My buddy Adam's coworker was getting married, doing it big (I been
saying this a lot recently, I think my students got no clue what I mean
by that... I don't fully know what I mean by that), Korean style.
(Maybe it has something to do with Big Willie Style?)
Anyways, what better did I have to do on a Friday night in Seoul other than
crash a wedding?
(All pictures stolen from my homeboy Gabe, whom Adam introduced
to me that night. They both go to the church in Seoul I've been
attending the last 2 Sundays.)
When Koreans do it big they go big... this can be a ridiculous country
(I will likely go on at length in my next post about how if I see
one more Louis bag on the subway I am fin'na go upside someone
head.)
Again: they go big.
To repeat: Big.
The interesting thing was, it's all one big performance. Guests
(especially those guests who have absolutely no direct relationship
or shared family tree with the happy couple...) were directed
downstairs to eat, with our choice of Chinese or Western food. The
upstairs level (where the ceremony was taking place) was for
lookies, not touchies.
I was truly straight with that though. Those of you who know me
well know that I am all about chilling with a Few Good Men [||].
So Adam, Gabe, and I followed a Ritz-Carlton worker downstairs
to their 四川饭馆儿 and kicked it while they brought us mad courses
of... Chinese food?
I saw another table getting a polaroid taken (old-school, Andre
3Stacks' "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" style), so I artlessly, as
the hostess passed our table holding the camera, totally blurted out
to Adam: "AY YO WE OUGHTA GET OUR PICTURE TOOK".
Turns out, the other table was celebrating a 1st wedding
anniversary. My bad.
Still, she was far too polite/courteous to turn down the blatant
request from the guests that had been sitting in their dining room
for TWO AND A HALF HOURS, so we got our picture took.
Then took a picture with our took picture.
Side note: I love how Gabe's camera focused very obviously on
the Polaroid, with complete abandonment (and blurring) of any
actual human subject. Real recognize real, I guess.
干杯.
Rest of the story is that, after we left the wedding, Adam and I
decided to kick it in a Burger King near the Gangnam subway
station for a while, talking about spiritual matters (specifically,
the relative merits of theologies of salvation from and salvation
to)... and by the time we rolled out, it was too late for me to catch
the last train back to Ilsan, the suburb where I live. So I wound
up spending the night in his host house in Gwacheon, then riding
back to Ilsan the next morning, heading into work to pick up some
tests, teaching a bunch of 9-year-olds a lesson I was highly
unqualified to teach, then getting back to my place around noon on
Saturday.
This is what it is on the weekend in Korea.
BOWLIN!!!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs.... somebody?
Fresh out the (mail)box.
Three days before leaving for Seoul, I picked up a vintage ('02)
bape sweater off eBay for a steal. It arrived in the mail literally
hours after I left for Korea... smh
I love older bape... it's got heat, but subtle. nuanced.
I also previously won (as mentioned here) a contest on Just Blaze's
blog, the prize being a limited edition Just Blaze X LRG tee (designed
by Mikey Ion).
Never gon see this in the store!!!
Looking forward to getting home...
A side note: where did Yohji Yamamoto find his models???? I like the look, as these dudes compliment his brand of sartorialism quite smashingly, but... who are these men??
Another side note: Word to Dallas for his shout out. This dude keeps it one hunnid per sent, more so than most, and definitely on par with anyone i know. He is willing to be brutally honest and open about his life (both present and sordid/lurid/bad ass past) in a real telling way. Anyone not checking for his blog or the work with the iC's (iNternets Celebrities) should start that up. now.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Welcome to Korea / The Crib
Sunrise at the Philadelphia airport.
Alife gets exposure in SKY Magazine.
Bapesta FS-001's in the Atlanta international airport.
My school.
Reception.
After ~18 hours of travel.
My coworker Mr. Park and I went out for bulgolgi courtesy
of the company.
Front door.
Bathroom.
View looking in.
Kitchenette/door.
My apartment furnishings arrived Tuesday.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Bust Out! - SAVE THE WAR Collection
Season 2 of this little Bust Out! clothing line... Theme: SAVE THE WAR.
Design: Zac and Paco
English contributions: Grand Master
Model: Slim Paul
This hat (and the season's logo) is so fly I could merck' myself just looking at it...
I think I am most proud of and hyped for this tee...
MAN VERSUS CITY was one of my contributions for
the collection and they carried the theme out 150%.
Yes 150%, as in the final product is 50% doper than I
was imagining/hoping it would be.
These next 2 also come from slogans I contributed
in the design process... It is really amazing to see your
thoughts pushed through to the limit, props to Zac,
Paco, and the rest of the design team.
