Levi’s 08501

OHHHHHHHH I know I’m late posting this, but just can’t help it.

I just want to say that Levi’s Asia, or more conveniently, Levi’s Japan, is doing far superior marketing jobs than Levi’s USA.

Despite Edison Chen fucking up (or getting fucked for) his image as a spokes person for Levi’s Denim in the last 2 years…

The brand came back stronger than ever in the A/W collection, launching the “Live Unbottoned” Campaign with none other than Kimura Takuya, aka Kimura Takuya the DENIM GOD.

Please do yourself a favor and put “Bitch Please II” on repeat when you proceed onto the following.

This is the first wave ad for Levi’s Live Unbottoned campaign introduced in the winter of 2008.

Honestly, to the normal, unenlightened folks like us, we can’t say we are in anyway intrigued by this ad; but for those enthusiasts and hardcore (Asian) Levi’s fans, this is almost like Al Pacino posing as Tony Montana for an ad to sell his “little friend” — it’s a MUST BUY!!!

Levi’s Asia reconstructed the Levi’s 501 cut from this campaign on as a new model: “08501″, I think the last modification was 02501 or something, which was unintersting; and the one before it was Levi’s Type1 or 3D or whatever.

First I must praise the cut, I have never entered a clothing store, bought something, then walked out the store like a lottery winner before (maybe a few times in Macy’s though), I went shopping with Jenny for a treadmill in a local shitty mall located in Kajang Malaysia (which is a pretty shitty place that I live in Malaysia), Jenny suggested that we “shop around”, which at that time sounded more like “wasting my life around”, thanks to her, I found a Levi’s Outlet store, which was selling the following pair of jeans in full size ranges:

 

For a ridiculous price of RM160 = US$50!

Oh, so you think this ain’t shit huh? What if I told you Kimura the GOD OF DENIM wore them?

LOL thanks for KimuGOD backing it up, this pair retails $110 in Asia, RETAIL.

My point is not the look of this pair of 501s, it’s the CUT, the FIT, I am now fully convinced that I am Asian because the pair just fit me insanely right.

A more important feature of the 08501 line is the WASH. I mean, for all of us Neighborhood, WTaps, Number(Nine), and Levi’s LVC, Fenom, Crush fans, the wait is over, you will no longer pay $500+ for a pair of fucked up jeans, they are coming to you at comfortable prices of $80-200, all yours with equal quality of…

LVC level cone mill XXX cotton,

Neighborhood Style Savage (almost),

and Levi’s trademark…brings you the brand new 08501 line…

08501-0196

Main second wave Ad, check below for KimuGOD’s personal rendition of 0196…

The guy makes wearing jeans FUN!

08501-0196 front

08501-0196 back

 
08501-0040

Some black type.

Third wave Ad main hit: 08501-0128

This one ad probably boosted total Asia GDP by 3,000%

08501-0128

And a little variation:

And other cool stuff not worn by KimuGOD…

08501-0194 Front

08501-0194 details, this is some LVC status savage.

LVC stands for Levi’s Vintage Clothing, it is perhaps the most luxirious line made from Levi’s, in which every single product is an extreme accurate replica of authentic old, vintage Levi’s Jeans, well a picture speaks a thousand words, this is how Levi’s does it, when they say LVC, they say this…

66501-0066

This is a 501 model made in the year 1966, Levi’s pretty much made a somewhat accurate replica of it, with features either inspired or exactly replicated from the original pair allocated for its museum. This pair goes for $500+ even for a used pair…

But 08501 is so gangster, a “civil” version is released for less than $150…

08501-0233

The details aren’t as precise and elegant as the LVC, but an amazing pair of denim nevertheless…

Details:

 
Yeah…overall, I am greatly impressed with Levi’s Asia for their 08501 line so far…simply put, they will run Neighborhood, WTaps, and other “savage” oriented denim outta business, the washes and patterns, fits, and the cotton itself are just too dope.

Oh, and for those of you who go: “WHO THE FUCK IS KIMURA TAKUYA!???” well I can’t blame your ignorance, although he’s known as one of Japan’s hottest guys, how about Captain Jack Sparrow for Levi’s?

Here is Johnny Depp in an unknown pair of Levis’ LVCs, frigging DOPPPEEE!!!

