Congrats all around!

This is the view from my apt once again. On clear nights, the Shinjuku skyline is really nice. The Empire State look-a-like in the center is the Docomo Tower. If and when we move from this apt, I will miss the view, that's for sure. But wait! This is a happy post, let's get to the happiness!

That's right folks. Man in Tokyo is 1 year old! My first post was on August 2nd, 2006. Congrats to me! I made it one year without stopping. I started this thing with a lot of encouragement from my City Sis. So of course...a big shout out to her! To all the kind people that spend some of their time to read this, thank you. Still not exactly sure what the point of this thing is, but I hope to be able to stick 2 candles in something someday! While we are making announcements.

* Congrats to my Country Sis and her family! They welcomed a new daughter to their ever expanding family. I got a new niece on the 4th of August. Can't wait to meet her in Nov.

* An early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother! August 7th is his big day. I won't be able to make it back to see you for this one. Good luck on your tour! If any of you readers are in Europe and you like hardcore. My brother will be going on tour with Bane. Click HERE if you want to have your head kicked in by some live hardcore loudness.

Ok...that's enough congrats to last me a long while. Let's get back down to business. Last week I informed you that I made a big non-sneaker purchase. Now is the time for the big reveal.

That's right people, I bought an Xbox 360. It was one of the more difficult choices in my life. I knew I needed to upgrade, but I was not sure which direction to go in. Other times in my life I had no doubt. My 5th system was the most difficult to decide on. I have been a game player all my life. I still have fond memories of buying my first Sega Master System.

For more picks click HERE. Back in the day, It was my first big purchase. I remember walking out of Kay-Bee Toys a very happy boy. I played the hell out of After Burner,

Alex Kidd,

and many more. (Outrun, Zillion, Double Dragon, Sonic, etc...) My brother and I played a lot. (Mind you, we were also active outdoors: BMX, basketball, wiffle-ball) And just in case you were wondering, I had both the gun and the 3D glasses. This was just my first entry into the video game world. I never got down with the Nintendo, besides Mario of course. Much later I got the Sony PlayStation 1 and 2. I loved them. They satisfied me very well. So, why did I jump ship you ask? Good question!

What you see above are 2 good reasons. I thought long and hard about which system to go with, Xbox or PS3. And as you see, I went with the new boy on the block. I have been dying to play Forza and Table Tennis. Both of these games are NOT available on the PS3. Gran Turismo (on the PlayStation) served me well, but I thought it was time to move on. I'm not sure what GT thought. (Not that I care.) So far, I am very pleased with my choice.

The Rockstar Table Tennis game is pretty amazing. I wouldn't say its JUST like playing ping pong in real life, but it's pretty damn close. Do you know what's even better than playing the one player tournaments at home? Playing against my new friends online. Although I lose more than I win, it is a complete blast.

As for Forza...

Here is my first tricked out car. It is first generation Lancia Delta. So far the game is making me happy. I am not quite used to it all yet...but I am having fun.


Lastly, and for no reason at all...an in game shot of a vintage Porsche killing the competition.

I will keep you updated with the good times as they occur. Sadly, the purchase did put a large dent in my sneaker funds. It might be quite a while before I can pick up a new pair. But...that doesn't mean I have to stop thinking about them. Right now, these are my top two contenders.

[source]

or
[source]

I am leaning towards the brown ones. But I have yet to see them in the flesh. Let me know what you all think. I might just listen to your opinion! (Maybe)


Music

#1. As I have said before, 50 Cent ain't my favorite rapper ever. That being said...I can get down to some of his tracks. I am still loving that remix from a couple weeks back. Here is his new track "I get money".



