Friday, October 31, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We would like to wish everyone a happy and SAFE Halloween! It's time to be a kid again! Or maybe a kidult since I know most of you will be partying your minds out. But hey, find some time to have some candy and carve a pumpkin. And as always..

PLEASE RAGE, RESPONSIBLY.

And now I leave you with some great pumpkin carvings..














I love creativity.

- Vince

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Change

Our country definitely needs it. And hopefully less than one week away from it too. Remember to vote next Tuesday November 4th. This one's pretty important.


- Vince

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Gettin' Old


I turned 22 today. Not too sure how I should feel about that. I never would have imagined that I would be doing the things that I'm doing right now so I think that's a good start.


By this age, I think I should have been a professional ice hockey player according to my childhood self. I played ice hockey for a little over 8 years until I had to stop in high school because it was just getting too expensive. Ice hockey ain't cheap, but it's a very intense and fun sport to play. I don't care what you say! I love the sport! Give blood, play hockey.


After the ice hockey phase of my life passed, my next goal in life was to become an eletrical engineer. I went from jock to nerd in one year because I had to quit ice hockey and ended up joining the Engineering Academy at Los Altos High School in lovely Hacienda Heights, CA. We built and raced solar car and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in hopes of learning something about the alternative solutions to gasoline consumption. This is where I actually got to know Robert Pfeffer, who helped my brother and I start Glad Rags Ink. He also ended up crashing my solar car, Lightspeed II, the day before the big race during practice runs. The car flipped end over end a few times but fortunately it was only the frame and not the thousands of dollars worth of solar panels. Luckily, our team still managed to re-build the entire electrical and mechanical system overnight and Lightspeed II went on to win the national championship, set a new track record, and win the teamwork award. Just being in the Engineering Academy, I definitely learned about leadership, organization, teamwork, and everything that goes hand in hand with business and management. Pretty much laid down the foundation for everything I went on to do after high school.


In college, I ended up changing my major from Eletrical Engineering to Music Business because sometime down the line I realized that it wasn't the right choice for me. Music Business inspired me to do more for our band Dear Life which resulted in us taking the band more seriously and eventually going on tour all around the US and playing hundreds of shows and selling tons of merch and CD's. I learned how to manage a band, book tours, and promote all on my own - the origins of the D.I.Y. mentality. To make a long story short, after nearly 5 years of being in a band, we're still together and going strong. My brother and I even "took a break" from college to tour full time with the band, which is what we were doing for most of the earlier part of this year as you may recall.


Somewhere in that frenzy that I call life, my brother and I decided to start Glad Rags Ink and LOUD& OBNOXIOUS and well, you know how that went so I won't go in too much detail on that. It just goes to show that you never really know where you'll end up. I never would've imagined myself being so interested in business and management. I always thought I'd be a professional ice hockey player, or an electrical engineer, or a rockstar or something in the music industry. To me, life is a huge journey and you gotta just let it take you for a ride. Enjoy it! As long as you always keep your head on straight and remember what you learned, you'll be fine.

If you got this far, thanks for reading and spending these past few minutes with me on my birthday! I really appreciate it and thank you once again for your support in all the different facets of my life.

- Vince

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Kidult


Don't you wish you could be just be a kid again? Well, it's that time of year again! Halloween has always been one of my favorite parts of the year for obvious reasons. Not only does it happen to be 3 days after my birthday (give me presents!) but we all get to do something that we all never get to do. We get to be someone else! There's no rules and we get to dress up in stupid outfits and get candy for doing it. Beware of the bad candy though!


Sometimes I wish I could really just be a kid again. Those were some fun times. Not a care in the world! I'd come home from school, play video games with my friends, and watch cartoons and Matt would light toys on fire, blow stuff up, and dance along with Michael Jackson music videos. Not a care in the world.


And what happened to going outside to PLAY?! Kids don't go outside and just PLAY anymore. I used to go to my next-door neighbors' house, knock on the door, and ask his parents if he could come outside and PLAY. The streets used to be littered with all the neighborhood kids having a blast and enjoying their youth. We used to make up games everyday! We'd play street hockey, home run derby, and luge down the street racing on our skateboards and when we ran out of games we would even do stuff like catch falling leaves from trees in the autumn. Nowadays kids just stay inside, go on MySpace, and waste away with Warcraft.


We grew up too fast. Sigh. Thank goodness for Halloween. Bringing out the kid in all of us.

- Vince

Friday, October 24, 2008

No Tricks, Just Treats

The ONLINE SHOP has now been fully stocked with our entire Fall 08 Collection! Both Men's and now Women's are available for purchase so make sure to head over there and pick something up ASAP before it runs out! Quantities are limited, especially on the ladies products.


Fall 08 Women's Collection Lookbook:


I know many of you will begin your Halloween celebrations this week. We just wanted to remind everyone to PLEASE RAGE RESPONSIBLY! Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend! L&O LOVES YOU!

- Vince

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Just Shoot Me.

Yesterday, we had a short notice, guerilla style photo shoot with DAM-IT for our first ever Women's Collection.

Here is just a sneak peek of what you, LOUD& OBNOXIOUS ladies, have been waiting for!




Stay posted for the women's collection to get added to our webstore!

-Brian Obnoxious

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Shop 'Til You Drop


I've done it. The ONLINE SHOP is live! It is nearly 2:45AM and I've finally launched our very own webstore! Go ahead and take a look. I made it as pretty as I possibly can at this point so I hope you all enjoy it! At least you don't have to email us just to buy a damn shirt haha! Honestly though, thanks to everyone that has ordered shirts from us through email. It means a lot to us that so many of you go through so much trouble just to own one of our shirts. You would literally log into your email account, write us a message, wait for our reply, and then pay using a credit card online. We thank you all so much for sticking with us and we promise that more and more surprises are on the way!

