The Brilliance!

They say today is the unhappiest day of the year. I don’t know who these ‘experts’ think they are, but if you are in Chicago or Indianapolis right now, it is most certainly not the unhappiest day of the year. First and foremost, in regards to the Bears and the Colts both winning on Sunday and heading to the Superbowl, I think it’s important to pay respect to the fact that this is the first time a black coach will be in the Superbowl…of course, actually, two black coaches are in this year which means one will win. Good luck to the Colts and all, but, I’ve got to root for the Bears of course…Chicago and all it’s suburbs are buzzing right now. It’s such a cool feeling. Your team wins, you win…that’s just the feeling that you get as a sports fan. What else…I saw Children Of Men on Saturday night…Very good movie with very good acting and a wild plot…too bad the baby in the movie is so clearly CGI…Anyways, the theater I was in had some problems with the sound so afterwards I went and complained, along with the rest of the theater, and got my money back. Ha…saw the whole movie though. Alright…so the other thing that was good about this weekend was SNL with Jeremy Piven the other night….I mean…come on…those Blizzard Man skits or the MacGruber ones…Haha…anyways…..

I’m going to copy Virgil and stick with a short post here… Some music that’s ‘cool as a shop fan’ as my friend Bruce would say…Grizzly Bear. Everyone seems to describe them as multi-layered in their sound. I would have to agree, thickly melodic, smooth, relaxing… I almost hear a bit of The Beatles and maybe Radiohead in their stuff…maybe cause I listen to those groups too much. Anyway, I’m digging their album ‘Yellow House’…all on a suggestion from Chuck…thanks, I know I’m late.

I am glad the retro phase we’re still in didn’t die without the Oakley Frogskins getting their due justice. This red flagship model revived by Supreme is a lesson in collaboration. I still have my clear plastic smoked lens ones on my dresser. I remember going to the mall, checking out those bulletproof super 90’s shaped Oakleys and NEEDING a pair of these Frogskins shades. They were a vital part of that laid back BMX culture. Very Ray-ban classic, but Body Glove hip with the wild color combos. Smart move Oakley. Good thinking Supreme.

The RSOE HAVARIA Emergency and Disaster Information Service is “a real-time map plotting radio distress signals from the National Association of Radio-Distress Signaling and Info-communications.” (Source: BoingBoing). So basically, if you want to really depress yourself, spend an afternoon playing God and looking down on the Earth, able to pinpoint every horrific disaster happening that very moment! Fantastic! So like…right now…oh - look…damn…there was just an animal attack in Madre de Dios, Peru! Oh - and there - a biological hazard in Nograd County, Hungary! What a feeling, sitting here in my safe little apartment behind my computer, unable to do anything about the terrible things happening around the world. I’m just sitting back like a fly on the wall watching it all happen. Hmm… All depressing sarcasm aside, let me make it very clear that I think this is a pretty fascinating utilization of Google Maps and technology in a forward-thinking way. Pretty unbelievable…Check out the full list of what all the icons mean. Bioterror, cold waves, fire storms, hailstorms, plagues, tsunamis…sheesh… Oh look - a blip on the map up in Grand Rapids…it looks like…wait…could it be? I gotta go…Ben lost the stylus for his Treo…crap…

Nah, Married to The Mob kinda resurrected them. Streetwear evidently doesn’t have to be as depressing as we once thought. With one fell collaboration, we have a reminder theres tons of uncharted waters left. And who else to take the plunge but the originators of their style, MOB. You gotta love how this collaboration they secured leap frogged them into another category most brands didn’t realize. Skip the peers and go for the super lux for collaboration. MCM is such an interesting brand. With an iconic monogram that was prolific with early hip hop kids that were into SPX . Props to MOB for pulling in a nostalgic lux brand and props to MCM for staying relevant, on the street level that is.

