The Brilliance!

HTTP://WWW.THEBRILLIANCE.COM

We’re really internet and we’re really back. A website about things Benjamin , Chuck , Virgil , and various friends & guests think are interesting. Little-to-no specific focus, a bit odd, speling errors, and incredibly culturally relevant.

404 small

Incredible architecture and design 2006

I love interior design and architecture, modern design in residential homes but still with that warm-homey feel, not too sterile…Just the idea of a place that people live in being a piece of art in itself is such a fascinating thing…the best place online to begin, in my opinion, is always MocoLoco. I get a good majority of my information and knowledge from that site when it comes to this topic. Anyways, here are a few sites that really stood out to me and truly feature some homes and places I would love to call my own. First off, A Modern. A Modern is a small firm of architects and builders in the Atlanta area that build, create, and design modern houses and buildings. Beautiful stuff on there, please do yourself a favor and check the 2004 photo gallery… That house looks so fun, so nice. Next, check Krueck + Sexton. Amazing architecture based here in Chicago…they’ve won tons of awards, their work is classy, modern, fresh…all of that…PZY Architects...whoa, check, out ‘5’ on the bottom there…beautiful, clean lines, comfortable living spaces…Last, check Ulterior Mode. I mean, wow…check out everything, but really check out ‘Kinzer’ under ‘A’. You’ll see what I mean when you go there. That’s all…I have to go to bed. I had chicken wings for dinner and a ton of rasberry iced tea while I watched The Aristocrats. It just came out today, pretty funny…but don’t watch it around little kids or anything like that…Bob Saget. Ha.

403 small

Lazy college kids article. Ugh…

Maybe I’m bias, because I skipped college altogether and went straight to my career. So did Benjamin…but I have a lot of close friends and family who are in college and making the best of it, are smart, and do not fit this article. However - this article talks about a study that shows ” More than 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks.” Read the article. They aren’t talking about kids having a hard time writing novels. They’re talking about kids having a hard time figuring out how to balance a checkbook, do basic math, and figure out what to tip at a restaurant. This makes me - honestly - very sad. I am not afraid or worried for the future of America, honestly - I do believe that leaders will rise up and take charge and get things done…but I do feel a bit uneasy after reading this for future generations…I know people personally who fit right in to what this article is talking about and it does make me kind of sad. Honestly - this country needs more young people getting their act together, taking their schooling seriously, and making things happen. Not calling anyone out, being a hater, none of that…and I know it’s a generalization - but still - I hope this article reaches the right people, you know? I think technology has a lot to do with this. And I do NOT BLAME technology or advances in it - I blame laziness. Video games are a perfect example. What a great form of entertainment - for real…but so many people literally wasting away hours upon hours, days upon days playing video games. Counter-productive…sitting on the internet all day…and the internet is one of the most powerful communications and business tools in history - but it gets abused…TV too…I mean - all these things are great…but what’s not great is the way they are treated and whatnot. This all ties in to the college thing in my opinion. And I was just talking to Ben about this, he made a good point. You don’t have to be a millionaire to be living the/your American dream…It’s not even about becoming wealthy someday but more about making a difference, taking things seriously, being creative…whatever…but if you think you fit what this article is talking about, you need to get up off your ass asap.

402 small

Juve and the 9th ward video shoot.

This is pretty intense right here. I have been into Juvenile for a minute…I remember seeing the ‘Ha’ video thinking ‘whoa, that’s a rough area.’ But I loved how it was shot. Anyway though…he is back in the NO to film ‘Get Ya Hustle On’ for is new album. And it’s not just some stock footage of the area, Juve is actually in the devastated 9th ward. So wild, so, so wild. I don’t even know what the correct way to say it would be but…’props’ to him for doing this. For real. He has been so vocal about his feelings regarding the disaster and his stand-point on federal response. Check the first little clip for the video in the news article at the link below. Just the little clip is nuts…complete devastation and some pretty intense imagery. Our hearts, prayers, and condolences STILL go out to the people of New Orleans.

401 small

Programmers at Cisco Systems drop acid?!

Ha…what a title though. I ran across this article on Wired the other day. And actually, I find it to be quite interesting…very interesting. First I need my little disclaimer: I don’t and have never done ‘drugs’ of any sort with the exception of alcohol. For real, just never interested me. Here is the first part of the article: “It must be changing something about the internal communication in my brain. Whatever my inner process is that lets me solve problems, it works differently, or maybe different parts of my brain are used, ” said Herbert, 42, an early employee of Cisco Systems who says he solved his toughest technical problems while tripping to drum solos by the Grateful Dead. Being in information system design (amongst other things) myself…I found this article interesting. I know that feeling of trying to wrap your head around a particularly difficult problem or task…and how music, relaxation, etc can really help execute the thought process. The idea that this guy uses LSD to help him solve wild difficult programming problems is just a wild concept. If you ever done really complex math related development…or you’re just a ‘tweaker’ you’ll probably feel this article. And no, this article isn’t going to change my personal stance…so don’t email me asking if I want to drop acid and teach you HTML.

400 small

It’s like a small cruise ship that goes anywhere you want!

