Commandeer

I can't explain my house. But what I can say is that it is a mess of relics, clothes, papers and other misc. items probably dating as far back as the 70s. It's not on the level of "Hoarders" because we at least throw away garbage, but if all of this stuff wasn't organized the way it was, you probably wouldn't see the floor.

There is this room in my house that everyone in my family who has lived here has dubbed "The Cold Room" is what you would think a room looked like where clothes went to die. Before vintage was vintage, this room was a collection of all things that weren't cool circa 2005, or probably whenever the hipster advent took place. But back to my original point, this room is full of clothes. Rubbermaid bins stacked to the ceiling, cardboard boxes fat and bloated from being over packed and random assortments that have not, and will probably never make it to the Home Furnishing section of your local Good Will Store.

Back in high school, I would used to go in there, put on whatever jacket I found ironic enough, and go to school with it on. In this closet of the Cold Room were enough trench coats to make Llyod Dobbler blush, some down jackets that would serve well in the Pochonos during the winter, and some denim jackets that even Kanye West wouldn't wear. But amongst all the acrylic, rayon, wool lined jackets there was gold. I'm not saying I wouldn't wear the other jackets but what I found was incredible.

I loved used leather jackets. I don't have to break them in, the leather is faded in all the right place and part of me prefers the moth ball smell to a used leather jacket over a BWM leather interior leather jacket. I own a few leather jackets, both used, both awesome, and they are each from their own generation, so this find was just as awesome. One is a motor cycle jacket, the other is this vintage JC Penny bomber type deal, and the one I recently found is almost like Eddy Murphy Beverly Hills Cops-esque. I can't really explain it, but I now I'm going to crush it.

I really should have showed you my Christmas presents first because that happened first and my brothers hooked it up with two vintage wingtip shoes, but I could save that for another day. Just check this piece out first. Sorry for it being sideways but you could deal.

Goddamn Rhianna in GQ

One of my more successful photos

Marissa Miller makes me want a motorcycle

So I've been wanting to have a motorcycle for a long time. Not one of those crotch rocket joint though, one of the old school come ups. That Grease 2 piece. I want to be a cool rider, but I know I'd be signing my death certificate if I ever got one. But I can't help but love this picture of Miss Miller on the model cycle that I want.

I should start watching Mad Men

Christ Almighty.

That New Funky Shit

Family Photo

Lily Allen Is Looking Good

If I was a celeb, I'd date her only because I'd love for her to write a song about me on how I suck in bed.

Ugh Sasha Grey

Granted she's the most pretentious porn star in the world, there is something about her dirty business woman ways that's very alluring. I don't know what she's modeling for but I just like to look at her face. Granted it's had (will continue to have) buckets of reproductive serum on it.

Putting My Learning Glasses On

School has started. I am a senior. It's going to be hard to run around and take pictures of random shit. So I'll do my best to take pictures of random people. Maybe I can start that tonight when I sit on my porch and watch the kids run off to find the most bumpin' house party. That would be a nice project. I should do that. I am going to do that.

Faithful In A Room Full Of Hos

I've been at my house in New Brunswick for the past two days and other than getting attacked my mosquitoes, moths and maybe ants, I've been taking in the New Brunswick air. In between cleaning my room I'd step out on the porch and see what was going on in my new neighborhood. People in the Brunz are vampires, there isn't ever anyone outside during the day, but at night they come crawling out of the wood works. I feel like I'm on some I Am Legend type shit.

Anyway, in front of my porch there is this mini garden, fenced off metal and a concrete slab representing a column. It is a mixture of vines, weeds, and ugh, poison ivy. Amidst all the chaos though are these flowers. They all span different ages. Some are dying, some are at their prime, and others have yet to bud. While there may only be a handful of them, they have added the most dynamic to the "garden", that fences my house.

They add the prettiness to what is now dubbed "The Rats Nest".

Randawsome.

We got a koi fish in the house. He's small right now, but he's gonna get fucking big. How big? So big that the person my mom bought it from wouldn't let her buy another because there would be no space. He doesn't like when people tap on the glass and goes crazy when they do. He's cool colored though and he has a fumanchu.


My grandfather's birthday party was last Saturday. He's like 80. Throughout my 21 years of life I haven't seen him smile a lot.He was happy to have his family surprise him. How happy? Happy to the point that his Jesus piece was showing.

