Merry Christmas-Happy New Year

I've been so busy I forgot to post. I hope all is well with everyone this season

Studio Lawrence: The Last Supper Table

The ‘Last Supper Table’ is Studio Lawrence’s signature piece. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s legendary masterpiece featuring the most famous yet unseen table, Studio Lawrence’s bold and beautiful Last Supper Table is the designer’s interpretation of what lies beneath.

I am really drawn to this design, its color blocking is so simple. Why don't more things look this way?

studio lawrence

Funny Stuff

8 Stereotypical Behaviors Sistas Should Not Do

Check this out on Clutch website

Blizzard 2009

I remember when I used to have fun in the snow. I used to run and play and sled and have snowball fights. Now all I do is shovel this shit! We're getting mad inches of snow this weekend.

These photos are at 1am, still snowing!


18 inches of undriven snow

This was supposed to be my salvation, but I couldn't get it started!!

Calvin and Hobbes

This comic strip was one of my favorites of all time.



On the surface, the adventures Calvin and his real-only-when-he's-alone tiger, Hobbes were exactly like mine when I was 8-11 years old. But it was Calvin's musings about life, family, politics, and religion that reached me as a young adult.

I can't believe that cartoonist Bill Watterson never had any children.

Alicia Keyes-The Element of Freedom

Alicia Keyes new album was released today. I haven't got it yet but I plan to this week. I really enjoyed her last CD, and she always (unlike many artists today) has slow songs I can groove with.

Craig (kissmyblackads) didn't like the cover art, and we discussed it a little on his site. I think that the art is fine. It reminds me of the vinyl album covers I have in my basement. They weren't always photographs, they were often illustrated like George Clinton, Earth Wind and Fire, etc and the type was hand rendered. I feel so starved for non-stereotypical images, and so many of our R&B stars are becoming (in appearance) more like rap artists, I'm just glad that she doesn't have a Bentley in the background, or gold grills on her face.

I like the theme that they are using for the singles as well. These will look good in the ipod cover section

Lobo Mau

I went to Colab Studios' 1st event, a trunk show for fashion collective Lobo Mau. It was a great turnout, and although there was no menswear for me and Bruce to try on, we entertained ourselves with the ladies, wine, photos, and conversation.






Look at more photos of the trunk show on Andrea's site

Album Art: James Brown

Helvetica! I love the album art and typography from the 1960's. Go head' James!

The Return of Sade

Possibly in February 2010. I can't wait to hear how she will sound & what her songs will be like.

Iverson Back in Philly

To honor his return, I present to you one of my favorite songs sampling his now classic line Practice.



DJ Jazzy Jeff feat J Live on the The Return of The Magnificent album

Colab Studios: I Love My Hair T shirts

Today Bruce and I went to take some photos of Andrea modeling her new t shirt line called I Love My Hair. The images are based on her poster designs.

We visited her new space called Colab Studios. Its a small location, but hopefully I can shoot there soon during the winter months.

It was pretty hard to keep straight faces when we all get together, but somehow we pulled it off.





Check out her prints and tees at her store here.

Courtesy of Facebook

This is one of the funniest things I've read today. I don't know who what or why but it gets funnier the more I look at it.

props to Morgan De and wherever she got this from

Mimco MimBots Flash Drives

These are choices that separates creative people from the "normals".

Why walk around with a boring ordinary drive when you could have one designed by famous graf artists and illustrators? Tokidoki, Baseman, Dino Alberto and others all lend a hand in creating these little 4 and 8Gb drives




More here

MIA, or How your Pillow Can Kill You

Its been a busy and strange past couple of weeks, not only because of Thanksgiving, but other situations that only could happen to me.

I bought a TempraPedic memory foam pillow, just wanting to try something new. 2 days later I had a dizzy spell at work so bad I thought someone had drugged me. I was so scared! Was I having a stroke? Blood pressure? All normal.

I stopped sleeping on the pillow and slowly the dizzy feeling went away. Then I found this website website and I saw what was wrong. The smell and chemicals this thing gives off has no effect on some people, devastating effects on others. Guess which one I was?

Now its been a week and I feel back to normal (or my normal). Be careful out there people

Illustrator: Robert Trujillo

I love good illustration, but its even more satisfying when I see images of people who look like me.




