Pass few days been hectic shipping holiday orders, side projects, and family time. Actually in Yosemite right now using this temporary timed internet to put in the 2 cents owed to this blog. No internet, no signal, and nothing to work with, but family and getting to know the cousins (who previously ran Female Gone Rogue) other being, Julian. Love to describe as to why I mentioned them, but I will do that in the next couple weeks, make sure to come check it ill call the post “Queen&King”. Moving on…

Hope errybodies spending their holidays with Fam and/or Close folks! Few more days till folks go back to school and some, to work, live it up, YOLO!

-Holmes

- From the Suhreal Family.

One of, if not, the most important thing to keep you going.

-Holmes

Follow us! SUHREAL.tumblr.com

Been going hard over there on tumblr, sorry for the haitus on this blog.

Headwear has dropped.

The West black/grey beanie has sold out. Restocks wont be available till dec 20th! You can check BLACKFLAG SHOPPE to see if they have more in shop. We planned on dropping the rest of the line early november, but a lot of events has happened that has been out of our control which is holding the line from releasing, but promis it will come within the next couple week(s) . You wont be dissapointed!

I need to attend this more, I know… WIDE AWAKE&STILL DREAMING!

-Holmes

Not much to say, but as a designer, artist, hungry marketing/branding lover, Steve Jobs’ death was like Tupac, Biggie, Elvis, and Micheal Jacksons death to a hardcore musician. Im not putting him in their category, but the emotional impact I had was losing a role model and a genius figure that all of us witnessed history (though a lot aren’t even aware of it). From the target audience of kids to adults to seniors, he changed everyones lives and way of thinking whether you are aware of how he did or not. From the ‘Apple’ experience he branded to the innovated 3d movies of Pixar; think about how you viewed kids movies after Toy Story came out, cell phones after Iphones, listen to music after Ipods, the way we subconsciously label his computers as a ‘Mac’ or Apple after his way of marketing and branding Apple. For the Mac users, how much more space you have to put your markers, sketchbooks, and pencils on your desk and made your workflow more efficient and smooth from the simplistic design of the Apple products.

There really isn’t much to say, but Thank You. For the reminder of how powerful branding and design is when I hear someone label your computer products as Macs or Apple to how I hear people talk about how they feel owning an apple product. As a major on design and branding, its inspiring and uplifting to be reminded how much of a difference designers and branding savvy’s can make  in this world, we just got a think as big as you did and think about how we want to change it. To animators I have talked with in this topic, how they set their life goals to coming out with a ‘Pixar’ movie to how they spend sleepless nights perfecting skills and knowledge to create a ‘Pixar’ movie… THANK YOU! Rest-in-Peace Steve Jobs, wish I had the chance to give you daps…

THE INSPIRING SPEECH STEVE JOBS MADE AT STANDFORD!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TO READ IT MORE THAN ONCE INSTEAD!!!

“I am honoured to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College [Portland, Oregon] after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even if it leads you off the well worn path and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz [Steve Wozniak] and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2bn company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation – the Macintosh – a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling-out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologise for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7.30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumour on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for “prepare to die”. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumour. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful, but purely intellectual, concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but some day not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

hen I was young, there was an amazing publication called the Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of the Whole Earth Catalog, and then, when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words “Stay hungry. Stay foolish”. It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Thank you all very much.” – Steve Jobs

Feel free to contact me about your thoughts and opinions on this speech, more than welcome to conversate on the topic of his speech. info@suhreal.com

-Holmes

Bobbi Vie’s FAME 2011 was another crackin’ event, as expected. A ton of people came through, crowded, good vibe, good peoples, dope supporters, dope vendors, good food, beautiful models (favorite, Levy Tran, just saying), and Most if not all The SuhRealests that help run this brand was here, even the 2 Duds and Vinnee running Eastcoast SuhReal.

ALWAYS one of the late vendors setting up.

The Line about an hour before the event

Raffled our LAST SUHREALxGOODWOOD Piece and…

raffled our only SH.RL leather strap to exist in this model/style: Canvas fabric bill/ black body/leather strap…

The Winners!!!, both super stoked to win, jumping, yelling and running around! Good to see some excitement!!! LUCKY TWO!!!! Appreciate the others that joined the raffle. More goods to raffle at the next FAME!!!

