square sunglasses

saw this guy on the street the other day and asked if i could take a picture of his sunglasses. he was cool about the whole thing, and turns out his mom actually bought them for him. must have a pretty cool mom.

Bonny Doon/Santa Cruz Fires

I drove through the area where the fires were today (just north of Santa Cruz), and took a few pictures of some things i saw... to see more pictures, check out my facebook album:
Bonny Doon Burning

Cool skate video

Watch this skate video by Quicksilver. Its not necessarily the skating itself that is amazing, but the way the video is made (I have no idea how they did it) that will blow your mind...
http://skate.quiksilver.com/thespot/index.aspx?EDID=NQAPGG-WHKF-YBACL-Z90S-9M3Z-v1
(WATCH THE WHOLE VIDEO, IT GETS COOLER AND COOLER)

my portfolio

I've been working on a portfolio of all my art and design work, and here is what ive got so far.
www.nabilsamadani.com

New Fish Discovered

This is a really cool video taken by an underwater robot, of the barrel-eye fish. It has a transparent head!

Office Depot

I was running an errand at Office Depot in Los Gatos the other day, and came across an old Chevy, a big white wolf-dog in the back and a mountain man behind the wheel. The whole scene could have been straight out of 1970. They were about to pull out, so I ran up to them as they were backing up and asked if I could take a picture. He was nice enough to go along with my request, and enthusiastically responded "Well then you have to get one of me and the dog in it too." I ended up chatting with John for a while, and learned about how he likes to roll up to the kids with their "big shiny new trucks" and tell them about how in 40 years their car wont be in half as good of shape as his is. Nice guy. Thanks John.

The Present

Can't wait for the new movie by Thomas Campbell, The Present. Just watching the trailer makes me want to go surf. Check it out:

Tons of premiers coming up in March. Check out the website for times and more info:
http://www.trimyourlifeaway.com/home/present/index.html

Ford Econoline

About a month ago, my brother and I took a road trip through California. One of my favorite things I saw was this old car on the side of the road that had a "FOR SALE" sign posted on it. I had actually passed it once before, a couple weeks earlier when I was on my way to LA, and it caught my eye. But it was a passing glance.

This time I made sure to stop and check it out. We pulled over along hwy 101 to take a closer look. Everything on the car was perfect. It had gotten a new paint job recently, and everything about it was very well kept and well taken care of.

The doors were unlocked, so we climbed in. The interior was awesome, nothing but the shift, a little ash tray and the steering wheel, and it was a 3 gear (didn't even know that existed). Here are the pictures of my dream car, the Ford Econoline:

Tortilla Press

I recently bought a tortilla press from the Mexican market in Berkeley, along with some Maseca corn tortilla mix (basically dried ground corn).

Making tortillas is a super simple process. Im talkin, at 1pm I think of having tortillas for lunch, and 1:20 pm, Im having tortillas for lunch.
They're the most basic, simple food, and you can eat them whenever. I really recommend getting one for yourself. Its not one of those tools that sounds cool to own, but you never end up using, like a waffle maker.
The stack below is from last weekend when i made these for brunch for my family.

Subservient Chicken

This chicken will do just about anything you ask it to (except when you ask it to do something inappropriate, then he walks up to the screen and wags his finger). This is Burger King's new approach at advertising something they're doing with chicken. It will promise at least a few minutes of amusement, maybe a laugh or two.


http://www.subservientchicken.com/

One Question

I found this on a friend of a friends blog (swissmiss.typepad.com), and really liked it:
Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Also, watch more videos like this by the same creators at:
http://vimeo.com/2164626

Free Rug Mania

Last night I posted an ad on Craigslist for a rug I was giving away for free. Its a decent rug. 8x10, woven with a leather trim, from Pottery Barn. It does have a huge worn out area in the middle, something I thought would make it quite undesirable.

Just a few days earlier I posted the same rug for $15. I got a few responses, but no one followed through. In the end I really just wanted to get rid of it, so I posted it for free.

My final count, right before I took down the ad, was 51 responses!

I got all sorts of people saying all sorts of things: "I have the matching runner!" or "I really need a rug to protect my feet from the cold barewood floor" or "I NEED A RUG!" It really made me sad to know that I would have to turn down so many hopeful candidates.

I guess there must be a high demand for rugs? Maybe there is a rug shortage?

In the end I gave it to some guy named Dale. I'm pretty sure he and his girlfriend will give it a good home.

Inauguration Speech.

In his inauguration speech today, Barack Obama said the word "we" 45 times, and said the word "I" only 3 times.

ReadyMade Closes

For the past year and a half, Ive had the chance to be a part of an amazing company. Irreverent and semi-dysfunctional, ReadyMade was not for everybody, but for those who found something in it, it was everything you wanted a magazine to be. As a devoted fan from issue #2, I knew this was MY magazine. Lucky for me, I was able to contribute to a brand I really believed in.

Today, our corporate offices took over the magazine. The magazine will live on in some form, but dont read it, it won't ever be what it was. ReadyMade was created by a group of people who were the fan base and understood the brand. After today, this model will no longer exist.

Unfortunately, the shutting down of our office was done in a very cold corporate manner.

To ReadyMade's corporate parent company: there was much room for dignity and respect in the way in which things were carried out.

Don't ever doubt the heartlessness of corporations.

To Shana and Grace: An ugly outcome doesn't discredit all the good.

To the one who stayed on: dont be your job.

To my RM fam: id rather say it in person.