AIGA Houston Social Tonight

Gonna have a few after work and see what all of the other designers are up to. Please feel free to come out and meet the other board members of AIGA Houston Chapter.

Vespa GTS 300 Super

I'm finally starting to see more and more scooters in Houston (although strictly inside the 610 loop). This jazzy update to the popular GTS 250, the Vespa GTS 300 Super is the most powerful Vespa yet. It offers a 22-hp 278cc four-stroke single cylinder, liquid-cooled, electronic injection engine, top speed of 80 mph and a fuel economy of 70 mpg.

Price: $6,199

69 Sexiest Rap Song Titles

Dimesdaily.com presents the 69 Sexiest Rap Song Titles of all-time, featuring romantic ballads including 2 Live Crew’s “Face Down, Ass Up”, Kilo Ali’s “Love in the Mouth”; charming titles such as CB4’s “Sweat of My Balls”, 10 K.A.N.’s “U Need Dick In Your Life”; and the downright enchanting “You Bitches Love to Get Fucked in the Ass” by Necro.

Borderline NSFW.

Leica M8.2 Safari Edition

Limited to only 500 units ($10,000), this Leica M8.2 Safari Edition is olive green with the silver anodised finished LEICA ELMARIT-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH.lens, an exclusive Billingham camera case and an elegant carrying strap.

Bottom line; it is sick.

Obviously I can't really afford one but it will be mine someday.

This is Indexed

This blog is simply awesome. I've waited my whole life for DIY metrics, this is one of the few times I clicked through an entire archive in one sitting. Venn Diagrams have never been so cool or funny.

HighMount E&P Video

HighMount Video from John Van Luu on Vimeo.

Who Tall Are You Mirror

This cool mirror allows you to compare your height with 120 celebrities past and present. Make sure you follow the mounting instructions carefully though.

Jean-Yves Lemoigne

This photo series, PIXXXEL, by Jean-Yves Lemoigne for the latest issue of Amusement Magazine is both stunning and surreal.

Shirobon: Gameboy Inspired Music

Shirobon's music brings back a wave of memories. Mostly of me age 12-15 slouched back wherever I happened to be killing time on the first gen Nintendo Gameboy with an extra 4 pack of AA's in my Jansport.

Basic Energy Services: Tradeshow Video

Finished this trade show video a while back at Axiom in Houston but couldn't figure out a way to host the HD version of the final project until now. I'm really digging Vimeo's HD storage ability. Kudos to Eduardo Castro on bringing my boards to life and finessing all of the small details to perfection.

Click here for the HD 720p version of the project.

Kensington SlimeBlade™ Trackball

Before clog-free optical mice became commonplace, I used to prefer Trackball mice so much more than the clunky mechanical ball mouse design that got clogged up with lint and dirt. They took some getting used to but for a huge chunk of the 1990's they ruled most graphic design and motion graphic workstations with their precision tracking multitude of buttons and superior reliability. Seeing the new SlimBlade design from Kensington almost has me wanting to trade in my Mighty Mouse for one of these bad boys.

Kalle Gustafsson

Been noticing Kalle Gustafsson's work in a lot of ad campaigns I've been admiring, but never was able to put a name to it all until recently. His work is simply amazing, with a ton of tiny otherworldly details to fall in love with; a textural decadence that's really hard to define but permeates a lot of his tableaux shots.

Gorgeous Vintage Russian Ads

A great online collection of vintage Russian advertising can be found here.

Shopping for Sunglasses after Work

I tried to post these via iPhone but it didn't pan out too well. Anyhoo, shopping for sunglasses before dinner with the missus.

Metropolis @ Rice Cinema, January 12th 2009

One of my all time favorite silent films playing at Rice Cinema on January 12th 2009.

Open Street Map 2008: A Year of Edits

I'm a huge fan of visualization projects. This one by ITO shows the collaborative edits to openstreetmap.org for 2008. The track by Vincent Girès (aka Silence) is pretty sweet too.

