from the heart of medina to the head of ft. greene

1.) We love streetwear. We embarked on a journey this summer to order the most ridiculous pair of sneakers from pickyourshoes.com that we could find. Funny thing is, when I told the Captain that he should order Nike Delta Force Air 3/4 Deluxes with leopard print on the toes, I kinda thought they were sweet. Then he got them and started wearing them, and I was envious, maybe even a little jealous. But you know what? I didn’t kill him in his sleep for them, cause he’s my buddy and I’m happy for him to rock a sweet pair of kicks. It’s what friends do for each other. It was maybe one of the first time I had experienced that feeling because a.) guys don’t usually go shopping for each other, so that was a whole new experience for me and b.) I haven’t had the chance to go through most of the sh*t that we’ve gone through and I feel like we’re damn good buddies.

Anyways, streetwear. December 10th is the 25 year anniversary of the Nike Air Force One. 1981 man. I bought a pair of AF1’s last summer from Jimmy Jamz or whatever it is down on Delancey. Living on the Lower East Side, you see a ton of people wearing these shoes, although most people are rocking the Nike Dunk Lows (big difference, for real). And all I had ever owned since moving to New York was really stupid looking shoes: some Pumas, lots of running shoes, dress shoes, some Addidas. But nothing that made me feel the way I imagined people with Nikes must feel: friggin sweet.

So when I finally got my own pair it was just like, “Daaammmnnnn.” I’m materialistic like that, I’ll admit it. But there’s something about lacing up a super fresh pair of kicks that makes you feel a little bit hipper. And there are none better to do it with than the AF1’s. I have a pair of Air Terminators Low (awesome too, little air pockets all through the sole) and a pair of Dunk Highs (with red and white seersucker along the side, see photos in the first link above). I’ve also got a pair of Air Max 90’s that I customized using that whole Nike ID system online (they didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped, but I still rock them from time to time).

All of these are well and good, but I still go back to the Air Force 1’s any time I need a go-to shoe. And with the anniversary of a legend coming up on Sunday, even though you may not be Nigo or Kanye West or Charles Barkley with a personal invite to the anniversary soiree, and you might not have the budget to go online and get these, you should at least cruise down to your local shoe store (or the Reed Space if possible) and pay homage to a classic. 2.) I know some people who don’t eat any vegetables at all. Like not even lettuce in a salad. I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin.

3.) Audrey writes haikus sometimes. Well, okay, almost all the time. They’re unique, original and modern. If I knew anything about art or literature, I’d draw a comparison between her style and someone else really talented, yet underappreciated. Alas, I don’t know nothing. Which I hope doesn’t dequantify my authority on the subject: I know cool stuff. I just can’t recall names and points of reference at all. So, yeah, take that for what its worth.

4.) A recent post over on This Is What We Do Now has sparked quite a debate between the HBCC. See, Larry (dude who writes TIWWDN) argued that the new Geico commercials are of sub-standard quality and are ruining the legacy of the original, extremely hilarious set of commercials. My favorite and the one I feel is most underrated in that set (like Audrey’s haikus, just not hilarious, but still brilliant and underrated) is the one where the two cavemen are sitting in their nicely furnished apartment - one playing the piano, the other watching TV – when the Geico commercial comes on. When it finishes, the one playing the piano stops playing, looks up and says, in a voice of extreme discontent, “Ah, that is sooo condescending.” Hilarious.

(Tangent City: What’s up with only the one caveman being used in the new commercials? Talk about art imitating life: survival of the fittest. This is the dude who nailed the, “I don’t have much of an appetite” line and now he’s the official caveman spokesperson. But the funny (ironic?) thing is that this Darwinian theory actually did apply to REAL cavemen. WOW. Wow. ((Tangent TANGENT City: I love the Sonic commercial with the two dudes sitting in the car and the one guy is like, “Wow, there is a lot of food in this breakfast wrap…it’s like a breakFEAST! Wow. WuhuhuhOOWWW! A breakFEAST!!” and then he just keeps on sayin it. It cracks me up.))

(SUPER BONUS TANGENT: The king in the Burger King commercials is starting to win me over with his stunt, crash, thumbs up commercials for that new line of video games. I'm easily amused.)

Anyways, wow (WuhuhuhOOWW. A tanGENT!) So, we’re arguing now. Because, I agreed with Larry but Captain Handsome adamantly disagrees. And, after seeing the Geico caveman newscast commercial last night, I kind of see Handsome's point. I mean, I knew the punchline was, “Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the rock this morning!” and that’s pretty funny, sure. But what really gets me is the beginning of the dialog, when the caveman says, “First off, I’m not 100% in love with your tone right now.” That line alone is f’ing great. And the one where he’s walking on the moving walkway in the airport: really solid also. It's a tough one for the actor cause the facial expressions are the gist of the commercial but, again, the guy nails it. So really whoever produces these spots for Geico is still getting it right and, after careful consideration, I have to rescind my comment about agreeing with Larry.

5.) Tomorrow we're hostng a champagne party. Pictures to follow. This post only took me like 30-40 minutes to write. Suckas.