BRAIN AGE.

Have you noticed the recent popularity of the game Sudoku? Well as with most cool things, it originally comes from Asia. And essentially, it is a brain training game that has caught fire with corporate America. A game on Nintendo DS has recently come out called Brain Age, and along with Sudoku, features dozens of other brain training exercises.
The training methods have even been reported to help fight Alzheimer's and memory loss due to age. I'm not sure about all that, but the exercises are pretty fun nonetheless. The game is actually structured like a gym workout. You play it for a couple of minutes per day and a coach tracks your performance. Before your training begins, the coach does a brain analysis on you to see where you stand. As you can see, I ain't doing so hot. But knowing is half the battle damnit!

KIX ARE FOR KIDS.

A nice little write up and interview of the concept behind the Reed Space from Kix And The City. (God, did I really say all this shit?)



Also had a visit today from Raph; the photographer and author of "Behind The Beat", the wildly successful and equally influential book about DJs in their home/personal environments. Definitely worth adding to the Amazon Wishlist. He brought by some photos from his exhibition in Melbourne at the Perks and Mini Gallery. Could there be something brewing for Mr. Reed in the near future??

RE:VISION.

A new book is about to drop that is pretty interesting. (And not just because I'm featured in it! ha.) "RE:VISION".
"Conceived and photographed by Chris Pieretti, re:vision is a collection of sixteen artists and creative minds in New York City. From Alife co-founder Tony Arcabascio, to "Broken Flowers" and ABC's "Invasion" actress Alexis Dziena, Pieretti shows each subject working as their respective craft moves from vision to reality.
The hard cover, 176-page book also uses the collections of Dorothy Twining Globus to reinforce the theme of the creative sparks that join these people together. Whether it be a piece of music, a design on a page, a skateboard move, or a painting, the artists contained in re:vision all share a common thread of creativity and drive. This is re:vision."
The book features: Swoon, Tony Arcabascio, Matthew Gubler, Michelle Zacks, Rb Umali, Jauresti Saizarbitoria, Carlucci Bencivenga, Jermaine McCray, Alecis Dziena, David Horii, Eric P, Skewville, Jaime Reyes, Will Evans, Edi and yours truly. Worth checking out...

SBOOTY.

Joy to the world! SB Booty came via UPS today.
Y'all are very familar with the Supreme Blazers I'm sure...Hmmm..the tough decision is deciding which are my favorites. They are all so tasty in their own respects. But for this summer, you'll prob see me rocking the white ones the most. Also got these great Dunk Hi's Wht/Khaki/Beige and the Huf Goldigger SB Trainers. (Thanks James for the Supreme's. And whoever anonymously sent me the other 2; hit me up so I know who to thank!)



Also had a visit today from my secret weapon, Ken at GBIM. Ken is my go-to printer. He pretty much takes care of all the print jobs for Staple (in-house stuff) and our client work. He's one of the best in the biz. Always comes thru in the clutch. I always say, it don't matter how dope or talented you are if you have a wack team. You can only really be as good as the people around you.

RRL.

For almost as long as I have earned enough money to buy my own clothes, one of my favorite brands of all time is RRL. The little brand from the Ralph Lauren Conglomerate that "kept it real". With stores that would go in and out of business every few years, limited collections and tight distribution; it was Ralph's personal collection of western and vintage inspires wears. Last night I had the pleasure of having a great dinner at Gyu-Kaku with Maurizio, the man responsible for everything under the RRL umbrella. His girlfriend, Marisa also joined who is pretty amazing in her own right.
Check out his bank card! Its a mini version for heavy travelers! So awesome... I want one but it's only available for personal acct's right now. Bastards!







