Thanks to all your nominations, Gureala is now a finalist for Best Science/Technology Blog in the 2008 Black Weblog Awards! I couldn’t have advanced to this round without your support! Seriously. Still, the battle is far from over…
Now that we’re offficially on the ballot, I’ve got to call you guys into action once again, and ask that you visit the BWA Finalist Ballot and cast a vote for Gureala (remember, Best Science/Technology Blog). The same rules still apply: one vote per person/per email address, however, this time around you have to cast a vote in all 30 blog categories before your ballot can be submitted. There are lots of great blogs on the ballot (from humor, to celeb gossip, to music and beyond), so take your time and check a few of ‘em out after you show your love to Gureala!
Voting ends August 31st, so hurry! In the meantime, many thanks in advance!
What’s goin on, folks! Nominations for the 2008 Black Weblog Awards are now underway, and Gureala.com needs your support, and most importantly your vote, to make it onto this year’s ballot!
The rules are simple (one ballot submission per person/email address, valid email addresses only), and the process is quick and easy:
Visit the BWA’s official nomination ballot, fill in the required name and email fields, and paste Gureala’s address (http://gureala.com/blog) under the following categories:
Best Science/Technology Blog, Best New Blog and Blog to Watch
(Of the 30 categories on the ballot, Gureala fits into those 3 the best. However, if you see additional slots where you feel the site belongs, feel free to drop it in!)
So that’s it! I appreciate all the support that I’ve received from you all over these past 9 months, and look forward to informing and entertaining you here on Gureala for a long time to come. In the meantime, spread the word and thanks in advance for your votes!
Tons of hip-hop artists lend their talents to various ad campaigns these days. It’s nothing new. Sometimes the pairings are good, sometimes they’re bad, and other times they’re just downright strange. Take this viral video promoting Garnier Fructis shampoo, for example . Everything starts out pretty normal. There’s a girl group (one presumably pieced together just for this video) doing their little ditty on the benefits of Garnier shampoo. Everyone’s dancing, smiling, plenty of Garnier product placement throughout, and then, out of nowhere, Memphis Bleek shows up to drop a few bars on the on the glow replenishing, silky smooth powers of Garnier! *Immediate straight face, proceeded by tons of Huh’s and WTF’s!* 1-900-Hustler, R.O.C. Bleek promoting shampoo? Were the execs looking to reach that hip-hop loving, Garnier using demographic with this spot, or what? I’m stumped. But whatevs. Watch the video and get your wtf on.
Although nothing can truly replace a good old fashioned vinyl and turntable setup in my book, I’m always fascinated by these homegrown virtual dj contraptions:
Sharpie, paper, video camera, dj software (TRAKTOR in this case), and no high-tech touch surface whatsoever. Who woulda thought? And to think vinyl purists thought Serato was the absolute worst that could happen.
Designer Miguel Caballero taps into the personal security market with his line of high-end bulletproof fashion:
For the English socialite worried about getting shot, oversize paramilitary gear simply won’t do. Fortunately, London’s superrich can now maintain their security without sacrificing style. On July 14, Miguel Caballero, the world’s only producer of “designer bulletproof fashion,” started selling his high-security garments at posh London department store Harrods. His new collection includes blazers, raincoats and suede jackets, some replete with a comforting stab-proof lining. Customers get to select from three levels of ballistic protection. For instance, a polo shirt that can withstand a slug from a 9-mm revolver costs roughly $7,500; a version for about $9,800 protects wearers from automatic weapons, including mini-Uzis.
I see a ton of lucrative military and law enforcement contracts in this guy’s future. Just watch. A collabo of some sort with a streetwear label might not be too far off either. Kevlar kicks, New Era fitted’s, smedium tees…I can see it now.
“As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to,” said spokesman Bill Burton. “This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”
Ouch!