I usually ask Ben or Virgil to do these writeups for me when I do a new site or have something new to announce about my own work…but I didn’t feel like making them try to come up with something this time. I’ll keep this short and to-the-point as best I can…I just put a new site up this past week - NoPattern 2007. Just crisp and clean… Anyways, I’ve also got a new print for sale - “Places You Can’t Imagine, I”. This is the first in a series of prints I’m going to do at this size with this theme. It’s in an edition of 125, 3x2 feet (36x24 in.), offset print for $50. So pick one up if you dig it. If you don’t, I’d advise you to save your money, because what would be the point of buying it if you don’t really like it that much? You follow me?

Man, I’m getting more and more random with the music stuff. From chopped and screwed, spaced cadet nerd stuff, mellow stuff, ska, & whatever else…I love it all. So this McRad stuff…I was having a much needed ‘shred session’ (I was rusty!) the other night at Premier’s basement-session-skate-park and my guy Josh (owner) throws on some McRad – the track ‘Weakness’. Man, you know how music can just transport you back or to a given place?! It was so perfect, I hadn’t skated in months and on comes one of my favorite tracks from my all-time favorite skate video, Public Domain from Powell Peralta. The next day I grabbed them on iTunes…so perfect. To a certain extent I guess you would have to have been skating during that whole Powell era – but if you were, then you’d knows McRad’s ‘Weakness’ and ‘McShred’ are two wild jams. Gnarly, extra gnarly jamzzz. Introducing the amazing rubber-boys!!

It’s lunchtime in Chicago and I am starving. If only I were in London I’d he heading to Pret A Manger. Trolling the internet, I came across the fact that they have been slowing taking over NYC. Fast food is a sore spot for me. Continuing with the theme of all things that taste good are bad for you, I would end up with a heart attack if I at Mc Donald’s or any other fast food spot, every time I wanted to. Contrary to that thought, Pret A Manger brings the quality when it comes food an presentation without the guilty greasy feeling you get eating things like Harold’s Chicken a Chicago staple. Pret’s got “proper sandwiches using natural, preservative-free ingredients” and like that two British college friends are turning over 300 million dollars. At least they understand they need to expand in the US market outside of NYC, I’ll just keep hoping they hit Chicago next.

When your hotel is on the cover of Caribbean T&L with the tag line ‘The most exciting new hotel in the world’ you are most certainly doing something right. This place is honestly nuts. I recommend you grab the latest issue of Caribbean T&L (or ‘read-steal-it’ ha) for a more thorough review with amazing pictures…but I’ll give you a quick-and-short here. First off, its on the beautiful, although somewhat beachless, Caribbean island of St. Lucia – with its amazing Pitons in full view via personal infinity pools in each room…wow. It’s not just a ‘wow-that’s-really-luxurious-and-expensive’ hotel…it really has some amazing architecture, beautifully modern yet warm interior design, an amazing translucent multi-colored glass tile bottom infinity pool that (my favorite part) is half inside your room and half outside…with no fourth wall. Just a plain open view of the Pitons and the Caribbean waters. Seriously beautiful stuff. Of course it’s not cheap – but they have some great packages and I honestly think this one would be worth the money spent. Compared to what $1000 a night gets you in NYC…this place wins without question. Flights to St. Lucia are not terribly expensive either, abut $600 on average from my research. So yeah…another wild island destination vouched for by the brilliance gang.

Still stuck on finding an alternative to music while trapped on the computer I recommend getting into these streaming lectures on Red Bull Music Academy’s site. I first heard of this academy Red Bull put on annually from one of those flyers strewn about the floors of some record shop. I read it and couldn’t believe it was true. Basically it is a international music retreat in a random place anywhere in the world with the most innovative producers of the time. All on Red Bull dime and all you have to do is fill out an application to go. Even if you don’t get in anyone still get a glimpse into what goes down with their vast archived lecture section. In honor of J. Dilla I’ll recommend this bugged out Madlib one. But I guarantee everyone of our readers loves on of these artist on the main link. So scroll thru and find your favorite producer, Dj, or musician and get in tune with their story.