Last night I attended a screening of DOUBLE VICTORY at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

The Lucas documentary Double Victory showcases the Airmen’s triumphs amid the adversities of Jim Crow and segregation in the U.S. military. Narrated by Gooding, Double Victory goes inside the lives of many of the living Airmen, recounting stories of racism within the military alongside the Airmen’s tenacious heroism.

Lucas’ Red Tails, which stars Gooding and Howard, takes the stories of the Airmen from textbooks to the feature screen. After the project was rejected by all seven major Hollywood studios, Lucas decided to pump his own money into producing and promoting the movie. Continuing the high-energy, big-action legacy of Lucasfilm, Red Tails goes beyond being a mere history lesson, enlisting CGI and other special effects to create an energetic movie-going experience to illustrate the journey of the Tuskegee Airmen.

After more than 20 years in development and production, Red Tails is scheduled for release on Jan. 20.Double Victory, which was recently screened in Washington during the 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference in September, is scheduled to be released soon.

The fourth installment was held at Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall- four womenswear designers (DOHO, Son Jung Wan, Steve J & Yoni P, and Lie Sang Bong) and one menswear designer (Juyoung Lee) were chosen by an international panel consisting of figures from CFDA, FIT, IMG Fashion, and WWD, to showcase their S/S 2012 collections.

Music fueled by DJ @beckadiamond

In this episode Jonn Nubian and Dan Morales interview Maria Martin, Daughter of the Cigar Great Pedro Martin, George Koodray of The Metropolitan Society, Paul Major of Barrister Cigars, Dan Phillips of Dan’s Hats & Caps, and Los Blancos Cigars

Hosted by David Mallow of Barrister Cigars.

The 1st New Jersey Cigar Festival was
held at the Bear Stadium located in Newark, NJ.

David Mallow went all out on this event. upon entrance, guests received a Black Humidor filled with about 20 Premium Cigars from the vendors at the event.
This was followed by a free shave compliments of the American Shave Classic Barber. Then …Well just watch the video and enjoy.

Last week I attended an event at Milk Studios for The Macallan & Albert Watson Present: Masters of Photography: A Journey.

The series is a limited edition set of special Masters of Photography bottles of Macallan paired with platinum prints.

photo courtesy of Angela Pham

I actually got a chance to chat with him  about the photos during his journey between Spain and Scotland, while enjoying the 18 year old scotch (responsibly of course)

” The Macallan came to me with the incredible story of the Spanish sherry oak casks used to make their single malt and asked me to interpret this as a photographic art project. The freedom and encouragement given to me allowed the creation of a visual journey demanding complete artistic integrity.” - Albert Watson

By the way, Albert Watson was born in Scotland and doesnt drink…lol

His work speaks for itself. He is probably best known for this photo of Alfred Hitchcock

Among others

Monkey and Gun

Naomi Campbell

This is me drinking responsibly.

check out the prints from the series by clicking here

Check out this behind the scenes interview

The Masters of Photography – Behind the scenes of the Albert Watson Edition from The Macallan on Vimeo.

This looks like 90% of The Present and Past with a few notable exceptions, Tivo and Boxee have changed the world-or at least mine-

More information click here

STAY TUNED! (pun intended)

Dan-ell Morales & Jonn Nubian cover Ray Dawson’s Nocturnal Peacock Cigar launch party held at the prestigious Cigar Inn located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The festivities included Brazillian Jazz music by the Sandro Albert Quartet,
Belly Dancing, Great Foods for the world over and of course the Nocturnal Peacock Cigar.

I attend quite a few conferences and absolutely HATE carrying around booklets or paper handouts to find out whats going on.

It’s 2010 and I was so pleased about the Internet Week NY App which kept me up to date with everything going on with the conference.

I was so excited and then throughly disappointed at THE NEXT HOPE conference lat July.

You would figure an app designed for a HACKER conference would be slick and chock full of information-it turned out to be poorly designed and altthogh having it installed on my hacked Iphone_ I found myself missing some very interesting panels because  I had to thumb through numerous pages in the conference booklet to find out what was going on-(true story)

Fortunately you can download such interesting discussions as:

A Primer on Neuroscience, Bat Echolocation, and Hacker Bio-inspiration and Hacking Terrorist Networks Logically and Emotionally from Hattorrents.com Thanx guys!

So next week I am heading to Ad:Tech NY and decided to try out the app-

The Free Ad:Tech NY Iphone app does everything it promises-

helps you make the most out of the conference and expo. It features conference sessions by date and track, a list of exhibitors and sponsors, and the ability to select and save your favorites, plus a live Twitter feed. Selecting any listing allows you to view details about the session, speaker, exhibitor, or sponsor.

Download it for free from the app store

Last week I attended a private screening of the HBO Documentary -

SCHMATTA: Rags to Riches to Rags

Ever wonder where the fabric and samples come from for fashion shows?

“schmatta” is the yiddish word for “rag”-

I previously screened this doc with Melissa Davis of TheFatAppleNyc.com and she thought it would be great to screen this in the company of fellow writers, bloggers, fashionistas and tastemakers for the kick off of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

The event was held at Wix Lounge-

Wix Lounge: A free work & event space for creatives in NYC, sponsored byWix.com, an online Flash website publishing platform.

and produced by

The Fat Apple : Created by Melissa Davis, began as a site covering  Fashion generally and Plus-Size fashion specifically, Lifestyle and Technology from the perspective of a plus size woman. Currently, The Fat Apple encompasses 3 brands, TheFatAppleNYC.com, TodayInShoes.com andGalleryDates.com. New York and the Big Apple is Bigger than you thought!

Special Thanks to the sponsors of this event-

Thank you Jennifer Sohan from Devi-excellent Indian Cuisine!

Everyone raved about the cauliflower treats-I wouldnt know becaue they disappeared so quickly!-

check them out at http://www.devinyc.com/

Location:
8 East 18th Street (between 5th Ave. & Broadway)
New York, NY 10003
Reservations: (212) 691-1300 or make a reservation at www.OpenTable.com

Yummy Snacks

“The Garment Center is the heart and soul of Midtown Manhattan and the backbone of the fashion industry. This HBO feature documentary, produced by Blowback productions, explores the rise and fall of New York’s fabled schmatta (rag) trade as a microcosm for the economic shocks that have changed our lives. Director Marc Levin’s documentary will get you thinking about why your H&M dress is $10″

DIRECTED BY | Marc Levin
PRODUCED BY | Daphne Pinkerson, Marc Levin
EDITOR/CO-PRODUCER | Richard Lowe
LINE PRODUCER | Kara Rozansky
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER | Karl Hollandt
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER (HBO) | Sheila Nevins
SUPERVISING PRODUCER (HBO) | Nancy Abraham
FIELD PRODUCER | Donovan Leitch
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY | Daniel Levin
ASSISTANT EDITOR | Chris Walker
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY | John Zorn

Yesterday I launched a new side project:

www.pocketsquaremafia.com

Essentially it celebrates the handkerchief, pocketsquare and haberdashery

“for the Made or Mad Man”

follow it on twitter @pocketSQmafia let me know what you think-

and if you happen to be wearing a pocketsquare-submit a pic-