Stick With What You Love

These are our awesome pups. They make me smile. Ringo's chilling out and Dazy is ready to go for another long walk...

Meanwhile... this also made me smile - check out these simple keys to surviving this thing we call life:

Stick With What You Love
Think Big and Noble
Be Expressive
Practice What You Preach
Keep an Open Door
Offer a Guiding Hand
Be Consistent
Stay Positive

Learn more about the 8 Ways to Inspire Others.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Another Company

Tiny Green Monster

This is wicked cool.

Live scores, batter's count and more with no monthly fees - nice!

My Live Board gives you real time baseball game stats in a 100% solid ash frame complete with Wireless Bluetooth® Technology enabling cycling through the league when your not following your favorite team.

But 200US for a web enabled LED Scoreboard, is a bit pricey considering the same info is available totally por nada online and via my iPhone.

That said, I really dig the retro design and yeah, I'd probably grab one if it came down to the $50 ballpark.

That's Right,

HMK

Graphkin

Genius.

Graphkin: 2ply recycled graph paper napkins.

Some of the world's greatest designs, famous buildings and innovative ideas have all started out as sketches on paper napkins. Now with Graphkin you can skribble with precision accuracy!

From the mind of Colin O'Dowd.

That's Right,

HMK

Info-Treppe

I totally love this!

Throughout 2009, a number of events have been planned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.

Check out the Info-Trepp, brain child of Katharina Bardens. The Info-Trepp is a mobile info-pavilion incorporating a traveling exhibition, viewing platform and café is designed to become the meeting point for guided tours of sites throughout the city best showing the development of Berlin since the fall of the wall, i.e. Potsdamer Platz, Hauptbahnhof, etc.

The pavilion can be entered from three sides enabling it to adjust to the specific urban situation and the individual elements of the walls can be taken apart and loaded onto a trailer for easy transport.

Imagine this concept as a Texas Ice House with the stairs doing double duty as bleachers to simply relax and enjoy the view or perhaps as a riser to check out a live band, performance or art installation... Hmmmm....

More info: A Changing Berlin.

That's Right,

HMK

Texas Lake House

Man, I really dig this awesome Lago Vista Lake House - the whole back of the house is wrapped in glass from floor to ceiling.

Commissioned by a highly creative family including a painter, writer and set-designer, the lago vista residence is a vacation home which doubles as an artists' retreat.

The house is a simple shed structure with a large cantilevering roof covering an expansive exterior patio. Cantilevered structure is further expressed in the foundation in order to convey a sense of levitation.

The entry side of the house is expressed as a wood box containing the functional aspects of the program. Having passed through the utilitarian core, the house opens on all sides toward the patio and creek beyond.

Very nice work from Bercy Chen Studio LP.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Design Milk.

Waveform Bracelet

Really digging this very cool idea from The Sound Advice Project.

Although the sound waveform bracelet is intended as a way for parents to record an inspirational message, which is then custom-made into a piece of jewellery as a gift to a teenage child, I find that a bit too limited.

I can see these being created as personal gifts being made from someone's name, a tag line or company name, favorite band, place of birth or even simply using favorite single words or a short phrase like: That's Right.

Dig the simple packaging as well!

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Swiss Miss.

SXSW 2009 Rocked!

Dude...

Man, it's Wednesday and I'm finally feeling relatively focused and getting back up to speed after seven exhilaratingly exhausting fun filled days up in Austin for this year's SXSW.

I drove up from San Antonio with my buddy James Lewis from Rackspace on Monday afternoon March 16th for the Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party intending to stay for a only few hours with plans to come back up on to Austin Thursday to check out the music.

Long story short, thanks to my friends Todd Morey and Shane Whitefield for hooking me up with primo nice places to crash, I ended up staying an entire week serving as the interim band manager for Manhattan Love Suicides, one of my new favorite bands all the way from Leeds, UK!

More on that later though...

The timing could not have been more perfect. My main work machine crapped out just hours after meeting a small mountain of deadlines enabling me to take a well deserved, guilt free break!

Above and beyond all the live music, film and interactive activities at SXSW there are also some amazing things to check out during the day including my Top 3 Free Must See List - The Austin City Wide Garage Sale, The Texas Guitar & Record Show and the API (American Poster Institute) sponsored Flatstock 20 Rock Poster Show.

I scored the above prints, The Boxer, The Bowler and The Mountie at Flatstock from artist and super cool dude Micha Smith.

And don't be bummed if you missed out on SXSW this year - you can still check out the Austin Record Convention's Spring Show, right around the corner on April 3rd, 4th and 5th!

Ok, back to reality for now, mas SXSW goodness to come!

That's Right,

HMK

Think It. Ink It.

Creative thinkers such as Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher and Milton Glaser teach classes at the School of Visual Arts.

This campaign from KNARF NY reflects that tradition by encouraging people everywhere to “Think” while also giving them a place to write down their thoughts.