Best Thrift Store Find

When I go to Thrift stores, I normally go with something in mind, usually it is a jacket of some sort, possibly a pair of shoes, and all the time it's flannel. I don't like pants from Thrift stores. Tops and feet. Tops and Feet. so important I had to say it twice. Now while pants are very important to any man's wardrobe, one can always get the simplest of trousers, mainly something unwashed, and with a simple rear pocket design or no design at all; the top and shoes make the man.

Fall is my favorite season because it is layering season. I can walk out with a cardigan, hoodie or light jacket, showcasing my layering techniques, and a variety of my wardrobe, but I digress.

When I go to Thrift stores, I look for tops because they come in variety and abundance. I remember during the winter, I was hell bent on finding a motorcycle jacket, and after basically raping and pillaging every thrift store I came across, I went back to the usual spot and found it. The Salvation Army in downtown Jersey City. It never ever has done me wrong.

The reason why it's my favorite piece ever, because it's all leather, worn, and cost me all of 30 dollars, maybe even 15. I don't remember. I would have put up the Clark's Walabees I got for two dollars and fifty cents, but I don't give them enough love as I do this jacket. This jacket is tough as fuck, simply put. It's heavy, sturdy, and I'm pretty sure I can survive a stabbing with this beast. It's almost as if I am wearing a bullet proof vest with this bad boy. I'd layer it with one of my favorite hoodies, so jeans and Docs and kick ass in the night.

Come fall and winter, I'm gonna be that dude, now if all I can get is a motorcycle.

Levis 510 Super Skinny

I have a lot of pants. I don't wear them all because I just wear one pair. And after the third pair I think I am finally going to retire them, put them in the Hall of Fame, and have them enshrined in Canton, OH. But really I am going to subject them to painting jeans. Jeans I wear them I have no other jeans. The ones I wear when I wake up after a drunken night and put them on in the morning because they are the first pair I grabbed.

I purchased these a summer ago on August 29th, right before I went to start the Fall 2008 semester. I had a pair a year before that but while trying to fix them into a pair of cut offs, I turned them into a denim skirt. I bought them so late into the summer of 2008 because at that time I was working for American Apparel and I was either wearing their pants or a pair of cut offs. But I needed another pair of Levis 510s, I loved them so much I bought two of them, it was a solid investment of 100 dollars.

Both pairs have built a personality of their own. Both have the same holes but have developed entirely differently. I bought them both unwashed, almost selvage denim. I don't know denim that well, but they had all the quality of selvage. I am showing you one because currently I can't find the other. And because I am retiring one pair, I am retiring both. This isn't a Barber situation where Tiki goes and Ronde stays, they are both going. Folded in my closest or crumped in my bed, they both will find peace.

They were pencil thin all the way to the ankle. Still are, a size 34x34, I did not mind the bunching at the bottom at all. But I feel like I need to grow out of the legging-esque denim. I was going to get a fourth and maybe 5th pair, but I settled for a regular skinny fit, one that didn't hug my calves as much as it hugged my ass down to my knees. I'm trying to get used to freedom around my ankles. I mean the pairs I bought to replace them are still skinny, but skinny like grown man skinny and no skinny like "your girlfriend's jeans" skinny.

I am going to miss these. Wearing them on a daily basis, wondering which day will be the day the croch of the jeans just has had enough and explodes on me. Seeing this picture makes me want to put them on. a part of me is just say "wear them until they do just tear completely at the croch". Look at them for Pete's sake. So distressed, so worn, so dirty, so awesome.

They will always have a place in my heart. I mean I'll still wear skinny, I'm just dropping the "Super" in front of it.

These look good.

Stussy x Dr. Marten Chukka boot looks so dope. Stussy always does nice collabs, but since I'm a big fan of boots, and Dr. Marten's, I really like this pairing. BUT I will also include that I hate that the street wear game is again bastardizing something inherently punk, the Doc Marten. You already have the mohawk. Still I like the collaboration. The sole is dope.


PF Flyers are killin it. If they were priced down to Converse, Vans and Pro-Keds, I'd think about coppin', but they got dumb high prices for sometimes the same materials as the aformentioned. But anyway this perfed delight looks good, and I like looking at it.


