Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Swatch Love Collection.

Wear your heart on your sleeve with two adorable Original Gent watches. Catch My Heart is ruby red and features a small white figure, emerging from a scarlet rose sketched on the dial. To give love an extra chance, the red silicon strap also bears the words “Only you!” Positioned just beneath the dial, near the beating heart of the watch, the message hugs the wrist.

It is also time for romance with Lovely Mine, the second Original Gent, with its delicate pink design. The pink dial is home to a cute character in a rabbit costume, the ears of which join to form a heart shape. The little guardian of feelings kept secret becomes the messenger and whispers the sweetest words to the chosen one. The pink strap confirms the tender declaration with “I love you!” written below the dial.

The Swatch Love Collection is completed with stainless steel 316L bijoux, embellished with faceted red crystals. The Glamorous Love trio comprises a heart pendant nestled in steel, which dances on a delicate chain; a simple, pure ring studded with tiny hearts that sparkle with incandescent light; and a set of heart-shaped earrings. The bijoux flash with fiery red, like love.

We’ve always known Swatch for their high-quality, durable watches, but style and holiday spirit are also brought to the table for the Swatch Love Collection. Following are a few links for browsing // purchasing the watches that tickle your fancy or you think would make a good gift for your sweetheart this year, as well as a gallery of photos of these cool timepieces. You can count on the same durable quality for Swatch’s ever-growing catalog of jewelry.

Lovely Mine ($60)
Catch My Heart ($60)
Glamourous Love Jewelry

The new “Live Famously” sweepstakes offers everyone a chance to live famously in the new year. The grand prize gives 1 winner and a friend a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live famously for a day in and around Los Angeles, including a luxury hotel stay, private car service to and from the airport, a $1,000 reward card for whatever they want, a $250 spa card and a special concert experience with Perez Hilton. There’s also a chance to win thousands of daily prizes, such as retail gift cards for stylish clothing brands, department stores and online shopping!

There are two ways to obtain a code to participate in the sweepstakes:

1. During the promotion period, visit a LEAN POCKETS® brand retailer and purchase a specially marked package of LEAN POCKETS® brand Stuffed Sandwiches with the Live Famously logo on it.

2. To enter without making a purchase, obtain a code on the “Live Famously Sweepstakes” Tab on the LEAN POCKETS® brand Facebook Page.

After obtaining a code during the promotion period, visit the LEAN POCKETS® brand Facebook Page and complete and submit the registration form. Users will automatically receive one entry into the sweepstakes and advance to the “Instant Win Game” Page and receive one instant play for that day. Limit of one entry per person/per day.

MACHINEDRUM – SXLND by LuckyMe Music Art Parties

LuckyMe is proud to present SXLND, the new 5 track EP from Machinedrum.

It’s been a great 18 months for Travis Stewart. Since we released his Many Faces EP in 2010 we’ve seen a succession of new hip hop, juke & 2step projects on labels Hot Flush, Planet Mu and of course LuckyMe. In Summer 2011 we released his underground smash Alarmaa which featured as part of Jackmaster’s FABRICLIVE 57 CD and tore apart Sonar Festival, clubs and Boiler Rooms alike. But now Stewart is back with Lucky Us for a project 2 years in the making – a sparkling take on Deep Chicago and Modern UK House entitled SXLND.

12” EP comes with Digital Download Card with exclusive Scuba Remix and cut-out Geisha inner sleeve.

Head over to thisisluckyme.com to Pre-order the vinyl copy now!

Kick off the New Year in style. Swatch presents three limited edition watches perfect for any stylish wrist: the bold Year Of The Dragon, the sporty Recognize Me and the celebratory Lucky Snow. At $100 or less, these watches blend affordable Swiss-made luxury. More info on each model below.

Year Of The Dragon:

Swiss fashion watch and jewelery maker Swatch takes great pleasure in celebrating the Chinese New Year. Coming up soon (starting January 23rd, 2012) is the Year of the Dragon, one of the most lively and colorful signs of the Chinese animal zodiac, and is the key symbol of Chinese Spirit. The Year of the Dragon watch features an intricate and graceful Chinese dragon, drawn in blue on the white ground of the silicone strap, taking inspiration from classic Chinese-style blue and white porcelain. The dial complements the dragon with a delicate ornamental blue grid drawn on a white background. A blue dragon appears on the special packaging, too, ready to bring good fortune to everyone in the year ahead.

