I gotta give it up to Ye. His passion is often looked down upon, but I ride with him 100%. He has teamed up with MTV to shoot "Choose or Loose: Homecoming" where he goes and visits veterans that have just returned from Iraq. Kanye provides a platform form them to tell their stories. He also gives them gifts such as free rent for six months, money towards bills and potential job leads.
Remember Nike had the ACG (All Conditions Gear) line. Well they are bringing it back out now. Check them out at Nike's website.
The first movie I saw Rosalyn in was Rush Hour. She is a Puerto Rican actress and a former Miss Puerto Rico Petite contest and in 1994 she won the international title of Miss America Petite. Click read More to see more pics.
Kevin Rose demonstrates how he uses iPhone Remote software. Pretty cool. I am really thinking of getting an iPhone, but my job pays for my Blackberry now. Decisions, decisions.
One of the illest Hov songs ever. The video is hilarious too! This was from the Streets Is Watching movie.
This is one of the rawest rap songs ever! Smoothe and his brother Tigger the Gambler freaked this. And the video version is clean of course but the got down right raw on the album version.
text from Karmaloop.com - Karmaloop held a T-shirt contest for Lupe Fiasco's album "The Cool." We asked participants to make the sickest design based their interpretation of the album. Behold the winning design by Guadalupe Cos-Gayón and Miguel Abio from Spain. Cop this limited edition Karmaloop exclusive and all proceeds go to Lupe's charity of choice WHY- helping to bring solutions to hunger and poverty.
Get this from Karmaloop.com
For the entire month of July the artwork Kime Buzzelli will be displayed via video on the InterContinental Hotel in LA. Take a look at the video to see how incredible the display is.
Visit Kime's blog
LA artist David Choe teamed up with Upper Playground to create a limited edition custom made Stan Smith Adidas. I am really becoming a huge fan of Upper Playground and next time I'm in LA (October) I am going there to take some flicks and cop some gear. For more pics click Read More 
So my partner in B@P Mike Lacy has really gotten me into using Twitter. If you didn't know it is a microblogging application that allows you to send quick status updates to your friends or followers. You can also view what your friends are doing by reading their tweets. Well this morning I awake and start to send a status update and notice that all of but 1 of my followers is gone and I am only following 3 people now. Wow. Not sure what happened. They are fixing the issue and as of right now all my peeps are still not there! But checking their blog here is what they had to say:
One thing to note: Even after this recovery is complete, your counts may appear lower than previously. In almost all cases, this is not due to missing data. The counts we display on your profile page are not always up-to-date. For example, when we remove spammers from the system (which we’ve been doing a lot lately), the follower counts are not updated in real-time.
With the assistance of ColorOfChange.org Nas took to the streets of NYC and delivered over 620 petitions to the Fox News Studio. As we all know the Sly Fox network makes unacceptable comments about Black Americans, Entertainers and especially the way the speak on the Obama family. Fox turned away the petitions (of course), but you know who accepted them? Nas made an appearance on the Colbert Report last night and bought the petitions with him. And if you follow Colbert, you know he always gives the Sly Fox network shit too! Watch the video above of Nas giving his speech in front of the station and click the Read More like to watch him on the Colbert Report. And if you need to see how Sly Fox talks about Black people, watch the video with Colbert!
Natali Del Conte "Loaded"
Natalie Del Conte IS the hottest woman in tech, in my opinion. Natali is the host of CNET TV's Loaded as well as a guest host for various other shows. She originally lived in San Fran and worked for The PodShow network before moving to NY to work for CNET. To me Natali is taking off where another favorite of mine left off, Sumi Das! You can follow Natali on her blog here. Click Read More for some pics of Natali
Artist Van Taylor aka Van20 (from the Land no less!) has freaked the hell out of a pair of Air Force 1's. He has painted images of Barak Obama on the shoes with his catch phrases Yes We Can and Change. He has donated these sneakers to the Russell Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation and proceeds raised will go to a good cause. Click on read more for more pics of the kicks
Check out Van's MySpace Page
photos from Van20's Myspace
She was actually our first Dimepiece at our old blog and that was about 4 years ago. Still today she is a dime. She is currently dating Dre from the producing duo Cool & Dre. She is a singer, songwriter and actress as well. Click read more for more pics!
