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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Portals


For every action there is a reaction, would you believe that every move you make ultimately determines the outcome of other moves to come? Even the small ones? Life is like portals, depending on which one you go through alternate outcomes will arise. There is a controlled randomness to life, even though things may come unexpected there is also a unique ability of tipping the hand to control and direct outcomes. One day, one correct or incorrect action can change your life forever, for better or worse a new portal will open.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T. S. Eliot

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YEEZUS



There is no middle ground with Kanye West. Very rarely do you hear people say "He's okay" Most feelings about Mr West are geared toward the extreme, its either "Kanye West is a talentless douchebag" or "Kanye West is the greatest musician/rapper of our generation." Bold claims? Maybe, but it all depends on who you ask and through what lens you choose to view americas human exclamation point...the guy they call "Yeezus".


Its that time of the year again, its Yeezy season. Love him or hate him he sure does know how to push the right/wrong buttons. They say one cannot know how far they can go unless they are willing to go overboard, Kanye West's career is a true example of that. Kanye has pushed buttons that had not his skill level and music prowess be so high he would be banned from the face of the planet. There are those who hate him and say vicious things but what you can't call him is "talentless".





Mr.West by all accounts and by leaps and bounds is the most interesting, avant garde, and polarizing figure in hip hop and the cheif "button pusher" in all of music. Kanye being Kanye was on full display this past week when he debuted the campaign for his new album entitled "Yeezus" a very clever play on words using his nickname Yeezy and the christian savior Jesus Christ. Some may see this as blasphemous, or see it as creative expression. Either way from the looks of the new songs "New Slaves" and "Black Skinhead" (debuted on Saturday Night Live and guerrilla style on buildings from a projector) the new Yeezus album is going to be some kind of incredible that we dont see in hip hop very often these days.

YEEZUS ALBUM ARTWORK
Music should be about pushing the envelope and provoking emotion, somewhere along the way the music has become predictable and cheesy. When someone is willing to go to the lengths that Kanye does to get his point across then we all should pause and give it a listen. June 18th's "Yeezus" album drop will be a moment in hip hop history most fans wouldn't dare miss.

NEW SLAVES

BLACK SKINHEAD

MUSIC: KANYE WEST VEVO


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JAM OF THE DAY 5/22/13

Numbers on the Boards!



Music: Pusha T Vevo



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Balmain - Olivier Rousteing

In 2011 at the age of 24 Olivier Rousteing became the head designer at french fashion house Pierre Balmain. Take a deep breath.. you heard that right. At that same age while most of us will either be stuck with a job we don't like or jobless Olivier is at the helm of one of the worlds most prestigious fashion houses. 





Balmain is a not just a brand, its a lifestyle. The dark colors and bold patterns screams confidence for the individual wearing it. Balmain is one of the rare fashion lines that can seamlessly fuse casual wear and couture and make it look cool and approachable. For the common person into fashion many of the styles in high end wear can seem a bit much and overt. Balmain although can be ambitious also has a simplistic and ready to wear feel.






Sky is the limit for Rousteing. He is in rarefied air being that he is so young given so much power in the fashion world. He has been compared to the likes of a young Marc Jacobs in terms of being a prodigy and there is no sign of falter to come. Balmain rests in the hands of a 26 year old creative genius, expect nothing but quality and youthful innovation for years to come.

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Th Art and The Covenant


Religous imagery has always been some of the most powerful in the art world. The beauty and majesty of the art is the vivid stories the artwork tells fused with opulent and illustrious colors. The blues are more blue, the reds are that of blood, the golds feel royal. All of these things combinded with the symbolic and powerful energy created through the art and drowned in religious context makes every quality piece of artwork a powerful experience... Indulge.

Tiffany Angel stained glass
Italy's best church art
Italy's best church art

Architecture
Italy's best church art

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Success and other Drugs


I wrote this in a studio apartment in Downtown Chicago while listening to Animal Collective.


There is a feeling I get when I successfully complete an interview, or when someone understands my creative vision. I cant quite explain it though I'm sure its euphoric, the kinda feeling you get when find 20 dollars in a pair of pants you haven't wore in a month. Success is funny thing you know, because its fleeting. Its something we either all want, claim to have or too embarrassed to admit we'll hardly ever attain. There isn't much room for content in success, in fact you often see those who we deem the most successful are the ones striving the most to succeed. Why is that you ask? BECAUSE ITS A DRUG.... AND YOU ARE ADDICTED. Vain as it may be there is a difference between dinners at French Laundry and at Apple bee's(about 200-1000 dollar difference). Your heart yearns for that feeling though and you wont say it, afraid of coming off as someone whose submersed in social gluttony. The question beckons... is vanity fair? is there any true measure of the heart within the successes of the person it resides in? I'll let you answer that.


