Cosmopolitan Boys Sunday Snippets #004
Cover photo by Joseph Rodríguez. Los Angeles Gang Culture, 1994.
04/05/2024, Saturday, 22:49 @ Centro, São Paulo.
Trying to be more organized with this, I started the night before (look at that). I know God is seeing my effort working on a Saturday night. Jokes aside, maybe I prefer it this way, at least most of the time. I don't know if the secret lies in doing what you love or in the desire to win at any cost. I am driven by both, sometimes I get ahead of myself, but that's okay, I’m trying to figure out what to do with my life probably as much as you are.
This week's holiday left her a bit confused. For me, it was much more about planning for May to be less chaotic than April. I ended up not consuming much, but I still think I managed to collect some cool things. I’ve been reflecting a lot on how to archive, organize, and optimize my work. I hope you like it. This phrase is becoming a bit cliché, but I think it’s all I can do after all: hope someone likes certain topics as much as I do.
*Each topic is dissected a little more. Click on the arrows and/or links.
THINGS I'M READING
When I finished writing the first edition of the Newsletter, I realized it would look better if I added a cover photo. But I didn't want to put just anything; I wanted it to be something well-founded, and since then it has become routine to do more thorough research for something cool. This week's research led me to the work of Joseph Rodríguez. And thankfully it did. I have some projects in mind that revolve around photography and have consumed quite a bit of work from photographers.
Joseph is an American documentary photographer who has been active longer than I have been alive. His work, besides being amazing, impressed me a lot by the way he has everything very well cataloged and organized, with captions that describe the scenes in detail. As journalistic as it is artistic. I selected the paragraph where he talks about his work:
As a documentary photographer for over 25 years, my perspective has been to work slowly when possible. The domestic landscape of America has been my interest for the last two decades. Today, I continue to work within social documentary practice, covering the struggles of everyday life. As Fred Ritchin, author and president of www.pixelpress.org wrote, 'Photography often confirms biases and distances the viewer from more nuanced realities. The people in the frame are often portrayed as too foreign, too exotic, or simply too different to be easily understood.' I continue to tell stories that have had an effect on my life so we can bridge that gap and develop a better understanding.
I have been trying to improve my process of archiving my productions in an organized manner; I think this is a major flaw of the post-internet generation as a whole. Document everything you can, and as my friend Sean Brown says, "don't delete your old work."
Continuing with the photographers, I have also learned a lot from Simon Wheatley. There’s even a great article about him on NOTTHESAMO (here). But in summary, he is a very prolific London documentary photographer who became widely known for his records of the grime scene, which he has followed since the start. Fun fact: he lived in Brazil for a while to study History. Simon remains very relevant in the UK and globally, documenting the new generation. This week, a collaboration of his with Corteiz was released, which garnered a lot of attention, where he photographed the lookbook. He had previously photographed Clint months ago to reveal the collaboration between Corteiz and Supreme.
Now a Brazilian photographer. I try to ignore the fact that he’s very privileged because his work is really good. But keep in mind that he is the great-grandson of the Baron of Rio Branco and the great-great-grandson of the Viscount of Rio Branco, just so you have an idea.
He has this book called Maldicidade that I always bump into at newsstands and bookstores (it happened today at a stand downtown), but I never have the courage to spend 300-400 reais. The colors and textures in his photos are absurdly amazing.
Forget Traditional Retail, Awake NY's Lower East Side Flagship Is a Cultural Hub
Angelo Baque is one of my biggest inspirations. He has worked at Stussy, was creative director at Supreme for 10 years and now has Awake, which has one of the most beautiful streetwear stores. This interview was about the store's inauguration. It’s very cool how he sees the brand as a community thing without being ‘blasé’ and continues a consistent and independent path from the rest of the market. I feel that same energy of creating something meaningful for myself and cultivating it, without looking at the hype or competition. To captivate people through honesty, authenticity, and consistency. I hope that’s what brought you here. I’ve selected and translated some excerpts:
"Your personal journey also started in retail. What have you learned from all the time you've spent working in stores? How to provide an experience. You can be a wizard of design and manufacturing, but if you don’t know how to sell what you’re making, it doesn’t matter. If you’re coming into my store and I’m going to convince you to buy a jacket, the right music has to be playing, the right incense must be burning, the store has to be impeccable."