Price: $65.00
Link to buy.

Recognize Me:

Swiss fashion watch and jewelry maker and partner of the TTR World Snowboard Tour Swatch presents Recognize Me, a rugged New Gent dedicated to the 2011/12 TTR World Tour season and its fabulous riders and fans. Based on the winning design for this season’s TTR World Tour Champion trophy, the black and white beauty features a fingerprint in white on the dial and the six o’clock side of the solid black silicone strap. The 12 o’clock side of the strap is entirely black with a solid black silicone loop featuring the official TTR logo in white.

Earlier this year, Swatch announced the winner of the Swatch Art Rules Design Contest. An international jury chose a design by Chi Fong Leong, a design student at Central Saint Martins in London, from more than 1,000 contest entries submitted by artists and designers from 45 countries. The winning design is featured on the TTR World Tour Champion trophy, which will be presented to the male and female World Tour Champions at the conclusion of the 2011/12 season, and is responsible for the watch’s fabulous, “winning” look and feel. Recognize Me is presented in its own, specially designed sleeve.

Swatch has been involved in snowboarding since the 1980s, and since 2007 has partnered with the TTR World Snowboard Tour, a non-profit organization aimed at establishing snowboarding as a major global sport.

Price: $70.00
Link to buy.

Lucky Snow:

Swiss fashion watch and jewelry maker Swatch presents Lucky Snow a limited edition watch celebrating Shanghai, one of the world’s most dynamic and exciting cities. Presented in special packaging in a limited and numbered edition of 7,777, Lucky Snow comes all decked out in a plush, royal red. Special packaging sets the stage for the celebration, evoking the sights and sounds of Shanghai against the spectacular Pudong skyline.

In a playful contrast to all the bright lights and big-city noise, Swatch has added a more traditional touch, a Chinese pagoda. The pagoda is enclosed within a decorative snow globe that snaps onto the watchcase over the dial, transforming this colorful Gent into a charming bracelet for the holiday season.

Price: $100
Link to buy.

This is arguably what good rock music has become.

So, first-off, we want to officially welcome our newest contributor, Saen. An official shout-out should also be sent to Michelle, as she has been contributing for eight months by now.

Coincidentally, Saen is the winner of our Newcastle Brown Ale contest for the Ron English painting giveaway (painting and Saen’s hand pictured below).

We selected Saen’s artwork back in September, but his contest-winning submission won’t be posted until some finishing touches are made on it. Saen has been busier than usual as he just recently started his site, Blowing or Blowing Up, which you might have noticed is syndicated with hipsterwave.com as well.

We won’t just leave you hanging though, here is another piece of Saen’s artwork that we just got and will share now.

In a way, these new kicks from Diesel have an appeal that’s a hybrid of Nike and New Balance, with maybe a bit of Puma. Only, Diesel has taken the best parts of classic/retro styles that you might love from the latter three designers and released them with two new cuts: the CRI55 CRO55 and the 55TOP.

Meet 55DSL’s new collection of sneakers the CRI55 CRO55 and 55TOP — with each style in four different colors.

The CRI55 CRO55 comes in a suede-and-nylon mix, two-tone: black/grey, beige/brown, iconic red/blue and “summer” blue turquoise and grey. It’s on his eyes that you can find small differences: pay attention.

The 55TOP, instead, with his high-top shape, takes inspiration from ‘80s skate style in nylon with leather and suede accents and a vulcanized sole.

The perfectly imperfect 55DSL SHOES have been launched exclusively at Berlin’s Bread & Butter tradeshow in July, and are available in 55DSL stores and selected DIESEL stores now!

Here’s the press release from Diesel about the shoes.

Swatch has released these pretty awesome touch watches that merge the company’s watchmaking reliability with touch technology. Seems like more and more we’re gravitating towards replacing buttons with touch-sensitive technology. It’s probably a step in the right direction.

