among them that increase the odds that a creative idea or insight will surface.

While traditional stories about sleep and creativity emphasize vivid dreams hastily transcribed upon waking, recent research highlights the importance of letting ideas marinate and percolate.

“Sleep makes a unique contribution,” explains Mark Jung-Beeman, a psychologist at Northwestern University who studies the neural bases of insight and creative cognition.

Some sort of incubation period, in which a person leaves an idea for a while, is crucial to creativity. During the incubation period, sleep may help the brain process a problem.

“When you think you’re not thinking about something, you probably are,” says Dr. Jung-Beeman, who has a doctorate in experimental psychology.

Check out the rest of Leslie Berlin's insightful piece: We’ll Fill This Space, But First A Nap.

Thinkubation!

That's Right,

HMK

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Bummer News


Paul Newman Dies at 83.

I remember going on a "date' with my mom to see The Sting back in 1973 when I was 12. Being the oldest of six boys it was pretty rare to get some quality one on one time with mom. And oh how she loved Paul Newman and Robert Redford...

Bummer news... Rest In Peace Paul!

That's Right,

HMK

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sound Wave


The Museum of Arts and Design, formerly the American Craft Museum, moved to its new home at 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan in September 2008.

The Museum of Arts and Design’s first exhibitions opens tomorrow and one of the exhibitions, “Second Lives”, includes Jean Shin’s awesome piece entitled “Sound Wave”.

Brilliant.

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary features work by 50 international established and emerging artists from all five continents who create objects and installations comprised of ordinary and everyday manufactured articles, most originally made for another functional purpose. For a complete artist list, Click Here.

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary Opens September 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Roberta Smith's New Your Times article Using Old Materials to Put a New Face on a Museum.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

You Are What You Touch




For a campaign with a lot of fingers, this one looks like it's Absolutely got legs.

Nice stuff for Purell from Agency JWT in Sydney, Australia.

Creative Directors: Jay Benjamin, Andy DiLallo
Art Director: Michaela Brown
Copywriter: Allie Buckle
Designer: Jeffrey Oley

Looking forward to more!

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to AdMad!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sweet! iPhone Cupcakes


Congrats to Nick and Danielle Bilton! They're the new Grand Champions of the NYC Cupcake Decorating Championships.

I wouldn't mind downloading a couple of these.

Genius.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Bre Pettis

Saturday, September 13, 2008

This Coat Hanger Is For The Birds...


Perhaps it's because we just recently watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds the other night, regardless, I'm really digging this coatrack designed by David Potts.

Check out more from the creative folks over at Workshopped.
That's Right,

HMK

Thanks once again to Design Milk!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Backyard Prefabs


Photo by Michael Falco for The New York Times
Cheyenne and Greg Morris, (with Jimmy), installed a Kithaus K4 aluminum shed in their Brooklyn backyard.

Three years after renovating their 1903 brownstone in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Greg and Cheyenne Morris turned their attention to their backyard, which contained an odd assortment of disused items — sinks, toilets, Virgin Mary statuettes, wheels from street vendor carts and a moldering stucco garden shed. They cleaned up the yard, made preparations to demolish the shed and asked an architect to draft plans for a free-standing studio to be used as a bedroom and office.

The plans were drafted, but faced with the prospect of more construction, they chose to buy a Kithaus K4, an 11-by-17-foot prefabricated room designed by Tom Sandonato and Martin Wehmann. It arrived within three weeks of their mailing a deposit check, and took a week to assemble, without the hassle of permit applications or unexpected construction costs.

By late July, it sat handsomely beneath maple and pine trees at the end of the yard, a miniature modern pavilion. They celebrated on the evening of its completion by stepping inside to eat popcorn and watch “Freaks,” the 1930s cult classic.

Read the entire Heidi Schumann The New York Times' piece: Instead of Trading Up, Adding a High-Style Shed.

And if you dig the above you'll love: The Tiny House Blog and The Green House.

That's Right,

HMK

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Backstory Cafe


The lucky folks in Chicago have a brand spankingly fresh community-based initiative in the form of a new cafe within the walls of Experimental Station thanks to spearhead Sara Black of the artist group Material Exchange and others.

Backstory's mission is to be a small coffee/tea house and cafe and neighborhood meeting place, a site for social engagement.

"Backstory is an infoshop and used bookshop (offering titles suggested by local artists, activists, environmentalists, educators and religious leaders) all supported by a small cafe serving in the spirit of slow food in Chicago. We are dedicated to conscientious consumerism, transparency, and ethical alternative business practices. We aim to provide a judgment-free zone that will encourage, produce, and facilitate a thoughtful exchange of ideas, respectful discussion, and productive social activity. We are a community-based initiative that aims to provide a convivial space for meeting and function as a resource center for local non-profit initiatives, and neighborhood-based projects. We facilitate the archiving and presentation of promotional materials that will allow a broader audience to access local, social service, cultural, and educational initiatives thereby promoting more actively involved citizenship. In addition to being your neighborhood cafe, we hope be a source for independent media, live music, literary readings, film screenings, round-table discussions, interviews, self-education initiatives, and more. We believe the act of engagement is an end as well as a means to achieve our purpose of growing a more critical consciousness within our community."

