DMAX :: the one & only

my good friend Darryl Maxwell (D-Max) came to town. he took the train up from DC to attend the NBA Draft. when the event was sold out upon his arrival, i quickly called dan for help. dan, or as i called him "el presidente", was able to get darryl a ticket. Darryl had a fun time watching the festivities - as well as heckling Stephen A Smith. why does he yell all the time? ! we may never know.

anyhow, to give you a bit of history, Dmax and I went to high school around the corner from each other, but never met -- until we both landed at PENN. we were fast friends and have been so ever since that first week in the Quad when we went to WAWA, toured the music shops at Houston Hall and rolled to Gimbell gym to play basketball together. since then, he has gotten a law degree, works at some snazzy law firm doing M&A anti-trust -- and most importantly, found himself a lovely wife.

it has been great to see my friend these past few days. can't believe it'll be our 10 year college reunion soon. brothas are gettin' old!!!

my tools

my friend henri posted to his blog last month his "tools of the trade" - the essentials he leaves home with. now that i work at a mobile phone company, i see how dependent many of us are on our device -- i thought it cool for henri to show what else he rolls out with. they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery --- to that end, i present jp's tools.

UNO : My Nokia N95 - with a 5mp camera, the ability to pop on the net at all times, and with over 100 songs to keep me groovin' -- it truly is not ONE thing - but MANY.

DOS : My thumb-ring from Tibet. Note, I've never been to Tibet - but you gotta love NYC, where you buy buy a super cool ring on the street, in this case, in front of one of my fav movie houses.

TRES : my brand new super fly talking "metal dork" watch by Nixon. the aforementioned henri totally put me on to this brand. some incredible watches. take a look for yourself.

***what are your "tools"??? post a comment or link to your blog, will ya?

jazzified

guru, of gangstarr, has been releasing jazzmatazz volumes since the early 90s. they gave folks like me a nice intro to jazz greats, like lonnie liston smith and roy ayers, by fusing them with hiphop. he is set to release Vol. 4 soon, and the first single features Common, whose flow is solid, as always. the video is kinda cool too - on the cartoon tip. check it out:

Guru's Jazzmatazz - State of Clarity (feat. Common)
Uploaded by v2music

shameless self-promotion

so, i'm in cannes right now. doing what i think is a cool program for Nokia Nseries. we sponsored a competition for 20 teams of young creatives from around the globe here at the advertising festival. they had to shoot a :30 spot in 48 hours using a Nokia Nseries device. (N93i) the teams did some great work and had fun doing it. as cameras get smaller and connected, it will be amazing to see what the happens when they are placed in the hands of such talented individuals. check out the site for my program : here

hot carolina!

last weekend i attended my good friend, jamal's wedding. it was in south carolina and man was it HOT! the day of, it was 97 degrees. no joke! charleston is supposedly a beautiful city. to be honest, i did not see much of it. it was simply too damn hot! the night prior jamal's family hosted a bbq on the property that their ancestor bought directly from his slave-owner. the south is full of heritage - good & bad. on a more upbeat note, the wedding was at a nice quaint church. a cute, quick ceremony. and the reception was held in a wonderfully restored rice mill building. a good time was had by all - and both jessica and jamal were beaming with joy. that's all you can ask for, really. well - that and below 90 degree temperatures.... :)

...in development

many of you who read this know my friend, dan. we played basketball together in san fran & became great friends. after graduating from HBS, dan got a job at the NBA. at first, doing CRM work specifically dedicated to retaining season ticket holders and acquiring new ones. he then got a promotion that had him liaising with 9 teams across the league on a number of marketing and operations issues. his dream job. well, last week, he got called into David Stern's office - and offered a new job. David asked Dan to be the PRESIDENT of the NBDL, the development league that primes players to get to the NBA (like the minor leagues in Baseball). this is an awesome opportunity for him. i am so happy to see such a good friend succeed.

hilarious!

just watch. it's great. i promise.