That's Write!

HMK

Thanks again Freddie.

Redbone Guitar Boutique SXSW Gretsch Guitar Giveaway

This is another new interactive piece, one of the tactile kind I just finished for one of my favorite clients, Redbone Guitar Boutique.

The red pick is a real Redbone pick on the color side of this Gretsch Giveway card designed for the Texas Guitar Show at the Austin Convention Center on Saturday March 21st and Sunday, March 27th.

Viva SXSW and Redbone Guitar Boutique!

That's Right,

HMK

Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party + App!

Sweet - it's live on iTunes!

I am so super stoked to announce and share my first iPhone/iTouch App - a collaboration with the wicked smart and cool folks at 2 Pixels for the SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party up in Austin on March 16th, 2009.

The above is the invite and poster and below is a screenshot of one of the seven characters you can become using the App:


The Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party application is based on one of my favorite Apps, a previous 2 Pixles App - OldBooth - and is just a sneak preview of some of what we're working on for a few future Apps so stay tuned!

The SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party App is free but it'll only be available for download during SXSW, so go grab it now from iTunes using this link: Rackspace Lounge Party App!



Here's one of the t-shirts and the real deal invite that comes complete with "interactive" stickers, one of which gets you rock star VIP treatment bumping you to the front of the Lougne Party line.

Have fun with the SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party App and as always, let me know what you think by sharing your comments below.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Piotr and Arek at 2 Pixels for the all their hard work and fine App programing, my go-to tech genius buds Todd and James at Mosso and all the smart folks at the Rackspace Cloud!

Big News!

What are you waiting for? Go to Apple!

That's Right!

HMK

Creating A Global Status Symbol

It has billionaires and big ambitions. Now India wants something that no global economic powerhouse should be without: an international symbol for its currency.

The hope is that the Rupee sign will become as ubiquitous as the US dollar ($), or that instant emblem of the digital age, the @ symbol.

But how easy is it to launch a symbol on the international stage and land a coveted place on keyboards the world over?
It doesn't happen very often.

Nowadays, designing new symbols involves rigorous testing, says Jasmine Montgomery of design consultancy FutureBrand, London.

"The Indian Government will have to consider very carefully how the symbol would be used in all its technical applications - how does it look on the web, blown up on posters, on mobile phones." India would not want a symbol that looked bad when it was turned upside down, she says - "like someone's bottom," for example.

One of the most recent symbols to make the leap, the € for euro, had a long and difficult birth. Before that, in 1971, the @ symbol was assigned an important international role, as the critical connector in e-mail addresses. A 30-year-old computer programmer named Ray Tomlinson, looking for coding to send the first ever e-mail, surveyed the keyboard on his Model-33 Teletype and chose @ - which is apparently centuries old and has served various different functions - because it was unlikely to appear in a person's name."

Read the entire Kathryn Westcott article for the BBC News: India Seeks Rupee Status Symbol

That's Right,

HMK

More on The History Of The Euro.

Thanks to Mark Fletcher for the original money shot.

My Paper Bag

Totally digging this sweet leather bag designed to look like a brown paper bag.

Nice.

My Paper Bag is available from Good For All.

That's Right!

HMK

Once again, thanks again to Design Milk.

Today Is The Day

03.06.09
Watchmen

Oh bon sang indeed!

That's Right!

HMK

This Just In... Bad Idea!

Nice! Nothing like a hearty laugh to start the day off!

But wait, there's more! Wired Magazine's Top 10 Funniest News Reporter Bloopers

That's Right,

HMK

Watchmen Sneak Preview Tonight!

Flashback: Vancouver October 2, 2007.

This serendipitously poignant sign just so happens to be outside and 17 floors down in front of Jackie's swanky digs, (The View) in Yaletown, British Columbia.

I shot this one on a cold and drizzly October afternoon after having a nice birthday lunch on one of the nearby islands. My wife and I we're getting rock star treatment hanging out with Jackie and his lovely wife Amelia along with my Boston art school bud Mike (Mr. X) MacKenzie during some down-time off of the set of Watchmen.

Thanks to Jackie and Amelia my wife and I will be attending the sneak preview of Watchmen tonight at the Santikos Palladium here in San Antonio!

So Stoked! Go JEH!

That's Right!

HMK

ATT: San Antonio Magazine - this photo is NOT Free Stock Photography! Thank you in advance for not printing this without permission.

Le Answer Vinyl iF: Episode 103

That's Right, check out the latest HMK Mystery Stream Podcast, IF: Irregular Frequency Episode 103.

Launch Now in iTunes!

Captured from the continual mystery stream discovered in the fall of 1961, our mission is to post 60+ minute fragments, as frequently or infrequently as possible, from this not too distant satellite of unknown origion presumed to be located somewhere near the dark side of the moon.

