I didn’t watch the Grammy’s. Sorry it slipped my mind this year. I know. Sad for a music head. I did watch the “Forever” performance on Nah Right. Nice sneakers Weezy. As I was going through my reader, I caught this on Boy Genius Report. Brilliant marketing/branding strategy.

An iconic company that has positioned itself as the leader in tech products for the non-conformist, liberal arts crowd places it’s latest revolutionary product (or seemingly revolutionary) in the hands of a national icon for the liberal, non-conservative think tank on a nationally (and now virally) broadcasted award show. This is great. The timing was perfect and the choice of representative was great. No music artists or Hollywood celebs. Someone “neutral” (lol), who speaks to the aforementioned audience.

I saw Avatar last week. Yeah I’m a bit late. Visually stunning. James Cameron once again manages to produce a brilliant sci-fi epic. It was like Pocahantas, District 9 and Star Wars in one convenient package.

Rek also dropped a thorough analysis of the movie.

The movie also made me realize that human beings are messd up. And not because of overall tone of the movie, but by the notion that we’re so messed up that don’t realize how messed up we are until we so a special effects driven, Hollywood blockbuster that highlights how messed up we are (I’m refraining from using the F-word here).The point: most of that stuff happened. On Earth.

But it was a great movie.

Interesting new Diesel ad campaign. Funny. Although I’m still on the fence about the use of the word stupid, the campaign is really geared towards the non-conformists who don’t mind taking risks….

I’ll admit the ad makes me re-evaluate the word “stupid”.  I doubt the intention of the campaign was to make the word “stupid” the hip euphemism, but it clearly speaks volumes about pursuing dreams and taking chances.

I like hearing industry insight, especially from someone that works at one of the world’s major advertising agencies. Good work Matt.

I went through a lot of old magazines the other night. Many of them were from my formative years, and were close to 10 years old. I happen to come across what I was looking for–an issue of Mass Appeal I had purchased due to my interest in the underground hip-hop scene. I can’t lie I was an unadmitted backpacker at the time (note: when someone tells you their not a backpacker there’s a good chance they are), and would routinely go down to Fat Beats to buy vinyls of songs I already had on CD or on mp3 OR couldn’t find on the internet or couldn’t buy anywhere (Disc-O-Rama doesn’t always sell underground music). I was that much of an enthusiast. As ass-backwards as it might sound, there is a comfort in purchasing a vinyl over a CD, but that I’ll go into in another blog entry.

It doesn’t just stop at Mass Appeal. Buried in my collection of old magazines are issues of Vice (back when that ish was raw–and I mean RAW[II]) and yes even Complex (I also have old issues of Don Diva and FEDS, but just like the aforementioned vinyl, I’ll save that for another entry). Perusing the pages of these magazines took me down memory lane . It was magazines like this that influenced me to move towards writing. More importantly they conjure up a feeling of nostaligia that defined pre-and-post 9/11 New York for me. As weird as it sounds but there is a driving connection that I have with these magazines. These magazines were my introduction to underground culture, which as it evolved has turned into the present streetwear/hipster culture and essentially become mainstream. It’s here in these pages that authentic street  culture and art is documented, unadultered and accurately presented by those who were genuine gatekeepers.

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I know the feeling.

Of course, whether or not it was Kanye that posted that, I’ll never know, but I understand (sort of).

Via Kanye’s Blog.

This is my Friday night. I know everyone jokes like I’m always in some meeting and it sounds like I’m crazy. But it really be’s like that.

I read a NY Times article a few days ago about several international non-profits trying to make affordable glasses in developing nations. I thought this was great.

I think if they were able to work closely with another international non-profit with a cause like (RED) and get a few celebs to take part in an advertising campaign this would really take off. Cool looking glasses look even cooler if there’s an admirable cause behind it. Although these glasses don’t look like they are being sold in the US (after all they are non-profits), I can imagine some type of deal being worked out, where you could acquire a pair and donate a pair too.

still working…pointless blog entry…bit what the hey

I didn’t quite take a moment to acknowledge the decade. It’s amazing what happens in 10 years. My interest in music began more than 10 years ago, but I think the landscape that we were once accustomed to has changed the most in 10 years. The rise of file-sharing and Web 2.0 really began right before my teens which is why I’ve titled this blog entry as such–it’s a figurative sum, not a literal one, but the truth is I got into music at a time when walkman were dying and bootleg CD’s were what kept the music going. Little did we know even that would be damn near obsolete 10 years later. Mp3’s were a great alternative, but 56k connections and the possibility of getting a computer virus made downloading feel like entering a Red Light District. Napster helped solved that (somewhat), but even that had limitations.

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