You Can Do It!

Teach Your Bird To Talk!

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HMK

Open All Night!

Lunarama is a public directory of all-night restaurants and joints.

Browse through the list of cities and if you don’t see your habitat or favorite all–night spot, add it!

Visit Lunarama.

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HMK

Dude - We Did It!

Go Four It!

Get yours over at the Totally Bueno Store!



Congrats and Go Spurs!

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HMK

My Dad & Raquel Welch!

Look what else I just found while going through some old files!

Here's a cool shot of my Dad (bald guy, glasses, far left) checking out Check It out Raquel Welch's see through macrame skirt on stage at a USO function somewhere in Thailand circa 1969.

Now, if I could only find the footage from the guy in the foreground's movie camera...

Go Dad!

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HMK

Vintage Rackspace Banner Ad 2001

Click To Animate

While looking for an old logo in my archives this morning I found a vintage banner ad I did for Rackspace (thanks to some technical help from Beau) back in 2001 that, for some reason, didn't make the final cut...

Ouch.

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HMK

Free Game 5 Ticket!

The Return of Instant Photo Fun

This is cool. To celebrate the magic of instant photography Polanoid.net is building the biggest Polaroid-picture-collection of the planet and you're invited to contribute.

So search your archives and attics and reactivate your Instant Cameras. It's the slamming comeback of Instant Photo Fun.

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HMK

And, once again, thanks to the smart folks over at Design Observer.

LeBroom Spurs Screen Saver

Go Spurs Go!

We did it!

NBA Fun Facts:
With four titles, Popovich trails only Red Auerbach (9), Phil "Kiss My Asterisk" Jackson (9), John Kundla (5) and Pat Riley (5) for the most in league history.

Cleveland's 322 points in the series was the lowest total for four games.

The Spurs' .727 winning percentage (16-6) is the highest in finals history.

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HMK

Thanks to Sports Illustrated for the fun facts.

Buzzwords Say All The Wrong Things

In an effort to simplify the process while working on a naming project I found re-reading this older post from the smart folks over at 37 Signals very helpful.

It totally still rings true today and helped to remind me of the fact that if you can't explain something to a seven year old, then you probably don't really understand it yourself.

Our industry is addicted to bullshit buzzwords. Emails are full of “I’m an insider” jargon, blog posts brim with tech duckspeak, and resumes are loaded with meaningless action verbs.

Everyone’s always implementing or enabling or optimizing or leveraging. There are endless value streams, efficiencies, solutions, infrastructures, and enterprises.

These buzzwords are often a mask. People who use them are covering up their ideas — or the lack thereof. They are overcompensating. They don’t have anything substantial to say so they try to use impressive sounding words instead.

But people who abuse buzzwords don’t sound smart. They sound like they are trying to sound smart.

Big difference.

People who really get it aren’t impressed by this sort of jargon. They smell BS. They can read between the lines and see what’s really there: fear. Fear of clarity. Fear there isn’t actually anything worthwhile to convey.

Translation: Is it time for some folks to re-skin their dynamic paradigm shift?

Absolutely.

Check it out: Buzzwords: 37 Signals.

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HMK

Go Four It!

Winning Culture Has Others Wanting the Secret

In today's New York Times there's a nice article about the winning culture of the Spurs.

It is little surprise, then, that when R. C. Buford, San Antonio’s modest general manager was asked to define the Spurs’ vision, he began with, “Not taking yourself too seriously.”

“Having a sense of humor, not skipping any steps and building with character that you enjoy being around,” he added, “so that when things aren’t going so well, the process of what you’re going through carries you in those times. And the people who you are with carry you."

Genius, and great advice for just about any business, relationship or venture.

Check it out: Go New York Times: Spurs

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Game 3 Tonight!

Go Spurs!

HMK

Royal Navy Viral

Genius in both concept and execution.

Amazingly awesome viral from The Royal Navy.

Go Royal Navy!

Nice.

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HMK

San Antonio Spurs Logo History

Here's the original San Antonio Spurs logo when they were playing at the San Antonio Convention Center Arena from 1977 thru 1989.

And thank the Lord of Texas we're no longer using this logo, which was adopted by the Spurs during the amazing David Robinson era when they played at the Alamodome.

In a lame effort to inject more color into the team's classic black-and-silver uniform scheme they came up with this multicolored turd. Which quite possibly may have very well influenced the controversially lame and equally sucky 2012 Olympics Logo.

Fortunately, the not-so-masculine extra Miami Vice colors were not incorporated into their uniforms, which, to this day, remain our classic, first class, lean and mean, no nonsense and soon to be four time NBA Championship black and silver.



Our current logo was introduced nationally at the start of the 2003 season. And I've got to say, this is a logo any Spurs fan can wear proudly without having to worry about that garishly nasty, clashing pink and teal.

Go find your favorite team and lot's more sports logo history over at Chris Creamer's wicked cool 2012 Sports Logo site.

Game 2 of the NBA Finals start at 8pm tonight!

Go Spurs!

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HMK

NTAC

Walt Handelsman, Long Island, NY, Newsday

Art With Function

Really digging this storage solution from the cool folks over at Art With Function.

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HMK

Separated At Birth?

Been reading about one of my favorite dogs, Liaka The Space Dog, and found this one shot that looks alot like our good dog Ringo.

If you're not familiar with the amazingly brave Laika there's a brief history here: Laika

Laika was one of the Russian space dogs and the first living passenger to enter orbit on Sputnik 2, a Soviet spacecraft. Some classify her as the first animal to enter space, although others argue that animals had entered space during sub-orbital flights on previous missions.

Laika is also the name of several breeds of dogs.

Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, a female part-Samoyed terrier weighing approximately 13 pounds and about 3 years old. Her name was changed from Kudryavka (Russian for "Little Curly"), and she was nicknamed Zhuchka ("Little Bug") and Limonchik ("Lemon"). The American press dubbed her Muttnik (a portmanteau of mutt and Sputnik).



Other than a brief mention in one of my favorite movies, My Life As A Dog, there's nothing even close to a full-on movie about Laika's story - I think it'd make an awesome movie.

Meanwhile, check out the Ringo Merch!



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HMK

Pretty $#@*ing Funny

Nice Job Bud.TV. But not funny enough to make me want to drink a Budweiser...

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HMK

My Take: Spurs In 6! Ginobili MVP

Thanks to Lisa Zambrano for the custom Spurs image (notice the action in the center) and Jayson Boulet for bringing it to my attention!

That's me giving some stupid, but obviously funny, putting advice to three-time Finals MVP and arguably the greatest power forward of all time, the man, Tim Duncan.

And this just in: Bono Takes Off His Glasses!

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Spurs In 6! Ginobili MVP.

Go Spurs! And Go Bono!!

HMK

No Posers Part 2

Looking for a relitively quick (49 pages) but super cool and uplifting inspirational read?

Well then, meet Hugh MacLeod, an advertising executive and popular blogger with a flair for the creative, as he gives his 26 tried-and-true tips for being truly creative. Each point illustrated by a cartoon drawn by the author himself.

If you've ever felt the draw to do something creative but just haven't been able to pull it together, you'll love this manifesto.

Here's a little sample of Hugh's How to Be Creative which can be found in the handy PDF format from the smart folks over at one of my favorite blogs, Change This.


Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that's why good ideas are always initially resisted.

With business colleagues, it’s even worse. They’re used to dealing with you in a certain way. They’re used to having a certain level of control over the relationship. And they want whatever makes them more prosperous. Sure, they might prefer it if you prosper as well, but that’s not their top priority.

If your idea is so good that it changes your dynamic enough to where you need them less or, God forbid, THE MARKET needs them less, then they’re going to resist your idea every chance they can.

Again, that’s human nature. Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

Nice.

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HMK

Hugh MacLeod is a brand consultant, copywriter and cartoonist. Born in America but educated in the UK, he has spent most of his life shuttling between the two countries. He started out in straight TV advertising writing in the early 90s but with the advent of new media it evolved into new brand thinking and cultural transformation. Check out his website, Gaping Void.

Awesome Billboard Concept

Very cool. I'd love to see the installation specs...

Agency: Contract Advertising, Mumbai, India.

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HMK

London 2012 Olympics Logo

Of the 3178 comments (so far) from the BBC.co.uk site regarding the London 2012 Olympics Logo, here are a few of my favorites:

"Who the hell is supposed to be inspired by this load of old twaddle!?"

"I work in the advertising field, and have seen some pretty bad concepts in my time, but this one takes the biscuit."

"Looks like a cross between underpass graffiti and a Sex Pistols album."

"It looks like a broken swastika"

"Oh dear. Things aren't going well at all, are they?"

'I have seen pools of vomit on Undergound platforms which are more creative, artistic and representative of the city of London."

"This is a really disappointing logo, it is utterly uninspiring and says nothing."

"As soon as i read the headline "the 2012 logo revieled", as said.. I bet it's ****. What a coincedence..."

"argh, my eyes. the burning. argh."

"Bin it!"

And for the record, it cost the people of the UK £400,000.00 or 797,459.31 U.S.


Dang, and I thought the Valero logo was uninspired, dated and flat out lame...

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HMK

Apple iPhone: June 29th!

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HMK

...for some unknown reason, this kinda crap is way more funny when it's not clogging my email... And I'm thinking the beer might have something to do with it too...

LOL Cat

Passing The Torch

This is an old friend of mine, Phillip Wellman, from James Madison High School in San Antonio.

Back then, I was considered the crazy wild one. I freaked Phillip out once during our senior year by chugging a six pack while we sat at a red light on our way to a party.

We were both 18, legal at the time.

Well, Phillip, congratulations!

As the above video proves, You are the new King!

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HMK

FYI: Wellman, 44, is in his first year as manager for the Class AA team. He also was with the Braves from 1988-91, then rejoined the organization in 2004 as the manager of the short-season Danville Braves.

Inspiring Slideshows

Anyone that's been to my Tiki Room, casa or office knows that I'm pretty much a freak when it comes to visual stimuli. To me, it's all subliminal research that keeps my life and my job interesting. The juxtaposition of random images and organized chaos along with equally eclectic audio, sounds and music never fail to create something entirely fresh, new and sometimes surprisingly ironic.


I find this process to be a great tool for brainstorming alone, even better with colleagues and as it turns out, it's a wickedly hip and super fun experience for all during open houses, dog & pony shows or just about any festive gathering in general.

For the past 8 years or so, on any given day, I've typically got either vintage beer commercials, 50's drive in movie previews or a cheesey monster movie on the big screen (sound off and iTunes set to super shuffle) along with digital slideshows of collections I've been compiling for close to 20 years that range from found type, old labels and record covers to garbage, Bauhaus images, logos and matchbook covers.


And here's something cool to know - Flickr, the amazing photo site, has recently updated it's slideshow feature that's awesome for doing almost all of the above via user created pools and groups. I belong to a couple of these groups and thought this would be a perfect time to share those and a few more of my favorite collections to give you an idea of just how fun research can be - enjoy!

To get the full gist of the above you might want to download one of my podcasts from the HMK Mystery Stream. It also works just fine with nothing on but in the winter it can be a chilly experience.

Go to town!

Typography & Lettering

Typography Pool

Design Disease

Retro Eye Candy

Eerie Publications

Retro Pulp Covers

And as always, the comment button is below so feel free to share your comments with everyone. After all, that's what this is all about, right?

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HMK