I’m sorry…what???? This is Miss South Carolina Teen USA Lauren Caitlin Upton in true form. (Watch ex Saved By The Bell star Mario Lopez as he tries not to laugh:
Month: August 2007
Here are some photos of props from the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, which will star Christian Bale as the title character and Heath Ledger as The Joker, which is currently being filmed in Chicago.
Here’s the flag being used for the fictional Gotham City:
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Here’s a better look at it:
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Here’s what the Gotham City Police cars look like. Don’t they sort of resemble the NYPD cars?
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Here’s a close up of the logo:
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And finally, just to show the studio is really pumping big bucks into the film, here’s the car’s license plate, a rip-off of the Illinois state license plate:
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August 22, 2007
By DANIEL HONIGMAN Contributor
Going green may never have looked so good as it does now. Nau, one of the newest clothing boutiques in Lincoln Park, is probably one of the most environmentally-friendly stores in a city where eco-savvy is in.
Using materials as diverse as organic cotton, PLA – polylactic acid, a biodegradable material derived from corn – and recycled soda bottles, Nau’s clothing is good both for people and the planet. And although the Portland, Oregon-based company prides itself on its outdoor apparel, much of its collection makes a bold statement in almost any setting.
The Chicago location at 2118 N. Halsted St,. which opened in April, is one of only four Nau stores nationwide. The other three are in Portland, Boulder, Colo., and Bellevue, Wash.
“Our clothing is used in four seasons, and Chicago is definitely a four-season market,” said Ian Yolles, vice-president of marketing at Nau. “Chicago also has a growing reputation as a city that cares about sustainability issues, so we thought it was a great city to expand to.”
Using fabrics as simple as organic cotton and merino wool to more scientific polyesters like PLA (polylactic acid, a corn-based derivative similar to polyester) to materials made from recycled soda bottles, Nau clothing looks and feels great.
“Nau clothing is a mixture of sustainability and style,” said Kevin Henry, coordinator of Columbia College’s Product Design program. “If you’re going to do something sustainable, you have to make it desirous. The folks at Nau are smart.”
But going green isn’t always cheap. A single pair of pants from Nau can cost almost $150, but Yolles says that while higher quality products necessitate higher prices, it all evens out in the end.
“One of the key attributes in any product when it comes to sustainable clothing is its durability, and I know this is counterintuitive, but while another product may be cheaper on its first purchase, our products are extremely durable and last a long time,” he said.
But while Henry believes that while higher costs are worth the bottom line, shoppers may need further convincing.
“There’s an implied obsolescence in fashion,” he said. “Companies say, ‘We need this garment to fall apart in two years to sell them another garment.’ You have to tell them to spend $150 and not look at it as a fashion statement, but as an investment in craft, quality and the environment, because if something is going to be thrown out in six months, it’s a waste of energy.”
In addition to higher-quality materials, if you notice the company’s use of more muted blues, greens and reds, well, that’s planned too, said Yolles.
“Before we designed a single style, we developed an extensive banned substance list, probably around 70 or so, which goes well beyond that of other apparel companies,” Yolles said. “There are seasonal color palates, but the next season they’re out of style. Even the way we’ve thought about our color palate is sustainable.”
Green from day one
In fall 2004, company brass from Patagonia and Nike sat down to plan Nau, and they ended up making one of the nation’s “greenest” companies.
“It was a rare opportunity to design, really from scratch, an entire company,” said Yolles. “Sustainability was at the forefront of our thought process from day one. Companies should have a much larger responsibility to the community than the singular pursuit of profit.”
Customers who walk into Nau are also in for a new retail experience. The shops, called “Webfronts,” blend in-store and online shopping experiences. One size of each clothing style is available to try on, and if a customer wishes to make an in-store purchase, they can. But Nau encourages customers to make transactions through Web-enabled booths and have the clothing shipped to their homes for a 10 percent discount.
Why the discount? It’s cheaper to house the clothing elsewhere, said Yolles. Stores can be smaller, making electric and heating bills cheaper. Also, because less clothing is actually in the stores, costs associated with store deliveries clothing are whittled down nearly to zero.
“If we were a traditional apparel retailer, our stores would have to be 3,400-to-4,500 square feet,” Yolles said. “Our Chicago store is 2,200 square feet, so theoretically, it’s about 40 percent more efficient than your traditional retail store, and that’s why we’re choosing to share our savings with customers.”
In addition, 5 percent of every purchase is donated to a charity of the customer’s choice in Nau’s Partner for Change program. There are 10 organizations to choose from, half of which work on social issues, half on the environment. And Windy City residents will be able to keep their money local, as six are in Chicago.
“I think Nau is fabulous,” said Jenna White, director of development at Christopher House, one of the local organizations. “We’re very thrilled to be working with Nau. It’s rare to see a corporation giving back like they do, and we’re hoping it’s a partnership that builds.”
(The story originally appeared in four Pioneer Press newspapers: Skyline, Booster and two editions of the News-Star)
Categories
Review: Talib Kweli – ‘Eardrum’
By Daniel B. Honigman
The Jewish golem parable is probably one of the last things you’d expect to read on DanielHonigman.com, but here goes: In late-16th century Prague, an edict commanded that all Jews in the city were to be killed. A rabbi, desperate to protect and save his people, created a golem made of clay that became so powerful it couldn’t be controlled. The golem eventually had to be destroyed.
