Great article from Business of Fashion about Supreme. It’s a good read.

When the controversial young rapper Tyler, The Creator won the award for Best New Artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards in August, he offered an enthusiastic, yet expletive-laden acceptance speech. “Yo, I’m excited as fuck right now, yo,” he said. “I wanted this shit since I was nine. I’m about to cry.” But with MTV’s censors on high alert, the speech was broadcast more like this: “Yo, I’m excited as $%*&, yo. I wanted *&#$%@%^%^.”

With the audio missing for about a minute straight to avoid any profanities and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fines, viewers were left with no choice but to absorb Tyler’s image in mute. Clad in skinny dark jeans, an oversize tie-dye T-shirt with an image of a cat’s face on it, and a Supreme baseball hat with a leopard print brim, Tyler, who is 20 years old, was the only artist at the award show who could be said to actually embody how young people dress today. No outfit made from meat, no fancy three-piece suit with a cocked fedora, no oversize bling: Tyler looked exactly how certain young men at this very moment choose to wear their clothes on the streets all over the globe.

It’s no coincidence that the only logo the image-conscious Tyler wished to communicate was the one on his Supreme hat. After all, Tyler’s hodgepodge street aesthetic – a big chunk of skateboard culture and urban hip-hop with a dose of American sportswear prep and a winking, intelligent take on hipster irony – is the one Supreme has been cultivating for the past 17 years since opening its first shop on Lafayette Street in 1994.

The flashy sartorial sensibilities of, say, Russell Brand or Kanye West have mutated into their own category of sub-entertainment and, more often than not, their personal styles do not reflect the current vogue. So how then did the Supreme aesthetic finally become one of the most honest representations of how men choose to wear their clothes in the global mainstream today?

It’s easy to answer that question if one concedes that Supreme currently makes some of the best clothes for men in America right now. And for a brand routinely overlooked by fashion publications and menswear experts as “skate clothes” or, perhaps even worse, just a fad in a niche subculture, this may come as something of a surprise.

But can you blame the press for sleeping on it? For almost two decades, Supreme has existed in a cult-like bubble. Many of their short-run products have a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shelf-life; you’ll pretty much never, ever receive an invite to some Supreme-sponsored open-bar fête (because they almost never happen); and unless you’ve been systematically tracking its product developments on the array of feverish blogs devoted to the brand, or know a mole on the inside who can text you when a new shipment has been delivered, you’ll miss out entirely.

Starting with its swagger-filled moniker, the label certainly has built a colossal and often intimidating public aura. “The most important thing I think is the name – Supreme,” says the art photographer Ari Marcopolous, a frequent collaborator whose images have helped define the brand’s visuals, including having his work silkscreened on an assortment of sneakers for the label’s partnership with Vans. “Really, you cannot do much better than that.”

Being sovereign – the supreme ruler of culture – is the brand’s unofficial mission statement; everything is appropriated, recontextualised and refitted in Supreme’s hands to be made better. (Not the least of which is the fire-truck red box logo ripped from the oeuvre of Barbara Kruger.) Chinos are constructed with military-grade reinforcement, hats are made with a sturdy square brim, and T-shirts are twice as thick. They’ve carefully chosen to cross-pollinate their homegrown image with unhip but timelessly macho brands like Hanes and The North Face, worked with blue-chip artists such as Jeff Koons and Christopher Wool for their art-deck series, and built ad campaigns around a motley crew of celebrities that have no direct connection to skateboarding, including Kermit the Frog, Mike Tyson and the pop star Lady Gaga.

In fact, the brand’s biggest appropriation of all is the very idea of what a skate shop is – or isn’t. “I don’t see Supreme as a skate shop at all,” says Steve Rodriquez, the owner of 5boro Skateboards and one of the founding members of the New York City Skateboarding Association. “It started a whole new genre of store. To some people, it became like a religion.”

Like most religions, James Jebbia, Supreme’s founder, is fiercely protective of his shop’s doctrine, its history, and of who is allowed to retell its myths. To him, most articles in the press about his brand get it all wrong. “All the magazines, if they’re being nice, just think we’re some cool little skate shop doing kick flips downtown,” Jebbia says. “They always write the same thing over and over.”

Because of this belief system, Jebbia and his team are notoriously press shy. Although Jebbia is soft-spoken and quite generous (by the end our conversation he offered me a checkered North Face for Supreme hat that was no longer on the shelf at the store but still in stock), he is cautious and skeptical about the media and those who write for it. “If you don’t understand us, then what’s the point?” he huffs, referring chiefly to the confusion on how to treat the brand (is it an X-games label like Quicksilver and Billabong, or a legitimate small fashion label more similar to agnès B or A.P.C.) and, more troublingly, the frequent pigeonholing of skateboard culture within the fashion industry as just a passing fad, no different from big shoulders or neon colours.

There are so few examples of stories about Supreme that Jebbia finds successful, he treats the chosen pieces like scripture that he is eager to share. The holy writ includes an interview with Glenn O’Brien from Interviewmagazine from 2009, a 1995 article from Vogue comparing the persnickety shopping habits of the uppity uptown women who peruse the racks at Chanel’s boutique on East 57th Street and the baggy-pants, bed-head boys who wait in line for hours at a time to shop at Supreme in SoHo; and of course, the 300-page retrospective of the brand released by Rizzoli last year (of which Mr. O’Brien wrote the introduction, and in which the Vogue article was reproduced in full.)

The message is clear: Supreme is sacred, and it’s sacrilegious to get the story wrong.

“The fashion industry doesn’t understand Supreme,” says the stylist Andrew Richardson, who has helped facilitate several projects with the label, including a calendar with Larry Clark. “And that doesn’t bother James one bit. They want James out and about, paying for dinners and hosting parties. But he’s not. Fashion people want something that is uncomplicated and easy to digest – those are the opposite things James embraces. But really, at the end of the day, James doesn’t care. Why should he?”

Hearing Jebbia talk about the press, you don’t get the impression that he is paranoid about being criticised or that he is tyrannical over what is written about his beloved brand. Most articles simply do not live up to the gold standard he has set for his label and himself, or the one expected from his fastidious customer-base. The impression is that most writers and publications are not worthy.

“We always try to shoot for the very best and go for it,” he says. “Some people call that snobbery, I guess. But it’s not.”

Indeed, selectivity and exclusivity are an integral part of the brand’s DNA. When the shop opened in 1994, it immediately became an epicentre for what Aaron “A-Ron” Bondaroff, the label’s front man, has called “train-hopping, taxicab-jumping, runaway kids.” And dudes from all over the city followed in reverence, often lining up for hours to be the first to score the latest products to come in, like candy-collared baseball caps or spacious bomber jackets with the Supreme logo shown discreetly on an outside tag. And even if you made it inside, the really real cool kids knew to ask for the hidden, in-the-know merchandise in the back storage room.

Remembers Bondaroff: “The social club wasn’t so inviting, though, and had a lot of attitude. We made the rules and ran a business that was very successful. People were addicted to the clothes like a drug. We didn’t want to work so hard so we developed a sales style that worked in our favour. In the early days, it was like, come in, but don’t touch. You can look with your eyes, but not with your hands. It was a crazy way to sell garments but the customer learned the deal: don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you.”

The store was so cool, it was, well, scary. “I remember being so nervous walking past it, I would walk across the street,” says Jen Brill, a freelance creative director and “friend” of the brand since it’s inception, “even though a lot of the guys that worked in there were my friends. It was effective, though, and set an impeccable aura around the shop.”

In an interview with the graffiti artist KAWS from the Supreme retrospective, Jebbia maintains that, even in his own tank, he too felt like a fish out of water: “There were 50 or 60 skaters who’d just hang out there. And right at that time, too, Larry Clark was filming Kids. For me, again, it wasn’t part of my world, but I knew it felt very rebellious. It felt right and I liked it.”

Hiding out in the back room and letting the kids rule the roost allowed Jebbia to observe the natural habits and tendencies of his clientele, not unlike the objectivity achieved from a behavioural psychologist studiously taking notes behind a two-way mirror. He didn’t have to be a skateboarder at all, he just had to know what this new generation of skate kids wanted and what they weren’t getting anywhere else.

Most importantly, Jebbia developed the cunning to anticipate what they needed next. If you’re too far in it, you can’t see outside. The distance from the lifestyle, conversely, gave Jebbia a sublime ability to understand how best to represent the lifestyle. “I think James is always thinking with a 25-year-old skateboarder somewhere in his mind with everything he does,” says Richardson.

The mythology behind legendary New York streetwear brand Supreme is so potent, it’s easy to imagine founder James Jebbia as a king pin of downtown Manhattan. But as he will be the first to tell you, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

In fact, Supreme’s core creative and business philosophies are the sum of Jebbia’s patchwork retail past; not, as one might assume, a storied legacy in skateboarding. His resume reads like a series of interconnected Google-map pins on a late-80s and early-90s SoHo New York. A British-transplant who arrived in New York around 1984, Jebbia got a job working at the now-defunct Parachute clothing store in SoHo.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew I enjoyed clothes,” he says. He quit five years later to open, along with his girlfriend at the time, a small flea market on Wooster Street inspired by the myriad of stuff he coveted from The Face and i-D magazines. The project evolved into his first proper store, Union, an experimental shop on Spring Street that carried “mostly English brands” and one very important streetwear juggernaut at the time by the name of Stüssy. This allowed Jebbia to work with Shawn Stüssy, who asked him to partner with him to open one of his eponymous boutiques on Prince Street in 1991.

When Stüssy left the business, Jebbia opened up Supreme in 1994 in a small storefront on Lafayette, a then-desolate street that was a perfect place for his clientele to skate first, shop second – an order that would very quickly be reversed. “I opened Supreme because there were no other decent skate shops around at the time,” Jebbia says. “I thought, cool, I might as well be the one to do it.”

The store was able to become the holy grail of high youth street culture by curating a mix of the city’s iconography – fashion, music, celebrity and politics – within its walls and then instantly sledge-hammering the city’s high-low playing field.

Limited-edition Damien Hirst skateboards are around the same price as decks featuring lyrics from Public Enemy; custom Spalding basketballs might be sold under the artist Nate Lowman’s gritty canvases hanging on the wall. The brand’s iconic T-shirts, like everything in the store, have become collector’s items that are collages of controversial provocations and heady imagery. Designs have included an oversized New York Times logo, a portrait of Kate Moss, lyrics from the reggae musician Lee “Scratch” Perry, Mickey Mouse’s hands praying with rosary beads, Budweiser labels, and alarmist political slogans such as “Illegal business controls America.”

Juxtapositions abound: images of naked girls playing with a hose pop up in a calendar from 2006 but more cerebral women like Chloë Sevigny and Jenn Brill act as brand ambassadors in Japanese style magazines; one of the brand’s most iconic image is of the rapper Raekwon, an Elmo doll, and an Uzi show by the photographer Kenneth Capello. And really, who would have thought Lou Reed would ever become the label’s face, as he did in 2009?

