Kanye's First Performance Since the VMA's

Kanye West hit the stage with Common, Mos Def and Talib Kweli during Common’s benefit concert last night in LA. In the footage above, Kanye, Common, Mos and Kweli perform Good Life, Run This Town, Make Her Say, Flashing Lights and Get Em High.

NOBLE YOUTH

In 1922, the poet Carl Sandburg summed up actors since the seventeenth century in a single line of verse: “They all want to play Hamlet.” As it turns out, nearly all of them have—from John Barrymore to Liev Schreiber, Sarah Bernhardt to Ethan Hawke. “Someone once told me that you don’t play Hamlet—Hamlet plays you,” says Jude Law, the latest star to join the brooding pantheon. “He demands such a reveal of your inner feelings and thoughts that you have to open yourself up to him and see where he takes you.”

So far, Hamlet has taken the 36-year-old actor to the West End, where last summer he dazzled critics and drew adoring crowds with his charismatic performance in the Donmar Warehouse director Michael Grandage’s sinuous staging of Shakespeare’s existential tragedy. This month, after a brief stop in Denmark (at the real Elsinore Castle), Law and Co. open in New York for a twelve-week run at the Broadhurst. Despite moments when he felt, as he puts it, “the fear of God,” Law, after a seven-year hiatus, was thrilled to return to the stage, especially in such a demanding role. “You don’t often get to play a character with so many facets, who gives you so many opportunities to delve into your arsenal as an actor,” he says. “Ultimately, it’s why you’ll never have a definitive Hamlet—each actor has a different color, a different tone, and each brings out a different side of him. You can’t capture it all—which is a relief.”

In the London production, Law, with his sculptural features and tousled locks, his wiry frame clad in black jeans and T-shirt, easily captured a certain rumpled aristocracy. As his director observes, “We need Hamlet to walk on, and we need to see the crown prince standing before us.” But Law also captured Hamlet’s mercurial nature with remarkable intensity and self-assurance. He seems to be at his best when giving the audience access to Hamlet’s inner world, as when he delivers the “To be or not to be” speech slouched against a concrete wall beneath a swirl of falling snow. “I realized that I was blessed with an actor who really only plays it in the moment,” Grandage says. “He actually lets the play happen to him on a nightly basis.”

The two decided that their Hamlet had had a wonderful childhood, which allowed Law to react spontaneously to each fresh horror. “We found it astoundingly liberating,” says Grandage. “Both Jude and I benefited from happy childhoods—I know it’s not very fashionable to say that these days—and we were able to draw on that for the building of the character.”

The son of teachers, Law grew up in Lewisham, South London, where, as a schoolboy, he discovered a gift for the stage. “Standing up and pretending to be someone else seemed to come quite naturally to me,” he recalls. “I’m not sure what that says about me. I suppose that, as a kid, when people tell you that you’re good at something, you figure, Well, I’m rubbish at maths—might as well try something else.” Law practiced his craft in regional theater before making a name for himself in London—and later in New York—as a fragile innocent who disports himself sans costume in Cocteau’s Les Parents Terribles. But with his almost absurd good looks, tempered by a hint of vulnerability, Law was destined for the big screen. He has built a film career playing characters endowed with, and trapped by, eternal youth—a never-grow-up quality that, judging by the very public vicissitudes of his private peccadilloes, the actor doesn’t always leave on the set.

Hamlet, of course, is the original aging adolescent—society is corrupt, everyone’s a phony, and I want to kill myself—unable to reconcile his ideals with reality. When asked if he sees any parallels between Hamlet’s dilemma and his own life, Law allows that the melancholy Dane’s sense of betrayal and of being misunderstood ring a bell: “He feels hugely let down by the behavior of others, which I can certainly relate to, and yet he’s ultimately sort of singled out as the one who is troublesome and problematical.”

There is something ever-elusive about Law—which makes him perfectly suited to mine the contradictions of a figure that audiences have been trying to pin down for centuries. “You see Hamlet struggling with these questions about why we’re here and what the work of life is, but ultimately, as with all great writing, the answers are really left up to us,” Law says. “At the heart of this character is someone we all recognize as ourselves.”

Pixie Geldof’s Hair-Raising Stories

When we encountered Pixie Geldof backstage at the C’N'C show in Milan last night, her hair was being tortured. Enrico Mariotti, the man in charge of her now recognizable platinum blond coif, was yanking, back-combing, tweezing, teasing, stretching, and gluing her over-processed locks into a frizzled nest on the top of her head. “This is nothing,” he said, pulling out his iPhone for some show-and-tell of his masterpieces from Jeremy Scott’s Spring show, where Geldof sported a tall, Flintstones-style updo with technicolored, crimped extensions exploding form a bone-shaped clasp. “It bobbed when I walked,” Geldof recalled of the runway look. “I would totally wear that hairpiece to a party,” she added in what was likely complete seriousness (we were talking to London’s resident wild child, after all). With all the extreme styling that her natural hair is frequently subjected to, we couldn’t help but wonder if she struggles with breakage—or worse, if chunks of her hair ever just fall out. So we asked. “I have my methods on hair maintenance,” she said, revealing a few tricks of the peroxide-application trade. “When I bleach, I don’t wash my hair for a few days before; that way my scalp is dirty and protected from the chemicals. Then post-dye, I leave it dirty again so that my natural hair oils feed and repair my hair.” Ah. So there is, in fact, a method to the madness. Alas, if only we had time to get her notes on the art of country-to-country party-hopping and up-all-night antics. Another time.

