One of the things I picked up a while back was this tour of Brooklyn he did in the lead up to the World Basketball Festival. For this Nike wanted to connect the Five Boroughs of New York City in a celebration of hoops, culture, and its iconic Air Force 1 sneaker. Five ambassadors from each of the five boroughs were asked to participate in 1LOVE, an online documentary series amongst other things as they also held a basketball tournament and a Manhattan block party.

First up is Brooklyn-raised rapper, songwriter and producer Theophilus London, who gives a little tour of the Brooklyn neighbourhood he grew up in and uncovers what makes his borough unique.

Besides Theophilus the other borrows got to do their thing also. Have a look as it gives you a great view on different communities & cultures which make p the wonderfull city of New York.

Episode 2 for instance features Harlem-raised rapper and XL Recordings artist Ms. Banks. In his short-film Banks discusses the streets she grew up on and takes a close look at the original stomping ground that inspires and influences her.

Episode 3 features Cory Gunz, a Bronx based rapper and Young Money Entertainment star in the make it seems. He gives us a tour of NYC’s northern borough, and according to Cory “The Birthplace of Hip Hop.”

Episode 4 takes us on a trip through Queens with FORMAT: a lifestyle and BMX shop owned by pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester.

And last but not least, episode 5 features Emilio Sparks of Staten Island.

This reminds me I have to put “visit NYC” on the TO DO list for the next years. Out.

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Another couple of great mini docs. Now go out into the sun and don’t forget to wear some sunscreen.

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Copyright law and what to do with it. A hard nutshell to crack. A discussion that has been going on for decades and one I do not really want to share my opinion on as different parties state different facts which make it hard to draw a line in it all.

I remember how when I was a kid tape and VHS cassettes used to be pirated on a large scale and were sold on local markets. I saw Napster and other services come up later on in life and I saw some of these services disappear as quick while others became larger than life. Evolution and revolution at the same time one might say and interesting times none the less.

Piracy, whether music/video or designer handbags, is something that will always be around in my opinion. What everyone must realise though is that creative people deserve to make a living. A liner note which our younger generations can hardly grasp as they never really grew up to value music for instance.They love music, they talk about & share it with their friends and they especially also download it. Logical in my opinion as they’re growing up in a digital environment with unlimited access to something with no value due to that reason.

Kids nowadays do not grow up in record stores. Flicking through hundreds and hundreds of records, looking for that one album cover to draw their attention, ordering limited edition releases from Japan, … They just can’t value the carrier which a CD or vinyl is for some older generations.

Now I do not want to blame everything on the kids, as older generations also download huge volumes. But I do want to explain  that current tactics fighting piracy do not work in my opinion. One must educate people and learn kids how to appreciate creativity. And that’s the hard part as one does not have the impression that they are hurting someone with a harmless download.

As stated, a long discussion and one with mixed opinions …

Now I stumbled upon the following clip. Its a clip in which director Simon Klose explains why he needs your support to finish the documentary called TPB AFK. This stand for The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard. Its a documentary on the notorious filesharing website The Pirate Bay, a long-standing enemy of the movie & music industry. In this documentary Simon follows the three founders of the site, and their reactions to being found guilty of being accessory to crime against copyright law and fined over 3.6 million dollars.

There’s already over 200 hours of footage saved up and there are plans to record more during the founders’ appeal against their previous verdict, which is set for less than a month from now, on 28 September, 2010. In three days, the director already raised over $30,000 on to pay for a professional editor and use of an editing suite in putting together the full length feature.

The court case, the political parties that have been started across several continents, the threats which get hilarious answers, … all interesting and something which many have been following up close for a long time now. All I can say: crazy Swedes. Hope they’ve got a stay out of jail for free card .

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#ROFL

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I grew up among denim. My father has been working for one of the world’s largest denim companies for like forever. It gave me an edge on many, a close viewing point of changes within the industry throughout the passed decade or so.

I remember visiting factories and being amazed by the process, the huge washing machines for stone wash effects or sandblasting denim for that rough/used look. I remember being asked to go fit new models and other clothes for the designers, doing summer jobs within the company, …

Come to think of it there’s a lot I have always loved about denim. I love its smell, its feel and its look. You can never go bad with a good pair of jeans in my opinion. Come to think of it I have an almost denim exclusive closet, sponsored off course

Now I know you must be wondering where the hell I found the inspiration for this post?! Well, it was the following clip that triggered everything for me. A clip I just on Matix, a company that recently launched its Capital Collection, which is a premium line of made and sourced in the USA denim, T-shirts, and cut-and-sew pieces. Each item in their line is hand made by American workers in the USA, something rare in this day and age of low-cost sewing facilities in Asia & Africa. Something to ponder upon when you consider blue jeans were born in the US of A originally.

Anyways, time to iron some jeans straight out of the dryer.

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Danny Trejo ain’t your average actor as you might know. The man we all know from a huge list of movies (From dusk till dawn, Point blank, xXx, Grindhouse, Delta Farce, …) has had a turbulent life before finding shelter amongst Hollywood’s finest.

A kid from the street, Trejo was a drug addict and criminal, finding his way in and out of jail for 11 years. It was there, while serving time in San Quentin, that he won lightweight and welterweight boxing titles while he was imprisoned for armed robbery and drug offenses. At that point he successfully completed a 12-step rehabilitation program that changed his life. After having served his time, by coincidence he found his way into the film industry. A friend of his & fellow inmate asked him to use his boxing skills and train Eric Roberts for a fight in a movie scene. The rest is history as other projects followed.

With Machete (you know this exciting release we mentioned a while back) coming out soon SA Studios was commissioned by 20th Century Fox to produce several videos starring Danny Trejo in order to promote the film “Machete” .  The first lifestyle video features Mister Cartoon and Danny Trejo lowriding through East LA.  Its the beginning of what I assume will become a great series with one of my favorite actors. And we’re out.

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Wait a second, there’s two Mickey’s?!

Great picture through Sean Bonner. Out.

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One Night Stand from Jack Tew on Vimeo.

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