“Supreme embraces the outsider and always does things off-value from their brand,” says Richardson. “But they’re consistent and have always embraced the outsider and the individual. At the end of the day, Supreme is about the legacy of punk through skateboarding and you can really genuinely feel this in everything they do.”

The brand’s insidery-outsidery brilliance often made them precursors to trends that would later pop-up on the catwalk, such as their collaboration with Richard Prince as part of their art deck series well before Prince joined forces with Marc Jacobs to make handbags. “I like to point that out,” Jebbia says with a smile. “Not to be that guy, but just, you know, to point it out.”

The Supreme brand and its products soon became viable forms of creative expression, which in turn became catnip for a particular breed of male consumer hungry for that indefinable but high-quality cool, resounding most immediately with Japan.

“We never purposefully went after a Japanese customer,” Jebbia says. “It wasn’t like that. It’s always been about that really picky New York customer, but I think that translates all over the world.” Nonetheless, the Japanese consumers hyper-related to Jebbia’s choosy modus operandi and were quick to embrace the Supreme product as something culturally valuable and worth a premium price. “Japanese kids respect underground movements and have a good eye for it,” says Bondaroff.

Supreme now has five stores scattered across Japan and just opened their first store in London, featuring installations from the artists Mark Gonzales and Ari Marcopolous, this past September. “We’ve always really been inspired by London youth,” says Jebbia. Evidence of his grimy South London influence can be seen in many of the Supreme staples, such as military jackets, beanies, and oversized Oxford shirts with a neat fit.

But there is also a business component to setting up shop across the pond. “For us, London is the real gateway to Europe,” Jebbia says. Now kids won’t have to fly from all over Europe to come to New York to get a piece of Supreme. “We hope it makes things easier for them, honestly. It can save them a plane ticket, you know what I mean? But, we’re keeping the shop with the same spirit, it will feel like New York.”

In the past, owning a piece of clothing with the red Supreme logo on it was like a more authentic “I Love NY” T-shirt, a tourist token that instantly made you feel a part of a certain downtown New York ethos. Jebbia is mindful of this, but he doesn’t seem worried about diluting the potency of his brand by going global: “We’re not going to open up stores everywhere, that’s just not us. I can’t even think of somewhere else I would like to open, really.”

Supreme has been able to grow, but Jebbia has always been able to keep his hand right on the faucet, letting out just enough but not too much. “Supreme represents fresh ideas done right,” says Kenneth Capello. “They’re always one step ahead and always limited, so people want it.”

Mr. Jebbia, however, is playfully cautious about the idea that his small production runs are part of an exploitative plan to skew supply and demand to fever-pitch levels. “The main reason behind the short runs is that we don’t want to get stuck with stuff that nobody wants,” he says. But admitting to a kind of customer trickery isn’t exactly the coolest thing to say, so you let him be. “Let me put it this way,” he adds tellingly. “We work really, really hard to make everything seem effortless.”

As the shop is on the horizon of its second decade in business, all that hard work has become the focal point for a type of New York aesthetic that is just now entering the canon of great American dressing. When it first opened, the shop was a reflection of the times: the raw energy of Larry Clark’s film Kids; the haphazard elegance of grunge; the polished grit of the East Coast hip-hop movement of the time. In Jebbia’s conversation with Glenn O’Brien from the piece in Interview he asked me to read, Jebbia spoke about the lasting influence of that era in his brand’s sensibility:

“There’s always, I think, a sense of the early-90s to it. That era is definitely a big influence running though everything we do – that was a really special time. And since we started back then, I think it’s fine for us to always look to that era and get a lot of influence from it. It’s not nostalgic – it’s more like it’s a part of us.”

It’s been almost 20 years since the birth of this aesthetic, and now, with most menswear designers aimlessly searching in tea-soaked history books for authenticity, it has never felt more right. If Polo reflects a sense of country club prep and A.P.C. a type of louche French rock ’n’ roll (two brands Jebbia says he greatly admires), Supreme has then its own unique form of authentic, time-encapsulated style in early-90s skate culture.

But now, the baggy pants are a little bit more fitted; the Oxford shirts come in a more sophisticated palette of colours; the imagery is more mature. And while other designers such as Rag & Bone, Tommy Hilfiger or J.Crew hark back to a phantom sense of American heritage, Supreme actually embodies a new garde of American classicism without dwelling in dusty clichés. The little skate-shop-that-could has unexpectedly grown to foster one of the strongest statements in men’s sportswear – the hallmark of American fashion – in quite some time.

“People think that because we are widely-known as a skate shop, our clientele must be idiots. But they want new things on a high level. All they care about is quality,” says Jebbia.

He is right, after all. Today, the globalized customer demands a certain tasteful efficiency, not the trappings of exclusivity. To date, Supreme has chosen to refine their signature products, not to forge themselves out in wild, unpredictable directions with their design process, but instead to forge themselves out in new directions in the world at large. “The product keeps getting better and better,” Bondaroff told me in a phone interview. “It’s so solid now, it crosses over to so many different types of people depending on how they want to wear it.”

Solid, in this case, means well-proportioned sportswear without a lot of frill; done with a discerning eye for what is wearable – take a long-sleeved double-ply flannel in yellow, brown, or green, for example. Therein lies Supreme’s striking paradox. Underneath its tough exterior, the brand has always traded on something of cool’s polar opposite: pragmatism and utility – with a keen sense of graphics and sharp design, no doubt.

The crucial thing to know about Supreme clothes is that they reflect everyday style for men. But more importantly, they assuage the fears many men who have come of age alongside the store have about wanting to look grown up – or, dare I say, appropriate – while still being true to their core aesthetic values that Jebbia speaks of. Almost two decades later, the Supreme project has become an updated take on that oh-so American sense of function and pragmatism. It’s a design philosophy that has mostly been missing in men’s fashion in recent years.

“Quality” is a word Jebbia stresses over and over again in conversations about his brand. You get a sense that he is growing impatient with just being known for on-the-nose artist collaborations or an effervescent downtown credibility. His brand’s true worth, and what his customers fetishize above anything else, is its casual matter-of-factness. Nothing looks sharper, but there is nothing snobby about that. There is something universal about it, really. If fashion and award shows have any teachable moments, it’s that cool doesn’t last on the fickle world stage. Quality does.

“It’s not really just a cool skateboard thing anymore. People resist that idea still. It frustrates me,” Jebbia says before taking a pause. “Oh well.”

The documentary brings to light Ford’s every day happenings, as to let you into the otherwise closed quarters of his rather particular lifestyle. While most people think of the Texas native in regards to his overwhelming impact on the fashion industry, there is much more than meets the eye with the well-versed creative. He is also a well-respected Oscar nominated film director whose talents expand far beyond simply building an unmistakable fashion empire. Video after the jump.

2012! May this be even better than last. Here’s to family & friends. Celebrating life, love, and positivity. Happy New Year to you all!

Millions of school-leavers in the rich world are about to bid a tearful goodbye to their parents and start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning. But most also believe that spending three or four years at university—and accumulating huge debts in the process—will boost their chances of landing a well-paid and secure job.

Their elders have always told them that education is the best way to equip themselves to thrive in a globalised world. Blue-collar workers will see their jobs offshored and automated, the familiar argument goes. School dropouts will have to cope with a life of cash-strapped insecurity. But the graduate elite will have the world at its feet. There is some evidence to support this view. A recent study from Georgetown University’s Centre on Education and the Workforce argues that “obtaining a post-secondary credential is almost always worth it.” Educational qualifications are tightly correlated with earnings: an American with a professional degree can expect to pocket $3.6m over a lifetime; one with merely a high-school diploma can expect only $1.3m. The gap between more- and less-educated earners may be widening. A study in 2002 found that someone with a bachelor’s degree could expect to earn 75% more over a lifetime than someone with only a high-school diploma. Today the premium is even higher.

But is the past a reliable guide to the future? Or are we at the beginning of a new phase in the relationship between jobs and education? There are good reasons for thinking that old patterns are about to change—and that the current recession-driven downturn in the demand for Western graduates will morph into something structural. The gale of creative destruction that has shaken so many blue-collar workers over the past few decades is beginning to shake the cognitive elite as well.

The supply of university graduates is increasing rapidly. TheChronicle of Higher Education calculates that between 1990 and 2007 the number of students going to university increased by 22% in North America, 74% in Europe, 144% in Latin America and 203% in Asia. In 2007 150m people attended university around the world, including 70m in Asia. Emerging economies—especially China—are pouring resources into building universities that can compete with the elite of America and Europe. They are also producing professional-services firms such as Tata Consulting Services and Infosys that take fresh graduates and turn them into world-class computer programmers and consultants. The best and the brightest of the rich world must increasingly compete with the best and the brightest from poorer countries who are willing to work harder for less money.

At the same time, the demand for educated labour is being reconfigured by technology, in much the same way that the demand for agricultural labour was reconfigured in the 19th century and that for factory labour in the 20th. Computers can not only perform repetitive mental tasks much faster than human beings. They can also empower amateurs to do what professionals once did: why hire a flesh-and-blood accountant to complete your tax return when Turbotax (a software package) will do the job at a fraction of the cost? And the variety of jobs that computers can do is multiplying as programmers teach them to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity.

Several economists, including Paul Krugman, have begun to argue that post-industrial societies will be characterised not by a relentless rise in demand for the educated but by a great “hollowing out”, as mid-level jobs are destroyed by smart machines and high-level job growth slows. David Autor, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), points out that the main effect of automation in the computer era is not that it destroys blue-collar jobs but that it destroys any job that can be reduced to a routine. Alan Blinder, of Princeton University, argues that the jobs graduates have traditionally performed are if anything more “offshorable” than low-wage ones. A plumber or lorry-driver’s job cannot be outsourced to India. A computer programmer’s can.

A university education is still a prerequisite for entering some of the great guilds, such as medicine, law and academia, that provide secure and well-paying jobs. Over the 20th century these guilds did a wonderful job of raising barriers to entry—sometimes for good reasons (nobody wants to be operated on by a barber) and sometimes for self-interested ones. But these guilds are beginning to buckle. Newspapers are fighting a losing battle with the blogosphere. Universities are replacing tenure-track professors with non-tenured staff. Law firms are contracting out routine work such as “discovery” (digging up documents relevant to a lawsuit) to computerised-search specialists such as Blackstone Discovery. Even doctors are threatened, as patients find advice online and treatment in Walmart’s new health centres.

Dreaming spires, meet pin factory

Thomas Malone of MIT argues that these changes—automation, globalisation and deregulation—may be part of a bigger change: the application of the division of labour to brain-work. Just as Adam Smith’s factory managers broke the production of pins into 18 components, so companies are increasingly breaking the production of brain-work into ever tinier slices. TopCoder chops up IT projects into bite-sized chunks and then serves them up to a worldwide workforce of freelance coders.