Now...you might ask "When will this conspicuous consumption as art ever end?" Who knows? But, I think it's hilarious. Plus, does anyone else think it's strange he talks all about Ferrari Enzos and Jaguars in the video, but is surrounded by Lamborghinis? I will have to ask him if he knows the difference the next time I see him. And if you can't get down with the original, from Catchdubs comes a nice fix up of "I Get Money". It is somehow simpler and better. I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe it's cause I don't have to watch that video. Maybe? [via Catchdubs]


#2. This next one sounds like the best video game you've never played...at 140 BPM. Just picture Mario and Luigi getting their groove on. Watch out for the "Game Over" before everything goes into double speed! If I had any talent at all, I would be making a You Tube video for this right now. Sadly...I am only sharing it with you. It is a Switch remix of a Les Rythmes Digitales track "Jacques Your Body Make Me Sweat". [via Attorney St.]


#3. This track speaks to me. I am not sure why. Is it the slow heavy bass? The organ like twiddling? The old school hook from Gang Starr's track "Ex-Girl to the Next"? The smoothness of the MCs? Or is it all of the above? Click HERE to read a bit more about the track and listen to the track. [via The Fader]


#4. I don't have much info on this one. And...to be honest, I don't really need any. Neither should you. It is a hot-ass remix of Lil' Mama track "Lip Gloss". I don't think it could get any more fun. [via Palms Out]

BONUS TRACK. Holy goose bumps Batman. This thing killed me. It is ridiculously good. A bit of a slow start, but once it starts getting its groove on, you won't want it to stop. You must listen to Bjork's Timbaland produced track "Innocence" as remixed by Simian Mobile Disco. The synths are to die for. The beat just never stops. And Bjork floating above it all in the minor key...fantastic. [via Discobelle]

That's all for this week. See you next week!

We got snacks now.

That is a left over shot from my trip last week. Those are the dark typhoon clouds being broken apart by the sunny skies. Pretty dramatic sky if you ask me. I thought it was appropriate considering the storms that happened in Tokyo today. And a shout out goes to my family as well. They had their chimney attacked by some lightning over the weekend. Glad everybody is ok, in spite of not following your kids advice.

Also left over from my trip is a report on the books I read. Along with that...I'd like to start a snack report. This will be a import edition. I am not sure why, but I see some weird candy coming from America. The normal good stuff; Skittles, Take Five, Reese's...those are impossible to find. But strangely named candy, I can find that shit. Let's get to it. Books first!

Mark Haddon's book A Spot of Bother was the book I blew through over my long weekend. I bought it in spite of what it said on the back cover. It sounded a bit too depressing. But I loved his first book so much, I would read anything by him. And this book did not disappoint in the least. Wonderfully well written characters, not one of them is perfect or the good/bad guy. It is the story of a family. And as we all know, families never run all smooth. All anyone can do is to try to hold themselves together and help each other when they can. This story will make you feel attached to these flawed characters from beginning to end.

As you know, I love me some LEGO. As soon as I saw these Candy Blox, I had to buy them. I thought it would be cool if you could actually play with them. I was picturing hard, clear candy. Similar to Jolly Ranchers. From their website:

"Assorted fruit flavors blocks. These tasty treats look like real legos the only difference is after your done playing with them you can go ahead and eat them."

Here is what I found when I opened the bag.

What a rip-off. They say you can build stuff. How? By stacking them? These stupid sugary things don't fit together! You can't build anything! The packaging is a big, fat, stupid...

Back to the books.

I don't read a ton of hardcover books. There is the weight in my bag issue plus the expense over here in Japan. This one I picked up last year when I was visiting my family. It took me almost a year to get to it. Not sure why. I really like China Miéville. I have enjoyed all of his books, except for the first. (Not even going to link to it, if you are dieing to know, YOU do the research!) Iron Council might be my fav by him. It is sci-fi: with weird monsters, slightly altered technology, and all set in a far and sometimes mystical land. Thankfully, most of it is not concerned with the strangeness and by and large, the characters are freaked out by the strangeness along with the reader. It is much more concerned with friendship, political upheaval, and what people will do when they believe in something. He does some really cool things with language and doesn't leave you in the dark for too long. It does have a slow first 2 chapters, but after that, I couldn't wait to find out how it was going to end. Super, super book. Any sci-fi fan should read add his name to their list of authors and pick up this soon. Click HERE for an interesting short piece about him. He even explains his name!

Getting hungry for a snack? Here you go.

I bought these on the name alone. I remember my Mom shouting a hundred times that I had to move my clodhoppers from in front of the back door. (Even then I had shoe issues!) Let's see what they same the meaning of this word is:

1. A clumsy, coarse person; a bumpkin.
2. A big heavy shoe.

Yikes! I hope she meant #2. I never understood why she used that word though. Whatever, it stuck in my head for good. To run into this strangely named snack in Japan of all places was quite a surprise. And..they were not have bad. A bit dry, not moist like I was thinking. But not nearly the lie that the stupid Candy Blox perpetrated. Damn them! No, these Clodhoppers were alright.

Books! Books! And more books!

This was purchased in a blind leap. Yes, it was on the NYT best seller list, but so what. I had never heard of it. AND...it was by a female author, which is rare for me. But, I loved the cover and the back cover write-up was interesting. So...how did this blind leap end you ask? Special Topics in Calamity Physics is simply amazing. Marisha Pessl is clearly way smarter than the rest of us. This book needs to be read by all people who like to read good books: fascinating & lovable lead protagonist, unbearable coming of age moments, frenemies, bizarre dad, a deep & unpredictable plot and a very clever ending. It also includes one of the best descriptions of a character ever. The girl is talking about her Dad and how he hates to be "informed" of things he already knows. This is one of my pet peeves. Calling it a pet peeve makes it sound cute. I really hate it. I have to fight myself not to tell people, "Yeah...I already knew that!" (In a bitchy tone, of course.) I often lose the fight. Ok, the book is great and you should read it now. It is safe for Moms too, not too violent or gross at all.

Snacks galore.

Yes, these are not that strange, I know. But...of all the snacks in the US, how in the world do these make it over to Japan. What is the criteria? Who decides? Do they take suggestions? This find did bring back a flood of memories of the huge green boxes that would be devoured way to quickly by JB and I. They are still the same: sticky, sweet, and chewy. After I finished the small bag, I felt a bit sick. How did I eve eat so many of these little guys?

Let's see what the library has for us this time.

JPod was a decent book. I wanted to tell Douglas Coupland, yeah, I get it. He was using so many tricks, strategies, literary games, and played with the text so many different ways, I just wanted to tell him to relax. I get that living in the age of Google is quite a trip. Got it. Can we move on. What I have loved about his writing is the relationships between the characters and how they interact in the world. That was here in this book too, but it seemed secondary. Read this if you love Coupland, if you don't, skip it. I will not stop reading him, but I was a bit let down by this one. Great cover though.

You still hungry? Ok, one more snack. But, then you have to brush your teeth!

Again...it was all about the name on this one. I mean, could you walk out of a store without buying some Hanky Panky. (No link to the candy, way too much crap to filter through.) What does the intertube say about the meaning of this word. I have an idea about what it means to me. But, let the web tell us.

1. mischievous behaviour
2. sexual intercourse, especially if illicit
3. A debaucherous act; a sexual act that is considered inappropriate.

Huh, I was two-thirds right. I guess I knew the first meaning too, but come on. Who uses it like that? Your Grandma? Your Great Aunt? Hanky panky means straight up s-e-x. Besides the name of this snack...I don't have too much to say. It was pretty good. The quality of the chocolate left a bit to be desired. But, that's life.

I saved you a spot in the reading corner. Come sit next to me.

Another book bought for the cover. I bought this book ages ago too. I was always putting other books in front of it. But, I finally read Oh the Glory Of It All . And it was really good. It the true life coming of age story of Sean Wilsey. The first part, recounting briefly the story of some of his ancestors...you would make you think this rich kid had it made. Not even close. The story is heart wrenching at times. And the last chapter or two should read at home, not in public. Fair warning.

Wow. That is enough about that. A Japanese edition of "We got snacks now" is in the works. But as for now, my sweet tooth hurts and so do my eyes. Let's talk about something else.

