If I could find enough stuff like this, I would put together a similar list for our site. If life was grad school my thesis would be how to reverse the fact that everything that’s cool (or I like) is crazy expensive. Style.com’s got this cool feature of well-designed pieces for prices that won’t break the bank. I am really into that Timex watch. Only $35. I’ll take two. So simple its stylish. As evident by this weekends heatwave, Diors and 80 degrees aren’t super comfortable. Their posts reminds me that white Dickes (not jeans) to match crisp Vans are always a good look. Just 28 bucks to style on a sunny Saturday afternoon….that’s a little money well spent.
What a weekend here in GR…super nice. Little patio beer and pizza session with the Premier crew, so nice to be outside. Speaking of getting in touch with nature and leaving the stresses of life behind – I got a Blackberry this weekend. The 8800 from Cingular. First off, its just really well built, feels great in your hand, easy to type on, once you’ve got the nav figured out it makes perfect sense, etc. It’s my first Blackberry as I have had all the Treo’s since they were worth having…in fact I’ve owned 9 different Treo’s I believe. 600, 650, and 700p…not exactly dependable phones. But yeah, the Blackberry is certainly built for heavy email/messaging use, and the browser isn’t bad either…2 things I’m pretty much addicted to having with me at all times. And I occasionally use the phone too, ha. Only complaint would be the delay in getting my POP email account I setup. Sometimes its just so slow…I should probably switch to Exchange. Anyone got any advice on that? So yeah, cheers furthering my addiction to email and all that. ***I figured it out! the power of email forwarding and changing my ‘reply to’ on the Blackberry setup page…true push email. Not exactly a break-through. Ha, email nerd-out!
Wow…unbelievable stuff here. It’s funny, cause I always thought that stacked construction paper looked so cool as a kid in art class or whatever. Jen Stark has taken it to an entirely different level – an unreal psychedelically-precise level. Its kind of a practice in minimalism as much as it is excessive use of color and sensory. She takes standard ‘construction paper’ that comes in all those fun colors from grade school and builds these beautiful sculptures by cutting and layering it - almost a bit hard to explain, quite easy to understand once you check her work. Seriously amazing stuff – the little picture I attached to this post almost looks like CGI. Man…I would love to have an original. And the whole looking box thing she does is insane. Check it!!!
What a title for a post…anyways…You’d think with all the namedropping and shine we give to various companies and products, we’d be getting gobs of free stuff, hookups, and emails relentlessly thanking us for driving fives, possibly tens of people to them. No dice. Anyways… Here is a list of things that I use frequently or just on occasion, but that I really love and find totally necessary to live day to day. And by totally necessary I mean could probably manage without them but I think they’re just the BoMb.
+Crest Whitening Expressions Vanilla Mint - This toothpaste is like brushing your teeth with ice cream, I’m serious. You’ll feel like you just got done eating a vanilla ice cream cone mixed with some kind of toothpaste topping.
+On the same track as the last one, Trident Splash Peppermint Vanilla Gum. I keep a pack in my car at all times. This gum is the COOLEST.
+I said it before and I’ll say it again. Triscuits Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil. Eat these with some mozzarella and you’re basically all set. Basically. I had a box of these in my kitchen as well as the Rosemary & Olive Oil ones…my mom was over and she tried them both and said “These taste like stuffing (Rosemary), and these taste like steak (Cracked Pepper)” She was right. It’s like a holiday dinner in a cracker… FINALLY.
+My American Apparel Nylon Taffeta A-Way Jacket, AKA a windbreaker that can roll up into itself and be carried around like a fanny pack or purse. I don’t ever do that though, but if I was like, a hiker or something, then maybe…but yeah…this thing just fits and looks so good. So simple. Great for these beautiful Chicago spring winter-like days.
+TiVo. Actually, I don’t have TiVo, I use whatever Comcast calls their TV recording service…but just as well…recording TV like this…nothing new…but something I find myself constantly grateful for when I don’t feel like sifting through about 1,000 channels plus onDemand…I can just watch old episodes of South Park, Miami Ink, and Ultimate Fighter. And sometimes Doctor 90210.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Tune in next time for “Things I like and use often” when I take a look at my Staples “Easy” button, a calculator with large keys, a Brita filter, and a tub of honey mustard.
So being off email and internet pretty much all last week I am still catching up on all the news. I heard that Hedi left Dior…I knew his contract situation was up in the air, but wow he kinda quit. I have wanted to do a Dior/Hedi post for a minute for a bunch of different reasons I kept putting it off. He’s that designer that can design anything with a clean edginess. From photography to physical stores to layouts to a ready-to-wear line Hedi is a unanimous talent. I even held off posting about Dior cause the jeans are almost too good. Before you know it middle America is gonna ditch their Seven jeans. But seriously the denim cuts and washes are perfect. His decision to leave has already caused people scoop up whatever pair of Dior jeans are left on the rack. They will be like 1947 LVCs in 40 years. Kris Van Assche is taking his place which is actually an awesome replacement. He’s a little Dior and a little hip hop at the same time. The candidness of Hedi’s outro speaks volumes about him as a designer and the circumstances of art being a business.
