Courtesy of Halo Media and 24HHH

The highly anticipated Dunny Series 2010 is a week away from the explosive launch date on August 19. The party gets started at Kidrobot Miami on that Thursday from 6-8 pm. There will be exclusive DS 2010 tote bags and the super-limited Sket One Relish Dunny complimentary with case purchases while the supplies last. Scoop up your VIP bracelet for the open bar on Friday.

The celebration really takes off the following evening, Friday, August 20 from 1o pm – 12 am as Kidrobot takes over the Louis Bar at the Gansevoort Miami Beach. There will be an open vodka bar from 10-11 pm for Kidrobot VIP’s. Plus KR gift bags will be given out to the first 300 people. Don’t be fashionably late or you might miss out on the Dunny mayhem.

More info: Click Here

Some of the cleanest photoshoots courtesy of Joel Alvarez and VENGE Media.

Follow him on twitter or check his work over at ModelMayhem

Yanier “Niero” Gonzalez of popular video game site Destructoid.com grew up in Hialeah after his family left Cuba when he was 5 years old. He ran his own video game club in second grade, often cutting out articles from EGM, and he swore someday he’s get paid to play video games. Now, he just finished celebrating the 4-year anniversary of Destructoid and just finished paying rent on the second office in California (his home office is in Miami) where four staffers will live, hoping that it will get the site more respect with West Coast connections.

“I was trying to do it all from Miami, but the cost of travel was getting out of control,” Gonzalez said.

He’s not running around as Mr. Destructoid much these days — nor is he writing. His days are about deciding if the site should upgrade to auto-reloading technology, which would mean that his page view numbers would go down, hurting ad revenue. It’s about figuring out how to make more money off the videos his team members are producing. Or how to use social media to get more traffic to the site. That is, when he’s not playing the latest hot game.

“I feel lucky every morning when I get up,” he said. “I’m like wow, I still get to do this.” — Miami Herald staff

ABOUT YANIER ‘NIERO’ GONZALEZ:
Title: Destructoid CEO, founder
Headquarters: Miami
Education: Miami Springs Senior High, Silver Knight winner 1997
Before Destructoid: Intern at El Nuevo Herald art department, creative director at World Media
Personal: Age 31, single. Lives in home office with three employees
Background: Born in Cuba, raised Miami-Dade County
How he got the name Niero: It’s a childhood nickname after friends teased about his sloppy signature that looked like ‘Niero’
All-time favorite game: Mega Man 2 on NES
Favorite recent game: Mass Effect 2
Favorite console system: Super Nintendo. “PS2 is a close second. I’m a retro gamer at heart.”
Looking forward to playing: Final Fantasy XIII, coming out in March

Source: Miami Herald

Downtown’s Shoe Gallery got into the spirit with the World Cup this year and went all out with in store displays. And lots of people in Miami were extremely happy Spain won the finale. Well, here’s a few shouts of the Shoe Gallery decor in the shop. Click below to see photos.

Shoe Gallery
244 Northeast 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33132-2102
(305) 371-2063

Allright, so we’ve been waiting for it and finally the official grand opening of Sole Fly sneaker boutique is here. Saturday July 10th will be the official grand opening of the shop and will have sounds provided by DJ Flex and DJ Ethics. Special guests are expected to come through and expect lots of surprises all day. It goes down Saturday July 10th, 2010 from 12NOON till 9:00PM…address is below:

Sole Fly Sneaker Boutique
8099 South Dixie Highway #2
Miami, FL 33143
(305) 661-3423
www.solefly.com

Terrence J co-hosts a show with Khloe on Y100 and he was spotted wearing the “YES” shirt by Last Rights during the first episode of Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami’s season two premiere. This was a particular scene where they were interviewing Bow Wow and Khloe was in the middle of getting scolded once again by their boss Michael Yo!

More info on Last Rights: www.lastrightsinc.com

2 bottom photos via UpNUpDaily

Last week, Aventura Mall saw the grand opening of the long awaited Lego Store Miami. LEGO Master Builders put together amazing pieces and there was a larger than life Buzz Lightyear & Woody from Toy Story for kids to enjoy. A limited amount of customers also received a limited Miami Art Deco influenced set (pictured in the top right photo), as well as Toy Story products and Lego t-shirts. Photographer David Cabrera was also there capturing images of the grand opening – you can view his images here.

