The Brilliance!

So, Time Magazine’s new issue of Today’s Most Influential People included Jay and Kanye alongside people like Steve Jobs of Apple and Barack Obama. This is pretty cool - seeing urban and hip-hop stars amongst business people and political leaders. I must say I completely agree with putting these two on here…Jay just can’t seem to do anything wrong and Kanye is just pure innovation. Maybe next year you’ll see THE BRILLIANCE on that list kids.

THE BRILLIANCE! likes this site. Both from a buyers perspective and from its design and whole business model. Funny name too, I guess. The man behind PORCH MODERN (based in Toronto) is a vintage furniture collector by the name of Colen Colthurst. PORCH MODERN sells vintage furniture that is carefully collected by Colen himself, who is quite the connoisseur as it seems. He has a heavy focus on Eames pieces which is always nice. Awesome pieces, good prices, and the whole personal touch thing is cool. He also rents his pieces out for events, very nice. Get rid of your futon and check out PORCH MODERN.

THE BRILLIANCE! is Coolstop’s site of the day for April 11, 2005. This is due mostly in part to how incredibly interesting and funny Ben and I are, and because we deserve the damn site of the day thing. Hey, we can post whatever we want. Here’s to THE BRILLIANCE! for being in existence for less than a week and already making other people wish they thought of it first. Face!

Let me clear something up real quick… Songs with ‘da’ in the title usually don’t get much attention from me. But I made an exception in this case. This track is so damn smooth. It has that summer time flowing feel to it. Beautiful. I find R&B music to often be a bit stale in both production and vocals which makes this cut exceptionally refreshing. The video is just ok with the exception of that wild orchid/floral painting on Tweet’s back towards the end, very interesting. Also, quick note, apparently there are two versions of this track, one sped up and then the video version that is a bit more low-key. Nice track. Check the video at the link below….

These are pretty hot…not too sure about the color on them…A little bland…I’d prefer just a solid white/black, not this cream tone…But whatever. Coolest Kaws shoes since the DC X Kaws that now pop up on eBay for $300+. I like what they did with the fronts though, using the Chompers teeth pattern. I can’t be lured though, I’ll stick with my Vans slip-ons. Via La MJC.

No, it’s not a Stussy X Freshjive collaboration…It’s Stussy suing Freshjive for apparently infringing on trademark. I must say, Stussy’s claims listed on the Freshjive site are pretty over-the-top, “That this merchandise will cause Stussy and THE PUBLIC to suffer great and irreparable damage and injury.” Hmmm…o…k….Freshjive basically wrote out their name in the Stussy script/handwriting style and Stussy got their panties in a bunch. I personally like Stussy as a brand more than Freshjive…but…I don’t know. Check for youreself.

OK so I know this album came out like a month ago, and I’m not really here to review it…I just want to say that whether you’re a fan of dance, electronic, hip hop, or Kenny Loggins, there’s a good chance that you can pop this album in, roll the windows down on the car, flip to the 3rd track “Robot Rock”, and look like a total badass as you drive through your suburban neighborhood in your mom’s minivan with your portable CD player hooked up through a tape adapter. If you turn it loud enough and are feelin it, dance a little and watch people look at you as you drive by. Also - check out the video for this song at Daftpunk.com. Glam rock meets spacemen meets awesome. Not quite as memorable as “Around the World” or “Da Funk” but still…hot.

Another skin-care/body-care/hair-care post. Malin+Goetz is fresh. I suppose it’s the simplicity and execution of both the branding and the products that impresses me. They keep it real simple… Two product functions: cleansers and moisturizers and three applications for each function: hair, body, face. They also have a beautiful store to match their product located in Chelsea. Inspired packaging/branding from Anisa Suthayalai (www.bydefault.org), great products, decent prices, and as with any of this other designer skin-care stuff, it damn near increases the value of your house/loft/condo just by having it in your bathroom. Step you cleansers game up with Malin+Goetz.

I love girls, girls, girls, girls, …girls I do adore. Most people have already heard about this site. Whatever. Let me introduce you AGAIN. The whole theme of this site, it’s execution, styling, CONTENT, and all that is just perfect. Perfect. I don’t know about the trash thing though, creeps me out a bit. But the ‘Party Photo’ section is nothing short of brilliant. I’m not really one to ‘ogle’ women on the internet, but the girls on this site are so amazingly beautiful. Most of them at least. Check the site out, THE BRILLIANCE! loves it.

Word of the KAWS glow-in-the-dark Companion has been floating around messageboards and a few sites here and there for a few weeks now…From what I know they are going to be available only in Japan which means there’s slight chances of eBay sightings…but my guess is, since they’re so limited, that they’ll be hard track down. Not that other KAWS stuff isn’t hard to get, but this seems exceptionally scarce. Either way, hot. There’s some pictures here and there of it in the dark, glowing green, and it looks sick. If anyone’s got any more info on these, let us know! Hello@TheBrilliance.com.

Update
“This is a Sense mag exclusive. With shipping to a Japanese address it will be about $200. No foreign orders accepted, Final order date is the 15th of April. Limited to 1 pc per magazine. So if you want 2 you gotta buy two magazines and the mag costs about $7. The mag is terrible.”
Source.

Thanks to Caleb for the tip.