As you may or may not know (or care), Nike has deemed 2008 to be Dunk-a-licious. Part of the Dunkfest has been the re-release of the BE TRUE series, a set of hi-tops from the 1980s made for college basketball powerhouses of the period. The shoes are individually vintage-ized (I was going to say "individually worn" but something about that seemed a bit misleading) and allegedly limited in quantity.
Anyway, I love the Runnin' Rebels just as much as the next guy, but what about MY schools? It ends up that I'm being true to YOUR school, and as much as my heart sinks when I think about the fact that I didn't attend 'Nova, I just want a few more colorways.
So tonight I decided to hang with my Vietnamese friend, Pho Toshop, and we came up with a few extra Dunk Hi options we'd love for you to drop in February, Mr. Nike. Thanks in advance.
Brunswick High School Pirates:
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets:
Let me know if you need an address to ship the 10.5s directly to me. Thanks again.
A dear friend of mine, Kina Grannis, is one of 3 finalists in the Doritos Crash the Superbowl Contest. Stakes are high (all the CHIPS are in, if you will) - the winner of the contest not only has their music video premiered during the precious airtime of the Superbowl, but they also get a deal with Interscope Records. Life-changing stuff.
So here's the deal: 1. Login to myspace.com. 2. Visit http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com (it's actually a myspace page as well). 3. Choose the "SELECT TO VOTE" button below Kina's name, then hit "Submit Your Vote" - a window will pop up asking you to confirm, them BAM! - you're a direct contributor to the some Kina Grannis action amid one of the biggest upsets in Superbowl history.
You can vote daily, and voting ends on Sunday, January 27 (soon!). If you have the time to spread the word via bulletins, comments, or messages, both I and Kina will owe you a big one.
Video snippet for what we'll hopefully see on Superbowl Sunday:
Kina's site for the contest is here (lots of videos and daily updates, check the blog). Kina's website is here. Kina's myspace page is here.
Every hip music mab/blog/blag/brog/brag acted like they were going to Audi TT in their pants when the Vampire Weekend EP leaked last summer, but I thought it was a little early to go all MNFB on everyone. As it turns out, they were all right. The bits of the full-length record are a deep shot to left that is backbackback and might just go out, and "V-Dub" IS in fact my new favorite band. "Who's changing their undergarmets now?" they'll say.
FFF found and sent me this live performance video:
Easily YNFW. Those crazy French bastards basically let bands sing songs in the streets, cafes, abandoned buildings, and public transportation vehicles of Paris and film it all. Genius - every single video becomes so compelling simply due to the direction. Now, I realize that the mere fact that V-Dub's segment was the EIGHTIETH probably means that you know all about The Take-Away Shows, but i just had to make sure.
Vampire Weekend's Vampire Weekend comes out in the US on Tuesday January 29, which is just 2 days after this upcoming, non-vampire, weekend.
PS: Of COURSE he's from Georgia. I actually have that quote, verbatim, cross-stitched on a throw-pillow that my parents gave me to take to college. It helped me through many a test at Tech - whenever I get nervous I just close my eyes and tell myself it doesn't make no sense.... Try it, you'll like it.
Nothing like starting the day off with that big block of Tabasco-soaked hashbrowns in your belly at 8am. Sweet, sweet suburban-Georgia cuisine, where have you been? Amazingly, I missed out on Chick-fil-a and didn't make it far enough south for Willie's, but you will be had very soon, my savory pork-chop-sandwich-of-a-friend.
And before I get accused of anything, ask me brovas who sent them a daily photo of their lunch each day back in the summer of two-double-oh-tree...like Sidney Poitier said, Separate But Equal. Terrible pronoun usage, the dative case is killing me these days.
Anyway, until you've seen Lee Padgett consume a double order of hashbrowns (which I will henceforth call "passionbrowns"), you haven't lived. I tried to take a photo of that, but: a) he wasn't there at the time, and b) 8 megapixels is simply too much digital detail to try to take in all that Casa De Waffle and chili.
Since I haven't been doing any marathon running lately, I thought I'd do some marathon typing and offer my thoughts on the end of the college football season (a truly tremendous one to watch if you like unpredictableness-age-tion-ibility). With more upsets than former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and more flip-flopping in the polls than Santa Monica in the summer, it was truly, literally, a level-playing field. That's right, 120 yards of 180 degree flatness.
Impressive: The SEC. If I recall correctly, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and LSU all covered in their bowl games. Mississippi State and Kentucky won their games. It wasn't Florida's day and Arkansas was playing without a Nutt, but an overall solid performance by the Southeastern Conference (nine teams in bowls! #1 and #2 in the final AP poll? yikes).
