If you're an NPR freak like I am then you'll totally appreciate the new NPR Mobile App!
Installation is wicked quick via the App Store right on your phone - you'll be streaming and bookmarking NPR stories in no time.
Really dig the bookmarking feature for both on-the-fly sharing and easy access for repeated listens.
Browsing through the 6 Main Menu features: Topics, Columns, Programs, Series, Bios and Music Genres puts you in complete control of most of your favorite shows. I say most because I haven't found Marketplace yet and I'm currently looking for the Station Finder Feature that I just read about... but I'm sure that's probably just a user error issue!
Check out this sweet web exclusive from the cool kids over at Urban Outfitters. Now this is a REAL mix tape. The Mix Tape Portable DJ Mixer is a super compact mixing device that looks exactly like a cassette tape.
Featuring a smooth cross-fader, with dual 3.5mm stereo inputs, for use with iPods, iPhones, music-enabled cell phones, mp3 players or just about anything audio device.
Also includes a headphone monitor jack, perfect for cueing up your next track without missing a beat. Imported. Wipes clean. Requires: 2 AAA batteries and it's Mac and PC compatible!
Phil Patton has written a nice piece over at the AIGA Journal of Design called Krazy About K.
"Certain letters seem rare, like precious metals or noble gases. Such letters act as catalysts and have special properties—they may glow when “excited” by electricity, say, like neon and fluorine, the aptly named “lighter” elements. Similarly, some letters function in a special way beyond phonetics, often as logos and symbols, as signs of speech and phonetics.
The use of rare letters is a tool of the brand maker and the logo designer. Like the letter X, K allures with its angular edges and uncommon appeal. Eleventh in the alphabet, K is only the 22nd most common letter in English usage—worth five points on the Scrabble board. The letterform is descended from the Phoenician Kaph, which is thought to derive from the palm of a hand, with fingers split. In reverse, it became the Greek Kappa and the form we recognize today."
Portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs posing with Apple II computer. United States 1981, Photographer: Ted Thai
Wow! Google has teamed up with Life Magazine to digitize 95% of their image bank, most of which has never been seen by the public before.
That's Right, millions of photos stretching from the 1750s to the present day are available on Google Images.
Here are a few of my favorites so far...
Bikini clad actress Jayne Mansfield posing with shapely hot water bottle likenesses floating around her in her pool. Hollywood 1957, Photographer: Allan Grant. Reproduction of painting in chapel of St. Thomas of octopus attacking a ship, reminiscent of the Norwegian mythological sea monster, Kraken. St. Malo, France, 1920, Photographer unknown.
I've been a little slammed this December with, you know, life, work and the usual, so this is kind of a lazy post - but a not so lazy post if you're new to Necessito La Music!
Back in 2006 through the entire month of December I posted some of my favorite and obscure Christmas gems.
If you missed it, fear not and behold the beauty and power of the blog!
Here's a day by day posting of last December's goodies all on one page - and like most things that proove worth while, you're usually best off starting at the bottom (of the page!)
Check out this amazingly cool birdhouse I scored at Articopia this weekend!
It's a Christmas gift to our house by artist David Vissat based on the book "The Art of Smoking".
Artist Dave Vissat spends his days as a creative director for a Pittsburgh advertising agency. But for the last ten years, he has spent his nights creating one-of-a-kind birdhouses out of vintage books.
Vissat stumbled upon this idea when he was making a birdhouse for his mother. He ran out of wood, so he resorted to using an old book as a roof. Then he began incorporating interesting text and illustrations as well. Now, Vissat searches and scavenges flea markets and libraries for discarded and vintage books, then he scans the cover, makes a print and affixes it to the exterior of the house.
Here's one of the latest HMK Archive projects, the invite and logo for this years Articopia, Saturday, December 13th from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM at the Ursuline Campus of the Southwest School of Art & Craft.
The Ursuline Campus of the Southwest School of Art & Craft, on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on the edge of downtown San Antonio, on our awesome River Walk.
Seasonal offerings of copious holiday gifts for the home, the body, the spirit, designed by some of the country's most respected artists and craftspersons. Refreshments. Free and open to the public.
On this historic site, a convent was established in 1851, when seven Catholic nuns arrived in San Antonio to start San Antonio's first school for girls. The complex expanded throughout the 1800s under the architectural direction of Francois Giraud.
According to the always reliable Old Farmer's Almanac, this is the month when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark. The December full Moon is also called the Long Nights Moon by some Native American tribes.
This Friday night, December 12th, sky watchers and moon lovers alike will be treated to an exceptionally bright and large full Moon. In fact, this Moon is 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons this year. Why? The Moon is both in its full phase and at a point in its orbit that is nearest Earth, called its perigee.
