Wow, Bape is releasing a new animal hoodie and it’s none other than the lovable Panda. I like what I see so far, loving the red Panda hoodie. I like the nice touch of bamboo on the hood and sleeve. I’m sure these will be gone in no time. I expect a whole slew of pictures of incredibly long lines from Japan when they come out. I’m still waiting for Bape to give us the fans what we’ve all been eagerly waiting for…the Sloth hoodie.
I like to think hardcore Bape heads have Bape parties where everyone wears their animal hoodies zipped up all the way to the top while dancing to Neptunes produced tracks all night long.
So I had the chance to get a red Panda in my size. All I had to do was order. I thought about it for a minute and couldn’t bring myself to do it. Man, if only I could somehow make $390 appear out of thin air.
One of my favorite blogs took a little hiatus but Just Blaze is back my friends. The Megatron Don has returned once again. Hope we get some news concerning Saigon’s album. Greatest Story Never Told can’t come soon enough. No more handclaps.
I hate posting so many videos in succession. I don’t ever want this to be one of those blogs that just post video after video. I always think twice about posting too many in a row cause I run the risk of something like this coming out and me needing to post it but at the same time feeling monotonous for doing so. I like to have a nice balance of video, audio and regular non video/audio posts. A variety of content if you will. Oh well, can’t help it sometimes.
My favorite song off of American Gangster. As far as Jay and Neptunes collabs go, this ranks way up there. Dare I say it’s a tie with “I Just Wanna Love You”? Well, not yet at least. I like the concept of this video, definitely on the darker side(drug dependency=dark). It kinda has the same vibe as “Flashing Lights” but without psycho-bitch-killer Rita G’s fine ass in it. I was expecting to see Hov with his typical Mike Jordan swaggering and posturing, Pharrell changing his clothes in every shot rocking gear from the upcoming BBC/Ice Cream season, maybe a celeb cameo or two. At the end of the day the video is pretty boring. I mean I like it, but it’s totally forgettable. Good thing the song more than makes up for it.
I’m sure most people have seen these videos before but I feel it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t blog them and have them handy to view at any given time. Masaki Sumitami aka Razor Ramon aka Hard Gay is a Japanese Comedian and former wrestler who does these hilarious comedy sketches and appears on various Japanese variety shows. He goes around the city acting like a total over exaggerated flaming homosexual messing with people. You just have to watch his videos to fully appreciate his comedy.
You can’t even begin to imagine how hype I got when this video would come on. Wasn’t feeling their first single, “Funky Child” much(DoItAll rapping in diapers in the video just didn’t do it for me) but when the Lord of the Underground made “Chief Rocka” their second single, I remember seeing it for the first time, pooled up $10 and bought the tape that very day. The album was pretty decent. “Here Come The Lords” and “Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time” were dope. The rest of the tape kinda sucked.
Street wear kids throughout Asia still love trucker caps. Fact. I’m not really a hat guy, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little bit tempted to purchase one of these.
Hong Kong street wear fam Subcrew joined forces with french online mag Black Rainbow(BKRW) to come up with this trucker cap. You can fly to Taipei to get one or you can cop them at Black Rainbows’ online shop. Last I checked there were 33 in stock so grab them while you can.
Found this on Hiroshi Fujiwara’s blog on Honeyee. Okay, so I don’t know what Star Bape Search is exactly(If only I could read Japanese) but by my guess is it’s an Americal Idol/Star Search type competition but with Nigo and Pharrell possibly judging the talent. I assume the winner would get a record deal with Bape Sounds, get some tracks produced by the Neptunes, have a Teriyaki Boy featured on their first single and have access to all of the Bape gear they want. I can already hear the millions of Hype Beasts rehearsing their dance routines right now.
I wonder what Ed McMahon is doing nowadays?
Update(3/21):
Got this from Pat, who was so kind enough to provide more info on the competition and auditioning process:
“I have the application from the star Bape search podcast. It also says you have to be female of course, between 18-26 and not already signed to a recording deal. Also musical genre and nationality doesn’t matter so basically anyone can apply as long as you’re in Japan. You can apply from overseas.
