Old Stussy Documentary

I just found this little intro to an 80s documentary on Shawn Stussy. It's mostly him walking about and throwing poses in different outfits, but the music and the little soundbites are really funny. There's an interview with him here as well.

Goonies Bike Replica

Look at that! This guy's only gone and made an exact replica of the bike that Mikey had in The Goonies! Top nerd, but what a wicked hobby. I like the whole "Look, same pose, same location" thing  he's done in the photo, look how pleased he is with himself! And so he should be, he wanted to do it properly, and he really fucking went for it. He even got Sean Astin (Sam Wise from Lord of the Rings), who played the original Mikey, to have a go on it at what I can only assume is some kind of Goonies convention. Look at the rest of the pictures here, whatta guy!

Carlton teaches you to Break

When you were younger, did you ever watch Carlton Banks do his dance on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and think to yourself, "Yeah he looks stupid now, but I bet he's actually a really good dancer," and then occasionally he'd do a breakdance scene or pull out some insane move, and you'd be all "That's my boy, I knew he was dope"? Well, turns out you were right all along, as this MTV infomercial from '85 shows. Turns out Carlton... sorry, Alfonso Ribeiro, released a "How to Break and Pop" guide teaching kids how to dance. It even came with its own fold-out floor mat.

Saturday Cool Kids Extravaganza

I've been listening to The Cool Kids all afternoon, so I thought I'd post these tracks, both of which have been out for a while. I know Maroon 5 might not help me rack up my street cred points, but in December they released "Call and Response: The Remix Album," and The Cool Kids have given "Harder to Breathe" a good going over. I haven't fully decided how much I like it, but I'm definitely enjoying elements of it. The beat has that trademark stripped-down quality that I love in TCK, but I think there's a little too much of the original vocals at the beginning. I suppose that's because it was produced for a Maroon 5 album, but it would be nice to hear a few more Cool Kids lyrics. In addition, since summer's on the way, and it's just such a good song, listen to this remix of "Delivery Man" as well, then try and tell me you don't love it.

MP3: Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe (The Cool Kids Remix)

MP3: The Cool Kids - Delivery Man (9th Wonder Remix)

Also, just for good measure, here's a really good hip hop tune from Sims and Mike Mictlan of Doomtree, a rap collective from Minneapolis. It has all the eloquence of Aesop Rock with an epic beat change at the chorus. Totally dope.

MP3: Sims - Slow Burn feat. Mike Mictlan

Why do it again??

This is the Nike Vandal Hi "Heavy Metal" shoe, released last year. I'm sure they were probably great at the time, if what you wanted was a foot like a grunger's rucksack. Terrible decision though, and now, for some absurd reason, Nike have released a new Vandal which continues the "theme," in a white colourway with little silver studs around the ankle. I suppose the new version has been slightly toned down, but the white makes it all look a little less Iron Maiden and a little more Siegfried and Roy.

4oD for Macintosh

Channel 4 have finally sorted out 4oD for mac users. You still can't get the downloadable program for your desktop, but you can use Catch-Up on the Channel 4 website, like on BBC iPlayer. And thus, life is improved tenfold.

The Streets - Blinded by the Lights (Nero Dubstep Remix)

I heard this for the first time when Skream dropped it during his set at (wait for it) The Works in Kingston on Sunday. Haven't been there in a very long while, understandably. But clearly they're catching onto the whole "everybody likes dubstep" thing, so they put on an easter special with Skream and Benga. This song was the highlight for me, but I can't find an audio file anywhere, so youtube will have to do. It's a lot.

Kitsuné Maison 7 & Fall/Winter '09 Collection

Kitsuné have released this nice little video, which lets you preview both the upcoming Kitsuné Maison 7 Compilation, and their Fall/Winter '09 Collection, all at the same time! Very generous of them, what else could you possibly want?

Top 5 Weak Fictional TV Creations

I watch a lot of TV. I watch a lot of TV that I like, but I also find myself watching a lot of awful TV, and then wondering why I didn't just leave the room. Throughout my years of channel flipping, if there is one thing I have learnt, it is this: Poor character construction can be both the downfall of a strong show and the reason for a weak one. In light of that, I've compiled a list of my top 5 TV characters who fail to meet the mark. In no particular order, they're all rubbish, and each in their own special way.

