This summer I had the pleasure and the honour to travel to Onitsuka Tiger’s hometown of Kobe and interview five of the men responsible for the founding of the brand and its early growth. From the birth of some of our most iconic products to the design of the logo script, I got to hear so many first hand stories about where Onitsuka Tiger comes from, which will hopefully play a big part in where we’re going.
Please take some time to view the first episode of the series we worked on in Kobe, “Roots,” which explores the connection between Onitsuka Tiger and Kobe.
Thanks also go out to Ian Lynam, the team at AQ, Toshiki Senuoe and the ASICS team at Headquarters for helping this come together.
This is why HBO’s Face Off was created.
It takes so little effort to sell a fight when there is so much enmity between the fighters.
If this was scripted drama, all three men would deserve some type of short-form Emmy, that’s how well this 15 minute conversation encapsulates complexity of the rivalry between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
I’m challenging myself to think of a more perfectly cast rivalry and I honestly cannot. Nowhere else in sports will you find two men so capable of bringing out the best and worst in each other inside and outside the ring.
While their rivalry isn’t as storied as some of the more revered series the sport has produced, it fulfils the core element that makes any boxing rivalry great; the almost romantic codependence between two men whose personalities and skill sets complement each other to the point of creating a contrast that can create legendary fights inside the ring, and the type of interactions outside of the ring that become part of boxing’s rich canon of lore. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ll upload real images once I get back to Amsterdam and can upload the photos and video from my camera
Capping off an incredible homecoming weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the second stop of the Watch the Throne tour at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Even with the high ticket prices, pretty much everyone I talked to this past week was buzzing about the concert, by bringing together two of music’s living legends on one stage, “The Throne” had created a “be there” moment; either you were talking about what you hoped to see, or what you expected to miss out on.
I wasn’t overwhelmed by Watch the Throne the album, I think it will come to represent a significant change in how hip-hop music is produced, recorded and arranged in years to come, however at times I–like many others–was alienated by the number of luxury rap references and toasts to opulence. That said, I was excited to see how two of rap’s best performers, could bring their deep catalogues and enormous production budgets into a single show.
Tokyo is a special city. Exhausted from our whirlwind week in Kobe, I slept most of the 3-hour train ride. When our train arrived at Shibuya station, overwhelmed by bright lights and loud sounds, I felt like I had awoken on an alien planet. Read the rest of this entry »
Some photos from around Kobe, taken with my iPhone and Ian’s 5D that he let me borrow. Kobe is the rare type of city that manages to be quaint and cosmopolitan at the same time. The people are extremely polite and considerate, and the shopping, especially the vintage shopping is insane.
While I was in Kobe, I got the chance to check out the ASICS Sports Museum, these are some of the pieces on display there, but barely the tip of the iceberg.
I’m extremely, extremely proud to present the first song from our upcoming Nippon Sounds project. From the first time the idea was put on the table, we were faced with a lot of challenges and considerable amount of controversy, the least of which was engineering a collaboration between two artists from opposite sides of the world who didn’t speak the same language. Read the rest of this entry »
For those that don’t know, my full-time job is working on the Digital Communication team at ASICS Europe. Specifically, I work on digital strategy, production, and content distribution for Onitsuka Tiger, our lifestlye brand. Read the rest of this entry »
