Vanity Fair “International” Best Dressed List

I’m not surprised, just a little puzzled. Vanity Fair’s European International Best-Dressed list could ostensibly include high-profile, jet-setting individuals from anywhere in the world, right?  With supposedly the entire world to choose from, I’m curious as to the process that yielded exactly two people of color on a list of 42 (and, if I’m not mistaken, 0 individuals from the continents of Asia or Africa).  I get it; VF is very much about NY high society and European old money (including royalty, which made up 17% of the list, according to Jezebel). But, seriously, two? The list def comes off as pretty garish in its Eurocentricity/Anglophilia.  I guess I’m ’sposed to be appeased by the inclusion of two of my favorite people–Yeezy and Michelle.  I’m not. I guess we’ll just have to wait for someone to start Vanity Fair Italia and put out a special Black ‘n’ Brown International Best-Dressed issue, just for us!!

*Jezebel has a great mathematical breakdown of the list, complete with pie charts and the complete list.

Uh Huh Her | Not A Love Song | Video

more about “Uh Huh Her | Not A Love Song | Video …“, posted with vodpod

I’ve passed several adds for this band on the street. It caught my I because the band name is the title of a PJ Harvey album. I’m not really a true PJ fan, but I like her enough to offended by the lameness of what is a truly stupid band name. When I looked them up, I found even more reasons to hate. For one, this video for their lead single, “Not A Love Song” is absolutely embarrassing–especially when you consider both parties are in their late 30s. Secondly, you might recognize the lead singer (actress/musician Leisha Halley), as I immediately did, from two of the most loathsome pieces of media in recent memory:

1. The L Word   2. Those damn Yoplait commercials

All that being said, I streamed their album on the website, and it’s not as awful as I’d hoped–super weak lead single notwithstanding. Most notably, it sounds really expensive production-wise, and the songs, at their base, are kinda throwback (mid-90s Lilith Fair) in a not-so-bad way, very radio friendly. Actually, I really wouldn’t be surprised if they caught some luck and sold a lot of records. I can’t really tell if I’m cutting them slack because I like some of aspects of the sound or ’cause in the age of little girl trash rock, it’s a little refreshing to hear from woman old enough to appreciate someone like PJ Harvey, even if they’ve shown in the most embarrassingly adolescent of ways.

How En Vogue Is Voguing (Again)?

The forthcoming issue of Fader has a piece on the NYC voguing scene which apparently has a new, younger vibe that’s more about hip-hop and hood chic than sequined dresses and Hollywood starlets. Depictions and sampling of gay culture in the media have always been mad white-washed but, lately, they’ve also been kinda lame and boring (Lword, Top Model, Project Runway, etc.). But, as with most things, the missing ingredient , of course, is color–more specifically, for our purposes, blackness. It’s something, media’s powers that be have always known. Anytime, a pop culture subgenre gets stale, send someone to America’s hoods and see what the black kids are doing. It’s mass media’s “Easy” button; we’ll see if they use it.

I meant to post this video a long time ago. It’s by Hercules and Love Affair. They’re from Brooklyn and have been kinda hot for a minute. They brought back ’90s house/club/disco, and it’s kinda dope. The group is brainchild of producer/DJ Andrew Butler, along with two vocalists and a live band. “You Belong” features guest vocals from Antony from Antony and the Johnsons. The dude who dances/vogues with them in the video, and sometimes on stage, is Shane Oliver (above pic). He’s also the Creative Director for Hood By Air. HBA did all the clothes in the video, including Hercules’ main logo tee with “Banjee” (not one of these) on it, which I believe is the old-school term for a hood-masculine gays that’s made a recent comeback with influence of hip hop and homo thugs. Anyway,  it’ll be interesting to see if Ball culture goes overground again or if just the voguing aspect is extracted and sampled again. And, if so, for how long and with how much Madonna-culture-biting will it do so?

*And, yes, I only saw Paris Is Burning for the first time a few weeks ago (STEPHANIE!).

Nomi, Antony, Kim Anne, Andrew...Hercules And Love Affair

Hood By Air...Hercules-themed wear

Willi Ninja (1961-2006)

Shane of Hood By Air

Kanye’s Pastelle Line…Pics

http://kenewest.blogspot.com/2008/08/pastelle-samples-in-vman-magazine.html

photos from latest issue of V Man magazine

courtesy of http://kenewest.blogspot.com

VMAN Magazine, Issue 11

VMan is the men’s style mag in the Visionaire family that also includes V Magazine. The previously bi-annual magazine just went quarterly, inching closer to the other big dogs of men’s fashion. I’ve read it several times and found it pretty and engaging but was never really impressed with its content. But, the latest issue is worth picking up for two small-scale but excellent reasons. It features a small piece on NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. The piece reflects upon Bond’s rise to prominence in the 1960s–as founder of SNCC and electee to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965–as an apt comparison to that of Barack Obama. In 1968, during the election, Bond became the first African-American to be proposed as a major-party candidate for Vice President. As he was only 28, he had to decline, as the constitution’s age requirement is 35. The piece is accented by a truly dope photograph of the baby-faced Bond back in ‘68. Mad cool.

Also, featured in the magazine, making it well-worth the $5.99, is an exclusive first look at Kanye’s new clothing line Pastelle. The looks are modelled by fellow Glowers-in-the-Dark Lupe and Rhianna and Yeezy himself. Admittedly, it is a very limited look, but the line looks predictably impeccable and there are def a few hints that the line just might be as original as West’s music.