The more bottlenecks we can eliminate in striving towards making the integration of life and technology seamless, the better our lives will be. That idea is probably at least worth considering, unless you’re anti-technology or afraid of the unknown, which you’re neither. Right?

Swatch Holiday 2011 Collection

Swiss fashion brand Swatch presents Swatch Touch 2011, a colorful new collection of trend-setting timekeepers with big-screen LCD dials and a touch-sensitive zone in place of pushbuttons.

Swatch Touch 2011 models give touch-screen access to six digital functions: time (2 zones, t1 & t2), date, chrono, alarm, timer and beep. Users sweep through the functions with ease using finger-taps and sideways scrolls—no pushbuttons—and can activate the screen’s built-in backlight to assure readability under all conditions. Revealing Swiss-made quality throughout, Swatch Touch’s 2011 curved plastic glass display and coloured LCD present Arabic numerals in a big, stylish font designed to fit the shape of the watch. Ergonomic in every detail, the smooth integration of the watch head and strap makes Swatch Touch 2011 a real pleasure to wear.

By far the biggest numerals on the Swatch Touch 2011 screen are the seconds: animated like the seconds hand on an analog watch. They are constantly changing, alive, giving rhythm and a pulse to life in the digital age. They are, in fact, the “heart” of the watch—Swatch on the move.

Swatch Touch Black, Swatch Touch Camouflage, Swatch Touch Pink, Swatch Touch Blue, Swatch Touch Purple and Swatch Touch White are all $140 each.

Purchase: bit.ly/SwatchTouchholiday

Most know Steve Jobs as a visionary, genius and marketing guru for beautiful technology products, but who knew that he hung a Bob Dylan poster over his bed in his early 20′s – would stay up late writing poems on his electric typewriter, often re-writing Dylan tunes. Also, do most know that he had an “abrasive personality” and “unapologetic brutality” that those who worked intensely with him experienced? Interesting stuff to learn about Jobs.

Many people know Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as an exacting tech visionary. Fewer know him as a romantic, a poet or a costumed “Alice in Wonderland” character at a California shopping mall.

These latter characteristics help make up the portrait of Jobs painted by his first serious girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan, in a “Rolling Stone” story that was shared exclusively with The Associated Press before hitting newsstands Friday.

Brennan and Jobs met in 1972, when he was a senior and she was a junior at Cupertino’s Homestead High School. In the piece, she recounts her adventures with a 17-year-old Jobs that summer, from moving into a cabin together to getting paid to portray “Alice” characters at a local mall.

Jobs died Oct. 5 at 56 after struggling for years with pancreatic cancer. After taking his third medical leave from Apple Inc. in January, he resigned as CEO in August, but stayed with the company as chairman. His death came a day after Apple unveiled the latest iPhone, the 4S, which goes on sale Friday.

Brennan’s on-and-off relationship with Jobs lasted until the birth of the couple’s daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, in 1978.

She says the duo decided to live together that first summer. She tried to snag a room in a Cupertino cabin for them but was turned down by the man renting the place at the time – he said there wasn’t room for a couple. Somehow, Steve was able to persuade him to change his mind.

“This alerted me to something remarkable in him,” she writes in the “Rolling Stone” essay. “This guy could make things work. And from the way he’d taken charge of the situation, I knew he knew it too.”

At the time, Brennan says, Jobs “was almost 100 percent romantic.”

“He would tell me we were part of an affiliation of poets and visionaries he called `the wheat field group’ and say we were looking out a window together, with the others, watching the whole world,” she writes. “I did not know what he was talking about, but with all my heart I wanted to see such views.”

Brennan also recounts how Jobs – who hung a Bob Dylan poster over their bed – would stay up late writing poems on his electric typewriter, often re-writing Dylan tunes.

At the time, Brennan wasn’t impressed, seeing the results as “a lot of Bob Dylan songs with a few changes.”

“Only now do I see what he was trying to do. He was a loner and he didn’t talk much, and I think he used Dylan’s songs to make sense of the world,” she writes.

On the sillier side, Brennan details how she, Jobs, a roommate named Al and Steve Wozniak (who later co-founded Apple with Jobs) played “Alice” characters at a mall in nearby Santa Clara. Brennan got the part of Alice, while Al, Jobs and Wozniak took turns playing the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit – complete with knee-length giant heads that were incredibly hot because of the summer heat and the mall’s broken air conditioner.

