ASUPREMENEWYORKTHING

This is Wall Street Journal front page news. A small Kansas-based video production company Flagler Productions has a 30 year video archive of Wal-Mart Executives, sometimes during “unguarded” moments. Flagler was hired during the 70s based on a handshake and since then Walmart accounted for 90% of their revenue until 2006, when Wal-Mart decided to stop using Flagler. Now Flagler is offering up their archive to anyone willing to pay ($250/hr for video research and other fees for copies of clips on DVD). Flagler even offered Wal-Mart to buy all the footage for several million dollars but Wal-Mart made a counter offer of $500,000 b/c they did not think the footage had any value outside Wal-Mart’s circle.
Continue reading ‘Flagler Productions has Wal-Mart videos’

This was a Nike sponsored event. I wonder how the flow chart would look like. It would probably be a bunch of arrows (the arrows represent $) from all around the world going towards Oregon. Then, there would be $ arrows pointing from Oregon towards different marketing companies in major cities around the world. Finally, there would be a small arrow going from one of these local marketing reps towards the jrnl gallery/magazine. Ahhh… sweet smell of business (smells like The Man). Loves it.
Continue reading ‘Photos from “Being True, A Photography Exhibition Celebrating 22 years of American Youth” @ the jrnl gallery’

Alright all you streetwear, sneaker, streetwear-related companies with your colorful T-shirts, hats and unnecessary accessories: With the U.S. economy looking bleak, you might all bust unless you position yourself correctly.

Whenever I hear the economy doing poorly and then I find that luxury brands are doing well, I get baffled. The thing is, when the U.S. economy isn’t doing so well, such is the case now, the U.S. dollar weakens and people all over the world buy luxury items from the U.S. They’re not going to buy mediocre/generic goods, or atleast goods perceived to be mediocre, they’re going to buy the best, at a discount. A company like STpL will probably come through at the end versus some small label like ANEWYORKTHING. This is just my guess, or as I would like to call it “ABSOLUTE IRREFUTABLE FACT.”

For clothes that’s called streetwear, it is way too expensive and during times of economic decline, people are going to buy less from Stüssy and more from Targét. Let’s wait and see.

Everyone already knows this, right? HD DVD is out, Bluray is in. I’m not saying go onto your eTrade account and buy tons of Sony stock, but buy maybe half a ton, or atleast a quarter. Okay, that’s saying too much. This bodes well for Sony who owns the rights to Bluray but understandably Sony is still doing pretty shitty with countless competitors “ripping they ass up.” Fo’ sho, fo’ sho. What can I say? I writes classy.

Winner = Sony
Loser = Anyone who bought a HD DVD player or a HD DVD burner, XBOX 360, the entire entertainment industry because they had to wait until now to up production on HD quality movies, the porno industry, etc.

I’m just kidding, the porno industry NEVER loses.

First of all, lets not kid ourselves. This website is…PERHAPS (most likely) one of the most popular on the web. LITERALLY, what? dozens upon dozens of people visit this site daily? Yes, it’s true… it’s true… … (sigh). Anyway, here’s an interesting article.

Continue reading ‘Flushing Business Boom in Queens!’

Have you had this terrible yogurt or non-yogurt yet? Most likely you’ve never seen this unless you live in New York or L.A. (Lucky you!) If you go to Wikipedia, you’ll read that Pinkberry does not fall under the category of yogurt. It tastes terrible. Is it supposed to be healthy? Because it’s terrible. I want everyone to go out and try some so that you can find out for yourselves how terrible it tastes. Listen, fine, it tastes terrible, but it’s also expensive. I paid 10 dollars for a “large” (QUOTATION MARKS!) cup. They even weighed the cup on a little scale as if they didn’t want me to get fat. Listen, I’m fat, that’s why I’m eating here. Holy shit, what a total rip off. There is no reason these pinkberry yogurt places should stay in business for the long run. They are novelty stores. Once you’ve been tricked into buying some, you’ll never buy any again!

I’ve read on the internet that people love it. They call it crackberry. Uhmmm… last time I heard, crack was good! Holy shit, what a total waste of money. It totally ruined my day. I was all happy from the nice warm global-warming weather and I totally ruined my day by trying that completely god awful bullcrap.

Continue reading ‘Pinkberry!? More like Shitberry!’

This is not news. I wish I could say, “Oh! I PREDICT this is going to happen” but I can’t because stage6.com has been out for a while. Stage6 is this website that allows you to stream divx videos through your browser, similar to how youtube streams flash videos. The quality is amazing and because it’s still a fairly new website, the company (DivX) allows you to upload videos of limitless length. There are some issues, like it needs high bandwidth and there are copyright issues because people upload full length movies, but, I have been using this site for a few months now and I love it, especially BECAUSE! people can upload copyrighted material, again, at the moment.

From a quality-of-product perspective, it is better than Youtube. If Stage6 puts more money/time into marketing and if it can ward off companies who will sue because of copyright infringement, I can see it being the next major step of public online video, meaning, it would knock Youtube off its throne.

