New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Jackie Earle Haley and his beautiful wife Amelia along with agent Leslie and publicist Elizabeth leaving Le Parker Meridien Hotel before this evenings New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

My wife Chrissy and I are having an awesome time in NYC spending the first weekend of 2007 celebrating with the Haleys.

This is the first of six Best Supporting Actor awards for Jackie's work in Little Chidren.



Congrats and Welcome Back Jackie!

That's Right,

HMK

Midwest Airlines Rules!

I booked a great deal on Expedia for our first weekend of 2007 and scored 2 round trip tickets from San Antonio to La Guardia for about 220.00 each including taxes and fees.

Looking at our final itinerary both my wife and I though - "Midwest Airlines? Who the hell is that?"

Dude, the minute we boarded the jet, we knew Midwest was different.

The whole plane has first class like wide leather seats, two on each side throughout the plane so no more middle seat anxiety, really great service and dig this - chocolate chip cookies baked onboard!

You get the usual free drinks and pretzels as well along with tasty chef prepared meals ala carte that range from 5 to 12 dollars.

Midwest Airlines tag line is "The best care in the air" and it totally was for us on both legs of our journey.

Do yourself a favor and check out Midwest Airlines next time you fly!



That's Right,

HMK

The Queensboro Bridge from The Bentley

Although it's a bit overcast this morning, I got this decent shot showing our amazing corner window view of the Queensboro Bridge from suite 1701 at The Bentley Hotel, 500 East 62nd, NYC.

If you're looking for affordable cool digs in Manhattan check out this awesome Upper East Side hotel just an 8 minute walk from Central Park, 5th Avenue and the New Apple Store.

The friendly staff bumped us up a few floors and scored us a King bed - all you have to do is ask.

And did I mention the 24 Hour complementary Cappacino Bar...

We moved over to le Parker Meridian with the Haleys after staying at the Bentley the first couple of nights.

We'll be back!

That's Right,

HMK

Snow Way!

The Scene: Just after Christmas at an airport security checkpoint, where a half-dozen festive snow globes — like the ones with Frosty the Snowman in a liquid-filled glass globe that simulates snowfall when you shake it — were lined up on a counter.

Wasn’t that nice! The Transportation Security Administration had decorated the checkpoint! But as it turned out, Frosty and his co-conspirators had actually been busted — confiscated from passengers’ carry-on bags pursuant to the following notification by the security administration:

“Snow globes, regardless of size of amount of liquid inside, even with documentation, are prohibited in your carry-on.”

Frosty, we hardly knew you...

Read the entire Joe Sharkey Article over at The New York Times

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HMK

Cool Illustration by Chris Gash

It's There If You Want It

Yoko Ono and John Lennon with peace campaign poster against the Vietnam War, 1969. Photograph by Frank Barratt/Getty Images.

When the star of the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon is asked by a reporter what he thinks Nixon should do to end the Vietnam War, Lennon stares incredulously into the camera. “He should declare peace.” As if this was the most obvious solution in the world.

Sitting in a movie theater in September, I realized this was the most brilliant thing I had ever heard. After years of being politically aloof, I suddenly felt my first swell of social activism rise within me, and with it, the smacking realization that the person who made me feel this way had been dead since 1980.

Read the rest of Alissa Walker's article over at Design Observer . She's editor of the design blog Unbeige.

Imagine.

That's Right,

HMK

Using Coffee To Trick Your Brain

I usually work on multiple projects at the same time, and whenever a new project comes along, I find sometimes find it really difficult to actually get started. Once I’ve begun making progress, I’m able to move smoothly without any problems.

It’s the getting started that’s really difficult, especially if it’s something I’m not really interested in. At an intellectual level I know I have to get started, but I’m not able to summon up the motivation to begin.

For the last few months, the most reliable technique I’ve found to help me get started is to take the work to a coffee shop and begin while sipping coffee. I’ve found that this allows me to get excited about whatever is in front of me at that time. My brain appears to misattribute the physiological response to coffee as excitement about whatever I’m working on at that time.

Of course, once I’ve started on the project, I get into a state where I’m chugging along well after the coffee has worn off. The interesting thing is that the excitement remains.

Read More: Smart Graduate School Applications

Welcome to 2007!

Thinking Holiday

Thinking is so often overlooked, since most of us so called creative types tend to enjoy DOING: designing, creating, making and yes, thinking. It's the leisure of unstructured time over these next few days that allow the opportunity for some real thinking.

