I took a drawing class with Paul Trevillon today. We drew Wanye Rooney.

Read the news for yourself. If there was ever any doubt that Goldman is basically dealing in what amounts to be legal loan-sharking, it’s pretty clear after reading some of this latest news. Meanwhile - stay tuned for a limited number of these spectacular “Goldman Suchs” t-shirts soon to drop, we will let you know when! This should make good conversation at your next social function.

Hard to tell these days…

I have always wondered,..why was “lucien pellat-finet clothes sooo damn expensive? I mean yeah, they use cashmere fabric for hoody’s and pull-overs, but $800 for a Hoody? Now I know why. Just check out the marvel of architecture that is their boutique (below) in Osaka. It was outfitted by the exclusive Kengo Kuma and Associates. Look for yourself, it is pretty impressive.

I’m the first to admit, I LOVE a good slogan tee as much as the next guy…so that’s why when I stumbled on this site “Straight Murder” today, I just about lost it~! I love this shit. It’s witty and well done. Not sure about the story overall, but it looks like they are out of NZ…“Never take life so seriously you’ll never get out of it alive”. -Enjoy.

Hilarious!..alot.

Very sharp.

Oh word?

Get your Grab-Gab on! Ends on Sat!

722 FIGUEROA is the showroom that reps LUDWIG. I own it with Chris Josol, former domestic sales manager at LUDWIG. Alongside LUDWIG we wholesale HUFFER, SLVDR, REBEL8, 9GRAND, KEEP, ATELIERS ARTHUR, ACROPOLIS, and AMPAL CREATIVE. The showroom has been gaining steam as the place to sell your brand on the West Coast, mostly for our friendly, laid back, and competent presentation. Ever wonder what makes us so special…well, it’s puppies. Loads of them.

Bandit was on my desk helping out with Quickbooks.

Cody is very fashionable so matched his coat and shoes to Elizabeth.

Brutus stole Richie's lunch money.

Bandit stealing Adem's identity.

Spook tells Geoff he'll make more sales if he stops smoking cigarettes.

Here are a few questions I’d like to answer:

1. Why is it so hard to brainstorm a good idea?
2. Why do committees usually wreck a project?
3. Is it true that the more people work on something, the longer it takes?
4. Why are most products below average (and the rest… meh)?
5. Why is it so difficult to ship on time?
6. Why does time pressure and an urgent deadline allow you to get more done and sometimes (if you’re lucky) improve the product itself?

The answer to all six is the same thing: The resistance.

These bad behaviors are the work of the lizard brain, your prehistoric brain stem, the part of your brain that is responsible for revenge, fear, and anger. The lizard brain is eternally vigilant, trying to keep people from noticing you (which is dangerous). The lizard brain hates failure, and thus it hates creativity or the launch of anything that might make a fuss (which can lead to failure).

The lizard brain creates the resistance, a term first coined by Steven Pressfield. The resistance is the name for all that seemingly rational stuff that we do in the name of the devil (“just to play devil’s advocate for a minute…”). The devil is doing fine on his own, he doesn’t need an advocate.

The resistance is behind all those seemingly benign suggestions you might hear at the conference table when you present to the committee. The resistance leads people to make suggestions that slow you down, suggestions that water down your idea, suggestions that lead to compromises that lead to design death.

The resistance has a name, and once you call it by name, you have a shot at defeating it.

Everyone deals with the resistance differently, which is why groups of people will slaughter a great idea, each protecting themselves from the lizard brain in their own way. The resistance loves the status quo, because the status quo is safe, it’s here, it’s now, it’s known, and it won’t hurt us, not as much as the unknown future might hurt us.

The resistance leads people to make suggestions that slow you down, suggestions that water down your idea, suggestions that lead to compromises.

You – everyone in fact – have all it takes to be a brilliant designer, creator, or author. All that’s holding you back is the lizard. It’s that little voice in the back of your head, the “but” or the “what if” that speaks up at the crucial moment and defeats the joy and insight you brought to the project in the first place. It’s the lizard that ruins your career, stunts your projects, and hinders your organization.

The reason that you need tricks, distractions, graph paper, desk toys, retreats, conferences, and a coach is that the resistance will do whatever it can to slow you down and average you out.

So fight it.

Defeat the resistance.

Keep your team small. Smaller than that. No team at all if you can help it.

Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.

Skip meetings. Often. Skip them with impunity. Ship.

Trick the lizard if you must, but declare war on it regardless. Understand that the only thing between you and the success you seek in a chaotic world is a lizard that figures out that safe is risky and risky is safe. The paradox of our time is that the instincts that kept us safe in the day of the saber tooth tiger and General Motors are precisely the instincts that will turn us into road kill in a faster than fast internet-fueled era.

The resistance is waiting. Fight it. Ship.

- Re-post from Seth Godin

In a nod to President Obama’s Samurai spirit on display during tonight’s state of the union address, I share with you a nugget from my personal collection of Marc Oldens “Black Samurai”. Time to pick them up, dust’em off and read them again. Keep up the Samurai spirit Obama! Hopefully you can cut through the bullshit and spin like Rashomon - enjoy.