In my early to mid 20′s I was a bit of a sneaker collector. I had amassed about 70 pairs, more than half of them unworn. My friend Von was also a collector and so it was not uncommon to find us talking for hours about shoes. What our favorites were, what shoes we remembered from out past, what new pairs were coming out and which ones we would actually line up for. Now Von and I have lined up countless times for various early morning releases. He was my kicks partner in crime, my Nike war buddy. If a new pair of retro Jordans were coming out, we were there. No matter how early we had to wake up, no matter what the weather was like, no matter how far we had to drive. All of it, simply for a chance to get a pair of sneakers. Nearly 1/3 of the time, we would end up empty handed, but that’s the nature of the beast.
About a week ago, a pair of reformed sneaker collectors(now in our 30′s) had gotten together for dinner and reminisced about our days of sneaker hunting. We looked back and laughed, shaking our heads at our former selves and remorseful on how much money we spent in those days. In retrospect, it’s the memories from that era that I look at fondly instead of the actual shoes I bought.
He shot me a text message a few days ago about the then upcoming release of the Cool Gray Air Jordan XI’s which came out earlier today to much fanfare and I thought I’d share it.
I consider myself a connoisseur of creative ads, especially those of Nike/W+K. Of the countless commercials that have sparked from the collective minds of these two establishments over the past 20+ years, it means something when I say that this is one of the best. It almost makes me give a shit about Soccer! That also is saying something.
“Lebron, have you seen my 3 championship rings? Cause I seem to have misplaced my 3 championship rings. And they represent the 3 championships that I myself have won. Now somewhere in this area, I seem to have misplaced my 3 championship rings. Have you seen em? I did say there were 3 of them didn’t I? You probably don’t even know what they look like. See, for each one of these delicious chocolate chip cookies there is an equally delicious NBA championship ring, that you don’t have. One for each chocolatey cookie, and you got to be hungry Lebron…”-Puppet Kobe
Watching this makes me all giddy inside, like how Nike commercials use to make me feel. This takes me back to the days of “Bo Knows…”, Mars Blackmon and Lil’ Penny. Nike ads always have an extremely high level of quality to them and this is just another example that proves that fact(Thank you Mr. Wieden, thank you Mr. Kennedy) . They captured Kobe and Lebron’s personality to perfection! Kobe’s isn’t too hard to personify as he’s the cool, calm, collected character, obviously the “straight man” in this comedic duo. But Lebron’s puppet persona? Wow, flat out nailed it!
You know, if looked at in a different light one could misconstrue overly, hyperactive Lebron following around Kobe high off of his mind on cocaine. Sure if you’re a basketball fan, you know that what Lebron is throwing around is rosin/chalk, but I wouldn’t think everybody seeing this commercial is aware of that. Eh, just an observation.
Absolutely love it when puppet Lebron yells “$20 dollar Chinese food!” and “Beef and Broccoli!”
New Sneaker & Girl tee by Kiks Tyo with Yuko Ishida rocking the abominations that are the Freddy Dunks. Frankly, these particular SB’s are just plain fucking nasty. It’s Halloween so it’s a proper release and makes sense for this time of year, but those have to be one of the ugliest Dunks Nike has ever released. Luckily, the incredible good looks of Ms. Ishida do well in balancing it all out though. Pre-orders end Nov. 4th, so get them in while you can folks.
If I were a character in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Yuko Ishida would be the perfect form for Freddy Krueger to take while in my dreams in order to lull me in right before gutting me with his claw.
You know, I never really liked the Carmines. I remember them fetching big bucks on ebay and it always boggled my mind as to why anyone would pay an extreme amount of cash for a Jordan VII with that ugly maroon color in it. The only VII I ever really liked were the Olympics. I liked them so much I bought two pairs but in hindsight now that I think about it, they weren’t all that great either. I guess it was the hype and peoples excitement for them that made me like them so much.
I don’t even keep up with Jordan releases anymore but from what I’ve seen it seems all they release are Jordans that have 5 pairs of Jordans sewn together in some inhumane Frankenstein manner. That or they release those two packs were they make you buy two shoes and they always have one Jordan that everyone wants and then pack in a horrible pair of J’s no one wants. It’s like they have this list of all of the Air Jordan’s and Retro Air Jordans in every colorway on this list of top sellers and worst sellers and they pick one from the top and one from the bottom of that list and charge $300 for the whole thing. Yeah you’re getting two shoes but still. I don’t want to pay $300 for two pairs of shoes, only one of which I’m going to wear.
Wow, I actually remember when I use to be a Air Jordan fanatic but now, the only Jordan I ever plan on owning is the Black/Cement IV. They just released that in a double pack with the black XIX’s or “the basket weave Jordan” as I like to call it. Horrible. Just give me the fucking Retro IV without the XIX please, thanks.
Anyways, Yuko Ishida is hot. Kiks Tyo is dope. The tee is fresh(despite the Carmines). You know the deal, pre-order them here. Peace.
Must…resist…temptation. Must…not buy. Funds..quickly depleting. Can’t..buy another shirt with hot Japanese idol wearing shoes I don’t own. Will look…too funny wearing shirt without the shoes…but will seem like I’m trying too hard…if I do. Ugh, these shirts such a double edge sword. The next Kiks Tyo and Yuko Ishida tee is available and has the lovely singer/model wearing a pair of Levis x Air Jordan I Retro’s. Comes in both white and gray versions. Get your pre-order on here. Oh yeah and it’s confirmed. Yuko Ishida, NOT ugly.
Hey, my favorite song off of Graduation…IN VIDEO FORM! Kanye West totally phoning it in for his latest and most likely last video for his certified 2x Platinum selling record. How can anyone really hate on this video? It has a puppet Kanye competing in various Olympic sporting events. Sold. That’s all I need really. Puppet Kanye stretching is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen this month so far. What would’ve been totally rad is if puppet Kanye was actually wearing Nike Air Yeezys.
Kanye should just do all of his future videos using the puppet. It would be very cost efficient. I know I would if I had a puppet made with my likeness. I would totally make it my proxy at meetings for work and social functions I have no interest in attending.
