I may as well spend some time with buddies around the way, since my days are numbered in the county they call Orange, so I went out to lunch with my friend Anthony. This little company in Portland hand-picked Anthony to be the new Men’s Design Director for Hurley. A’s been around for a minute while I first met him around 14 years ago when he was creating skateboarding’s first apparel line for XYZ. That Pho looks pretty good A!

There seems to be a trend when I go to Vietnamese restaurants. I love crispy rice noodles with chicken and veggies, but each place tastes different. I think the Pearl gets the thumbs up.

Since we don’t see each other a lot, we rapped about the usual and a few interesting things coming down the pipeline. Your gonna have to wait to see what this means, but for now, he took me on a tour at their campus in Costa Mesa. I wonder where the campus name came from? As you can imagine, the place has multiple buildings with each one uniquely made for each aspect of the biz. I think Bob and company is in this one.

I haven’t been here for a few years, but the last time Bob showed me their employee retail shop, it was about 1/10th the size it is now.

In front of the retail shop is their dedicated art house called Space.

Mike Stilkey’s show just wrapped.

Their own music studio doesn’t hurt either…

or stage set up.

Lots jammin’ goes on here.

The design building has a lot of goodies that I can’t show you, but it’s dope to see past 686 faction artists, Dalek and Bigfoot, represented well.

Coming soon.

Don’t mess with LA-kers, son.

We’ve all got issues, but when it affects our youth it’s a priority to me. Invisible Children is a movement seeking to end a long running conflict in East Africa where children are being kidnapped and used as soldiers. In 2003, three filmmakers made a documentary that showcases this ongoing tragedy.

Last week, I attended the Invisible Children’s largest benefit at Paramount Studios. Hmmm… this looks familiar.

It’s presented by Billabong who’s supported the cause for the past 5 years. The benefit is called Design for Humanity and was started by Candy Harris. This year they moved the event from Avalon and brought it to a more open “village” style format with lot’s of events going on.

It’s Hollywood…

where you have everyone in the book wanting to do their thang…

including French guys that have too many drinks.

There was a lot going on including live illustration art shows,

live painting art shows,

scenester art shows,

and skate photo exhibits.

I can’t forget the food trucks. I love the Grilled Cheese Truck!

How about news caddy girls.

Kid Sister in the house!

Oh yeah, can’t forget the show with scantily clad models…

and lot’s of heads everywhere.

I mean everywhere! It almost felt like I was an extra on a movie set.

More importantly, when you’re here, you’re at least aware of the tragedies most of us only see on T.V.

There is a face behind every war.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot more that come with problems in Uganda.
It’s a long road but you can do something. If you’re interested, click here

Peace out.

Since I was a runt, I’ve always been into sneakers. Skateboarding had a lot to do with it, but I used to travel near and far to get a hold of the latest shit. Mind you, this was in the early 80’s where there were no “Sneaker Boutiques.” What I did was head to Inglewood, Compton and Gardena (Rodium swap meets) to see what Nikes, Adidas, British Knights, Le Coqs, Pumas and Converses they had in stock. The only legit skate brands back then were Airwalk and Vans, which I also rode in. Whatever money I had, I spent it that same day on shoes. I even got jumped twice for my sneakers, but I was still determined to get what I wanted.

Even though I was mainly into the aesthetics of the shoe I still wanted to make sure the soles were dope. Soles make or break a good shoe. It’s unfortunate that a lot of heads these days don’t pay attention to matching the sole to the type of upper. Have you noticed that some companies use the same lower for their entire line up. Is this a good thing or not? It’s really up to you, but next time you get your joints, make sure you check what’s down under, aight? Here are some examples of various types of soles. Can you guess what the upper looks like?

It’s all about the presentation, the first look, the initial reaction. Our foundation is functionality, but in the end, in order to get anywhere shit has to look good. I’ve always been into presentation. It can make or break a sale or even a relationship with a customer for life. Since I had seen the 60,000 rods at the UK Pavilion in Shanghai, I wanted to see what else these skinny things could do. A case in point would be the Issey Miyhake store in Shibuya, Japan. Instead of using traditional hangers and shelving, design firm Nendo opts for 7mm thin steel rods to present their collection.

As you can see, products are supported by points rather than by flat lines.

It almost looks like the coat and bags are flooooaaattinngg.

