“Hôtel Americano keeps life’s choices simple. Three room types offered, all with the feel of an urban ryokan with wooden platform beds, warm lighting, and luxurious natural materials, some with soaking tubs and fireplaces. The square meals all New York is talking about. Five selections available for Breakfast, five more available around-the-clock. Order with in-room iPad or dial 101 from the in-room telephone.”

As the colleague who brought this place to my attention said: “For the road warrior, having a familiar, comfortable, even creatively quirky hotel to drop your bags is a welcome destination.”

Variety might be the spice of life but we tend to find solace in the familiar. Knowing “what you’re going to get” can be a relief for the weary traveler.

The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “I don’t need more choices; I need help choosing.”™ Selecting from three stylish rooms and 5 exquisite looking bento boxes, simplifies the hotel experience in an cool, minimalistic way – which looks like it fits right into the Hôtel Americano vibe.

“Volkswagen has agreed to deactivate email on staff BlackBerries in certain German plants outside of working hours. Under the agreement, staff will receive emails on the smartphones from a half hour before work until half an hour after work, but will receive no emails the rest of the time. The company said, “mobile communication devices offer a great amount of freedom, but also embody the risk of no longer being able to switch off.”

The Moment Momentum™ wave urges us to slow down the pace of life. It’s being pro-active about seeking serenity. Look, I’m definitely the kind of person that usually can’t help but check every time I get an alert for an incoming email, tweet or Facebook notification. But even if it’s a just cursory glance, it is taking you out of the moment to some extent right? The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “One must take time to reflect.”™

Over this holiday break, I’m sure many people have finally wound down enough to reflect or take stock. Perhaps, enough to pencil in “quality time” on the list of new years resolutions.

“Nestle Crunch has partnered with fashion label Paul Frank on a limited-edition run of their 2.75 oz. chocolate bar. The official collaboration sees the traditional Nestle Crunch bar, a milk chocolate and airy crispies-concoction, decorated in a truly festive holiday-card jacket.”

A holiday card with a sweet twist!
Brand Sanctuary™ is where we find brands that we know and love, and we go out of our way to be loyal to them.

Lets be honest, fashion is a hard business to stay at the top of.  Trends come and go so fast.  One day you’re “in” and the next, as Heidi Klum says, “you’re out.”  So I’m not surprised Paul Frank is keeping Julius the Monkey out in the public eye in this kind of way.   Picking up a Nestle chocolate is A LOT cheaper than a Paul Frank outfit too, so you can get the appeal of Paul Frank for less.

Co-branding is nothing new, and this isn’t exactly “clash of the titans” in the way that Apple & Nike came together for their Sports Kit- a wireless system that allows shoes to talk to an iPod.  However, this lil’ holiday collaboration is a cute way to stuff a stocking.

This is an example of a Power Plays™ fail.

Ok, so they sell tiles. Interior Design. A passion many people discover when they buy or renovate a home.

“These porcelain wall or floor tiles are made by photographing real life street art (graffiti) and then reproducing that onto tiles. Amazing. Each tile is quite unique. Designers are doing some amazing things with our Street Art tiles!”

What’s my problem? Well, I know a couple of street artists (yes, “graffiti” artists) and I know what they would think about this:

Bogus.

Going around and photographing peoples street art and profiting from it maybe an entrepreneurial idea, but the customers will never truly achieve what they want to achieve with this purchase…. Street Cred.

Yes, I’m putting it in 80′s breakdancing movie terms.

The essence of Power Play’s is: Seeking admiration as a source of power. When it comes to seeking out street art as a way to bring interesting talking pieces into your home, my humble advice is to go to the source. I’m willing to bet your downtown district, no matter where you live, has an art walk or art event on the calendar… or even a kid with a spray can. Support that instead of appropriated, generic reproductions.

Then you’ll be authentically living the Power Plays™ Human Truth™ : “Not many people know what I know and do what I do.”™

My brother had a big flashback that got him excited when I told him about the first Power-Con/ThunderCon. He was obsessed with He-Man! And has a enormous collection stashed away in his garage (which he speculates might be worth a pretty penny now!)

Power-Con/ThunderCon is the first convention in the U.S. catering to the fans of Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats.
Apparently, unlike other conventions it was really only filled with people of the 30-something demographic specific to the cartoons glory days:

“Power-Con/ThunderCon was the rare convention where most of the attendees appeared to be from our generation pop culture fanatics. There were very few children there. Those who attended seemed to be tagging along with their parents, unaware of the fuss over vintage toys that can now cost as much as several hundred to one thousand dollars. Unlike an anime convention, the teenage contingent was non-existent and, unlike PowerMorphicon, there the under-25 crowd was thin.”

The Human Truth™ of the Time Travel™ wave is: “By using the past as a sanctuary, I feel more connected to others.”™ You think that was the vibe at this convention? You bet it was.

Don Draper makes an extremely convincing case about the past as a haven for safety and familiarity. He-Man’s famous catch-cry is: “BY THE POWER OF GREY SKULL!!!!”
Now, how will you harness the power of the Time Travel™ wave?

“The store offered a free outfit — top and bottom — to the first 100 people who showed up …
… in only their underwear and from the looks of it, the shop was swamped with skivvy-donning young people hoping to get that ensemble. Some were there since 9 p.m. Monday and camped out on the street overnight.  My Fox 11 reports that 200 half-nude people showed up. By our count that’s 100 people who took off most of their clothes for no reason.
The first 100 got to grab outfits worth as much as $1,000. The store was nice enough to reward the near-nudity of the second 100 with a 50 percent-off discount, however.”