I'll blog with a photo sometime soon.

Newport, Jersey City, NJ

NYC x Iced Coffee

Twin Series

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Lol

Fuck it

I understand a lot of my latest entries have been about shoes, but so what.

For the longest time when I was transition from the extreme shoe game, around the 3rd generation of Nike SBs, when Bapes were still big, to the regular shoe game, I had an idea. Combining the two.

I thought about having a wingtip sneaker. Drew out models and everything, and ba-bam! I saw Clae had done it. But Vans ended up doing better. Seeing them in Classic Kicks in the city, I was like "damn 80 bucks". But now seeing them online, I'm like "damn that might be worth it", maybe if I don't wear them everyday, but chances are, I would.

Gotta give it up to Clae

I have to admit, I love shoes. Regardless of what is dead and what's not, shoes will always be a staple of a man's wardrobe. I don't care if his shoes are beat up canvas kickers, or to that of which is pure luxury, an Italian loafer, Ferraris on feet.

I personally don't own a pair of Claes. Too be completely honest, my brother Eric is the only person I've ever seen wear a pair, but what they are putting out soon, I think is so cool, and if I could justify spending 100+ dollars on a pair of shoes, I would have a pair, but I can't so I'll admire. Shit I can't even dish out 50 dollars for pants.

These are my two faves from what I've see.

Single Parent Hours

I've been working nonstop. I get about one day off a week, two if I am lucky. This is why I haven't been able to update as often as I would like.

Shit, 5 weeks left of summer. Where did you go? I don't care, I just want to go back to school.

When school kicks up, I'm going to try and see if I can get this thing going everyday. I need a point and shoot camera to take as a backup when I don't feel like carrying either of my slrs.

UGH

What's The Difference Between Me and You

I need to start drawing again

I remember when I used to churn drawings out. I was like a machine. It's what got me into college and what has kept me in there since. But ever since I adopted this art form known as digital photography I have completely dropped drawing. I need to get back to it. I need to know if it is still there.

No more playing around.

Best Internet Ad

Those belong to this (below). MY GOD.

Sometimes I just go to the Karmaloop website, not to see what's new but just to see what she's wearing. I just don't get it man. They should put a disclaimer on the bottom on the site, "Model Does Not Come With Purchase".

I just want to get a dime piece girlfriend to buy the streetwear clothes and let her wear it for me. 

But the more I overanalyze it, the gayer it gets. Like you know that scene from scary movie where Shawn Waynes has his girlfriend put on all the football gear and he gets turned on like crazy? You know, because it's like the dudes he plays football with turn him on so to see a girl in it turns him on even more? I feel like it's kinda like that with streetwear clothes and dudes who frequent karmaloop. Catch my drift? 

ugh, she's so foxy. 

The Award Tour

I gotta give them props because they are young kids doing their thing in an old market. I don't see many brands labeled made by 19+ year olds out in the market, because honestly, it's fuccking hard. Working at Pro-Keds and now Mighty Healthy showed me that there is more than just putting an image on a t-shirt. But these kids are trying and they get press on HypeBeast, so they are doing something right. I saw their look book on photobytone.com's website, and I thought it was alright, the clothes I mean, the look book could have been done waaaay better for the money they paid IMO. My only question is, what the fuck is a kid with a DC shirt on doing in this one picture?

I just find it hilarious that one random white boy is wearing a shirt not part of the brand in the look book, that's all.

this post was made on Safari, so you won't be able to click to enlarge I think. To check out the rest of their shit go to http://www.photobytone.com under fashion.

btw UFC 100 is tomorrow so, LETS GO GSP!

Who really needs allthis shit?

I do.

Ever since I discovered the nikon 35mm DX lens (see previous post), I really can't justify spending more than 200 dollars on something that has no other function than looking cool (i.e. clothing), but since seeing Nikes latest SB collection (although still reaching), I have to say that I am kind of impressed, and yet I STILL can't justify spending more than 60 dollars on a pair of shoes. Back in my hypebeast days I would drop loot for a pair of Nikes, but those days are behind me, even though I feel them creep up on my sometimes, mainly during the summer though when I have a job and NYC closer.

But with that, I have to say that I am impressed with two of Nike SBs summer releases. The blue lobster dunk (June, top) and the Miss Piggy's (July, bottom).