Also, good lookin to CM at Burton for hooking me with this sick Burton x New Era 5950 Hat. Its part of their "Capture The Flag" Series, where each hat comes in a special box and is hand signed and numbered. This one is with Jake Burton. One of the best New Era's I have seen in a long time. Featrues a dope wool outer, metal die cut logo of the original Burton "mountain" logo on the front and the entire inside is silk lined with a flocking monogram. And to top it off, the inner band has been woven with the names of 3 Burton team riders that died while riding: Craig Kelly, Jeff Anderson and Jamil Khan. Beautiful and meaningful.

BARKLEY.

Yes, I know you think this is a post about Charles Barkley kicks or some shit. But it ain't. It's about GNARLS BARKLEY. The album of the year (so far). From the minds of Cee-Lo (Dungeon Fam/Goodie Mob) and Dangermouse (The Grey Album/Adult Swim). Listen to the evolution of hip-hop.

CHICKEN OR THE EGG?

You gotta check this site out. Z-COIL in full effect! First, note that they are celebrating their 10th anniversary. Then figure out when Nike Shox came out....
Kinda makes you think right? Well regardless, there's something to be said for marketing (Boing!), and industrial design. I would love to see someone walking around with these. It looks like you could pull a tomahawk dunk with ease.
But fear not for the Z-Coil. They are on the offensive with an ID program of their own! Hand Painted Z-Coil's dawg.
(Excuse me while I prepare renderings for the Pigeon Z-Coil.)

AJ XX / BLACKBERRY.

People are having too much fun with the laser machine at Nike.
After posting Jamie's RAZR and Cybershot, Justin from Dime sent me this shot of his Blackberry, modified with the Jordan XX allover print. Looks pretty hot if you ask me. Now if someone can send me a photo of their first born child with the Navigation Laser pattern all over them, I'd be SUPER impressed.

30 APPLES.

I have Apple in my soul. From the first time my elementary school sized fingers touched the Apple IIC keyboard...I fell in love. Decades later as I glide my middle aged fingers across the trackpad of the Nano...I reminisce about all the different innovations Steve Jobs and Co. have developed. Then
this comes out and gives me all the memories in living Technicolor.
Remember when Steve Jobs FIRST unveiled the iPod? Look at it now and its kinda funny. You realize what a genius he is. The Earth was built in 7 days. The Music Revolution was built in about 30 mintes at a Keynote speech.
And finally; how many times have you been at an airport or cafe...workin on your laptop..and needed to take a quick leak or grab a napkin but was afraid to leave ur Powerbook? Well all you need now is this.

JUXTAPOZ.

After repeated missed meetings...illnesses (is that how you spell "illnesses"?), and travel plans, Jamie from Juztapoz magazine and I finally got a moment to hook up and meet. For the longest time, Juztapoz has been the authority on West Coast art, but recently they have really embraced the world cultural pipelines that runs between NYC, London and Tokyo (with tributaries in Berlin and Paris). Great guy. Check out his Nike Lasarium (that's what Nike calls the room they do all the laser shits in) Mark Smith celly and camera. So hot!







I met up with him afterwards at the Phil Frost solo exhibition in Chelsea. For as long as I can remember being into art, I have been an admirer or Phil's work. This recent exhibition was a long time coming and the amount of work shown here is staggering. Definitely worth checking out. the opening was a cool gathering as well. Got to see some heads I haven't caught up with in a minute like...Ease, David Ellis, Matzu, Chris Mendoza, Omar Q...also ran into Suchin Pak from MTV and Miguel.



After that i headed again into the heart of Chinatown and continued my training in the ancient art of table tennis. Its so addictive! I'm working towards a big event we are helping to organize this summer...keep your paddles at arm's distance. My sparring partners...Peter Sutherland, Khairi from Puma, Tyler from Rude and his boy Jesse.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT.

Dime Magazine and Brand Jordan recently collaborated on this dope little ditty. A nice concise and well designed roundup of the Jordan lineage. Peep it and relive your childhood.

NORDIC.

