LOUNGE72 is kaput

Who needs friends…when you have pens! Perhaps my favorite new blog.

COLOURlovers has a great article on color in nature, and they’ve redesigned.

Christopher Schmitt on determining your hourly rate. I like this article because he gives you the math up front, it’s short and to the point.

I concur.

Kristin Hersh takes a Juliana Hatfield-esque approach to music; the honor system. She talks about what we’ve lost in this digital and copyright crippled age:
a blues player walks a song from town to town, playing on street corners, in dance halls, at parties and bars. The song stays when the musician leaves, adopted and adapted […]

Beth Ditto gets interviewed in Spin. Sad it took Perez Hilton to get them to notice the Gossip. In spite of Spin’s usually crappy coverage, they manage to ask some decent questions.
Keira Knightley called you “sexy” and said that you had “the most amazing body.” Can you take that compliment seriously coming from somebody […]

Clearly, this is the magazine for me: The Miserablist.

A car that holds 10 people, uses 3 wheels, weighed less than 1,000lbs and got 30-50mpg in 1933.

Norton Furniture guy making his stand up debut this weekend in Lakewood. If you’re not a local, perhaps you’ve seen his cheesy commercials on one of the late shows. Definitely going to try not to miss this.

New Breeders album in April. Finally. While I wasn’t tremendously impressed with Title TK, I still enjoyed it a lot. Their “reunion” dates were some of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to.

Mr. Beep gets interviewed.

Advergirl’s Rules for Career Success. Amen on number one:
Never be silent in a meeting. You’re there for a reason. Participate. Add value. Take notes.
Until the last year or so I’ve always been quiet in meetings, mostly because I don’t want to be that person who constantly talks about themselves, over inflates their importance, and worries […]

Drawn!’s favorite comics and art books of 2007. Illustrators, commence drooling.

Wonder Woman finally gets a lady writer. Maybe I’ll have to start reading Wonder Woman again.

20 Horrible Habits of Clients. Every designer has probably experienced what’s on this list. It’s unfair to constantly blame clients. We fault clients for our own inabilities to say no, explain our expertise or communicate with them. Additionally, most of the things on this list I’ve experienced doing in-house work, so it’s not just […]

Six Apart is selling LiveJournal. I think this is perhaps best summed up by one of the comments:
In Soviet Russia, internet blogs you!

OMG best thing I’ve seen all week! 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Golden Girls.

Bourbon goes high class. I think Bourbon’s always been a great, lovingly crafted drink, but terribly misunderstood. If you were to ask most people what their favorite bourbon is, they’ll tell you Jack Daniels, nevermind that it’s not a true bourbon and is to good whiskey what Heineken is to good beer. With the recent […]

Carrie Brownstein, a real musician, on Rock Band in Slate:
Not even the creators of Rock Band could possibly believe that playing the game is tantamount to making your own music. There is, however, a sad similarity between Rock Band and some actual bands, and that is the attempt at realness. With so much of music […]

Susan Kare, mother of the Mac UI is in Wired today.

Jeffrey Zeldman in the newest A List Apart, Understanding Web Design:
The winning sites look fabulous as screen shots in glossy design annuals. When the winners become judges, they reward work like their own. Thus sites that behave like TV and look good between covers continue to be created, and a generation of clients and art […]

Garrett Dimon gives eBay’s forms a much needed face-lift in this case study. Points of emphasis, using a blur to determine if your form has a clear hierarchy, better field and label relationships and bolder headers. Towards the end he mentions possibly removing the date of birth field.
I don’t know why eBay has chosen […]

Intended for the House & Garden website before they shut down are pictures of Amy Sedaris’ apartment. Fake meat, fake cakes and bizarre stuffed animals; no surprises here. I imagine living in a house like this would be like being on mushrooms forever.

Chicago Type is a photo project documenting found typography across Chicago.

An actual pilot found the pilot iPhone commercial as irritating as I did.

The Book Design Review has posted his favorite book covers of 2007. You can vote on your own favorite from his choices.

Scamp has an interview with illustrator Rob Ryan. Included are some awesome examples of his work, I especially love the palettes he uses. Rob also has a blog and a portfolio site.

It’s official, Cleveland has an Iron Chef! In a sort of commemoration Alana and I ate at Players last night, where Symon got his start.

Normal Mailer died.