That title is hilarious to me… If you read the site…you know I have this slight obsession with tropical island destinations. If you don’t read the site, then let me tell you, I have a slight obsession with tropical island destinations. I love the idea of some crazy little island like you see on that one Windows wallpaper. Tiny, stark white sand (with no seaweed or shells!), palm trees, water that looks fake, and maybe water-falls in the jungle or something. So here’s what this post is about: chartering a sailboat. I guess it just never crossed my mind. But I’m loving this concept…seriously. You land in like St. Thomas or wherever, they transport you to the marina, you hope on a HUGE catamaran yacht, go wherever you want, eat whatever you want for 7 days. They take care of everything. They can take you to out-of-the-way beaches, deserted islands, ‘secret’ spots…etc. And you can stay there as long as you want, or move on, or whatever. I mean, I guess this is all kind of obvious to people who know what charters are… What’s crazy, is you could get 6-10 people on a huge yacht for about $1200 per person. Not bad really if you think about it. Check the link below for a cool yacht charter search…pricing, pictures, and everything. Rrrrr…salty sea brine. ***Sorry team, the company I was linked to on this asked me to ‘remove the link to our site’ for no reason. Sorry dewdski, our extremely travel-savvy and well-heeled readers will look else where!

399 small

Forex…trying to make a dollar out of 15 pence!

This is an old Wired article…and the Forex market is nothing new. But I wanted to bring this up, as it’s a really good read. Quick run-down, the Forex market is the foreign currency exchange market that is getting ever more popular with individual investors. Which is basically what this article focuses on…the new (young) traders in the market. What used to be the game of heavy banks and institutions is now looking a little bit like ‘day trading’ did in 1998-2000. And it’s a wild market to trade in. Here’s a quick quote from the article… ’ With a broadband connection, a few thousand in cash and the emotional stamina to withstand losing said cash, anyone can trade foreign exchange. It needn’t even interfere with your day job. Unlike the stock market, forex runs 24 hours a day.’ The idea of a 24 hour market is very appealing. Another wild thing is the margins you can trade on…100x your available balance. Meaning $5k lets you leverage $500k in buying power. Yikes, be careful. Check this article if you get a chance.

398 small

Who does that?!?

This might turn into a regular weekly post or something…called ‘Who does that?!?’... I want to know WHO it is that is taking the time to make spam emails and phisher emails and - did anyone else get that porn spam email that had a picture of Bart and Lisa Simpson getting it on? What the heck?! SOMEBODY made that. Somebody took the time out of there day to make that and write that email. SOMEONE out there thinks that when I get an email telling me that Cialis, Xanax, Vanadium, and Viagra are %70 off at their website that I’m going to be like ‘Oh snap! I should probably click this link even though it is clearly unsafe, in my junk folder, and probably a scam!’ And wait - wait - check this out. Benjamin and I get spam at the Brilliance email from time to time and today? Well, here’s an excerpt from, supposedly, JP Morgan Chase bank about our important account update. This is what it said. “When near deficit dies, grain of sand inside piroshki prays.inside
spider, vacuum cleaner around, and living with microscope are what made
America great!over fundraiser flies into a rage, but freight train for
brainwash ribbon living with pit viper.”

397 small

Art & Design - What’s good in 06?!

Since I freelance and do art/design for a living, I decided I don’t give enough shine to that on here. So without getting too much like a design news site, I’d like to introduce our readers to some artists who are really doing their thing in a good way for the new year. So… Steve Nishimoto - this is hot. One of the best portfolios I’ve looked through in a while. Check the ZY stuff. Electric Heat - my man Nigel! Saiman Chow - always, always inspiring. DopePope - check out the drawing of that chick with the teeth on her legs - whoa! Demo Design - Justin Fines finally put a site and new work up after being stagnant for a few years and it’s classic. Grotesk - if you don’t already know, better find out. Boogie! - not art and design, but photography so good and scary it deserves a spot here. IMYJ - Basit is the man, been following his work for years. Tiffany Bozic - one of my absolute favorite artists. UPSO - this post is now complete. This post is also not an invitation to email us a link to your $w33+ graphic design portfolio that is half finished…ha. Kind of like, don’t call us, we’ll call you type of thing.

396 small

Emergen-C…that fizz.

Sorry for the lack of posts…or maybe I’m not sorry. Either way, Chuck and myself are busy as of late. I just got back from a week long vacation in the sun…so? So yeah, that’s whats up. All of that had nothing to do with this Emergen-C stuff. Which it an amazing product. Certainly not new or anything…in fact, I’ve been a heavy fizz user for about 2 years. They seem to have the formula right, cause I don’t really see anyone else messing with them. It’s the ultimate hang-over helper…but it’s good for whenever. Great for that dried-out-after-flying feeling too. They claim it’s an energy drink…but its more like a ‘balancer’ for me. Whatever…its good. Half a glass of water and the lemon-line flavor. That’s my post.

395 small

More like, Million Dollar WHOApage!

Yeah… Like, whoa…So I’m sure you’ve heard about this by now - the Million Dollar Homepage thing…it’s by no means new news, but how can I not post about this? Absolutely unbelievable. Long story short, this kid in the UK started this thing where you could buy pixels for $1 a piece and he had a million of them available. At first it seemed so far-fetched that it could never work. What happens within a few weeks? It’s exploding - press about it everywhere. Local, national, and international news covering this kid’s idea. And all he wanted it for was to pay for school. Now he’s rich, bitch, and all it took was a bank account, a website, a little promotion, and a brilliant idea, the latter being what amazes me the most. It’s simple ideas like this that always come out on top. This dude is now loaded and made more money in a few months selling internet real estate than the good majority of people in the world will see in their lifetime. And he didn’t stop there - no way Jose - he is auctioning the last 1,000 pixels on eBay right here. At the time of writing this, the auction is at $145,100 with 216 bids. But that’s not all - this auction doesn’t have a few hours left…it has FIVE DAYS LEFT. That means he is going to make another killing and turn this into the Million Dollar-and-change Homepage…when is the last time you heard ‘and change’ eing referred to 6 figures? Wow. Anyways, I’m impressed as you should be, because you weren’t smart enough to do this first either. So give dude his props and watch how many copycats will follow.