Archive for November, 2010
I’ve always been a fan of YMCMB, and weather people know it or not I’m bit more of a fan of Birdman than I am of his ‘son’. So when I heard the song Fire Flame a while back, I was always curious as to what the video would look like. So here it is, check the method below… and remember that this is what happens when some hood-folk get money. lol.
The lovely Delicia Cordon is of Italian and Black descent, and is an actress, and model that works all over the U.S. Delicia just finished up an ‘urban drama’ featuring Laurence Fishburn, Wilmer Valderamma, Taye Diggs, Rick Ross, Slim Thugg, David Banner, Melyssa Ford, and Andy Garcia, called “Days of Wrath”. She’s been featured in music videos such as “Stunnas” from Jagged Edge, “Money Maker” from Ludacris, and Plies ft. T-Pain’s “Shawty”. Delicia shot for Smooth magazine, Complex magazine, & SHOW magazine. She is soon to be on Black Men next month as well as King mag. She also just submitted for XXL’s Eye Candy. She was unfortunately arrested with Michael Vick’s little brother on a DUI, but the bad girl attitude, don’t diminish her sex appeal one bit.
An example of space saving furniture.
The Italians are known for many things, their food, the beauty of their country, and their women, are among a few, but I never really thought about their furniture until I saw the video below. It documents some ridiculous futuristic ideas concerning space saving furniture, watch the video and attempt to tell yourself it’s not dope.
Click the pic to listen. (Courtesy of HHG)
French product designer Arthur Bodolec has created ‘jack’, a stool that can be brought to ‘life’ through a simple touch. imagining a world where objects can be woken up, given life and take form to express themselves, ‘jack’ is the first in a series of designs that transforms from an inert stool to a full functioning chair.
Mobb Deep has always been a permanent fixture in the hip hop community, and when they put out ‘Amerikaz Nightmare’, they were already far along in pursuit of rap domination. The first single off the album was named “Got It Twisted” an instant classic when played in any East Coast club. Check the video below, and write me if you have any memories while listening to the song.
I’m not necessarily one for the classroom, but when I saw these pics from a classroom photo shoot, (the room being the subject of the shoot), and I was quite impressed, but when I saw the video of the preparation of the room, the meticulous detail observed in every single nook and cranny, I knew I had to throw it up. So check the photo’s pay attention to the little things, and watch the video to see how much work it took.
I’m always watching the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, or any other TV station that any of the rest of my crew would consider “nerd sh*t”. Every so often, I’ll catch some special about ancient ruins, and the meanings behind their creation and so on and so forth, and it always brings up the question to me that although the evidence is very convincing, people day may have no clue what the hell some obscure ruins were built for. All we can do is give it our best guess. So what about in 1,000 years, when people see our modern ruins, what will they speculate the purpose of an abandoned water park, subway station, or sea fort was back in “our day”?
In the United States, few cities have felt the burn of urban decay more than Detroit. To capture its slow fade into history, photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre explored some of Detroit’s dying landmarks for their photo series The Ruins of Detroit. As the industrial revolution came to a close and race riots crippled a once bustling city, many buildings throughout Detroit fell into disrepair and eventual abandonment. Today, visitors to Detroit can experience two sides of the city– the revitalized, re-invested downtown area, and the high-rises and industrial complexes which crumble around it.
Under the busy streets of New York City rests a perfectly preserved monument to that city’s transportation history. The City Hall Subway Station was first constructed over 100 years ago, a part of New York’s earliest underground transport network. It was shut down in 1945, where it lay dormant and untouched until a one night public exhibition on the station’s centennial. NYCSubway.org and photographer Fred Guenther have documented this event with a great collection of photos, showing this amazing abandoned place in all its pristine, untouched glory.
A massive, indoor water park was planned for the children of Russia, one towering many stories high with a myriad of rides within. Yet before this park could be completed, the developer went belly up and couldn’t afford its completion. The structure was to house many pools, water slides and other water-based fun, and appeared to be just months away from completion. The now abandoned water park houses only concrete, metal, graffiti and the curiosity of freelance “urban archaeologists”.
The British Sea Forts.
During the Second World War, the British Royal Navy constructed a series of sea forts for an advanced line of defense against inbound air raids and potential sea invasions from the Axis powers. The Maunsell Sea Forts still stand today, silent and abandoned a few meters above the North Sea. One, however, remains inhabited, now a nation of its own referred to as the Principality of Sealand. These sea forts are a favorite of maritime explorers, a lonely collection of stilted fortresses not far off the coast of eastern England.