Brennan writes that Al, Wozniak and Jobs “could barely handle 10 minutes in costume, and so they would run into the dressing rooms to trade off heads and to drink water every 10 minutes. It was painful and hilarious to watch.”

Not all of Brennan’s recollections were friendly. In the “Rolling Stone” essay, Brennan refers to “the all-too-often despotic jerk Steve turned into as he rose to meet the world.” For two years, Jobs denied that he was the father of Lisa, the child born to Brennan in 1978.

Brennan’s piece will run in “Rolling Stone” alongside a cover story by Jeff Goodell, an early Apple employee who has written about the company for the past 17 years. In his article, Goodell describes Jobs’ business savvy, as well as the “abrasive personality” and “unapologetic brutality” that those who worked intensely with him experienced.

We had a chance to check out the third night of the OohLaL.A. Festival and it was the best. Never seen a crowd quite like the one that night at the El Rey Theater. It was pretty diverse, with so many people conversing in French, even though we were at El Rey it felt like being at a show in Paris.

The artists playing on the night we were there include DJ Cam, Feadz and Chateau Marmont. The performances were high-energy and most people were out on the dance floor enjoying the hype.

It was a lot of fun attending the final night of the festival and made us wish we had gone to the previous two nights, which apparently were jam-packed with people as well.

I am a Zooey Deschanel fan. I think that she is adorable, funny, and has great style. I was hopefully optimistic about her new show New Girl, on Fox. Although the show is not bad, by any means, I do feel like it is forced. While all sitcoms have an element of canned laughter and forced jokes, New Girl is doing all of the old sitcom clichés in an attempt to be hip. Like the whole, I’m so unhip, it’s hip thing.

Let’s start with the premise, an average looking, unemployed, douchy guy cheats on Zooey Deschanel. Already that is not a believable scenario. Just because she is made to seem extra kooky and weird, that doesn’t mean that the majority of men still don’t find her attractive. She then moves in with three guys that she met on Craigslist. No modern, self-aware woman would go alone to a house full of strange men and hang out with them when she has never met or even had a conversation with them before. The guys are all pretty normal and non-threatening. There is not a weirdo or creep in the pack, that also seems highly-unlikely.

But, the show is cute and kinda-funny. Zooey wears cute outfits and sings little songs to herself. All her roommates seem to be fighting for her affections and standing up for her. They all seem like nice, well-meaning guys. I don’t know if this is enough to make the show entertaining though. Zooey’s character is basically an exaggerated version of herself and all of the guys are pretty forgettable. I’m gonna watch a few more times though and see if anything good happens before I completely write it off.

This past Saturday was the inaugural Newcastle Brown Ale “Walk The Dog” day, an annual event. In the UK, people affectionately refer to Newcastle Brown Ale as the ‘Dog.’ The euphemism of “Walk the Dog” originated in Newcastle, UK, and is code for heading over to the local pub for a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale. Trying the patience of significant others for years now, this drinking excuse has become an English classic.

The event was awesome. There was a sizeable turnout at Alex’s Bar, also known as Fangtasia or the vampire bar in the Showtime series True Blood. For just a minimum donation of $1 to the Los Angeles Art Association at the door, attendees gained access to plenty of complimentary Newcastle Brown Ale, food, live entertainment by LA-based band: Superhumanoids, free Newcastle shirts and accessories, and a professional photo booth. Naturally, everyone had a great time. With the temptation of that much complimentary Newcastle, it was hard to avoid getting a bit tipsy.

Newcastle really went all out and made it easy to enjoy the entertainment with a comfortable Ambiance created by Alex’s Bar. Alex’s is a fairly universal venue; so, if you’re looking to party and have fun, you should definitely check-out the place if you haven’t already.

Below are photos from the event and four videos from Superhumanoids. The sound of their live show was spectacular and is definitely worth seeing in person, even if you already love their music.

Remember that our art-submission contest is still open (more details here) so please keep submitting your digital art for a chance to win a limited edition painting by contemporary pop artist Ron English.

