Cumbia is seen by highbrow critics as something you don’t even clean your ass with. We can agree, both lyrical and musical most cumbia is not really the most tasteful music. Is it music anyway? Mmm. But then watch this remix of Major Lazer’s Hold the Line by the duo Frikstailers from Cordoba, Argentina. The hawt video clip featuring the amazing Tranqui Yanqui, aka the King of Cardboard, makes you wanna move for sure. I love it when something so bad, turns in something so good!

Via: WUBA

Nike Sportswear – The IAM1 Journey Buenos Aires from Vision Invisible on Vimeo.

Personally I have mixed feelings towards the coffee company from Seattle. Drinking Starbucks I remember my great first trip to New York, where drinking coffee while walking and talking on the phone seemed to be the coolest thing ever. At the other hand Starbucks is called the ‘McDonald’s of the coffee-industry’. It is an important player in the globalized world where every commercial street in the world starts to look the same.

An interesting change in (or addition to) this strategy of world domination is the new 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea store in Seattle. It is a new concept store based on the local neighbourhood. The shop is an authentic looking local café serving coffee made by manual machines and local food. Moreover 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea will be opened only during hours according to the lifestyle of the area and will be hosting cultural evenings promoting local musical talent. It is a strategy of un-branding since the big Starbucks logo is absent. The only link to the company is the window saying ‘inspired by Starbucks’.

Is this glocal strategy the way to go for international companies? Again those mixed feelings. Critics (see comments) say that the new store is not inspired by Starbucks, but by next door café Smiths since it looks very similar. Confronted by these opinions director of global concept design Liz Muller states that the design is based on the first Starbucks store ever on Pike Place Market in Seattle. Is Starbucks going back to its roots or is this concept a troy horse taking even more local cafes? Something to keep the eye on. The store does look great!

Source: PSFK

After the celebration of 60 Years of Soles & Stripes Adidas Originals Argentina decided it was time for a fresh layer of paint in their store in Palermo, Buenos Aires. Instead of doing it the traditional way they asked local artists Gualicho and Pum Pum to decorate the shop. Pum Pum painted his characteristic rebellious and naieve figures in the fantasy world created by Gualicho. The result is a balanced combination of art and marketing which should inspire more companies. In a globalized world were most shopping streets look the same the collaboration of brands with local artists is the way to go. Both from an ethical, design and commercial point of view.

Source: Atypica

According to blond Republican strategists, apparently. In the Fox News show of Bill O’Reilly two very world wise ladies got the chance to scare the poor viewers. I’m closing my doors tonight!

This is the response of a citizen of Amsterdam giving his opinion using… facts!

Source: BoingBoing

Listening to Lisandro Aristimuño gives me the same experience. This 27 years old singer-songwriter was born in Rio Negro in the south of Argentina. Rio Negro is located north of Patagonia where the colorful, solemn, natural beauty is really overpowering. Aristimuño translates this beautiful landscape into very original songs. Mixing Argentina’s diverse folkloric music gently with electronics into sensitive and charateristic pop songs. It is this mix that allows you to mind travel from Patagonia to Buenos Aires and beyond. It’s really original music that deserves to be heard by a wider audience.

Great news is that Aristimuño will be playing in Antwerp on Wednesday May, 6th in the Arenberg. This is one of the few times he is performing in a non Spanish speaking country, so don’t miss it. Oh, and for the €12 you will get to hear Anne Hukkelberg too. She is from Norway, the country of the fjords.

For now, sit back, watch some pictures of Patagonia and enjoy Aristimuño’s Argentina.

Date: Wednesday May, 6th 2009
Time: 20.30hs Kleine Zaal
Place: Arenberg, Antwerp
Price: € 12

Buy tickets here

The revenge of the nerds started already in 1984 with the movie The Revenge of the Nerds. The nerd is also coming back in the American Pie movies, even that you might argue whether they are really portrayed as hipsters. The American bands Weezer, The Barenaked Ladies and Wheatus are known to make geek rock. In 2006 the band Hellogoodbye released the music video for ‘In Your Arms’ in which the nerdy band members are very successful in their love lifes.

In 2007 CBS started broadcasting The Big Bang Theory starring two equally geeky main characters. In Spain they celebrate the Nerd Pride Day (Dia del Orgullo Friki) on May 25th since 2006 claiming the right for every person to be a geek.

But my conclusion that the nerd has become the new cool is based on the first Dutch Nerdcore Event organized in Amsterdam on February 26th of this year. According to the website Nerdcore is “a subgenre of hip hop music characterized by themes and subjects considered to be nerdy. In the past geeks and nerds were the exception to the rule, but today most people under 40 have at least one ‘geeky’ hobby or interest. Nerdcore rappers rhyme about anything, but there are some hot Nerdcore Favorites: video games, Star Wars, science, cult films, anime, comic books, computers and ofcourse the internet.” On the event famous Nerdcore rappers like Mc Lars, YtCracker and Beefy will rap about gangsters, bitches and homies, but also about programming, hardware and video games. The Nercore-event is organized by Dutch internet company Enrise probably to find those fine cool geeks and offer them a job. Pretty smart if you ask me.

The question is whether all of this is really good news for the nerds. How long will the concept of the nerd exist if the nerd is the new cool? Are they finally defeated after a history of being the outcast? Did the cool guys win at the end? Or are the cool guys actually super uncool?

Probably the real nerd doesn’t care about all of this and THAT is really cool!

De voorronde van 2008:

Bron: TheUnCoolHunter

Stop met PunkRock Yoga, Naakte Yoga, Lach Yoga en Doga, want 2009 wordt het jaar van de Gezicht Yoga. Wat er zo nieuw is aan Gezicht Yoga? Nou, dat het alle oude yoga-oefeningen combineert, maar dan uitgevoerd door de spieren van het gezicht. Het is het alternatief voor plastische chirurgie, want het geeft je weer van die heerlijk appelwangetjes, zorgt voor een jonge teint en strijkt de rimpels glad. Op de eerste foto’s zie je Gary, die hieronder uitlegt hoe je hetzelfde resultaat kunt krijgen. Dat wil je toch ook? SIR Paul McCartney in elk geval wel, al is ie meer van het Oog Yoga.

Bron: The UncoolHunter