I could do without the table top insides of the lobsters but they are dope. The colors are consistent and same with the Miss Piggy's. There are no abrupt color shifts in either of them, and that is what I've missed from the Nike SB series since the pink box days.

What I am also feeling are older generation digital cameras. Digital cameras don't work like film, where as in the digital world, the older the camera, the WAY obsolete it is. In film, cameras last forever and are easy to repair. My suggestion would be that people start finding out ways to make digital cameras timeless rather than having time bombs put in them upon it's making. But like they say, it's not the camera it's the person behind it that matters.

For a few weeks of the summer, and by few I mean the beginning of July, I've desperately wanted a back up camera, and only because I got a lens which can't autofocus on the camera I have now. Don't get my wrong, the camera I have been using for almost a year is a beauty, and once I get my memory card situation worked out I'm gonna start shooting in raw, but I need something else to take out. Photographers I've seen, like photographers that make a living with a camera always carry two cameras, each with their own lens. One telephoto and one wide angle. I just want what they got. So I'm not gonna ball out and by something new, I'm gonna buy something that has the same quality as the camera I have now, but more rugged and can take more of a beating.

I'm gonna cop in the near future (by future I mean this weekend probably), and take it with me if I go down the shore with my brothers and cousins. I just wanna strap it with a 50mm and take pictures of all the people I see. And with my other camera, I want to have something that goes frm like 18-200mm, or maybe 135. I don't know, but having two cameras would make it easier to switch with what I need rather than having to load and unload. granted uploading pictures will be more of a hassle but so what. Art is painful.

(Art is Painful)

Because I can

I can't seem to find these fucking Nike Terminators ANYWHERE, so I am going to compensate by getting a pair of nike "Vintage" blazers. See below. I go on these fucking highs where I absolutely REALLY want something and when I can't get it, I settle for the next best thing and get something SORT of like it. Only these aren't like it at all! But they will do. I have a pair of Blazers already but they are big and ugh, I don't know, kinda lame.

But yeah. I am trying to consolidate my shoedrobe to some boots, some sneakers and some shoes. Limit it under 20 would be nice. I have a good idea which I am taking back to school with me, and which I am leaving. ALOT of what I'm leaving. I also gotta go through sizes, because now that I think about it, I shouldn't have got a shit load of sneakers in a size 12.

Future Purchasing

If I want my future to be bright. I need these in my life within the next two months. It's gonna happen.

Goddamnit

Every time I get paid, I always wanna buy something. Because of this I wish I got paid on a weekly basis rather than a bi-weekly. Saving money is so awkward for me in many unusual ways. I mean, right now I have no real bills to pay so I don't really need to save my money for anything. Everything I really want is expensive, camera, batteries, and shit like that.

The point on this rant is that no matter how much money I can save, I still can't justify buying a hat anymore. I remember the glory days when fitted hats used to cost 22 dollars.TWENTY TWO DOLLARS, and even that was expensive. I went to a LIDS the other day and saw them for 33 bucks. Seriously. I know they are made of different material now, but geeze.

Anyway, this post was gonna be longer but I had to drop my brother off at his crib. Oh, and someone get me these.

Mariano Rivera

Regardless of what happens from now until the future, I'm gonna tell my kids that this man was the greatest closer that Baseball has ever seen.

R.I.P. Mike Jackson

The Greatest Ever

The Selby- Alan Edition

This is my living quarters when I am home. It's not much, all it really is is a hodgepodge of random shit and old clothes.

The Longest Day

Could be today.

If I didn't get to sleep for 5 hours last night, it would have been a full 24 hours I was awake. I woke up with a shit ton of optimism, since school let out waking up has consisted of just wanting to get through the day. I hadn't seen Kelley in two weeks and I needed her more than a pay day, beer or a cigarette. My aunt passed away, and God bless her soul, and work for me and like everyone else in the world, is stressful. I just needed a break.

That optimism faded away quick as I was dumped, and was forced to make the drive back home in the rain, a mere couple of hours after getting to New Brunswick. Luckily Dan Fig was in town and we hit up the mall, peeped some spots and headed to Jersey City. He needed to meet his shorty in the city and I just wanted to get home. I honestly spent way too much money on unnecessary things today. The grand total would probably be about 45 bucks or something, 75 if you count the 30 I spent in the morning to get my jeans back from the tailor.