So the latest hotness for designer jackets are jackets by the British company Superdry.

Our three favorites at the moment are the:

Although they’re a bit costly, Superdry stuff is super well-made and it’s quality gear that you can count on lasting years. These jackets are great for first dates! They’re also ideal for breezy days, long walks on the beach at night, wearing in an office with excessively cold air conditioning, desert conditions, and the list goes on but you get the point.

With Superdry stuff, style is always just expected, so we’ll let the jackets speak for themselves as far as looks.

We had the chance to catch up with San Francisco native, currently blowing-up under the artist name: Wallpaper., aka Ricky Reed, and his answers fit the swag that he showcases in his music video #STUPiDFACEDD. We discovered Reed’s music when in search of new music late one Friday night / Saturday morning. You know, when you’re bored with everything you have at the moment, and you’re in search of some new music to inspire you and brighten up your mood? That’s what we got when we heard the #STUPiDFACEDD track, only to discover that same night that the song has an awesome video to go along with it. Like most successful musicians, Reed has been working on music since his teen years and younger, and it shows. We’re going to see a big break-out by Wallpaper. in the months to come. It’s going to be awesome.

hipsterwave How’d you come up with your artist name and what does it mean?

Wallpaper. Pop music is Wallpaper. It’s window dressings and linoleum tile floor. Doesn’t REALLY mean anything to us as a people. Tryin 2 fuck with that.

hipsterwave When did you start working with music?

Wallpaper. Music started working on me when I was real little. Playing piano when I was like 8, 9 years old? Got into punk rock in middle school, and as soon as I started caring abt meeting girls, Wallpaper was born.

hipsterwave Who are some of your favorite musicians?

Wallpaper. Sly Stone, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, Paul Simon, Digital Underground, Yes, Steve Reich

hipsterwave What’s something crazy that happened to you at a show?
I get that question a lot. How about a twist on the typical answer. This one time, a super famous celebrity DID NOT show up at one of our shows in LA. He DID NOT get super wasted and talk my ear off after the show. He then DID NOT have sex with a bartender in the public bathroom while I was peeing in the urinal. After that, he also DID NOT ask me for drugs and money before I bolted out. Weird scene.

hipsterwave What’s your favorite drink?

Wallpaper. Horchata. Or Jameson. Or Four Loko. Or homemade limeade. I like Capri Sun too.

hipsterwave Pretty good idea–putting a hashtag before the name of your new EP #STUPiDFACEDD. What are your thoughts on Twitter and the social networking explosion?

Wallpaper. Twitter is rad. Communication genius device. From helping people say dumb things while they taking shits to assisting political revolutions around the world u JUST CANT FUCK WITH IT.

hipsterwave If you could work on a track with any artist, who would it be?

Wallpaper. Living, Snoop D-O Double G. Dead, Edward Gorey. Wait, is he alive or dead?

hipsterwave How did you meet Arjun Singh?
I was in a very dark place.

hipsterwave What’s the best part about performing?

Wallpaper. Seeing people smile. High fiving. Being loud.

hipsterwave How has your life changed as your music has blown-up and you’ve seen more fame?

Wallpaper. I can’t tell. For me I been steady grinding as a musician in one way or another since I was like 16. It’s all a steady incline for me. Maybe I been famous since I was a little kid. I might be the star of the Truman show.

BUY TICKETS HERE before they sell-out!

“Wallpaper.” ‘EP Release Tour’ Presented By MTV – (Set time: 10:30 PM)

Wallpaper. is led by the sleazy, excess-obsessed Ricky Reed, who is also a gifted producer, multi-instrumentalist songwriter, viral media hustler and disco ball-busting crowd destroyer. Whether crafting his own electro-steeped future beats or cleverly skewering pop culture via his remixes, he effortlessly fuses a long personal history of music-making with bold showmanship and a love for trunk-rattling thump.

Wallpaper. evolved from a clever jab to, as S.F. Weekly put it, “a rebuttal against pop music as simple window dressing,” but boomed beyond the satire. Wallpaper.’s debut, Doodoo Face, was a clever offering that quickly surpassed the irony and gained attention for the legit songwriting and masterful production. It gave a knowing nod to the early greats who offered their influence – P-Funk, Afrobeat, Bay Area rap, perhaps even some Prince – built around sweaty, swaggerful beats with a real musicality.