Some good shots of the Nike Nordic Pack that we worked on. It's been so long, feels like last year that we did these. We did a few more styles but I don't want to ruin it for you guys before they finally surface on their own. Or maybe Nike decided to drop them. One never knows does one. You gotta peep the sockliner though...that's the punch line.
From Hypebeast.

PROPER LAX.

It was about time. I needed to desperately get out of NYC for a little bit. So I took advantage of the Passover/Easter holidays (I celebrate neither) to get out of town and head to LA for a few days. Cali is Utopia. Some ask why I don't relocate there. It's simple: I ain't ready for Utopia yet.


The "LA Skyline". Its actully a sky. Unlike NYC which is now just billboards and condos.




To all my LA homies...I apologize for not reaching out. I just needed to chill in LBC and I couldn't deal with being in a car for than 15 minutes at a time. I did find time to swing thru Proper. One of the best sneaker spots in the country..bar none. Run by my man, Rob. He hooked me up with this buttery pair of Rod Laver Adi's. My girl told me I've been rocking a lot of "old man shoes" recently, like these. Well, that may very well be because I AM OLD. Anyway...I'm feelin these. The lack of the 3 stripes is a brave touch that should be commended. Kudos Germany.

LOGAN.

Had to run up to Boston today for a quick meeting with some friends at Timberland. Peep their outdoor conference room...only Timberland, man...haha..it was a beautiful day so it was definitely THE way to have a meeting.
Ugh, I have been having THE WORST luck with flying this year! My return flight got canceled which meant wandering around Logan International aimlessly. Now, this might not be so interesting to some of you business/financial heads...but I saw this Bloomberg computer terminal and i thought it was pretty ill. Like on some Matrix shit. It's completely custom. The hardware, monitors, keyboard..KEYS...everything! Not bad industrial design from our Mayor.


Oh, and finally put the finishing touches on this incredible book we are designing. It is in conjunction with World Cup 2006 in Germany this summer. If you ever wanted to see what a 250+ pg coffee table book looks like before its put together...this is it. Daunting....

REED VISITS.

Since we reopened Reed Space with the expansion, mad people have come over to support. Thanks to everyone who came thru (and who plans on coming thru)!


Scott from Mike23. A balla fer real.






Craig Wetherby and Claw came by to do a photo shoot for the upcoming issue of Swindle Magazine. Peep Claw's mini mini Posca Uniball Pen! Its so small, its like a cell phone charm! Genius....


Rich from Kix & The City also dropped in. (Mickey was apprently not happy.)


John Jay, Sudeep, Dan Cherry and Team W+K came by for a visit also.


Speaking of Evil Mickey....good lookin to Oka from Medicom for sending me the color version. Now I got the sparkle resin and the full color. Some people ask me why I collect. I think one of the cool things is to notice all the subtle details people put into their works. But if you don't have a collection to reference from, it's difficult to see all the little things. This goes for toys, kicks, records, stamps, whatevers...

TT ACTION.

Today is what we in the office call, "SB Day." It's that special time of the year when Nike invites the coveted SB Authorized Dealers to come and preview the new season...in this case, Holiday 2006. Kids, I wish I could. You know I would if I could, but I can't. This is as much as I can do.
Not that it's any sort of consolation, but here is a good shot of the upcoming Lebrons. Very different departure from what we've been seeing but pretty dope nonetheless. This bitch weighs a ton though. It must be like playing ball with lead weights on your ankles. You might think that's a Free sole, but it's not. There's like some kind of carbon fiber shank under the outsole...you know, in case you have to play ball on a mine field or something...

Later that evening, Rockstar Games invited the Staple Crew to check out their new upcoming game, Table Tennis. (What did I say about table tennis??) They really took it to the next level. They rented out this dope ass loft in the middle of Chinatown. Set up 3 huge flat screens and X-Box 360s and by invitation only, they let people come up and preview the game. Food and drinks were served throughout the evening. Each night, they have mini touney's that lead up to a major one in the summer. This game is next level. The physics is amazing. Especially when you use the Brazilian chick...and see her, um...form.