So basically they’re not just looking for someone to sign to their label. They’re looking for a singer based in Japan who’s going to make it all over the world. Kinda what BoA was supposed to for Korea except she went to Japan and never left.
The first step is to send your application. There are 3 ways to do this:
1) Mail in the application form, 2 pictures and an audition tape to “A bathing ape”, the address is on the application.
2) Hand it in to someone in one of the official “bape” stores.
3) You can apply online.
The application deadline is April 30, 2008. They will choose 10-15 people from all the applications they receive. Those 15 will go on the first “examination” (i’m guessing they go in a sing). From those 15, 5 will be selected and they have to go in and sing a second time. The final 5 will then have to sing for Nigo and Pharrell and they will choose the winner. That person is supposed to debut this year.”
The Star Bape Search site also has an english translation now.
It’s tough for me to warm up to giant robot anime. Reason being is that I must compare all of them to Neon Genesis Evangelion. I know how ridiculous that sounds, I mean just because I feel that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is the best kung fu film of all time* doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to appreciate other kung fu films. Cause I do, but when it comes to watching other giant mecha anime, it’s hard for me to shake Eva from my consciousness. Yeah it’s absurd I know but I can’t help it.
If anyone can make me watch another one and have me give it a fighting chance, it’s Gainax. Anytime the name Gainax is attached to an anime, I make it a point to at the very least check it out. After such quality anime such as FLCL, His & Her Circumstances(or “Kare Kano” for all you geeky purists out there), Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Gunbuster 2 and of course Evangelion, they have more than earned my trust. Except for Nadia, that was total crap.
So what’s Gurren Lagann about? I don’t really know. I figure it’s about giant robots which I assume will fight other giant robots. I’m sure there will be a love story of some sort. I’ll bet there will be some comedy elements and some fan service. Most likely someone will die. Oh and there’s this mole looking thing that seems to be the mascot of the series. The thing that they can make toys of and make millions of dollars from.
Does it really matter? All you really need to know is: it’s Gainax so the animation will be top notch, the character design will be really, really good, breasts will most definitely be bouncing and robots are cool. Sold. The first DVD of the series comes out in a few days. Buy it here.
*For the record Iron Monkey is my favorite kung fu film of all time.
The last thing I think about when I think about Nintendo is “street wear”. I would’ve been very surprised at this kind of collaboration if it wasn’t for yesterdays news of a Honeyee DS Lite. These come in two flavors as you can see and will be released on April 1st. I’m curious how much this is gonna cost. Let’s see, DS Lites run about $120 or so, then we add in the Bape factor and that should bring our total to about $700. I’d buy it.
I want to see more Miyamoto/Nigo collabs. Shigeru Miyamoto could produce a Baby Milo Nintendo game. Get Treasure to develop it, make it a 2D side scrolling platformer and bam, video gaming gold. Then in turn Nigo can design Baby Mario and Milo tees along with Goomba and Koopa hoodies in limited quantities.
Wait, WHAT?! Are you fucking serious?! First, if you know me you know my Nintendo DS is my video game platform of choice as I haven’t made the jump to next gen console gaming just yet. I absolutely love it. I’ve played Tetris Online more than any other game in the last year or so and I just recently spent nearly 60 hours playing through FF VI for what seems to be the 14th time spending those last 10 hours maxing out the levels on all my characters. So many cool games, online play and it’s region free and import friendly. I simply adore my DS, it’s my nerd weapon of choice.
Second, you’re telling me, that Hiroshi Fujiwara collaborated with Nintendo to create a Honeyee/Fragment DS Lite? Honeyee ranks #1 on my favorite sites-that-I-can’t-even-read list cause minus the blogs by Jeff Staple, Eric Clapton and John Mayer(among a few others), the site is pretty much all in Japanese.
This is THE holy grail of all things geek and street. I just don’t know how to react right now, my mind is totally blown. I don’t care if this thing costs more than a solid gold PS3, I want one.
A Love Supreme Dreaming... 