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Digital Love




Social Media has done something to people, it has made people better or worse than what they really are. Very rarely do "you get what you see" when it comes to the person portrayed on social media outlets and the  person you would get had you known whats in their heart. There is an obvious physical disconnect with social media but it later turns into a mental and psychological one. There are people who enjoy there virtual reality better than there actual reality. I can hear the collective voice of our grandparents saying "what is wrong with this generation?".... But seriously what is wrong with our generation? Video games and social networks have desensitized very human elements of our person to a degree that basic interaction and compassion is no longer common place.





I remember the days when guys really had girlfriends.

I'm not much of a movie watcher but whenever I was forced to it was always an old one. I can remember being in college(like a week ago) and my Professor Dr.Burns would play these vintage movies with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in them. At first I thought I would get that rush of boredom that makes you want to sleep until you fall of the desk kind of feeling but I realized something important, the era in which these movies were made was a golden age. Sure the late 60's and 70's had its problems but back then people were actually people. Knowingly or unknowingly there is a certain posturing and artificial flavor to most people you come in contact with today. Maybe its our do everything for you smart phones or our facade laden image on social networks, but whatever it is it has to go... we have to stop pretending. I long for the day that I can take a girl to a nice dinner and have a good conversation that doesn't have to do with something on television, or what her friends are saying on twitter, or have to stop every 20 minutes to take a instagram picture... you know, like it was not too long ago.

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JAM OF THE DAY 5/16/13

Father John Misty







Music: Sub Pop Records

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Bare(NSFW)




There is something about nudity that gets the people going. Whether its our fascination with uncharted territory on opposing bodies or just our sheer animalistic nature when it comes to sex, we cant get enough of seeing each other in the buff.

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Girls With Short Hair


Let The Force Be With You


I can remember watching GI Jane and Boomerang with Demi Moore and Halle Berry. At some point during my discovery of these movies as a young boy it dawned on me... "My god, I love women with short hair". There is a certain confidence in strutting your stuff while rocking a short cut, I often find the women I meet with short hair are amazing and have an interesting story to tell. This is my ode to them.


Karla Deras

Karla is the kinda girl you see and she automatically captures you. Her eyes are calm and her look is confident. Some men are intimidated by that, shes hard to read and the others are undeniably captivated.



Rihanna

Rihanna is music's bad girl and she is also known for her short cut. She may rock long hair from time to time but the short cut is her best look.


Natalie Portman

For the record im sure Natalie could wear racoon on her head and still be supremely attractive. Nat proves that with a beautiful pair of eyes you can make the short cut irresistable... or maybe just being Natalie Portman makes the look irresistable.


Nia Long

If you have ever seen the movie Friday then Nia was your childhood crush. Nia's beauty is effortless and it shows in her demeanor, there is nothing too extra about her. Her simplicity makes her even more sexy, I have loved her since I can remember liking girls.


Halle Berry

Halle Berry is the goddess of short hair ladies, in fact she made the look cool. At the peak of her fame you could stop by beauty salons and hear women asking for that "Halle look". Halle is the ageless beauty and no matter where you are from or what race you are you cant get enough of Halle.


Amber Rose

Amber Rose assumes the position as the Queen and ambassador of the short cut. Amber took the short cut to the extreme and went totally bald, she is one of the few women who can pull the look off. Why you ask? Because she was drop dead gorgeous to begin with. I mean honestly take a look... that face, those eyes, those lips, that body, not many earthly creatures possess the features worthy of Aphrodite herself.
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Live From The Favelas: Brazil





Whether its Brazil's Cidade De Deus(City of God) or the inner city of Rio, the Favelas are a notorious playground for all things treacherous.



The inner city is term we use more than we think about what it means. They say say you can judge the strength of something by its weakest link, how ironic that very often the strength of a city is on display at its best in what is regarded as the most impoverished areas of it. Brazil is beautiful, but for damn sure it is violent. The Favelas of Brazil is regarded as one of the most dangerous areas on the face of the planet. Children are dying, women raped, young men become murderers or murdered. This is all commonplace in the world but ratcheted up several notches for Brazil, think 1990's Compton, CA times ten.


Children in the Favelas are more likely to die violently then in any place in North America and many places in the world. The slaughter of tens of thousands of the citizens are swept under the rug here, much like many places of poverty. Hopelessness and rebellion are at an all time high, Brazil is at war with its ghettos.




There is a terrible disservice we due to the human race while we are inhabitants on this earth. We don't take care of them. As much money as we have, as much resources as we allocate we always claim there isn't enough. The root of the violence is not that people want to do bad things innately, it is the fact that there needs aren't met and the people they trust with helping them to solve the issue turns a blind eye. Violence in ghettos are simply reactions to the situation whether it be lack of education, lack of food and water, and lack of money. The battle between the worlds ghettos and its government is a dance with the devil, one could only hope that both sides can come to an agreement or they'll surely destroy each other.
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