I also learned my lesson today in bar debates, not so much on "don't pull random shit out of your ass to save face", but have a smart phone. The way of the future back in the day was seen in teleportation, but scientist made it more practical and teleported shit to you, in the form of bytes. Smart phones made that accessible to you at anywhere, at any time, given the amount of service your telephone provider is giving you. No longer can there be minutes, or maybe even hours, of debating apples and oranges, phones will answer that shit for you. I got beat today, and I had no facts to show for it because my memory is failing me and things I watch on ESPN start fading together. Just know that a phone, be it a blackberry, iPhone or anything with the number 3 and the letter G in it, is a must. It skips the foreplay and goes straight to the phrase "game, set, match".

Emotions got the best of me and I left. I was planning on going home and calling it a night at 11:30, but after the day I had, I felt like getting fucked up was a must. I didn't get fucked up but I got out and went to some warehouse party which is in the hood. Mad old peole and mad young people. A majority of the party was spanish, so it was a split between spanish hispters and ghetto dudes. Watching the old people just minding their own business while kids a third their age were getting drunk with them. The young kids almsot seemed like kids trying to BE cool, and not just being. The old folks also seemed to try to BE young instead of just being. It was a weird mix of people, but interesting to say the least. In retrospect, I should have left earlier than I did though.

At 3am, hopefully I can finally close my eyes.

Timberland Steppin' It UP

The original Timberland will forever and always be a classic, like the Air Force One, Chuck Taylors or a Adidas Shell toes. No matter what kind of spin you put on it, you trace it back to it's roots and see simplicity. A work man's boot, a man's boot. Looking at their up and coming release though, I gotta admit. They went from work boots to straight up, "let me rock this at a red carpet event".

The worn out look is fresh as hell. I'm a fan for one because my boots ALWAYS fade at the heel before they do at the body, AND I'm a huge fan of vintage boots, mainly for the fact that they are already broken the fuck in, but also the outer aesthetic. But here are pix for the up and coming Timbs. Appreciate. Oh, and the best part, I'm pretty sure they will be reasonably priced, HOPEFULLY less than Redwings, and be able to be bought somewhere reasonable, Macy's and David Z.

pix courteousy of Hypebeast.

Some Sort of Mecca

I remember about 3 or 4 years ago (I know it's not a long time, but in street wear, it's ages), where I would go to this website and just look at all the things I couldn't have. There are still many, many, MANY things I can't afford on that site, but going through it and seeing what shoes have dropped in price AMAZES me. I was browsing through the Nike Skateboarding section, and was going from highest to lowest, and I saw a pair of Dunk Cali's. If memory serves me right, these were I think second generation, and one of the hottest dunks out. I remember thinking 400 dollars is a lot of money. Four hundred dollars is reasonable nowadays.

What I am getting at is that it's sad to see that such classic, simple design as the Calis are being disrespected by the mark ups of shitties, horribly designed successors. Like the "What the Dunk" dunk, is every expensive, exclusive dunk put out shat out onto one shoe. It's almost like going to a tattoo shop and seeing everything on the wall and putting it on your wall. I'll put it in the same category as Ed Hardy. It's also a shame that the Pee Wee Herman dunk costs 15 dollars more than the Gino Iannucci's. Again, if memory serves me right, the Ginos are 1st edition. They came in the regular Nike box, I think. They are simple, and look like they serve their purpose, to be skated in. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

But I guess with the death of the mark ups, its understandable why things aren't so expensive anymore. I mean unless someone REALLY wants a pair of a specific shoe, I can justify spending about $150 for it. Afterall, two pairs of Air Jordans will run you 300. That's TWO pairs.

I wish I could get to people, anyone who is looking to spend up to a bajillion dollars on a pair of sneakers, to reconsider and possibly by 5 pairs of the underappreciated sneaker in the broom closest of Flight Club. I see a pair of Eire dunks in there that I would like to wear and and tear the shit out of, but I don't think I have good experience with suede shoes, but still. I just want to dog a pair, beat the life out of it, and walk into store with them on. Dead and everything.

I guess I'll just do that to my Tiffany's