HEAVY METAL.

We've been working with New Era recently...just doing some nice little fun projects with them. It's a joy to work with companies you really respect.As most people know, New Era runs the hat business. They got some even bigger plans that Staple is gonna help with. Be on the look out. But for now, check out this Gabe Urist x New Era piece we put together. Its a first draft but, as you can see, Gabe came CORRECT with this one. I'll show final versions later on.



Also check out this piece Dao-Yi from Arrive brought by. It's his new bag/accessory collection ingeniously named "Lock & Key". The hardware is a great play on the Skull and Cross Bones motif. Beautiful. And to think...me and Dao met back 1994 selling sneakers and rollerblades together at Paragon Sporting Goods in Union Square. Man, its been a long time.....

NIKE AIR RAID II.

COMPANY: Nike
NAME: Air Raid II
ALIAS: n/a
COLOR: (top) White/Black. (bottom) Neutral Grey-Dk Blue Grey-Blk
STYLE #: 130171 001 / 130171 100
SIZE: US 10 / US 9
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: Korea / Korea
DATE MANUFACTURED: 02/04/93. 12/02/92
CONDITION: A+ / A+
ACQUIRED: www.vintagekicks.com
OTHER COMMENTS: Ah yes...remember the days before And1, Fat Joe at Rucker Park, Mountain Dew tournaments and "Streetball" on ESPN? There was The Blacktop by Reebok and The Air Raid by Nike. These are supremely ugly yet amazing examples of footwear design. I really love them. Really brings me back to Junior Year in High School. The top one was loosely based off of Spike Lee's monumental film, "Do The Right Thing". Just vibing off that "ONE WORLD - ONE TEAM" theme, complete with Zulu Nation-esque fabric trims on the Velcro straps. I'm not sure if it was an official collaboration, or if the Nike designers just drew inspiration from the film. The bottom one just takes the cake though. WOOD-FUCKING-SIDING on the midsole dude. It's like that stationwagon your grandfather drove with the wood on the side. Referee style stripes on the velcro straps. Then "NO WOOD - NO REFS" on the back. Just amazing balls exhibited in the design of this shoe. Especially for its time. (Peep the new Adidas T-Mac's. There's like this little 1 inch wood patch on the back. Pansies.) I would love to rock these but I am afraid they'll just blow apart now. I got these from Damany at FCNY/Vintage Kicks. Deadstock condition. I remember meeting him in Union Square Park. I handed him the cash, he gave me the bag and we walked away. My girlfriend thought I was hooked on drugs or something. I was hooked on something, that's for sure.

NIKE AIR MAX 95.

COMPANY: Nike
STYLE NAME: Air Max 95
ALIAS: AM95
COLOR: Grey/Orange
STYLE #: 604069 081
SIZE: US 10
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: Korea
DATE MANUFACTURED: 11/1/1997
CONDITION: B
ACQUIRED: Paragon Sports
OTHER COMMENTS: I have about 400 or so kicks in my collection. Guess how many AM95s? One.
I'm just not a big fan. I think the toe box is too sharp. To the point where it almost causes pain for my wide ass feet. And of course, as everyone knows; THEY SQUEAK! You'd think that with all the new versions of this style, they would have fixed the squeaking problem. I didn't even bother trying with the ones that just recently dropped this year. Does anyone have a field test? Do the '06 verisons squeak? But regardless, from a design stand point, these are 10.0. Visually, graphically, colors...just perfection. I don't fault the shoe because of my biological podiatric shortcomings.

THE LAST 72.

The last 3 days have been time spent simply decompressing for me. The past week was hectic. Weather was getting warmer...which makes working harder...well, hard. Plus with prepping for Peter Sutherland's show, I was glad to have a little down time. Some highlights from the past 72 hrs.


