The República Update

1983: AN OLD SCHOOL LOOK AT THE ORIGINAL APPLE TABLET

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:09:29 PST

The year was 1983. Al Pacino had moviegoers riveted as Tony Montana in "Scarface. And Michael Jackson had the music charts on lock down with "Billie Jean" and" Beat It."

Meanwhile, out west, a small technology company out of California by the name of Apple was developing "The Bashful," a tablet like computer to go along with its "Lisa" and "Apple III+" computer.

Now, why is this important you ask? Fast forward 27 years. In a few days, Apple with its $212 a share price will be announcing its 2010 version of the tablet computer that may or may not look something like this:

Now, this post is not about the 2010 version as much as it's about 1983 version. A) its way more interesting and B) It always fascinates us how far ahead of the curve Steve Jobs has always been. With monster hits like the iPod, iPhone, iTunes and Apps store, will this device prove to be another homerun for Apple and bring salvation to the print industry (newspapers and magazines) like iTunes and the iPod did for the music business? Or will it be yet another "Bashful?"

Only time will tell...in the meantime, here's the main reason for this post - 1983 flicks of "The Bashful" for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!!!

[via: www.designmind.frogdesign.com + www.macrumors.com ]

REPUBLICA EYEWEAR x NIP/TUCK: SEASON 7 EPISODE 1

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:34:51 PST

Here are a pair of República Eyewear's SOA sunglasses getting five minutes of fame on the debut episode of season seven on FX's Nip/Tuck. Thanks to Julian McMahon aka Dr. Christian Troy for wearing them so well!!!

REPUBLICA x NIP/TUCK ON FX

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:36:51 PST

Our SOA frames, a collaboration between The Peralta Project, the Sound Of Art and us were recently profiled in a five minute clip of Nip/Tuck's season seven debut on FX. Here's a pic. Clip to follow in a separate post.

GOURMET x PEPSI SNEAKER COLLABO

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:10:03 PST

This is one of the illest, Underground Brand x Fortune 500 collabo's that we've seen in a long time. Its rare when a brand like Pepsi allows a small company to remix their logo in a completely different product category and vice-versa. Props to both for taking the creative leap... [ via: www.highsnobiety.com ]

RE: WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:52:50 PST

So last Friday, we received the following mass communique from Vice-President Joe Biden entitled "We Want Our Money Back":

Yesterday, President Obama announced our proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on the country's largest banks:

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed. And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people...We want our money back, and we're going to get it."

The fee would recover every penny loaned to Wall Street during the financial crisis and stop the reckless abuses and excesses that nearly caused the collapse of our financial system in the first place.

But the banking industry -- among the most powerful lobbies in Washington -- is already launching attacks to stop Congress from enacting the proposal.

Barack and I aren't backing down. But to win, we'll need the American people to add their voice right away.

And here's our response to it:

Dear Joe, Barack and the current administration should of thought about this before handing billions over to the banks with basically no strings attached. Now the banks have you and the country by the proverbial nuts.

We can't comprehend why if the Fed is lending what amounts to almost free money to the banks, we the consumer are getting paid on average 1% in interest for them to hold our money only to have them take that 1% back via ridiculous banking and ATM fees. The playing field between bank and consumer really needs to be leveled so that it is a win-win situation for both.

The nice-guy regime is over. You cannot please everyone. We really need to get our shit together as a country. There is too much intellectual capital on your All-Star team to not win the trophy for our country.

Get it together or in another three years, there will surely be trades made to assure our country a Championship for the people. Don't let Massachusetts be the beginning of the end for your team.

NOW THRU 02.26.10 | MARVELOUS COLOR ART EXHIBIT

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:11:02 PST

Marvelous Color is a unique art exhibit celebrating six of Marvel Comics' popular and iconic Super Heroes. The exhibit highlights African/African American characters Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, The Falcon, Blade and James Rhodes (Iron Man/War Machi along with a variety of special events including panels on the creation of the show's heroes, discussions on the techniques involved in the production of a comic book, and "meet the artist" events where renowned illustrators share their experiences and insights.
The show will also include original pieces from previously published works by Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada (Amazing Spider-Man), Billy Tan (Black Panther), Danny Miki (Black Panther), David Williams (Uncanny X-Men First Class), Jae Lee (Blade), John Cassaday (Captain America), Sean Chen (Iron Man: Director of Shield), Sal Buscema (Captain America), John Romita, Jr. (Black Panther) and , the renowned John Byrne (Uncanny X-Men). Also featured will be the work the celebrated John Romita, Sr. (Captain America and the Falcon), as well as the late Billy Graham (Luke Cage: Hero for Hire) and the late Dave Cockrum (Uncanny X-Men). The show will feature a cover by Denys Cowan from "Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of our Fathers" written by Reginald Hudlin slated to be released to the general public in April 2010.

Presented by Somos Arte, the exhibit runs through February 26th at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) at 408 West 58th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

For more info visit: www.marvelouscolor.com

THE NEW AND IMPROVED LCD DIGITAL PEEP HOLE VIEWER

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:47:36 PST

Damn! Why couldn't we think of this ingenious idea! Solutions has just come out with a digital peep hole viewer that turns a usually distorted peep hole view into a big bright digital image of whomever or whatever is on the other side of the door. The unit runs on 2-AA batteries which should get you approximately 1700 peeps. $129.00, www.solutions.com.

[ via: H. via The Gadgeteer ]

MADONNA x D&G x STEVEN KLEIN

republicaupdate@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:05:14 PST

Check out this preview we just came across in the current issue of Vanity Fair Italia for Dolce & Gabbana's Spring '10 campaign featuring Madonna. We love that photographer Steven Klein went retro by taking inspiration from the Italian Neorealism era of cinema. Here are some of the flicks:

And for the fanatico's, here are the coordinates to down-loadable wallpaper of the ad campaign for you screen: www.campaign.dolcegabbana.com