Urban Eola

UE coming out of retirement!?

2008-02-28T11:52:00.004-05:00

Not so fast.

About two months ago, I made the decision to stop posting on UE. Since then there has been talk, speculation and rumor around the internet community (well mostly just my head) that Urban Eola is missed. Actually, it's more like I have stumbled upon about 30 interesting potential post ideas (in the last two weeks alone) that I would have definitely posted had the site been running.

I'd say it's 50/50 right now. I'll keep you posted.

Rarely used UE logo (circa 2006)

Whatever happened to Urban Eola?

2008-01-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

Original UE logo (Dec. 05)

After religiously blogging almost every day for two years (12.15.05 to 12.2.07), it looks like the Urban Eola mojo is gone. It's not due to a lack of love for all things urban, fresh or creative. It's mostly due to my web/entrepreneurial clarity and focus.

I learned a ton from doing this site - HTML, Photoshop, blogging. But in the end, I realized that it's hard to attract consistently large sets of eyeballs to a site as scattered as Urban Eola (retro kicks, the environment, funny ads, good-looking athletes). And with that, I'm moving on... to Web Based Brands. And I'm taking my UE influences/background with me. Urbaneola.com will remain up - browse through the 718 posts if you want. Also, I just checked the total stats -- we had 49,021 totals hits. Not bad for a kid who didn't know blogging from logging.

Thank you loyal readers RW, JB, MK, FT, TC, AT, AC, ES, SK, GT, CJ, and AM. Maybe someday we'll make a comeback.

The brotherhood of sports

2007-12-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

Good stuff. [via SD]

"This is one of my favorite sports videos of all time. When I first saw it on SportsCenter it literally made my day. This type of brotherhood is what, to me, sports is all about. You’ll know what I mean."

Whatcha think about the BCS?

2007-11-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

I've never really watched Adult Swim, but this is pretty funny.

The 411 on Google

2007-11-26T11:27:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool.

Google will look up business phone numbers -- like 411 (but for free). Simply call in and speak your request. The number is 1-800-GOOG-411.

Of course, Google doesn’t stop at the basics. It will connect you to the number you request. Or, you can request more information be sent via text message. It will even send you a map showing the business' location.

www.google.com/goog411/index.html

How to successfully pitch your idea

2007-11-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

Great quote

2007-11-14T01:03:00.000-05:00

I read this on Cranium founder's Richard Tait's bio page.

Professional credo:
Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license.

By the way, Tait's a pretty interesting guy. After working at Microsoft for 10 years and being named employee of the year, Tait left to pursue his passion. What was his passion? He didn't know. But it wasn't Microsft, so he left the comfort of working for one of the biggest companies in the world.

Orthopaedics 101

2007-11-10T15:39:00.000-05:00

Loyal reader, Dr. BR, sends in this pretty comical athletic stunt gone bad. You have to watch it a couple times to appreciate it.

Live entertainment artist David Garibaldi

2007-11-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

This guy David Garibaldi has turned boring canvas art into a live entertainment spectacle. So much so that he performed at halftime of a NBA game last night. That space is usually reserved for dunking mascots, big time bands or the the guy who spins basketballs all over his body.

The only other guy to make art so entertaining was the legendary Bob Ross.

Dinnersfromhell.com - funny and powerful

2007-11-07T09:01:00.000-05:00

This New York Times article on a small website called dinnersfromhell.com shows the not only the power of the internet but also how funny can be. This video especially is pretty funny.

Baby naming is now cool

2007-10-29T12:52:00.000-04:00

Loyal reader, TC, recently created a web 2.0 baby naming site called BabyNamey. It's really a pretty neat site and definitely the best baby naming site on the web (the others are garbage and this one is cool looking & easy-to-use).

Despite the interactive design, the site was living in relative anonymity until last week when the Spaniards stumbled upon it and made it an internet sensation. Now, the site's receiving mad hits per day and TC is possibly looking at something special here.

Give it a look when you get a chance. Even if you don't have a bun in the oven, it's still neat looking up the origin of your own name.

80's music videos where have you gone?

2007-10-29T12:20:00.000-04:00

Couldn't have said it better than loyal reader RW:

I hope when I was just a wee lad growing up in the 80's that I did not disrespect Journey because, as is evident by this video, Journey is a band deserving of some hard-core respect. I don't know if they are yet deserving to be mentioned alongside the greats like REO Speedwagon or Boston, but they're pretty solid. The mullets, the 'staches, the aviator glasses, the denim jackets, my brain is in overload just comprehending so much sweetness at one location and at one time! It would definitely be tough to identify one feature of this video that is your favorite, but for my money it is either the guy randomly playing a keyboard on a wall of a warehouse or the guy on the drums with a shirt that reads "foosball."