For more Bust Out! design updates, check Paco's myspace blog.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Hottest Out...
Is it just me, or has The Game been thoroughly killing it on his recent guest appearances? I know it can't just be me........ Is it??
I just copped (read: zshare.com) the new Fat Joe remix and in my mind (no SKATEBOARD PEE), Game outshone the other two rappers on the track. That reminded me of a Bussa remix I got a few weeks ago where it seemed homey did the same, or at least held his own amidst emcees that ought to've straight embarrassed lil' Compton (side note: who remembers Guerilla Black????).
Anyways, check these joints out and see if you agree:
Bussa Bus - Don't Touch Me (Remix featuring mad headz including Game)
-Game's verse starts around 1:45, until around 2:20
-"My style C-4 and I'm bout to blow"
-"LAX comin' thru JFK real soon"
-Homey went in on this joint. I remember when GAME came out and he seemed to just have that one real laid-back slow burn style. Cat was never all that lyrical to me and basically I saw him as eating bc of (1) hype (who goes back to The Documentary now and goes "yea that one deserved 5 mics/stars"???) and (2) riding on the G-Unit affiliation that was a magical Midas touch around 2003-2005.
-Looks like dude got a fire lit up under this time around though, and he been working on his flow and lyricism. I was wondering how he would keep up with the nasty FLIPMODE style that pervades this track courtesy of Sean C & LV (side note: if you ain't seen it yet, the original video is Trevor Rhymes and Spliff Star back on their classic behavior), but homey did his thing. It is good to see GAME starting to be an innovator rather than just a student of the game, as he's been reminding us constantly (and obnoxiously) since Documentary.
Fat Joe - Ain't Sayin Nothin (Remix ft. Weezy "Lollipop" Baby and Game)
-Game starts in around 1:15.
-"Put my name on ya mind, my style is New Era"
-"My dunks sittin bigger than yars"
-For a while now, dude has been a real straight-soundin emcee in his diction and how his flow works around syllables. While he got a dope voice, for too long it seems that Game's been relying on the rawness of his voice alone and not really pushing things forward in terms of delivery. This track sees Game go in after current twentysomething-and-under crowd favorite (and flavor of the Soundscan weeklies) Weezy Effing Baby (pause just for mentioning that name). After Wayne's codeine- (and possibly-way-more-....) laced vocals, Game drops in, working a new flow I haven't really heard him do before... His syllables flex and lag a little more than i'm used to hearing from Jayceon.
Basically, after hearing son body these tracks, I'm looking forward to LAX. For what might be the first time in his music career, Jayceon Taylor is really acting like an emcee, dropping verses (and not beefs) all over the place to build alliances & awareness of his upcoming release... And, the biggest thing - the thing that had me rewinding these mp3s to listen to his 16's (or however many bars he dropped) again to verify that it was GAME that dropped them - is that dude has finally stopped shouting out legendary emcees every 4 bars. For once it sounds like he is comfortable with being compared to other emcees, instead of fearing that others are doing so (and assuming that he loses out in such comparisons), and so he has to draw fewer overt or even blasphemous parallels ("Lyrically I'm Kool G Rap on these Dre beats"?!? nah, right?).
I've spent money on one or two albums this year (Wu-Tang's 8 Diagrams and the mixtape by ROCK from Heltah Skeltah, both 100% worthy to me), and plan on copping one or two more (Clipse/Re-Up definitely; even if they don't drop a new joint, i plan on copping HHNF): will LAX be one of those? With these verses, son has almost earned my $12.99 [||].
Visiting Steve and Nina / New York II
Sticker inside The Korner Diner, Newark, DE.
That night, I headed over to Steve's place in Stanton to
catch up with him for the first time in three or four
years... literally the last time I talked to this guy before
last week was to call him the morning of his wedding
and say what up.
I've known dude since I was 7 or 8.
Nina, Steve's wife.
Seamus (Steve been getting his Irish heritage on).
For the 2nd time (and then 3rd time... full story
coming tomorrow...), I headed into NYC to straighten
out passport/visa issues. Long story short: God was
glorified and I was drained empty [||].
Back here again...
北京欢迎奥运会！
...
5th Ave. (5th x 53rd st.) Louis Vuitton store.
My dad inside BWS New York... never thought I'd see
the day.
MISHKA sticker, SoHo. Actually, somewhere near reed
space, if memory serves.
UNIQLO - Case Closed window display for a new line of
anime/manga/video game tees.
Keith Haring homage near Lafayette and Houston.
BBC NY flagship flag.
Inside... the staircase from Ice Cream to BBC.
Taken right before my phone began the 4-hour process
of dying slowly.
There is a long post explaining in-depth the last few days and God's providence + teachings due
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