The Bay Area took notice, namely Wallpaper.’s visceral live shows where Reed lords over the scene with thundering live drums to his back, all manner of instruments in his hands, cut-up YouTube video collage beaming overhead, sassy back-up singer cooing… offering something incomprehensibly funky.

Wallpaper.’s presence was soon felt beyond his stomping ground, as his Lynchian video blogs (a little David and a lot of Liam), remixes and mashups earned him props, including the elite bloggerati such as Pitchfork. They praised his sax-blazing remake of Das Racist’s “Pizza Hut & Taco Bell” as well as his salute to Jay-Z – a cleverly mashed “99 Problems” with ”D.O.A.”

Needing to quell the anticipation for his sophomore album due this fall on The Boardwalk Entertainment Group, Wallpaper. unleashed the car-bouncing anthem, “#STUPiDFACEDD.” The beat-heavy pop ditty has penetrated college and specialty radio while the accompanying video launched mtvU’s “31 in 31” campaign, as part of MTV’s Indie Music Month.

Rodney Powell aka Rock Most is a DJ, emcee, and producer from Atlanta. He began rapping at age 11 and moved to Atlanta shortly after high school where he started preforming at the Phoenix night club for guest djs like Lil John and Jaycee. Rock Most started recording professionally in 1999 with his group MSEIZE and released his first solo independent album (FLO) in 2009. He has also produced tracks for Chuck D and Professor Griff of Public Enemy, Diamond D, El Da Sensei of Artifacts and Mr. Mike of South Circle.

His new album “Rise & Shine,” is his most personal work to date. While working on Rise & Shine, Rock Most experienced two brushes with death. Both changed his life—and the course of the record—forever. The first was head-on collision in which his tour van was totally wrecked. The other was he was the victim of an armed robbery which ended with Rock Most fatally shooting the robber in self-defense. He took those two negatives and poured all the emotion into “Rise & Shine.”

“Rise & Shine” is a A hybrid of traditional sample driven hip-hop and live instrumentation and features cameos from Cherry Royal, Boog Brown, and Clan Destined. The first single “15 Kill the Feed” has just been released and the whole album has a release date of August 23, 2011.

To learn more about Rock Most, go to:
RockMostMusic.com
http://twitter/rock_most
http://Facebook.com/rockmostmusic

So this TL record drops on 7/19/11 on Warner Bros. (Available for pre-order on iTunes now).

It’s pretty good, but different from the London sound we’re accustomed to hearing. Maybe that’s because now instead of using Machinedrum aka Travis Stewart as a producer, Theophilus is using Dan Carey, who has produced for artists like Hot Chip, Lily Allen, Sia, Franz Ferdinand, The Kills, and the list goes on.

The first track, “Last Name London,” is really the best track on the entire record. It’s like Theophilus blew his load in the first three minutes and 46 seconds of the album. Everyone has different taste though, so maybe your favorite track is a different one, naturally. “Love Is Real,” is a pretty hot jam too.

The record features appearances by artists Holly Miranda and Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara. We’ve been following Theophilus London since 2008 and seen a lot of changes in his music over the past few years. Honestly, his instrumentals were way better when Machinedrum was on them–more unique and less manufactured–but since he linked up with A-Trak on the 10,000lb Hamburger Tour (taking Rye Rye’s spot on the tour), Theophilus met Kanye West and the rest is moneymaking history.

German music producer and dj Robert Babicz released his first album, Colone Acid Science Trax in 1992. Since then he has gone on to be a world-renown dj; performing all over the world and founding several record labels. His most recent label (Babiczstyles) was founded in early 2010 and he released his first EP on the label, “Nektar” in April.

His new EP is entitled “What a Day,” and it is quite a departure from his recent albums. It features brushed snares and a warm comforting bassline working brilliantly with twinkling melody and sensitive piano stabs.His bubbling bass synths drive the track as waves of sax lap throughout.The result is progressive house at its finest.

www.robertbabicz.de

137c by sense