These changes will undoubtedly improve the productivity of brain-workers. They will allow consumers to sidestep the professional guilds that have extracted high rents for their services. And they will empower many brain-workers to focus on what they are best at and contract out more tedious tasks to others. But the reconfiguration of brain-work will also make life far less cosy and predictable for the next generation of graduates.

Economist.com/blogs/schumpeter

Like most NBA fans out there I was excited for the NBA season to finally start on Christmas Day. That day was full of video highlights but one video that stands out the most was not not a LeBron alley or Kobe spinning into the lane. It was instead a commercial by TNT to kick of the season. It’s hard to do a really good sports intro video these days. Seemingly every dramatic song has been used. The same awesome clips have been used over and over. Fans on YouTube get into the act, and there’s an increasingly blurry line between awesome amateur videos and awesome professional videos. That’s what makes TNT’s Christmas Day NBA preview video montage all the more amazing. The video somehow found a way to splice together current players going against legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and many more. Normally, you’ll get a couple players in a split-screen with legends, but TNT somehow found a way to get the current player actually playing against the legend. That’s how you get Russel Westbrok shooting a pull-up jumper over Jerry West as if it was completely normal. Watch the video after the jump.

I enjoy eating good food. Came across this article from New York and I just had to share it. It list the top eats. Click here to go through the list.

I love my Air Jordan’s. I remember getting my first pair of Air Jordan 8′s as a kid growing up. From that point on I had to get every pair that came after and before it. It has influenced me enough that it has lead to a career in the fashion industry. So when I found out that one of my favorite J’s were coming out again I pulled all the strings to make sure I secure multiple pairs. Luckily my Nike connects came thru for me and hooked it up free of charge for Christmas. Still not satisfied I had to get more and made sure I was up at release date to get additional pairs online. After it was all over I had to stop and think that was some irrational behavior on my part. Then the news of riots and mall madness started to circulate. I figured this has been a common occurance the past three years that any madness for this release would be avoided. Unfortunately not, it was complete mayhem out there, guns and knives were pulled and people were pepper sprayed. There has to be better crowd control on release days and it’s just a shoe. No matter how special these shoes are to me I am not risking getting trampled to get a pair. There has been a lot of finger pointing on who to blame for the mayhem. Is it Nike, the retailer?

Cant blame Nike for making a great product. Cant blame the retailers either, they got to sell the shoes to stay in business. At the end of the day we can only blame ourselves for creating the hype and we as a society have to know when to say stop it and its not worth it to just get a shoe. We’ll see how the next release pans out next year this same time for the Columbia color way.

In less than 10 years, men’s style on the web has gone from fashion also-ran to clickable powerhouse. How did it come so far so fast? Some pioneering street style, a few obsessed enthusiasts, and more than a few pairs of double-monks. Oh, and in their own words, all of these guys. Read More.

Great story of Mother Robin, CNN Hero of the Year.

Los Angeles (CNN) — Robin Lim, an American woman who has helped thousands of poor Indonesian women have a healthy pregnancy and birth, was named the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday night.

Through her Yayasan Bumi Sehat health clinics, “Mother Robin,” or “Ibu Robin” as she is called by the locals, offers free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid in Indonesia, where many families cannot afford care.

“Every baby’s first breath on Earth could be one of peace and love. Every mother should be healthy and strong. Every birth could be safe and loving. But our world is not there yet,” Lim said during “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and recognized Lim and the other top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011.

Many women in the developing world do not have access to contraception or maternal care. According to the United Nations Population Fund, three out of five women giving birth in South Asia do so without a skilled birth attendant on hand.

In Indonesia, the average family earns the equivalent of $8 a day, according to the International Monetary Fund. But a baby delivery costs about $70 at a hospital, and a Caesarian section can cost as much as $700.

Lim believes Indonesia’s high maternal and infant mortality rates are caused in part by these costs, which many women cannot meet.

“The situation is bad … babies are unattended, deliveries have become commercialized, and mothers die from hemorrhage after childbirth because they can’t afford proper care,” Lim told CNN earlier this year.

The CNN Hero of the Year was chosen by the public after an 11-week vote on CNN.com. For being named Hero of the Year, Lim will receive $250,000 for her cause. That’s in addition to the $50,000 that she and the rest of the top 10 Heroes each received for making the top 10.

This is the fifth year that CNN, with the help of entertainers and other celebrities, have honored everyday people changing the world. Among this year’s presenters were comedians Jerry Seinfeld and George Lopez; actors J.R. Martinez and Chris Colfer; musical artists Ice Cube and will.i.am; model Christy Turlington Burns; former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner; and actresses Laura Dern, Mary-Louise Parker and Sofia Vergara. (Photos: Scenes from the night)

Kid Rock performed the song “Care” from his platinum-selling album “Born Free,” while Miley Cyrus sang her triple-platinum hit “The Climb.”

Turlington Burns introduced Lim’s video tribute during Sunday’s show, before the Hero of the Year announcement. As founder of Every Mother Counts, she is also a passionate advocate for maternal health around the world.

“Eight years ago, after giving birth to my first child Grace, I felt what could have been a life-threatening complication,” she told the audience of nearly 5,000. “It suddenly got very scary, very fast. If I hadn’t received the expert care in the hospital birthing center I was in, then I may have not been so fortunate.

“My wish is that every mother all over the world has the same chance surviving childbirth I had. My friend Robin Lim shares that wish and she spends her days and nights making it so.”

Photos: See how Lim helps thousands of women

Turlington Burns recently made the trip to Indonesia to meet Lim and see her work firsthand.

Lim became a midwife after her sister — and her sister’s baby — died from complications during childbirth several years ago. She and her husband then sold their home in Hawaii and moved to Bali to “reinvent their lives,” she said.

“It was there she learned she could make a difference,” Turlington Burns said. “She opened a clinic, Bumi Sehat, so poor mothers can give birth safely and be treated with dignity and respect. She has delivered thousands of babies, and that is why they call her ‘Ibu’ — Mother.”

After being announced as the CNN Hero of the Year, a tearful Lim accepted the award from host Anderson Cooper and made an impassioned plea for help.

“Today on our Earth, 981 mothers in the prime of their life will die — and tomorrow again and yesterday,” she said. “And I’m asking you to help change that. We don’t even know how many babies are lost, but all of us can help change that.”

The Pirelli Calendar 2012, shot by Mario Sorrenti in Corsica, the calendar features Isabeli Fontana, Natasha Poly, Saskia de Brauw, Lara Stone, Joan Smalls, Guinevere Van Seenus, Malgosia, Edita Vilkevicute, Kate Moss, Milla Jovovich, Margareth Made, and Rinko Kikuchi.

The calendar is only available to a select number of VIPs who receive it in the post each year. Past calendars have been shot by Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber, and Terry Richardson, but surprisingly (considering Pirelli is an Italian company) Sorrenti is the first Italian to shoot for them. “I always thought about taking clothes off as a way of getting closer to the individual and the person, and of getting something that was more honest and pure,” said Sorrenti, “Kate I’ve known for 20 years. I can’t do this without her.”

I’ve worked for some cool companies in my career and have had my fair share of cool company parties. So far the company party for Jackthreads/Thrillist tops them all. I just have a great set of co workers that are as crazy as me. On that note check out the article after the jump on how to behave at company holiday events.

One of the things that makes office holiday parties both wonderful and awful is how often they devolve into total drunken shitshows. Several years ago, after a particularly debauched evening, I had to write an e-mail to a former boss apologizing for “that whole shirtless ABBA thing.” His response: “I don’t remember anything from last night.” This is the conundrum of holiday parties: You need a drink because it softens the awkwardness of mixing work relationships with holiday merriment, but drink too much and you’ll end up in a situation that’s far more awkward in the sobering fluorescent light of Monday morning. Ideally you want to locate yourself right on the boundary of personal embarrassment. I’m here to help you find that line, and retain your dignity.

Obviously, staying sober is one way to avoid morning-after embarrassment, but let’s just work on the theory that this method is bunk. In the same way nobody wants to be the office drunk, nobody wants to be the office prude.

Here, then, is a handy guide to getting just drunk enough at your company’s holiday party:

The above chart is of course a much-simplified guide to all of the various factors and intricacies that will dictate just how drunk you can comfortably get among your officemates. It’s a good benchmark, but there are several key things to consider beforehand.

Know Your Corporate Environment
The first thing you need to figure out is: How cool is your company? On the surface, this should be an easy one. Cool companies let you show up wearing Chucks, and the office looks like a college dorm room. Uncool companies require that their workers know the intricacies of Microsoft Office. But the truth is that plenty of bosses who are buttoned up by day not only love to party, but love to encourage their co-workers to do the same. By that same token, sandal-wearing start-up CEOs aren’t always as chill about drinking as they are about open-toed footwear.

The real distinction to make is how closely your company allows your Work Identity (W.I.) to acknowledge your Party Identity (P.I.). Does a professional demeanor at your office come at the expense of hiding who you are when you’re not at work? Or are shenanigans accepted as long as you get your work done (or even if you don’t)? The more comfortable you feel talking about your P.I. while at work, the cooler your company is.

If you’re unsure, consult this handy checklist:

Some signs you probably work for a cool company:
• You have been hung-over at work and acknowledged it to your immediate supervisor, only to have her/him respond with empathy.
• There is a pool table at the office.
• You have been skydiving/surfing/to a shooting range with at least some of your co-workers.
• Unique facial hair choices are not discouraged.
• Your holiday party is held at a loft, and people who don’t work for your company try to crash it.
• You often see beer in the office fridge and/or cocaine in the office bathroom, or vice versa.

Some signs you probably don’t work for a cool company:
• You had to take a drug test before you were hired.
• The company has a dress code, which is written down.
• The dress code is so antiquated that it still contains a “casual Friday” section.
• The holiday party is held in the office conference room, in the afternoon, and people try to leave early to beat traffic.
• Your co-workers label their cartons of milk in the office fridge.
• Not one single person has a Mad Men-style minibar in his or her office.

Obviously, the cooler the company is, the more likely it is that one of your co-workers will end up wearing his tie like a headband at some point during the party, meaning it won’t look so bad when you get up on the bar and start signing “Dancing Queen” alongside him.

How Much Embarrassment Can Your Career Handle?
Once you establish what kind of company you work for, it’s time to take a look at yourself. What you specifically want to know is, How much do you care about potentially making a fool of yourself in front of co-workers? Again, you’ll want to examine a variety of different factors: Your skill level at work, any lingering personal eccentricity, your desires for career advancement, and, most important, your role at the company.

Of course, every situation is different, but here at Sloshed HQ, we’ve come up with some handy guidelines that should serve as good jumping-off points for most people.

Intern
If you even got invited to the company holiday party, good job. Your goal now is to not look like a n00b while you’re there.
Cool company: How old are you, anyway? Grab a drink or two if you’re legal. (Add one additional drink for every time a company employee asks you if you’ve got any weed.)
Uncool company: You get no drinks, unless an employee foists them on you. And even then, keep it classy.

