I am absolutely in love with Audi. The whole brand…Definitely my favorite car brand. Not too ‘look at me’ luxury. Just understated enough. Anyways - the TT is my favorite of the Audi family, the S4 being a close second. But the TT is just perfect. It’s so different, it’s not trying to be anything it’s not and it’s not trying to be any more than it should. I do not currently own a TT but I will. I don’t know when, but I will. Especially after seeing these new 06 TT spy pictures…So hot. It looks like it has a slightly longer body and some new cuts…Whatever - just look at it. It’s way better than that Suzuki X90 you’re toting around man.
Kelsey is an amazing illustrator. Now that that is out of the way…I’ve always admired artists who maintain a very ‘innocent’ quality to their work, a youthful feel…As if some prodigal 6 year old did it rather than a clever adult…That’s not to say Kelsey’s work is immature - not one bit. But many of the illustrations just have this ‘loose’ feel to them that I absolutely love. Others, like the surf paintings (check out those snakes in surf paintings #6!!!) are just incredible. The compositions, the colors, the vintage, worn feel to it all. Sometimes artists need to take a step back, stop working, and just admire what others are doing, and Kelsey’s is a great portfolio to do that with. Dang!
Travel sites… They certainly have changed the way we travel, but they are just so… Busy. So many ‘things’ on the sites, and even more ‘busy’ is how many damn sites you have to go to. So enter Pinpoint Travel owned/started by AOL. Chuck described this site best, calling it ‘airy’. Just real clean, and smooth to use. It searches 50+ websites for the lowest fair and spits it back in such an easy to understand and clean format. I have said ‘clean’ like 20 times. Either way, this could be the best travel site out there right now, so check it out. Also, I’m loving the little drop-down thing that tells me the airport name as I enter the airport code.
You don’t have to agree with me now, but please admit that you read it here first. Fabolous did his whole throw-back jersey thing. Colorful, but nothing note-worthy… You certainly wouldn’t catch me wearing one. Not at all. But as lately your boy Fabolous seems to have stepped up his dressing game. Let me clarify, I personally wouldn’t rock his style, but I certainly appreciate his new ORIGINAL approach. He’s really doing something new in a subtle way. See the Getty Editorials and the ‘Get Right’ video. A lot of what you see him rocking, especially the thermals, are from his supposed upcoming line dubbed Rich & Yung. Regardless if you like him, his style, or my opinion here… THE BRILLIANCE! loves things that are refreshing in a scene ruled by tasteless ‘bling’ and ‘custom’ jerseys. Quick note, his outfit in the ‘Baby’ video is an exception to everything stated above.
Hey, cool tricked out Civic dude! Oh my bad, it’s the new Jetta. This really frustrates me. I have never owned a Jetta, but I always admired their style. I distinctly remember when they switched to the more rounded body style from the more boxy… I remember thinking to myself, ‘wow, what a perfect progression without going over the top.’ This new model?! I’m sorry, but the new Jetta is terrible. The taillights look like they shoot lasers and don’t even come close to fitting the design, the whole ‘slant’ of the car is very Japanese and not at all German, the car’s ‘super-fast’ look reminds me of that car commercial Dave Chappelle made fun of, and even the marketing has slipped a bit. I used to love their commercials. The whole VW brand has gotten quite confusing. THE BRILLIANCE! loves the VW brand, but we are a bit let down with this revision.
I recently met David because we were both put on the same project together by an agency. So that means I have the opportunity to work with one of the most exciting and inspiring photographers around today. From celebrity photography to portraits to beautiful composite photography, David has definitely locked down a beautiful style. So, put down the camera phone you use to take pictures of yourself in the mirror for your Myspace and learn a thing or two.
Little something new here. I’m not 100% sure when this phone drops, I think around the end of May, not sure. Either way, I like the look and feel of this one. Its almost the exact same size of a Black Berry and it has the fixed keyboard which I like. I have used the Treo 600, 650 and the PPC-6600 all of which are cool, but I don’t like Palm much and the PPC-6600 with Pocket PC is still just a bit too big, but I love all it can do. The hw6515 looks like it could be a good answer, to the size issue. It comes with all the new standards, Bluetooth, 1.3mp camera, SD slot, etc… Hot looking phone. Check the link to Mobile Review below, they have good pictures of it… And just real quick, what’s up with these horrible letters/numbers they are using to name phones?! Come up with something clever, brand it!
Three !!!‘s for Rugged Art…I love this. These massive rugs. Especially the Ryan McGinness one. Unbelievable! You can’t appreciate art without appreciating Ryan’s work - he’s definitely a modern master. Anyways - from the site, “RuggedArt weaves together the fresh ideas of the underground art scenes in NY and London with the 1,000 year old traditional techniques of Nepal.” Too cool. Limited to 10 rugs each, it’s going to be hard to get your hands on one but it’s worth trying. Beautiful. THE BRILLIANCE! loves RuggedArt. And Ryan Mcginness.
Looks like I’m late on this one, sorry. Here’s what’s really good… A boutique hotel with about 51 rooms in downtown SF hosts events throughout the year where new emerging talent is commissioned to paint given rooms within the hotel to their liking. Pretty fresh concept. They keep a clean minimal look in the hotel itself, very gallery in nature, clean sharp furniture too so as not to distract from the art… The whole concept is beautiful. They also featured a new favorite artist of mine, Tim Gaskin, at the last event they had. Super cheap rooms too… Nothing over $150 if I read correct and some rooms under $100?! Wow. Thanks to Sally for the info on this!
Ok so let me just put this in simple terms - if you don’t go to this and you are in the NY area, you are straight reeeeetarded. YOU ARE INVITED. That means all of you are invited. Everyone reading this. A week from today - Wednesday, April 27 at The Cabanas @ the Maritime Hotel. More info on the flyer linked below. The issue features UpperPlayground, Peter Arnell, L-R-G, 360 Toy Group, Attik, KidRobot, and a slew more. The new issue of The Royal will be waiting for you and, as a heavily involved person with The Royal myself, I can say it will be a milemarker for The Royal and magazines in general. Hot hot HOT. THE BRILLIANCE! loves The Royal!
