The Brilliance!

I’ll be honest…I have held mixed feelings on Dov’s whole thing. The whole lawsuit thing and all that. I don’t know…seems like its all a bit exaggerated. Would those people be suing if American Apparel wasn’t opening 90+ stores and making all sorts of money? I of course don’t condone any sort of sexual harassment, unacceptable. But yeah, check this interesting excerpt from the 20/20 covering 4 companies that are considered ‘different’ in their approach to being successful. I’m personally inspired by American Apparel and that success they have had by going against overseas manufacturing and focusing on paying their workforce a fair, and admirable, wage. I don’t know…I think the dude from 20/20 was trying to get a bit sensational with stuff…and he was corny with it. Plus, check where Dov lives! Interesting and insightful. Link to the Quicktime movie below. ***I forgot to give a shout-out to Justin on this, thanks for the link man.

This is the ‘nerd’ article for the day. I honestly found this crazy interesting. Considering people could have spend $20M+ at Christie’s for a painting by the dude who got Mr. Rembrandt his coffee every morning. Snap! The whole write-up, from Wired.com, is about using highly complex math and computer imaging to determine if a painting is truly a Rembrandt or a work from one of his students. Yikes…could you imagine? I’d be like ‘…yo, I kept the receipt, can I get my $20 mil back?...’ What’s wild to me is that the Met in NYC has 42 Rembrandts and half of them they aren’t sure about. Half?! That’s wild. Speaking of ‘wild’…this post was kind of…wild. And you corny Niketalk kids were mad about a pair of fake white/white Ones? **** OMG IS THIS A FAKE REMBRANDT!?!?! PLZ READ – NO 56K ****

This is a ‘respect where respect is due’ post here. If you read our site even just every-once-in-a-while you know we are not 100% about the sneaker/t-shirt thing. We just don’t really get into all that. But we are about well executed brands, stores, projects, concepts, products…etc. I’m feeling Situationormal’s whole deal. I really enjoy the brands they carry, and really feeling the collaborations that they have dropping soon with Huf, J$, UNDFTD, House 33, SSUR, and Clarendon. The Huf and J$ are nuts. For real, too fresh. They also just announced their little collaboration with the Retail Mafia and Boost Mobile. Boost Mobile…busy these days huh? So yeah…check out Situationormal if you have not yet done this…we’re THE BRILLIANCE…we wouldn’t steer you wrong.

99 cents to 99 dollars!!! It’s a bargain for everyone!!! Of course I’m going to post this man… A-ron has the physical retail spot opened and this new website that just launched…the website! I love it man. So different, real different. The little movie with A-ron is too wild…funny dude man. And the clever marking stuff is perfect too. I love the ‘Will move aNYthing’ one. For real, more I think about it…its so clever. Check the site, and check the official store. A-ron is moving. This is not a t-shirt brand…this is a lifestyle brand and so much more in the making. Pay attention to him!!! Shout to A-ron, shout to all downtowns, shout to the whole ‘Genre Now’ people. *** And yo! We interviewed A-ron a while back. Read it!!!

Richard Pryor died today at 65 of a heart attack. One of the funniest comedians of all-time, and definitely one of the most influential. Sucks.. what a bummer

The RAIA - the Royal Australian Institute of Architects - has a really incredible site. Basically page after page of photos and information about different architecture in Australia. Residential, commercial, public buildings, urban design, even bridges and fountain design. The site says there are approximately 2,000 different featured places in the online gallery. Some of these spaces are absolutely beautiful. I actually have yet to click on something I didn’t like all that much. Make sure to specifically check out the Buckley House and RiverEdge under the ‘Coastal houses’ section…the Riverina Farm House under ‘Country houses’...the Commonwealth Place under ‘Cultural, museum, etc…’...and Punters Vineyard Retreat in the ‘Hotels, resorts’ spot. Those are just a few of my favorites…you will waste hours here if you get too into it. I’m not kidding. Beautiful, whether you’re into architecture design or not.

Jules Kim makes incredible jewelry. It’s fresh and it’s not cheap, but for good reason. All hand crafted and custom-made…there are three different sections of jewelry on the site - Lifestyle, Graffiti, and DJ. Then if you click ‘People’, you’ll be able to see some of the original collection along with several custom pieces…?uestlove and Beans are in there rockin some nice pieces - I’ve seen that necklace on Beans in a lot of press photos before. Also check out that crazy four finger ring on Miri Ben-Ari, whoa! You’d sound like a janitor as you walk by with that on, like some sleighbells. Ha. Anyways, my man Kareem put me on to Jules and he told me he’s getting his custom piece back pretty soon, so can’t wait to see that…check her out though. Truly a craft she’s perfected…definitely a ‘next big thing’ if you ask me.

I had one too many drinks…and ended up at the Embassy. I’m not a huge R&B fan…just, not huge on the slow jam stuff. Or the corny love song stuff you know? I like John Legend and D’Angelo, that’s pretty much it. But I felt like Jamie Foxx needed a quick write-up…mostly because he is just undeniably talented. Quite the voice…and its dope over Kanye production, but that’s expected. I’m really feeling the track ‘Extravaganza’. His hook sounds perfect, good story telling…and Kanye has a couple funny lines on it. Either way though, I like to see someone like Jamie Foxx do his thing. Even though he has been around forever with the acting stuff, I view him as somewhat of an ‘underdog’. Check the full album below…free and legal listen.

Here is my second installment of ‘Who Cares!?’ Snap…it’s cold out here. 25ish today. Makes me reconsider things you know? Making those posts about Seychelles doesn’t help either. But regardless…I’m good, just a little cabin fever already. So here we go.
+ What is the deal with airline tickets man!? Why are the prices so random? It’s cheaper for me to buy a ticket for this weekend rather than a weekend in January? I thought it used to be cheaper in advance? …Who cares?!
+ Kanye West is exactly what hip-hop and music has needed. There is no more Rat Pack, no more old-school provocative Madonna, Fiona and Courtney don’t flip out at award shows…nobody does anything entertaining any more. Except Kanye bugging out on MTV about needing to win album of the year. Check this video here. Hilarious…but kind of inspiring. …Who cares?!
+ Ice T had this track on his album ‘Power’ called ‘Soul On Ice’. Buy this track on iTunes man. I’m not playing…go buy it right now. I love it. …Who cares?!
+ I can’t seem to get my hands on a pair of Vans Chukkas right now. Nobody has the 10.5 size I need. …Who cares?!

From AllHipHop - “Kanye West has landed an opening spot for U2’s “Vertigo” tour of New Zealand and Australia next year. West is already opening for the band’s final four shows in the United States starting in St. Louis tonight (Dec. 14).” I like this. Have you ever seen a rock act as big as U2 bring a rapper on board for the tour? I mean, maybe it’s been done before, but not to my knowledge has it been on this scale. Kanye and Bono will have interesting discussions I’m sure, seeing as how Bono seems buddy-buddy with our President while Kanye will likely sit there and be like “nah man he hates black people man and I bet he hates you too because you’re Irish.” Anyways, I’d like to see Bono come out and sing “Crack Music” with Kanye. That would be fun. Then maybe U2 will do their cover of “Southern Man” by Neil Young and Kanye can…well, nevermind…that won’t happen. Anyways, much respect to both Kanye West and U2 for touring together. Bonyo West. **Edit - sorry, I got several emails from people saying ‘What about when U2 brought Public Enemy on the ZooTV tour in ‘92?’ I was only 7 at the time though…ha…