I feel like I’ve been so unbelievably consumed with working lately, that’s I’ve forgotten why I enjoy creating things in the first place. Back when I used to spend almost all my freetime drawing and painting, a girlfriend at the time confusedly asked me why I spent so much time creating stuff when I never attempted to get exposure through gallery exhibitions, etc. It was such an obvious question, but never occured to me before. I created because I created. It was what I did. What I always wanted to do.

Anyway, getting a job creating can leave you not wanting to do any creating when you finally get some free time and that’s been the unfortunate circumstances as of late. Luckily, I can still try to at least remember to check out other people’s “pointless” creations like the ones by H. Hoogerbrugge. I’ve noticed this Flash artist before, but had forgotten about him.

Remember to check out his Modern Living — the Neurotica Series.

Via Screenhead.

So, I spotted a guy wearing a Kilt on 9th avenue and 48th street this afternoon. The odd thing is that he seemed very depressed which made the whole kilt look appear very pathetic. This drew me to the conclusion that should you feel like sporting a kilt, you should be in either a good or at least positive mood. Then rocking the kilt will make you look like some kind of interesting super star and not a depressed sucker whos mother dressing him.

Remember to be in a kick ass mood if ever thinking about wearring a kilt.

BTW, it took some doing to find someone not looking like a complete idiot in a kilt, so maybe it’s not a good idea ever. Image from Matthew A. C. Newsome: Kilt Maker – Kilt Wearer – Kilt Historian

It seems like I often find myself digging through Federal Government sites for forms from copyright info, to other small business stuff. Well, in some freak of the cosmos, the US government decided to make something easy for me. Now all federal forms (other than spying and bombing related ones I would imagine) can all be found in one somewhat attractive web site. It even has the top 5 “Frequently Used Forms” on the front page.

If they’re not careful, I might start to think that my tax money is actually going to things that make my life easier. Thankfully, I’ve got this Death and Taxes map to remind me otherwise.

Via Lifehacker.

Being in advertising, sometimes you can get so wrapped up with the latest trend, or style and lose sight of how a superbly executed simple effect can make a mindblowing impact. Recently (well, 2002 anyway), Spike Jonze did some work on a skate video called “Yeah Right!” by Girl/Chocolate. It seems as though he did three segments and they’re mindblowingly cool.

Check out Invisible Board where with a haunting soundtrack Jonze presents basically standard skating footage with a twist. The most amazing part about it is that the twist is so small, so simple, but the impact is huge.

In the intro piece, Jonze again shows your basic skate moves and footage, except in super slow motion and again with an amazing soundtrack. Presenting the action at that speed just makes it all look so larger than life and truly amazing.

Magic board is my least favorite, but still cool.

There’s an interview about the video (not with Jonze) that covers some of the ins and outs of the piece with a couple funny moments.

Don’t for get to keep it simple.

This has nothing to do with anything except that it’s something I might like to remember… and I guess that means it has everything to do with everything. Anyway, I came across a story on BBC News about an extinct killer kangaroo that lived millions of years ago and that was pretty interesting, but I could probably forget that… then I ran across a mention to another once native of Austrailia nicknamed “The Giant Demon Duck of Doom” that grew to over 3 meters tall and weighted over 500kg!! WTF!? A demon duck of doom? Scientists are such huge geeks pulling out names like that. I love it! I need to remember that!

I shouldn’t forget to have fun at work and name things appropriately.

As could probably be expected, I’m currently horrible at remembering names. But that’s all going to change! I just ran across Merlin Mann‘s 43 Folders post on tips for remembering names he culled together through a bit of googling. (Yes, I can use that word correctly now. Thanks Merriam Webster!)

Anyway, the one that seems the most likely to work is the repetition one. I could see simply repeating a person’s name 3 times when I first meet them (or perhaps talk on the phone) a good way to embed that name into my sieve of a brain.

Don’t forget to repeat names! Over and over and over…

Thinker photo by Rob Inh00d

Speaking of music and memories. One of the most defining musical acts of the 90′s for me was easily Portishead. They connected so perfectly with my rampant sense of ennui, my interest in digital everything, and the sorry state of my relationships. Ahh, the memories are all coming back to me while I write this and listen to Biscuit.

Anyway, it would seem like after 9 years or so they’re finally putting out new material! I, for one, certainly have my fingers crossed that this new effort will be just as melancholic and perfect as their past albums. Oddly enough, for what I would consider a major band, they’re doing all their talking about the upcoming album right on MySpace saying things like “…its nice to think us old gits have a few tunes in us without sounding like coffie table zero 7 – moby – chill out shit!!” (Damn!)

I shouldn’t forget to check out the portisheadalbum3 profile often for the latest news.

I find myself in a bit of a musical funk lately. It’s not that I’m not finding amazing music to listen to, because I am. (I’m mad for the remix of The Sohodolls’ Stripper and Jamie T’s Shiela.) The problem is that with so much music digitally at my fingertips (over 8000 in my iTunes library), none really get replayed over and over to the point of them sinking in and defining moments in my life. That makes it even more difficult to remember things because music plays a huge roll in helping the brain recall events down to the tiniest emotional element.

Anyway, back in the 80′s things were different. There didn’t seem to be an overwhelming amount of music available and everyone seemingly listened to the same things. C’mon, everyone loved the Take on Me video, right? Now, through the magic of the internet I can reminisce about those times and remember the feelings associated with them.

Don’t forget to watch all the videos in this amazing 80′s video database.

The New York Times site has a story up called Déjà Vu, Again and Again about the science behind how memories of different kinds work and what happens when they stop working as expected. It seems like an interesting read, but it’s also a bit of a long article. Although I started it, I just didn’t feel like making my way through the whole thing.

I really shouldn’t forget to finish reading the whole article.

Brain of a pig — Image by Angelo Christo/zefa/Corbis

Three years ago I went to Hong Kong for a vacation because after the first SARS outbreak, it was extremely cheap to travel there and I’d never been to Asia before. One thing I imagine every westerner is immediately struck by when going to someplace like Hong Kong is how everyone lives right on top of each other. There’s just no space between people’s personal spaces. The funny thing is that there’s plenty of room in Hong Kong for people to spread out, they just don’t.

I had somewhat forgotten about this whole phenomenon until I ran across a post entitled Michael Wolf and the Architecture of Density over at Magical Urbanism. Then it all started to come back.

Don’t forget the multitude of clothelines poking out of buildings like thorns, the bamboo used to build monstrous residential units, and the bizarre alcoves where people must look out of their windows right into someone else’s.