My computer is not ready for blu-ray or HD-DVD but I can play really high quality divx for some reason. When I see tiny details in a video on my laptop of 3 years old, I tear. Seriously a single tear-drop runs down my left cheek. It is beautiful and amazing. What’s great is that the stage6 website has really high bandwidth. I can stream a 800 meg video and just close my browser after I’m done watching. There are sites that actually track the stage6 site whenever somebody uploads something illegal, like joox.net or divxpawa.com.

Until Stage6 either shuts down or becomes the next Youtube and decides to monitor very closely the uploaded content, I recommend you to enjoy it.

Let’s be realistic. Everyone is on one of those queer social networking sites. I’m on Myspace. I’m not proud of it. I don’t like it but that’s a whole mess of people I have slightly more access to because of it.

The Wall Street Journal is funny. They’ve been on Facebook’s ass for the last few weeks. There was an article telling the story of a few office workers whose bosses requested to be their friend on Facebook or Myspace. Of course these office workers either accepted after cleaning up their accounts (took down those embarrassing photos) or denied acceptance, which may have disrupted the worker-boss relationship, though it shouldn’t be that way.

Continue reading ‘Are Social Networking Sites a Must for a Professional?’

I’m going to be as fair as I can be with regards to companies like Amway, Market America, Primerica, Landmark Education (which I just went to yesterday) and all those other sales driven companies. They’re all fucking gay - is that fair? I don’t care (oooh, that rhymed).

Listen, they’re all great companies. I am all about matching buyers with sellers - that’s textbook economics. What’s awful about these companies isn’t the products or their services. The evil comes from the people who are involved, the people who get INTO it. I’ve been an observer of these type of companies for years now and what I enjoy about them is the enthusiasm some of these people have for what they’re selling. Yeah, 10 dollars for a bar of soap (Amway & Market America). Sure, if I find an idiot who’s willing to pay that much for some fucking soap I’m selling, I’d be happy too.

This goes for selling knives and make-up for college students too (fucking kids).

The EVIL as I mentioned is when someone starts selling to his friends and family what he/she feels they need even though they may not necessarily need it. The seller feels (or has been brainwashed) to think that EVERYONE in the world needs their products (insurance, financial planning, soap) and that they would be better off after buying it. When the seller becomes so engrossed into his product or reaches that point when he’s, “holy shit, I’m not selling anything” and starts to cross into unethical territory, that’s the EVIL - because their incentive is partly, yes, to make your lives better, but mostly that COMMISSION BASED income.

My Beef w/ Landmark Education (or how I wasted 3 hours of my life)

So a friend (though now I’m not so sure) calls me up at around 6:40 yesterday and asks me to come to this meeting/presentation she’s doing. Listen, I’ll support my friends if they’re doing a presentation, thinking that it was for a college class or something. So I go down there between W33rd and 8th and I see this giant sign with the logo for Landmark Education. This creates a comfort for potential customers (victims) in that, hey, it’s an official company, look, they’ve got a giant logo inside a building, in NYC no less. I go inside, it’s very standard, you get your name tag, you sign a list, there’s a survey and you go into a room with a bunch of people. THEY GIVE THEIR SALES PITCH.

Continue reading ‘Amway? Primerica? Landmark Education? Gay!’

Above: He looks like he’s from the street, right? TheStreet.com that is.

I feel like this is celebrity news because it’s about Jim Cramer. The recent article titled ‘Cramer vs. Cramer‘ on Slate.com talks about an interview that was done on TheStreet.com, a site that he founded, where he talks about his strategies as a hedge fund manager back in the day [when he WAS a hedge fund manager]. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s quite the TV personality, on CNBC, for combining loud & entertaining antics with stock-market tips & strategy. Embarrassingly, I have to admit I love his show. Not so much for stock tips but cause he looks and sounds passionate and from hearing what he has to say, he seems to know a lot about a lot [about public traded companies anyway]. Boo-ya!

Continue reading ‘Boo ya! Jim Cramer, you’re fired!’

Above: Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of
Bling and Home of the Shameless by Cora Daniels

Excerpt from her book (pdf)

She recently wrote a book about the social phenom on being “ghetto” and its new meaning. I haven’t read the book but I did get a chance to look at her blog and it, despite the scarce # of entries, is quite intriguing. Take a look:
http://ghettonation.wordpress.com

If and when I get a chance to borrow this from the library, I’ll write about it, son. I think she’s based in New York but I’m not definite. She was on the radio (92.3 Free FM - JV & Elvis DOGHOUSE!) the other day today talking about her book.

UPDATE - March 22nd 2007

So I happened to have left a comment on Cora Daniels’ blog and she sent me some information regarding her book release party and dates to her readings and such. Well the party was tonight and I went: She’s absolutely lovely. Instead of borrowing the book from good ole’ Queens Public Library, I actually bought it.

I have a nervousness that I get when I meet people who are successful. They’re intimidating right? (cause I mean, we’re all aspiring to be successful & suddenly you meet someone who’s just that much closer). Anyway, there was nothing intimidating about her and she was not what I expected at all from someone who titled her book Ghettonation.