I mean, I guess this isn’t a terribly ground-breaking idea – that Google would be chasing wilder ideas than VC’s, but it is interesting to read their comments on it. It’s actually a great inside-look into what makes them what they are. Chase the most outlandish ideas, ones that don’t seem possible…I seriously love that. Honestly. The link below has the full article, but this quote from Salman Ullah of Google kind of sums it up: The crazy ones mean they ignore the usual restraints of investment levels required or design parameters or ‘Gee I need more servers than anyone ever thought was possible.’ When you free yourselves from these constraints, you create crazy, cool things. Seriously, how cool is that? They have such an intense focus on innovation…such a love for it. Very inspiring, I’m actually really happy to see this here in America…where so many other industries are boring and stagnant. Anyway, check this article…really good stuff. *** And how cool is this thing?!
Man oh man I am stepping up my jetsetting game up. I have been m.i.a. in Asia for the last week in a half soaking up the experience of being in arguably the most influential city, Tokyo. To top it off the people I am meeting….sheesh 2 days ago we bumped into then had an impromptu meeting with Hiroshi Fujwara, ran into the girl a couple posts down Lindsay Lohan at Wendys and did the last miute backstage sidestep into front row at Beyonce first show of her tour in front of 30,000 people all like it was nothing. The things I am seeing are on one of those 6-8 month information time lags too. You know I am gonna blow it out once these things happen but everyone has to wait. I would hate to ruin some surprises. But seriously this is one of those life changing trips and I suggest everyone blows out their vacation time and remembers how unimportant keeping your daily routine can be…lobby call in 10 mins, gotta get ready…
I usually don’t buy GQ…or rather, I haven’t in a while…but I was at my local grocery store – the D&W in Gaslight Village and I figured why not, maybe they’ll be some good reading. Lucky I did – cause they did this fresh ‘concept interview’ with Lindsay Lohan… While it didn’t turn out amazing or anything – it was a great concept and execution. The idea was simple: give Lindsay Lohan and the interviewer each a Blackberry and simply print a transcript of their conversations, questions asked, etc…everything. Even how long the responses took. Really pretty brilliant. And of course it they had Terry Richardson to the spreads…that dude…I wonder if he ever imagined working at the level he is at now?! Anyway…good stuff, thumbs up to GQ for the cool concept.
Been a while since I did a Jay-Z post…Jay did a cool interview on Nightline with Martin Bashir - I’m actually not sure when it was, somewhat recent, and it’s posted up on YouTube. If you read our site often you’ll know I’m (chuck and Virgil too) quite a big fan of Jay…on all the different levels – music, business, inspiration, trend-setting, etc. Interviews like this one and the 60 Minutes are always fun to watch…catch that inside glimpse…or what Jay convinces us is an inside glimpse. Good stuff. Cool to see Martin Bashir ask the ‘tougher’ questions…about the ‘hova’ name and quoting ‘Big Pimping’ lines…I’ve wondered myself what his answers would be. PART 1 (same as link below) & PART 2
Spring time…or not? It’s like 30 degrees here today, no joke it was 75+ last week! What happened? Speaking of what happened – can I get even just one decent hip-hop track? Seriously, everything is terrible. Although that new UGK ‘International Players Anthem’ is pretty good. So I’ve been using Treo’s for like 3+ years – time to switch to Blackberry? There is this new candy out called ‘Sweet Tart Ropes’ – a-ma-zing, seriously, really good. What about girls? Dear downtown Grand Rapids arty-indie-cobrasnake-hipster-type-girls, I see you walking in Heritage Hill – where do you go on the weekends?! I’ll be at Bar Divani enjoying their amazing new lobster-baked-potato thing, swing by. I got some new jeans, and true story, they are so fresh I can’t even write them up here cause I don’t want to blow up the spot, do some research. People are still starting new streetwear blogs? What do you think will replace email? Seriously, I was thinking – like, will pop3 be around in the next 5 years? Speaking of technology – funny how images are the new focus, like soooo web 3.0. What will be the next funny internet trend? ‘Sad Crab’ is still pretty hilarious, check it. Will DayJets change the way we travel at all? Will it kill first-class? Man, I seriously love ping-pong – what a fun ‘sport’. Well…I think that will do it, have a splendid day everyone. ***I added a new feature to scrimg, called ‘words’…so instead of ‘tags’ they are…you know, words. Ha…