Remember when I talked about the Uniqlo store UT. Click HERE for a refresher. I finally was able to pick one.

I bought it thinking the red would match my new Asics. But, when I put them next to each other...no good. The red of the shirt was too orange. I still like the design a lot though. Pretty simple and clean.

It was close, but sadly, they are mismatched. So, I played with the purple instead. I am happy I could find a second choice. And, to be honest, I think I like it.



Music

#1 & 2. This week lets start with some nastiness from the ATL. I give you Crime Mob. (I may not be the first to give them to you...but...I give them to you none-the-less.) Sit back and relax...if you can, and watch the video for "Knuck if You Buck"



My City Sis was onto these nice kids way before me. (I'm sure many people were.) Click HERE for their latest track. She described them as kids that are likely to murder you and then go get a pizza. I find this an apt description. Whatever their disposition on homicide, they sure can put together a bad ass song. Oh...before we go to far, how about an explanation of the title.

1. To want to fight if someone offends you; preparing to fight if someone steps to you
2. A phrase used to express the intent of violence, literally translated as "knuckle up if you're buck wild".

How I came to discover them is by a remix. Not just any remix. Without a doubt, one of the best remixes I have ever heard. It combines cruck, grime, dubstep, and plain and simple badassness. It is by DJ/Rupture. I have been onto his stuff for a long time. Always interesting and worth your time. For the amazing and remix, click HERE. [via Sellbesting & Negrophonic]

The rest I have for you are longer mixes, not tracks. You can decide if this is a good or bad thing.

#3. The first long mix is by The Captain. The 50 minute mix is "All Around NY". It is a fun, high tempo mix. Full of nice reworkings of cruck, baile funkc, and general techie dancyness. If you were at a club with this mix coming out the speakers, your ass would be dancing. Watch out for the late middle section...it will get you dancing at your desk. This is just before a nice mellow finish. A solid mix. [via Dirty Down]

# 4. This is a take no prisoners, beat you to death as quickly as possible mix. The beating you are about to receive is made possible by Herve. He did a mix for the BBC. They give a DJ 21 minutes to impress. Here is his "21 Minutes to Know". Notable minutes:

* Minute 5 - for the deep beat and the whistle.
* Minute 7 - for the clean bouncing head nodding beat.
* Minute 11 - for the nasty acid break down.
* Minute 17 - for the smooth transition from the dark beat to the bright songstress and then back again.

Surley 21 minutes of your time well spent. Enjoy. [via Electric Zoo]

That is all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a large non-sneaker purchase.

ps. Whithout a doubt, all the musicians I write about have a MySpace page. But I think MySpace is the fucking worst and I hate it with every fiber of my being. It is a slow loading, music pushing, eye-bleeding, worthless, ugly in the extreme mess. I could go on and on...but I don't want to waste your time. And yes, I do have a page, but it is only cause I am too lazy to take that shit down.

Traveling Man

This was Tokyo Station Saturday at the start of the long weekend. It was just a touch crowded. We had no reason to worry...we had reserved seats on the Shinkansen. But all those people and commotion increased my stress level a tiny bit. But one look at any of the signs soothed me.

I love the timetables at Tokyo Station. They look exactly what they should look like. With 10 mins to go before our train was to leave, up to the platform we went. It was a rainy day...stupid typhoon. (More about that later.)

We were not taking the most super fastest express train. But it still looks pretty fast. It still looks fast, even though this is the back of the train. It has a kind of sinister look, if you ask me. In the short time before our train was to depart, I was able to snag a pic with two other flavors of Shinkansen.


The closest one is the fastest. It was what we took to return to Tokyo...but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Back to our trip. As I have said before, a good bento is needed when you ride the bullet train. I think there is a law somewhere. And...I am no rule breaker.

