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I'm The First "User Of The Week" on This Next!



I'm super flattered that the increasingly popular shopcasting site, This Next has named me as their first "User of The Week".

A new weekly component to their blog, I'm the first to get the honor.



If you don't know about This Next (www.thisnext.com) by now, you should.



As explained on their own site:-------------------------------------------------

ThisNext is a shopcasting network where people can discover, recommend and share products and services they love.

In the real world, we rely on the people around us to sort out what we should buy. Brand marketing hype is too loud, too confusing. Tech specs are too complicated, confounding and time consuming to sort through. Our site is a way to answer online a question we ask those around us every day, “What do you use?”

Buying things that are better suited to our individual lifestyles makes life better. We want to help people live the good life, whatever that means to them.

The ThisNext Blog is a place where we identify bloggers and trends whose work aligns with our goal of helping communities unite, express who they are and find products that will help them live more happily and easily.

Our blog will also cover shopcasting on ThisNext. Curious about what’s being picked, who’s picking it and why? Want to know why we’re doing something (or why we aren’t doing something)?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I actually found out about thisnext.com before it was up and running from a friend of mine who was in contact with one of the founders, Craig Ogg. I have since Craig as well as CEO Gordon Gould, the other founder. Terrific, personable visionaries. I have also had the great fortune to meet some other members of their team, including their fabu PR Diva, Nicole.

Their bloggers and staff are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.


Above: the hardworking team of This Next

They have received impressive press you can view by clicking here.

The name for my blog actually stemmed from my first list of products for This Next.
"If It's Hip, It's Here" was the first thing that came to mind once I started posting objects, art and services that I felt were worth sharing.

Since then, I have created many 'lists' of cool and hip products on This Next.
16 lists, to be exact.

Lists that range from things like "Shop or I'll Shoot: Gun Shaped Stuff" to "Put That Down, That's My Grandma; Modern Cremation Urns" and lists that are really useful like my "Fancy Friggen Flooring and Radical Rugs" list and my The Dish on Dishes list

Some of which have received press from other hot sites (like www.notcot.org) and many of which I've covered in my own blog.

above: My Gun Shaped stuff as seen on NOTCOT.org

I add to the lists almost daily, so if you need to know the latest and greatest things with skulls or aquariums that rock, links to all the lists can be found at the right in my side bar.

As of today, here are my personal stats on this next:


So, perhaps the above is actual 'proof' that I am a trendsetter, no? Okay, well then at least I'm someone who spends waaaay too much time on the web. At least I've done all the "searching for what's hip" legwork for you.....

Product Pick Of The Week: The Miles Rug By Big Game



The perfect compliment to yesterday's post about the artful appeal of freeways, would be this fun and fabulous wool hand tufted rug by the creative minds at Big Game.

Called "Miles', this rug of infinite freeway interchanges was inspired by children's games which is the reason it comes complete with three wooden cars!



Plus is More by Big Game

For their 2007 exhibition at the Milan Swiss cultural centre, the three designers from Big-game, Grégoire Jeanmonod (CH), Elric Petit (B) and Augustin Scott de Martinville (F), create the “plus is more” collection. Taking basic elements as starting points, such as a material, a principle or an archetype, Big-game transforms them in a simple way to design functional objects.

The stake of this transformation is to bring a “plus”, while keeping the integrity of the original element. The praise of less is therefore diverted. “Less is more” is still a fundamental principle, but with a slight and unexpected contribution. In a sense, Big-game plays with the cliché attached to Swiss design, and its profoundly functionalist image.

Freeways & Overpasses: An Artists' Muse. Part I.



Above: Wayne Thiebaud's "Freeways", 1978

Having grown up in California, the car culture capital of the world, and having done a lot of driving in my time (including two cross-country trips), I've grown accustomed to the sight of freeways and overpasses. I never found them 'ugly' as so many people claim. And I was happy to find that I am not alone in my opinion.

Despite the fact that many people find these a blight of urban sprawl, several artists consider them a subject worth painting.

I have come across many beautiful paintings of these concrete and asphalt 'monstrosities' over the years and wanted to share just a few of them with you.