I suppose it’s not really that different to what we wear on the beach, but somehow gallivanting through the streets in your underwear is that one step beyond.  That little bit “over the line”.  Which is what the Barely Legal™ wave embraces.  It’s about boundary stretching.  The Human Truth™ is: “I like to step over the line, but only in short bursts.”™ The Undie Party appealed to people’s love of free stuff, but also that titallating urge to do something a little taboo.
Free stuff and bare skin… usually a winning combo!  “Desigual: Atypical Spanish Wear Since 1884″ is a cool global brand that’s clothing people all over the world… by getting them half-naked.

What do I mean by emotionally?  Well I can only imagine how I would be feeling if I had to watch my neighborhood burn and my local stores trashed and looted.  I would find it very healing to join others who want to roll up sleeves and do something positive.

There has been countless articles written about why this happened, what social situations have caused the unrest and whether it’s pure criminality or an uprising.  If you want to watch an interesting documentary about some of the contributing factors as to why people are so ready to throw bottles and set things on fire, then click here.

I, on the other hand, am focusing on why the post riot clean up is such a great example of Giving Back™.  The Human Truth™ of Giving Back™ is:  “When we’re giving, our lives have more meaning.”™ It’s about SELFLESS REWARDS.

Lee Wilshire and Nick Varney decided launched Riot Rebuild, a “post-riot urban intervention” and have been overwhelmed with the response.  These are just two people with their own full time jobs who felt strongly enough about the cause to put up a website and Facebook page.  I find it strange that I haven’t heard much news about aid from corporations and business world.  It times like this where a brand can really step forward and cement itself as part of the community.  I have no doubt it’s happening but “people power” is the story that’s coming out of the aftermath.

“Anyone who needs help from Riot Rebuild’s group of volunteers can post on the website. Qualified architects, designers, etc. are encouraged to contact the needy parties to offer their services at a free or discounted rate.”

The essence of Giving Back™ is “Making the world a better place.”  Some would say the rioters and the clean up squads have that in common, both want their world to be better… just vastly different ways of expressing it.

The first is The Cube. It is a “3x3x3m house designed for one person to live comfortably with a minimal impact on the environment. It has two floors, connected by some unconventional space-saving stairs, and includes a kitchen, dining room, shower, toilet and bed. “

Check out the video for a full tour of the cute lil’ house and you’ll see how less really equals more when in comes to getting rid of your carbon footprint.  The team behind The Cube Project stress that these innovations are not solely applicable to small buildings.  When scaled up appropriately, everything they used could also be applied in homes and businesses of all shapes and sizes.  “The Cube illustrates what we believe to be the best of low-carbon living.”

Next we meet Christian Schallert in Spain, where he takes us on a tour of his amazingly clever bachelor pad.  Here is a man who has made the absolute most out of his 24 square meter (258 square feet) apartment. “To sleep, he rolls his bed out from under the balcony, his stairs become become bedside tables and he can even swing his tv out from the wall. To dine, he lowers a plank from the wall, his flower-stand becomes a support and his stairs become a bench. To cook, he clicks a spot on his vast wall of click-able furniture, and a spring-loaded door swings up to reveal an instant kitchen: double-burner, dishwasher, sink, countertop and microwave oven. The full-sized refrigerator and freezer click open just alongside.”

I thought it was interesting that the space-saving furniture aboard boats, as well as the small homes of Japan inspired him.

Choice Choice™ is often about simplifying life.  Most of us live in a world that gives us OPTION OVERLOAD.  I think there is a real social swing to questioning what we really need to be happy and content.  With so many people forced to down size in the economic crisis, I think it’s great that the architecture and design community is really coming up with some cool solutions.

Makes you wonder about the future of those huge brands Rolex, Seiko, Swatch etc.  Could these businesses be in trouble as newer generations stick with their smartphones?

Perhaps not if Fossil’s watch innovation takes off:

“The Meta Watch isn’t just a watch. Ding. Text message. Dong. New email. Ding. An appointment. Dong. The weather sucks. Ding. Tweet. Normally, these things, or blind notifications of these things, would prompt you to pull your phone out of your pocket. If you were wearing a Meta Watch, though, you’d just casually peek at your wrist as your smartphone beams all of the most urgent updates, the stuff you really need to know, directly to it via Bluetooth. Live, glanceable info.”

Most people in the younger generations would fall squarely in the Clockless™ wave.  The essence is “Hyper-life consumers find 24 hr solutions”.  Most of us find it hard to unplug for extended periods.  So anything that streamlines and aggregates our various info sources into something more convenient is sure to get a lot of attention.

If you haven’t seen it (really??) then take some time to watch their latest onslaught:

Epic Meal Time’s Fast Food Lasagna (VID)

Is it bad that I actually want to taste that? Don’t answer that.

Anyway, I think we can go on record as saying this has to be one of the manliest cooking shows ever produced right?

You got a bunch of foul-mouthed tough guys actively trying to make the most outlandishly meaty/boozy “meals” ever.

That’s just what the Guys and Dolls™ wave is all about – pushing it to the extreme! The essence is: ACUTE GENDERIZATION.  If you decide to be inspired by this wave and aim something at guys – be as macho as possible! With successful merchandizing and rumored book deals- it’s certainly working out well for the Epic Meal Time guys!!

As one video commenter says: