The Revolution happened in 1987--at least, that's what I recall. Nike footwear designer Tinker Hatfield had just created a revolutionary new sneaker design, the Nike Air Max, which featured a visible air bubble that, for the very first time, showed consumers exactly what the technology inside their shoes looked like. Revolutionary! Nike "Air" finally made visible sense! But then things got ugly.
As you probably know, I'm half-Japanese. I spent my childhood in Japan and even after we moved to the U.S., my mom continued cooking Japanese meals at home. So to me "homestyle cooking" means Japanese food. Typical Japanese staples are rice, noodles, fried meats, and seafood (not necessarily raw), but here in the States most Japanese places are nothing more than sushi restaurants. That's why I always seek out traditional, authentic Japanese dining experiences--and Sushi Yama in Dallas is exactly that.
One year ago today, I made my very first post on dsicle.com and while it certainly isn't the first blog I've created, it's undoubtedly my favorite. When I started this a year ago, I had a very simple goal: to post one good article roughly once per week. Quality over quantity.
I don't normally post at night, but this just can't wait. I mean, NIKE opening a brand new 20,000 sqft retail store in Dallas is the single biggest thing to happen in the local sneaker scene in years. Prior to this store opening, the nearest NIKETOWN was in Atlanta, a 12 hour drive across 3-and-a-half states. And the best part of all is that there's a NIKE iD.STUDIO in the store, meaning I now have access to all the studio exclusive materials and sneakers that previously I had to create on vacations to NYC...and it's just 10 minutes from my house!
I've been meaning to make this post for months, but with yesterday's announcement that Steve Jobs was resigning as CEO of Apple, it seems to be the perfect time to reflect on this. As a lifelong Mac user, I lived through the days when Apple was practically dead. The Mac OS was obsolete, the replacement "Copland" OS project was a failure, the Mac product line was a confusing mess, and the company itself was bloated and mismanaged. But then, Steve Jobs came back to save the very company he founded during its darkest hour.
Okay, this is my final KIXPO 2011 related post, I promise! At that event, which was held on the field at Cowboys Stadium, NIKE set up a mini iD.STUDIO (which you can see in this previous KIXPO recap post) and I got a chance to sit down and create another sneaker. Just like going to a full fledged iD.STUDIO, I had the option of using studio-exclusive materials and building studio-exclusive shoes--which of course I did.
You may recall this post that I wrote towards the end of May where I mentioned I was leaving the world of gainful employment and going into business for myself. Well it's been a little over 6 weeks now and I've gotta say, opening my own Graphic Design studio was the best damn career decision I've ever made. I'm working harder than ever (which has cut into my available blogging time) but I'm enjoying my work in a way I never imagined possible. A few of my friends and colleagues have already stopped by to check my new digs out, but I figured now would be a great time to show everyone my new design studio.
JAY-Z & KANYE WEST WATCH THE THRONE is a thoroughly enjoyable album from start to finish, but it's lacking one thing that could have made it great: a pioneering spirit. It's merely the status quo of the two biggest superstars in the genre, which isn't necessarily a bad thing; we don't get nearly enough quality hip hop albums like WATCH THE THRONE these days. But it doesn't advance the art form of hip hop, not in the way previous albums by either artist have done before.
In my last two blog posts, I covered the KIXPO 2011 event and showed the LEBRON VII collection that my good friends @verbhal and @addictivesole had on display. Here finally, after many hours of shooting & editing, are the shoes themselves in all their glory. They're all size 12-13 which is their size, because these aren't just for show. It's not quite every LBJ VII made, but it's nearly all of them; certainly the most comprehensive collection displayed at once that I've ever seen. Check out all the pics by going to GALLERIES in the top navigation, or just click this link below and click the 1st picture.
In my last post, KIXPO PORTRAITS, I featured some of the awesome people that came through KIXPO 2011. In this post, I'm going to cover the show itself as well as the overall weekend experience--or at least, my own personal experience--which started Friday afternoon when my friend and official KIXPO host MAYOR landed at DFW airport. My buddy Tom SamColt12 picked him up from the airport, checked him into the hotel, and then drove him straight to my new design studio office...
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:43AM