Unimpressive: The only think weaker than the Ha-WAC-ii thinking it could come out and play any real team from any real conference on any real television station with it's undefeated-because-we-played-single-A-class-high-school-caliber-teams-all-season attitude is Ohio State. I'd rather be Michigan: showcase the biggest upset in the history of the sport (at the time, USC -- shoutout to The Cardinal for covering the +45), lose to you, and finish on a high note and not get humiliated for the second year in a row in the BCS Championship. I mean, how many more times do we have to see Ohio State wasting a spot at the top of the polls for months then a spot in a big bowl game before everyone realizes their conference (and therefore schedule) is soft, they have no conference championship game, and they only won a national championship because of a bogus pass interference call in OT?
Teams with reason to complain: USC ('cept you shouldn't have lost to STANFORD), UGA ('cept you should have won your DIVISION), Missouri (actually pretty legitimate complaining - if Mizzou beats OU in the Big 12 Championship, does the Orange Bowl still take Kansas over Oklahoma? I bet not...)
Teams with reason to celebrate: LSU (the new NFL U?), Kansas (1-1 in games that mattered), Tech (later Chan!)
I've decided to pull a Utah and marry my two loves...well, almost - I've drawn up some comparisons for you, if Football Conferences Were Musicians. I'm sad R. Kelly didn't make the list, but Sun Belt, there's always next year!
ACC In theory (and composition), one of the coolest, most badass groups ever. In reality, high points that are really really great and a lot that is mush. Music Industry Parallel: The Roots
Big East Small. Fast. More than anything, lucky. One of those things where you SWEAR you don't like it but you find yourself engrossed in enjoying it all of a sudden. Music Industry Parallel: Soulja Boy
Big Ten First and foremost not what you seem, you 11-team-having-weirdo. Then a little uppity, a little nerdy, a thick wallet, and a lot of self-pride. Music Industry Parallel: Avril Lavigne
Big 12 The glory days from the heartland weren't so long ago, but you're not so convinced they're gone. And you'll do anything to prove it....except prove it. Music Industry Parallel: Bon Jovi
(close second: Counting Crows)
Pac-10 Modelly - strong, goodlooking, and sleek. Strength seems to rely on one or two individuals rather than the entire group (both in the conference and on individual teams). Music Industry Parallel: New Kids On The Block
SEC Strong, dirty, sweaty, and a little thick. Dominating the headlines as of late. Music Industry Parallel: Britney Spears
(close second: Li'l Wayne)
- it should be pointed out that these selections are also geographically appropriate for the SEC, extra points awarded to the author of this entry.
Conference USA Can you name any of its members or anything it's done? Music Industry Parallel: Polyphonic Spree
Mountain West Every now and then they put out something reeeeaaaal nice, Clark, that catches everyone's eye...then it's back to the world of mediocrity and annoyance. Music Industry Parallel: American Idol
My boy Kelley James is headlining the Troubadour in West Hollywood tomorrow night - it'd do yourself and him some good to chiggity-check it out.
Kelley James The Troubadour Los Angeles, CA Saturday January 12th All Ages - $10 Doors at 8pm Support Acts: Bushwalla (8:15pm) and Miss Willie Brown (9:00pm) Kelley's site Kelley's Myspace Page Tickets
This week I've been living in Stockbridge, GA - hanging out with my grandmother, who turns 80 today. I opted to come home for the celebration of the epic milestone-of-a-birthday instead of the holidays, and we've been having a grand time.
A few lessons learned during that grand time:
1) Go to the Georgia Aquarium on a weekday afternoon - the staff workers outnumber the visitors, and you can spend as much time with the Beluga as you want.
2) Charlie Wilson's War - a nice little film, but the second scene of the movie, where Tom Hanks is in a jacuzzi in a penthouse in Vegas with a few naked strippers, is a little bit AWKWARD to watch next to Grandmama. Just keep it in mind.
3) No internet? No problem - my grandmother tells me that if you need the answer to anything, just "call the Library hotline, they can tell you whatever you need to know" - its like Google or Wikipedia, old school-style.
Been enjoying the slowwwww pace down herre...with the exception of all the Henry County-area Starbuckses' (plural form, look it up) Hot Spots' IP addresses being blacklisted from certain domain names (like yahoo.com, hotmail.com, and most-every-company-i'm-working-with.com), it's been what VH-1 might call the "Best Week Ever."