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Good Black News
“WHAT about an audiobook?” Pharrell Williams asked, sitting at the head of a conference table at the Park Avenue South offices of Rizzoli as he looked at the nearly finished galleys for an October release called “Pharrell: Places and Spaces I’ve Been.” Here was a lavish coffee-table book filled with images of the many products he has designed in collaboration with other artists and fashion designers, and interviews between Mr. Williams and the likes of Jay-Z, Anna Wintour and Zaha Hadid, which do not exactly lend themselves to the narrative treatment. But why not?
“It could be really interesting,” Mr. Williams said, “if I went out and hired Morgan Freeman or Danny Glover to read them.”Or, as was pointed out by others in the room, it could be a little weird, if not uncool.
“An audiobook is not a good look,” said Loïc Villepontoux, sitting across the table. A calm, affable man, he is Mr. Williams’s longtime business associate, who oversees the licensing operations for his fashion labels.
“It’s like a lot of old women listening to the latest Richard Ford,” said Ian Luna, an editor of the book, looking a little nervous as he leafed through the galleys.
Helen Lasichanh, Mr. Williams’s fiancée, whose hair is dyed in chunks of pink, blond and brown like a block of Neapolitan ice cream, asked him smartly, “Have you ever bought an audiobook?” “Let me ask you a question,” Mr. Williams said. “Has anyone of my persuasion ever done one? No. It could create a wave.”
They heard him out.
As he approaches 40, Mr. Williams, artist and superproducer, is having the opposite of a midlife career crisis. In addition to an ever-expanding roster of singers and songwriters with whom he collaborates (recent examples include Justin Bieber, Frank Ocean and Conor Maynard), his services are increasingly sought by corporations to remix their product designs. Since announcing in May that he is restructuring all of his creative endeavors under a single umbrella company, called I Am Other, Mr. Williams might as well have put out a “for hire” sign.
“WHAT about an audiobook?” Pharrell Williams asked, sitting at the head of a conference table at the Park Avenue South offices of Rizzoli as he looked at the nearly finished galleys for an October release called “Pharrell: Places and Spaces I’ve Been.” Here was a lavish coffee-table book filled with images of the many products he has designed in collaboration with other artists and fashion designers, and interviews between Mr. Williams and the likes of Jay-Z, Anna Wintour and Zaha Hadid, which do not exactly lend themselves to the narrative treatment. But why not?
“It could be really interesting,” Mr. Williams said, “if I went out and hired Morgan Freeman or Danny Glover to read them.”
Or, as was pointed out by others in the room, it could be a little weird, if not uncool.
“An audiobook is not a good look,” said Loïc Villepontoux, sitting across the table. A calm, affable man, he is Mr. Williams’s longtime business associate, who oversees the licensing operations for his fashion labels.
“It’s like a lot of old women listening to the latest Richard Ford,” said Ian Luna, an editor of the book, looking a little nervous as he leafed through the galleys.
Helen Lasichanh, Mr. Williams’s fiancée, whose hair is dyed in chunks of pink, blond and brown like a block of Neapolitan ice cream, asked him smartly, “Have you ever bought an audiobook?” “Let me ask you a question,” Mr. Williams said. “Has anyone of my persuasion ever done one? No. It could create a wave.”
They heard him out.
As he approaches 40, Mr. Williams, artist and superproducer, is having the opposite of a midlife career crisis. In addition to an ever-expanding roster of singers and songwriters with whom he collaborates (recent examples include Justin Bieber, Frank Ocean and Conor Maynard), his services are increasingly sought by corporations to remix their product designs. Since announcing in May that he is restructuring all of his creative endeavors under a single umbrella company, called I Am Other, Mr. Williams might as well have put out a “for hire” sign.
“If you are going to think black, think positive about it. Don’t think down on it, think it is something in your way. And this way, when you really do want to stretch out, and express how beautiful black is, everybody will hear you.”
— Leontyne Price, opera legend and Presidential Medal Of Freedom Winner
Should headphones made out of recycled trash ever cost $349? It depends on how cool they are. In hopes of giving products made from recycled materials a little more cachet, musician will.i.am and the Coca-Cola Co. are partnering to make a line of clothing and gear called “Ekocycle.” The idea is to brand recycled products with a hipper image that resonates with young consumers.
“If you think about (recycled) products now, none of them are cool,” said will.i.am, who is best known for his work with theBlack-Eyed Peas. “You have to bring some art and fashion sensibility into this technology that turns a bottle into something cool.”
The first Ekocycle product will be a pair of headphones by Beats, a popular and pricey line created by rapper Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine – both friends of will.i.am. The Ekocycle version will cost $349, which is on the high end of the range of Beats headphones. An Ekocycle hat by New Era will cost $32.
Should headphones made out of recycled trash ever cost $349? It depends on how cool they are. In hopes of giving products made from recycled materials a little more cachet, musician will.i.am and the Coca-Cola Co. are partnering to make a line of clothing and gear called “Ekocycle.” The idea is to brand recycled products with a hipper image that resonates with young consumers.
“If you think about (recycled) products now, none of them are cool,” said will.i.am, who is best known for his work with theBlack-Eyed Peas. “You have to bring some art and fashion sensibility into this technology that turns a bottle into something cool.”
The first Ekocycle product will be a pair of headphones by Beats, a popular and pricey line created by rapper Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine – both friends of will.i.am. The Ekocycle version will cost $349, which is on the high end of the range of Beats headphones. An Ekocycle hat by New Era will cost $32.
“Few are too young, and none too old, to make the attempt to learn.”
–Booker T. Washington, educator, author, orator and first President of the Tuskegee Institute
The Americans grabbed hands and backed up, eager to get a better view of the scoreboard.
There really was no need. That Olympic gold medal was in the bag the minute they took the floor.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team celebrates its first Olympic title since 1996.
The Americans lived up to their considerable hype and then some Tuesday night, routing silver medalist Russia and everybody else on their way to their first Olympic title in women’s gymnastics since 1996. Their score of 183.596 was a whopping five points ahead of Russia and made their final event, floor exercise, more like a coronation. Romania won the bronze.
Its not too often that a young woman of color sees herself reflected in the images she views. Yet, given some free time and a sporadic interest, one young woman has reinterpreted the race of some of the world’s most beloved Disney princesses.
“So I made a bunch of white Disney characters into WOC,” Lauren wrote on her Tumblr page. “Just for funzies :D” In Lauren’s blog, The Little Mermaid‘s Ariel, Beauty and the Beast‘s Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and others are all reimagined as darker-hued woman of color, she writes, ranging from tawny to dark brown.
“Excellence is not an act, but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you do the best.”
–Marva Collins, educator and author