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World of Warcraft Plushes are Ridiculously Cute

I just came across this while browsing the Blizzard Store. I don’t even play World of Warcraft (although I am anxiously awaiting the release of Starcraft II), but I had to point out that these WoW plushes are adorable.

I don’t really know much about the Warcraft universe, but I know that I want these. I love that on the buy page,  one of their key features is that they are ridiculously cute. That pose makes them look so huggable. Look at that tail! $24.99. I want, I want!

Blizzard Store Wind Rider Plush

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Generic Surplus Military Hi-Tops – Fresh Kicks

Quickly becoming one of my favorite brands is Generic Man’s Generic Surplus, fashionably understated sneaks that are surprisingly affordable. Because I have no self control and Generic Surplus keeps popping up on Gilt, I, yet again, went for the gold. If I had been a little quicker I might have ended up with ten new pairs of sneaks, but instead I only managed to nab a pair of Mililtary Hi-Tops in white/light grey in my size. Check out the hip photo from Generic Surplus’ factory in Korea of the beautiful shoe.

This shoe is awesome. The shoe features a simple design of white canvas and very light grey suede. Comfortable and sleek (kinda retro too), Generic Surplus does it again. I need to grab these in grey at some point (and knowing my condition, that point is coming along very soon. In fact… it may have happened already.) Retails at $72.00

Generic Surplus | Gilt Groupe

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Jason Fried – Why You Can’t Work at Work

Too many meetings? Not doing any work at work? Can’t do any work at work? 37signals co-founder Jason Fried expressing some interesting thoughts on the problems that occur in most work environments and how they deal with these issues in his company.

“With its constant commotion, unnecessary meetings, and infuriating wastes of time, the modern workplace optimizes interruptions and makes us all work longer, less focused hours. Jason Fried explains how we can change all of this.”

Watch the video here: Why You Can’t Work at Work | Jason Fried | Big Think

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Photoshop 5’s Content-Aware Fill Sneak Peek

Photoshop Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes takes us through an amazing tool that will probably make a bunch of photo editing jobs irrelevant. That being said, this tool is SO COOL – just watch and have your mind blown. The photo stitch at the end is ridiculous. Thanks to Dinesh for the heads up on this one.

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Jump Shoes – Copper Volunteer

Again, here is Jump, solidifying their place in my book as one of the most badass footwear brands out there. I’ve had the silver Volunteer since they came out maybe 2 years ago, but I just finally managed to get a pair of the shoes in copper for contrast. John, who introduced me to Jump, actually has these, but with him temporarily out of NY he gave his blessing for me to cop a pair for myself and rock them without being a “swagger jacker.”

Check out those kicks, looks like something an Evangelion would wear. Or Metal Mario? The color is amazing, and I know from seeing John’s pair, that these shoes will look badass with some wear and tear.

Jump

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Starkey, Anneka, Reso – Building the Beat for Mary Anne Hobbs

Just came across this (after having recently heard of Starkey) and I think it’s pretty amazing. Philly producer Starkey is put to the challenge of creating a track in two hours for Mary Anne Hobbs in a Radio 1 special called “Building the Beat.” With the assistance of vocalist Anneka, percussionist Reso, and some samples, Starkey had to write/record/produce the entire track within the time constraints. The track is pretty cool but I moreso think it’s amazing that they came out with a bumpin’ song within the limitations.

Download Moment’s of Mine from BBC Radio: Building the Beat – Starkey

Also, just for added awesomeness, here is Slugabed’s awesome remix of Starkey’s single featuring Anneka, ‘Stars.’

LISTEN:

Starkey’s sophomore release Ear Drums and Black Holes comes out April 19th, 2010.

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Calexico Carne Asada – Soho Mexican Food Cart

There’s a lot of hype surrounding the Calexico Carne Asada and I’ve been meaning to go here for a while, but the cart in Soho is only open Monday through Friday, 11:30am to 4:30pm. Last week I finally had the opportunity to check out the Calexico Cart.

I love places with small menus and Calexico offers four different meals available in taco, burrito (or burrito bowl), or ‘rolled quesadilla’ format. We opted for Calexico’s namesake, the Carne Asada, in a burrito bowl and their special of the day, Chili Verde Pulled Pork in a burrito. The pulled pork burrito was tasty but a little uninteresting. The pulled pork seemed a little dry and plain but I will try the Chipotle Pork next time which looks a little more promising. Anyway, on to the real deal of awesomeness…

Calexico’s Carne Asada is sooooo good. Delicious perfectly grilled skirt steak is accompanied quite nicely by rice, beans, cheese, pico de gallo, and avocado crema (creamy guacamole). Squeeze that lime over the whole thing to complete the blast of flavor and Calexico definitely lives up to the hype. Look at that picture – YUM. I only wish they gave you utensils.

The Calexico Carne Asada cart can be found M-F during lunch hours at the corner of Wooster & Prince St.

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New Toy – 1965 Baldwin Burns Vibraslim

I just picked up this 1965 Baldwin Burns Vibraslim at the end of last week at Southside Guitars in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This guitar is beautiful and features an unusual but quite comfortable shape and a scroll-like headstock. Aside from some wear and tear over the past 45 years, the guitar looks great, has a beautiful tone and plays as slick as butter. Jim Burns, I salute your amazing design. This guitar rocks. Even got to debut the thing at a gig in Maryland this past weekend.