Here's some of what you can expect: Haze-laden static free audio explorations featuring snippets of vaguely familiar audio clues to both your past and future, along with intriguing whispered transmissions of promise via an experimental format known as iF: Irregular Frequency.

Relax and clear your mind. Consider the HMK Mystery Stream as your own personal soundtrack experiment - your personal out-of-body, in-flight entertainment for the next sixty minutes of you life.

The seemingly random sonic segues and hand selected audio transmissions are designed to expedite your personal escape to your own alternative reality. Moving in stereo, in our continuing attempt to gain a more clear and deeper understanding of the infinite concept of space and time fueled by the atmospheric vibrations and soundscapes known as The HMK Mystery Stream.

One can only listen, dream, imagine and repeat whenever possible. As your landscape, mood and sense of reality change, so changes the impact, meaning and relevance of your soundtrack.

Well folks, the captain has turned on the Fresh Coffee sign. Please put your headphones on and prepare for lift off... Roger that... Go with bottle up... Remember: Nothing Is Real Until It Is Shared.

As always your comments are always welcome and appreciated.

Launch Now in iTunes or Click Hear: hmk.podomatic.com to stream.

Make It Louder!

That's Right,

HMK

Black Magic Vino

Very nice work from the smart folks down-under at M|A|S|H in Australia.

This limited edition wine represents the best of the Small Gully range and a wine personally developed by the mysterious Mr. Black AKA Stephen Black. The concept was to produce a simple hand written, almost home made package, as if the wine maker had scratched the details of the wine into the bottle himself.


A beautiful imported glass bottle was chosen that Mash then had laser etched. The words actually cut into the surface of the glass giving a great tactile and very raw feel. Something that screen printing could not achieve. The result was a cross between contemporary luxury and personalized roughness.

Makes me thirsty...

That's Right,

HMK

Gracias to Joachim Baan at Anothercompany.

Beam Me Down Scottex

Digging the image for this nice ad for Scottex via Agency Duval Guillaume in Antwerp, Belgium.

That's Right,

HMK

Gracias: Freddie!

The End Is Neigh!

C'est la Fin de "La Marie du Port" de Marcel Carné ... 1949

Ok, start the HMK Wake Slideshow!

Man I love flickr!

Now that that's finally out of the way I can focus on the soundtrack...

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to BlueSuddenSubway for the great FIN image!

Warning: Watchmen Spoiler!

Sweet - I just found out we've got sneak preview tickets to see Watchmen this Monday, March 2 thanks to Jackie and his lovely wife Amelia!

Watchmen officially hits theatres Friday March 6th!

And yeah, I've totally got Watchmen on the brain because the first thing I thought of when I saw this was Rorschach!

Anyway, this is genius:


Tired of having your food stolen by sticky-fingered coworkers or roommates?

Bullies taking your kid's lunch?

Well, worry no more . . . Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides, making your freshly prepared lunch look spoiled. Don't suffer the injustice of having your sandwich stolen again!

Protect your lunch with Anti-Theft Lunch Bags.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to thanks to Design Observer.

And The Winner Is...

Don't get me wrong, I love a good movie, but marathon award ceremonies?

Yawn.

The way I look at it, why waste an entire evening watching an award show celebrating movies you've never seen when you can spend that time more wisely watching movies that nobody ever wanted to see?

The above titles are just a few of my favorites classics that I'm pretty sure will probably never make it to Netflix - and that's really a bummer! If you've never seen the original 1943 Batman or the incredible Eegah from 1962, well, what are you waiting for?

Lots more ideas for your classic movie wish list thanks to Mr. Bali Hai!

I'll weigh in on Mr. Keith Ledger's performance as soon as I see it and I can't wait to finally see Milk though -congrats to the one of my all time favorites the amazing Sean Penn!

That's Right,

HMK

Nice Entrance!

You just gotta love the entrance way to this UK Guitar Store thanks to Hey Mr. Glen!

That's Right,

HMK

A Million Dollars In Every Pot!

Ok, let me get this straight - I think I might have a solution to this economic crisis we've gotten ourselves into.

Today, President Obama signed a $787 billion dollar stimulus package bill, with the goal of creating 3.5 million jobs and help pull the U.S. out of one of the worst recessions in generations.

Ok, so if it takes one thousand millions to make a billion and the U.S. population is about 300 million - why not just give every American citizen 1 million dollars?

Seriously!

Take 1 billion out of the 787, give everyone 1 million, and we still have 700 million in change.

Not only would everyone be happy and willing to both spend and save - heck - we'd still have $786+ in today's signed package!

Think about it. Why the hell not?

Oh crap, I think my math is wrong... never mind...

That's Right,

HMK

DieFabrik Storage System

I'm digging the simplicity of this hip and smart interlocking storage system from the folks at DieFabrik in Germany.

"Sehr schön - ich will das für unser Haus!"

That's Right,

HMK