Now I'm here to tell ya.. there's a better day, when the player's ball is happenin', allday e'ryday

right, I know what i said in the last post, but I'm still strugling to get down to this shit regularly, amplified by the fact my macbook is fucked.
Anyway a couple of belated Christmas things I thought I should post:

I just thourght this was fuckin dope, I know its simple, but it's genius and the way its styled so it looks like a proper old fashioned Christmas scene but wit a brand new car in the middle. Hold tight Ford's advertising people!

Second up is a certain book i got for Christmas.

I've always been a fan of old cabell since I saw The Blues Brothers as a child (infact it's probably my favourite film of all time) but it wasn't until a bit more recently when i saw an incredible video of 'The hi-di-ho man' (not Flanders) performing with The Nicholas Brothers, that I decided it would be worth self-educating on the topic.

Seriously watch this until the end, the grand finale is amazing.
Anyway so after having watched that clip a few months ago I borrowed the film it originates from,'Stormy weather', off of my Nan. The film was decent but the scene above was still the one that stood out. I then discovered that Cab had written a book back in 1942 called 'The Cab Calloway Hepster's Dictionary', a book explaining Hep/ Jive talk to all the 'Ickies' in the world. I've always loved the idea of slang and been eager to learn new phrases, so fourth I went in requesting the aforementioned publication for Christmas.

The 25th rolled around like rolly-pollies and under the tree, it, i did find. Only what i unwrapped, wasn't quite what i asked for, it was better, I received the 1969 autobiography that included the Jive dictionary in the back. I'm not even down with reading, but this book is one ripping yarn, Cab Calloway's life is both fascinating and inspirational. And it makes me feel good to know that I just may be the only person who received a celebrity autobiography that wasn't name 'My Booky Wook'.

One of the cheapest, but by far the most valuable gift i received.

"It's beginning to look a lot like what? Follow my every step, take notes on how i crept, I'm 'bout to go in depth"
AC

Now let's start the show (show), step out of the cold (cold)

Right, yo, merry Christmas and all that.
I've been gone for a minute but I'm back, and I intend to take this blogging thing a bit more seriously now, I shall try and keep the updates a lot more frequent.
Before I didn't a camera i just wanted to start a blog, now my good old parents have bourght me one, with it being Christmas and all, so from this day forward I have the tools to get it crackin'.
08 is a new year, and a new, improved work/blog ethic.

"I been a master since P was no limitin', stick to singing, no gimmickin', no mimmickin'"
AC

Pass that dutch, pass that dutch!

A short post for once...
Bored 2am.
I would assume most ppl have seen this, if not, now's your chance.
Get's a laugh everytime.

I'd also like to point out...

...me and Captain Crazy are like this (crossed fingers).

"I am the bomb from New York to Milan"
A.C.

You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself.

What is wrong with people's punctuation today?
I am well aware that mine is far from perfect but I try to remember what I was taught, and for this purpose it isn't so important that my spelling, punctuation and grammar are spot on.
I chose to bring this up because of two particular writing faux-pas that I have becoming increasingly aware of recently.
The first is the swapping of 'then' and 'than'. I don't understand how this came about, in no way does it sound right or look right... but I have seen this one countless times in both TheHundreds blog and TheAwardTour blog, which makes it more of a wind-up because they both run excellent brands and blogs, and generally write really well, so Bobby and Phil I'm sorry, but please stop!
The second and the most important one is the Lemar and Dauley shirt I saw earlier today, when i first saw it I thought 'Shit! that tee is crazy dope!' It was a print of a cartoony blimp with "ICE CUBES A PIMP" written on it. I've always loved that song so to see it refferenced so well was great...only it didn't take long before I realised the missing apostrophe, rendering the
blimp-emblazened quote as nonsense.

Great work, poor education, clearly.
I wonder if anyone else notices.

Here's a book for ya'll.

"you better run a check"
A.C.

When they reminisce over you, MY GOD!..

Today I write to vent my anger to the world.
The subject of un-rest being: 'Back in the day'/ 'Old skool'/ Wannabees.
What sparked my rage was when, today in the street, I walked past this right porker about 19 years old at the most, wearing a black tshirt with the print 'BORN IN THE 80S' in bright orange block capitals (you know the ones). Now I've seen and shaken my head at plenty of these kind of tshirts over the past months, but this one, this one is like the ginger one in Girlsaloud, it's the one that's extra irritaing to look at in a collection of things that wind you up.
The reason it pisses me off so much is not the tshirt itself but the people that wear it, because while everyone born between the 1st of January 1980 and the 31st of December 1989 is an Eighties baby only those born in the first few years remember shit, and yet all the people who I see in them definately weren't born before '88.
I myself am like, so Eighties too you know! for four months and I can't of course remember anything.
That's probably longer though than some of the aforementioned tshirt rockers that have recently graduated 'retro studies' from 'The RiverIsland & TopShop College of Ignorance'.
I know these tshirts only say BORN in the Eighties, but why, if you're going to make a bold statement about your lifestyle and fashion interests would you be looking for loop-holes (and believe me it is a bold statement when its the size I saw earlier).
I'm also well aware that fashion goes in cycles, repeating its self in bits or sometimes in a big way every so often.
What I can't get my head around is people doing stuff, sometimes really to the extreme, without even having a clue why they're doing it. It's the whole Nu-Rave thing, which I am hoping is coming to an end now, with people just picking up the loudest colours and most over the top accessories and throwing them together to make Watford-cunt.