1. Phoebe, "Friends"

All the characters in Friends are well put together, but I can only assume the writers were overcome with laziness when it came to writing Phoebe. Her ludicrous background of homelessness, street crime and violence makes little to no sense, and her self-righteous vegetarianism and anti-establishment attitude are constantly contradicted. She eats meat when she's pregnant, she wears fur in one episode, and she works for a massage parlour owned by a huge corporation that she strongly disagrees with. She's just a silly, unfeasible character, and it's such a shame that they couldn't have toned her down and injected a bit of subtlety into her before the show got so popular.

2. Miranda, "Sex and the City"

Ok, so she's essentially the greatest of four evils, but I've chosen Miranda purely because, to me, she seems completely out of keeping with the show's "chic" and "sexy" nature that's so appealing to the entire female population of the world. She's super, super lame; she's "frumpy" (or whatever Trinny and Susannah are calling it these days); she's comparatively unattractive (although I've never seen the appeal of any of the SATC girls , except Charlotte); and she just has a lot less to contribute. That's not to say I like any of the other characters; the whole show is a masterful display of ignorant, misguided pseudo-feminism. But that's another story for another time.

3. Kenny, "South Park"

South Park is one of my favourite shows on TV, but Kenny just feels a bit out of place now that the show has matured and improved so much since the earlier series'. The "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" jokes were all well and good when South Park was just about poo and animal sex, but nowadays it feels like he hasn't really stood the test of time with the rest of the show.

4. Gwen, "Gavin and Stacey"

Ignore the picture, this doesn't include Bryn, I wouldn't badmouth him (or Rob Brydon, for that matter) for a second. This is exclusively about Gwen, his sister-in-law, and close friend. What could I say about her? Hardly anything really, there's almost nothing to her character other than omelettes. Gavin and Stacey gave us some of the best character creations I've seen in a while, but the show would run just as well, if not better, without Gwen in it.

5. The entire cast, "One Tree Hill"

From where I'm standing, it seems like every single character in One Tree Hill is just a big, stereotyped bundle of cliches. Take the "emo" one, for example, who paints terrible pictures, writes bad poetry, and listens to music in her room while she cries; or possibly the most shamelessly "streetwise" token black guy that has ever graced our screens, whose name is "Skillz," and who calls everybody "dawg" and "homie." I won't even go any further, it's just rubbish.

End of an Era

Give it up already, Bape fans. It's over.

Swanage

I went to Swanage in Dorset last Monday for a little seaside getaway. My friend has a flat there, it's mad lovely. About three of us had cameras, and there were photo opportunities left right and centre. I'm pretty sure we looked a little ridiculous, but the pictures from my Lomo came out nice. I even got my fisheye lens to work! Here are a few.

Assassin's Creed 2

This is Ezio Auditore de Firenze. He's been leaked as the new main character for the upcoming Assassin's Creed 2 game. I wouldn't usually write a gaming post, it isn't exactly my field of expertise; but I loved the first game, and rumour has it that Ubisoft have really stepped it up a notch with the sequel.

It's set in 1476 in early Renaissance Italy, and you play Ezio, a nobleman from Florence and descendant of Altair from the first Assassin's Creed. While his outfit may be a little camp, those puffy sleeves are housing a multitude of new weapons, and supposedly all the monotony and faults of the original have been remedied. There are now 16 different mission types, none of which involve pick pocketing or eavesdropping; the hidden objects and flags actually gain you some kind of bonus this time round, instead of being a completely worthless waste of time; and you can finally swim, as well as apparently getting chances to glide on Da Vinci's flying machine. On top of all this, all the fighting has been improved with a number of new techniques and enemies, and there's a (ever so slightly) higher level of realism, with a night and day sequence, street doctors to regain your health, and the ability to assassinate people from your hiding places (along with the risk of being discovered).

All in all, it sounds like a massive improvement, and everything I didn't like about the first game seems to have been fixed, assuming the rumours are true. The nerd in me is very excited about it, and my housemate and I will be taking over the television for a good few weeks when it eventually comes out. So should you.

Fuck My Life

For those of you who love your epic fails and major lols, you'll definitely enjoy a site we've recently been frequenting called Fuck My Life. It's just a constantly updated, massive list of embarassing failure stories, awkward misunderstandings, and depressing ironies.

My favourite so far was a story about a girl who was having sex with her boyfriend in her garage, but she hit her head and knocked herself out, just as her parents walked in to find the boyfriend lying on top of her naked, unconscious body. Ouch, explain your way out of that one.