Considering the sharp words directed at Clinton, Jackson and McCain, I can understand why the Obama camp felt the need to distance itself from Ludacris by issuing that statement. It’s a classic PR move. Besides, we’ve seen how questionable remarks made by surrogates have been used against candidates throughout this entire election cycle. A simple statement expressing their disapproval of his remarks against the three individuals would have sufficed, however, they completely ignore the positive in his message (he encouraged folks to vote), dissed his effort completely, and went on to blast hip hip as a whole. Totally unacceptable!
As I’ve mentioned here numerous times before, I’m a sucker for great album cover art. So of course I had to post this:
It’s the cover of T.I.’s upcoming album, Paper Trail, and in my humble opionion, it just might be one of the best album covers that I’ve seen from a hip hop artist all year. The execution is dope, and the concept behind it is pretty clever, I think:
The illustration for Paper Trail pays an obvious homage to my rekindled affinity for writing my lyrics down as well as displays my commitment to keep my art slanted towards the abstract. [MTV]
On first glance, I actually thought the cover may have been partly inspired by the legal troubles that T.I. experienced earlier in the year: scatterd paper, maybe legal docs…the Feds trying to piece together a case against him…him later beating the case and rising from it all to restart his career. Ha! Looks like I was way off. Either way, it’s great to see him take a step away from normal hip hop album cover trends (you know the formula: studio photography, thugged out imagery, simple logo placement), and go with something a little more conceptual and abstract. Props!
In the meantime, I’ve been searching for info on the designer who’s responsible for this. No clues on the Grand Hustle (T.I.’s label) website, or anywhere else on the web for that matter (at least not yet). If you happen to know who she/he is, please drop a line in the comments or shoot me an email!
I was aimlessly roaming about the web earlier today when, whadda you know, I stumbled across the freshly redesigned website of one of my favorite hip hop record labels in the game, Stones Throw Records. They’ve implemented a new three column layout as well as an online store, and I must say, things looks super clean!
If there’s one thing that I have to give Stones Throw major props on, aside from the music of course, it’s their kick ass branding and design efforts. From album cover art to fashion to promo merchandise, they just get things right (take a look at this latest project). There aren’t too many record labels left out there that still put a great deal of focus on those areas, you know.
All in all, the Stones Throw site is one of the more well designed, not to mention personal/connected/accessible hip hop record label sites around. And this new redesign just took it to another level. The only thing missing from their site at this point (they already have messageboard, behind the scenes/user submitted picture gallery, and podcast)? Artists’ blogs, or at the very least a general label blog. Hop to it, guys!
This is the app that I’ve been waiting for! Full WordPress access in the palm of my hand, and all ready to go whenever and wherever I get the sudden urge to blog. Which in this case, is right now. My only complaints so far: there doesn’t seem to be a way to create hyperlinks, and there are absolutely no text formatting options (you can always add the appropriate HTML tags yourself, but that could be a bit time consuming if you’re posting on the fly). Aside from that, it feels like the same WordPress that I post from on the web. So with that said, you can expect to see a lot more mobile posts around here in the future. In the meantime, you can find more info on WordPress for iPhone here: iphone.wordpress.org
Interesting feature in the New York Times on Macrumors.com founder and senior editor, Arnold Kim, and his decision to stop practicing medicine and pursue blogging full time. The kicker: his popular blog now nets him a hefty six figure income (the same amount he made as a doctor):
Stepping away from medicine felt somewhat strange, he admits. Dr. Kim was bringing home a six-figure income as a doctor, but he recognized that blogging was becoming more lucrative. He says the site also yields a six-figure income for him.
About three years ago, through a combination of Google text advertising, banner ads and commissions on product sales, MacRumors started turning a substantial profit. While Apple is obviously not an advertiser, other technology-oriented companies are, including Verizon, the online audio-book store Audible.com and the information technology products company CDW.
Still, he hesitated to make it a full-time job because he enjoyed medicine — and he had invested almost $200,000 in his education. But he finally concluded that “on paper, it was an easy decision.”
Just goes to show you that content (plus traffic) is king!
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