Now I myself often wear bright colours but not just since it was cool, since way back (maybe even the eighties...) and I also have more Puma Clydes than any other kind of shoe. But I'm not going to front like 'yeah I had those little baby size Pumas wit some fat laces and a little baby dookie rope and yo I used to be a real dope b-baby back in the day, you know on the southside of the creche'.
When I wear my Pumas or a tshirt with De La Soul on it, it's because once I was much older, infact in the naughties, when I was old enough to really get into music Hip-Hop was what I chose...only after some time of listening and not understanding references and getting progressively frustrated with the quality of new music I began going back in time to where I found artists I could really get into and begin to understand and apreciate more new music too. Also books like Dondi White style master general, Aerosol Art, and films like WildStyle and Style wars have had a big influence on me.
And that De La tshirt is signed dont watch that, and so is my Big Daddy Kane tshirt.

The Eighties aren't the only decade under seige by ignorance either. Second on my list of fashion peeves must be the sudden wave of Jimmi Hendrix fans. Everywhere I go I see kids wearing tshirts with images of the late Jimmi, I'm not going to lie I do not know very much about Mr Hendrix, but then I haven't just walked out of RiverIsland with an, apparently brand new, inside-out, badly made, tshirt with some cracked effect cut-and-pasted image of the poor ridiculed man on it.

One wasn't enough!

Two this season and there's been others in the past.
And to top off the distress I've been caused by all these budding Marty McFlys recently.......One kid turned round to me and said the other day "Frank Sinatra's like late 60's innit" after having just announced how he's so into music, and just bourght Frank's greatest fucking hits!

"and it don't stop."
A.C.

I go to so many different dances, some of them are not safe but i take chances.

Last friday was of course BoyBetterKnow @ Cargo.
So I rounded up a few of my grime apreciating freinds, and a girl from Salisbury who wasn't at all familiar with the genre, sort of as a fun experiment to see how she would cope. Aparently she really enjoyed it, so all is good.
Any way, like with most things, we were late so we didn't manage to get in for free as we had intended. Nevermind, the venue was fantastic, the crowd were cool, drinks weren't too expensive (before eleven anyway, after it was £4 for a bit less than a pint).
So at about ten to twelve we elbowed our way into a reasonable possition in the fucking huge and crazy crowd. As we got in there the previous act were just finnishing up, in the change over the DJ started spinning parts of familiar grime records to get the crowd in the mood(wiley, dizzee rascal etc), evidently the crowd didn't need warming up because the reaction to Wiley's 'Gangstas' particularly was mad!
Skepta, once he came on actually performed mostly by himself which suprised me, but I thought this was better than the forwardriddim-esc maddness I had expected with sort of 10 angry males taking it in turns to remind the crowd that they shouldn't go to east london at night.

No, Skepta actually did most of it himself, he brought on two little known MCs, who's names I have already forgotten, in order to get them a bit of recognition, which was cool.

This was all after the fuck-up by the venue with the mics, or lack of them. Once this was sorted out, Jammer came on, and then later the brothers Adenuga performed together.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable performance, and the best crowd atmostphere I have witnessed since Dizzee at Reading '06,
if not ever.

There's a lot of people who bad-mouth grime, some comments I agree with, but what you can't deny is the explosive raw energy, unique to the genre.

"when I spray, everyone gets haps, jumping around shouting BRAP BRAP"
A.C.

I told you already we nah play, spray the swag mc right away.

Basicly, you dun know, shatap! tommorrow is gunna be huge. Skepta is going to be peforming live tommorrow evening at Cargo over at Rivington Street E2. If you didn't already know then you're drum, and if you did I'll see you there.
Now the related point I would like to address is to do with over-used metaphors and self-proclamation.
A few days ago myself and freinds were discussing Lethal Bizzle Cribs (in all their YouTube volumes), when a scenario was described in which Da Bizzle(Bizzle) was told he was 'the king of grime' to which he replied with something along the lines of "I aint no king of grime blud, the king don't run shit, the queen don't run shit, I'm the prime minister of grime".
What reminded me of this and the reason I chose to bring this up, is because of the numerous occasions I have seen Skepta labelled the king.
To my way of thinking, the people calling Mr Adenuga 'the king' are either not as philosophically adept as Lethal da B, or more likely find the image of Gordan Brown a bit less glorious than that of dude with the priceless hat, huge yard, and face that appears on all types of currency from coin to note, home to abroad. However I do find Lethal's point interresting, I just don't believe the part about him to be true.
If anybody is 'The Prime Minister' it's Joseph Jnr. he is to play a relatively small venue with relatively little promotion and relatively low commercial success yet, mine is one of tens of blogs I have seen to mention the event, aswell as it being covered in a couple of the free papers on the tube. Plus with boy-better-know-tshirt-rockers visible on most streets, his following is clearly strong.