Lily Allen: The Fear

So glad it's Friday. Pretty busy but quiet in the cubefarm. This song has been on my playlist non-stop for the past week or so, makes me want to skip and spin down the sidewalk if it wasn't so foggy out.

Craving Casio @ The Nerd Watch Museum

Casio Databank DBC-610G-1DF


Casio Telememo Databank DB310-GA


I've always had a soft spot for Casio digital watches, cheap and high tech (back when I was a kid) my calculator watch got me out of some tough binds in grade school, although it probably delayed me from memorizing my multiplication tables till college. Whatever, that's why they invented these things to begin with.

Plus it was fun showing my friends and church-mates how to spell BOOBS on a calculator (hint: 58008 and turn upside down)

Now as an adult I oscillate between retro/vintage timepieces from the 80's and exotic Swiss horological pieces that I probably can't afford. Recently I stumbled onto this cool site filled with awesome images and trivia of all types of digital watches.

I'm really digging these gold Casios right now since they appeal to both sides of my personality, the dorky retro geek and the luxe snob.

I'm also digging this badass Casio below from the movie Blue Thunder. I also have a soft spot for movies and tv shows built around a high-tech super vehicle but that's like a whole other topic completely.

Casio AA-85

Don't Fear The Reaper: New Work by Mark Hesterlee

I had a chance to check out this new exhibit at Domy Books in Houston over the break in between some Chai and toy shopping. It reminded me of vague childhood nightmares I would have after watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. I highly recommend it, both the exhibition and having nightmares set in outer space, it makes you appreciate life on Earth so much more.

PENTAX Limited Edition White K2000 Double Zoom Digital SLR System

I haven't used a Pentax since college but I still have fond, almost
fetishistic, memories of my all metal K-1000 from high school and the mostly polycarbonate ZX-M manual that got me through my fundamentals. When I saw the new Pentax K 2000 Limited Edition today, I was immediately smitten.

While in real day-to-day life I'd probably veer towards the all black color scheme of virtually every other DSLR out there, something about the black and white contrasting edition brought back a mad rush of memories of my early shutterbug days. I can't wait to check this out in person come February.

iPhone Holidays Wallpapers 2008

Needed some new wallpapers for my iPhone 3G so I decided to create and/or repurpose some from past promotional projects and desktops. You can go here to check them all out. I'm in the process of field testing them so I'll definitely be updating this page constantly. Not sure if they work on the other multitouch phones like the G1 or Instinct, if so please let me know.

2009 Audi S5

So I'm on Allen Parkway on the way to work yesterday and I see this beauty approaching fast on my rear view mirror. Speeding tickets are kind of expensive so I let her pass, and immediately fell in lust. Swung in behind and tailed the car for a mile or so until sadly, I had to take my exit. This is one of the best looking coupes I've seen in a long while. One cool thing that really caught my eye were the string of LED daytime running lights surrounding the main headlights.

Clarks Desert Trek

If I buy something and it exceeds all of my expectations I'll often times circle back and get more because, in my own compulsive fashion, I crave both simplicity and variety. I waited a while to get these shoes because my lovely wife thought they looked like whaling boots. I finally got a pair of the Clarks Desert Trek beeswax leather about a year ago now and currently they're the most comfy pair of shoes I've ever owned. I almost wish I didn't wait so long. I usually like to rotate my kicks so that I'm not wearing any given pair more than twice a week but with these I find that I'm often wearing them every other day. So yeah it's time to pick out another color. The classic retro style makes them perfect for jeans and casual pants and the distinctive center seam and two-eye ankle silhouette really adds a timeless touch for those who notices subtle details.

Screenshots from Star Trek HD Trailer

I haven't been much of a trekkie since DS9 and Voyager and the slow transition over to longer story arcs that I had a hard time following till I lost interest. But I've downloaded the HD version of the Star Trek trailer and am stoked to see the new film. The images in it are like something out of my childhood wet dream and also this might just be the shutterbug in me but I love all of the flare and lens artifacts that's occurring in all of the battle scenes as if someone took an IMAX camera with them to film an actual interstellar space battle.