As some of you know, The World Expo is being held in Shanghai, China. It just opened in May and will run until October. I’m trying to line up some of my future travels so I can check it out. One of my hit lists for the Expo is to check out the UK Pavilion, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The theme is called “Better City, Better Life” and the “Seed” cathedral is in the center of the site.

It stands about 20 meters tall with an eye-dropping view of 60,000 transparent rods with each rod encasing seeds at the tip.

During the daytime, these rods act as optical fibers that illuminate the inside.

At night it’s a glowing masterpiece. When the wind blows, these little thin puppies create mystical hair raising movements. As the Geto Boys would say “my mind is playing tricks on me.”

Some interesting facts:

China is forecast to become the world’s second largest economy in 2010.

The Chinese Government’s 55 billion dollar investment (damn!) in infrastructure for Shanghai Expo is more than double the cost of the Beijing Olympics.

The rods in the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo will be recycled and distributed to schools across China and in the UK.

If you want to take a glimpse into the making, check it out here.

The daddy of em’ all… Disney World! Just like with Universal, I typically wouldn’t be here unless I had a reason to be, but after all these years, I really just think I’ve been in denial. After checking this enchanted world (and I mean WORLD- this place is huge!), I’m hooked for life. It is amazing how far your imagination can take you and the rest of the world. It was endless in Roy Disney’s mind and now it is in mine.

First let’s roll through Downtown Disney and check what they have. Y’all know how much I like Legos.

They have some things I dig in one of the shops.

Slick did this a few years ago for Bloc 28. It’s still dope today.

Between you and I, we were talking to Bloc 28 years ago about doing something, and I recall they were very sensitive on doing anything that would portray Mickey in a different light. I was stoked to see that Slick was able to bring his flavor into something so traditionally happy-happy.

Instead of boring you with all the narration of what I saw, heard, felt, tasted and did, check out some highlights.

SHREK in 4D!

Men in B!

Holy Shit!

The Animal Kingdom is so rad!

I always vote for the villain.

Fairfax what!

The #2 best ride ever.

The #1 best ride ever.

I don’t get to travel too often to the state they call Florida. When I finally got a legit reason to go, like for work, I took the chance to see this place they call Universal Studios. Yeah I know we have this down the street from my pad in Los Angeles, but I usually don’t go to amusement parks back at home. I guess it’s because it’s too damn crowded or I just haven’t found a reason to go yet. In any case, I traveled all the way across the country to check out what the U Studios had to offer.

Hmmm… looks familiar.

Damn, no matter how old I get this still looks pretty dope.

I’m into storytelling, I always have been, but when it comes to the amusement parks, they simply do a better job. Let’s check out how Spidey does it.

First let’s get in line. Actually we’re not in line for a ride, we’re actually going through the Daily Bugle.

The editor in chief.

Don’t forget these.

Yes, the Spiderman ride is in 3D. It’s actually more like 4D as you not only get to see things coming at you, but you get to feel it as well. How’s it Spidey!

What the hell is coming at me?!!

After your done living the life of Spiderman, you get the chance to “bring home” what you just felt. Biz 101: Identify the customer, engage the customer, get them emotionally attached, then sell. Even I believe I want this.

Dr. Seuss is another example why you’ll forever be attached to…

…this little thing.

I’m not a super fanatic of Harry Potter…

but I do think this new experience will blow people’s minds (as it did mine) when it comes to recreating Hogwarts.

I’m not one to self promote. Hell, it was tough enough to even begin this blog since I’m typically a private person. After a year or so of doing this, I find that it’s actually kinda therapeutic (weird huh). If you check out the Mash Up, you probably know I’d rather push my experiences than show myself. However, when Tiffany and Shelby from “Shop-Eat-Surf” (the leading biz trade site in our industry) asked me to tell my story on how I got here, I thought it would be a cool chance to let people know that anything can happen and that quality over quantity is key.

They have a section called “Core Careers” at the site, which features the personal paths to where heads are today. If you’re interested in hearing how skateboarding and a few other people affected my life, check it.

Ever since my buddy Andy started hosting MTV’s new show “The Ultimate Parkour Challenge” (which I thought was called something totally different), I have been engaged in the many ways that the human body moves. I’ve always been fascinated in still photos capturing a person’s movement (it reminds me of when I thought I could fly as a kid), and it’s even cooler when you see it in peculiar locations.

Parisian photographer, Denis Darzacq on Mocoloco, captures his interpretation of art through supermarket consumerism with local street dancers. It’s called “Hyper” and will be at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles in June.