The Brilliance!

Ha. Wow. Crazy isn’t it? I had this whole post idea in my mind about this…about how I was going to rant a bit about the lack of proactive innovation, etc. How I’m so amazed we are STILL using technology from 100+ years ago to go simply get places - but 15 years ago no one used email on a daily basis!! How amazing it is that owning a car wasn’t an even an option for 95% (maybe more?) of people less than 80-90 years ago…and now vehicles/cars have, in a lot of ways, completely reshaped America and its way of thinking. So, ha…maybe that was the rant right there. Sorry. Here’s my thing though…plain and simple: The market always wins. $4.11 a gallon is actually cheap compared to some places in the US, and its certainly cheaper than it is in Europe. People are not going to be able to afford it soon, for real this time. This whole ‘pain at the pump’ is THE best driver of innovation. I think the new industries, companies, thought processes, and products we’re going to see from innovative minds in the next 10 years will make all the dot-com stuff that has happened over the past 10-15 years look tiny. If we think some young kid like Zuckerburg creating a website now valued at $10-15B is a big deal…I think we’re going to be stunned at the new wealth created for the people that figure out this whole car/transportation situation. It won’t the big auto companies that change how we travel. It’ll be someone tinkering in their garage/dorm room, like it always has been. ***In the mean time, check out Tesla Motors.

So a quick follow-up on the post I made a few back, the Muxtape Party idea I had and then threw with my friend Rob. First off, I don’t throw a whole lot of parties…I attend quite a few, but don’t throw many. So this was my kind of my first stab at it. And…while it wasn’t huge, it was super fun. Actually, it was big enough to get ‘busted’ by security, ha. People came thru, they thew out hipster vibes, they had good Muxtape mixes, they danced, they had some drinks (I had more then some, ehhh), and they had fun…and they ‘got’ the concept of everyone being a somewhat in control of the music for the evening. Good stuff. We threw it my friend Kevin’s loft so playing music super loud and late wasn’t going to last forever…next one will be in one of the many loft warehouse spaces that are around here in downtown Grand Rapids. So yeah, it was a good time. I recommend it. Check the Flickr set at the link below, and don’t forget to check our Flickr page in general…our life style documented.

I grew up loving video games. Most kids do. Obviously all the Mario games were a staple, I loved Street Fighter, NBA Jam, etc…then I slowly phased out of being that interested in them for quite a while. Played some MarioKart 64 at friend’s houses and whatnot, but they just weren’t that interesting to me. Skip ahead to more recent years…Halo, Guitar Hero, Smash Bros., and of course Grand Theft Auto. It’s actually pretty impossible not to get sucked into at least one of these games (or any of the hundreds of others out there) at some point and easily get hooked. Now, I really have to give a huge thanks to Adam from Cornerstone in NY for something…a few weeks back he got in touch with me asking if I’d be interested in getting a Grand Theft Auto IV Limited Edition XBOX360 Elite…whoa… Why I was lucky enough to be chosen for one of these is still beyond me but I’m not complaining. See pictures here on our Flickr. I have to admit, I got the Xbox and it came at the busiest time I’ve had all year with work. So there it sat for a week and a half before I unboxed it. Shameful, I know, but worth the wait. So onto Grand Theft Auto IV. While I absolutely cannot endorse running over/shooting/killing/punching citizens, strangers, enemies, friends, and officers in real life, I absolutely can for this game. Ha…seriously, it’s hard not to get lost in this game by ditching the missions and seeing how pissed off you can make the cops. Anyways, I was emailing Ben about this last week to basically say I could not believe the amount of detail and thought that went into creating this game. It’s amazing the level of artistry and detail in it. If you’ve played it or watched someone play it you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s obvious why almost every review site and magazine has given this game a perfect 10… The online multiplayer is super fun too. Anyways, that’s my video game post. Catch me on XBOX Live - chhhuuuck.

