Now that it’s really starting to get cold (at least on the east coast), it’s time to start looking for new jackets that make a statement. For those who don’t want to just stick with the typical (and boring) Northface jackets, take a look at the various ones 55DSL are offering this season. 55DSL started off as an experimental spin-off of Diesel, but has now developed is own fun and exuberant personality. It has created a creative fusion of radical sports (surf, skate, snow) and urban culture. 55DSL wants their clothing to transition effortlessly from the sports scene, whether it be a mountainside or skate park, to the city scene. If the line’s clothing can withstand the weather and conditions of the mountainside, it should be able to withstand the toughest elements in the city.

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WHY DOES AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREWKEEP DOING THIS TO ME!?!? For the second season in a row, ABDC has eliminated my favorite crew on the second to last episode. They are so close and I am so excited for them, then BAMM! They are in the bottom two. I love Fanny Pak. Their creativity is out of this world. Who else can embody toy soldiers, cannibals, and sexual P.E. nerds so well? In their final performance on the show, they impersonated the judges and did an amazing remake of flash dance.

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In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, something amazing was happening to New York City’s urban youth; they Duro, Martha Cooper, Flintop, Bev 167, Ink 76, Dondi | Brooklyn, 1978”)began to deviate from the cultural norms and embrace new, ‘strange’ practices like graffiti, breakdance, and hip-hop. Martha Cooper, a photo-journalist from New York City, captured on film the entire movement in its infancy. All of this was happening at a time when society viewed the movement as asinine, idiotic, ridiculous, and even threatening. Most people thought that ‘real’ art was in galleries, not alleys; ‘real’ dance belonged in ballrooms, not street corners; ‘real’ music emerged from guitars, not beat machines. Take a look at this fascinating video that documents everything Martha Cooper accomplished from 1979-1984 in Hip Hop Files.

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The hardest part of this week’s America’s Best Dance Crew speed-up challenge was figuring out a creativetransition to blend together the two sections. By far the most creative transition was Fanny Pak’s. They performed to Mariah Carey’s Touch My Body where they went back to a 1980s prom. It starts off with everyone dancing in pairs except for the blonde girl who acted like a rocker anti-prom chick. In order to get the party started, she poisons the punch and suddenly the prom gets a little crazy. Who would have ever thought that an idea as ridiculous as drinking spiked punch would actually make a great transition? My favorite part was when the white boys started shaking their booty. It was unexpected and entertaining.

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