Deanne Cheuk is one of the most amazing creators this planet has to offer. We've worked together on many projects and she is also one of the most professional ones out there. And the scary thing is, she just REPRODUCED! Which means this little darling named Lake will no doubt have mutant artistic abilities. Its hard to decide which one is cuter in these photos. Keep an eye out for the return on her clothing collection, Liness and her free inspiration magazine, Neomu.


Minya aka Miss Info of Hot 97 stopped by for a late night visit and also grab some gear from our new Spring Collection. She's a hottie. Hence the big smile on Nico's face!


Raoul from Exposure was in town visiting from London. We had planned to get together for a morning brunch meeting and it turned into a 7 hour brunch-tea-snack-early dinner gathering! But whenever we get together...its usually the same. The ideas just keep spewing out! It's cool how some people really bring that out in each other. If I lived in London or if he lived in NYC, we'd probably be ruling a nation by now. He also introduced me to (I'm going to take a stab at spelling his name), Maurizio who currently has the dream jobs of all dream jobs: Heading up all operations...from business to creative to product of Ralph Lauren's RRL Label. Pretty much one of my top 3 clothing brands of all time.
He also dropped some interesting news about Ralph and Wimbeldon. Something for you to Lo-lifes to look out for.


Later that night, me and Tyler from Rude along with some heads rolled into this underground table tennis spot in the belly of Chinatown. I'd just like to say that before Table Tennis becomes the most trendy sport of 2007, I had Killer Spin linked on my blogroll since Dec 2005. If you think I'm buggin' about ping-pong; just wait and see. PS: Tyler...I'm comin for YOU!


Finally, as the weekend wound down, Kevin from Nike SB stopped by for a suprise visit. His flight home got cancelled and so we chilled for a bit and caught up on what's new. Known him since his days at Transworld Stance and Warp Magazine. Great guy, in a great environment. Makin' things happen at SB.

SUTHERLAND OPENING.

Party People...


In The Place...


To Be!

This was the first gathering we held since we reopened Reed Space. It's always a little scary when you're runnin something for the first time ever. You never know what's gonna happen you know? But she held firm and it was a really dope party. Mad cool people, mad cool vibe...everyone was havin' a good time. Thanks to Peter and PAM for helping to put this all together. Here are some photos from Diana, the first lady of Sutherland. More shots will soon be posted on both stapledesign.com and thereedspace.com.


Everyone give a big bon voyage to Drew who has been the face of Reed Space for the past year. He is moving on to persue his musical dreams. Good luck Drew and thanks for all the hard work!

AKA+.

Allen who is Creative Director of AKA dropped by for a few minutes. Remember the days of 12oz. Prophet Magazine? He was responsible for that as well. This dude doesn't like to do wack shit it seems, cuz everything he puts out is golden.



Speaking of gold, the beautiful apocalyptic version of Jacob The Jeweler, none other than Jules of Bijules stopped by to tape us for some project she has in the works with a cable tv network. Don't mess with that ill 5-finger gold ring!



And while we're on the topic of "golden touches"; peep the upcoming issue of Complex Magazine. It features none other Hiroshi as the main Shot Caller du Jour. If you remember a couple of months ago, yours truly did the interview while on our snowboarding trip in Japan. I like the way it came out. They chopped up my words, but at least everything is accurate. I think....I guess HF will tell us otherwise...

DEFGRIP.

It's rare when I actually enjoy doing PR and it's even more rare when the press comes out really good. This is a good example. Good lookin' out to Nuno at Defgrip.

PETER SUTHERLAND.

You might know him from his book, AUTOGRAF.
You might know him from his upcoming book about bike messenger culture, PEDAL.
You might know him from his early exhibits at the Nike 255 Space.
You might know him from his editorial work in mags like VICE.
You might know his DP work in the film STOKED: THE RISE AND FALL OF GATOR.
Or you might just know Peter Sutherland cuz he's an all around nice guy.
But if you don't know him, you can meet him at his solo exhibition opening reception in the newly minted Reed Space.