Entry-Level
Tread lightly: You probably actually do still go out and get wasted with some regularity, so it won’t feel too strange throwing back a lot of (probably free) drinks. And yet, this is a good time to rein it in. We know that open bar is tempting.
Cool company: Stay two drinks behind whoever your boss is.
Uncool company: Ibid.

Plateaued Cog in the Machine
If you self-identify as a P.C.i.t.M. — i.e., you have come to terms with the fact that being an acquisitions editor sucks just as much as any other desk job, and you also don’t care about moving up the ladder because it sucks just as bad up there — it’s time to drown your sorrows. Because fuck it, right?
Cool company: However many it takes to get you where you need to be. The goal is to be a fun drunk, so your soon-to-be-ex-co-workers will at least have an epic story to tell about you after the fact.
Uncool company: Let’s say six or seven drinks? Just don’t throw up on anyone you might want a recommendation from in the future.

Middle Management
People report to you, you report to people. That is your whole job. That means you can’t look like an asshole to anyone.
Cool company: Your goal is to buck the “middle management” stereotype. Have two cocktails, then chase them with a beer.
Uncool company: Your goal is to reinforce the “middle management” stereotype. Stay away from the spirits and stick to a glass or two of wine. (Red or white — your choice.) You want to stay clear-headed if you’re going to get that big promotion, after all.

Skilled Labor
You have some special skill that the suits can’t easily replace, which makes you indispensable to a certain degree. Use this to your advantage (but remember there are other people who know how to program iPad apps, or whatever it is you do).
Cool company: Four drinks, all cocktails, each one something different.
Uncool company: Almost the same as above, but because your skills are probably making more money for the uncool company, add a fifth drink.

Senior Management
You’re basically responsible for keeping the company running (even if the boss steals all of your ideas as his own). 
Cool company: Have a couple drinks to show the underlings that you’re not a total square.
Uncool company: It’s going to fall on you to keep yourself, and your boss, in check. Order one drink at the party, but make it last the whole night. Have a nice single malt or two when you get home.

The Boss
You set the tone — just remember you have to keep the shareholders happy and maintain some semblance of authority in the minds of your employees.
Cool company: Your company may be cool, but you’re not a rock star just yet; cool companies become decidedly less so when their boss is a public drunk. Stick to three cocktails.
Uncool company: This is when working at an uncool company allows you to drink as much as you want, since you are, no doubt, a major power player. Do whatever you want, but don’t let it turn into a scandal.

Some Important Exceptions
As I said, the above are starting points, but are not necessarily where your final drink tally will end up. Below are some situations that will have you adjusting your intake accordingly.

• Your immediate boss is drunk enough to be slurring his or her speech. +1 drink
• There is no real food at the party. -2 drinks
• You have a meeting the next morning before 10 a.m. -1 drink
• There are shareholders at the party. -1 drink for each one you’ll have to meet
• You have a crush on someone at the office, and either they, or you, is married.Have zero drinks — trust me
• You have a crush on someone at the office and you are both single. +1 drink, and make sure you don’t have anything in your teeth
• Wrestling of any kind breaks out among co-workers. +3 drinks
• That intern actually does have some pretty good weed. +1 joint

In the end, what you really want to do is let yourself have a good time, while keeping in mind that things can get out of hand much more easily than you might think. But if they do, it’s not like ripping off your shirt and singing ABBA to your boss is the end of the world, right? Right?

via New York

So GQ named Kate Upton body of the year. I agree. More images and video after the jump.

Very cool story. Scientist have confirmed an Earth like planet just like our. I wonder is there is anything living on it rite now. Read the BBC article after the jump.

The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C.

It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours – an "Earth 2.0".

However, the team does not yet know if Kepler 22-b is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid.

During the conference at which the result was announced, the Kepler team also said that it had spotted some 1,094 new candidate planets – nearly doubling the telescope’s haul of potential far-flung worlds.

Kepler 22-b was one of 54 exoplanet candidates in habitable zones reported by the Kepler team in February, and is just the first to be formally confirmed using other telescopes.

More of these "Earth 2.0" candidates are likely to be confirmed in the near future, though a redefinition of the habitable zone’s boundaries has brought that number down to 48. Ten of those are Earth-sized.

‘Superb opportunity’

The Kepler space telescope was designed to look at a fixed swathe of the night sky, staring intently at about 150,000 stars. The telescope is sensitive enough to see when a planet passes in front of its host star, dimming the star’s light by a minuscule amount.

Kepler identifies these slight changes in starlight as candidate planets, which are then confirmed by further observations by Kepler and other telescopes in orbit and on Earth.

Kepler 22-b lies 15% closer to its sun than the Earth is to our Sun, and its year takes about 290 days. However, the planet’s host star puts out about 25% less light, keeping the planet at its balmy temperature that would support the existence of liquid water.

The Kepler team had to wait for three passes of the planet before upping its status from "candidate" to "confirmed".

"Fortune smiled upon us with the detection of this planet," said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Nasa’s Ames Research Center.

"The first transit was captured just three days after we declared the spacecraft operationally ready. We witnessed the defining third transit over the 2010 holiday season."

The results were announced at the Kepler telescope’s first science conference, alongside the staggering number of new candidate planets. The total number of candidates spotted by the telescope is now 2,326 – of which 207 are approximately Earth-sized.

In total, the results suggest that planets ranging from Earth-sized to about four times Earth’s size – so-called "super-Earths" – may be more common than previously thought.

As candidates for planets similar to Earth are confirmed, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) has a narrower focus for its ongoing hunt.

"This is a superb opportunity for Seti observations," said Jill Tarter, the director of the Center for Seti Research at the Seti Institute.

"For the first time, we can point our telescopes at stars, and know that those stars actually host planetary systems – including at least one that begins to approximate an Earth analogue in the habitable zone around its host star.

I eat out a lot. I’d say my favorite meal of the week is brunch. For a good brunch spot try out Cafeteria in Chelsea. Headed over there with Jamie after a long night of drinking. If you do decide to go try out the waffles. The one pictured above had fresh berries and cinnamon cream. Jamie had beer battered fish and chips.

Cafeteria is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! 
Their website: www.cafeteriagroup.com

Address: 
119 7th Ave,
New York, NY 10021
Phone number: (212)414-1717

Wishing you and your family a very happy holiday season. May you always have much for which to be thankful.

Everlast has released a Muhammad Ali collection. These things look and feel just like what the legendary boxer used. Great item for a display or maybe even motivate you to go a few rounds. Cool stuff.

Buy Here

Drake’s album Take Care is getting all the attention this week. Don’t sleep on Childish Gambino’s (Donald Glover) Camp. Not your typical rap album these days. Childish tackles the issues of family, race, and class with good lyrics and originality.

Awesome video. Check it out after the jump.

You’re welcome to watch 14 minutes of the final film on my adventure video blog: sebmontaz.com.
I have been filming the Skyliners on an incredible exploration into the world of free flight.
Tancrède, Julien, Seb and Antoine are pioneers in ‘highlining’ – a vertiginous combination of climbing, slackline and tightrope walking.
We travelled from our home in Chamonix to our training ground in the Verdon gorge, testing the limits for our ultimate goal…
We rigged highlines on the skyscrapers of Paris, and finally came to the spectacular cliffs and fjords of Norway.
Months of training led the Skyliners team to attempt their dream of complete freedom… the freedom of flight !
More about the Skyliners team: facebook.com/​pages/​Skyliners/​270006826367436
My Face Book page: facebook.com/​pages/​Seb-Montaz-Video-blog/​149892381710213
Director/Editor: Sébastien Montaz-Rosset
Sound design: by talented Michael Denny michaeldennymusic.com/​
Song used: The Rural Alberta Advantage. Frank, AB
Download the album/track here: amazon.com/​Frank-AB/​dp/​B002A60FN4
BEST VIEWED IN HD AND FULLSCREEN (with scaling off)

Carhartt WIP finally opened their shop in NY! Go check them out.

119 Crosby St.
New York City, NY 10012

Cleaning up my PC and came across these sets of photographs from Dustin Humphrey.

Insight has launched an impressive art installation series entitled Dopamine,
from setting up underwater art installations with surf actions shots in
Bali and having re-created famous skate spots in the middle of the
Balinese jungle.

The surf installation was inspired by Beatnick;, Steve Gorrow
embarked on a journey beneath the sea to explore the depths of the mind
and creativity. Along with the help of his brother, Steve shipped out
to Bali to take on the massive feat of building above and
beneath the sea to give birth to the latest Insight surf spectacle,
and that is Dopamine. Not one to cut corners on creativity, Steve combined
upside down bedrooms, naked girls on motor bikes and underwater shanty
towns with the amazing skill of the Insight surf team (surfnics) and
the photographic talents of Dustin Humphrey to create an array of split
double world madness. Welcome to Insight’s latest surf campaign
featuring surfers Kai Otton, Luke Stedman, Warren Smith, Jared Mell,
Made Lana,Jason Apparicio & The Jamaican Surf Team.

At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself. Watch video after the jump.

All the rumors can be put to rest now. Kanye West unveiled his womens line at Paris Fashion Week. Interesting to see how he follows this up with the next collection. A lot of actors and musicians have forayed into the fashion world. From the get-go they show promise but can seem to sustain it after. So I’m more  interested how Kanye follows up with a new collection and will the show attract the same A List viewers. More images after the jump.

Finally got to check out DBGB Kitchen and Bar. Went with some people at work on a Friday night. Make sure you plan ahead and make reservations. We had an ordeal trying to get seated. The place is large with an industrial feel with an interior consisting of cement, grey leather, and dark wood. As for the food, I had a burger called the Piggie, which I highly recommend (6 oz beef patty topped with housemade bbq pulled pork jalapeno mayonnaise & boston lettuce on a cheddar bun with mustard-vinegar slaw, fries).  Others in our party went for their pasta and sausage dishes which also looked good.

DBGB Kitchen and Bar 299 Bowery New York, NY 10003 (212) 933-5300

To celebrate the new season of How to Make It In America, returning to HBO on Sunday, 10/2 at 10:30 pm, the network has partnered with Jackthreads to launch a limited-time clothing collection inspired by the series. Available exclusively at Jackthreads.com, the site will unveil the first design from the HTMIIA Capsule Collection today.

The HTMIIA Capsule Collection features items inspired by the show, designed by three leading streetwear brands: Мишка (Mishka NYC), GoodWood, and Dr. Romanelli. Each brand, chosen for their embodiment of the downtown culture portrayed on the show, drew inspiration from HTMIIA to create original pieces, available for a limited time only during weekly “pop up stores”
on Jackthreads.

A lady friend of mine introduced me to this company (No not that kind of introduction).
Just like Toms Shoes One for One formula, Sir Richards donates one for for each one purchased to a developing country helping prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. These stylish condoms can be found in Whole Foods, Fred Segal, Paul Smith, Viceroy Hotels, and a bunch of online stores. By the way, they’re also vegan. So grab someone and help someone by helping yourself.

http://www.sirrichards.com/

Interesting marketing campaign by Audi. Very similar to BMW’s Driver series. What’s more interesting is my home town of Jersey City is used as a back drop.