I can't think of a better place to start than Wayne Thiebaud's Freeway paintings done in the late 1970s.


above: Wayne Thiebaud's "Freeway 289", painted in 1977

Clearly Derek Bruckner was inspired by Thiebaud:

Above: Derek Bruckner's "Freeway 2"

...and quite possibly was Bruce Bomberger and Chris Chappell:

Above: Bruce Bomberger's "Freeways"


Above: Chris Chappell's "Highway Overpass"

Lest you think only the organic intertwining of curving roads held appeal as a subject, take a look at the numerous painting of overpasses, from above and below.


"Underpass" by Daniel Dolberg



"Passing Through Again" and "Departure" by John Margaris



Jamee Linton's "Shift of Desire" followed by his "Displacement"



above: "Overpass" by Peter Harris and his "Urban Icon"

Derek Bruckner's "Overpass"


"210" by William Wray


Above: Reuben Colley's "Freeway"


Damon Denys' "Overpass I-80"


"Under The Overpass" by Ned Stern



"Under The Over" by SF painter Carolyn Meyer. Below that, her "Driving Into SF"



Michelle Muldrow's "Habitat SF" and her "South Van Ness"


"Transport" by Andrew Denman


"Overpass 25" by Christy Patrick


"The Overpass", watercolor by Richard Van Wagoner


Above: British painter Ben McLaughlin's "Overpass"


Gerald Schwartz' "Overpass"


"Under the 110 Freeway" by Jennifer McChristian


Overpass" by Ann West


above: Jylian Gustlin's Overpass


Jylian Gustlin's "90 M.P.H. 20"


Kirah Van Sickle's "Overpass" in acrylics



Above: Fielden Harper's "OffRamp" and below that; Fielden Harper's "Freeway" series

I considered including photography and drawings of overpassess and freeways, but there were simply too many.

Below each image is the website on which you can find the above paintings. Many are still available for purchase. Enjoy!

Check out Part II of this post here

A Sweet Fifty Years: 1957-2007


Above: My parents on their wedding day, 50 years ago

Once again, I am deviating from the usual subject matter on my blog to share something a little more personal.


Above: June 22, 1957

There will be no post today or tomorrow because, this weekend, we are celebrating my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary with relatives and friends. An increasingly rare milestone to reach these days.

Still wonderfully in love, mutually respectful of one another and the best of friends, my parents actually don't know how lucky they are. But I do.


Above left: My dad, 1955 and right; my mother,1957

Above; My parents today, June 2007

Congratulations Dad & Mom!

Want an iphone? Better Read This First



The long awaited Apple iphone hits the market today! Betcha want one, huh? Me too. But read this first-just so you know all you need to.

Written By David Pogue for The New York Times:

Often-Asked iPhone Questions
With its new iPhone, Apple pulled off two masterful feats: creating the machine and creating the buzz around it.

That machine, and that buzz, have inspired a lot of questions. Just how much of a phone, an iPod and an Internet machine is this thing?

Here are the answers to the most frequently asked iPhone questions. Consider them a companion to my review yesterday, which covered the big points like the touch-screen keyboard (adequate with practice), the AT&T Internet network (painfully slow) and the iPhone's overall character (fun, powerful, amazing).

Before you dive in, though, a note about the "Does it have...?" questions. Apple has indicated that it intends to add features through free software updates, so the real, secret answer to some of the "no" answers is actually, "Coming soon."


Phone


above: the iphone in stand

Does the touch screen work if you're wearing gloves?
Will a stylus or pen tip work? No. Skin contact is required to operate the buttons. Fortunately, most tappable elements on the screen are big and broad, designed for fingertip access.

Does the iPhone have a speakerphone? Vibrate mode? Airplane mode?
Yes, yes and yes. The speakerphone and the vibrations are both weak, though.

Can I dial without looking? Can I dial one-handed?
You can't do much on the iPhone without looking. Then again, few people can operate a cellphone without looking. Dialing the iPhone one-handed, though, is easy. As your fingers grasp the iPhone, your thumb is free to tap buttons, scroll lists and so on.

Can I use a SIM card from another phone?
The iPhone comes with an installed SIM card, the tiny circuit board that stores your account information and phone number. Apple says that you should be able to replace it with any recent AT&T card, once you activate it in iTunes. No other company's SIM card works in the iPhone.