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Starkey – Stars with Anneka is sweet

So, I really don’t know much about Starkey, but he’s surprisingly from Philadelphia. His Stars EP has a cool dubstep-club-electronic sound. “Stars” features some awesome vocals from Anneka (from the UK) that soar beautifully over Starkey’s beat to create a song that is reminiscent of the collaboration between Ellen Allien & Apparat and Cloud with Joanna Wahlsten. This track is awesome so give it a listen below.

LISTEN:

The EP also features some cool remixes from Slugabed, Few Nolder, Raffertie & Ital Tek, but the original is still my favorite.

http://www.starkey-music.com/

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NEW MUSIC – We’re Making Noise

Here’s some new music from yours truly! Okay, not really… This song isn’t that new (in fact, almost two years old), but I hadn’t gotten around to plopping it anywhere. What follows is a really simple Kendrick Lo poppy electronic jam to get your feet moving. It only occurred to me, listening to it now, that the lyrics towards the end get a little criss-crossy and confusing. That being said, I think it’s a fun one. Enjoy!

LISTEN:

Kendrick Lo - We're Making Noise

http://myspace.com/kendricklo

Side notes on the makeshift “album art.” The two-year-old original is pictured on the right here and is butt-ugly. A much needed refresh was created with the beautiful typeface Chunk made available at the League of Moveable Type by its creator Meredith Mandel and an awesome paper texture created by Daniel Bashie Larsen, check him out at Bashcorpo.

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The Generic Man’s Chuckman

I have already expressed deep love for Generic Surplus, which is an offshoot of the Generic Man brand. As per usual, Gilt continues to bring some great deals that I just cannot seem to pass up. I just got a pair of these badass sneaks, the Chuckman, Generic Man’s take on the chukka boot.

I love Generic Man’s manifesto.

The “Newdult” is tiring of streetwear and the high price of luxury. In response, ‘the generic man’ has created thoughtfully priced luxury for this new modern adult.

Who is the generic man?

The generic man doesn’t need branding and logos to make him feel confident or stylish.
He understand the significance of quality construction and clean, simple, refined lines.

The generic man is confident enough in himself to accept simplicity.

These shoes are awesome. Italian wool on the sides and leather tip. Note that they do not feature any actual branding. Where Generic Surplus shoes display a ‘Generic Surplus’ logo, on Generic Man’s chukka boot, that space is left blank. The shoes speak for themselves. Badass.

Also, look inside the shoe for some nice detailing.

The suggested retail on these bad boys comes as a bit of a hefty price tag at $285. This is where deal-hunter’s mentality comes in. Gilt sure knows how to feed an addiction.

http://www.thegenericman.com/

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Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach is Plastic Pop Awesome

Thanks to NPR I have been listening to Gorillaz’ new album, Plastic Beach, non-stop. On my first listen I went the whole thing through and I’m finding myself doing that again and again. Like Gorillaz past two albums, this one is pretty different with a lot of awesome new collaborations but still strung together quite nicely with Damon Albarn.

Collaborations include: Snoop Dogg, Little Dragon, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, Mark E. Smith, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Kano, Bashy, De La Soul, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, sinfonia ViVA, and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.

I like the album as a whole but if I had to pick some favorites I’d say: “Empire Ants” which features Little Dragon. Yukimi Nagano’s voice is amazing here and sounds really great with Albarn’s. “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” because Snoop Dogg is awesome. “Superfast Jellyfish” because that chorus is ridiculously infectious. Also have to mention On “Melancholy Hill”, this track is great and features no collaborations, just Albarn’s voice and production.

Best line in Superfast Jellyfish: “Shower my habits while you dine like rabbits with the crunchy, crunchy  carrots (oh, that’s chicken!)”

Although the first Gorillaz album is still probably my favorite, this album is definitely some pop  awesomeness. I love that Gorillaz always manages to pop out sweet albums that feature very different sounds. Looking forward to hearing them bonus tracks. I’m hoping this release will bring some new Kidrobot Gorillaz toys. I am such a nerd.

I assume we can expect the next album in 2015?

LISTEN:

Stream the entire album on NPR

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Generic Surplus Opens Online Store

Generic Surplus just opened their online store. As I have said before, I am madly in love with Generic Surplus’ shoes. Generic Surplus is a brand offshoot of Generic Man featuring very reasonably priced and fashionable kicks.

Shop Generic Surplus online!

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Inevitability

From Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, Bombay bhai Ganesh Gaitonde:

I knew I was going to die, I was going to be killed. There was no escape for me. I had no future, no life, no retirement, no easy old age. To imagine any of that was cowardice. A bullet would find me first. But I would like a king. I would fight this life, this bitch that sentences us to death, and I would eat her up, consume her every minute of every day. So I walked my streets like a lord of mankind, flanked by my boys.

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Wechsler’s Currywurst Goes Great With Köstritzer Schwarzbier

Having watched a some people eating a currywurst in line for Caracas during the Taste of 7th St festival, after we finished our Caracas arepa we walked around the corner to Wechsler’s Currywurst & Bratwurst on 1st avenue to get our own.

Wechsler’s is an awesome little German spot that has one guy manning the food and the bar. Wechsler’s offers Köstritzer Schwarzbier, a dark German lager that Gao Di happened to discover at another bar just about a week before this. She told me Köstritzer resembles our favorite Czech beer, the glorious Kozel and she was right. This beer rocks. It’s an awesome dark beer that isn’t too heavy and just tastes so good.

We got a currywurst to split between us with fries. This was delicious. Great chopped up pork with tasty curry sauce. Can’t go wrong with something like that. I also love thin cut french fries. Yum! $6 bucks.

Wechsler’s is located at 120 1st avenue between 7th st and St. Marks Place