the swagga shoe. who thought this was a good idea?

This is one of those things that make you stop and ask yourself "Is this really happening?"....

Day 26, the band of boys put together by hit maker (pause and let that soak in for a moment) Sean P Diddy Combs, has released a shoe for it's predominately female fan base called the 'Swagga Shoe'. No I'm not joking, it's really called that. The shoe is apart of a line of footwear created by the group called Eight 2 Six (nice play on words and numbers guys!) and is specifically being sold at Heels.com has left me with many questions.

1) Why? - I'd like to open hand slap anyone who thought this Roberto Cavalli esq shoe (circa 2000) was a good idea. With powder. For starters this shoe is $99.99 but looks as though it should be on the sale rack at Forever XXI. Secondly, is the red sole a la Christian Louboutin suppose to make me believe this is a luxury item? Really? Is there some sort of contract artists sign stating that on top of their duty as mediocre hit makers they are also to design something...anything really. Seems like in order to be a designer one must first release an album.

2) Swagga? - Are people still using this word? I thought it we'd replaced it with something more suitable and not so dried out and over used. Once upon a time swagga (or in perfect grammar: SWAGGER) was something people aspired to, that thing that put you on another stratosphere of cool. Now when I hear swagga or see a product associated with the word my gag reflexes go into overdrive. I seriously throw up a bit in my mouth.

3) Fans? - I'm not really a Diddy band fan, this includes Day 26 and excludes the Danity Kane albums I have stashed under my bed (hence the 'not really' a fan thing), therefore this shoe does nothing for my excitement level. Surprisingly enough (or not so surprisingly depending on who you ask), when I looked up the reactions of the Day 26 female fan base most of the women instantly fell head over heels (pun intended) for this product. But I've got to ask: was it because of the shoe itself or were they having visions of Q's lips and Willies 8 pack? Do these women really love this shoe, or the men that have their name stamped on it? Hmmm

If you love this Swagga (gag) Shoe you can purchase the product at Heels.com. It also comes in a iradecent silver and black (plastic)leather.

live hood rich with the mattress wallet.

I watched this movie once where this lady spent 30 years saving money in her mattress. One day her son comes by and notices her mattress looks lumpy and old, so when the lady leaves to run errands her son goes out to surprise her with a replacement mattress. Obviously the surprise didn't go well because when the little old lady returned home she had a shit fit about her mattress being replaced and hauled off to God knows where. Why you ask? Because over the span of 30 years that little old lady managed to collect about $600,000 worth of 1 and 5 dollar bills.

I'm not sure if stuff like this happens now, but I wouldn't be surprised. My grandma use to hide money all over her house, just not in the mattress. I'm guessing because that generation lived through the Great Depression, their trust in financial institutions was null and void. Now that we're basically living through the same thing, someone had the BRILLIANT idea to create the Mattress Wallet! It's the mattress full of money that you can actually take with you. Comes complete with 4 credit card slots, enough room for pesos, yen, dollars, or euros, and a anti theft warning.

"Less risky than the stock market, and more mobile than your mattress at home, the Mattress Wallet is the savvy investors choice."

Seriously, whoever came up with this is a genius. A GENIUS! [themattresswallet]

i really don't like you...

Here's more looks from the Dimepiece x Cassie collaboration. I love Dimepiece and I will continue to buy their products from here to infinity, but Cassie annoys the shit out of me. I'm sorry, I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. She gets under my skin, and I have no idea why. It's something else other than her voice that just irks the shit out of me, something I can't quite put my finger on. Is it the hair? The new 'edgy' look right before the release of her album creating hype and hoping the hype will equal skyrocketing album sales (which reminds me of Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad transformation)? Is it because she's involved with Bad Boy and I equate that as the label artists go to, to die? Is it because in my gut I feel like she just tries so damn hard to be 'it'. Maybe it's a combination of all those things, but in the words of Mr. Unforgivable: "I don't like you!"

And another thing, is anyone other than myself noticing how women's street wear brands are taking to celebrity endorsed/designed lines? It's fascinating that the minute Teyana Taylor becomes the face of MOB for this season, it's on ALL the major black blogs, and the second Cassie collaborates with Dimepiece the label (or rather Cassie THEN the label) ends up on not all the black blogs, but The Cut AND People magazine does an exclusive interview with the artist (and I use that in it's lightest form). I've never seen these labels on anything more than street wear related fashion blogs and the occasional magazine editorial a la Missbehave (RIP). Do we equate these endorsements and collaborations as a way for the labels to get their name in the media or something else? I personally love things that have that "I'm anything but mainstream" edge. Street wear use to be anything but mainstream to me, and that's what gave it it's charm, but now it's getting to be over exposed. Come Fall, with the help of Teyana Taylor and Cassie everyone will be draped in MOB and Dimepiece. I.will.not...

PS. This may not go over well with some, but who gives a shit. People are so quick to jump on bandwagons and not develop their own feelings about a product or a person. I have an opinion. Please deal with that...

PPS. Cassie said she made her hair cut mainstream in the People magazine interview. I just want to open hand slap all the girls that went out and did this after Cassie to make her feel this way (*cough Lala cough*) We the people give a resounding: NOOOOOOOOOOO [Alice Dellal, Kelis, JDavey, and Kesh come slap this chick]..

Ok. I will be purchasing that sweat shirt, and Uncle Karl tee post haste...

evidence of my sick imagination: america the gift shop.

I'm fully aware that I have a unique sense of humor only shared by individuals who don't take themselves seriously and use sarcasm as much as they use toilet paper. There aren't very many of us around so my jokes and snide remarks about everything tend to fall on deaf ears and are normally met with a stank eye. I saw these pictures awhile ago, they were shot by photographer Phillip Toledano back in 2008 who had the most awesome concept ever: If America was a gift shop what would it sell?

Just so we're all on the same cultural page, these pictures were in response to the alleged ill treatment of prisoners in places like Guatanamo Bay. Now that the history lesson is over, lets get back at the hilarity at hand: how awesome are these shirts? There's so much more where this came from, I would have posted them, but their too sordid, and I didn't want to scare anyone into thinking I was a total lunatic, so if you've got a good personality, need a chuckle or two, and actually understand the art of sarcasm, take a look at Phillip's portfolio.