"I want the store to be a home, a space for kids to come, have fun, and absorb games where they don’t need to buy something to belong. I couldn’t buy anything from many of the spaces I walked into when I was starting, but they still treated me well. I used to walk around Union, and Chris Gibbs gave me a free t-shirt once because he knew I couldn’t buy anything. That moment, and the experiences I had there, like meeting Tremaine Emory in the front seat, changed my entire trajectory. I would love for my store to provide those same experiences for the next generation.
"The most important part of building a community is acting: starting, cultivating, and nurturing your community."
"It's important for me to show that you can be from here, that you can look like me and that you can have your own store too. I didn’t have those examples when I was growing up, and I want to make sure we provide them. You'll definitely see me in the store."
What is your 'north star' goal for the store? People gathering in front of it! [laughs] If I can look out the window of my office and see people having fun outside, that’s the biggest win I could ask for.
With the excellent recent work that Aimé Leon Dore and New Balance have been doing, I (like many) became obsessed with Teddy Santis, this was the oldest interview I could find with him (2014). I selected and translated the excerpts I liked the most:
I’ve always felt like I was exceeding everyone by waking up early. If you wake up late, when your brain starts working, it’s already past noon.
The sunlight comes in through the living room, and he walks back and forth, touching the phone, entering the light and coming out again. He smiles. 'I do this every day, like a crazy person.'
Teddy starts his day around 6:00 AM, walking back and forth, responding to production emails from abroad. He showers and combs his hair into a sharp part. He keeps a beard - 'I went to an all-boys school and never had to shave,' he says. His hand is never without a glass of water ('At least a gallon a day,' he says). On an average morning, he doesn’t make breakfast ('I order a lot from Seamless.') In fact, he admits, 'I’m really never here.'
And while this is a little metaphor, finding small ways to do things more simply is how Teddy has been successful in everything he’s faced.
'I’ve always had a good imagination,' says Teddy as he navigates the car through traffic on the 59th Street bridge. He looks out the window. A whole day of potential challenges awaits him. But first, a moment of rest. 'In New York, it’s easy to doubt what you’re doing because you think someone is doing it better, so people tend to rush. He lifts his foot off the gas to emphasize. 'Slow down! Do something special.'
I miss materials like this in Brazil, with creatives making things happen outside the spotlight. He also has this recent and more complete interview that is really good, at another time I’ll talk a bit about it.
The Last 100 Exercise: How I’m Delegating 85% of My Work
I’m always a bit hesitant to bring content like this, because it walks the fine line of ‘coaching’, but at the same time I think it’s important because I know you are young like me and trying to find a way to get by in this big world. But in summary, it’s an article by Tiago Forte talking about the importance of learning to delegate. I selected and translated some excerpts:
I’ve always struggled with delegation. Seeing myself primarily as a 'maker' and 'doer', it always seemed that I could complete any task twice as fast as it would take to explain it to anyone else. It always felt strange to ask someone to do something I was unwilling or unable to do, even if I was paying them to do exactly that!
Delegating to all these third parties is a skill, and not one that is taught in any school. It requires you to stop for a moment and think about why something is being done in the first place, what success looks like, what context or details are needed, and who is the best person to handle it.
It’s much easier to just individually deal with another batch of tasks rather than face the challenging question: 'Is there someone who could take care of this instead of me?'
THINGS I'M WATCHING
Bakar is an English guy who makes sort of indie rock and dresses extremely well. He’s breaking through the bubble due to a remix that has been going viral on TikTok, but it’s worth digging deeper into his work. Jordan Vickors, who is another big reference for me, collaborates with him on several works as creative director and stylist.
I got to know Moe’s work (also English) a few years ago when a friend showed me this clip, one of the first in rap that I saw filmed on film and totally against the grain of rap clips. After a while, I realized he knew all the creatives I follow from London and that the director of the clip was Walid Labri. A great breath of fresh air from the generic sounds of rap. He released a great debut album last year.
There’s really not much to say. Another great breath of fresh air in the music industry. I love this guy way too much rhyming about things that nobody else would rhyme about if not him.
