Preppy urban

If there is any term that manages to stand for the mixture of styles that I happen to favour it would be “urban prep”! In the more modern sense of the term. From the sophisticated refinement and preppy flair to the urban chic and street edge, all eclectically combined in a nexus of styles. Albeit theoretically contradictory and seemingly opposite at times, these elements somehow manage to find a way to a balance in an urban lifestyle. In which you can be an academic and a boxer, at the same time!

Hot Spot

I don’t need to explain exactly why I love this spot! Now, do I? Hehe, watch it while I sit here, hoping for a Reebok endorsement deal!lol

By the way, the reason why I picked the Polish spot is because the continental European version its far more “bootylicious” than the UK/American version!

Other sexy and funny spots for the product!

Hey! … where’s my money?!lol

Looking forward to this mind f***!

This is my second building post in the past couple of days, yet completely different. I just wanted to show you movie marketing when it is at its best! Conceptually clever and thematically relevant. When you put up two building size posters in a metropolitan city and every person who walks by helps to spread that image by snapping shots of it and put it up on the internet for others on the other side of the globe to see, then you’ve done your job brilliantly! Even if I didn’t happen to be itching like crazy for the anticipated mind f*** that is to be delivered by the upcoming Christopher Nolan mastodon movie “Inception”, these two 1:1 scale posters alone (especially the first one with the peeled off wall) would have made me wanna go and see what it’s all about. Simply brilliant!

The princess of questionable creativity

William Orbit made wonders for Madonna back in the 90’s, helping to upgrade her music through his electro-spiritual touch. He basically had her converting to electronica! Much of the progressive orientation in her music today is thanks to his influence in the production of “Ray of Light”. For the lovely Katie Melua however things do not work as they should! Even though her voice and neo-mystical lyrical themes do welcome Orbit’s touch there is something in the compositions of “The House” which objects to a happy marriage of the two. Her bohemian quirks which are cute and charming when delivered downscaled get amplified and sound pretentious and outlandish!

I saw Melua live in Sweden last month and didn’t recognise her on stage, she had gone from singer/songwriter to something of a …dancer?! Trying to pulling a Nelly Furtado, though without the assets needed for such crossover. And to top this pile of questionable creative judgements the album comes with an unbelievably horrible artwork and design! Despite being packaged in a digipak, which makes it an even bigger shame.

Everything, basically EVERYTHING about this cover is a mistake! Aesthetically and commercially. The artwork would be adequate maybe for the twenty something instalment of a cheap Celtic music compilation series, done in photoshop and sold on a gas station in the middle of nowhere, but not for a high-profile release involving William Orbit! All these give me such a headache, lucky for Katie that I’m still a sucker for those big brown eyes!

Cool, crazy and crooked!

Frank Gehry’s building for Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo in Vegas looks like something from the mind of M.C. Escher! Cool, crazy and crooked!

Painting on iPad

I never got around to get the Amazon kindle, so when the iPad was announced it immediately got my attention. Since you can use it to read the same books and much much more. But it was when I realised that you can also use it as a tablet, a digital sketch pad basically, that my mouth started to water! You see, I never got around to get a Cintiq either (shame on me). So when I now see all my sought after functions and the amazing possibilities gathered all in one single (even smaller) device its like a dream coming true. I have admittedly never been interested in Apple products, but in this case I see something I can work with on so many intellectual and creative levels. It’s the prefect crossing between a laptop and an iPhone. Not too big and not too small. While most of my Mac-fan friends, ironically, don’t see any point with this particular product I see a perfect solution for my particular needs. Something practical, portable and stylish that makes my life as a multitasker easier. One of my favourite contemporary portrait-painting artists David Kassan managed to render the following portrait in only three hours with his finger tips! So imagine what results one can accomplish with a good App and a Stylus. I feel the burning sensation of creation in my finger tips already!

Necessity is the mother of invention

Great at product placement but not always good at product presentation!lol

Above: Paraguayan supporter at World Cup

Below: random lady at a dog show

Back to reclaim their throne!

They have been spotted and reported, occasionally and sporadically, through the past year. But this shot from Kesha’s recent concert is the solid proof of their comeback. Yes, they are officially back! After years of humiliation! Back to reclaim their throne!

New dressed as old

I love this! Looking for a tiny one, for my white 11-inch. If anyone spots any online do drop me an e-mail, plz!

update: It’s called BookBook! thanks to Pedram, Siamak and Arash for the links.

Debi’s bilingual debut

The first time I saw the Costa Rican hotness Debi Nova was on the Victoria’s Secret fashion show back in 2005. No not as a winged model but rather as a guest performer by Ricky Martin’s side. I was literally stunned by her seductive …everything! Even though she wasn’t on stage in more than a minute, she stole the catwalk from the most gorgeous women of the fashion world!

Needles to say I have been waiting ever since for her debut album. After years of collaboration with other artists of both Latin and North America, her album “Luna Neuva” was released just recently. The album is despite its English orientation a bilingual album, as the title also indicates. It is also, surprisingly, far from anything commercial. Sure, from time to time Debi Nova might look and sound like Shakira, especially in her video for “Drummer Boy”, but the rest of the material is a world apart. A fusion of Latin musicality, urban Americana and POP. And by POP I don’t mean Britney Spears’ POP, but rather mellow singer songwriter POP. The result is therefore appealing to the world-music fans and urban culture community, but as a “cross over” it doesn’t really qualify. Or better said, work!

Spinal display vol. II

This clip shows basically the same idea though in a much larger proportion and exhibition!