In a bay on the northern shores of the Black Sea, the Soviet army maintained an elaborate submarine base throughout much of the Cold War. Now a museum, this abandoned submarine base in the town of Balaklava, Ukraine is often explored by locals and tourists alike. During the war, Soviet submarines were constructed elsewhere, transported to this base by rail, then deployed into the Black Sea and beyond for covert underwater operations. The tunnels of the submarine base reached far and deep into the mountain above, providing enough room for many submarines and their crew up through the end of the Cold War.
Click Here To Listen
Swizzy is back on the mic again teaming up with Rakim to bring you “King Tut”. The beat is filled with horns, and although it sounds a bit familiar its been on repeat on my phone for the last few hours. So click the pic to listen. (Courtesy of HHG)
I really love portraits. I think they are beautiful, inspiring and sometimes intriguing. And what I like most about them is that some photographers have the ability to turn them into really deep pieces, in something that communicates without saying a word, in something that we look and find a connection between the person in the photo, the scene, the atmosphere, everything. Browsing around Flickr I found Federico Erra’s gallery and simply loved it. He has some really impressive photos to show. I specially loved the monochromatic ones, so I had to put them up.
It’s no secret C.I. Bang is moving steadily toward releasing “The Process” (hosted by yours truley), so when folks heard he was shooting a video for the track ‘So Appalled’ they felt it was about time. The video is directed by G-Mo and distributed by INF Gang Media. Check the method below.
The new Tron: Legacy trailer was one of my very first posts on this blog, and the movie still hasn’t come out yet… disappointing. But what I am happy to report is that the final trailer was released via the web today, and is wilder than I ever would have thought. Olivia Wild (13 from the Fox show ‘House’) and the “younger/villainous” Jeff Bridges (from the original Tron) are displayed in a little more contextual depth than any of the previous trailers, and “The Grid” is display in some pretty ridiculous ways. So check the method below, and PLEASE comment if the video stops working. If YouTube shuts it down, I’m not going to know unless someone says something, and I get a chance to find a new one. Enjoy.
Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich created this installation, simply called The Swimming Pool, for The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. A 10cm layer of water over a piece of glass separates above from below. It must be a pretty serious piece of glass; some back-of-the-envelope math based on the published dimensions gives 1,100 kg (2400 lbs) of water that it has to support. Plus its own weight.
Imagine an umbrella with no canopy, (yeah, thats like thinkin of Lil Wayne with no dreads.) The barrier between you and the raindrops is a sheet of steady air that is blown out by this hollow pipe. Physics and a lot of engineering stuff is clogging my brains to accept this design, but if I put these dark clouds of doubt out of the way, we may have something in this concept. Think about it. You can control the length of the stick and the size of the air canopy and have one of the dopest umbrellas around. (all the photos below are concept photos.)
Ferrari World, the world’s largest indoor theme park and the first with a Ferrari theme, opened on Thursday in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi. The theme park, located near the emirate’s Yas Marina racing circuit, is spread over 86,000 square metres (925,696 square feet). Its massive red roof covers 200,000 square metres (2.15 million square feet), and features the world’s largest Ferrari prancing horse shield. “The park is designed for up to 10,000 people at any one time,” its general manager Claus Frimand told AFP. “It’s fantastic — this is what we have been waiting for, for years,” he said, adding that “literally three years ago, there was nothing here, only sand.” Ferrari World offers 20 attractions, including Formula Rossa, which simulates driving a Formula 1 car and at 240 kilometres (150 miles) an hour is said to be the fastest roller-coaster in the world. The park is part of Abu Dhabi’s multi-billion-dollar effort to develop Yas Island. The emirate also plans to open branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums on nearby Saadiyat Island. Abu Dhabi, the largest and richest of the seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates, has launched an ambitious development plan to 2030 to modernize and diversify its economy away from oil.
This week, Weezy F. Baby celebrated his release from incarceration by hitting the King of Diamonds strip club in Miami, Florida, check the video below for a recap of the night.
This year once again, the House of G.H. Mumm presents a limited edition work: the Sabre G.H. Mumm by Patrick Jouin. Patrick Jouin wrapped a stainless steel champagne sword with a beautiful red leather handle resembling Mumm’s signature Cordon Rouge. I was particularly intrigued by this because champagne swords are among the short list of items I am never allowed to play with… ever. But it’s a unique item that combines the sensuality of a red leather handle with the resistance of a steel blade but with a square end that won’t cut. This edition is presented in a box of pure white, of lacquered wood and leather, incorporating a tray, specially designed to hold ice and keep a bottle of Cordon Rouge at the ideal temperature.
Most dishwashers are the size of a washing machine, taking up as much space. What if you are a small family unit or a singleton? You don’t need such a huge size for 2 plates, a glass and some dishes? The Instant Dishwasher addresses these questions and comes off as this table-top version that integrates comfortably into your kitchen counter. A sliding top reveals a pull-up basket for your dishes, and more importantly it’s placed right next to the sink for easy plumbing and waste disposal.