Incase you didn’t know, good folk of Imaginary Zebra knows who he is, SUHREALEST!

Big Thanks to the folks that helped run it that while I was walking around chopping it up with a few other folks being lazy and irresponsible! Pictures like this is what I like to look back to in the long run!!! 

Who doesn’t like posing?

Recent Package Project.

-Holmes

Right!?
Post shots up of FAME soon as I get some shits, unfortunately didnt bring my own camera for the event. Did good and was dope seeing fellow brands and supporters!!!

Wide Awake&Still Dreaming

-Holmes

Cukui&Biscuits block party was crackin’ and def felt the summer sting with the sun messing with Melski and myselfs stomach (plus the beers & empty stomach)!

Recovering from his Birthday, JeffJank of HLWY.

Told Millarie (Halloway) to do a cool pose…

Orly (Cukui & Humble Beginnings) got the idea… Damn I missed out on that shirt…

Melski!!! (Humble Beginnings)

Random Kid kept cisin on skateboarding, asked me to flip my board over to see the graphics  and told me a good description about a skull head designed skateboards he just got. Cool Kid.

Cause I want one a bulldog…

Cool people I met besides Bobbi.

Coolin out with head SuhRealests Emilio

Todd Jordans for the fin.

-Holmes

SUHREAL, Wide Awake&Still Dreaming, presents ‘A Deep Thinkers Brand’ Online Campaign. Representing what all of us are, Deep Thinkers. We all have different issues, interests, and perspectives towards life that we put our mind toward to find meanings and express it in ways others will understand. In our case, we are deep thinkers in the urban culture and design. We put our mind and energy toward something we love and express it through our products. This campaign is to encourage you to be aware of where your thoughts are going and decide where you want to direct your energy towards. Formula: Mind and Energy.

Inspired by Becks’ line of work, our campaign pieces are a mixture of film and photography. The pieces you will see for the next few months represent Mind and Energy. The stillness of the pieces represents the Mind, and the moving elements represent the Energy.

Feel free to share the pieces to other deep thinkers and suhrealests! We are on TUMBLR, follow us and check out/share more of these. Click here>SUHREAL TUMBLR.

-Holmes

Once again, George Watsky drops another genius piece on us. Again, a PRIME example of a suhrealest, always keeping it real, pursuing the life of being Wide Awake&Still Dreaming!

*Side note, We just opened up a tumblr. I know its a little late, but there you’ll start finding more sketches, behind the scene stuff, and our campaign A Deep Thinkers Brand. Click Here and follow us, we’ll do the same .

Been bumpin’ this  joint, Wale ft. Tiara Thomas- Cloud, for a good month and a half now on repeat. Tiara Thomas for the win ya’ll! Somethin’ about her…

-Holmes

An issue was seen and a solution was created.

sneak-peaking our online campaign: A Deep Thinkers Brand.

Much much more to come within the next couple weeks.

*On the side note*
-We are selling out of products from our sp/su2011 drop. Reminding you folks that we never reprint our products. Get it what you can and while you can before its all gone! CLICKE HERE for product info & CLICK HERE to cop.

Wide Awake&Still Dreaming Folks!
-Holmes

Happy Fathers Day! Folks!

Feel Free to Tag your fathers or ya homies that are fathers that you wanna shout out to! Single mothers can get it too, playing both the roles! Happy Fathers Day Folks! Click Here > HAPPY FATHERS DAY TAG SHOUTOUT<

-Holmes

Finals is finished and can get back on track! Few close friends from school graduated so congrats to them! Will miss seing them around school and wish them the best. Eventually catch up with them soon of course though!

If you’ve been following my blog (which used to be www.TheJank.com 4 years strong!), you might be familiar with Melissa Manuel of Humble Beginnings. Had her on a handful of posts within the past year or so, she’s been doing every one from the SuhReal camp out here in the bay area and the Dc.Md.Va’s tattoos. Anyways, incase you aren’t familiar, Melissa is a dope tattoo artist known for her polynesian/neo/filipino Tribal works! She was and still is, taught under Orly Locquiao and other legend tribal artists throughout the poly-islands. She is definitely on the come up and quickly getting recognition for what she does and its only been 2 years since she really started tattooing, ya’heard!