80's videos please come back! We all miss you!

Creative advertising

2007-10-20T14:04:00.000-04:00

The average billboard doesn't cut it anymore. Check out these original ads and some older ones I posted. [via ET via AJ]

The 11 kinds of pickup basketball players

2007-10-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

Hilarious and so accurate!

Peachtree360.com

2007-10-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

I've recently started Web Based Brands and have spent a bunch of time developing a couple of ideas under the WBB roof. Last month, I launched TouchdownTube.com, which has been fairly successful considering I've done very little promotion with it.

But mainly I've poured most of my time into Peachtree360.com, which is an Atlanta event and activities guide. The site is meant to be extremely simple. I made it one page only. There are no archives to browse through. The site is made up of links on the left and a a video on the right.

The way I explain it best that sums up the site: "If you only have 5-10 minutes to look for something fun to do in Atlanta, then Peachtree360.com is by far the best local site for you." Give it a look when you get a chance.

Cursed Nike commercial?

2007-10-09T12:11:00.000-04:00

This is one of the most creative Nike commercials ever made, but when you see who's in it you'll wonder if it's cursed. With Marion Jones' recent announcement that she was on steroids during the 2000 Olympics and Michael Vick's dog fighting conviction this past summer, 2 out of the 7 athletes in the commercial will most likely spend this New Year's in jail. And since the ad released, Agassi has dropped Nike in favor of rival adidas.

What's next? We'll find out that Randy Johnson was on human growth hormone?

Shift happens due to globalization

2007-10-04T08:35:00.000-04:00

These awesome facts on globalization were originally compiled by a high school teacher in Lilttleton, CO for a presentation that he was making to other teachers on teaching students for the 21st century. [via RW]

Want a sign that globalization is something we're not prepared for? The word "globalization" has a red squiggly line underneath it as I type this into Blogger, indicating it's misspelled. It's the only word on this page with one of those lines underneath it.

Read the back stories on the two videos (links above videos) before watching them.

Did you know? 2.0; Shift Happens

Original Yahoo business card

2007-10-02T17:31:00.001-04:00

If this is authentic, this old-school and original-looking business card of Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang is a unique piece of modern history. The logo must be an original as I have never seen it used on the Yahoo site. I love how back in the day "http://" was used in the web address. Now a lot of companies don't even use "www".

Also, check out this pretty cool Flickr page with all kinds of creative and interesting business cards.

Newsweek's most influential in the sports biz

2007-09-27T11:27:00.000-04:00

Newsweek and ESPN the Magazine recently came out with their always impressive list of 100 most powerful people in sports.

It's a great list but I found a couple of their "sub lists" and articles even more interesting. Check out the list of people highly influential in sports who you've never heard of and a profile of rising sports entrepreneur Casey Wasserman, how marathons are becoming a breeding ground for entrepreneurs, and careers that athletes have taken on after they retire.

Allstate Marina Towers commercial

2007-09-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

This Allstate commercial is a surprisingly large scale production for a 60 second spot.

The making of the commercial (below) was pretty interesting, especially the part where they go into the making of the car flying off the Marina Towers building in Chicago. What made it was that it was 100% real.

The singing jogger

2007-09-21T11:21:00.000-04:00

This is great stuff from New York-based web tv show, Black 20.

Freestyle juggler

2007-09-20T13:34:00.000-04:00

I've seen the first guy before, but Tsatulow's stuff (starts at 1:00) is incredible. He probably can't even play the game, but his freestyle juggling has to be as good or better than the best soccer players in the world.

The 7-second time delay would have helped

2007-09-19T14:21:00.000-04:00

Haha.

Drop the Polo horse and the LaCoste croc

2007-09-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

The short sleeve, 2-3 button collared "polo" shirts are classic and timeless. I use polo because the brand's pretty much become the Xerox of these style shirts. I've seen pictures of guys in the 70's sporting them with the same gusto that you see guys wearing them today. Nothing's changed. Even the LaCoste alligator has made acomeback in the last five years.

Let's face it: It's hard for men to express their individuality in a polo. Between the Polo horse and the Lacoste croc, there's not much noticeable difference. That's probably added to their classic-ness, but now there's a new company named Attus Apparel looking to buck the trend of the common cotton pique shirt.

The logos on their slim-fit distressed polos include a "40" and an outline of a toilet bowl among others. The Lexington, Kentuck-based company claims to have a lot more creative ideas in store.

TV commercials

2007-09-17T00:16:00.000-04:00

This Kia ad is pretty funny, but even better is the TV Commercial Blog I just found.