Invite
REED SPACE and PAM BOOKS present:
COMING HOME: Photographs by Peter Sutherland

Opening Reception:
Thursday April 6th, 2006. 8pm - 10pm
RSVP Required: mrreed@stapledesign.com

+++

Exhibition Dates:
April 7th – April 27th, 2006
1pm–7pm everyday
@ REED SPACE
151 Orchard St. b/w Rivington and Stanton
NYC, NY 10002

+++

Made possible by:
PAM
Anthem Magazine
Kronenbourg 1664
Teas' Tea
Staple Design
Reed Space

ON ID.

So before I officially turn into "The Man Who Hated Nike ID"; I'd like to set the record straight. When I said my comments regarding Nike ID on Weekly Drop, I wasn't really able to properly articulate my true opinions. From a technological and innovation standpoint, Nike ID is amazing. Props should also go out to the digital interface designers of the site. It's the best one out there bar none. In addition, I think Nike ID is great for some people. In a word: it's a novelty. In fact, I made Nike IDs for all our corporate clients this past holiday season and they LOVED them. For people who don't wait on line for kicks, or for people who don't remember which was their first pair of Jordan's back in the 4th grade; Nike ID is a very cool thing. In all honesty, I think people get carried away it though. Bottom line, not everyone is a designer. And with all those colors, fabrics and trims to choose from, 9 out of 10 of these creations are pretty wack. It's natural for people to just go nuts with it.

But for the true sneaker connoisseur (Thanks Bobbito, I like that term); the actual shoes are really only a small part of the "game". The hunt. The experience. The struggle. The need. That's what it's really all about. Every single one of my kicks is a representation of a chapter in my life. That's why when I catalog my kicks on Darrin Hudson, it's important I tell how I acquired them and write a little anecdote as well. That's the actual worth of these kicks. The Mach Runners I got in Argentina are not dope because of the form or design or some limited edition-ness. They cost US$19! They're dope cuz of where I was when I got them and the experience. It's the same phenomenon as DJs who are vinyl lovers vs DJs who swear by Serato/Final Scratch. Yes, of course...it's amazing and mad convenient. But I rarely listen to a DJ that does not abuse that shit by attempting to play all 10,000 MP3s on his laptop. So when I see someone wearing an ill Air Max 90 or something...and they say "I got it on I.D.", I just don't get amped off that. There was no story behind that. No mission. Just you in your drawers and a monitor. Again, nothing wrong with it...I've seen some dope ass ID creations, just not my taste personally.

I was discussing this topic recently with a friend of mine who I deem as incredibly intelligent, especially on this subject matter of consumption. He summed it up perfectly:

"I have a big, big problem with the entire premise of the corporation that "offers" individuality. If I want to be an individual, I can pretty much do it without help from Nike. (Or Adicolor or whatever else.) ... Nike ID in particular is really based on a phony version of individuality and customization. The day they'll let me buy a swoosh-free Nike, I'll at least pay attention.
Of course, while I think Nike ID is pretty stupid, I also think it's brilliant, in terms of giving a certain kind of consumer exactly what they (think they) want. This is the genius of Nike -- they're frequently so wrong that they are right."

Word. Is. Bond.

THE ROOF. THE ROOF.

The roof is on fire!
This image might be the best visual definition of GENTRIFICATION. It literally blew the roof off this old church in the LES. This church stood about 30 feet from Reed Space, probably for the better half of the 20th Century. But it finally gave way...in a BIG way. It looks like a movie set but this is real people. God probably got sick of all the hipsters everywhere and said "We Audi 5000".

THUNDERCUTS. HO.

If you travel around downtown NY...you'll notice many WALK/DON'T WALK signs have been modified. Some WALK signs have little outfits on the dude. And some DON'T WALK signs have been converted to ROCK hand signs or the middle finger. Well I have found the culprits behind it. And in fact, one of them has been working for me for the past few weeks! I have video sureveillance.