12ozProphet

Trailer for BLING: A Planet Rock, the extremely necessary documentary about American hip-hop culture’s obsession with diamonds - “blinging” - and all its social trappings, and how this infatuation correlated with the ten-year conflict in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The film follows three rappers - Paul Wall, Tego Calderon, and Raekwon - as they trek to the country to meet the survivors, perpetrators and diamond miners in the country.

Directed by Raquel Cepeda and Produced in association with VH1 and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the film began airing on VH1 in February, 2007 and is now available on DVD.

Investigative reporting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-223865000828471342&q=bush+jfk&total=466&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

Legendary trombonist Generoso Jimenez, who redefined the role of the trombone in Cuban music and Latin jazz, died September 15th, in Miami of renal failure. He was 90.

The prolific Jimenez worked nearly to the day of his death. He is a featured guest on Gloria Estefan’s new album, “90 Millas,”.

The trombonist lived Cuba’s golden age of music. He was a member of the original lineup of Orquesta Aragon and later joined Chico O’Farrill’s band.

His greatest success came In April 1955, when he joined La Banda Gigante, as trombonist for the great singer Beny Moré. Moré reworked the lyrics of his famous song “Que Bueno Baila Usted” and turned them into “Generoso, que bueno toca usted” (Generoso, how well you play), immortalizing Jimenez’s name among legions of Cuban music fans.

In 2002, Jimenez released an album titled “Generoso, Que Bueno Toca Usted,” which was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Jimenez left Cuba for Miami in 2003 and remained active on the music scene. One of his last public appearances was June 23rd, when he played with Cuban singer Isaac Delgado in Miami.

Jimenez is survived by six children. He was be buried in Miami.

IF YOU DON’T WANT BITCH ASS TELEMARKETERS WASTING YOUR MINUTES YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE NATIONAL DO NOT CALL REGISTRY.
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

For those of you who havn’t realized that talk is cheap.
You might piss in your pants with this one.

American Express Sued Over “My Life, My Card,” Represents Bigger Problems Than A Lawsuit

Tom O’Keefe, an art director based in Boston, is suing American Express and Ogilvy & Mather for allegedly using his trademarked concept for the “My Life My Card” campaign. According to the press release issued by O’Keefe’s attorneys, the art director was pitching O&M for work on the campaign. For years, O’Keefe had used a portfolio, website and other collateral that involves a concept that is similar to the AmEx campaign. He didn’t get the gig, but a year later “My Life, MY Card” had become the ubiquitous tag line for the advertising campaign.

You be the judge. Similar concepts, but does this constitute trademark violation? A court will ultimately decide if the case has merit. But anyone who has done work in advertising knows that this happens all the time. High-powered agencies cast a wide net for talent, entertain numerous pitches, and all too often creative concepts that originate from outside the agency become part of the mix. And in some cases, end up as part of the campaign.

The problem for American Express is that CGM is an echo chamber and what would otherwise be less than a blip in the media landscape all of a sudden gets legs - blogs pick it up, readers “digg” it, discussions take off in forums. This layer of CGM now intercepts customers searching for “My Life, My Card” in search engines. American Express continues to invest heavily in the campaign and they drive a significant amount of search traffic. For example, a consumer who sees the hilarious Wes Anderson ad on TV may type “my life my card” in Google to find the YouTube clip and share it with friends. In the top ten search results, there are a number of articles about lawsuits filed against American Express for similar claims in the past. Now the brand experience becomes more than the Wes Anderson ad - now the dialog about the brand, the campaign, and the card involves the lawsuit.

My guess is that O’Keefe’s case will have a similar effect. From a PR perspective, David and Goliath narratives tend to get pick up. It could turn out that the lawsuit becomes the least of AmEx’s problems.

Trailer for the new documentary by FWAPE. Official cats shine some long overdue light on the art of the “52 Blocks”.

Support these brothers by checking them out at http://fwape.com/non_member_index.php

Also:

The Lowa Deck’s own Hassan Yasin of The Du Bros, real talk on prison combat, empty hand techniques vs. armed oponents, and demonstrates a hardcore training regimen for self preservation.
Not for the faint of heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_Il2-705YM

Class is in session.

Alan Ket’s video diary, updating the progress of his case.

http://www.supportket.org