LVC??? at Pirate 3 premier.

LVC??? at MTV award.

Thanks for reading.

Peace!

NOTE:

ALL PICTURE SOURCES FROM:

LEVIS
WIRE IMAGE
GOOGLE IMAGE
YAHOO AUCTION TAIWAN AND JAPAN

JUST DOING WORD-OF-MOUTH ADVERTISING!

SPONSOR ME A PAIR!!!

T_True tear generators…

This is why music is one of the greatest thing in life…

I’m part drunk, part crying, ALL EMO…

I miss all my homies/girls, I miss Shadow, I love my family, I am grateful that I am here, I will do all that I can, I love my life, I appreciate the world…all at this moment, I hope it never goes away!

I don’t even know why I’m so emotionally invested in Shadow, everytime I think about her, I think about how dogs only live to about 10-15 years, I keep thinking that every year I don’t see her is like every 5-8 years for my time. She’s a dog and she doesn’t know that time is going by so quickly… I wish I could spend more time with her; I wish I wasn’t so mad at her before. I miss everything about Shadow so much… I know she’s well and taken care of, I know she’s a dog and she probably doesn’t remember me, I just know that time is short and I really wish she’s next to me now…

GG NO RE!

Sam Raimi is confirmed to direct the upcoming Warcraft film!

http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/090721.html

Just finished watching Drag Me to Hell, didn’t know it was directed by Sam Raimi, just wanted to watch a horror flick every once in a while, and every once in a while a fool runs into gold.

I think out of all directors, who better suits the position of directing Warcraft than Sam Raimi? Blizzard has been one of the most promising companies, producing classics after classics, and I have been a loyal, die hard, crazy, obsessive Warcraft fan ever since you-know-when, having Sam Raimi directing Warcraft with Warner Bros. is like having Takeshi Kitano saying he’d do Mugen No Juunin (Blade of the Immortal) live action film.

Oh, if you STILL have not seen Kitano’s sword fighting film: ZATOICHI, DO THAT NOW! I’ll tell you what, you should buy the DVD released by Rolling Thunder Pictures by Quentin Tarrantino, which is a buy one get one free deal, you buy Zatoichi, you get Sonatine, another equally great Kitano film.

Anyway here’s the Zatoichi trailer:

By the way, speaking of Blade of the Immortal, honestly, I congratulate Samura-sama for his success, but the anime FUCKING SUCKS, I mean I watched a few episodes and couldn’t stand it, I guess they had to make it appealing to the mainstream audiences, way I see it, the anime version butchered the Manga… it wasn’t THAT bad, it’s just the manga is TOO GOOD.

The newest sub-story arc recently finished for Blade of the Immortal and all I’ve gotta say is that the longly dragged prison arc was well worth waiting for! The story is coming into conclusion soon though, probably end by late 2010.

Oh well…

建國大業

Now this is some All-Star material, in the following preview you’ll probably see one Chinese/Hong Kong (*cough* no Taiwanese *cough*) star/starlet per second.

Besides the star factor though, I am interested to see…and not sure how the two parties: Kuomintang and Communisim parties will be depicted, not that I know a lot about history or politics and all, but the title itself kind of suggests a great deed accomplished by…um…you know who or you know what?

Jet Li plays a Kuomintang general though.

A random find: Statue standing in the Pavilion Mall of K.L., interesting stuff…

The front

The back

Past two weeks…

Just got back from Taiwan and now resuming my typical Malaysian life.

Taiwan was too damn hot, with deadly combination of being hot and humid, it was extremely uncomfortable just to be there. Well of course for all the cons there seem to be a pro. I did not really go out and play anywhere, met up with Shaina in Taipei (forgot to take pictures!) for dinner, it was great seeing her again, heard she’s going to Africa and then onto Europe, you go girl, you go.

Met up with my cousins and nephew/nieces, as usual, the Thailand Shrimp Feast plus ice-cold beer was inevitable, then chilled with my mom for the next night, I was struck emotionally when I treated her to a casual cup of coffee.

We swung by 85 degrees, a Starbucks-like coffee shop and she was saying how the bakeries looked good here. “So let’s grab some coffee and chill” I said.