Audi, in association with FX Networks, announces the launch of “Untitled Jersey City Project,” a jointly developed 16-minute short-form original drama featuring the all-new 2012 Audi A6. The first two episodes of “Untitled Jersey City Project” will premiere on Sunday, Sept. 25, and will roll out over four consecutive weeks as eight, two-minute episodes airing during FX’s Sunday primetime movies.

Each of the eight installments of “Untitled Jersey City Project,” produced by Audi’s Studio Progress Films to appear as fragments of a television series or film, supplies a piece of a puzzle involving men working for an architectural firm who are hiding a dark secret. The work-in-progress television drama – with story lines centered around fame, power, money and death – is set amidst the fast-developing Jersey City waterfront. A seasoned production team, drawn from the New York independent film world and including director and HBO veteran Daniel Minahan – of ‘True Blood’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ – brings the series a stylized, cinematic look.

Watch the rest of the episodes here.

BEAVERTON, Ore., (September 9, 2011) – NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) today announced that 1500 pairs of the mythical 2011 NIKE MAG shoes will be auctioned on eBay,nikemag.eBay.com, with all net proceeds going directly to The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

“This project is exciting to me because it brings together three very passionate audiences: the Parkinson’s community, sneakerheads and Back to the Future fans,” said Michael J. Fox. “With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson’s.”

The NIKE MAG shoes originally captured the imagination of audiences in Back to the Future II, when the character Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, wore them in the year 2015. Nike has been urged to release the shoes for many years. Leading up to the release of the 2011 NIKE MAG, a generous 50 million dollar match grant was given to the Michael J. Fox Foundation by Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki. They will match all donations to the foundation, up to 50 million dollars, through the end of 2012. The timing seemed perfect to bring the 2011 NIKE MAG back to support a bigger idea.

“We wanted to translate the excitement people have for the ‘greatest shoe never made’ and for the Back to the Future into positive action,” said Mark Parker, Nike CEO, who was on the Back to the Future II set in 1988 when Fox donned the original NIKE MAG shoes. “But the long-term objective is to raise awareness so the Foundation can achieve their goal of eradicating Parkinson’s disease.”

When the original Back to the Future creative team learned of Nike’s desire to support Fox’s foundation with the release of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes, Executive Producer Frank Marshall joined the effort. A concept was hatched to develop a ‘Lost Scene’ to honor the original Back to the Future films and characters, capturing Doc Brown’s efforts to make Marty ‘fit in’ during his visit to 2015.

Original cast members Christopher Lloyd and Donald Fullilove reprise their beloved roles and actor Bill Hader and basketball star Kevin Durant join the Back to the Future legacy as store clerk and customer. The sales manager is played by original NIKE MAG designer and Vice President of Design at Nike, Tinker Hatfield, who also oversaw the development of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoe. Hatfield indifferently informs Lloyd he has landed in the wrong year and the power lacing NIKE MAG shoes he is seeking for Marty McFly won’t be available until 2015. The film was created in collaboration with Wieden + Kennedy and features :60, :90 and two-minute versions.

The first rechargeable footwear from Nike, the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes were designed to be precise replicas of the originals from Back to the Future II. The aesthetic is an exact match, down to the contours of the upper, the glowing LED panel and the electroluminescent NIKE in the strap. The only deviation from the original is additional foam support in the ankle and toe box for increased comfort. The 2011 NIKE MAG illuminates with the pinch of the “ear” of the high top, glowing for five hours per charge.

Nike has donated 1500 pairs of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, which will be available on eBay atnikemag.eBay.com. Each day for the duration of the ten-day auction, one hundred and fifty pairs of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes will be made available via eBay’s Fashion Vault, a differentiated platform for select designer and branded fashion events. The auction starts today and will end September 18. In addition, the shoes are listed using eBay Giving Works, the company’s innovative online philanthropy program that enables millions of people to easily connect with and donate to organizations they care about. The auction is managed by Auction Cause for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

About Nike, Inc.
NIKE, Inc., based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned NIKE subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand. For more information, visit www.NIKEbiz.com/investors.

About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
As the world’s largest private funder of Parkinson’s research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson’s disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson’s patients, business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors and volunteers. In addition to funding over $250 million in research to date, the Foundation has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson’s research, the Foundation forges groundbreaking collaborations with industry leaders, academic scientists and government research funders; increases the flow of participants into Parkinson’s disease clinical trials with its personalized online tool, Fox Trial Finder; promotes Parkinson’s awareness through high-profile advocacy, events and outreach; and coordinates the grassroots involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world. Now through December 31, 2012, all new, returning and increased giving to The Michael J. Fox Foundation will be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with the $50-million Brin Wojcicki Challenge, launched by Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki.

About eBay Inc. and eBay Fashion
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is about connecting buyers and sellers. We do so through eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, which allows users to buy and sell on eBay platforms in nearly every country on earth; through PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive online payments; and through GSI Commerce, which facilitates ecommerce, multichannel retailing and digital marketing for global enterprises. For more information about the company and its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.

eBay Fashion is a dedicated destination for fashion on eBay, delivering an inspired, interactive shopping experience. With more than 20 million daily listings, eBay Fashion surfaces an unparalleled selection of new, designer and brand name clothing, shoes and accessories at incredible value. The eBay Fashion Vault platform offers exclusive, limited time sales direct from designers and brands and the eBay Fashion iPhone app lets shoppers browse, buy and virtually try on items from the millions of fashion listings—anytime, anywhere. For more, visit fashion.ebay.com, and to join the conversation, go to www.facebook.com/eBayFashion or follow @eBay_Fashion.

Came across this article on FORBES. Thought I’d share. A bit long but it’s a good read.

“I believe, really, all cool things come from the hood,” says Coltrane Curtis, CEO at Team Epiphany. “So if you’re able to have that education, and see the trends before they happen, then you got an advantage.”

Curtis isn’t saying these words over the phone, or in a cafe somewhere while sitting across the table from me. Instead, his image moves back and forth within the frame of a YouTube video, where he stands on a stage at Miami Ad School speaking to a room filled with America’s advertising and marketing hopefuls, young men and women who have enrolled at an institution that boasts the tagline: The School of Pop Culture Engineering.

The skills being learned here, and that will later be put to use when pitching holistic media campaigns to the corporate heads of coveted Fortune 500 brands, are considered vital to survival in a market that’s continually being reshaped — and redefined — by the mechanisms of technology and, most importantly, social media.

Curtis is just one of the many players who populates the ever-growing world of “influencers,” a new breed of marketer that shuns the traditional strategy of selling directly to a target demographic and focuses instead on appealing to key individuals (i.e., celebrities, influential bloggers, social media wunderkinds, etc.) who hold sway over a large base of potential customers.

For example, instead of attempting to capture the attention of 18- to 34-year-old consumers solely through print or online advertising, a so-called influencer might turn to Tumblr and its cult of product obsessives — those who blog and reblog images from fashion label lookbooks or commercials masquerading as short films — to initiate consumer interest on a more casual level. An influencer might also put his or her client’s product in the hands of a cultural luminary — Kanye West, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, etc. — with hopes of initiating a trickle-down effect. As in, Kanye wore those sneakers, I need a pair. Or, Lady Gaga carries that handbag, who’s the designer?

As Curtis explained to me, influencers help “engineer the consumer-facing persona of most celebrities.” It’s emulation, commodified. Or more aptly, idol worship leveraged for a profit. It reminds me of a well-rehearsed magic act that involves transforming the concept of cool into a bankable currency, time and again.

Cult of influence

Ask a dozen people what an influencer is, and what they do, and chances are you’ll receive just as many explanations. For example, in last year’s short film Influencers: How Trends and Creativity Become Contagious, filmmakers Davis Johnson and Paul Rojanathara laid out their definition, and also intimated which cultural icons (in their estimation) fit the bill: Andy Warhol, Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg, you get the point.

David Gensler, CEO of The KDU.Photo by: Photo: Phil Knott

As examples, these big names represent innovators in music, art, technology, government, and sports. Most who adopt the title of influencer, however, hail from the creative community, specifically the marketing and advertising sector, and view the notion of influence in a very specific manner: How it translates to money. In many cases, it’s a self-proclaimed moniker, part of a growing and exhaustive lexicon of marketing speak delivered with swagger and a winking acknowledgment. And depending who you ask, response to the term can range from eye-rolling dismissal to full-fledged adoption.

For this article, I interviewed a key group of branding specialists, strategists, and media watchers — some who consider themselves influencers, others who have no interest in the title. When asked the question “What is an influencer?”, responses ranged from matter-of-fact to grandiose:

Raymond Leon Roker, co-founder of URB Magazine: “I would say an influencer goes well beyond an audience of a few. Everybody has friends that take their advice on things or emulate their choices at times. But an influencer reaches a deeper and more diverse audience. An influencer goes beyond the friend circle and into the general viewing audience, and is able to drive thought and action with people they have no direct association with.“

David Gensler, CEO of The KDU: “To some extent [influencer marketing] has always existed, marketers have always understood that the many follow the actions of a few. People aspire to climb to the rung above them, so they look to people who they perceive to already be in the desired position. They attempt to copy their style or mimic their behaviors. Recently, the idea has become ‘overgrown’ which is dangerous, since more emphasis is placed on who is consuming, rather than what is being consumed (referring to the quality of goods or services).”

Coltrane Curtis, CEO at Team Epiphany: “Influencers are the people behind the scenes that create brand energy, iconicism, and they help to design/engineer the consumer-facing persona of most celebrities. It means everything to me. It’s who I am. It’s who I wanted to be. It’s the title my peers have bestowed upon me.”

Bucky Turco, Editor-in-Chief at Animal New York: “I know the term has been in the mix for a while now, but in the past few years it appears to have taken hold. Before that, it was ‘tastemakers,’ but I guess that word ran its course. It’s certainly better than ‘brand sirens,’ but in the end, like all things marketing, there’s no new ideas, just new terms.”

Page 2 of 3

Kevin Ma, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Hypebeast.

Kevin Ma, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Hypebeast: “Anyone can be an influencer, and this has become easier, especially with the rise of blogs and social media tools (such as Twitter and Facebook). In the past, influencers would be celebrities, musicians, artists, and politicians. But nowadays, it’s more accessible and easier to be an influencer as long as you have an audience and a platform to share your voice or information. The term is now overused and a bit abused. The main reason is because many large companies and corporate brands are utilizing influencers to market their brand. When this happens too often, the ‘pull’ of these ‘influencers’ are no longer genuine and takes away from the original meaning and authenticity of the term.”

Sky Gellatly, Director of Strategy at Team Epiphany: “An influencer is really any individual or group with cultural gravitas. In order to be influential, in any walk of life, you’ve had to earn your stripes; in most cases, being particularly innovative, prolific—or both—has engendered respect for you amongst your endemic community. Your name, opinion, and tonality is respected. You are an expert in your immediate community.”

