Is this real? Talk about throwing the gauntlet down… Apparently their going to be doing all non-gasoline options like bio-fuel, bio-diesel, hybrid and full electric. So while they may not be truly ‘ALL green’ as this article suggests, they’ll be completely moving away from pure gasoline/pure diesel powered engines. Pretty wild stuff. And from a car company that is so desirable. I guess I didn’t really see this coming. I know they were doing the BlueTec diesel thing in the E classes…but this is so drastic. You have to wonder, how??! Logistics issues, supply chain, their existing plants, etc. They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them it seems. I hope this isn’t just spin and all we’re getting is some bio-diesel-ready kitted cars - I mean, I guess that would be a huge step - but I’ve just been waiting for something super dramatic like this. And from Benz?? Perfect. I’ll be first in line for the electric E class wagon. Yeah, I’ll guess we’ll see…
Ha, it might not be the euro-jet-setting that my man Virgil is doing right now, but I’ve got some family business to attend to…a family reunion actually. And honestly, isn’t it fun to experience something totally different every once in a while? I think I’ll do a trip photo set of some sort, document the great plains states a bit. I mean, I went there when I was a little kid, so it’ll be somewhat familiar…but its been a while. Actually, its been a long time since I’ve been out of the ‘city’ environment in general - it’ll be a nice break. I can’t wait to check the stars at night. Anyone know of any spots I should check out in the Watertown/Sioux Falls area? ***Totally off subject, this new GLC track ‘Riding by Myself’ that just came dropped on the web? ‘I ride my car so cold…’ That hand-clap??! Love it. And hey, there you have it, THE BRILLIANCE! at it’s finest…I’ll reference South Dakota and GLC in the same post. Where else on the web do you get that? Ha.
Yeah, last minute, literally, jetted out to London. I love this city. Highlight of the trip thus far is checking out Dover Street Market. They have all this fresh Chanel ‘Paris to London’ product. Finally a select shop that delivers, every square foot of the shop has something different and cool. The best displays/visual merchandising in the world. One major problem…the USD is worth as much as dust. I can’t afford a damn thing. Great window shopping tho. I was fortunate to hit the N.E.R.D. show at Brixton Academy. ‘Seeing Sounds’ the new album more than deliverers and their live show on the full stage is a high energy throwdown. The place went nuts to all of the old and new tracks. Pharrell was saying they were using the footage for the next video, ‘Spazz’. When it drops you’ll see how crazy it actually was in there. Stay tuned.
I actually had this big post half-way written about all this…decided it was boring and I should trim it down. Keeping it simple. The keynote, as always, was well executed and fun to watch - a theatrical presentation that other companies can’t seem to copy. The developer’s demoing their software could have been a bit shorter though. iPhone 3G is pretty amazing…everything everyone wanted. The video interview things they did of enterprise companies that are using it sealed the deal. I’m not sure how I feel about the plastic back on it now though. I liked the aluminum. MobileMe service truly looks amazing…but its lacking one serious, serious piece…you have to use yourname@me.com. They need to get serious about being able to have your own domain. Until then I probably won’t use the service. That aside, the web interface stuff, the push stuff, etc, is awesome. I love when Apple does software. The SDK or software developers kit…my favorite piece. Actually, my favorite piece is this feature (seriously, click it). They call it the ‘Apple Push Notification Service’. This is what will really challenge BlackBerry. They said they are seeding this to developers next month…i can’t wait…I can not wait till Google gets their hands on this. Google Apps using that feature will be the real ‘Exchange for the rest of us’ as Apple has dubbed MobileMe. Well, thats my opinion at least. So there you have it…Apple has done it again. What a fun company to watch. ***Now please, guys, can we get some newly designed MacBook Pros?
I’ve been planning a vacation to Europe ever since Chuck and I went to Barcelona for a few days about 2 years ago. I’m sure I sound so hipster Westernized or American…but man, Europe (the two times I’ve been) is just so amazing culturally and I guess ‘visually’ compared to the states…right? I know that’s like the super obvious thing to say…but yeah, I mean, even my trip to St. Barths, which wasn’t a very ‘realistic’ view of chill European/French culture, just reminded me like…‘wow, America is like the only place with strip malls.’ I think I need a break from strip malls. I love America though, seriously…don’t get me wrong. I just need a little change of setting I think, something to recharge the creative batteries. So yeah, this post was half just me babbling about why I want to hit Europe and the other half is more the HOW I want to do it. For example, no hotels, no hostels. Flats and apartments only. We had a simple, but super nice, flat in Barcelona when we stayed there…after that I can never imagine staying in a hotel in Europe. All these amazing cities, villages, towns, etc…and all of them seem to have a wealth of flats for rent for $500-1000 a week. You can go cheaper, but its a vacation - and thats way cheaper than an apartment. Check these sites I frequent: Paris Attitude, Loving Barcelona, Rent in Rome, Loving Amsterdam, etc. Some of the ones in Paris are just amazing…I have this sinking feeling that it would be hard not to just sink into the local life style…maybe hard to leave after a month. And yeah, bringing one of my bikes. That’s my #1 priority. I can’t imagine how much fun it would be to bike in these cities…and what a great way to get to know a given area better without cabbing it everywhere. I’m budgeting 4-5 weeks for this vacation…I like to say I’d be ‘moving to Europe’ for a month or so rather than going on vacation, ha. Sounds better right? Doing it totally solo too…no choice but to blend into the social scene where ever you might land. So yeah…ha, if you’ve read this far…thanks for day dreaming with me. I’m not sure when I’m going to make this happen, but I see something going down in the next 6-8 months. Hit me up if you’ve got any suggestions/comments/idea/stories/etc about traveling like this…I’d love to hear it. hello (at) thebrilliance (dot) com!