It's nice to be able to take an extended breather around this time of year, however we'd all be be kidding ourselves to think we could ignore our work for the entirety of our break. Desing Matters posts on exactly what thoughts we should focus on and avoid. For example, we should replace this:

"Will anybody notice if I don't send out a Christmas card?" or "How can I synchronize my font library across the network?"

with something like this:

"Where is your business headed?" and "Are you content with your client relationships?"

Those questions and more coupled with each new task in 2007 beginning with a streamlined, thus more efficient, methodical approach are just some of what I'll be considering over the next 9 days.

To New Beginnings!

Peace & Happy New Year Y'all!

Thanks for reading.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to squirrelbait over at Core 77

The Crystal Ball: Ads 2007

As the New Year approaches, advertising executives are busy divining the future, compiling lists and predicting hot brands and consumer trends.

Not surprisingly, many agencies are focusing on how the digital world will continue nudging the offline world in new directions, and consumer-generated content is in the forefront of everyone’s mind.

But ad executives also say they think companies should pay attention to shoppers’ interest in knowing more about the products they buy and to their desire to turn their cellphones and BlackBerrys — gasp! — off sometimes.


That's Right,
Read The NYT Aricle

HMK

Thanks to Louise Story at the NYT

Jackie Earle Haley Takes Chicago!

Top dogs Jackie & Ringo. Photo by HMK

For those keeping score, this is the 5th Best Supporting Actor honor for 2006's comeback kid.

Yesterday, the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards chose Jackie Earle Haley the Best Supporting Actor award for his comeback performance in Little Children.

Jackie beat out the formidable likes of Ben Affleck in "Hollywoodland," Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls," Jack Nicholson in "The Departed," Brad Pitt in "Babel" and Michael Sheen in "The Queen."

In addition to yesterday's Chicago Film Critics Association Award, Jackie's also won the Best Supporting Actor honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards.

Stay Tuned!

Congrats Jackie!

That's Right,

HMK

Enthusiasm is Better than Confidence

Dive in and become who you are!

We all want to be confident, don’t we? It’s a word that crops up fairly often in coaching sessions, even with people who are very talented and successful. We’re all human, and for most of us there are times, places, audiences and situations where we feel we’d like to be a little more confident. For creative professionals, these typically include high-pressure performance situations, such as presentations, pitches, interviews, auditions and stage shows.

Of course we want to perform at our best in these situations, but the Creative Coaches over at Wishful Thinking think the word ‘confidence’ creates more problems than it solves and usually advise clients to change the word to ‘enthusiasm’.

Read all 5 Reasons and see why.

As both a creative in the overly political and ego driven advertising game and as concept/designer/artist guy by nature it's always been quite obvious to me that in regard to the business side of things - image, structure, strategic positioning, technology, products or services, we're all pretty much replaceable and everything we do can be copied.

In a world of potentially abundant talent it all comes down to the human factors and finding the people with the right attitude, energy and enthusiasm in addition to the talent. Nobody want's to work with an asshole no matter how much talent they've got - it's simply no fun and life is just too short.

It really all about the energy, enthusiasm, and attitude of each individual person and whether or not you connect, respect and believe in each other enough to do the best job you can and not care about who gets the credit.

I've always believed that a simple, humble, happy and rewarding life is all about relationships and surrounding myself with people that I respect, admire and truly want to be with whether it's friendships, my work, side projects or whatever.

I've been lucky enough so far to be blessed with an awesome wife and kids, great friends and family (even though our time together is a fraction of what it once was) good health and always just enough money to taste some of the finer thing this life has to offer.

And like the headline I wrote in regard to the dress code for Venus de Milo in Boston a few years back:

"Know who you are and dress accordingly"

Cheers and Happy New Year to my true blue friends and family - That's Right - you know who you are!

Peace,

HMK

Joseph Barbera 1911-2006

Rest In Peace Joe Barbera 1911-2006

Hollywood animator Joseph Barbera, who created some of my favorite characters like Fred Flintston, Scooby Doo, The Banana Splits, Josie and the Pussycats, Johnny Quest, Atom Ant, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, Quick Draw McGraw, Mogilla Gorilla, The Jetsons and more, died yesterday at the age of 95.

That's Right,

HMK

The Flag Creek Inn Site

Just in case you missed it, here's the Flagg Creek Inn James and I finished a month or so ago.

If you get a chance stop by the site for a visit. And more importantly - go visit Flag Creek Inn!

And dudes, I personally invite you to checkout our favorite 3 Day Weekend Spot and dig for yourself the tranquiility that can only be derived from floating in the pool on a perfect summer night watching a meteor shower with the kids, a couple of friends and a glass of your favorite..