story at TreeHugger.com - The Langston Brown Community Center and High School in Arlington, Virginia, has two beautifully decorated water tanks that help the school recylce 280,000 gallons of rainwater per year. This water is recycled through the water tanks and used for various cleaning and irrigation through the school.
Read the complete story at TreeHugger.com
Well Cleveland is now getting noticed for something. It is one of the most "walkable" cities in the country. Now let me preface this with saying that the term "walkable" is defined as "a patented algorithm that computes a walkability score based on the distance to a wide range of shops, necessities and attractions has come out with the top ten most walkable cities in which to live." Just so we are clear it doesn't mean that these cities are the safest places to walk. I have to agree. I live downtown Cleveland and I am in walking distance to almost everything I need. Parks, the movies, restaurants, clubs and more. I can even take a bike to places like the West Side Market for fresh fruits and veggies! I walk to work everyday! And if I do need a larger store such as Target it is a 5 minute car ride away! Cleveland is number 14 with a score of 60. That score means "Somewhat Walkable: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car."
Check out your cities walk score at Walkscore.com
Digg is a social news site created by Kevin Rose and his team of programmers. Kevin also founded and is currently employed by Revision3 the internet TV network. Although rumors of NewsCorp and Microsoft buying Digg have been around for a while, Google's name has been mentioned a lot lately. I think that this would be a win-win for both sides. Google get access to the huge (and loyal) community of Digg users and Digg will get the trusted and competent Google touch! Not everyone feels that confident about the deal. Some people believe that Google will ruin Digg. People in the Digg community feel that the site will change for the worse. Also tech bloggers are split if a Digg sale will change the site for the worse. I just know that if these rumors are true this time around K-Rose is going to be one rich guy! He deserves it. He started off at the now defunct TechTV (R.I.P...pour out a little) and left there to pretty much start Rev3. Now Digg is one of the most popular sites on the web and there are companies trying to copy it!
Type rest of the post here
Dope video and song from The Cool Kids (another great rap act from the Chi). You get get their mixtape from my Hot Shit listing from now or just use the link at the end of this post. The group consists of Chuck Inglish and Mickey Rocks.
Visit the Cool Kids Site
Download their new mixtape
This is one of my favorite rap songs of all time. They flipped the shit out of the Roy Ayers sample. This song was constantly on the popular lists of every magazine back in 1993. We had an all female dorm back at the University of Akron that we called Valley of the Skinz for obvious reasons. This whole album is dope and very hard to find now! I got it though!
They had the trailer for this movie when we saw The Dark Knight. It looks like it going to be sick. The thing about being a true geek like me is that you have to wait very patiently for this shit (March 6th 2009)! If you didn't know the Watchmen is a DC comic that takes place in 1985. It is the most celebrated graphic novel of all time. And they used "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins which is a great song. I'm pretty sure this movie won't disappoint. The director of 300 (Zack Snyder) is doing this movie, so you know the visuals will be off the chain.
Visit the official movie site
The dashboard for the Xbox 360 will get a major overhaul this fall. The new dashboard is called the Xbox Experience. They are rolling a lot of different features such as user avatars, new multiplayer games in the marketplace and of course the Netflix integration as well. I am looking forward to this update. Watch the video (from Joystiq) to get a walk-through of the new features
I went to see The Dark Knight last night and it is still on my mind today. The movie is very dark and well written. I really think that Heath Ledger (God bless his soul) should win a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker. He pulled it off better the Jack Nicholson did (and Jack was great too). The movie deals a lot about the internal struggle that Batman has with either killing his enemies or bringing them to justice. But so far, this is movie of the year..yes it was better than Ironman!