Yep, you guessed right, she had gold grillz on her teeth (straight 42K bling-a-ling-ling), wearing doped out LV sunglasses designed by Marc, a 3-inch diameter plat’num chain and full-zip Crooks & Castles hoodie (whhhaatt???….okay!! ala Lil’ John). She’s one gangsta’-assed autha’.

F’real, f’real, she was actually very professional and articulate - the type of articulate you find yourself looking to Websters for assistance.

Above: Very lovely Cora Daniels signing her book.


Above: Doodling graffiti 1980s style. That’s just how she does it, na’sayin’?

More pictures after the jump

Continue reading ‘Ghettonation by Cora Daniels!’

Above: Making millions off sneakers while you make minimum wage to buy’em. It’s great except that bitch is parading around with Pharrell dangling gold chains, on TV, that are as heavy as his weight. That’s when you realize, “hey, wait a minute, $200 for sneakers is a little too much!”

For those people who look at websites like hypebeast.com or highsnobiety.com or all the other thousands of websites that dedicate their time and efforts towards the hip hop revolution/scene, sneakers, new era caps, t-shirts, bags and all things street wear has to offer, it feels familiar & routine. That’s because there’s so much of it to go around and there are definitely enough people to take it all in. However a few months back I was talking to my friend about it and he was completely oblivious to it. Sometimes when I’m “into” something it’s hard not to realize how the whole thing is such a niche and it’s just another fad. Even though I don’t buy any of that crap I do tend to look at it way too much.

My friend works in Accounting and applying a very limited stereotype about Accountants you may say, “oh, there you go, of course he wouldn’t know anything about it.” My problem with this is, why does ANYONE know about this? I mean, this whole culture seems to have become nothing but another way for companies to pipe their ‘Made In China’ goods into the hands of adolescent boys to mid-20 year olds’ hands. I like the idea of supporting a culture but when BAPE is selling you a sweatshirt for 200 clams they can just GO FUCK THEMSELVES. It has become ridiculous. What is limited edition is no longer limited edition if the same company who claims to be a boutique-type ordeal is coming out with new things for hypeWHORES every single week. If you support the culture then support it by creating and innovating but don’t do it as a consumer with a credit card and itchy index fingers. I don’t think what I’m saying is anything NEW! but I feel like it’s something that needs to be reiterated.

These are great. I’ve been meaning to do some research on streetwear sweatshops. Look at these GREAT pictures that I found on the internet. Like a lot of things around the world, Streetwear! is mass produced, marketed as Limited Edition and then sold to idiots for upwards of USD$200 to gullible kids.

ORDER SOME YOURSELF! on ALIBABA.com, the Chinese outsourcing website!

or buy it at the aNYthing Store!

You’re all saying to yourself, “hey, what a great website this is, I’m sure everyone reads it!” Well, you’re correct, but for some reason, despite literally everyone & their 2nd cousin’s third son reading this site, the stats show that I get a whopping range of only 5-20 people per day. Can I just say, “WOWeee“ (shaking my head slowly).

I wonder why that is. It might have something to do with my altogether lack of focus. You know, originally, I was going to just write up a lot of financial topics using nothing but informal English/slang; including both personal and corporate finance. The problem was that the disparity between gangsta-assed thugs and Wallstreet money managers is too large. I’m pretty sure if you’re a gangsta-assed thug on Wallstreet, you’re robbing people - or maybe not, who knows?

I’ll follow Slate.com’s Bad Advice column but YOU don’t really need to because basically, let me summarize this for you, other than to diversify, there is nothing that you can do. Actually, it recommends you invest in low cost index funds. It’s a cynical look (or realistic look) that says don’t bother trying to beat the market. If you diversify and you so happen to beat the market, good for you, you got lucky. Henry Blodget writes these great articles like ‘Stop Picking Stocks Immediately!’. Here’s a chunk:

First, in the seven decades since Graham wrote Security Analysis, the stock market has gone from being a playground for amateurs to a battlefield dominated by full-time professionals. One result is that pricing errors that once might have gone unnoticed for months in Graham’s day are now discovered and exploited instantly. Second, the amount of information available about the most obscure stock today dwarfs what was available about even the bellwethers a half-century ago, making it harder to dig up information that other investors don’t know. The moment the information is released, moreover, it is dissected, discussed, and debated by thousands of analysts, until most reasonable conclusions that can be drawn from it have been. Today’s technology also allows even part-time investors to screen tens of thousands of stocks in dozens of markets in the time it would have taken a Graham-era analyst to compute the “net current assets” of a single company.

Third, inside information that used to be quite valuable is now illegal to trade on. And, finally, the establishment of research centers such as the Center for Research in Security Prices (CSRP) has allowed analysts to study markets and investing in ways that the young Benjamin Graham could only have dreamed of—and, in so doing, to assemble a body of knowledge that makes much of the “investment wisdom” of the early 20th century seem as primitive and unscientific as bloodletting.

Imagine the last Lord of the Rings movie. You see all those monsters? There are billions of them, literally. I think the last battle was like half the movie, I’m not sure. Anyway, that’s what you’re up against. Even if you’re researching 24 hours a day you cannot beat them. No matter how much finance ninja you learn, you can’t beat that giant ogre and his minions. Don’t invest in the stock market unless you have inside information.