Found this on kissmyblackads by my man Craig

Read more about him here and here

Rhianna = The Devil

I'm not sure where all this Satanic talk came from, but its probably because of her new video and CD single cover.



Rated R is darker than the usual cheery, mass appeal type pop cover, but not so bad. Come on people! A woman puts on some smoky eye make up, wears leather in her video and now she's Satans' concubine? Are people really that gullible?

Current tv....

My friend Bruce put me on to the network I'm sure all of you already knew about. One of the best things about Current is their viewer created content show called Vanguard. After watching a few segments about prostitution around the world, contraband in prison, and encountering Silverback Gorillas, I was hooked.

Current shows InfoMania and Supernews are hilarious takes on pop culture and animated shorts.

Current tv is like early Mtv's younger, more responsible, slightly high brother, who teaches you stuff and makes you laugh at the same time. It like Mtv, the Daily Show, Cnn and a local college channel all rolled into one

Watch some of it here, on you local cable channel, and on Hula

I love how they have embraced tv on the internet and partnered with Hula so you don't miss a thing

Wishing I was There: Beyonce Stage Diving

Even if it was staged for her safety, it was still a gutsy move.



The way most guys feel about Beyonce, added to the general lack of self control among the average man, she'd look like a Puerto Rican Day Parade victim. Thank God this wasn't the case.

Beatport Tees

Beatport released a short line of cool tees.


The site (though I can no longer access it because my Flash is out of date) is one of my favorite house music websites where I can download high quality mp3's and listen to new music.

Too bad its too cold to wear em now. Get em and save it for next April

See more here

Dave Chappelle: Back Where He Belongs

Good to see Dave doing Stand up again. I have got to see him if he goes on tour.

The First Family Portrait

Beautiful photography done by Annie Leibovitz, who has taken many famous and memorable photos and covers ( Demi Moore, John Lennon, Sting etc) including the April 2008 Vogue cover I hated with Lebron James and Giselle, but we won't go into that now!

MIA

Been sick lately.

Along These Lines

Studio Lawrence designed this sound muffling partition, made of 100% German wool. I love the vertical lines.

Good Hair

I thought andrea's hair demo was so cute, and I'm sure when Chris Rocks' movie comes out, it will answer all kinds of questions people will have about it.

Stiffest Collar in Philadephia

I came across these guys on facebook. They make nice apparel with a concentration on dress shirts. I love the concept of how the logo incorporates elements of the early independence flag with sewing needles.

I wish this was a real magazine. http://www.commonwealthproper.com/



They have a trunk show in two weeks at North Bowl. I'm gonna try to go for a little bit to see what they're about.

My Birthday 2009

This was a strange birthday this year.

A family member had a serious medical emergency this morning and I found out as soon as I woke up. I spent most of the day worrying about them and feeling guilty that I couldn't enjoy my birthday. It made me realize how fragile life can be and whats really important.

I know it sounds cliché. Days like this must be where they come from.

Levi's

I finally paid attention to this commercial, and I love its black & white imagery and its foreign propaganda-like voice over

Creative Like Us: William Springfield

How long have you been a photographer? 5 yrs

How did you get started? I started shooting landscape photos and my agent (modeling agent) asked me to shoot some of the models at my agency.

Where did you go to school? lol which school? I went to Temple U. for mechanical engineering, not for photography.

I Love Thierry Le Goues, he's one of my favorites.


I find my inspiration in the beauty around me that I see in everyday life.

What do you use (set up?) Lights, cameras, lenses etc - I use a canon rebel xti with the kit lens. I use white lightning 1600 lights, I have 2 but most photos I use just one light.


My first job was The Wall St Journal, Europe and Asia advertisements. My modeling agent booked me for both modeling and photography assignments.

What is your typical day like? I wake up... whenever I wake up. I check my emails and reply to everyone. I then commence telling lies on twitter. LOL I take phone calls and do whatever shoots may be on my plate, then I take a nap before I spend ALL night working on photo retouching until 6am in the morning.


How long to you spend (per day) shooting? All day, it is a continuous thing. when I am tired I stop when I'm ready to go again I get back to work.

What do you believe helped you on your journey the most? Starting out as a model.