Last week I wrote a post about how you could use your Windows Vista PC to watch Netflix movies on your XBox 360. Well now you don't need that PC to do it. Today at the E3 Expo Microsoft announced that it has partnered with Netflix and that XBox Live Gold members will be able to watch some of the 10,000 Netflix titles through XBox Live. This partnership has been rumored for a while now. So Netflix members who have a membership above the base level will have access to this service. The update will get pushed out to the XBox this fall.
Megan is definitely a dime! I remember as a kid she was on the Nick show Cousin Skeeter and I remember on Eve's Bayou too. She is now a all grown up and wow! Check her out in Mike Myers movie The Love Guru (with another dime Jessica Alba)!. Click Read More for more pics!
A throwback Nas joint to celebrate the release of his highly anticipated album Untitled. Make sure you cop that!
Wow, seriously people! Why is it that what Barack said about men in the Black community causing such an upraor. First of let's just keep it 100, there is a lack of dedicated fathers in the Black community. I myself am the product of one. Second, this speech was given at a church. McLaughlin stated that Obama "fits the stereotype of an Oreo" and that Jessie Jackson feels that his struggles from the Civil Rights movement are not being carried on by Obama. He also stated that Obama doesn't address the lack of economic opportunites and incarceration rates for African-American males. Again, Barack can't sit and discuss every issue in every speech he gives! This was a church service and we did not see any of the previous comments he made!
Artist Mark Dean Veca did a collaboration with the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. The Ogilvy ad agency now has some of these great pieces of art hanging on the walls of its office. Usually they put great work in their office location that is only seen by people that actually work in the office, but the Juxtapoz website reports that they have opened their doors to the public. If you are in the NYC area you can make an appointment with the Ogilvy agency to view the art work supplied by the Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Visit: The Jonathan Levine Gallery, Ogilvy Ad Agency, Mark Dean Veca
I finally got around to discussing this. As you know last week Jessie Jackson was doing an interview and didn't realize that his mic was still on and said that our next President Barack Obama talks down to black people that are faith based and he wants to cut his nuts off. I got this video from the Sly Fox network via YouTube. I am not sure what has Jessie mad at Obama, but he is in hot water over it.
Those remarks were largely seen in reference to Obama's recent admonishment at a Chicago church of some black men who he said were not living up to their responsibilities as parents.
First, Jessie has since apologized for the comment. But it seems that he has an issue (as long with others) with Obama's handling of the lower class minority communities. People seem to think that Obama caters more to the middle-to-upper class minority demographic and that none of his issues/policies will help the lower class. Click Read More to see his apology on the Sly Fox channel for my take!
Personally I have watched a lot of Obama's speeches and read a lot about his policies. I think the reason that most people have these issues with Obama is because of what the media shows and what the media asks him about certain policies. What I mean is that we never really hear him speak about the lower class because the media has never made a story in regards to that. If they interview him directly most of their questions evolve around the economy (gas prices, economic stimuation) and the war. Those are the hot button topics that everyone in the media focuses on. So before you judge him think about what you see on TV and realize that they only focus on those hot button topics and that does not mean that Obama has not addressed those or that he is ignoring them all together.
As far as Jessie Jackson, his son is part of the Barack Obama's campaign and has stated that he disagrees with his fathers comments. Jessie, just be careful man! First you should know that the Sly Fox network will try to eat any minority leader alive, rather it's politicians, actors and of course rappers! And as far as US as minorities we should realize that less than 100 years ago black people were not even allowed to vote or had certain precursors that may have kept them from being allowed to vote (grandfather clauses, Jim Crow etc). I for one never thought that we would even have an opportunity for a black man to run and win a nomination! If you don't agree with everything Barack says you should till stand behind him based on the fact that a minority has gotten this far in politics.