THINGS I'M WATCHING
Concrete Boys: Lil Yachty, KARRAHBOOO, Camo!, Draft Day & Dc2trill - DIE FOR MINE (Official Video)
The Concrete Boys bring a great nostalgia from the golden days of A$AP Mob, Odd Future, etc.: a group of well-dressed young people creating authentic cultural movements. They have enormous potential. AMD Visuals has been the director of almost all of Yachty’s clips and the other members for some time, and now he became the first contracted director of Lyrical Lemonade - this clip was his debut. You can recognize a talent just by seeing, and this kid is definitely a huge talent in audiovisual.
Knowing music theory can actually make you a worse musician
I really like the channel of Mai. He's my favorite to watch making beats on YouTube and the guy who made me download Ableton. And this is basically a 2-minute video of him talking about how theoretical knowledge of music can make us 'worse musicians' in some aspects, and I constantly share that feeling. Sometimes I find something I produced years ago, think it's amazing, and wonder HOW. I could never do it again. And back then I had no knowledge at all. Anyway, it's a good reflection and I think it can be translated to any field. Ignorance makes us find creative solutions.
I Bought My Dream Porsche and Drove it Across California
A photography channel that I watch all the videos of, no matter what. He films 80% of the things with an iPhone and it’s really really really good.
My Tech Everyday Carry for 2024!
Another channel I watch every video of regardless. I talked about him in the last newsletter. The only guy on YouTube who mixes technology, music, gastronomy, travel, vintage oakley, mercedes-benz and teenage engineering videos.
How to 10x Your Income - The 4 Ladders of Wealth
I’ve talked about Ali Abdaal a few times as well and it's another content that makes me hesitant about going down a very coaching-oriented path, but this video I genuinely think everyone should watch, it’s the type of knowledge that should be common sense. Don't be swayed by the somewhat clickbait title.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
https://twitter.com/byseanbrown/status/1768292429499711521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1768292429499711521%7Ctwgr%5Ea5384330275c0d729d9463172232490e822b3286%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaiodosreis.notion.site%2FCB-Sunday-Snippets-004-8ff3a983ff99402b8e3fc9c610413444 https://twitter.com/felipeoanderson/status/1784989014853894251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1784989014853894251%7Ctwgr%5Ea5384330275c0d729d9463172232490e822b3286%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaiodosreis.notion.site%2FCB-Sunday-Snippets-004-8ff3a983ff99402b8e3fc9c610413444 https://twitter.com/yeaabk/status/1485306243136823302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1485306243136823302%7Ctwgr%5Ea5384330275c0d729d9463172232490e822b3286%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaiodosreis.notion.site%2FCB-Sunday-Snippets-004-8ff3a983ff99402b8e3fc9c610413444 https://twitter.com/icedoutpedrrr/status/1786032287080923224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1786032287080923224%7Ctwgr%5Ea5384330275c0d729d9463172232490e822b3286%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaiodosreis.notion.site%2FCB-Sunday-Snippets-004-8ff3a983ff99402b8e3fc9c610413444 https://twitter.com/ColonelKSpeaks/status/1785725015822119286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1785725015822119286%7Ctwgr%5Ea5384330275c0d729d9463172232490e822b3286%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaiodosreis.notion.site%2FCB-Sunday-Snippets-004-8ff3a983ff99402b8e3fc9c610413444
It’s exactly 1:39 and I just finished. Despite the work it takes, I’ve enjoyed doing this, I enter a limbo of cool things. I hope you found something you think is cool too. Have a good week everyone and pay attention to what’s happening in the south and help however you can. Link with centralized help information.
CB Sunday Snippets #001 CB Sunday Snippets #002 CB Sunday Snippets #003
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Nl1EW19QTm3t5QMA6eLtM?si=d2dacc8ac7134464
©2024, We woke up and did things, Cosmopolitan Boys.
my portfolio http://caiodosreis.com my experiences http://intagram.com/reisceo my research http://culturalmidfielder.tumblr.com my dj sets, beats, and remixes http://soundcloud.com/reisceo things I save http://pinterest.com/reisceo small notes https://twitter.com/reisceo
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