I’ma go buy it now. Perhaps some scans are forthcoming, although, I’m sure web pics will surface soon.

Design Blog…Pentagram.com

Pentagram is a design collaborative that provides design services ranging from architecture, book design, interior design, graphics, product design, and a bunch of other stuff. Their list of contributing partners is a Who’s Who of design (not that i actually recognize more than a few names), including DJ Stout, former award-winning Art Director at Texas Monthly (woop woop!) and, one of my personal design heroes, Luke Hayman.

Hayman made a name for himself designing mags like Travel + Leisure, then in 2004 took over at New York Magazine and made it absolutely gorgeous–part of a all-around make over led by new editor (2004) Adam Moss that rejuvenated a publication that had lost relevance/appeal (especially in design) since the days of Milton Glaser and the late Clay Felker.  Anyway, Hayman left New York (leaving it in the hands of former Adbusters whiz Chris Dixon) and now, as of June of this year, he’s Creative Consultant for Radar Magazine, the charmingly hard-luck magazine, now on its 3rd (!) re-launch

The section labeled “New” at Pentagram.com is a blog of the newest work that the company’s partners are involved in, individually and collectively under Pentagram.  But, because of the caliber of the partners involved, the section, by default, functions as a news blog for the design world in general.  A post back in June gave a pictorial tour of Radar Magazine’s new design, a collaboration between Hayman and Design Director Kate Elazegui. It’s really nice.

For anyone interested in what’s poppin’ in the world of design, the Pentagram blog is top-notch. Just go to Pentagram.com and click on NEWS or just dial in blog.pentagram.com.

Blag Magazine

Blag is a UK magazine I came across on the internet. I’ve never heard of it or seen it in stores.  It’s a pretty simple concept: an arts/music/film/style magazine that’s mostly interviews articulated with nice photography and slick design, with some fashion spreads interspersed. I like it, particularly the simplicity.  But, what I found really cool was that it’s run by just two people. Brit twins Sally A. and Sarah J. Edwards created Blag Magazine and its umbrella PR business, Blag Company, in the late ’90s, I believe, and they co-publish and edit the magazine themselves.  Sarah does the photo editing, Sally does the design and layout.  A quick flip through latest features online, reveals that almost every article consists of photos by Sarah J. and an interview conducted by Sally A. The company specializes in what they call “sponsored integrated content,” which sounds, from their About Us, like an alternative to having a ton of ads, a way to combine PR and publishing.  Anyway, I mostly just like the idea of a magazine run by very few people, with a super simple format/concept.  N.E.R.D.’s on the latest cover (above).

Black Swimmer Cullen Jones Rocks Gold in Beijing

A little over 15 minutes ago, USA won the Men’s 4×100 Freestyle relay, beating out the heavily favored French team (who had done some serious trash talking in the press, prior to the final) by, like, a centimeter (8 one-hundredths of a second, to be exact) in a super-dramatic come-from-behind win. Seriously, it was one of the most amazing races (in any sport) I’ve ever seen. The team smashed the world record by 4 seconds. The big story, of course, was that Olympic golden boy, Michael Phelps, who swam the lead in the relay, keeps his hope of winning 8 gold medals and beating Mark Spitz’s record alive.

But, my big story in all this is that of Cullen Jones, who as I write this, is the lone black figure on the medal podium, becoming just the second African-American ever to win a gold medal in swimming and the first to share/hold a world record. The first black swimmer to win the gold was Anthony Ervin, who tied for first in 2000 in the 50m freestyle. Interestingly, Ervin has a Jewish mother and Black and Native-American father and notably downplayed his race/ethnicity in interviews. Aside from the fact that, in his own words, he doesn’t really “look black” (very true),  Ervin said of himself, “I have always known that I am…part African-American and many other things. But I was naive, because I didn’t know that meant anything – or would have the ramifications it did at Trials.”

Hell Date

we all love hell date. i wanted to share with you a tidbit from the tail-end of an episode i caught today. the premise was that the female (the actor) really wanted to have a baby, and by the end of the date they are at a restaurant, and she’s trying to get the male (non-actor) to go to the bathroom and give her a donation in a plastic cup. she tries to hand him the cup, which she’s just put on a pitcher full of ice she’s just requested from the waiter. they’re fighting–she tries to hand him the cup, and it goes something like this:

female: come ON. just go to the bathroom and do it. it’ll only take a minute.

male: no.

female: come on.

male: i got another idea

female: what’s that?

male: how about i take you to the bathroom and give you the best dick of your entire life

at which point i fell out completely. keep in mind that the male is not the actor. he just said that shit on tv. what would his momma think? that’s what you call real tv.

try and catch it on rerun, you know it’ll be on for awhile.

Katy Perry Kiss My Ass

I saw this video for the first time today and was just dis-fucking-couraged to discover it is the fake lesbian shit i thought it to be. First, there are no girl on girl kisses. In fact, she doesn’t even look at any of the models writhing behind her. they, and her, are just male eye candy, and this whole song is just a big cliched farce.

Also, I remembered another song from the 90s called I Kissed A Girl, but every time i mentioned it to someone else i got a ‘you’re confused’ look. i know you doubt my memory, but goddamit, im right this time. check out the much better song and video above.