Click on the images for the full frame stills.

I'm Good I'm Gone

Youth Novels has been on constant rotation at work and car. This acoustic rendition of I'm Good I'm Gone is simply fantastic.

Waterfield Vertigo and Sleeve Case for the MacBook Pro

I've been on the market for a laptop carry case for my work provided portable, a 17" MacBook Pro, and after looking at all of the available alternatives have decided to come back again to WaterField's Bags. Based out of San Fransisco, these bags are virtually indestructible, I've been using the SleeveCase since 2002 and they've usually outlasted the laptops they carry. What I like best is that WaterField offers a modular approach to carrying your gear, with stand alone laptop sleeves that you can insert into another bag or carry by itself.

The VertiGo bag is a very smart solution for anyone who lugs around a widescreen 15-17" portable, since it allows you to carry the laptop vertically. I've carried one for about two years now and haven't come across anything that comes close. Made out of black ballistic nylon, the bags are very rugged but have thoughtful touches such as gold colored liners on the inside compartments to help illuminate the contents when you open the cases.

Food Chain Friends

Teach your little ones about the circle of life in a way that would make Mufasa proud. These stuffed animals available from FAO Schwarz illustrates how food chains work in a fun, whimsical, hopelessly childlike manner. I simply adore the takeaway description from the website; "They're friends. They eat each other. It's a complicated relationship!"

Also be sure to check out the Alpha Version.

Target Digital Camera Gift Card

The Target Digital Camera GiftCard is probably the coolest gift card I have seen yet. In addition to loading it up with $50.00 - $1000.00 you can snap digital pics with it. The specs are a little lo-tech (1.2 Megapixel, 8 MB storage) but it's a pretty nifty concept.

Bathys Benthic

I've been a fan of Bathys Watches for a while, designed in Hawaii but manufactured in Switzerland, they offer an interesting take on dive watches. Last year I got the 100 Fathom Ultraviolet PVD with Ruthenium Grey Dial and it's been a pretty versatile daily wear timepiece. The recently released Benthic from Bathys Hawaii has really caught my eye. It has the same legible dial design as the 100 Fathom but has a unidirectional bezel. At 44 mm it's a little on the big size but I'm really in love with the mother of pearl finish on this one, plus the black on black finish is quite fetching.

Pico Pocket Projector

Someone giving an impromptu multimedia demonstration off of their iPod, iPhone or BlackBerry is cool the first few times you see it. But squinting at a two inch screen isn't much of a closer. Up the ante with this cool pocket projector from Optoma, connects to most mobile devices, weighs only 4 ounces with battery and can project an image size up to 60 inches on virtually any surface. For $430 it's a sleek little presentation device.

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Above is one of my most beloved animated shorts of all time. It was kind of an obscure one-off, so growing up, Channel 26 in Houston would just sneak it in with the Tom and Jerry half hour once or twice a year. Growing up I would try to describe it to friends and family but no one ever knew what I was talking about. I probably sounded like a crazy person. Well I'm not, it exists, here's proof, I wish I still kept in touch with all of my childhood friends so I can send them a link. To the vector goes the spoils.

Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women

You too can be like Don Draper.

Anyone who has known me for the past year knows I've been raving about the show Mad Men. Above is my favorite SNL skit from a couple of weeks ago that breaks down the some of the main protagonist's mystique. It's so spot on, it's scary. Steps 1 & 2 are no brainers but Step number 4 is priceless.

Friend Wheel

I've been going through my facebook profile deleting a bunch of useless apps that were cluttering my profile page. Friend Wheel from Thomas Fletcher is one of the few I decided to keep. I'm a huge fan of visualizers and this one maps out your social network and how they are connected to each other. Malcom Gladwell would be proud.