That's my girl's on the left. It was some kind of Thai rice bowl with pork. And on the right...I had me some fried chicken with a tasty sauce. And you know I rock the tall boy can. Both were damn tasty and the beer hit the spot. Our train ride was a bit long but mostly uneventful. This was not a guarantee...see, there was a typhoon headed up the island of Japan. We were heading west, and the predicted path of the typhoon was mostly eastern in nature. From the train all was saw was clouds on rain. After 4 hours, and a train transfer, we arrived at a tiny local station called...
Awaraonsen. It is a small onsen town on the Japan Sea coast. Onsens, for those people not down with the lingo, are hot springs in Japan. Usually they consist of a hotel built over a natural hot spring which allows for some killer baths. Yes, you usually have to bathe naked with strangers (of the same sex)...but it is totally worth it!

hotels in it. They call it an "Onsen Town". After calling the hotel from the station, we were picked up and brought to the hotel. It was a bit surprising that it was so big. And it was not in the mountains or set far away from the town, was I was expecting. No, this one was in the center of a tiny town...a tiny town with 4 big onsens.

Our room was enormous. It was a 2 floor suite with 3 rooms, large bathroom, jacuzzi, and tatami flooring everywhere. (Somehow I have no good photos of the room...strange.) As soon as we arrived, I hustled to grab a bath before our dinner. It was the perfect antidote for the long trip and cloudy weather. I came back to the room to find the staff setting up our dinner. I love dinner your room. It's like "breakfast in bed" x 10!

This was the first course. Lot's of traditional foods. Nothing super fantastic, but it's rude not to try the strange looking stuff. The tofu was good.

Courses 2-5 certainly made up for the first course. The raw beef was a first for me, super high quality, thinly sliced beef, which you then dip in a sesame sauce: it was pretty amazing. The mini-steak was good, but it couldn't compete with the prime cuts. And the tempura and sashimi were very delicious as well. There was a soup as well, and beer, and beer, and a bit more beer. It was one of those meals that takes 3 hours. Time well spent. After the dinner, the staff hooked us up with a nice surprise. They gave us a chance to take a bath the private bath for couples.

As I said before, bathes are usually separated by sex. Because of that, I have never had a chance to enjoy a onsen soak with my girl. This is NOW not longer true. We had this secluded bath, with adjoining room, all to ourselves for a solid hour. The bath was on a deck facing an Asian style garden with a steam running through it. Since it was so late, the pics leave a little to the imagination, but trust me...it was fantastic. After a wonderful hour, it was back up to our room for a nice sleep.

Through the night, unbeknownst to me, the typhoon past our area. In the morning we were left with less rain and more clouds. The above pics were taken from our room on the 11th floor. The area was so flat. It reminded me of my days in Iowa: Hawkeyes stand up! But in this case, they are growing rice, not corn. And in Japan there are mountains in the near distance, not so much in Iowa.

I was able to enjoy another bath in the AM, before grabbing some breakfast. Which, to be honest, was a bit disappointing. Another disappointing thing for the whole weekend was the fact that because of the rain, I had to go with my older New Balances. But, I was able to rep my newest shoes with my backpack.

It worked out pretty well. It is a touch small, but that is a good thing since I hate huge bags. It was able to hold my reading material, some snacks, wallet, and camera. So, back to the story, we checked out and then made our way back to the train station. We were heading to my girl's parents house outside of Kyoto. It was local trains all the way. I am not train otaku. (Otaku = obsessive geek) I will keep my obsessiveness to shoes, cars, and music. But, one can not help but love the variety of trains they got in this country.

The bad-ass old school locomotive work horse is a true winner. We arrived safely to their home and it was straight up relax city. I read a ton (more on that coming soon) and enjoyed watching some soccer on their huge new TV. Interesting fact: It is impossible to take a good picture of a TV that shows the scale without getting out a rule...and this automatically pushing you far from taking a good picture.

On Monday, a National Holiday, we got to eat my fav: yakiniku. I was only able to take one pic between stuffing my face. It was better than usual. They changed butchers. Yeah for improvements!

One Tuesday we made our way back to Tokyo, via Kyoto station. It is the time for summer festivals, and even Kyoto station is getting in the spirit.


And that was our long weekend. A good time was had by all. As you can see, it tool a while to get back into the swing of things in Tokyo....but we are firing on all cylinders again.


Music

#1. So....ignore the beginning of this track. It's some lady talking important sounding nonsense. Just wait for 50 Cent to come sauntering in. Usually, I can take or leave 50. Sometimes I can groove to his stuff. But this re-working of "Just a Little Bit" is pretty damn amazing. All syncopated and off beat hotness. It pleeps and bloops with almost no coherence. But hot damn....does it make me smile. [via Discobelle]

#2. I kinda missed the whole Bloc Party hype from a couple years ago. I was already in Japan...and not totally up on it. But, the songs I did run into...I enjoyed. This remix of one of their songs I enjoy a lot, click HERE to hear it and read a bit more about it. It's a solid effort with an interesting mix of styles. I am not sure you could dance to it...but...you can certainly nod your head. [via The Fader]

#3. Let me hit you with some straight up grime. This is no mash up. No combination of different micro genres. This is just hot fire high energy grime monster shit. The words per beat (WPB) is off the charts. Get your ears ready for Durrty Goodz - Axiom. [via Negrophonic]

#4. And lastly for this week. The best mixtape I have heard in a long time.


Produced by Catchdubs and featuring the rhymes of Wale. It is well worth your effort to download this fun summertime jam. It sounds like your coolest friends hanging out in a studio filled with the best beats just having a party. Click HERE to download. [via Pinglewood among many others]

That is all for this week. Stay tuned for some snacks and books coming soon. And of course we weill be getting back to the shoes too!

Later

Talking To Strangers

Hi again folks. I have a lot to say today for some reason. It might be a bit disjointed...but as we all know, life doesn't always run smoothly. Kyuta, the smiling red guy above, works for the Tokyo Fire Department. I like his helmet a hell of a lot. Is it me, or is it strange they were inspired by Dumb Donald from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

He was never the smartest kid in the group. He would more than likely burn the house down, then figure out how to call "119". That is what you have to dial in Japan, not 911. I have had to dial it twice here in Japan. Come to think of it, I had to dial 911 twice in NYC too. Someone should be more careful! Enough about that...let's move on.

So these are the other laces on the Patta Asics. And I tied them without using the "Granny Knot". (Thanks for the helpful comment.) I like these laces a lot. How about one more pic?

After a photo session this morning, I unDS'ed these bad boys. (DS = deadstock = never been worn. "unDS" = wear a pair of shoes for the first time, meaning they can't be sold for mad money.) It was a nice moment. But...wearing such treasured shoes makes you walk carefully. Here is some evidence:

Mind the gap.

Watch your step.

Here was my complete outfit.

Oh...you know I need to show you a close up of that shit. You knew that, right?

You see the connection right? Between the shoes, and the t-shirt. I am sure you do. I will not be explaining it. It is too obvious. So, where did I take my bad self in this well thought out outfit?

To play ping pong of course. I decided it was high time I used my own paddle. It had been a long time since it had seen any action. And boy did it ever get a workout today.

Story Time:

Usually it is 3 of us who go play; G, B, and Me. G is not good. B is ok. Sadly, B couldn't come today. So competition was hard to come by. After about 45 mins of kicking ass and fooling around I was bored. I had noticed a group of 5 college aged guys at a table on the other side of the room. They looked like they had some skills. After gathering my courage, I walked over there to challenge them to a game. They were shocked. I don't think it is very often that white guys come over to talk to them, let alone challenge them. Whatever. I did. So...2 guys come over. They were all nervous and laughing. The stronger of the 2 players, Kato, pushes Atshushi to play me first. After getting the rules squared away and a bit of rallying, off we went.

After a pretty even start, I pulled away and won 20-16. They were surprised I could play. I guess the stereotype of the superior Asian ping pong skills made it across to Japan too. (Too bad no one told me about this nonsense.) So, up steps Kato. He looked confident. From my spying earlier, I knew he was there strongest.