Mr Pow on the otherhand... last I heard was doing a gig at the Zoom sports centre in Harrow for a-nug-a-ticket.
So in conclusion, if 'prime minister' is the new, catchy title to aspire to, I would say it's with skepta until the next election,
Bizzle on the other hand will have to stick with mere 'king' (personally I think jester could be a more apropriate role in the palace, thats just me though).

Enjoy, and remember...

"Man's got da bigboy rum and raisin you know, man can only get dis from Iceland yeah"
A.C.

Patiently waiting

AC og logo, I've been drawing this shit on my books since i was like 14...it had to happen!

P.A.F.N.A tee.

This colourway is actually gunna be a sweatshirt rather than a tee, I've decided now.

OBIE tee front

OBIE tee back

Ok folks, after some complications, my autumn/winter shit(emphasis on the winter now) is ordered and possibly even being printed as i write this.
The collection consists of three designs, one in four different tshirt colourways, another in four different colourways(one being a sweatshirt), and one final design in just one tshirt colourway.
It isn't much, but its all I can afford for now, hopefully though with the profit from this season, next season will be much bigger and better.
That said though I am still bare exited about this little lot of 132 tees and 21 sweaters.
Now I must just sit tight and wait sort of like all those "what the dunk" br'ers, only I'm warmer and more comfortable.


"you know it's coming? you motherfuckers don't even know, do you?"
A.C.

Close but no crills, toast for po' ills, POST NO BILLS (coast to coast joe schmoes, flows ill, not suposed to overdose no doz pills)

Right so stage 2 of this whole blogging thing..... you're set up but how do get anyone to read the fucking thing?
I mean I changed my status on Myspace and Facebook to the URL of this page, and stuck it in my msn screen name too, but that will probably generate like 3 readers if I'm lucky.

While pondering this problem a few days ago, an over-sized light bulb suddenly apeared above my head with a sharp ding! as i raised my index finger and instinctively shouted 'by jove!...'.

I picked up MR. Bigfatmarker.


Then MR. Glitzystickybackstuff...


...and commenced to scrawl AE-CI.BLOGSOT.COM many times, before cutting out, and using to spread the word.

Who knows if the glitziness will spark intrigue amoung potential customers or if it will simply instigate a sharp rise of magpies in the city.

If you're reading this in response to a sticker, MADE YOU LOOK!
thankyou for your interest and please be sure to check back every couple of days


'FIGARO, FIGARO'
A.C

Hello new world...

What-o to all who grace this page at one point or another. My name is Alex Charman, and this is my introduction to Alex Charman's/ A.C's/Ae-Ci's blog.
I'm undecided as to whether I chose to start a blog in order to join the army of Mr. Me-toos in this street wear world....or in hopes of being able to take part in the deep thinking, philosophical and conscious nature of the afforementioned fashion niche/ canyon.
The truth is probably somewhere between the two, eitherway though I have started a blog because of the influence/ choke-hold 'Streetwear' has on me, but also because my entire life I have always had way too much to say for myself, this here, I'm hoping, shall vent that nicely.
I aim to write interestingly at all times, at the moment I can't put up any pics, but don't worry there will pictures soon for those with the reading tollerance of myself.
Documented toppics shall be: the life and times of Alex Charman, strong opinions of Alex Charman, shit I see day to day that is worthy of broadcasting, and most importantly...THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AE-CI BRAND, which at the moment is more a collection of lightbulbs in clouds. But really I'm starting to make moves now, or atleast I know which moves it is I would like to make.
So I hope that soon you shall get to see the first round of clothing designed by myself, I do hope you will like it, take my word for it, googletastic cut-and-paste hiphop/basketball/pop-culture, disposable, kasbah bullshit will never bear my mark.
No, that shit really does get my goat, I like to think that what you'll see from me will be original ideas and real concepts...I'm sure you all just pulled that "Jimmy, Jimmy Hill" face just like when Pee Ubunga e-mails you with news of your $850,000,000 winnig. And I wouldn't blame you because quite frankly the state of the game (or atleast the state of the game's newest additions) is dire, much like the world of Hip-Hop, but that fascinating corelation I shall explore in the posts of tommorrow.


"LOOK OUT WORLD, I'M ON MY WAY"
A.C.