Will the iPhone work overseas?
If you mean to use your AT&T account, yes; call AT&T to turn on international roaming, and then prepare to pay big roaming charges. If you mean to insert some other country's SIM card, no.

How about voice memos, voice dialing or call recording?
No.

Do I need an AT&T account?
Yes. The iPhone won't work at all without a two-year AT&T voice-plus-Internet plan (and no, you can't use it as just an iPod, no matter how tempting the bigger screen and longer battery life is).


Above: iphone with music and headphones

iPod
What iPod features does the iPhone have?
Password protection, Shuffle and Repeat modes, ratings, audiobooks, audiobook speed control, podcasts, SoundCheck, equalization, volume limiter, on-the-go playlists.

What iPod features does it lack?
Games, lyrics, video output to a TV and disk mode (when the iPod acts as a hard drive for transporting computer files).

Does the iPhone work with iPod accessories?
Some of them. The iPod radio receiver works, for example, but FM transmitters may not work. Existing speaker systems trigger the iPhone's airplane mode (wireless and phone features turned off) to avoid interference with the music. Starting soon, iPhone-compatible iPod products will bear a "works with iPhone" logo.

Can you use your iTunes songs as ring tones? Can you download new ones?
No. At the moment, the iPhone's 25 ring tones are your only choices. (They're really good.)

Can you use your own headphones?
Fortunately, the iPhone has a standard miniplug headphone jack; unfortunately, its plastic molding prevents most headphone plugs from seating properly. Inexpensive adapters are available from Belkin and others.

Wireless

Does the iPhone work with Bluetooth computers, printers, stereo headsets or keyboards?
No. At the moment, it communicates only with hands-free devices like Bluetooth headsets (including Apple's very tiny one, coming in July) and a car's dashboard system.

Does the iPhone alert you when it detects a wireless Internet hot spot?
Yes. In fact, if it's a hot spot you've used before, the iPhone hops onto it seamlessly and quietly.

Can the iPhone serve as a wireless modem for my laptop?
No.

Can the iPhone receive songs, files, calendar appointments, contacts or software updates wirelessly?
No, only from your computer through the U.S.B. charging cradle. But this is kind of neat: Unlike the iPod, there's no "do not disconnect" message during syncing. You can yank the iPhone out of the cradle whenever you like - to answer a call, for example; syncing resumes when you're done. You can also operate the iPhone while it is charging.

Internet



Can you make phone calls while you're on the Internet?
Yes - if your iPhone has a Wi-Fi connection. When it's using AT&T's Internet network, no.

Why didn't Apple use AT&T's faster 3G Internet network?
Apple says that today's relatively unpolished 3G (third generation) radio chips would drain the battery too fast - and at this point, wouldn't provide enough of a speed boost to justify that trade-off. Apple will release a 3G iPhone model when the time seems right.

How snappy is the real iPhone, compared with Apple's ads?
It's identical, with one exception: Apple never shows the iPhone when it's on AT&T's cellular network. That would just be embarrassing.

What kind of e-mail can it get?
The iPhone comes with presets for Gmail, AOL and Yahoo Mail. You can also set up standard POP3 and IMAP accounts.

Is there instant messaging, like AIM or MSN Messenger?
No. Text-message exchanges appear as sequential, colorful text balloons, just as in Apple's iChat program. But they're still cellphone text messages, not chat.

Does the iPhone synchronize bookmarks with your computer?
Yes: with Safari on the Mac, or Internet Explorer on Windows.

What does the Web browser have?
Multiple open pages (like tabs), fonts, layouts, pop-up menus, checkboxes, clickable links and dialable phone numbers (tap with your finger).

What does it lack?
Java, Flash, stored passwords, RSS, streaming audio or video (except for some QuickTime videos).

What about V.P.N. (virtual private networking)?
The iPhone works with several common V.P.N. systems (that is, secure connections to corporate networks). A Settings screen lets you fill in the configuration details.

Software

Does the iPhone synchronize with my computer's calendar and address book?
Yes. It can sync with Address Book or Microsoft Entourage on the Macintosh, Outlook, Outlook Express on Windows, or Yahoo's address book on the Web. If you add appointments or phone numbers to the iPhone, they are added to your computer the next time you sync.