Upon ordering, she was debating what to get, now get this, a fruit based, layered slice of cake that she liked was TW$29, yet she picked the lowest priced weird looking cake for TW$25. I thought about it for a moment and realized that she never dared to buy “luxrious” items like a cake for these occasions; and when she does, she gets the cheapest one.

I hope I was already a financially independent man and told her “Don’t worry mom I got yo back.” but then I wasn’t and still am not, yet.

All good though, I had a great time with her, she was complaining about me smoking as usual, I’ll try not to smoke in front of you mom.

Work wised, I’ve been quite depressed and reluctant to think about it lately. It seems that I have failed yet twice to sign two big accounts. My goal from hereon is to get at least one done by the end of the year or else I may have to start taking Prozac.

I have been doing lots of thinking lately, some things I think is better to keep to myself, but I’ve gotta say that the image of my future is becoming clearer and clearer, but then I also know these images will only come true if I put actions into it. “Someday I will…” “One day I will…” “When XXX or XXX I will…” should be eliminated from my life, greatest lesson learned, “Successful people look for ways, losers look for excuses.” (成功的人找方法, 失敗的人找理由)

Anyways, immediately after my arrival in Malaysia, I went to our client Avail Beauty’s 5th Anniversaries with, finally I was able to put my suit in justice. I was very happy indeed.

Here are some snaps:

 
My oldest cousin 文欽 on the left, we look alike don’t we?

Black Pepper Prawn, it’s all about the sauce, and it’s what got me started with the magical elixir to life: BEER.

My nieces and nephew, they’re growing really fast now, the girls are even taller than my cousin, who is at least 15 years older than they are.

Me in my BOSS suit, cameras of no kind will capture the greatness of my great self in this great suit.

At the V.I.P seat, yes, Very Important Person, all the way up front lol; well that’s because we represent the suppliers.
  
Snapping on stage, towards the end of celebration ceremony.

I was shitting my pants when giving public speeches to about 5 people in High School senior exhibition, I hope in not too distant future I can stand steady, crack a few jokes with audiences at this scale, without alcohol that is.

And came home to this.

OHHHHH SHIIIEEETTT, welcome back to the dark side! My Visvim Logan Lattice just arrived, SHAI-NING!

The actual product is just as appeared on the auction AND description, butter smooth leather, I could smell them miles away! The funny thing is I thought they were woven strips of leather, but instead they single pieces of leather, SLICED UP. OUCH!

The thing is, the sliced leather makes the shoes EVEN SOFTER.

With flash.

Detailed snap.

My return to Niketalk picture (maybe). Again, cameras of no kind will capture the godliness of my holy self in this pair of devine shoes.

That’s it folks, you may begin your praises and compliments now!

MWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~~~!!!

Till later!

I wanna be a _________ salesman!

Another Saturday, slow, boring, unproductive. Going to drive my parents to the airport in about 20 minutes, so just want to share a few thoughts on the manufacturing industry.

Industries that I wish I was in:

1. Computer and electronic parts.

This industry is so hip, so fresh and so much in demand. I bet if I ever met some guy who is in the computer industry, upon learning my profession as a Honey Salesmen, he’d probably stare at me with disgust. The demand of the computer parts or electronics are quite large and consistent, and entry level of this industry is so high, they only worry about competing with each other.

The best thing about working in the computer industry is that you don’t need to explain a lot, people know what’s a good CPU and what is not, the product sells it self, it’s like “Hey I got 1.5 Gig on this thing” and you go “Oh yeah? I got 4 Gigs, bitch.”, as long as you have the production capacity and can produce consistent quality parts, you only need to worry about how to spend your money.

2. Pharmaceuticals

If I’m a computer parts salesman and I meet this guy who is in the pharmaceuticals industry, he’d probably stare at me with disgust. I mean, nothing describes this industry better than Chris Rock puts it: “Ain’t nothing but legitimate drug dealers.”

With news flashing all over place, overdoses of Heath Ledger (R.I.P) and sudden death of MJ (R.I.P), people still demand more drugs, more so probably than food and water. Fat people on Cholesterol and blood pressure drugs, thin people on anti-depressents, normal people on antibiotics, old people on Viagra, kids on Ritalin, the rest on Valium, Prozac, Ambien and Xannax.

The best thing about selling drugs is that they are legit and they “help” people, and most importantly, it is very difficult to tell the difference in qualities, because everything works and they’ve been tested again and again, they work so efficient you can overdose for them.