Yeah, it's like that y'all.

Flag Creek Inn

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HMK

And thanks to Flagg Creek Inn owners Chris McDaniel and his wife Kelly for sharing and making us feel right at home.

This is quite possibly the first official and true collaboration featuring my dear friend Mr. James Lewis on the keyboard.
A HMKJ12 Not2Shabby©FlashThang? Perhaps. Perhaps Not.

Stay Tuned.

The Atkins Group Christmas 2006 FlashThang©

Seasons Greetings form moi and all the cool kids I work with over at The Atkins Group.

Check out The Atkins Group Holiday Message

Peace and Happy Christmas!

That's Right,

HMK

Hi-Fi Genius!

Stumbled upon this over here.

This is one of the coolest rigs I've ever seen!

They claim it's German - all I know is this thing is sweet and it need to be recreated and updated with new guts.

That's Right,

HMK

The Magical Mystery Stream

The Magical Mystery Stream Is Going To Take You Away!

Launch The HMK Magical Mystery Stream

Copy the url and paste it into your iTunes:

iTunes>Advanced>Open Stream>Paste url

My friend Scott Blackwell took this awesome shot scuba diving last year. I helped out with a little retouching and just had to post this.

Enjoy!

That's Right,

HMK

Apes Hill Club, Barbados Site Launch

And here's another site officially launched today. Just one of the 9 sites we're working on for the Landmark Land Company - a group that specializes in Golf and Residential Development.

Checkout: Apes Hill Club

That's Right,

HMK

New South Padre Island Site Launch

Sweet!

The first of 5 new sites we're launching this month is officially live.

This one is for the South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Go South Padre Island

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HMK

Vino What You Vant

Check out The Nice.

The Nice Ice cooler is a real deal wine cooler. Fill the mold with water, freeze for 24 hours, then remove to create a gorgeous bottle chiller made of ice. Throw in some fruit, food coloring, ornaments and more before freezing for a stunning effect, or place a candle inside after frozen for a dazzling light display.

Ordering Info: Dutch By Design

That's Right,

HMK

Saatchi Creates an Online Hangout for Artists

“Being an artist is a solo endeavor, and this is a safe way to see what others are doing,” says Denise Parsons, an art student in San Francisco who shows her work, above, on the Saatchi site.

Julie Ann Travis , 23, a graduate student at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, is curious to see what her peers are up to and to share some of her latest work. So recently she posted a self-portrait in which her head is buried in a pile of dirt at Stuart, the latest addition to a recently redesigned Web site for the Saatchi Gallery in London.

The brainchild of the London-based advertising magnate and collector Charles Saatchi, this social networking outlet — a kind of MySpace knockoff for artists — is causing something of a sensation, boosting traffic at the gallery’s Web site overall to more than three million hits a day.

Read The Article: The New York Times

Check Out The Site: Saatchi Gallery


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HMK

James Bond: An Everlasting Brand

In 1962's Dr. No, a tuxedo-clad Sean Connery subdues assassins, foils the world domination plans of an evil genius, and seduces pretty women, all with an occasional bon mot thrown in. Forty-four years, 20 films and five leading men later, the James Bond film franchise continues to flourish by relying on that same basic formula -- and with good reason, film and marketing experts say.

Read It All

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HMK

Thanks to Angus Loten at FastCompany

Spyhole

Click Enlarge +

Model Eva Padberg personally presents the new Otto catalogue to thousands of homes across Germany and whoever looked through the spy hole to see who was there saw Eva with the catalogue and the order number.

Nice.

Agency: Kolle Rebbe, Germany
Via: Goodness

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HMK

And the winner is... Jackie Earle Haley!

This just in!

Jackie Earle Haley has just won the Best Supporting Actor Award from both The New York Film Critics Award and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his amazing performance in Little Children!

(Runners-up: Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls and Steve Carell for Little Miss Sunshine)

Not too shabby!

The New York Film Critics
The San Francisco Film Critics

That's Right!

HMK

Little Children Trailer

If this awesome trailer is any indication, it looks like New Line Cinema might finally be distributing Little Children beyond the indie realm.

I can't wait to see this film!

Go Jackie Earle Haley!

That's Right,

HMK

Over A Billion Scared

Dude, the original Ronald McDonald was way scarier than the new guy.

And yeah, that’s Willard Scott behind the makeup.

Wow,

That's Right,

HMK

Adverbatims

AdVerbatims

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HMK