Now that you kind of get a sense of who she is a little, she just opened her first Solo Gallery Show at ManilaTown Center in San Francisco last Friday! She told me about this a couple of months ago and always talked about how she’s been doing with the preparation for this show, but damn was I surprised when I came in! She really put in work and is proving to be more than just a tribal artist. I don’t want to spoil too much of her works here so I won’t be posting most of her pieces here. The opening was definitely crackin’: good peoples, good vibes, and a room full of  Great, tubular, awesome, knarly, wicked, vicious, dope pieces! You just got to check it out if your in the SF area, It’ll be up until August! You’ll see what the hype is about! ManilaTown Center 868 Kearny Street San Francisco, CA

For the past few weeks I been posting up small glimpse of a couple sneaker projects I collaborated with Mel herself for her show. Both tribal engraved and painted. I wish we documented the process, but I think we both just got caught up with our other side projects and school. What I will do in the near future is post about our concept and thought process for both of the sneakers…

For now, i’ll show one of them. The rest you just got to go and check it out to see and experience the details and full effect of all her pieces in person. Again, ManilaTown Center 868 Kearny Street San Francisco, CA. Also respects and s/o to Chris Gonzales and Allen Abesamis, the other 2 artist she collaborated with on a few of her pieces.

congrats on the show MEL! Wide Awake&Still Dreaming FAMS!

**On the Side Note**

S/O to our fams Leslie and O at BlackFlag Shoppe in Jersey for the package! @blackflagshoppe

Been waiving that BLACK FLAG out here in Cali fasho! Respects to you guys!
-Holmes

As always, surprises me with something new. Definitely a very respectable guy and genius at what he does, no doubt! George Watsky folks, always goin beyond. Besides the G SH.RL hoodie he’s wearing, he’s straight up SuhRealest!

Wide Awake & Still Dreaming!

-Holmes

It’s came in guys, GoodWoodNYC SuhReal Pendants. Decided to go with our very own Duds for our hardcore supporters who already know or becoming to know this character. Limited quantity and quality at its finest, along with the natural wood smell it has, hm.

Now Available at our OnlineStore.

-Holmes

Feel free to contact us at Info@suhreal.com FACEBOOK PAGE or TWIT: @SUHREAL.

-Holmes

Summer is here and still pushin! With the load of work and finals happening, definitely needed some time to gallivant and escape for the night. Maybe escaped a little too far with my lightweight self, but would like a SuhRealest s/o to Brandon L for the invite and crackin’ joint! Happy Born Day!

only shot i'll show from that night... photo by: ???

So now… back to it with 2 weeks of finals left and 3 weeks of Dallas, Texas.

On the side note, Cukui will be displaying some of Nick Giannini and myself’s artwork for the rest of the week (until Thursday to be exact). Big thanks to Monae, The Cukui folks, and the good peoples that stopped by and will be stopping by this week! So… Stop by when you get a chance and check it out!

CUKUI 229 Jackson Street San Jose,Ca

photo: Monae Fenton

Photo: Monae Fenton

photo: Monae Fenton

Also SuhReal gotta few things in the works, stay tuned!

Wide Awake&Still Dreaming!

-Holmes.

Been meaning to post this, but was waiting on the autopsy to determine the cause of his death, which is still mystery. If you do not know him, he is the guy behind the LRG brand. He  is a big part of the reason why most of your favorite  streetwear brands out right now exist. I am honored to have lived and experience through the cultural shift that Jonas help create. Definitely one of the pioneers to the huge shift in this young culture we live in today.

Although I was only loyal to his brand through the first couple years of LRG’s start, always respected him and looked up to him as he was the first asian entrepreneur within the ‘urban’ and skate apparel industry I seen and heard of when I was young. For some reason his nationality made a big difference. With all the skate brands and hiphop brands at the time, I didnt know if anyone of them was asian or filipino or from anywhere around that area. Before LRG, entrepreneurs in the urban and skate industry I seen were all different kinds of race, but asian or of an asian descent. Being young, I seen it this way… if an asian descent cat can do it big in this urban and skate industry… why cant I? Much respect and may he Rest In Peace!

-Holmes

Day time, chillin.

The woman behind the camera, Sunshine of Female Gone Rogue.

Dweezy, the guy behind this whole idea.

Thanks and S/O to everyone who came out for this last minute idea for a video shoot. Night was nothing but cool vibes, good peoples, and a repetitive cut and action! Video will be up next week folks, stay tuned!

-Holmes