What was your biggest success? Your biggest failure? My biggest failure is that I haven't had my biggest success yet. But on the day that I have my biggest success, my career as a photographer is over. Once you are at the top where else can you go? I am hopefully on a never-ending journey.

Work Hard and Sacrifice!

What's the funniest thing about you? Probably my big nose or my long neck... I dont know...

Spam or Scrapple? I only eat scrapple with ground up pig head, So I'll say spam because spam adds zest to anything.

I Love my job. I do that for fun. Whats better than naked cutie pies running around in front of your camera all day?

The sky is blue.

Check out more of his work here

The Clipse X Kaws X Complex

I love this magazine. Their concepts and collaborations are just...crazy!

Why isn't my issue here yet?

Nooka Zot

I discovered Nooka watches a couple years ago reading Complex magazine. I thought their designs were extremely creative, to the point of being otherworldly.



No numbers. no hands.

Its like a watch from another universe. I never thought about buying one because, well, they're a little hard to read in a hurry.

After the novelty wears off, would I feel like looking at my 4th dimensional watch and trying to figure out the time? And thats if I haven't had a drink.

This Nooka Zot Aluminum watch really makes me reconsider. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Coolest Thing I've Seen All Week Part 2

I've always believed that designers (clothing, fashion, graphic, web, etc) shouldn't have the same objects in their houses that "normal" people do because of their taste and perception of the world. This is a perfect example.



A duvet cover that looks like cardboard boxes? This is so unusual that I have to have it.

Created by
Snurkengoed, who are Erik van Loo and Peggy van Neer from the Netherlands. But they don't do it just because we think its cool. "Sleep under a cardboard box so a homeless young person doesn’t have to" is their slogan, and 30% of the gross profits go to
Centrepoint, the UK charity for homeless young people aged 16-25.

Props to 72dpi.

The Coolest Thing I've Seen All Week

As a designer, sometimes you see something that makes you bury your head in your hands and say, "SHIT! Why didn't I think of that?" This is one of those times.




The die cut, plus the cassette tape card holder?

This is called "killing it"

I can't believe Grandmaster Flash, Kid Capri or Funk Master Flex don't have something like this design for their cards.

Props to
Kiss My Black Ads and Adgoodness for finding it.

Why Kanye? Why?

I don't know if this was before or after he jumped on stage, but this photo is worth a thousand words.

I sat slack jawed at that spectacle. I probably should have laughed, like I did whne Ol Dirty Bastard did it years ago. But I didn't. I was like...

In light of Micheal Jacksons death, as well as the deaths of many of musics greats, please be careful

999-Blueprint 3

There are so many artists and cd's I'm interested in but I haven't purchased, so I jumped right in with Jay Z's Blueprint 3 I haven't listened to it yet but I didn't even recognize it in the store because of its abstract cover.

Rap artists usually feature themselves on cds but I thought this collection of music electronics was interesting and very museum exhibit-like.

Jay's thoughts on it

“These things are like the forgotten pieces in hip-hop. It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, making gimmicks — it’s still about making music. Those things are piled in the corner. These are the forgotten things about music. It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, it’s not about making gimmicks, it’s about music. The three stripes that everybody is asking about is made from the original [number] three. The first three they made on the wall was someone carving. If you look at [the number] 3, all they did was connect lines. The whole thing about this album, how I approached it, is that I wanted to make a new classic to start that all over again — to go back to making classic albums like the ones we grew up listening to.”

Raphael Saadiq=Genius

I was making a joke about Raphael Saadiq on facebook, and it immediately reminded me of this amazing song from 2007. I absolutely love this song, and I was lucky enough to be in Armand's when the DJ was playing a rare 12" (thats wax, for you 80's babies) with a remixed extended beginning.

As soon as I get a pre-amp for my turntable I'm gonna hook the world up with it on mp3.

1 Million Miles Away

Although summer is over (I hate to say that) I'm still working out like crazy. I ran a mile in 12:20mins (a little slow for me) fueled by one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs.

Enjoy for those who dare

zSHARE - 02 1_000_000.mp3

Seattle International Film Festival "Find" posters

These remind me a little of Ron J. Cala's work; bright colors, negative space created by silhouetted characters.

More info on Communication Arts sitehere