You'll notice that the SHOP only currently contains the Fall 08 Men's Collection. Don't worry, ladies, we didn't forget about you. We will be posting the Fall 08 Women's Collection online within the next couple days along with older stock from previous seasons which will be on SALE so keep checking back for updates!




SHOP NOW!

- Vince

Monday, October 20, 2008

California Dreamin'

As you may have noticed lately, Mike is Everywear. He's also in a band with me and Matt called DEAR LIFE but if you're not really into that "screaming stuff" then this might be right up your alley. Mike's got a side project band called BYE BYE BIRMINGTON for fans of music like The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie and they just released a new record online called "The Aretaic Turn". If you like your music catchy and your songs about "a girl", then this is for you! If you don't, then show it to your girlfriend or the girl you've been crushin' on because chances are they'll like it. They also just put up a new music video for one of their singles, "Catalina Dreams of California", directed by local favorite AG Rojas. Check it out below.


Songwriting is a lost art nowadays. At least some people still know how to write a good song. You can check out BBB at myspace.com/byebyebirmington.


Don't forget about our very own ONLINE SHOP launch - 10.22.08! Less than two days left!

- Vince

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Short and Sweet

This weekend was a quick break for all of us. I'm sure you all have noticed but for us, the weeks have been long, endless, and truly lacking of a "week-END." Just a little word of advice.. if you have the opportunity to sleep early, do yourself a favor and take it while it lasts. The three of us, Vince, Brian, and myself, went our separate ways for the last three days to enjoy some long overdue free-time. However, we didn't want to leave any of you without a reminder of our Online Web Store that will be launched this Wednesday, the 22nd. We know you have a lot of things to think about; planning Halloween parties, making costumes, carving pumpkins, and maybe some homework on the side too.. but you'll definitely still have time to check out our Online Web Store, right? Riiiight.

P.S.
There are at least a million new places serving frozen yogurt that have similar names and almost look identical. Not to say that I don't enjoy frozen yogurt, which I really do, but it's kind of irritating to see the SAME approach and presentation from so many different small businesses.

Here's a list of a few I've seen and been to:
Pinkberry
Yogurtland
Golden Spoon
Whimsical
Kiwiberry
CeFiore
Beachberry
Yogurberry

It seems that only a select few of these are doing well and growing for obvious reasons. Please Originate.

- Matthew

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Material Boy


Once again, we apologize on the delay for our webstore! Rest assured though because it's finally here! Well almost. Wednesday October 22nd, to be exact. The entire FALL 08 Men's & Women's Collection will be available for purchase, along with some older stock at discounted prices. So there you have it! Spread the word!

And now for some coverage from last weekend's DUNKXCHANGE. Mike is EVERYWEAR!


Uncle Imani of The Pharcyde showing our guestbook some love. Apparently he's also a USC Trojan fan.


Our booth got pretty busy at some points. Thanks everyone!


Man, Trevor, you're growing up so fast! And Brian looks creepy. As usual.


Big thanks to everyone who showed up wearing our tees! I know there were more of you guys but Matt didn't have a chance to snap all of you guys.






Our good friend Marlon from Authentix showed some love for both L&O and Los Doyers. And yes, we're all pretty bummed about the Phillies taking the series 4-1. Don't remind us.


Hey Johnny, I think we've got another imposter! No offense to the dude, just the shirt. Yikes!


Cfre and Paul of LA LEMON after pulling another all-nighter right before DXC. We know how you feel, guys. We feel your pain. Let's get some food already!


After DXC, apparently Kris G's tire was pretty exhausted too and decided to just give up. Poor guy.


Intermission!


And presto! Ramiro handled that flat good.


The event even had Jon (Fully Laced) feeling 'so serious'. Say it ain't so, Jon!


Thanks for hooking it up with the LA Kings snap-back though! Been wanting one for a long time. Too bad I can't wear hats if my life depended on it! I ended up giving it to Matt. Lucky punk.


When all is said and done, it's always nice to be in good company.


- Vince

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Grindin' Away

After a rather miserable Monday, things are back to normal around here. Everyone is relatively upbeat and morale is back up. Well at least I am. And Pfeffer (Noah) seems to be rather happy.


For some reason, we actually thought that once we finished printing the L&O Fall 08 Collection we might get some time to rest or take a breather. Turns out that we were dead wrong! The orders are coming in for both online customers (thanks to everyone who has been emailing!) and our RETAILERS (contact your local retailer and ask them if they've got L&O. if they don't, tell 'em to order, sucka!). The stock is already wearing thin for certain sizes and we haven't even put up the online SHOP yet! I suggest that if you are interested in a shirt that you hurry and email us quick. Don't wait for the SHOP because you might end up missing out on the one you want! To order, email us at email@loudobnoxious.com with your order request!

Speaking of which, I actually made a lot of progress on the SHOP today. It should be going up this week so keep checking back on that. Thanks again to everyone who has already bought our shirts! It means a lot to us for you guys to continue to support us. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do the things we do and we promise to keep it interesting! Spread the word about L&O to everyone you know! Let's make waves.

Anyway, here's some fun junk from the past few days. Pfeffer actually finished building the darkroom but here's some shots right before it was completed.

Kris G vs. Pfeffer - the sage continues.






Tools of the trade.


Indeed.


You gotta vote. Dogg.




Jane made this for us. The likeness is uncanny.


Ever since we moved in to the City of Industry office, Los Frijolitos has been our home away from home. By home, I mean Molca Salsa. I'll let the photo speak for itself.


As for Los Doyers, we need a big one tomorrow! Let's go BLUE!

- Vince