Developed with the help of Bosch, Robert Lange looks to have done his homework well. This is what he has to say, “The dishwasher has a basket that goes up and down a shaft, where all the nozzles are located. All the other hardware like the pump, the air turbine, the flow heater, and the water tank are in the bottom of the device.”
When I began featuring models on the Blog, I knew the day would come when I’d find the perfect set of twins to post up… then along came Anne and Kate. These identical twin sisters (separated by only sixty seconds) were raised in Minnesota (shout out to Adam Patton). St. Paul being known as the Twin Cities is how the came to claim the name, “The Twin Cities Twins”, although they also spent some of their years in Minneapolis as well. They both were decorated gymnasts winning state titles but after 10 years of training, both retired their first year of high school due to career ending injuries. After moving to Los Angeles the twins eventually started modeling as a hobby and began booking work quickly turn a hobby into a full time job. Kate and Anne have been in music videos, movies, campaigns, and have worked with companies such as Zoo York, T-Mobile, ROAR, Ed Hardy, American Apparel, Luxirie, and Pacific Sunwear. Their dream is to host our own TV show and one day start a nationwide foundation for at risk and underprivileged youth. It amazing to see a pair of great hearts to go along those great… everything else they have.
The folks at Utopik Design Lab have done it. They’ve taken our entire collected evolution of cup-making and holding of drink history and combined it into one cup. One cup to hold them all. This is “One Glass for Every Drink” and it’s made to work for everyone. It of course tends to the four main glass-specific types of drink: water, cognac, wine, and champagne. It uses the same head and a different base for each of these. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? This isn’t the first interchangeable base cup I’ve seen, and it wont be the last. It’s a fantastic idea and deserving of a slew of attempts at it in order to make it perfect. Here’s one with some really fabulous ideas, and rather elegant ones if I do say so myself. And while we’re at it, I’ve got to say that my favorite drink glass in the world must be the snifter – looked after here closely by that cognac glass on it’s side. Very sassy. Very nice. Very on it’s side where it definitely aught to be, havin a great time. My only gripe… what’s it look like when I want to drink Tequila?
Before I even start this post, I know every sneaker head fan I have from here to Germany has seen the title of this post and thought “Thats SO old“. So guess what, I know their old, but I’m not a sneaker head, I wear hard bottom Steve Madden in the streets, hard bottom Mauri in the club, and Timberland boots in Jersey. I’m not up on game like others are, and I’ll admit that, but when I peeped a homeboy of mine wearing them only a day or two after I had a conversation about the movie “Coraline” with my assistant, I had to throw these pics up of the dunks. And no matter how old they are… They’re still fresh.
Diplo
It’s always great to see someone in your profession get some much deserved shine, so when I heard about Diplo’s BlackBerry commercial, I was waiting for it like a kid on christmas eve. About a month had passed, and I had all but forgotten about it, and one night recently, sure enough, I was walking out of my house to head to a gig, and the “Love What You Do” commercial featuring Diplo came roaring on. It’s a damn near inspiring commercial for someone in my line of work, so I wanted to share it. Check the method below, and enjoy.
The name of the song at the end of the commercial is called “Make You Pop” by Diplo ft. Don Diablo
It’s true… Fairmont has opened its new landmark property in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, becoming the second hotel brand to occupy the Abraj Al Bait Complex. The hotel is situated inside the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, the focal point of an enormous project to upgrade the precincts of the Two Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina. Standing 76 stories high, the Makkah Clock Royal Tower is the tallest concrete building in the world and features four 40-meter clock faces visible from 17 kilometers away. Fairmont’s new five-star property features 858 rooms, serviced by 76 elevators designed to provide quick access to the the holy Masjid al Haram for prayers. There are nine restaurants that range from Indian and Lebanese cuisine to a steakhouse, which Fairmont says is the first à la carte fine dining establishment in any hotel in Mecca. Thanks to its proximity to the Holy Ka’aba, Islam’s most sacred site, the luxury chain is marketing the hotel as a “beacon for pilgrims” — guests can also visit an on-site museum for Islamic icons and objects of arts, designed to promote the region’s culture and heritage. Abraj Al Bait will eventually hold three luxury hotels, along with luxury apartments, a four-floor shopping mall, two heliports and a conference center, making it one of the largest buildings in the world. Raffles opened its Makkah Palace hotel in August, and Swissotel is set to welcome the first guests to its 1,571-room property in 2011, marking the brand’s first entry into the Middle East.
So who’s got some “Arab money”?