Philip McKenzie, Managing Partner at FREE DMC and Founder of Influencer Conference: “Broadly I define an ‘influencer’ as someone who follows their own path, is rooted in creativity, and is looking for new ways to change or redefine their world. Someone who is an ‘influencer’ not only has broad relationships but also has deep relationships. In short, they are building a community around shared beliefs, principles, and interest.”

Truth or hype?

As with any new movement of self-styled entrepreneurs, determining veracity can be a challenge. The world of influencers is no exception.

“The reality of the digital age has created a numbing of the truth,” says David Gensler, CEO ofThe KDU. “These ‘influencers’ targeting, let’s say, youth culture or street culture fashion, reach such a small percentage of the total youth population, it is impossible to put any weight in their actions. I have experienced some that truly believe their own hype, believing they are the voice of a generation, which is simply false.”

A veteran in the field of holistic media design, Gensler is not alone in his skepticism.

Raymond Leon Roker, co-founder of URB Magazine.

Raymond Leon Roker, co-founder of URB Magazine, believes a good filter is needed to cut out all the noise. “Tons of hype and just as much truth,” he says. “The trick for corporate America and society is discerning the two. Again, snake oil sales have always been part of the societal fabric, but now it can be found at snakeoil.com or on a Twitter feed. Ultimately, ask the influencer for evidence. If you’re an influencer, show me the trail. Show me the results of your platform and reach.”

Roker’s challenge makes sense, but what metrics can be used to gauge something as intangible as influence, especially when it encompasses so many seemingly immeasurable factors? According to Team Epiphany‘s Curtis, “influence is a science.” Through Tumblr “Likes” and reblogs, tweets and retweets via Twitter, and Facebook shares, consumer interest can be measured, he says.

“Despite false industry sentiments, influencer marketing activations are as measureable as traditional media buys and the like,” Curtis says. “It [just] depends which agency you engage.”

When asked for specifics on metrics, and how Tumblr and Facebook “Likes” translate to money, Curtis says this: “Tumblr is the preferred shorthand tool of communication for influencers. It’s difficult to present effective results if the ‘client’ is not proficient in the navigation of relevant social media platforms. Facebook is different, brand managers set benchmarks for success that the program must work towards.”

If influence is indeed a science, it may be somewhat of a junk science, at least where the study of pinpointed social media analysis is concerned. According to some experts, followers and “Likes” are not enough. And new measurement technologies, often touted as Holy Grail solutions, are continually being introduced. There is a general impression that decoding such insider knowledge requires insight only an influencer possesses, a feat no layman could pretend to understand.

Which is part of the fascination surrounding a title as precious as that of “influencer.” For many, it smacks of hype and pretentious self-inflation; the look-at-me spirit of a carnival barker claiming he or she knows exactly what you, the listless consumer, need. And as with any group that claims to be a cultural oracle for the masses, it paints a picture of egomania, which has a tendency to leave a bad taste.

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“I think the term is bullshit,” says Bucky Turco, Editor-in-Chief at Animal New York. “Throughout the ages, there will always be a niche of people influencing others who will then in turn spread the word to the masses. The only thing that has changed is the medium and speed in which things can be disseminated using social media, so of course it was time to reinstate a new word.”

Using the speed and immediacy of social media has allowed influencers to flourish, for both client work and their own personal branding. But some experts, like Gensler from The KDU, believe that trend may be more fleeting than many realize.

“I am not downplaying the short-term value of [the] hype some ‘influencers’ can generate, this can be an incredibly useful tool at times,” he says. “I am simply attacking the notion that it has become a primary tool companies should use to build long-term brand value.”

The line between engagement and exploitation

Sky GellatlyPhoto by: right

When examining the work that influencers do, it’s difficult to ignore the potential to exploit cultural and social movements in order to sell a client’s product. Traditional marketers and advertising firms already excel at such practices. For example, see Levi’s latest ‘Go Forth’ ad, which was released during the recent violence in London and featured romanticized riot imagery as a prominent visual. The salient undercurrent of the advert: Levi’s jeans are the uniform of would-be revolutionaries, please buy some. Another classic example of culture co-opted for a profit would be Nike’s short-lived ‘Major Threat’ campaign from 2005. In this example, the iconic cover art from Minor Threat’s self-titled debut album was plagiarized and reappropriated to market Nike’s skateboard team.

In other words, each example represents the questionable practice of corporate interests cashing in on either the spirit of social unrest, or the success of a singular cultural moment (i.e., the release of a seminal album).

When I inquired about the potential for exploitation en route to profit as it pertains to the world of influencers, the responses I received were mixed. For Sky Gellatly, Director of Strategy at Team Epiphany, he believes it’s crucial to understand both the marketer’s perspective as well as that of a targeted demographic.

“If you have working knowledge of both sides of an equation, you will always have something to add,” Gellatly says. “In this way, knowledge really is king. The more that you know, the more that you can give—or get hired to share.”

And he added this caveat: “I’ve tried to give back to my cultural communities, I suppose, as much as I’ve marketed to them.” This point is echoed by Curtis, Gellatly’s business partner at Team Epiphany.

“We have a responsibility not only to our clients but also to our community,” Curtis says. “Our commitments to both are constant and steadfast. Team Epiphany is comprised of influencers, mavens, and brand-breakers whose gravitas in the space is undeniable.”

What’s unclear, however, is whether “gravitas” translates to objective thinking. For example, when an influencer is trying to reach a targeted demographic, where is the line drawn between mindful cultural tribute and excessive appropriation? And how often is finding a nuanced approach even a consideration?

“Some cultural and social movements want to be exploited, because that’s when the dollars come in,” says Roker. “So I don’t have a problem per se with pedaling influence to corporate sponsors, so long as it’s a win on the side of culture too. But I am suspect of somebody that claims to be able to influence all shapes and sizes of, say, hip-hop culture. Something like hip-hop is far too diverse to be spoken to by one voice. So beware the all-knowing influencer.”

Rise of a cottage industry

With the advent of services such as Klout, which rates an individual’s social media influence, and platforms such as Vogue’s Influencer Network, the concept of selling to consumers through social media — and using so-called influential voices to do so — continues to grow. Next month, for example, marks the second annual Influencer Conference, a “first of its kind global content platform that seeks to identify, understand, and support influencer culture globally.” Panelists and moderators, dubbed experts in the field, speak on topics such as “peer learning” and “product and curriculum development for Millennials and young professionals.” Last year, for example, one panel focused on the realness of one’s influence. And according to conference founder Philip McKenzie, the event is intended as an entry point for curious companies and brands.

“Working with clients via [our marketing agency] FREE DMC, we found that many wanted to access ‘influencers’ but didn’t know how, or were unwilling to take the risks to fully utilize and engage this audience,” McKenzie says. “The goal is to discuss the current and future state of influencer culture, [and] it’s a unique opportunity for brands to immerse themselves.”

Essentially, the conference is a marketplace for influencers eager to expand their client rosters and personal brands. But the conference wouldn’t exist without some level of demand for the services influencers offer, which begs the question: What spurred the rise of such a cottage industry?

“There have always been influencers,” Roker says. “But I think the main drivers in recent years are a breakdown in trust between consumers and citizens and ‘traditional’ brand and media messaging.” Consumers are no longer content to accept anonymous recommendations or information straight from a corporation when they can easily find trusted sources elsewhere, he says.

“And that ease in finding alternative feeds is the second conditional change brought on by technology,” Roker adds. “The proliferation of blogs and opinion channels means that ‘expertise’ can be amplified. And that has created a cottage industry of influencers for hire, repurposing, or simply listening to.”

Last year Roker tested his skills on MSN’s “The Tastemaker,” an online reality series that pitted contestants and their event planning/social media skills against one another. “The most interesting thing I learned,” he says, “is that influencing people is as much about tactics, tools, and methods as it is about your personal brand.” Roker ended up winning the competition, plus $10,000 in cash.

But where is the value in all of this? According to Gensler, there is value in the idea of a brand or individual striving to be an influential force in their respective field. “I just think we as a culture allowed a perfect crime to be committed against us when we lost sight of reality,” he adds. “We are now caught in this digital simulation reality, where success is measured only by mass traffic and rate of consumption and never quality. We need to find a balance between traditional value systems and this new hybrid digital system, which seems to have a set of values that stand in direct conflict with anything traditional.”

In the world of influencers, where culture and ever-changing concepts of “cool” are continually shopped and sold, the consequences of such a practice are rarely considered. To say this long-running cash-for-culture arrangement is a catastrophe would be hyperbole: Nobody dies whenMcDonald’s uses hip-hop to sell hamburgers; or when Nike banks on graffiti to move sneakers. Plus, intelligent consumers can spot hucksterism from a healthy distance. But there is a certain sad drama associated with the prolonged cheapening of cultural movements, moments, and experiences, especially when profits are the only apparent and desired end.

via FORBES

Eepmon recently made this new piece to contribute to an art show event on September 19th at PARCO department store in Shibuya, Tokyo.

The event is part of LOVE FOR NIPPON, an initiative in supporting the Great East Japan Earthquake recovery.

As September marks six months since the disaster, this project arose from a desire to bring happiness to people across Japan through art. More info can be found here.

Hurricane Irene has come and gone. Its now Sunday afternoon and the sun is out. Got lucky here in NYC as the eye of the storm just missed us. Had to evacuate the house due to its proximity to the river. I was holed up in a hotel so I was unaware of what was going on outside. Hope everyone who were affected by the storm are ok and safe. Check out images of the storm when it NYC after the jump.

images from NYT and Kirill Was Here

Looks like Tim O’Brien is the go-to guy now when it comes to the fall of dictators. After “x”-ing out Osama bin Laden for the TIME’s cover a while back, the magazine asked him to headline their latest issue with the cover art for their Gaddafi story. Since the elusive former Libya strongman is still on the loose, although his rule is pretty much over, the painting had to be a little more subtle. More images after the jump.

via Arrested Motion

Doing some online shopping at Roden Gray and saw the new Wings and Horn collection for this F/W. Love the sweaters.

Preview of the Pirelli 2012 Calendar. This calendar has made a name for itself with its artful but yet borderline pornographic images featuring the worlds top super models. This years calendar will feature Kate Moss, and Lara Stone just to name a few. More images after the jump.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has resigned and will be replaced by former Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, the company said late Wednesday. Jobs will stay on as Apple’s chairman. Read more after the jump.
Apple made no mention of Jobs’ health in its statement about the change, but Jobs alluded to it in the letter of resignation he sent to Apple’s board on Wednesday and later released publicly.

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," wrote Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January. Cook has been filling in as the company’s leader.

Apple’s board took pains to praise Jobs, who lead a historic turnaround for the once-ailing company. Apple shares were briefly halted in after-hours trading as Apple announced its leadership change. When trading resumed, shares dropped 5%.

"Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company," board member Art Levinson said. "In his new role as chairman of the board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration."

Apple’s fans flocked to Twitter and other social-media sites to mark and mourn the CEO torch-passing. "The end of an era!" one Twitter user wrote, while another voiced the fears many share: "I pray it’s not bc [because] of his health."

In January, Jobs said he would take another medical leave of absence, two years after a six-month sabbatical during which he received a liver transplant. Although it was his third medical leave of absence, he continued to make Apple’s major strategic decisions while Cook took over the day-to-day operations.

Cook has nearly 30 years of experience in the computer industry, serving in leadership roles at IBM, Intelligent Electronics and Compaq before joining Apple in 1998.

Jobs made his last public appearance in June when he unveiled iCloud, a free wireless storage and syncing service, at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Jobs received a standing ovation when he took the stage.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 from his family’s garage with Steve Wozniak. Nine years later, Jobs parted ways with Apple after disagreements with management. He returned as a consultant in 1996 and became interim CEO a year later. In 2000, he took the job permanently.

In his second run as CEO, Jobs led a Phoenix-like resurrection that transformed Apple from a bumbling also-ran to the second-largest company in the world by market value. Billion-dollar products like the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and most recently the iPad have made Apple the envy of all tech competitors.

"I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role," Jobs wrote in his resignation letter. "I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you."

Six years ago, Jobs delivered his only commencement speech — one that is often cited as the speech of his life. "Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new," he told the crowd at Stanford University. "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."

It was a powerful talk, given the CEO’s history of illness. Jobs was diagnosed with a treatable form of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Since then, both his health and how the company would run without him have been topics of intense speculation.

Tim Cook, who will take Jobs’ spot, quickly gained the favor of the notoriously hard-to-please CEO. Cook was named COO in 2005 after having "been doing this job for over two years," Jobs said at the time. Jobs even gave him an office near his in Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

As COO, Cook has been responsible for Apple’s product sales and operations, overseeing the company’s manufacturing, distribution and inventories, as well as negotiating with wireless networks that carry the iPhone. He organized Apple’s successful retail store strategy, and he is in charge of ensuring that Apple’s new products launch without any setbacks or major glitches.

Design and marketing, however — which fell directly under Jobs’ purview — is not Cook’s forte.

Still, some analysts that follow Apple say they believe Steve Jobs built up a resilient culture over the past 14 years, cultivating strong teams that can continue to innovate without him. Many of those teams pulled off very ambitious projects while he was on leave, including the iPad 2, iOS 5 and the new MacBook lineup.

"One of the most important things that Steve Jobs did in Apple 2.0 is rebuilding the culture," said Mike McGuire, analyst at Gartner. "But it’s not quite the ‘cult of Steve’ like many believe. He built incredible teams that didn’t quite have free reign, but had plenty of room to innovate. It’s going to be hard work, but Apple will be fine without him."

Via CNN

Interesting article from The New York Times.

The irony of so-called street style today is that, really, it exists online. What happened is that photo bloggers began documenting real people with real style on the world’s hippest streets. Those who follow fashion clicked there for inspiration, instead of just obsessing over the runway shows, ad campaigns and editorial spreads created by the closed clique of the fashion world. Read more after the break

Suddenly the most influential images in fashion weren’t created by designers, editors or brand-name photographers. They were created by no-names with digital cameras snapping candid street shots of the stylish editors themselves scurrying out of black cars and into runway shows in New York, Milan and Paris.

Street style hasn’t really suffered globalization — it was born that way.

Street style hasn’t really suffered globalization — it was born that way. The appeal has always been global: a blue-blooded prepster surfing the Internet from his summer home in Hyannis Port can now take fresh styling tips from an online photo of a Japanese-Americana junkie captured on the streets of Tokyo. The fact that both have access to Ralph Lauren and Uniqlo isn’t the point.

If street style has been suffering from anything, it’s its own popularity. At the beginning, photographers were capturing everyday people wearing everyday clothes in a unique and expressive way. But as I argue in a new GQ essay, street style has become so popular that "real people" are now dressing for the cameras, vying to get photographed. It has become a self-aware rather than accidental culture, like reality television. The more outrageously you dress, the more likely it is you get snapped and posted online. That’s created some unfortunate style trends and an environment where the blogs are as contrived as the runways. The streets are now less "Who, me?" and more "Look at me!" and, as I see it, the fickle fashion world has already moved on in search of the next big thing.

via NYT

I’ve always like Beatiful Fül clothing since their first release. This is their largest collection to date. More images after the jump.

Apple’s architects were just teasing us in June when they gave us a peek at the company’s new circular headquarters planned for Cupertino. Now, a group of idyllic renderings has surfaced, offering a more detailed look at what we call the AppleSaucer, officially called “Apple Campus 2.”

The 2.8 million-square-foot four-story workplace for 12,000 Apple employees will contain a 1,000-seat auditorium, 300,000 square feet of research facilities, a couple of levels of underground parking in the circular structure, as well as an external four-story parking structure. Best of all, it will run mostly off the grid, using its own “energy center” as its power source, using the conventional power grid as a backup.

The building will be enshrouded in huge pieces of curved glass. When originally presenting this to the City of Cupertino, Steve Jobs said, “We’ve used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use.” Perhaps those enormous new pieces of glass Apple’s installing at its Fifth Avenue store will be a warm-up for this grand finale.

Beyond the renderings in the gallery below, Macrumors points us to PDFs (Intro, site plan/landscaping, floor plans, renderings) you can download from Cupertino.org that reveal even more details.

Steve Jobs says the groundbreaking for this magnificent flying-saucer-like edifice is planned for next year, with completion scheduled for 2015. Will this 360-degree circular behemoth be the new 1 Infinite Loop?

Jay Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne. If you haven’t done so yet go get the album. The album is good but not as good a Kanye’s MBDTF or Jay Z’s Blueprint. Frank Ocean was nice in two appearances . Listen to the deluxe version of the album after the jump.

Finally saw Captain America after hearing how good it was all week. Well my friends were right, I thought it was a good movie. Better than X-Men First Class but not as good as the first Iron Man. Chris Evans played Steve Rogers character nicely. Although it took a few minutes for me to forget that he wasn’t Torch from F4. The movie did a great job tying in other elements of the Marvel universe with Howard Starks and Nick Fury’s appearance in the movie. Cool movie but thehe story was predictable since I’ve grown so accustomed to all the superhero movies that’s been hitting the big screen every summer. Trailer after the jump.

Looking forward to season 2 of How To Make It In America. Watch the trailer after the jump.

ACL’s Michael Williams and UrbanDaddy’s Randy Goldberg have teamed up with the (capsule) tradeshow to create Old & New, "an impermanent shop" featuring vintage goods, local brands, and products from up-and-coming labels. The shop will open this Sunday at noon and will run through Tuesday, July 19th. Old & New will be open to the public and is located at 142 11th Avenue (entrance on 21st St.), New York City.
via: Acquiremag

Derek Jeter hit his 3000th hit in his career earlier today against Tampa Bay. He did it with a solo homerun. The whole game played out like a Hollywood script with him hitting a game winner later on. Watch the historic moment after the jump.

Derek Jeter 3,000th hit by martelis

LASCO – Los Angeles Shoe Company, is a new brand based out of California. Product wise their shoes look good and made out of great materials. The one thing that I like about the shoes are that they are all made in America. Every part down to the insole is all American made. Check out video and more images after the jump.

Paris retailer FrenchTrotters presents a nice video of their Paris men’s fashion week, including fashion shows, showroom appointments and more. Video after the jump.

This is actually an old article from Fast Company published back in March. Just thought I would share it since the topic of the retail conditions were discussed between my friends recently. Although retail is not doing so well rite now there are companies that are doing better than others. These companies are the ones that are the most innovative. Check out Fast Company’s list of innovative companies after the jump.

01 / Groupon >>

For integrating web and the real-world shopping experience, changing consumer behavior, democratizing small businesses, and spawning an entire new category. The fastest-growing company in web history, Groupon’s flash deal site marries cents-off coupons to a Friday-after-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. The company broke into the black just seven months after inception; globally, more than 500 copycat sites have already sprung up.

02 / Trader Joe’s >>

For becoming bigger than Whole Foods while retaining its down-home image. The grocery chain’s limited-selection, high-turnover model allows it to buy large quantities, secure deep discounts, and stock its shelves with a winning combination of yuppie-friendly staples (cage-free eggs, organic blue agave sweetener) and affordable luxuries. Its 344 U.S. stores sell an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double Whole Foods’ tally.

03 / Marks & Spencer >>

For its aggressive pursuit of sustainability. In the past year, the U.K. company has pioneered charging for plastic bags, significantly reduced packaging, and launched a clothing recycling venture with Oxfam. It has also committed to becoming the first major retailer to ensure that six of the key raw materials it uses–soya, cocoa, beef, leather, coffee, and palm oil–will come from sustainable sources that do not contribute to deforestation.

04 / Amazon >>

For leading the way into the digital book market with the Kindle–and setting off a major shift in the public’s reading habits. And alhough competition is fierce in the e-reader universe, Amazon is still the dominant player in online commerce.

05 / eBay >>

For leading the charge on mobile commerce. This year alone, eBay expects to sell $4 billion in goods via smartphones and tablets, more than double its figures from 2010 and well above those from any other retailer. Its core iPhone app has been downloaded some 15 million times, and the company is releasing a series of interest-based mobile apps focusing on fashion, motors, electronics, and home and garden.

06 / Apple >>

For creating platforms and products that breed entirely new businesses, including the App Store, the new iTunes 10, the Apple TV digital storefront, and the iPad, a screen that’s better suited than the iPhone to leverage online buying.

07 / Starbucks

For listening to its customers–really. Although the feedback site MyStarbucksIdea.com was originally panned, almost 98,000 ideas have been submitted, and 100 have been adopted. Among them: donating unsold pastries to local homeless shelters and food kitchens, giving baristas name badges, selling reusable sleeves, and bringing back Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.

08 / Shopkick

For bridging the in-store and mobile retail experience. Beyond rewarding users with perks as soon as they enter a store, Shopkick’s location-aware smartphone app also guides users through physical retailers, letting them see reviews and multimedia content. Best Buy, Macy’s, and American Eagle have already signed on as partners.

09 / Ikea

For attacking waste by selling its used furniture online in Sweden, and making its venture capital unit’s first investments. Ikea Greentech is dedicated to supporting ventures in alternative energy solutions and lighting that might lead to the development of products for Ikea. The company has also bought German and French wind farms to cut its carbon footprint.

10 / Urban Outfitters

For nurturing very distinct, successful, and quirky retail brands, including the youth-oriented Urban Outfitters, the romantic and sophisticated Anthropologie, and the high-end, bohemian Leifsdottir.

