Fresh fresh. I haven’t even stayed here yet, but check me soon. I love when someone does this type of thing. An affordable, beautifully designed hotel in the middle of the best city world…right off Broadway on 45th street…for under $200 a night. Wow. Yeah, the rooms are said to be crazy small and the pool isn’t that deep. But yo, its in the middle of Manhattan and it has a pool, with a swim up bar, and it’s located…in the lobby. Wild. Free wifi, flat-screens in the rooms, sauna, steam room, pool side DJ at night, 24 hour front desk, etc, all that. Owned by André Balazs’s, designed by Lindy Roy. I can’t wait to check this place. I hope to see more of these hotels (shout out to Ace Hotel!) in cities across the world. I love that accessible design is becoming popular in the travel industry. Check the site, but google the place for better pictures, the place is beautiful.
I don’t even know what to say. This is quite simply one of the most beautiful home design stylings I have ever seen. Hansa is a modern contemporary design company from Germany - and they have created an “LED color faucet.” So, in a nutshell, when you change it to cold water, a small blue LED light goes on, reflecting onto the water as it goes through the small ‘canyon’ of the faucet to show it is cold. Turn it to hot, the LED light fades to a more red/purple color and it looks like you’re about to pour yourself a cup of kool-aid straight from the sink. Absolute simple genius. The faucet also has precise temperature control, looks beautiful, and never again will you unknowingly stick your face into running water from the sink when it is scalding hot. Because, you know, people do that all the time. Anyways, I think you’d really have to have the right bathroom and home if you wanted to install this, it would have to really flow with the rest of the interior and vibe of the place…Looks beautiful at night, just slightly lit up like the pictures show. Thanks to Jeffrey for the tip.
If it is then I’ll let Juelz do the talking: You’re not at all a baller. Apparently titanium is the new black for the rich and socially mindful. American Express has long held the title for the most sought after credit card, the all powerful Black Card which is an invite only card that requires its owner to charge more that $250,000 per year, pay the $2500 a year annual fee…and be cooler than everyone else. This will now change. All the same rules apply but now the card will called ‘The Titanium’ and it will actually be made out of titanium. Wild. Apparently there are a few of these out in rotation already, of course in the hands of the jet set who seem to be having problems with stores thinking they are fake and setting off metal detectors at the airport (they don’t fly private?!). Anyway… Get ready for a bunch of rappers who don’t actually own the card trying to find words that rhyme with titanium. Anybody remember that old Busta Rhymes skit?! I threw away all my platinum cards…and I got a uranium card!!!
They are getting a little bit closer. See, I’m all about simplicity…kind of. Something about the vibe portrayed in movies like American Graffiti that we are missing in today’s world. You can’t have a cool/simple car anymore. You have to have a ‘whip’ and it has to be foreign…and expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite guilty of perpetuating this. But what happened to cool American cars?! They truly don’t exist. I got excited when I first saw the concept of the new Mustang but it seemed a bit ‘toned-down’ when it actually came out. And the GT is incredible, but why would I spend that kind of money when I could by an SL-55 or the new V8 Aston? The new Shelby looks hot…but it’s not out yet and will be crazy expensive I’m sure. Plus, like I was just telling a friend…I want an American car that doesn’t make it look like I watch Nascar. That’s real!! So to all the American car companies: please try and grab our attention. Or someone start a new car company. Something. And Ford…come up with something new rather than rehashing. Even though being classic is key. Check out the new Shelby in the mean time.
How G is this? Jim Jones is one cool-ass dude…for real. And his style is too fresh, so subtle in how we flips the different gear, the belts and thermals, so new. Anyway, one of my all time favorite sites, allhiphop.com just launched a new interview with him addressing all his latest ventures. He is one busy man. For real, for real. It’s wild that he was just appointed as an A&R at Warner, pretty big. Overall a good interview with the Capo’s typical gangsterisms… His short comments about spending a month in Miami and the house he stayed in is inspirational to me. Not sure why. Jim Jones is on-point. Get familiar.
So wild. Danny Way + a huge ramp setup + the Great Wall of China + a skateboard…insane. Usually pictures don’t do something like this justice, and maybe these aren’t doing the whole ‘stunt’ proper justice, but the whole thing is so massive! I can’t even believe the size of this air. Wow… For those who don’t know, Danny Way of DC Shoes holds all sorts of records for heights vertical on a vert ramp and longest distance clear on a skateboard. He just broke those and I’m sure a bunch of other ones as well when clear an entire section of the Great Wall of China. So wild. Check the pictures and the clips below… That first clip is so crazy, I cant imagine what that would look like from his perspective. Shout out to DC Shoes.
I can’t say I love the whole album… But, as with all Missy albums, yes all, it has a good amount of straight-up incredible tracks. Click Clack is nuts with, what I’m assuming is a sample of that MJG & 8 Ball track…I love this track, for real. Missy kills it with her flow. The track Pharrell she did is fresh, along with the single Lose Control…very innovative. And of course, the track with Slick Rick!!! I mean…wow. Slick Rick is truly something I miss in the rap world. We need another album from the ruler. Either way, the new Missy album is fresh, as always. I would cop what you like on iTunes, show her some love. Missy is a legend man, straight up, that’s all there is to it. Respect where respect is due.
This is wild… All the kids know, or should know from the whole Jay-Z thing, about the heavy re-development slated to be taking place in Brooklyn to accommodate the new Brooklyn Nets arena. What I wasn’t up on was the amount of new buildings that are proposed for the area…all 17 of them. Almost all are taller than 40 stories and half a dozen are 60+ stories. I don’t visit Brooklyn on a regular, but I know that from what I have seen this will be a major, major change for Brooklyn. Seems like it will lose that neighborhood type feel that it has. Either way, check the link below, very interesting read… Frank Gehry has some really fresh stuff…I think it’s going to be an incredible project. Stretching over 21 acres, costing roughly $3.5 billion, and get this…it should be completed in 2011?! That’s crazy fast for that amount of development to take place. As for the whole real estate game, Brooklyn could be the next Miami. Cough up a lung where I’m from…
I guess it’s for those little laptop cards only for right now though…who buys those?! Anyway, EVDO is the whole ‘broadband over the air’ network that sprint has been talking about forever. Pretty unreal, it’s just as fast as a cable modem and will be used by the PDA phones that Sprint offers. I guess it’s being launched in only 34 cities… I know I have said it before, but just think about Skype and things like video conferencing, which would be pretty nice. I’m not a 100% sure on the pricing, haven’t really looked into it. Also, if I’m not mistaken you can actually be on the internet and be using a phone at the same time, something you couldn’t do on the previous 3G networks. I’m addicted to being connected, and this is the raw Colombian stuff right here. Hasn’t even been stepped on. Check it!
Kind of a weird post to make, but I think it’s important, because many people who read The Brilliance are probably also eBay consumers, and this needs to be made known. This dude “Cavashya” on eBay - you must not buy from him. From one personal experience, I can say it was the most uneasy online purchase I ever made. I waited over 3 months with continued bugging for him to give me a tracking number or to refund me about $80, and he refused every time, telling me I was crazy and being super rude. Fortunately for me, PayPal and eBay must already be on his case, because I got a full refund after 90 days, which is a diversion from PayPal’s usual policy. I’m not the only one though, half the people on KidRobot can testify in this thread and you can click below to see his negative feedback. What a hack. Apparently sells inkjet prints of ‘original’ stuff from the likes of Dalek, KAWS, etc. Also tries to sell stuff by an artist called “WR” which is apparently actually just him. Everything about him is bogus. So if you’re browsing around eBay for those sweet new Bape toe socks you wanted, just don’t buy from him.
