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Nike’s ‘Better Is Better Than Your Better’

Nike wants you to get your ass in gear and promises to help. The sneaker giant announced an expansive training program called SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness) that includes high performance gear, an online site for athletes to track their progress plus training tips, and this new multi-media campaign called “My Better” featuring Adrian Peterson, among other athletes. On the footwear side of things, they’re releasing three new models for training: the Nike Air Zoom SPARTQ TR Elite, Nike Air SPARQ TR, and the Nike SPARQ Test Pro. This comes on the heels of their new indoor iPod regiment so if you can’t get your shit together, don’t blame the Swoosh.

Popularity: 49% [?]

DC Sets Up Shop On Melrose

Wednesday night, DC hosted the official opening of its Los Angeles flagship store. Press, stylists, hipsters and industry heads turned out to the Melrose location to celebrate with the brand. Besides being able to preview DC’s Fall 2008 Collection, guests indulged in food and drinks while DJ Groove Terminator spun hits. DC riders like Rob Dyrdek, Colin McKay, Josh Kalis, Ryan Gallant, Brian Wenning, Lindsay Robertson and PJ Ladd came through the new 7500ft space as well as BMX riders Chad Kagy, Corey Bohan and snowboard pro Eddie Wall. Expect to see more retail spots from the brand coming down the pike. More flicks after the jump.

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Uffie Tied to the MOB, Cobraksnake Shot

The MOB continues to warrant our attention, this time using the very sexy and delicious looking blond recording artist Uffie to keep us interested. To hype the new line—which includes a dope t-shirt design by Fafi—the MOB dispatched fast crowd photographer Mark the Cobrasnake to shoot Uffie around NYC. We’ll confess to not knowing all that much about the women’s streetwear market, but we do know a hot chick when we see one, and that’s enough to keep us gawking. See some our faves below but check out the full collection of Uffie in various states of undress on the MOB site.

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Which A-List Celebrity Is This Posing Naked for Vaseline?

Answer after the jump.

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The Only Super Bowl Ad Really Worth Watching

Sure, Audi’s Godfather parody was entertaining, the Bridgestone Tires ad with the screaming animals was funny, and despite its family friendly posturing, the parade-floats battling for Coke was pretty good, but all in all, this year’s Super Bowl ads weren’t all that. With them costing as much as $2.7 million per 30-second spot, we were expecting more, but then we saw this Victoria’s Secret ad starring Adriana Lima and suddenly we stopped caring about the rest, and the game for that matter.

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Taco Bell Offers Tasteless Promotion for Striking Writers

With the Writers Guild of America Members still striking and no real end in sight, Taco Bell figured it would be a good enough opportunity as ever to exploit the out of work writers. In a so called effort to offer a “spicy creative outlet” and to support the guild, the fast food chain that clearly thinks outside the bun is running a promotion asking the scribes to pen “fun and fresh bits of wisdom” that will then be selected and printed on hundreds of millions of Border Sauce packets as part of a new promotional contest. The ten best “wisdoms” will be selected and members can win a year’s supply of the Mexican-like fast food, valued at a whole $260. The contest is open to Writers Guild members only. Here’s some of their “most famous proverbs” that have made their way onto the packets and that the writers need to top:

Popularity: 3% [?]

Shaun White Stacking Paper At The X Games

Mat Hoffman (drums) and Shaun White (guitar) at the Target Chalet/Photo: Tracy Anderson

Winter X Games XII kicked off in Aspen last night. Tanner Hall placed first in the men’s ski superpipe and Levi LaVallee took the gold for doing backflips on a snowmobile. Something he’s obviously practiced before. Shaun White, jamming with Mat Hoffman at the Target Chalet last night, hasn’t slipped any gold around his neck. But he’s definitely cashing checks in Aspen. Yesterday Burton announced a new 10-year deal with White with intentions of expanding his signature line, The White Collection. The announcement comes on the heels of White’s new contract with Target to produce a casual line under his name. Maybe White will get the big Red Dot to change its stance on bloggers.

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Go South With Burton’s 28 Day Winter

For more than 10 years Burton team riders have shredded the Southern Hemisphere while most America works on their summer tans. 28 Day Winter documents the latest mission with 176 pages of photographs by Dean “Blotto” Gray, Jeff Curtes, and Adam Moran. The shooters followed a squad of Burton riders including Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter, Nicolas Muller, and the ubiquitous Shaun White tearing up rocky terrain on the earth’s south side. Blotto, who we caught up with via email, described the evolution of the book, “After completing the month long shoot through Chile, New Zealand and 72 hours on Mt Hood in Oregon, the photography was compiled and we all said, ‘Let’s do this book.’ The title tells just what it was, a 28 day winter.” For anyone trying to start a North vs. South rivalry, Blotto had this to say, “The typical story with shooting snowboarding in the Southern Hemisphere was that of ‘It’s not as good as the terrain in the Northern Hemisphere…only good for catalog shots…not enough snow.’ We’ve never subscribed to this attitude and this book is a testament to that. You’re dealing with the best riders in the world, professional photographers, and terrain that will get you just as hurt as anytime in January or March.”
28 Day Winter: A Snowboarding Narrative ($40), powerHousebooks.com

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A-Ron’s Wreck Room

If you watched last week’s rambling interview with A-Ron, you might have heard his mention of being profiled in the Times. Well, he wasn’t bullshitting. The space that he was shivering in does exist, and it has heat, colored walls, lighting and everything. And although we’re still not quite sure how this is going to help fight the “whitewashing” and “gentrification” of NYC, we gotta give it up to dude for keeping his word.

Residents of a sleepy SoHo block aren’t sure what to make of the Wreck Center, a store/performance space/art installation that has invaded their neighborhood like a post-apocalyptic circus. Decorated with graffiti, gold paint and 5,800 feet of Day-Glo masking tape, the space, designed by Rafael de Cárdenas, pops, to say the least. “Finally one came up to me,” said Aaron Bondaroff (above), the project’s ringleader, “and told me it was about time someone did something cool in the neighborhood again.

Click for the full excerpt over at the Gray Lady.

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A-Ron’s ‘Off Bowery’ Is Way Off Bowery, It’s In Soho!

Dick riding streetwear correspondent and so called “young tycoon in the making,” Heron Preston, kind of interviewed—it was more of an open platform for rambling—A-Ron the Downtown Don about his ‘Off Bowery’ brand recently. Last time we checked in with the “Don,” he was embroiled in lawsuits and getting countersued by trustafarian clothier and keeper of aNYthing, Kiernan Costello. Although there’s still plenty of legal drama going on, A-Ron spilled the beans about some developments concerning his new endeavor. For one thing, he’s got a venue, this time settling for a space in Soho, a far cry from the grimier Chinatown neighborhood surrounding his former holdout on Hester, but a spot nonetheless. We also learn that he’s planning on launching 15 distinct brands and running with some sort of Wu-Tang inspired business plan that comes together like Voltron during sale time. If you made it through Part 1 and can stomach more, here’s Part 2 too.

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