Surfer Mag Best Photos of '09

Surfer Magazine has 41 of their best photos of the year over on their website. I had to cap and pshop the one below because surf photographers and their pics are like fucking leprechauns and their gold.

Worth checking out, just don't bother trying to right click and save...

Oakley x Stanley Donwood Artist Series Jupiter

Instead of waiting for some sort of inspiration to strike, I've decided to go ahead and just force myself to post stuff. Not that the stuff I post isn't going to be cool, because it is, cool stuff happens all the time, I am just really not seeing the cool in much of anything right now. An artistic dearth this snowy December.

Anyway, here's a pair of Oakley's by Stanley Donwood. Enjoy, and have a happy new year.

via highsnobiety

adidas x Star Wars Sneakers

Here is the complete (I think) line of adidas x Star Wars sneakers. I am posting them somewhat out of obligation since I have been covering them since they were announced some months back. I say this because for the most part I'm underwhelmed. I mean, I'm underwhelmed by alot these days, but I had high hopes for this offering--especially after the sweet Marc Ecko Boba Fett and Stormtrooper hoodies from last year.

The sad truth is, these are predictably nerdy, but they don't pop. There is nothing about any one of these that is truly mind-blowing. I'm not saying I wouldn't wear some of them (the Skywalker and Falcon in particular), but while some are tragically nerd, others are no more Star Wars than a regular pair of Stan Smiths. An unfortunate offspring of these two powerhouse brands.

Best Buildings of the Decade

Here's a repost of a Huffington Post pictorial on the Best Buildings of the Decade. It is a repost because I am suffering through an early winter bout of writer's block. I will try and step it up, for all of you.

Head on over to HP and vote for the best. CCTV HQ has to be the winner in my book followed by the 3,000 ft tall Burj Dubai.

The Eddie at Waimea Bay on Standby

The Eddie (or the Quiksilver Invitational at Waimea Bay in Memory of Eddie Aikau if you want to be a corporate dick about it) is on standby on Oahu's north shore this morning. The Eddie has popped off only 8 times in 25 years due to the 20-foot wave size requirement. Super big waves, no jetskis.

The call will be made in about 10 minutes' time as to whether they'll stage the event today, but regardless of whether they make it official, head over to the official website to see a live webcam of the gnar.

EDIT:

The Eddie will be going off today starting at noon CST. Cowabunga.

World Cup 2010 Draw

The draw for the 2010 edition of the World Cup in South Africa took place today, and despite Charlize Theron's babbling and the introduction of half the famous people in Africa, the opening round fixtures were finally set.

In what is set to be an epic tilt, the United States of America will face England in the opening game of Group C. The mother country will face the colonists in Rustenburg on Saturday, June 12. Rounding out the group are Slovenia and Algeria, neither of whom the US has faced in world football. The US have to be the favorites to advance behind the English, but I would dearly love to see you limey fucks knocked off your pedestal. Oh you won the World Cup in '66? That's awesome, and 44 years ago. Bring it.

The remaining schedule for the USA: June 18 versus Slovenia in Johannesburg and June 23 versus Algeria in Tshwane/Pretoria. Slovenia qualified by defeating Russia in a 2-leg Euro playoff while Algeria beat Egypt in an African playoff to book their place.

The French, who cheated their way past Ireland to gain entry into the finals, got a very favorable draw with the weak Mexicans being their only semblance of opposition in Group A. Lesson: cheaters are rewarded with an easy group stage.

The 'Group of Death' distinction goes to Group G, which boasts six-time World Cup Champions Brazil, African powerhouse Ivory Coast, and the fancy-boy parade that is the Portuguese national side. North Korea is the fourth squad.

Here's a graphic of the overall draw:

I Cannot Wait for May 7 Because:

Oh Tony Stark, I only have eyes for you.

Iron Man 2 official website place

The Current Top 89 of 2009

Head over to thecurrent.org to vote for the top 89 songs of 2009.

Here's our ballot:

Steuart Padwick Furniture Design

Some furniture from British designer Steuart Padwick. I think I like it because it looks like stuff in Pee-Wee's Playhouse.


via contemporist

The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception

I'm a spy junkie. I grew up thinking Harriet the Spy was pretty fucking cool, spies were all like James Bond, and the CIA was the greatest and most nearly-omnipotent institution on the face of the planet. While my illusions about spies and the CIA are obvious and widely documented, Harriet is still fucking cool.

The CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception is partly a history of the agency's use of...trickery and deception, but more awesomely is a verbatim reproduction of an infamous and supposedly extinct CIA text that was used as a sort of subterfuge manual to train field agents in the arts and crafts of trickery. And deception. My vocabulary appears limited today.

Penned in 1953 by a magician (and you wonder why the CIA has problems) named John Mulholland, the existence of the manual--along with all remaining copies--was supposed to be erased from history in 1973. Supposed to be, but apparently not: authors H. Keith Melton (intelligence historian) and Robert Wallace (CIA officer, ret.) uncovered one last copy in 2007 and used it to write this book.

Below are some illustrations from the book. My personal favorite is the toothpaste gun.


The authors also have a book out called Spycraft, which doesn't have as cool a cover, but seems equally awesome. Both are available at Amazon. The CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception runs a cool $16.49.

via gizmodo

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving was terrific. I hope yours was as well. Newrosis is thankful for the Premier League, the internet, transoceanic flight, and all of you people. Stay safe and well fed.

Gizmodo's Black Friday Deals Page

Everything I want for christmas--except cash and peace on earth, goodwill toward men--is on this page. You might think by my tone that this is purely self-serving, but you'd be wrong, because the deals are too good to miss and there is probably stuff on there that you could get other people. After you buy my gift. Thanks.

Jamie.T, Jamie T or Jamie-T

So I was debating posting about this guy for a couple days since I am a little self-conscious about liking his music, but then I was like, "Hey. Hey you. This is YOUR blog. You go tell these people about Jamie T (or Jamie.T, or Jamie-T). You tell them about his music. Tell them he has a new album, Kings & Queens."

I give myself pep-talks like that all the time, you know. "You're a lion. Take what's yours."

So Jamie makes some good music. Apparently his first album was pretty much straight hip-hop, and he maintains that vibe with chanted cockney verses.

EDIT: I have now listened to the first album, Panic Prevention, and it is not conventional hip-hop. Hip-hop is certainly prevalent in the beat structure, and while he does spit his lyrics for the most part, to say he was rapping would be a bit of a stretch. /EDIT

The production on Kings & Queens is solid, if overly-poppy at times, but the real magic is in the lyrics. I hate when music reviews quote lyrics, because there's really no way to properly contextualize them without the whole structure of the song, so I'm not gonna do that.

What I'll do instead is focus on the negative: the reason I debated talking about this guy is that some of the offerings are sickeningly cheeseball. When I say cheeseball, I mean it: there are a couple tracks that are more Spice Girl than Streets, if you catch my drift, and other tracks have the "I'll make a cheerful song about depressing stuff" vibe reminiscent of Chumbawamba. That's right. I GET KNOCKED DOWN BUDEYEGEDDUBAGIN. Yikes.

Here's my favorite track from the album Kings & Queens, his second full length effort:

Jamie T - The Man's Machine

Jamie T | MySpace Music Videos

Volta Special #777

Combination white leather and suede with calfskin laces. It is an attractive shoe. Attractive like a good bonus structure, not like Natalie Portman.

For sale at only 21 locations throughout the world: 7 in Italy, from whence Volta hails, 7 in the rest of Europe and 7 internationally. Special #777. That's some really clever stuff you clever little shoe company.

Go to the clever little website to see where to get the shoes.

via highsnobiety

Medicom Toy Star Wars Bearbrick Set

Usually I post a bunch of crap that's unavailable. These are not like that. They are totally available. Online even. Little Star Wars toy bears. For sale. I am actually going to buy them today.

Oh but guess what? The entire checkout process is in Japanese. If I had more money I'd probably just mash buttons and see if I ever received them in the mail, but I don't, so I won't. Anybody else want to give it a shot? Give it a try over at Gettry. 2,980円. I think that means they're about $35.

via hypebeast

Juan Francisco Casas

Juan Francisco Casas is an artist. He makes photorealistic drawings. With Bic pens. Ballpoint Bic pens. Have you ever tried to draw with a Bic pen? Doodles. That's the best you're going to do. This man, however, this Juan Francisco Casas character, has turned it all on its head. The big wheel of evolution keeps rolling, rolling toward a future in which photorealistic pen and ink drawings are done with Bic ballpoint pens. And the future is now.