This time, we both had shaky starts. Lots of silly mistakes. His serve had me confused. It took most of the game to figure out how to deal with it. By then, it was too late. I lost 17-20. I was none to pleased. After some debating, we went at it again. He served first...cause I am a gentleman. At the change of serve it was 4-1, me. The next change of serve was 7-3. At this point I told him, "Gomene, chotto okotoimasu." (Sorry, I am a little angry) I said this half laughing. I won the game 20-6. They had had enough. I guess there was no need for a rubber match. As he was leaving, Kato said he was scared, and that I should smile more. THAT made me smile. They were nice guys.

Next time I will try not to look so fierce. G was laughing his ass off at the change in me. I was pleased I showed my skills. I hope we will meet again so we can play some more. Meaning, I hope I can continue to kick his ass!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Once ping pong was over, and after a bit shopping at Tower Records, I said bye to G. I was then off to check some spots in Harajuku. I saw some nice things, but nothing screamed my name. (Except for a t-shirt at UT, more details later.) BUT...as I was walking around I was lucky enough to run into some huge players in the street wear and shoe game.

On the right you have Hiroshi Fujiwara. I mentioned him before. Known as the Godfather of Street wear and underground culture. He is as high on the hipster chart as you can go. Way back when, he gave Nigo his nickname; "ni" meaning 2 in Japanese, Hiroshi being number 1.

On the left you have Fraser Cooke. He is a huge member of the Nike design group. He started out with a store in London called Hideout, before moving to Nike. He is such a big player they made a shoe with his hair. (It's the shoe on the right.)

I am a pretty relaxed guy, except for the odd ping pong match, but it was kinda exciting to see these big shots walking around Harajuku. It must be an interesting experience for them to see their influence all spread out for them. I was not brave enough to talk to them.I can only talk to strangers once a day. Maybe next time.

Last shoe news for today:

On Sunday, I tried a new color in my Hold Tights. I rocked these with a white polo shirt with pink and blue stripes. I like the new color a lot. Thoughts?

And the obligitory close-up.

Notice the new lace up style. The old style didn't bother me. And with longer laces it actually works better for me. But with these shorter laces, this style looks better. If you forgot what the old style looked like, scroll down and peep any of my old shoe pics. They have the laces pointing up and down the shoe, heel to toe. This new style has the sitting pretty on the top going off to the sides.

MUSIC

#1. Here is a track that takes The Beatles to Baltimore. It starts a bit shaky, like a bad mash-up from 5 years ago. But in the end it comes together well. The B'more madness continues. [via Attorney St.]

#2. This track by some Belgium band call The Subs made me say, "Holy shit." Listen to it HERE. (Lyrics NSFW or my mom) The break just before the chorus comes in is ridiculous. Taking me back to my raving days. It is dark and heavy. With some 303 thrown on top. [via Discobelle]

#3. After teasing you with a broken link. And then finding a fixed one, I can now give you the video for Dizze's track "Old School". Best. Dizze. Track. Ever. As you nod your head to the slammin beat, please notice: Blue Nike Air Max 90s, dope 80's phone, vintage Nike gear, Magnum's Ferrari, sick dance moves, and vintage Porsches. [via The Fader]



#4. Another track I talked about before has a new video out. Here is Kanye's video for "Stronger".



It looks over produced and not that exciting. This despite all the money they threw at it and the Japanese flavor. I do like his shades. And I still like the song. But, for those out there that are not feeling it don't worry, Diplo has got you covered with a fun but yet slammin edit (read remix) of the original Daft Punk track. The track is called Work Is Never Over. It gets glitchy as hell....but you will like it. [via Pingle Wood]

That's all I got for you this week. Next week might be late getting up. My girl and I are off on a weekend jaunt.

Later

UPDATE: Hiroshi Fujiwara is so big in the game they are making him an action figure. Click HERE to see it. [via High Snobiety]