A Revolution is Rising

Check out Levi's new black & grey denims.

WIZ KIDS!!!!!

I know this is late but the wiz kids dropped there mixtape about two weeks ago. Support the group and download the mixtape "Financial Aid: Semester 1". You can download it athttp://www.datpiff.com/DJ_DayDay_Wiz_Kids_Kal-J_GQ_Brent_the_Gent_.m67425.html

Safety First

Protection of a different sort
It's not that often that you hear a condom referred to as a "total game-changer," but that's how a press rep described Trojan's new Ecstasy to us. So, what's the big deal? Thanks to a "revolutionary new design," it evidently "feels like nothing's there." For the record, we're pretty sure they're talking about how it feels to you, not her.
$8.75 for ten, available at amazon.com; trojancondoms.com

B.O.M.B.S

So i've been slacking on the whole blog thing lately but i'm back on my bullshit (b.o.m.b.s). Look out for some new blog coming soon!

Future Marvel Comics Movies

You might want to be sitting down for this one, True Believers...Okay, you ready?

This morning Marvel Studios announced four new films slated for 2010 and 2011, including two Avengers-related movies!

With Iron Man's cinematic debut currently blasting through box offices throughout the country, fans can expect a second film to hit theaters on April 30, 2010! And a few months later in July, the mighty Thor himself will wield his enchanted hammer across the big screen courtesy of director Matthew Vaughn!

Pumped yet? You should be—and you haven't heard the best part! The summer of 2011 will kick off in style with a Captain America movie, followed just two short months later with the July-debuting Avengers!

Want the very first looks at how the Marvel movie universe is already tying together? Be sure you stick to your seats until the very end of "Iron Man"—yes, all the way through the credits! There's an extra special, extra exciting, extra scene guaranteed to thrill!

Plus, as first revealed at New York Comic-Con 2008, catch Robert Downey, Jr.'s cameo as Tony Stark in "The Incredible Hulk," smashing into theaters on June 13!

That noise you hear in the background is the sound of Marvelites the world over rejoicing, True Believer! So get ready, because these next few years are going to be one heck of a good time!

All White Retro Jordans

With the recent news of the Air Jordan 12 being released in a new white colorway this fall, and the Jordan 1 Phat Low White Ostrich coming soon, we started thinking about some of the best white Jordans to be released.

Summer is the perfect time for white kicks, and what better way then to take a stroll down memory lane through some of our favorites. We’ve seen everything from an icey sole, to “bling”, added to the white colorway. Some have been instant classics, others not so much.

Click here to take a look at the best all white Air Jordans.

LIVESTRONG x Nike “Greatest Hits” Display at Colette

One thing that often times separates the great boutiques from the good ones, is creativity. Colette definitely falls in to the great cateogry, thanks to creative displays like this one of the LIVESTRONG x Nike Greatest Hits Collection.

Not only can some of the Best of The LIVESTRONG sneakers be seen, including the FLOM Dunks that release this weekend, but bikes designed by artists KAWS and Shepard Fairey also help fill the window space. The greatest hits collection has garnered plenty of attention recently thanks to the LIVESTRONG colorway applied to the “greatest hits” from Nike.

Levi's + Photography = Greatness

Check out some of Levi's Artwork of the day!!!

Red Cafe got Heart & Soul

Check out Red Cafe's new single produced by Pete Rock!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXt0A9yJb-o

Addict Mazee T-Shirt Exhibition

Rise & Shine

Time goes passing by, so did the mocks and haters.

All of this journey makes me better, they recognize me, respect me and i thank for that

Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth, I have to go.

Rise and shine all you gold- diggin' mothers

Are you too good to tango with the poor poor boys

Acapulco Gold x Vans Moda Hi

At the end of June, we showed you the Crooks & Castles x Vans Moda Hi which represents the West region in the upcoming “East Vs. West Pack”. The majority of those who commented stated that it was a very fresh design. In addition, we have now spotted the Vans Moda Hi that will represent the East region in the aforementioned pack.

This particular sneaker is the product of a joint effort between Vans and Acapulco Gold. As for the design of the shoe, it possesses a predominately white leather upper mix with grey suede that smothers the frontal section. Minimal green accents are spotted on the collar, the logo tag (side panels) and the top of the white vulcanized rubber sole. To finish it off, this sneaker is complimented with white/green shoelaces. Which shoe in the East Vs West Pack interests you the most: the Crooks & Castles x Vans Moda Hi or this Acapulco x Vans Moda Hi? Look for both sneakers to surface in the spring of 2010.

