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.

Life Size Photo of a Blue Whale

Pretty neat large scale image of a blue whale.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

It only took 500 years but someone is finally making action figures from The Garden of Earthly Delights. I want to get all of these figures.

Strange Maps

Working on a project involving old archaic maps, came across this site which is really neat. Big fan of strange maps and what they reveal about human knowledge.

Terrorist Organizations Logos

Although terrorism is far from funny. This is a pretty funny collection and analysis of logo designs from various terrorist groups around the world. Like any other organization they need branding too.

Music That Gets Me Through It

Working on 200+ graphs this week, kind of crazy but I've developed a weird way of plowing through it; basically I'll put New Order's Perfect Kiss and Bizarre Love Triangle on repeat till the task is done. It might sound like a strange coping mechanism but it seems to make time go faster and minimizes outside distractions.

Urban Castaway Porcelain RIngs

Thought these flame shaped porcelain rings were really captivating. These pieces were created by dipping second hand fur into porcelain, then shaping and firing them. Each is unique and impossible to replicate.

Visual Thesaurus

At first glance Thinkmap's Visual Thesaurus might seem to only appeal to writers, editors and visual information junkies but after using it for about a year it is an amazing resource and reference tool for designers, and really, anyone who needs to come up with names, brainstorm, or generate ideas for a living. The user interface and encourages exploration and promotes lateral thinking in the creative process. A one year subscription is $19.95 but they have a demo that will allow a limited number of free searches.

Audio Cassette Graphic Design

Tapedeck.org showcases the various designs of compact audio cassette tapes from the 60's, 70's 80's and 90's. Looking through the images brought back a wave of nostalgia, afternoons and weekends making mixtapes, back then the average mixtape took 2-4 hours to make. Nowadays an iPod playlist takes like a minute to create.

New Workhorse

My trusty reliable G5 iMac was starting to show its age recently so I took the plunge and upgraded to a new MacBook Pro. After careful research and field testing I decided on the 15" 2.4 duo Santa Rosa.

Main considerations for getting a laptop this time around vs desktop:

1. My office is in Sugar Land and most of my client meetings take place offsite, so I was finding myself needing something that could show past multimedia or work in progress.

2. More and more I found myself working onsite on projects and often times the machine they put me on didn't have the right software, fonts or were unoccupied for a very good reason.

3. Wifi is everywhere, between meetings and errands I can check email pretty much anywhere inside the 610 loop.

After transferring all of my user and account settings to the new notebook I was cleaning up old emails and bookmarks and I noticed one for this blog that I set up way back when I started Stimulacra in 2005.

So here I am. Back in black.

Long term review of the MacBook Pro to come later.