3. Tobaccos and Alcohol

Now if I work in the pharmaceutical industry, I’d probably do a 90 degree bow and kiss then hand of some guy in the tobacco industry. I mean they are just the boss of all bosses. They are so gangster I think they can probably buy the rest of computer parts and pharmaceutical industry, and once they do so, they’re gonna create a whole new market of anti-tobacco drugs and softwares/devices and rule the world.

Time is up.

Have a great weekend, see ya’ll next time in Taiwan!

Visvim

Thanks to a slow Saturday morning, I wondered myself (yet again) in the awesome world of eBay and Yahoo Auction. Damn it…, I found this pair of shoes…crafted with beauty and luxury. Should I or Should I? That is the question.

I stayed away from the Japanese ura-harajuku, street-fashion, exclusive stuff for quite a while now because it had been a pretty dangerous habit. But you know how it is, every once in a while you need to embrace the dark side to get things going.

Neighborhood had always been my favorite brand, their denims and jackets are just so sick, so gangster, so savage. Lately they seem to run out of ideas though, coming out with repetitive stuff, plus too much hype is always annoying.

NexusVII is the G.O.A.T (Greatest of All Time), they specialize in Tees and Jackets using real quality materials and detailed craftsmanship, however they always stay low and their stuff are way too limited so I stopped paying attention to them.

So you got my favorite jeans from Neighborhood; Tees and Jackets from NexusIIV…

Visvim on the other hand…is hands down my new found G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time) in terms of shoewears, it’s a Japanese luxurious outdoor shoewear company specialized in the craftsmanship, innovative designs, quality materials, and ultimate comfort of their products.

Their products cover a wide array of mens’ outdoor gears, but primarily known for their shoes. Without further ado, let’s get on with them pictures…

A pair of staple FBT Model. Probably one of their best known shoe model and one of their few originally designed shoes. $450+ a pop, IF you can get your size.

My most wanted, but will never get a hold of…Logan Model, this is the mid type. The model closely resembles the Half-Cabs from Vans:

Design aren’t much of an attraction for me, because nowadays various brands pretty much steal all the classic shoe models anyway, what makes this pair so beautiful is the works and the materials, check below pics for details.

Breath-taking!

I remember these pictures are from two years ago, they were at least $450 a pop too.

Fortunately, I was able to find their newest Logans – dubbed: “Lattice”

This is the high-top Logan, “Lattice” series that came out in 08 Winter I think… JESUS H. CHRIST!

It is now availible and I am reeeeeeaaallllllly tempted. It is what inspired me to write a post about Visvim shoes. Amazingly Beautiful.

Butter smooth leather, Pig skin linning, Hand stiched assembly. Awesomeness.

I am not sure whether the leathers are assembled strips by strips, either way they look ridiculously, stupidly, wonderfuly amazing.

All leather interior lining. My stinky feet won’t stink in these!

They are going for $430 on eBay brand new in box. SHOULD I!!!??? Somebody stop me!!!

Next up, the Khifer model. Which is 99% resembling the Converse All Stars. Except 1,000 times more luxirious.

This is a used pair on eBay going for $300. Anyone?

Again, butter smooth leather, leather interior, hand stich assembly.

Another model made with Canvas outter material, price still going strong, at about $300 for brand new in box.

Mmmm…

Vellli Niiice!

LOL my Nike IDs from two years ago. Why is it that Nike doesn’t make Black/White dunks? It pissed me off so much, the only Black/White Nikes before 2007 were the super rare exclusive Nike x Stussy Dunk High’s…

Back then these go for over $500 for a brand new pair. Have them sitting in my closet in the States now, apparently people aren’t exactly nastolgic about classics. SHAME ON YOU!! These were up for sale at one point for $350 and I got roasted for it. You know what? Your loss.

Hmm…

Back to debating whether I should make the seller an offer…

I hate myself!

Family Time

Got on the mountains with Jenny and the parents last Sunday and spotted a whole lot of monkeys, was a nice, relaxing little field trip, here is a short video made out of boredom…

By the way we had no idea what the monkey was doing kicking us, upon viewing the video several times I came to realize that the monkey was saying nothing more than “Fuck Off.”

SMH.