Do To Do items show up on the iPhone? Do memos in the iPhone's Notes program show up on the computer?
No.

Does the keyboard rotate when you rotate the iPhone?
Only in the Web browser. That's a shame, because the rotated keyboard, stretching the full length of the screen, is much bigger and easier to use than the narrow version.


Above: The iphone's keyboard

Can you type with two thumbs?
I've seen Apple employees flail away with two thumbs as though on a BlackBerry, but it takes loads of practice. After two weeks, I'm still tapping with one index finger.

Without cursor keys, how do I edit something I've written?
If you hold your fingertip against the glass, a magnifying loupe appears around it. You can now slide you finger through what you've written, moving the insertion point as you go.

Can the iPhone replace a BlackBerry?
It's not really even in the same category. For example, only Yahoo Mail accounts offer "push" e-mail like a BlackBerry, in which new messages appear in real time. For other accounts, the iPhone checks either periodically (every 15, 30 or 60 minutes) or when you tap the Check button. Similarly, you can view e-mailed Word, Excel and PDF attachments on the iPhone, but you can't create or edit them. The iPhone doesn't work with corporate Exchange e-mail systems, either, unless the administrator turns on IMAP (the administrator presumably knows what that is).

Hardware


Above: the back of the iphone

Is there an ambient light sensor?
Yes. A light sensor lies camouflaged behind the black glass. Each time you wake the phone, it adjusts the brightness - to make it brighter in sunlight, for example. You can also adjust the brightness manually.

Does the camera have a flash? Zoom? Self-portrait mirror?
None of the above. The chrome Apple logo on the back is not a self-portrait mirror.

Are there any secret features?
When the screen is off, the glossy black glass becomes a handy makeup mirror.

Wanna see David Pogue's video of the iphone?
click here.

or type the address below into your browser.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=caed76f16c6132710db58210df3940afb8a3f7c8

Someone tell Officer Sanchez That You Cannot Overdose On Marijuana


Okay, I don't want to 'make fun' of anyone who fears that they are 'dying' but this has got to be one of the funniest 'real' 911 calls I have ever heard.

This is from a Michigan Policeman who stole some pot from a bust and made brownies with it that he and his wife then ingested.

This is the entire call, unlike some other posts.

You've got to give it to the operator for maintaining her composure.



My favorite line " time is passing really slowly, I think we are dying" followed by asking the operator the score of The Redwings game to make sure he's not 'hallucinating'.

Poor Officer Edward Sanchez, he's never gonna live this down.

'Not For The Faint Of Heart' Design Game



The following was so much fun for me as an art director.



Anyone familiar with design, layout or print production terms for type-setting will have a fun time playing this beautiful gothic online game "Find The 25 Design Terms" A picture riddle brought to you by Colle +McVoy.



And if you can find all the terms within the alloted time, you actually get a free poster of this! (you do have to pay for shipping and handling, however).

Below is a bit of the story and the people at Colle + McVoy in Minneapolis who are behind this inventive and fun idea.




You can also purchase T-shirts here.


Will Farrell's latest: Good Cop, Baby Cop

Hot off the presses is the follow-up to the popular viral video “The Landlord” featuring comedian Will Ferrell getting upbraided by a 2-year-old landlord. The Landlord, which featured Funny or Die founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, has been viewed over 35 million times. In "Good Cop, Baby Cop" Ferrell portrays “Angel,” a hard-nosed criminal who refuses to cooperate with the police, leaving them no choice but to call in their toughest lieutenant - a baby cop, known in the precinct as “The Confession Machine.”

The clip premiered on FunnyOrDie.com on Monday and features a reunited Ferrell with two-year-old actress Pearl, who made her final performance before retirement.

"My ventures as an actor on the internet have been rewarding and spiritually fulfilling, but now I must look to broader challenges as I approach my 26th month," says Pearl in a press release. "I shall always reflect upon these days with much fondness, and also, I have no idea what I just said, and I want banana-nana and the upside down show."

Funny or Die is a new video website that launched in April of 2007 and is already one of the most visited comedy sites on the web.

Good Cop, Baby Cop

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