Still trucking around city to city. I missed NYC and this past week was exactly what I needed. One thing you can count on in NYC is the coolest restaurant concepts. The host Gabriel Stulman of The Little Owl/Market Table fame keeps his ear to the street and took us out to his favorite Mexican joint. It’s common knowledge that Mexican food in NYC is pretty weak but the people at Barrio Chino has figured it out in a major way. ‘Barrio Chino’ basically translates to Chinatown. This hole in the wall spot is a block south of Delancy in Chinatown is on the surface a Chinese restaurant complete with paper lanterns and those dime a dozen Chinese bowls and plate. But the food is Mexican and the best I have had…soups, tacos, enchiladas, the guacamole… perfection. The margaritas are on a whole other level. Be careful, “One jalapeño margaritas turns to six” said Gabe, and he was right.

Where do I personally even begin when it comes to Threadless? Before I started NoPattern as my full-time thing in 2004 I was packing t-shirts at their Chicago office and trying to learn as much as I could from a small group of dudes who I thought were doing some awesome things. Did I imagine they’d be as explosively successful as they are now in such a short amount of time? Not really, not this fast…but it certainly does not surprise me and I feel they completely deserve every bit of press, success, and praise they get. I’ll keep this short and to the point but I just really want to commend Threadless, specifically Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, on what I think is their coolest piece of press to date. The cover of Inc. Magazine for June 2008. Super happy for these guys having watched them grow from a small office with shirts wedged onto a few shelves in a corner to a giant playground of an office with a warehouse staffed with people packing thousands of shirts a day. Nice headline on the cover too, sheesh! “The Most Innovative Small Company in America.” Again, congrats guys…Truly one of the most deserving and forward-thinking companies around. See the cover in the link below.

It’s post two weeks from me waiting in line…at the mall…right next to the Nextel pagoda-thing…at 8am…for a phone. But truth be told, I really don’t feel to ashamed of it. I’m a bit of a fan-boy for new product…and I had teh 4gb version of the first one, so it was time to upgrade. So yeah, some thoughts and impressions of the new phone: I got the black 16gb one, and the plastic back is considerably more durable than I would have expected - but I do miss the aluminum. The 3G speed is indeed much faster, noticeably - feels almost like wifi. The GPS is pretty amazing in how quickly it actually acquires a real GPs signal - very cool, very useful already. The louder speaker, which I didn’t think would be a big deal, is actually pretty great - I’ve used my phone as a ‘boom box’ already in a couple situations. It’s quite loud and clear. The new 2.0 software is great - push email support being the biggest. The app store is brilliant - 10 million apps downloaded the first weekend?! Wow. Phone Saber is the must-have app, ha. So all that being said…was it worth the upgrade? I think so. The GPS alone is almost worth it. But I’m a bit of an Apple fan-boy…so take that for whatever its worth. Cons? The cons are the really with the 2.0 software…some real stability issues. But I imagine that’ll be fixed soon. So yeah, it might have some issues, but its without question the best mobile phone I’ve ever owned. It may be the best piece of technology I’ve ever owned. And…and! I retired the BlackBerry…no more carrying two phones. Virgil might chime in on this post…he is now an iPhone user as well. Yea. I am addicted. It is the best “thing” i have ever owned…it promises alot and delivers on all accounts. I have been overdosing on our flickr page because it fun and thats how the iPhone rolls. crazy.

Chuck got the Pro and I got the regular MacBook. I’m always evangelizing Apple, so I figured I’d throw a post up with my thoughts on the machine. First things, first, yes…the aluminum uni-body enclosure is simply beautiful. Almost doesn’t look like metal its so precise. It looks just as amazing closed as it does open. Now, I’m coming from the MacBook Air, and I’ll be totally honest in that the MacBook Air still wins in design contest, its pretty hard to beat. And the light weight mixed with the same uni-body enclosure makes the Air actually feel more sturdy for some reason. Anyway, that being said…the MacBook is on like a whole other planet compared with the plastic ones before it. I was talking with my friend Nicolai the other day about future design/build direction for Apple noptebooks…the question was, ‘what else can they change??’ They might make it thinner a bit, maybe lighter, obviously faster, etc. But from a pure design standpoint, what more can you really change? Its largely made from a single milled piece of aluminum. Can’t get much cleaner/simpler than that, you know? Plus Apple has an iconic computer in the aluminum Pro of past, and even these new ones don’t look too much different…so why change? These computers are almost becoming the Eames Lounge or Nelson Bench of computing. And I dig that. So I’ve swathed on the praises…but, my battery cover thing does rattle a bit, they should have made it over thicker material. ***Chuck, any thoughts on your Pro?? And Virgil, did you get yours??

