April 27, 2015

L.A.'s Best Tattoos Are Done By One Man

First-timers and ink-addicts alike have caught the fever for Brian Woo's intricate, fine-line, single-needle-style pieces. So much so that when you finally slide into his chair at Shamrock Social Club on the Sunset Strip, chances are you'll be sandwiched between superfans who discovered Woo's work on Instagram and his celeb devotees. Yep, we're talking about stars like Drake (now sporting a rad mini portrait of his dad courtesy of Woo) and Cara Delevingne (whose side ribs recently received a proper, tiny coat of arms from the artist). Looking through the pics, it's pretty easy to see why there's a six month waiting list to get some ink etched into your body by the man they call "Dr. Woo".

April 26, 2015

Rare Rehearsal Footage From Friday (1995)

The movie that I've seen over a hundred times is celebrating its 20 year anniversary, and that makes me feel old. Above is a short clip showing the actors rehearse/workshop some of the more scenes. Via Complex

April 22, 2015

30 For 30 Sole Man


Sonny Vaccaro is one of the sports world's most charismatic, polarizing and influential figures. Now 75, he is still a fast-talking maverick whose zeal for basketball, advocacy for underprivileged kids, and instinct for sales forged an era of unprecedented growth for two pillars of pop culture: basketball and sneakers.

It was Vaccaro who advised agents during the ABA-NBA wars of the 1970s, who launched Nike's "Air Jordan" empire in the 1980s, and who ushered in the professionalization of youth basketball in the 1990s, when players such as Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, both of whom signed shoe deals brokered by Vaccaro, turned high school games into auditions for the NBA.

"Sole Man" is a definitive, first-hand and unflinching account of how Vaccaro rose from humble Pennsylvania steel town roots to become the most valuable marketing asset in the $13 billion athletic shoe industry. Vaccaro's personal arc mirrors the narrative of basketball's ascent over the last 40 years. It is an era in which James Naismith's creation morphed from a regional game tainted by segregation and gambling into a global enterprise that stretches from Brooklyn to Beijing. And to a staggering degree, the basketball community is really just Six Degrees of Sonny.

April 14, 2015

Pilots Explain When To Actually Worry During A Flight

If you've been on a flight and its hit "bad turbulence", or the engine started making a "funny noise" and you think you're going to die, but then you don't, and you act like it was a near death experience, then this article is for you.





When a recent flight smacked into heavy turbulence last week, my four-year-old daughter grabbed my right hand.

“Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said. “It’s gonna be OK. It’s just a little bumpy.”

I withdrew my hand and continued flying the plane with my armrests. After landing, I sought a better authority on what to worry about in the air than someone who believes the moon is made of cheese.

Three pilots were happy to take me through the most common things that worry antsy airplane passengers, helping us to distinguish between “this is normal” and “I wonder if I remembered to make those changes to my will.”

1. Turbulence and Quick ‘Drops’

“It’s annoying, but it’s very rarely dangerous,” says Patrick Smith, pilot and author of the book Cockpit Confidential. “Even in very bumpy air, a plane is seldom displaced in altitude by more than 10 or 20 feet, and usually less.”

He adds: “Passengers will describe the plane as falling or diving by hundreds or even thousands of feet, when in fact it’s hardly moving.”

Only one airplane in history has crashed due directly to turbulence—a BOAC flight in 1966.

“That was a guy who buzzed Mt. Fuji with a 707 full of passengers just for a thrill,” says Ron Nielsen, retired pilot and author of Real Life Fearful Flier Stories. “We learned not to do that anymore.”

Complications brought on by stormy weather, especially wind shear, have brought down planes in the past. But Doppler radar now prevents pilots from flying through anything worse than extremely choppy air, Nielsen says.

2. Engines Cutting Out

It doesn't mean anything, since an airplane’s engine does not correspond to its speed like a car’s engine does.

“It’s more like a bicycle,” says retired airline pilot Tom Bunn, founder of the Soar fear-of-flying course. “You can be on your bicycle and stop pedaling and still coast for a while.”

Even shaking means nothing—unless it’s accompanied by a low-frequency rumble. Then you contemplate those changes to your will.

“That means you’re approaching a stall,” Bunn says, “but that doesn’t happen in normal operations, because there’s warning systems that go off before pilots approach anything close to stall speed.

“People would have to worry about that 100 million times for it to happen once.”

3. Smoke in the Cabin

Where there’s smoke on an airplane, there’s probably not fire. Yes, something is burning, but you’re sitting only a few dozen feet away from 100 tons of fuel combusting at 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit.

The overwhelming likelihood, according to Nielsen, is either a broken seal that keeps engine exhaust out of the air-conditioning system, or oil seeping into one of the pressurization turbines that cools the air.

“It won’t be a favorite fragrance,” says Nielsen, “but it’s rarely anything dangerous.”

4. Engine on Fire

During ignition, it’s probably pooled-up fuel that caught fire before being quickly extinguished by the jet blast from the now running engine.

A similar brief flash during flight probably results from a rare encounter with one of the most inedible rotisserie birds you will ever observe. Neither situation is dangerous, despite the worry stirred by Capt. Sully’s “Miracle on the Hudson” crash.

“Birds can lead to circumstances that will reduce the amount of thrust available to fly, but you’re talking about big birds—not sparrows or pigeons, or even a couple of large geese down one engine,” says Nielsen. “Every day, airplanes hit birds.”

Neilsen says that Sully’s birds were not the 10-lb. kind fired into engines during bird-ingestion testing. “These were huge frickin’ geese,” he says. “And they weren’t ingested in just one engine—but both. Try and find another case where bothengines failed due to bird ingestion.”

5) Oxygen Masks Deploying

A loss of cabin pressure either means the pressurization system has failed or a leak is causing air loss. Worst-case, it’s a broken window, door, or crack in the fuselage.

“These are all bad for business but normal abnormals that we practice regularly in the simulator.” Nielsen says. “All pilots are trained to descend rapidly enough to an altitude where breathing the outside air won’t cause anyone to pass out.”

6. The Ground, Ocean, or French Alps Spiraling Toward You

This incredibly unlikely view in your window is pretty much the only way—barring any emergency-landing crew announcements—for a passenger to definitively ascertain whether something is going significantly less than well in the cockpit.

And, at this point, what good is worrying going to do?

Taken from MensHealth

April 5, 2015

The Mix Up Vol. 9 [download]

Number 9. Enjoy.

01. Hello Fat Beats Intro
02. Easy Rider - Action Bronson
03. Microphone Preem - Slaughterhouse
04. Machine Gun Funk [Notorious White remix] - The Notorious BIG
05. Clutch Shot [instrumental] - Oddisee
06. Everyday Was - Black Milk
07. Try Me - Def Loaf
08. Disparate Youth - Santigold
09. Mr West - IAMNOBODI
10. Quiet Dog Bite Hard [remix] - Mos Def
11. Just Another Case ft. Slick Rick - Cru
12. Victoria Harbour - David Dallas
13. Final Hour - Lauryn Hill
14. Claire Got Played [instrumental] - Gadget/J Dilla
15. Sober - Childish Gambino
16. Concieted Bastard - Skillz
17. Road To Perdition - Jay Electronica
18. Writer's Block - Brother Ali
19. The Boomin' System - LL Cool J
20. Biggie's Last Ever Freestyle (March 1997) ft. Lil Cease - The Notorious BIG

DOWNLOAD:  The Mix Up Vol. 9  |  Alt. Link

April 1, 2015

Roast of Justin Bieber

Featuring Snoop, Ludacris, Shaq, Martha Stewart, Hannibal Burgess, Kevin Hart and some lesser know comedians.