Browse our list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies 2011

via Fast Company

A Bathing Ape has been doing a boatload of collaborations lately with brands such as Mackintosh, BUILT, Mark McNairy, Sperry Top-Sider to freshen up the brands and attract consumers back to the brand. The two collabs that a like the best though are the ones with Baracuda and Adidas. Baracuda because every guy should have at least a jacket from them. And Adidas, you can never go wrong with a pair of Superstars. I remember back in 2003 I had already scored a bunch of Super Ape Star from Japan but I still ended lining up in the freezing cold on Wooster street to get more pairs. Those same shoes also ended up landing me a management job with BAPE a few years later. Now 8 years later I need a re-up. Images after the jump.

The Jay Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne album is now available for pre-order. The album cover is pictured above which was designed by Riccardo Tisci, Creative Director of Givenchy. Click Here to Pre-Order. View the track list after the jump.

1: Lift Off

2: Niggas In Paris

3: Primetime

4: New Day

5: Living So Italian

6: Otis Redding

7: No Church In a While

8: I Can’t Stop/Spazz/Murder to Excellence (3 songs)

9: Sweet Baby Jesus

10: Love You So

11: H.A.M

Great concept. Simple idea but the flawless execution and attention to detail made a basic story very impressive. Watch the video after the jump.

Shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone. Winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011.
Director: JW Griffiths
Producer: Kurban Kassam
Director of Photography: Christopher Moon
Editor: Marianne Kuopanportti
Sound Design: Mauricio d’Orey
Music composed by: Lennert Busch

I feel that the Air Max 90 is one of the best Nike silhouettes out there. But the market has been over saturated with them with countless color ways releasing on a consistent basis. But this Hurley Phantom 4D I admit is nice! I like how Nike is incorporating other brands under its umbrella into their own products. 

I saw this one coming. After Vick’s great season it was only a matter of time before Nike re-signed him to the swoosh family. Although some may object to this I give props to Nike for sticking their neck out and taking a chance on Vick. No word yet if Nike will continue to produce a his MV7 line of signature shoes. This is reminiscent to Kobe Bryant, Nike strategically reintegrated Kobe into their basketball program before the first official Kobe shoe was released. Story from Darren Rovell after the jump.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reported on Friday that Nike and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick have agreed to a new deal, four years after Nike terminated its contract with Vick due to his arrest ondogfighting charges.

"Michael acknowledges his past mistakes,” Nike spokesman Derek Kent told Rovell. "We do not condone those actions, but we support the positive changes he has made to better himself off the field."

Joel Segal, Vick’s agent, told CNBC that the star quarterback is "excited to have a long-term and strong relationship with Nike."

Vick served 18 months in prison and two months of home confinement after pleading guilty to running a dogfighting operation in 2007.

The 31-year-old, who was once the highest-paid player in the NFL, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk pointed out that after Vick signed with the Eagles, he and Nike resumed their relationship, But later, Nike came out and said that there was no "contractual relationship" between the two.

He signed his first endorsement deal since his release from prison in January when he inked a two-year contract with Unequal Technologies.

Vick was named the starting quarterback for the Eagles over Kevin Kolb early in the 2010 season. He went on to dominate in 2010, throwing for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns.

The organization placed the franchise tag on Vick in February.

Pantonism, the art of matching influences. A website dedicated to color matching. Simple but awesome idea. Click here to visit Pantonism.

I drive by Houston street almost daily and noticed the new JR mural. Got used to seeing Kenny Scharf’s mural after a while. The new mural is a giant photo of a pair of eyes. The eyes belong to DJ Two Bears of Standing Rock Nation from the Dakotas. The mural is a part of the Inside Out Project. Watch video on the Inside Out Project after the jump.

INSIDE OUT is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities. People can participate as an individual or in a group; posters can be placed anywhere, from a solitary image in an office window to a wall of portraits on an abandoned building or a full stadium. These exhibitions will be documented, archived and viewable virtually.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich knows what’s wrong with the economy, and he says he can explain to viewers in less than three minutes. Watch video after the jump.

Since 1980, the American economy has almost doubled in size. But adjusting for inflation, most people’s wages have barely increased, a fact Reich notes in a MoveOn.org video on YouTube. Indeed, the average American worker in 2008 earned $400less than in 1988, when adjusting for inflation.

Concentration of wealth among the richest Americans have also drained the country of its economic resources, consequently dividing the middle class and weakening demand, Reich continues.

"The only way we can have a strong economy," Reich says, "is with a strong middle class."

via: Huffington Post

Came across these photos of Japan 3 months after the massive quake. The cleanup and the speed of the progress is amazing. More images after the jump.

This road was fixed 6 days later after the earthquake.

H&M is following their other successful collaborations with high end fashion brands such as Lanvin, Karl Lagerfeld, and Com des Garcons with Versace. Should be interesting what Versace and H&M put together. Their collaborative efforts will hit stores  on November 17 this year. Watch the announcement video after the jump.

Here are leaked photos of the new 2012 BMW M5. Power output specs on the next M5 will be 560 PS (412 kW / 552 bhp) and 680 Nm (501 lb-ft) of torque from a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8. Its 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint will be 4.4 seconds (0.3 seconds faster than E60 M5), 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 13 seconds and top speed will be 305 km/h (189 mph) with the M-Drivers-Package. Transmission choices will be 6-speed manual and 7-speed DCT.

Official media release is expected early next week, with its first public appearance at the M Festival on June 23 at the Nürburgring. More images after the jump.

Just as I predicted the Mavs win in 6 Games. A lot of my friends thought I was crazy for saying that but I just thought the Mavs were a better team. The Heats were more talented with the trio of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh no doubt. However the Dallas team just knew how to win and had the poise to close a game in the final minutes of the 4th quarter where it counts the most. Glad for Dirk and Kidd to finally get a ring. More images from Game 6 and post game celebrations such as Mark Cuban and Lil Wayne partying after the break?

Timberland, the maker of the classic 6 inch boot and Beef and Broccoli hikers and other outdoorsy type goods has just been purchased by worlds largest apparel company VF Corporation for $2 billion or roughly $43 per share.  Everything should be finalized by the 3rd quarter. VF Corporation already has a large portfolio of brands, many of which you know, including: VANS, The North Face, John Varvatos, 7 For All Mankind, Lee, Wrangler, Eastpak, Majestic and Jansport just to name a few. Overall this will help VF Corporation as it compliments brands such The North Face and Timberland brings its deep-green and rugged outdoor expertise. Furthermore the Timberland brand will help VF Corporations global reach. There will definitely be structural changes and unfortunately some layoffs within Timberland and only time will tell if the consumer benefits with this deal. Timberland has been offering up really nice products lately and I’m sure that will continue.

PRESS RELEASE from VFC

• Transformative Acquisition Will Create $10B Global Apparel & Footwear Powerhouse
• Addition of Timberland(R) and Smartwool(R) Brands Will Boost VF’s Outdoor & Action Sports Business to 50% of Total Revenues
• Will Provide Significant EPS Accretion in 2011 and 2012

Links to story:

CNN

BUSINESS WEEK

The NBA Finals this season has to be one of the  best in a while. Maybe since the Bulls Finals games in the late 90’s. Every game has been ESPN classic material. Another thing on everyone’s mind has been Scottie Pippen’s remark the LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan. At this stage of his career he is not. So far in every game in this years Finals’ the topic of who is greater always seem to come up. All I got to say is LeBron James averaged 1 point a game in the 4th Quarter of Games 4 and 5. LeBron James has become Scottie Pippen 2.0. Watch video comparison and links to articles pertaining this issue.

Articles that I think are good reads for this topic

Article from Grantland click below to read article
It’s time for LeBrondown, Part II
Jordan would never do that: LeBron’s playoff irrelevancy

Pre-baseball Jordan thrived with that same bull’s-eye, logged those same minutes, and never wore down. He also made us feel like he would commit multiple murders — not one murder, multiple murders — just to win an important game. On Miami’s team, only Wade makes you feel like that.

Can you name another NBA superstar who needed a teammate to call him out?

Article from Sports Illustrated click below to read article
Lebron vs Jordan by Joe Posnanski

Teacher: "There is no way LeBron will ever be Jordan."
Kid: "LeBron James is a better rebounder and passer."
Teacher: "Call me when LeBron has six championships."
Kid: "That’s your only argument?"
Teacher: "That’s the only argument I need, Shawn!"

The TOMS brand is well known for their “One for One” campaign for footwear. For every shoe purchased one  shoe is given to a child in need. The company is expending this concept to eyewear. They’ve now expanded their “One for One’ campaign to eyewear.  TOMS eyewear will help give sight to people in need of medical treatments and prescription eyewear. TOMS is working with Seva Foundation for this “One for One” program. TOMS. Watch video and more images after the jump.

Well Played TOMS, no more to say. A good corporate social responsibility plan and a spanking good look on the frames.

How far would you go to get one of those fancy Apple iDevices? A kid in China decided it was worth one of his kidneys. Without informing his parents he traded in his kidneys for roughly around $3,000 which he used to buy an iPad 2. After further reflection the kid now regrets the decision. This shows that the world has become incredibly materialistic and some of us has lost the concept of wants and needs. This story goes deeper than the kid and iPad 2. This also involves the black market trafficking of human organs. I’m fortunate enough to be able to own an iPad 2 but I think we’ve lost focus on what’s really more valuable. Next time you have an urge for an impulse buy ask yourself do you really need it or you just want it.

Read more about it here.

A unique collaboration in design and craftsmanship by Karl Lagerfeld and Orrefors of Sweden. See Karl Lagerfeld’s presentation of his own line of crystal. orrefors.com/​karllagerfeld 

The Standard is one of the hotels I’ve frequent when I travel. They’ve teamed up with Shoreline Aviation to offer daily flights to East Hampton from the East River. Great branding on both company’s part. The hotel will use the plane for its guest to offer stay packages and will also give easy access for the public to the Hampton for an affordable $30.

Travel to the Hamptons and beyond this summer will be fun, easy, and accessible with StndAir, starting May 26th through October 10th, 2011. It is available for the public, as well as Standard New York and Sunset Beach hotel guests, who will be offered room package/flight deals.

StndAir is an 8 passenger Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft that will be available for charter service to any East Coast destination within a 300 mile radius of New York (Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, Hudson Valley), as well as scheduled flights during peak weekend periods between New York City, East Hampton on Long Island.

I’ve always liked Balmain stuff. Even with designer Chriistophe Decarnin gone the brand has maintained to keep the military/grunge look luxurious. More images after the jump.

This is not new, its been around since 1998. Some of you may have seen this already but I think its still relevant. Bruce Mau, a designer, thinker, articulator, and massive change provocateur. He has a lot of ideas on varying subjects. His main incomplete manifesto is a list of ideas that get you thinking outside the norm to help you develop. Red the whole manifesto after the jump.

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Author: Bruce Mau (1998)

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

12. Keep moving. The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13. Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17. ——————————. Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

18. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

19. Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20. Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21. Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22. Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23. Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24. Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26. Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27. Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”

28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29. Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30. Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’

31. Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32. Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

34. Make mistakes faster. This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35. Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36. Scat. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.

37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38. Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40. Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41. Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42. Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.