Hip-hop is this golem. It’s 2007, and hip-hop finds itself struggling to remain relevant as a result of its overexpansion. Over the last three decades, it has become so powerful that it’s turned on itself. It’s no longer an art form. It’s no longer empowering. It isn’t even exciting.
Hard to believe, isn’t it? We may be witnessing death of a musical genre in less than half a century after its inception. Hip-hop culture may be irreparably damaged and lost forever. It, as Nasir Jones would say, is beyond saving – it’s dead.
Perhaps not. Maybe hip-hop has one more chance to survive. Maybe hip-hop has an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type Terminator as its savior that’s all that stands between the genre and complete annihilation. Or homogenization.
This bothered at least one of hip-hop’s pioneers more than a decade ago. “People have to understand what you mean when you talk about hip-hop, hip-hop means the whole culture of the movement,†<strong>Africa Bambaataa mused in a 1996 interview with celebrated hip-hop historian and commentator Davey D. Getting hip-hop back to its roots would be no easy task, he continued, but it would be a simple one to start, at least. “We need to do what brother Malcolm X, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan and many others had suggested – read books.â€
From his Rawkus Records days with DJ Hi-Tek and Mos Def, through collaborations with, Kanye West, The Roots, Madlib, Just Blaze and others, Kweli has earned the moniker of the highly skilled, conscious rapper. He tasted some mainstream success with the West-produced “Get By,†a single off his 2002 album “Quality†(Rawkus Records) and with several appearances on the now-defunct “Dave Chappelle’s Show.†His last album on Rawkus, “The Beautiful Struggle,†however, signaled the beginning of a short slump.
Kweli then signed with Koch Records, of which rapper 50 Cent (who lists Kweli as his favorite hip-hop artist and one of his primary influences) referred to as “an artist’s graveyard†earlier this year on New York’s HOT 97 radio station. While on Koch, Kweli released “Right About Now,†a mixtape album that dangerously tiptoed the thin line separating himself from irrelevancy. The album’s one redeeming quality may be that it left many fans eagerly awaiting the next new Kweli release, still hungry from the paltry offerings on “Right About Now.â€
“Eardrum,†his highly anticipated new album, if anything, has successfully pushed him back into modern hip-hop’s upper crust. (If he had ever fallen from it, really.) Originally slated for release last November off his own label Blacksmith Records (Atlantic), Eardrum was pushed back several times as he continued to record new songs and tweak the tracklist. As a result, its release date was TBD for a while, much to his fans’ chagrin, then listed as July 24 and pushed back once more after the album was leaked on the Web. Along the way, he and acclaimed producer Madlib released the well-received “Liberation†mixtape.
With “Eardrum,†Kweli’s intentions are clear from the start – he’s not looking to create club hits anymore. He’s about soulful beats and adroit, meaningful rhymes. Right off the bat, he lets us know that his latest offering was worth the wait. Instead of opening the album off with a home run, he starts with a smooth single, the Madlib-produced “Everything Man,†a tune reminiscent of “Reflection Eternalâ€-era Kweli.
The album continues with several strong tracks (“N.Y. Weather Report,†“Say Somethingâ€), and like hip-hop in general, Kweli seems to find himself at a crossroads. On the Just Blaze-produced “Hostile Gospel Pt. 1,†arguably the album’s best track, he laments hip-hop’s commercialization, and it’s on this track that Kweli really shines. (“I start a conversation based on general observation/Hip-hop is not a nation, take it to population/n****s got a lot to say when locked inside the belly of Satan/awaitin’ trial, debatin’ how the hell I got placed in this system/Am I a victim or just a product of indoctrination?/They exploit it and use me like a movie with product placement/You hear the congregation – this is the hostile gospel/The truth is hard to swallow, it’ll leave you scarred tomorrow.â€)
“In The Mood,†produced by Chicago native Kanye West, features renowned jazz vibraphonist and acid jazz innovator Roy Ayers, successfully blends the genres, (In one of the album’s last-minute changes, West himself also adds a solid verse.)
But it isn’t until “More Or Less†that Kweli battles his hip-hop demons and offers a solution. (“More originality/less biting off ‘Pac and Big/more community activism/less pigs/more Blacksmith and Def Jux/ less Geffen and the rest ‘cause the rest suck, they got the shit all messed upâ€) “Electrify,†a Pete Rock-produced track on the leaked Eardrum album, unfortunately didn’t make its way to the final product. However, this is one of the album’s only missteps.
There have been several critically acclaimed rappers whose music has fallen on deaf ears. Kool G Rap, Big L, AZ, Jeru the Damaja – these are all artists for whom good reviews and a couple of bucks would get a ride on the El. Fortunately for Kweli, this album won’t fall on deaf ears, and hopefully for Kweli, critical acclaim will translate into record sales.
Kweli will be able to get on that El. The rest of us can only pray that the rest of hip-hop follows him on board.
Categories
Chicago Blackhawks…no Web page?
I went to the Chicago Blackhawks site earlier to look up if the New York Rangers will be in town this season, but when I navigated to the Hawks’ site, it looks as if their site lease had expired. This is what I saw:
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Oops. Just more incompetence from the Hawks organization. I think they’re the only team in the National Hockey League without a site. Or maybe they do, but it’s just down.