The Blue Print 3

The new Jay Z album is due to drop September 13, 2009. Get yours because it should be hot. I know I'm getting it!

Who is Kanye's New Girl?

Even compared to Kanye West's usual wardrobe of wacky shades and marching-band jackets, it's impossible not to ogle his latest accessory: a tall, striking, bald woman who shares his fondness for dark glasses, fashion shows, and flashy clothes. It takes a lot to upstage both Kanye and the catwalk, but Amber Rose has managed to do exactly that, appearing out of nowhere to gallivant from New York to Milan to Paris on Kanye's arm in a series of ever-tighter pants that instill in us a new appreciation for breathable fabrics. It's been weeks of this, yet somehow, one burning question remains: Seriously, people, who IS this person?

Not since George Clooney plucked Sarah Larson from cocktail-waitress obscurity has an unknown become so famous so quickly. But where it took about an hour for People and Us to dig into Sarah's background and deem her George's true love, Kanye and Amber have largely escaped the microscope, save for vague photo captions or blog posts. It's little wonder: Googling "Amber Rose" yielded — in order — a listing for a Dayton, Ohio, restaurant; a website for a Christian ministry; an author's site promoting Bee in Balance: A Guide to Healing the Whole Person With Honeybees, Oriental Medicine, & Common Sense; the MySpace page of a musician claiming she was conceived "on the Sunset Strip in the wake of Hailey's Comet"; a beer site; and a Vermont fleece manufacturer. We assume our Amber Rose is involved with none of those things, though we wish Kanye were dating the holistic bee lady, if only to hear him evangelize a magical bee-and-logic cocktail that soothes inner pain.

Wikipedia hasn't heard of her either — apocalyptic, considering there are entries for everything from the song "Merry Christmas, Jakey Boy," to the popular family hobby Naked Hiking. Undeterred, we sleuthed until we gleaned a few other tidbits: Prior to basking in the glow of Kanye's coif, Amber starred as The Hot Chick in a few music videos, most notably Ludracris's "What Them Girls Like." Bloggers flagged Rose as a model, and although that's often a vague label slapped on anonymous attractive women when people can't figure out what else she does, we did unearth Rose's recent Maxim-esque shoot for Smooth magazine (much deeper googling than we'd intended to do). Unfortunately, the lack of other hard facts has led to rampant, occasionally nasty online speculation that's tough to confirm. We've read that she's a stripper, a beard, a bisexual or lesbian who dramatically dumped a girl to be with Kanye, and Rihanna's best friend. RiRi, naturally, has been too preoccupied to confirm this.

In this day and age, it seems impossible that we’ve spied endless articles about Kanye and Amber shopping for pants, yet her past is a relative vacuum. In the absence of answers, we can only speculate: Is she, as she appears, the overlord of an alien biker gang? Is she performance art? Sweet Jesus, is she his muse? Will his yet-to-materialize fashion line be based on her skintight, rubberized aesthetic? Is Kanye prepping us for a revelatory MTV reality show and/or a spinoff of The Hills, in which Amber liquefies Spencer's brain into a milkshake, thereby making her a national hero and our next head of Homeland Security? Or is this all just a Kanye West scheme to create a celebrity out of nothing, and make a mystery more interesting than the solution itself? At this point, we're rooting for the latter, because no truth could possibly entertain us as much as this conjecture does. Perhaps denying our thirst for knowledge will turn out to be the greatest gift to us, and to pop culture, that Amber Rose will ever give.

WHITE BOYS, GUNS, AND BEER!!! HAHAHA

Yesterday i was mega bored at home all day and my bro DV8 hit me up and asked if i wanted to go chill with some random people. I was bored so why not and man these people had to be the funniest people ever. Don't worry the guns are all fake and they had them to protect themselves from zombies lol. Great times

H&M Fall/Winter 2009 Collection: Eclectic chic

H&M has gone funky for Fall 2008 with electric colors that are splashed on jackets, dresses, and opaque tights. Its nod to the Eighties was mixed with knitted cardigans, scarfs, and sweater dresses that are a perfect fall wardrobe staple. Besides all of this fun stuff, H&M showcases its unique urban chic spirit, reflected in its slouchy jackets, quilted coats, and cropped pants. Mixing styles and playing with fabrics, the H&M collection juxtaposed whimsical style and eclectic chic.

YOOOOO!!! i love how these pieces of artwork plays with my head and trick my eyes into believing that what they created is actually happening, but it's only 2D! I REPEAT, IT'S ONLY 2D!!!!!!

First Time blogger

Hello young world, it's me Hakim aka Bad Mikko. Well just to let people know this is my first time blogging and this is my first blog! I looked on Diggy's blog site and i got super inpired. I have to say that one cool dude. Well anyways look at for me in the future and check out my group's music! We are going to be the next big thing i promise! www.myspace.com/thewizkids317.com!
ONE LOVE