stunner of the month

like sunglasses (even if you don't need to be wearing them)? are you hipster enough to handle this? go to stunner of the month and you too can be seen with new shades every month.

Stunner of the Month isn't just a club, it's a lifestyle. Wear January's Stunners in September. Share a pair with a friend. Give a pair to get laid. Wear two at the same time. It doesn't matter.

i'm definitely not cool enough for this jam. are you?

webcam-filmed music video "hibi no neiro" by sour

wow!! this music video is really beautiful. this was filmed mostly by the band's own fans via webcam. seriously cool.

the eternal moonwalk

a tribute to the king of pop. people from around the world are keeping it going: the moonwalk goes on (and on).

dontevenreply.com

more procrastination! this time it involves more than a picture with a funny caption, so move on if you are adverse to reading. but seriously, if you're looking to waste a few, read a couple of these email strings and try to understand the human race. check out Don't Even Reply: Emails From an Asshole.

package design at its worst

seriously? this is horrible.

really?

today's big thing

gotta love procrastinating. not much else to say, really. just go to Today's Big Thing. you might see something cool, ridiculous or pretty awesome.

Barack Obama: The Freshman

portraits of the president, back when things were cool: check out Lisa Jack's Exhibition.

Awkward Family Photos

we all have 'em. but maybe not as bad as this. yikes! here's a blog paying tribute to all the awkwardness thrust upon us when posing with the fam.

check out Awkward Family Photos

Pretty Loaded

back in the land of dial-up, websites took forever to load. a new art form emerged: preloaders.

Pretty Loaded is an archive of preloaders that preload other preloaders...which in turn reveal yet more preloaders...it's a tribute to a vanishing art form amid a constantly changing digital landscape.






























Get Loaded Right Here.

Republic Bikes

ehhh i know i know, another post about a bike, but i kinda want one of these, too. hah. i like that it has the option of a freewheel (otherwise it'd be a no-go for me). i know you get what you pay for so the parts may not be the best, but i'm also not looking for a super expensive bike when i only spend an hour a day on it. so please head over to Republic Bike and build this one for me. email me for my shipping address. thanks!

swoops the attacking bird!

7 of my coworkers have been attacked, one twice!

**update**
i really can't stop following swoops attack chronicles. so funny. and now his wife Swipes has joined him in protecting the nest.

you can read his blog, here: http://frontstreetattackbird.blogspot.com/

MOOF bike

somehow in the last year and a half i've managed to become one of those SF bikers, weaving in and out of the traffic and annoying drivers. i haven't quite reached the level of yelling and hitting cars, but really that's only a few steps away at this point. so why don't you help feed my addiction and buy me a MOOF bicycle from Design Public. here's what they have to say about it:
MOOF improves the basic functionality of the urban Dutch bicycle by combining a beautiful extruded aluminum frame with integrated solar powered head and tail lights. This single speed sleek and smooth urban cruiser is both smart and conscientious.

BreadxBread

yes, this is a blog about a blog. oy. what has this world come to?

well, while we're pondering the online world we can chomp on some delicious sandwiches, all reviewed and photographed at BreadxBread. this guy obviously lives in my neighborhood, because most of his chosen sandwich locations are located in the mish. perfect! plus the posts are funny, complete with whole and sometimes half-eaten photos, and sometimes include poetic odes to the sammies. yum!

focus issues

see? i tried to get back to work, and my computer expressed what's going on in my brain.

Marine Layer

and speaking of buying me things, i FINALLY found a shirt that'll fit. well, maybe. i mean, there's a really good chance that it will. whatever. skeptic.
anyway, head over to SF's very own Marine Layer for a sustainably made, better-fitting tee or polo. they've revolutionized the standard S-M-L with the in-between sizes your body has been aching for. try a smedium, marge or larger on for size, eh? and for shorties like myself, you can get a "slightly shorter" length.
alright, maybe i'll get back to business soon, but for some reason i've been in a shopping kind of mood.

the property of

it's tax return season, anyone looking to spend some of theirs on me? i recently discovered The Property Of, a great company that produces bags and wallets. unfortunately for me they're not based out of the US, but they just so happen to have a really rad guy named jasen working here in the bay area that helped me locate retail spots in SF. i sent the company a quick email asking for help locating their wallets, and i got a friendly, detailed email back. way to go, guys. your customer service is top notch, and i'll certainly be heading over to hayes valley in search of your leather goods.









oh, and p.s.
you may buy me this:

Honda: Let It Shine

Wieden+Kennedy of Amsterdam made this spot for Honda. Pretty epic in my opinion. But i'm a sucker for choreography.

A Month in the Mish

do i really want to see a map of a month's worth of crime in my own neighborhood? hmmm. not so sure. but my curiostiy got the best of me. oddly enough i actually feel better about my place of residence after perusing this map.
i mean, sort of. on it you get a location and brief description of each crime. this particular map is from february 19 to march 17. ahh, the mission, how i heart thee. if only there was less crime. mom, don't read this post.

F*** My Life

does hearing about someone else's lows put you on high? well then! come and git it at F*** My Life. it's a stream of anyone's contributions of embarrassing moments, unfair truths, and just general oh sh*t moments. they're all pretty short, so you can follow it on twitter, too. some of them are seriously funny. others make me want to cry a little on the inside. enjoy!

Pitchfork

so, you think you're a hipster? well break out your white jeans and fanny packs, cuz you can stay on top of what music will be cool tomorrow, today. check out Pitchfork for music news, reviews and of course, the forkcast. but i warn you, this site might cause cravings for fixies and PBR.