Oh how we need a few of these down here in San Antonio. I'd love to be involved with something as smart and cool as Experimental Station and Backstory Cafe.

Hmmmm....

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks at Eyebeam.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Intrastate Commerce




This one's for my good buddy, Dr. Jazz, Sir Bobby J. Another visual study of classic retro signage, neon cocktails and roadside temptations. Grab yourself a cold one and enjoy the Society In Decline Project: Intrastate Commerce.

Cheers!

That's Right,

HMK

Monday, September 08, 2008

500 XL Speakers


Now these are pretty dang cool looking. Imagine your iPod earbuds 500 times the actual size and you've got the 500 XL Speakers.

Nice.

That's Right,

HMK

Friday, September 05, 2008

Ponder This

Persistence

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

– Calvin Coolidge

That's Right,

HMK

Thursday, September 04, 2008

The Art & Sound of Vintage Travel




Here are just a few of my favorites from Tom Schifanella's amazing collection of vintage hotel, luggage and travel labels.

No extra baggage fees, no delays, just grab yourself a big glass of your favorite, sit back, relax and enjoy The Art of the Luggage Label!

And if you really want to escape and get into the traveling mode, checkout my HMK Mystery Stream Special Edition: Ambient Passport: 001. An exclusive, hour long soundscape and journey to a place that never really existed, until now - the perfect audio companion to The Art of the Luggage Label.

That's Right,

HMK

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Original Rolling Stones Logo



Image copyright: Max Nash / AFP

As if we need another reason to visit the amazing Victoria & Albert Museum.

The V&A Museum has paid slightly over £50,000 ($92,500) at auction for the original drawings of the Rolling Stones logo, devised by British designer John Pasche in 1970, it announced last night.

Pasche was studying at London’s Royal College of Art when Stones frontman Mick Jagger, disappointed by the designs put forward by record label Decca, began looking for a design student to help create a logo.

The logo was commissioned for £50, but the Rolling Stones were so pleased with the design they gave Pasche a bonus of £200.



We all got our first look at the now iconic Lips Logo in 1971 with the April 23rd release of the Stones Sticky Fingers' album which was conceived by Andy Warhol and photographed by Billy Name and it's been used by the band ever since.

So I guess it does pay to save your old mechanicals...

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to: Logo Design Love.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Cymbolism


Color is the ultimate tool a designer has at his or her disposal to communicate feeling and mood. Cymbolism is a new website that attempts to quantify the association between colors and words, making it simple for designers to choose the best colors for the desired emotional effect.

Although they've only got 155 words in the word bank, it's a nice concept that seems to be off to a great start: Cymbolism. Good luck.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Swiss Miss.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Coffee Cuff



Formed around a take-out coffee cup, this cuff satisfies both form and function -- the bracelet doubles as a java jacket. Available in a variety of woods.

Get yours here: Contexture Coffee Cuff.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Design Milk, Got It?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

UPut Storage System


Totally digging the look and feel of this storage unit, the UPut Storage System by Angela Kane from the Sydney Design 08 Workshopped exhibition.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Moco Loco.

Viva Tom Petty!

Tom Petty 83
Tom Petty 2008

Check it out. I've started a nice little set of my concert tickets over at my flickr site: HMK Concert Tickets.

Pictured above is the ticket from my first Tom Petty show in Austin back in January of 1983 and also my ticket from last nights amazing show. Mike Campbell totally rules - my ears are still ringing!

And a big muchas gracias to my good buddy Mike Sachse and John Hogan for the great seats - I owe you guys one!

Ok, back to work - I'm working on Something Big!

That's Right,

HMK

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

50 Years Of The Peace Symbol



A protestor wears the CND symbol on his sunglasses during a 'Ban the Bomb' march from the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston to Trafalgar Square, 18th April 1960. Photograph: John Franks/Hulton Archive.


The designer behind the CND sign would be spinning in his grave - now half a century old, it is more often seen on catwalk models than protest marchers.

The British artist Gerald Holtom, creator of the CND sign, penned a solemn note to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, before its first public outing on a London peace march in 1958. "I was in despair," he wrote, explaining how the symbol came about. "Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it."

Read the entire Clare Coulson piece over at 50 Years Of The Peace Symbol.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to David Gianatasio at The Guardian UK.

Socialize Liberally. Drink Conservatively.




Check out this timely series of posters from Boston agency Arnold for the Jack Daniel's brand.

The tagline is, "Socialize liberally. Drink conservatively."

There's a few more over at Thanks to Ad Freak.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to David Gianatasio at Ad Week.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Welo Hand-Lettered Studio Handbook





I'm totally digging this 1927 edition of Studio Handbook by Samuel Welo, 233 pages of beautiful type and timeless design advice. Only this book comes with a twist – every page was hand-lettered by Welo.

Mucho Mas: The Best Type Book with No Typesetting.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Gene Gable and the smart folks over at Creative Pro.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Viva Pinata!



I gotta agree with Freddie over at Ad Goodness, WTF!!??

On second thought, Bravo! This is a most excellent and a pretty damn near genius spot!

That's Right,

HMK