When these events occur together, the Moon is closer to Earth than usual. The effect? The Full Cold Moon will appear especially large near the horizon as the Sun sets.
Another cool bonus of this December's Full Cold Moon is that just about midnight it's almost directly overhead making it perfect for an awesome midnight stroll!
This is an awesome lo-fi way to relive those special slices of everyday life. Now you can turn your video footage into a Bob Books Flickbook. Entertain yourself and your friends with these fun-to-use books, and create your own mini library of memories.
Creating a Flickbook looks wicked simple. It all happens online; simply upload your digicam or cameraphone videos onto the special web application, then follow the instructions to design how your flickbook looks from the front to the back cover.
Grab yourself a big fresh cup of Holiday Cheer, relax or get to work as we go back in time and listen to the classic sounds of the Holiday Season on the latest HMK Mystery Stream: Irregular Frequency: The Merriest!
"Ever wonder who came up with the order of numbers on a telephone? Ever wonder why it isn’t the same as those on a calculator, or a keyboard, ascending from lowest to highest? After all, adding machines and mechanical calculators were around for at least a few hundred years before the invention of the pushbutton phone."
"Turns out, the standard descending 3×3 (plus 1) grid we’ve grown up on might have been a lot different. The 18 options above were presented to various focus groups. They come from a report issued in 1960 by The American Telephone and Telegraph Company, just before pushbutton phones went mainstream.In addition to key arrangements, other categories of design features were studied, like force-displacement characteristics and button-top size/design."
The copy reads, "Power Gen Italia, Italian Power Company Isn't it awful when things get crowded together? Renault Logan, the roomiest car in its category."
I knew the Itailans were a little crazy but now I can see they're nuts...
That's Right,
HMK
Thanks to AdPulp and Exclam Comunicação, Curitiba, Brazil.
If you're like me and you simply can't get enough inspirational eye candy focusing on all things typography and design then you'll truly dig the following links from fellow Flickr freaks David Airey and Vandelay Design.
And while we're at it, here's some of my previous That's Right posts from the last 4 years regarding type and inspiration: That's Right: Type Inspiration.
Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there's a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.
Right on Carl. We're all speeding and racing through each day usually because there's was no time to methodically plan in the first place and so we've got no choice but to hit the ground running each day, all in an effort to simply catch up! All this Go! Go! Go! and Now! Now! Now! mentality does is perpetuate exhaustion, frustration and fatigue while producing sloppy, half-ass and less than stellar results.
I truly believe we could all benefit from simply slowing things down a bit and focusing on the nuance and details of this beautiful thing we call life.
It's like eating slow and enjoying every bite. Or taking a walk and appreciating the way the light comes through the trees. The result of all this perpetual multi-tasking, more times than not, really means doing several things at the same time - all of them half-ass! Crossing another something off of your to-do list might imply "done", but is it truly finished - i.e. really done well or was it done so quickly that you'll have to go back and "really" finish it later?
"Multi-tasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes," David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times. "Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information."
That's not to say that people who have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time are more enlightened, but most people who have juggled a number of tasks at the same time won't need scientific research to confirm that by doing many things at once, you're less likely to do any of them well.
Like I tell the idiots that sometimes race down our quite little street in an effort to beat the traffic -"Slow Down!"
That's Right,
HMK
Thanks to Swiss Miss, Dean Irvine, Carl Honore and all the world's greatest thinkers and doers at Ted.
Absolutely no sympathy from me for the Big Three auto industry executives who flew to Washington on their private jets to ask Congress for tons of money to save their industry.
That's Right,
HMK
Thanks to the New York Public Library for the awesome and thought provoking Aesop's Fables cigarette card.
Grab yourself a big fresh cup of java, relax or get to work and enjoy the hand selected audio gems on the latest HMK Mystery Stream: Irregular Frequency: Coffee Fantastico!
Yeah, I know, another iPhone App post - but this one is truly amazing and just in time for sitting around by the campfire.
Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone. Both experts and beginners will be amazed by this innovative player. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original. Unlike other musical applications, there are no pre-compiled riffs so musicians will find unlimited opportunities for self-expression.
Howdy, my name is H. Michael Karshis, first son of Henry & Mildred and the oldest of six boys. Yes, my mom was a stay at home Saint. My dad retired from Randolph AFB in 1976 as a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force Chaplains Division. I was born in the U.K., educated in both Beantowns - San Antonio and Boston. I am a Creative Gun For Hire currently living the good life in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. But enough about me. Check out my
work and the blogs and you'll get a pretty good idea about what gets me out of bed in the morning...
Peace and thanks for looking.
hmk@sharkthang.com
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