The LEGO® Store in the Aventura Mall
19501 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33180
(305) 792-7395

Store Hours:
Mon-Sat: 10am – 9:30 pm
Sun: 12pm – 8:00 pm

(Miami, FL) – For over 4 years, Vanessa James kept South Florida updated on new music, entertainment news, and what’s happening in the community while serving up the best blend of Grown and Sexy R&B, Hip Hop and Old School on her mid-day show at WMIB-FM 103.5 (formerly) The Beat Miami until the stations unannounced flip on May 14.

On June 15, 2010 Vanessa will celebrate the launch of Vanessa James Media. Months in the making, Vanessa James Media is a comprehensive and interactive company which leverages Vanessa’s versatile talents in music, fashion, television, media correspondence, live endorsements, event promotion, and voice overs as a complement to her successes in radio.

Experience Miami’s premier female media personality as a host, entertainment correspondent and brand ambassador on www.vanessajamesmedia.com. Vanessa James Media successfully concluded its first promotion with American Airlines Arena for the Maxwell Concert on June 14, and will share news on major partnerships with a well-known international record company and her new clothing endorsement at the official Vanessa James Media launch party taking place June 15 at 8p, Grass Lounge Miami in the Design District.

MIAMI METROZOO CELEBRATES ITS 30TH BIRTHDAY WITH A NEW NAME – “ZOO MIAMI” – A COMMUNITY CELEBRATION IN JULY, A NEW ENTRANCE AND A NEW LOOK

30th birthday celebration takes place July 3-5 with $5 admission, music, giveaways and many more surprises!
Miami Metrozoo wishes to thank the community and out-of-town visitors for their faithful patronage of its park over the last 30 years by celebrating its 30th birthday July 3 – 5 from 11 AM – 4 PM with $5 admission and much more! Supporters interested in giving the Zoo a $5 birthday gift and supporting Florida wildlife conservation awareness can text “ZOO” to 501501.

The new Zoo Miami logo and iconic Zoo entrance (SW 124 Avenue and 152 Street), that reflects the transformation the Zoo has undergone in the last 30 years, will be officially unveiled to dignitaries, media and VIPs on the morning of Friday, July 2nd.
In honor of its 30th birthday and in the spirit of 1980 when the Zoo opened on July 4th, the entire community is invited to enjoy the Zoo during $5 days from July 3-5. During these three days, the public will be treated to the heavily discounted admission price, music, giveaways and a ton of fun.

Lex Promotions and Marketing Group (LPMG) and its affiliates took over Memorial Day weekend in Miami. Their overall goal for the weekend was to do what they do best, promote their clients on what is the most popular weekend of the year. They used their trained & experienced promoters to distribute promotional flyers, create marketing campaigns, break records and promote some of the city’s hottest club events. Listed below are just some examples of what LPMG offered this Memorial Day weekend:

With the help of LPMG, Rick Ross was crowned “King” of Memorial Day weekend 2010. Maybach Music Group shut down the city with appearances at Mansion Nightclub, Club Pure, Take One and The Best of the Best Concert. In the streets, they were championed by LPMG’s Maybach Music Street Team, that seemed to be everywhere at the same time. Rick Ross dropped a preview to his album, Teflon Don, in the form of a mixtape titled, The Albert Anastasia EP, featuring new hit single “Super High” ft. Ne-yo. Needless to say, everyone on South Beach was riding down Ocean Drive and Collins, blasting The Albert Anastasia EP. Rick Ross also launched his twitter account just in time to stay connected to fans for the weekend’s festivities; you can follow him at Twitter.com/RickyRozay.

So one of Dade County’s most official clothing lines, DADE Wear begins a new chapter. They moved into a new warehouse last year and have set up a full blown print shop inside. They can handle outside custom orders and such. But I can imagine, that we can see some new DADE Wear stuff soon as well.