Tweet O'Clock

i could go on and on about social applications and their usefulness (or lack thereof?), but i think i won't. i just don't have the time right now. however, i've found that there are now tools that do the thinking for you. like what, you ask? well for assessing twitter's value there are a whole slew. one such tool is called tweet o'clock.

what's it do? well, you type in the username of anyone without protected tweets, and it spits out the day and time that user is most likely to be on twitter. why would you care? if you're looking to use twitter as a communication tool, then knowing this information would help you know when others would be most likely to see and respond to your tweets. i guess. it's all just so fascinating.

Flickr Clock

what? new feature on flickr: a video clock. click on a bar and it expands so you can watch the video. explore uploads by time of day. yum, organic. Check it out.

TinEye

here's a new way to image search...with images! at first thought i was a little wary of how useful this engine would be, but it just so happens it came in really handy this morning. here's what TinEye has to say for themselves:

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks.

basically, i needed a higher rez version of an image, and found it in seconds. rad.

see-thru headed fish!

really! man, the oceans have some weird stuff. you can read about it/watch a video here.

What the comp?—Your Girlfriend is Ugly

it's always so refreshing to meet people outside The Industry. i mean, usually they're doing something a little more worthwhile than trying to sell stuff, but that's beside the point. really, it's just nice not to talk business and throw jargon around all the time. i recently met someone who gets lost when i start talking about design and tech, and i love it! here i am blathering on about usability and she's like, uhhhh what's an app? hah. it's so cool.
anyway, this post doesn't have too much of a point. i was just reading a guilty pleasure of a blog called Your Girlfriend is Ugly. it's witty, sarcastic and generally just makes me laugh for a minute before getting back to the task at hand. well, the author recently wrote a post about comps that made me laugh, mainly because i just finished describing to my friend what a "comp" is. you can read the entry here if you desire. while it may not be her absolute funniest (in my opinion), i certainly appreciated it. but really, she's funny. i've been known to procrastinate way too long on her blog.

Poladroid

ok, it's official. i'm kind of obsessed with this free application. and not only is it free, but it couldn't be easier to use. all you have to do is go to Poladroid, download it, and then start dragging jpg's into the desktop icon. really!

great! so what the hell is it? all it does is take your image, any image, and make it look like a polaroid. that's all, nothing crazy. i mean sure, you could do it in photoshop, but why? Poladroid messes with the colors, crops, and adds vignettes to give each photo a very realistic, instantly developed look. maybe it's just me, but i can't stop. send help? please?

Passive Aggressive Notes

fan of Fail Blog? well, you should be if you're not. in any case, here's a distant cousin, Passive Aggressive Notes. anonymous users submit these lttle gems that they find (or receive). i do warn you, these can get a bit nasty, but i'm certainly amused.

Fidelity: Don't Divorce...

my friend katie sent this video to me.


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

mmmm stop motion

i think this video is great. Have a look at it here.


















credits are here.

Freelance Freedom #88

Animoto for your iPhone

i know, this is a big day here at just the gritty. but hey, i have a little time so why not?

i believe a while ago i posted about animoto. it's a site that puts together a customized video of uploaded still images for you. well, just as everyone else has, they've created a free iPhone version. you can take pics on your phone and immediately create a video set to music to send to anyone. i haven't tried it yet, but it could be fun.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)

this is some great stuff.



Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

It Even Has A Watermark—Business Card Gallery

speaking of Francesco Mugnai, he also has a great site called Oh My God. It Even Has A Watermark. it's a gallery of business cards that you can apply many different filters to, including things like color and material. a great place to get some inspiration. you should also watch the video clip in the about section, it explains the name of the site.

and p.s. if you haven't seen american psycho, read up on it before you put it in your queue. it's not about type design.

crazy 3D type tutorial

oh, why not one more, just for shits and giggles?
want a celestial look for your text? here's a tut that could give you what you're looking for. francesco mugnai offers it up, right here.

Rockin' Silhouette Tutorial

i guess it's tutorial day. here's another one on creating a silhouette with a little more than a simple black color overlay. you can find it here.

Digital Smoke Tutorial

here's a tut on how to create some digital smoke. what does that mean? look at the pic. then go here to learn how to do it.

Durex: Get It On

HAH! This is an awesome video. Watch it here.

Coke Zero Dance Hero

Hmm. Another underwhelming microsite, if you ask me. Coke Zero Dance Hero seriously disappointed me. Sure, the design is all fancy-pants and it's got some cool music, but here's what I walked away with:

1. i had to spend more than a minute learning what the hell i was supposed to do. sorry, but that goes beyond my microsite attention span.
2. after all the instructions, all i had to do was click some dots and hover over some other ones. really? this is called dance hero and i'm not even controlling the dancing? hm.
3. i felt like i was learning mousing skills, not enjoying some fun online procrastination.
4. although the dancing tongue was kind of gross and funny.

Microsoft Songsmith

I don't even know what to say about this. A friend just passed it on to me and I'm not sure if I should vomit or cry. Maybe a little bit of both? Please, someone tell me this is a joke. Please?

Watch the Video.

Whopper Sacrifice

What would you do for a Whopper? I can't say I'd personally do much, if anything, but apparently a lot of people would kill off their friends. BK just launched Whopper Sacrifice and it's apparently really catching on. It's a Facebook app that gets you to "sacrifice" ten of your friends, and in turn receive a free burger. I can't say I'm enticed, but I'm impressed at how popular it's quickly becoming.

The Unloader

Nokia has a viral site up right now where you can go to 'destroy' all those horrible documents you accumulate. You know, spreadsheets, word docs, powerpoints. It's called The Unloader. I just tarred and feathered a particularly annoying PDF.