I had an opportunity to start playing a little Ultimate Frisbee down at Edgewater Park the other day. As I am realizing with a lot of outdoor activities, it was an intense workout (that is a pic of me playing above). Ultimate Frisbee combines soccer, basketball, football. You have two teams of seven players. Then each team has to advance the Frisbee by passing ahead, similar to rugby. But when a player catches the Frisbee they are not allowed to move, they must stay stationary and pass to teammates who are going out for passes. At first I thought it would be boring, but by the end I was pouring buckets of sweat. It was a great work out!
Here is a site about Ultimate Frisbee
This is absolute bullshit. A Chinese news site is reporting that a middle age man has experienced erectile dysfunction because of his vegetarian diet. Seriously? He started a vegetarian diet to get rid of excess fat. Now he has been vegetarian for a while and he has lost hi libido. Click read more to continue!Upon consulting the doctor he was told: "Animal fats are necessary for human beings to maintain nutritional balance."
Dr Wang went on to say: "Sex hormones are affected by eating an exclusively vegetarian diet by virtue of the absence of animal fats necessary to stimulate them."
I call bullshit on this one. I am a vegetarian and have not lost my sex drive at all. While meats, poultry, and fish have necessary vitamins and minerals, a healthy vegetarian diet will replace these items as well as provide vitamins and minerals that are not provided in meat products.
Read the article
A review of NCAA 09 College Football. They have added a better running game and more moves to shed tackles. They have also added an easier dynasty mode.
Found this poster at Urban Warfare.com. A fresh De La Soul concert poster created by artists Scrojo. He has put his artwork on album covers, T-Shirts, skateboards and more.
Scojo.com
Almost copped this shirt when I was in Vegas, but they didn't have my size. I am a big Bob Dylan fan. This shirt is from the Lucky Brand Jeans Company
The video for the first single of Nas' album Untitled.
Rod Laver's are one of the flyest shoes that Adidas makes. Here are the Vintage Tournament Editions. Check out the article and more pics over at HighSnobiety.com
It looks like Microsoft and other content providers are starting to roll out plugins and applications that will allow you to use the 360 for more than just games. Sure they let you download movies and tv shows (some in HD) for playback on your 360, but it looks like they are trying to expand the "one device in your living room" area. If you have a PC running Windows Vista with Media Center you will now be able to stream NetFlix movies to it. This is great if you have a 360 and a Vista PC because you no longer need to sit at a computer to watch NetFlix movies online. But it only works with Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. You simply install a script on your PC and setup on the 360 and you are done.
Get the full instructions at LifeHacker.com
Loren Feldman runs a popular videoblog called 1938 media. Despite the sometimes offensive content of their videos he recently received a deal from Verizon to market his videos on their mobile phones and broadband services. People were not happy with this, especially at a particular video called "Tech Nigga" (watch above. Verizon has now removed his videos from their services.
Full Story at Valleywag.com
Dope T-Shirt from Amongst Friends Clothing. You can rock this with some all white kicks with a touch of powder blue. I think I would rock it with some plaid board shorts too. Check out all of the Amongst Friends Clothing items at Boundless NY.
And here is the rest of it.
I'm pretty sure everyone is taking a beating paying for gas right now. And it will continue to only get worse. Every since moving downtown Cleveland I have save A LOT of money because I walk to work and walk other places that I need to get to. I am also saving up for a bike that will be used for commuting and exercise. If I need to go down to Akron, there is a tow path that I can ride on for about an hour and a half to get to Akron. It's very scenic and takes me really close to my family and friends. I just read an interesting article on Tree Hugger that says if a person moves close to work, transit stops and retail areas that they can save around $2,100 a year! There will always be a need for a car, but with the rising gas prices the cost of gas will soon be more expensive than feeding you and/or your family. Click Read More for my thoughts
Since moving downtown Cleveland I have not kept track of how much money I saved on gas. I can tell you that the a nice chunk of my money was spent on gas, I commuted 45 minutes each way from Cleveland to Akron 5 days a week. I started taking public transportation to cut down on the cost of gas and to sleep an extra 45 minutes on the ride to work! That cut down my gas budget a lot. But the bus became an inconvenience some time. There were days that would require me to stay longer than the 7.5 hours I am supposed to work (which happens to most of us). So I still needed to drive a lot. But I know that either method of transportation added to emissions being spewed in the air. So when I moved downtown Cleveland in fall of '06 it was life changing. Not only did I never drive my car during the week. But I started getting in better shape from walking back and forth to work. The only time I would drive me car is to visit friends on distant sides of town, to meet with my business partner in Columbus and to visit my son in Akron.