You know, maybe it’s the Coors Lights I had with dinner like 30 minutes ago - but this ‘psychedelic rock’, as the Mad Decent crew called it, sounds just…amazing. I needed something new sounding too. These guys are doing the trick for sure. I’ll be honest, I don’t know a ton about these guys except they’re from Perth Australia, the songs I’m linking to are covers or trip hop stuff (right?), and that I just really dig them right now. They’ve got that perfect ‘Oh man dude, I’m totally zoning out to these guys… Let me throw this on my muxtape, and then like update my Facebook status with my muxtape URL so like everyone knows I’m into ill music no ones ever heard of before. These guys are sooo good. And I’m so done with beer maaan, its all about red wine right now.’ Ha, sorry, I was totally kidding with that…and I took it too far. But seriously, you know the type right? Annnyyyway… I really like these guys and I felt like it’d be fun to share them here on THE BRILLIANCE! Enjoy… And true story, these guys do make me want to chill and have a glass of red wine, ha. ***And yeah, thanks to the Mad Decent guys for constantly updating their blog. Love that.
So last weekend a friend had a gang of tickets to see Adele in a super small bar. I heard of that song ‘Chasing Pavements’ and never got past the first verse, then I caught an interview with her on the BBC and they debuted that song ‘Cold Shoulder’ produced by Mark Ronson. Boom. Constant rotation. I hadn’t really listened to her album ‘19’. Shes only 19 and has 19 tracks on it, all amazing and this girl live, was amazing as well. It was super refreshing to just see someone on stage, singing, joking around and nailing every single note after note. This girls is too good. Raw talent, awesome personality. Adele has her own lane. Her web presence is on par too. Check her out while she’s on tour in the US. Funny enough ‘Chasing Pavements’ ended up being my favorite song. Partake!
Have I done one of these recently?? First and foremost…I have to give a big huge, massive, super big, monster WELCOME to my man Chuck Anderson, Mr. NoPattern, and his lovely wife Holly to their new home…right here in Downtown Grand Rapids! Yeah, you heard it here first, 2/3rds of THE BRILLIANCE! lives in Downtown Grand Rapids now. Pretty cool…Chuck and I have known each other for quite some time, years, but have never lived around each other, now he’s like 2 blocks away in his beautiful new space. We still only email though, never talk in person. Ha, just kidding. Now that I’ve got that out of the way…who drinks those Odwalla or Naked juice drinks? Amazing, so good. The ‘superfood’ ones are too good. New topic: I have something to admit: I’m just now getting hip to Santogold. I’m sorry. In fact, I almost made a post about it…like: ‘OMG, check out this awesome new music!!!1!’ Ha. Anyway, the music is fresh. New topic: The new Steve Job’s book called ‘Insides Steve’s Brain’ is quite good. If you’ve read a bunch of interviews with him before it might not be a ton of new stuff, but its a god read, check it out. New topic: It’s summer…finally. Finally. New topic: This video ‘slayed’ me…ha. Seriously, just amazing, the lighting!? How much time did it take?? Thanks to Dennis for sending it over. That’s my post.
I’m sure you’ve all read some sort of review on the Glow in the Dark tour…and yeah, no pun, they’ve all been ‘glowing’ right? Besides that one negative review that Kanye called out so well…all the reviews for the show have been super positive. And…....with good reason. The show is simply amazing. I was lucky enough to catch the show with Virgil this last weekend in Chicago which is a trip on its own…hometown crowd, at the house Jordan built…sold out two nights in a row. Thats…a big deal. It wasn’t a concert, it was a PERFORMANCE. It wasn’t hip-hop, it was MUSIC. It wasn’t a stage, it was an EXPERIENCE. A full 90 minutes of it… The thing with Kanye, and I don’t think I have this with any other artist I listen to, is that I remember when I first heard the first version of ‘Thru the Wire’ on AllHipHop.com like forever ago. That first video he put out…his first interviews, etc. To now, #1 pop star in the world and no one, no one!, worked harder for it…no one gives more back to their fans in terms of good music, performance, etc. The Glow in the Dark tour is a pure reflection of his passion and creativity to simply do great things. Flashing Lights was so perfect. So thank you, Kanye, for the inspiration and a great show. ***Check some pictures on our flickr page…
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.