Is that enough words? Sometimes I just ramble because I feel that a 'blog' should have a delicate balance of words and pictures, and as a strongly visual person, I like the pictures better. Also, sometimes I'm lazy and pasting pics up here is a far less involved task than sitting at this keyboard and pounding out drivel for you all to read. Or not read; maybe you're strongly visual people as well. Maybe my musings and ramblings are disjointed and unreadable.

That's possible, you know. I don't make any claims to proper literary organization, much less talent. I do claim that I know how to fill a page with words that are spelled correctly, which is sadly better than most of the partially literate masses in this day and age.

Alright, that's another rant for another post. Before I digress any further, I'd like to point you over to Juan's website and tell you that I truly am impressed with his ballpoint skills. The inspiration for this series was photos of nights out with friends, which is apparent from the context and vibe of the pieces pictured.

via juxtapoz

Sh*t My Dad Says: The Sitcom?

My favorite crotchety old man may be getting some more airtime, according to my inside sources. And Adult Swim and Wired...

From Wired.com:

"After moving into his parents’ San Diego home over the summer, Halpern parlayed his father’s obscenity-laced observations into a mini-empire. He signed a Shit My Dad Says-inspired book deal with Harper Collins last month and will co-write the CBS show, which — no surprise — will be retitled if it’s picked up for a full prime-time order."

So there you go: Twitter will provide you with a forum to post what other people say, then you can get rich off it. It's America.

thx maggie

Edifice Quilted Jacket

So yeah, Edifice has graduated from one-hit wonder to bona fide chart-topping coat maker (what?). Anyway here's the new quilted jacket, and here's the badass Melton I posted earlier this autumn. Looks like the whole leather-strap-about-the-neck piece is their marque déposée.


via selectism

André Hand Painted Quiksilver Surfboards

I can't surf. Well, let's be fair: I don't know how to surf. I would like to, but it turns out that there aren't a whole lot of great spots to learn in the Midwest. Unless you count my boys who have been pushing the wake surfing scene on Lake Minnetonka...or these crazy bastards...but as a wannabe purist, I really don't consider it surfing unless its on a wave made by the ocean.

Anyway, André drops these slick hand-painted jobs along with board maker Quiksilver. No word on availability or anything like that, but they are rad. I'm stoked. Gnar.

via highsnobiety

Rent the Runway

The New York Times has an article about a new service called Rent the Runway, which boasts of providing $1000 gowns for rent at $50-$200 a pop, and is being hailed as "Netflix for evening gowns." I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have my fashion marketed to me like a DVD, so its a good thing the operating team of Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss have a few tricks up their sleeveless Hervé Légers.

Here's the Times' version of how it all works: "The rentals run $50 to $200 for a four-night loan and are shipped directly to the customer’s doorstep. After wearing the dress, she puts it into a prepaid envelope and drops it in the mail." Netflix. For clothes.

Some interesting ideas:

• Invitation only. Not a new idea, of course, but even a whiff of exclusivity is huge when it comes to high fashion.
• Service is king. "Customers who want to be extra-safe can choose a second style as a backup, for an additional $25. And all dresses come with a custom garment bag and a 'fit kit,' which includes double-sided tape, bra strap adjusters and deodorant stain removers."
• Insurance. $5 damage insurance and the dryclean fee included in the initial cost. Obviously, the renter bears the cost of complete destruction.
• Styles. Many designers sell their pieces directly to the service, but others provide Rent the Runway with exclusive runway pieces in exchange for the profits. Wearing runway pieces = awesome. Even I know that.

My only commentary on this idea is that it is a pretty ballsy play given the customer service issues that are bound to arise when dealing with such volatile components as fashion, logistics, and women. Honestly I hope it works.

Maybe we'll get something similar going for the gentlemen sometime soon. Seems unlikely, given that most men are fine renting a $200 tux from Gingiss Formal Wear whenever they need one...and rocking a tweed blazer with black slacks, brown shoes, and a disgusting tie should they have a job interview or funeral...but there I go again, ellipses and tangents. Kudos to you Jennifer and Jennifer, and good luck.

via NYT