Benicio del Toro @ G-STAR RAW show

So, G-STAR, the Dutch denim company that's been working hard to do the Andy Warhol -- bringing the high & the low together -- in the fashion world lately, has been a part of NY Fashion Week for a bit now.

They have established this thing called the "RAW icon" where they bring in a celebrity to add a "surprise element" to their show.

A year ago, they had Dennis Hopper read a poem at the end of the show. Random, yes.

Last season, they brought on Heather Graham and Alan Cumming to introduce the United Nations' Millennium Campaign, namely the End Poverty 2015. Their official press release said "G-Star Raw is proud to announce its partnership with the United Nations Millennium Campaign to jointly raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals during New York Fashion Week." ...And announce they did. But whether they did anything further, i.e. donating any dinero, to the project to end global poverty by 2015 is unknown.

This year, the honorary icon was Benicio del Toro. Like Hopper a year before, he came on runway at the end of the show to read a poem.

What I wanna know is, what exactly did he add to the show?

Oh My...

Oh my lordie. It's 2009, innit?

Okay, for real, I'll try to update this more frequently.

But it's not one of my resolutions for this year. I'm just saying, I'm jus' sayin'.

But see you soon.

A Note on Spike Lee x G-Shock

No, seriously, I don't want the digital camera. Hence, you do not need to comment on this post.

But yes, I have been working on this project for the past year and some change. And the time has come, finally, to talk about it.

Many thoughts at the moment.

1) Yes, I have abandoned this blog for an entire month now. But I'm back.

2) Mmmm... Yes, Spike Lee seems ubiquitous at the moment, doing projects with G-Shock, Nokia, Nike...

3) And yes, I have a little crush on him.

4) And... Oh yes, the publicity team at Casio USA sucks. Big time. They need to learn the cool from its Japanese brethren. A way to cheapen my year-long project. Thank you very much.

5) But yes, I still enjoy working with them.

And soon, I will be talking about the 14th...

Potentially Most Dismissible Saturday

I must say, I'm not sure if I used the word dismissible right, but in any case, it's about last Saturday.

The entire borough of Brooklyn and in-the-know Manhattanites headed to First Saturday at our lovely Brooklyn Museum. As the Takashi Murakami show were to kick off, you can imagine how many people were to rush over Eastern Parkway.

It was packed. The line for the exhibition was longer than the much-hyped Basquiat show a few years back. And, may I emphasize the fact that even though the beauty of First Saturdays lay in the all-night free entrance (the museum's open till 11PM), somehow, somewhere, they decided they can charge regular (which is already $2 more than the normal $8) admission fee??

I really don't know what the big deal with this was. The show's already done showed (pun intended) in Los Angeles. Plus the unnecessarily glitzy reception with an "exclusive" Kanye West performance (hasn't he been appearing at too many of these to be "exclusive" already?) happened already on Thursday last week.

The DJ set by Muro was on the stuffy first floor next to the gift shop, when it's usually held upstairs. The sound system? Aweful. Because of the large totem pole-esque pieces from the Americas that were not to be removed from the room, the speakers weren't placed most efficiently. The DJ flew in all the way from Japan, and this is what he gets. What.

Library in Nightclub.

And that is the powerHouse Library at Mansion.

The opening was last night. So, powerHouse is an awesome publishing company, but what concerns me is the selection of the club. If it were to open its own night venue, that's one thing. But they are going with Mansion, another mega club hailing from Miami taking over the space that formerly housed Crobar.

Now, I'm not hating on Mansion. (In fact, my homeboy DJ Ryo spins tonight! If you're going out tonight in NYC, go and holler.) The lighting in the main room is quite astoundingly beautiful. And is that Pucci fabric on those couches? Fabulous. If I begin to think, Mansion itself is a pretty exciting venue.

And powerHouse states that they are going to use the space for book release parties and such.

But, then, why am I not excited at all about this? I love books. I do. And you know I'm down with nightlife. So why this disillusionment?

Perhaps because the idea of books in a posh space with liquor is not at all all that fresh... The Library at the Hudson Hotel? Or the beautiful collection at the Chambers mezzanine (not to mention its owners -- both of the NY location and of the Minneapolis one -- are some major art collectors ).

Okay, they are both hotels and not nightclubs. But in New York, where a numerous -- and many infamous -- parties are held actually at hotels (think Chelsea Hotel, the Mercer, QT...), what's really the difference.

I really hope that powerHouse Library does something that would blow my mind to live up to its great accomplishments they've made so far... because quite frankly, this move hasn't impressed me a bit.

More TMB.

In case your curiosity for The Martinez Brothers -- who, by the way, also set fire at the Diddy party in Miami last week -- has intensified, here's a great interview piece: Click Here. (No worries, it ain't gonna take you to any porn sites with random windows popping up.)

Vice City in Serenity.

The holy sunrise over South Beach. Amen!

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