While I feel that my moving to Cleveland has helped me out a lot financially, physically and cut down my carbon footprint a lot, it may not be that easy for most people. First, moving downtown in any big city costs a pretty penny. So the money that you may be saving on gas now goes into your rent or mortgage. Also, if you already have a house, you are locked into a mortgage. So you can't just give up your house! Also, public transportation costs are slightly raising because of the increase in gas costs. So the points in the Tree Hugger article are to be taken with a grain of salt.
Here are a few things I propose you can do:
Car Pool: This is one of the easiest and popular things you can do. Find a co-worker(s) that you can alternate driving days with.
Public Transportation: Even if you don't live close to a public transporation place check to see if they have Park and Ride locations. If the mileage to the park and ride is less than your mileage to work then it's a no brainer.
Bike to work when you can: If you are in reasonable biking distance to work and the season/weather is permitting, then purchase a good bike and ride to work a few days a week. If you have a shower that you can use in your work building, then pack up a grooming kit with toothpaste/toothbrush, soap, deodorant and other toiletries you use. Iron a few outfits for work and pack them neatly in a garment bag and hang them in your office.
Telecommute: Only if your boss allows you though. There are a lot of us that can work from home some days. With all the networking/VPN technologies it's just like being in your office. Except that you are in your PJ's, and at home in front of the big screen watching the Price is Right and Sports Center while working on your presentation.
Lauren London is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Everything about her makes her more than just a beautiful face. From her piercing eyes to her very bright smile that is accompanied by beautiful dimples. In my opinion she is the perfect woman. Not only for her looks, but based on her personality (from what I can see on TV, etc). She does not come across as a hoodrat and not too uppity. Her personality seems like she would be the type of woman that would get dressed up and go out with you on Saturday night and then lounge around the house in sweats and a t-shirt to cuddle up and watch sports with you on Sunday. So I am making her my official #1. To see more pics click Read More...
Oh Shit. This was the shit back in 95. Man this is when hip-hop was real. Whatever happend to these dudes?
If you are an underground/urban art an culture fan then Juxtapoz magazine is something you will look forward to reading every month. It was created by painter Robert Williams and focuses has given a lot of artists an introduction into the art world. Many current big name artists have started off displaying their work in the magazine.
Juxtapoz Magazine Online
I love real pot pie. Not the shit you get in the frozen food section in the aluminum tin plate. I love real authenticate pot pie. Since I am a vegetarian a lot of places that make the real think put beef and chicken into their pot pies. Here is a good recipe that I got from Vegetarian Times. Click here for the whole article/recipe.
Here is something interesting I read on The Economist site. Starbucks is loosing money and closing 500 of it's stores. Looks like the opened too many locations in the same proximity and the economy is not strong enough for high price coffee (the Starbucks MC Escher photo above explains it):
A remarkable 70% of the stores due to close were opened after 2005, which seems to confirm the comment made by Howard Schultz, when he returned to the helm of the company in January, that most of Starbucks’ wounds were self-inflicted. As it expanded at a breakneck pace, the company opened too many Starbucks in subprime locations. But the deteriorating American economy is doing further damage. As a premium-priced supplier, Starbucks is suffering from the same trading down that is sending shoppers rushing from Target to Wal-Mart. McDonald’s, it seems, has perfectly timed its decision to start selling coffee that is pleasant to drink.
Read the whole article at The Economist