Chuck: Loving mine so far…at first I was a little unsure of the super glossy screen, but it’s proven to really be no big deal. Only problem? I didn’t spend all that money on a new laptop to have a dead pixel right in the middle of the screen. So I’ll be bringing it back in to the store to see what they can do about that. Maybe not a big deal for some people, but when you’re doing design on it, it can be a real annoyance. Other than that, this thing is so perfectly designed, so quiet, so quick. I can’t recommend it more.

Virgil: When they dropped I was traveling, no time to make it to the Apple store and was initially hoping for something a bit more “fashion” forward with the design…I was hoping it woulda come in black, something stunning. In any event its a slick machine, I have used one of my friends and its cool. I think that trackpad clicking thing would take some getting used to. It’s an inevitable purchase, I am just stalling…that Canon G10 and that Blackberry Bold are calling my name in the technology department…

I don’t watch much TV…but I’ve seen quite a few of these new commercials for the Hyundai Genesis. May have even seen some on Hulu as well. Car commercials in general are usually pretty boring, even if they are ‘high impact’ they all seem to follow the same model…curvy road, shiny wet roads, maybe even the driving thru perfectly placed fall leaves on the road that spin up as the car speeds past…or the ever-present body color painted licenses plates…right?? And to be honest, these Hyundai commercials aren’t terribly different - but they are being a bit more…almost like David and Goliath where David is kind of overly confident, maybe snobby. So they’re not just copying the big guys…they’re throwing down some pretty hard hitting facts about their car. The zero to sixty times in real time, nice touch. The sound system that is only 2 cars, theirs and a Phantom. Their comparison of braking performance in that it bests a 5 series from BMW. As they say, the space of an S class at the price of a C class. How it corners better than an E55. Etc…the list goes on. And usually, I’m turned off by comparisons…your product should speak loudly on its own. But, they actually don’t mind admitting that, yeah…its a Hyundai, and their previous brand image is that of ‘cheapness’...not even affordable, just simply cheap. They do so at the end of the commercial called ‘Twist’ (see the site). They don’t mention the name Hyundai at all in the commercial until the end…at its presented as the ‘twist’ itself…as in, ‘yeah, this is surprising, we know’. Their whole spin on this entire car is that its probably so affordable, yet so luxurious that its in a class by itself and its simply the best option. And to be honest, I think they did a pretty good job. Other’s in their arena have tried, and it usually comes off forced…not so much with this Genesis. Will I buy one…hmm, honestly probably not. But I’m not a huge fan of cars anyway.

Is for mature audiences only, NSFW, etc, etc. NER*D first single “Everyone Nose” just dropped. Love this song. Love the video, love the vision. Perfect intergration of whats really goin on and a banging song. “All the girls standing in a line for the bathroom….Hey! Hey!” And the KAWS mascot…fresh. To cap it off, the super internet move to create the website, genius. Why not…its so cheap and makes the videos impact last longer. It would be even cooler was if they liscensed a bunch of different kids in different cities across the world to use everyonenose.com to host their party photos. Party photographers are everywhere, aren’t they. There a tons now. I love that they exist, looking back at these times in 20 years will be so easy will be fun. I always wonder tho, like for DJs and artist does it get annoying to have the same camreas pointed in your face all the time? Then you gotta come out with some wierd expression which usually involves a wierd face, sunglasses at night and a middle finger. At some point its like, remember you came out tonight to party! So Spazz out, party now, blog later. I am just jealous cause I lost my camera, ha.

You know a hip hop track is doing the trick when you hear it for the first time at like 6:00 am and its got you moving and shakin’. Common bring a fresh flow over a slick 1980/2080 beat. Neptunes banging it out. Continously. I said it before, I’ll say it again, Electric Circus is gonna come back and be and unforeseen classic. This track reminds me how cutting edge that album was. I see a tastemaker/radio hit on the way. Short post, this track speaks volumes for itself.