Keyboard Shortcut Skins

Holy hot shit! I just stumbled upon this sexy AND functional little product from Photojojo. These awesome keyboard skins will teach you key command short cuts for Photoshop faster than you can say key command short cuts. They come in all sizes from wireless Mac keyboard to Macbook pro. I’ll take one for both my wireless and my beastly fast Macbook Pro.

Bin Bin Paper Basket

I am adding the Bin Bin Paper Basket to my Home Studio wishlist. I stumbled upon it at Nova 68, a cool boutique that specializes in super expensive modern stuff. Luckily this waste basket is only a cool $55. The basket obviously is riffing on crumbled up balls of paper. Literal is the new black apparently. I think it’s a great alternative to the standard office wastebasket. It comes in white or black. While we are on the topic of my Home Studio revamp, I did in fact purchase the Specktone iPod player and am disappointed in it’s performance. That is probably why they no longer make it. I am now on the hunt for a replacement. It looks way better than it sounds. In the meantime I think I’ll try selling it on ebay.

eiCrate

We don’t really practice crating Max & Molly. They sleep in the bed with us and that is fine with us. But if you are going to crate your best pal might as well do it in style. The eiCrate at Go Pet Design sells for around $320 (or $11K if you decide to go all out and get the gilded 24k gold version) and is probably the coolest looking crate I have seen. Who knows, maybe we’ll get one for Max to keep him at bay during the day when we are at work. I am sure if he saw how cool it was he’d dig it.

iPhone Custom

Why wait for the next generation of iPhones to get all black sickness. Knight Creations can upgrade your iPhone or supe up a new one for you at a somewhat decent price of $300 smackers. Couple this with a custom engraving and you can have one of the most original iPhones out there. You can opt for gold too but I think it could come off just a bit tacky.

Notebook Portable Grill

Just a reminder, I am from Texas, and the second biggest thing in Texas food after smoking your meat is grilling it. And while I am not totally into charcoal grills, the Notebook Portable Grill could be a handy little thing to take down to the beach. It’s totally compact and has a decent sized cooking surface perfect for burgers or dogs. Besides that, it looks pretty dope. If anyone has it let me know how you like it because I am thinking about buying it but would love to see how it performs. Thanks for the tip David. Check A+R’s store for other cool stuff too, it’s a pretty fun little boutique.

My Little Underground | Command Posters

I am loving these simple and witty posters by My Little Underground. At $12 for the set of 3 5x7 prints it’s a pretty good deal to get framed and hang on that small piece of wall real estate or to include in artwork wall collage that seems to be all the rage these days. Either way, check them out.

World Pinhole Camera Day

So apparently it’s World Pinhole Camera Day and to celebrate Corbis put up some pretty sweet camera templates to print out and build. Not only do they look sweet, they actually work and they’re free to boot.

Texas BBQ in a Bottle

I am not sure if Meat Water is for real or if people are actually drinking/buying these. I am definitely curious to see what Texas BBQ in a bottle tastes like. They have other flavors such as Dirty Hot Dog, Pizza Prosciutto, and Fish N Chips. Reminds me of when I bought Jones Cola’s Thanksgiving soda set and actually tried drinking them. I nearly chucked. I dare someone to buy one these and try it.

Kaiju Studios | i/o Desk Organizer

I have been looking for cool stuff to adorn my new desk (er. the one I plan to buy in the near future once I can actually decide which desk I want). This i/o Desk Organizer from Kaiju Studios is pretty sweet. I love the mixture of felt and wood. It’s nice and modular too so you can rearrange it according to your mood that day. I think it’d go great with the Uten.Silo on the wall to store most of the stuff and then having this on the desktop for things you need more in immediate reach. Let’s just hope they find a manufacturer to partner with soon so we can buy it. Crossing fingers now.

Refinding Wallets, Bags, & Accessories

I am all for recycling materials to make new things. I really like what Refinding is doing with their line of products. They mix industrial textures and retro pop culture ephemera to create items like bags, wallets, watches, belts, and jewelry. I personally like the Tire Bag, the Tennis Ball Wallet, and even the Garbage Pail Kids Wallet (I was HUGE into GPK as a kid, and still am actually). They are all priced pretty reasonably too. Go cop some quick.

Bohemian Modern : Ocean Park Vol. 04

So summer is creeping up and it’s getting hot. This mix should cool it off a little. Make up a Dark & Stormy and enjoy the mix!

(1) Caural - Sipping Snake Blood (Savath & Savalas Remix)
(2) Daedelus - Denovement
(3) Amon Tobin - Deo
(4) Sia - Butterflies
(5) Lou Rhodes - No Re-Run
(6) Four Tet - Glue of the World
(7) Bertrand Burgalat - Him
(8) The Sea and Cake - Tea and Cake (Stereolab Remix)
(9) Savath & Savalas - Binoculars
(10) Nobody - What is the Light?
(11) Caural - Crush
(12) Gustavo Cerati - La Costura de Dios
(13) Mum - We Have a Map of the Piano
(14) Funkstorung - Sleep Walking
(15) Smoke City - What It Was
(16) Dntel - Dreams (ft. Mystic Chords of Memory)
(17) David Holmes and Steve Hilton - Kocham Cie
(18) AIR - Night Sight

Drive Less, Walk More

Here is a sneak peak of my design for our poster series which is now including a design by Bran Dougherty-Johnson. There is more in the mix too for this project. We are working on setting things up and Bran’s design is on the way soon. I am really excited about this project and can’t wait to get these posters in circulation within the community to promote a greener way of life.