Are Asians truly smarter than Westerners?

For as far back as I could remember, I’ve always wondered about it. I specifically remember an incident when I was in high school. I was at this Trigonometry class and I was just chatting with fellow classmates. I got into a somewhat heated argument with this white guy about Asians and Maths.

Anyway, I remember I was sitting with Charlie and Christine, we were looking at each other’s midterm test scores, Christine and I scored 92%, and Charlie 98% (Freaking Charlie…), the median score of the whole class was about 80%, making us the top dogs. The three of us started discussing what questions we did wrong and stuff like that, we were all Asians.

Then this white guy started asking each of our scores, and upon getting his answers, he was quite puzzled and frustrated. He told us that he just didn’t understand why Asians are better at Math.

I replied with a slight tone of disdain: “Well it’s not that we’re Asians, it’s because you don’t do your homeworks and you don’t study as hard as us.”

Then he hit me back with “What the hell are you talking about? I stay after school JUST TO do homework and study everyday, I just don’t get why I must take the whole afternoon to do the same thing that takes you 30 minutes.”

This guy as I remembered was one of those popular, good looking guys who were active in student government and all that, and he was in no way intellectually inferior than us, but it struck me deeply for he was working THAT HARD, because I never really studied, doing homework was sufficient enough for me to score 92% on the test because the test itself is nothing but slight variations to the homework.

I indirectly apologized for neglecting his efforts, and told him that in Asia we start our Math classes a year or two in advance, perhaps that was the reason why Asians are good with Math. He still felt puzzled and resumed back to his seat.

Ever since then, I’ve always wondered why is it that Asians ARE better at Math than Westerners.
 
Last night, upon reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, my answers were found.

According to the book, average Asian* 5th graders score a whopping 98 percentile on Mathematic abilities as opposed to 40 percentile Western scorers.

According to this result, I guess it is safe to say that Asians are TRULY better at Math than Westerners.

Or are they?

*The “Asians” referred here are statistics taken from Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan.

Take a look at the following number sequence:

8, 5, 7, 6, 4, 9, 2, 1, 3

Now look again, and then try repeating it without looking at it.

Statistics have shown that if you are an English speaker, there is a 50% chance you will get it correctly. If you are a Chinese/Japanese/Korean speaker however, you will probably remember the sequence with no problem.

Why is that? Is it because Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are naturally better with numbers and memorization? I think you already know If you can speak both English and one of the three languages. As it turns out, the language plays an important factor. In Asian language, the number sequence above can be pronounced within  2 seconds effortlessly, whereas in English language it is a tad too long.

There is also another fundamental problem in the English language with numbers. Take the number 12 for example, it is pronounced: Twelve. In Asian language, the number 12 is simply expressed as One-Ten-Two, or Ten-Two. In English, the teens are pronounced in an illogical fashion, placing the decade AFTER single digits.

Consider the following calculation:

12 + 27 = ?

English speakers will have to visually translate twelve back to 12, then twenty-seven to 27, then process the addition. In Asian language, this process is eliminated because the addition is already in process even in word-expression: One-Ten-Two plus Two-Ten-Seven, which gives us Three-Ten-Nine.

It may seem like a rather weak argument to adults like us, but take in account that children start learning Mathematics as early as 6 or 7 years old. It makes a GREAT difference for Asian kids to be able to memorize longer strains of numbers and process calculation faster at such young age, this difference grows even bigger as children advance in school. By 5th grade, the gap is almost as big as a 50-percentile!

Of course, the language itself is not ALL that accounts for such great gap, there are more factors that contribute to such great differences but I don’t want to spoil it.

By the way I literally re-wrote this whole blog because of some error Xanga or Malaysian Internet or both…arggghhh!

R.I.P Michael Jackson

Just got to work and found out Michael Jackson had passed away at the age of 50…

Such a sudden, tragic death… damn it! I feel very sad; from what I read earlier he was preparing for his sold-out Europe tour not long ago in attempt to revive his career, it really sucks that he had to go at the lowest point of his career. Despite all the accusations made about him he will always be the star he was.

I remember in an interview he said: “Love me or hate me, when I’m gone, you’ll miss me.”

RIP Michael, YOU WILL BE MISSED!!! T___T

One of my favorite performance of MJ.

Rest in peace.