Fresh Cut + Refresh This Week

The Seniors from my Alma Matter are graduating and showing this week. Thanks for the info Beckham. If you are in Houston then drop by and take a look. They will be eager for jobs immediately. Good luck Seniors!

Fresh Cut
Thursday, May 1
6-9 pm
Space 125 Gallery
3201 Allen Parkway

and

Refresh: 2008 Alumni Mixer
after the show, 9-11 pm
3rd bar inside REEF
2600 Travis at McGowen

Bran Dougherty-Johnson | GEL Conference

Bran just updated his site a little and posted up this beautiful little opening for the 2008 GEL Conference. It’s simple and quirky with a retro feel to it. I simply love it and you should too. If you don’t, you have no soul.

John Pour Home | Felt Type Rugs

Just found these amazing rugs by John Pour Home. They are made of felt and cozy to walk on. If you are a type geek like I am then this is the rug for you. Check out more of them here.

50 Ways to Help Save the Planet

I just stumbled upon this amazing resource that we all should follow and work into our daily routine and lives. Check out the 50 Ways to Help Save the Planet. While your at it buy the tee too! Portions go to charity. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

New Frankenstyles

My good buddy Stephen Kelleher, and ”Drive Less/Walk More” partner, just updated his site. He is featuring the first print from our series of posters to promote alternate ways of transportation. Part of the proceeds from each sale are going to charity to help preserve our planet and keep it green and mean. Look for my design as well as a collaboratively designed poster in the near future. We will have it all organized and set up soon. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, go feast your eyes on Stephen’s wacky world of art and graphics.

Since78 joins VLU

I have just joined the VLU as a contributor so I will be pulling double duty as a semi-pro blogger. Thanks Max, I am glad to be a part of the Viewers Like U fam.

Dan Stiles | Rock Concert Posters

I just stumbled upon Dan Stiles’ site where he has a plethora of posters to buy. All around $25 - $30, they each have a unique style to them. Some cheery and cute, some more psychedelic, and some bold and graphic. Most are available although some of my favorites are sold out (ie. the Feist poster). I think I am sold on the fun Hot Chip design and am going to buy it and get it framed. He just so happens to be from Portland too which gives him MAJOR points for since I am pretty much obsessed with the town. Check out the posters and his design work when you get a chance.

Art Center Graduates Off to Work

When you get a chance take a look at some of my students work: Jenny Dale, Diana Chang, Justin Cram, and Jiaren Hui, who all graduated last week. They are all on the hunt for jobs so hit them up if you are looking for some great young talent. Congrats again guys!

Mini Cooper Clubman S

I currently drive a 2003 Mini Cooper S but I have been considering trading it in for a new ride. I have a few cars I am into at the moment but the current obsession is the new Mini Cooper Clubman S. I built my own today and it came out looking pretty slick in a black on black scheme with red and black leather interior. My price range is about $30K to $40K or so and once I tricked this bad boy out it came out to be $33K. My other cars of interest right now are the Volvo C30 2.0 R, the BMW 1 Series Coupe, the BMW Z4 Coupe 3.0si, the Mercedes C300 Sport, or the A4 Avant S-Line. It won’t be for another few months before I actually will be ready to seriously start looking but I can dream for now.

Coffee Mugs | MyCuppa Coffee

This coffee mug uses a color matching system to gauge how much cream you usually like. If you dig it buy it here.

Coffee Mugs | MTG Mugs

Literal is the new black. Why not rock a mug that has your title on it. I am not sure how to actually buy it or how much USD they would cost but I dig them. Grab one of these bad boys here if you can translate Japanese.

Coffee Mugs | Helvetica Coffee Mug by Veer

I would be completely worthless if it weren’t for coffee. I have on average 4 to 5 cups a day, minimum. My next few posts are going to be devoted to cool coffee mugs. The first on the list is the Veer Helvetica Coffee Mug. It’s witty and appeals to the geek designer in me. The weights of the iconic typeface correspond to the strength of the coffee. Pretty witty.

Engrave Your Moleskin

First your iPod and Macbook. Now you can engrave your Moleskin notebook. What’s next, cars, ice-cream cones, or how about your teeth! Well, I am not complaining. They look pretty sick. You can either buy one from the artists, like Dan Funderburgh, they had contribute designs for or send them your own graphics. This is definitely going to be a future project in the works. I plan to open up an online shop later this year with a few things to buy. I’ll keep you posted on that later but until then, enjoy the engravings!