So to see their offered services and such, hit them up at www.dadeprinting.com

Amir Youssef and Big Ed Youssef owners of celebrity hot spot, the Chop Shop Barbershop unveil their newest concept in beauty, Chop Shop Chix Beauty Lab in the heart of Miami. This cutting-edge sanctuary for pampering and lifestyle launched on Saturday, February 13, 2010.

Chix will offer a variety of services including the salon’s much anticipated “PLD,” a bikini hair removal service exclusive to the Chop Shop Chix Beauty Lab and first of its kind in Miami. The PLD, brings a new experience to waxing hair down there, with fun and flirty shapes such as: stars, lips and hearts. This unique personal grooming service, will allow ladies to feel sexy and adventurous within minutes. Attendees will have a chance to be the first PLD recipients just in time for Valentine’s Day, with the experienced and trained Chix team. Throw your boring bikini waxes out the door and say “I want my PLD!”

“The Chix concept is a result of the popular demand from our female followers who loved the Chop Shop Barbershop. They often told us it was too masculine, and if it had more of a feminine appeal, they would be here. So it was time to give the ladies their very own Chop Shop Chix…where it’s all about the Ladies,” says Co-owner Amir Youssef.

Chop Shop Chix Beauty lab is the hottest and sexiest full service salon to open in Miami’s Upper East Side. A one of a king salon in the MIMO District, offering hair styling, decadent massages, facials, nail care, make- over’s and personal styling.

Chop Shop Chix Beauty Lab
7285 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, Florida 33138
www.chopshopchix.com

Absolelute is locally based Sneaker Customization company that customizes sneakers with their unique and “patent-pending” laser process. I saw a couple of pieces at Sneakerpimps 2007 or 2008 I believe and its incredible to see the detail of these customs. I’ll definitely be posting more info on Absolelute in the near future. In the meanwhile, you can view more work over at www.absolelute.com

And to contact Absolelute, call 305-332-9868 or email absolelute@gmail.com

From the makers of O.H.W.O.W., A-ron Bondaroff and Al Moran have launched the newly created BAR, at the old PS-14 spot in Downtown Miami. Basically its a little lounge/bar type place and described as a “clubhouse for the creative community”. Every two months or so, they will have a new artist that decorates the place and the first artist in line was South Florida based Freegums (aka Alvaro Ilizarbe). They opened the space on January 18th, but should be up for another month or so…

BAR – 28 NE 14 Street – Miami, FL 33132
click below for photos

Sweat Records is definitely one of my favorite local businesses. Not only is the store full of life and culture, but they just love to hold it down for Miami’s thriving music scene and above all, still support the beauty of vinyl records. Recently, they were featured on a PBS segment on the Nightly Business Report about the existence of vinyl records and its transition into today’s current music industry climate.

Me personally, I have like 10,000 (+) vinyl records. It used to be a hobby of mine to dig for records and a couple years of doing that, I ended up with thousands of rare and classic soul and pop records from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. There’s just something that cannot be explained when hearing music played on a turntable….and I’m not talking that Serato sh*t.

Press play to view the clip above courtesy of Crossfade and the Miami New Times.

Ranked #26 in the world (of a top 100 list) by respected art publication, Juxtapoz magazine. O.H.W.O.W. is always on the edge of things and always doing unique showings. Definitely a great look for them.Here’s what the article said:

26.  O.H.W.O.W Gallery, Miami, Florida

This gallery doesn’t get the recognition it often deserves. Located in the middle of Miami, O.H.W.O.W doesn’t just shine during December’s Art Basel, but routinely puts out off-beat exhibits and books (it’s a publishing house too) with big names like Neckface, David Lynch, Keiichi Nitta, and more.

Via FreshBasil and Juxtapoz

The fellas over at ViceMiami take a little tour of Mr. R’s Sports on the beach.

Mr. R’s Sports
408 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL 33139

I want to send a big congratulations to David Rousseau and the entire CreativeSeen family and to Team Pitbull for their work on Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” video. The video ended up being the most watched music video on Youtube for the entire year of 2009 with 82 Million Views. And the second most watched video on the website overall.

1. Pitbull “I Know You Want Me” (82+ million views)
2. Miley Cyrus “The Climb” (64+ million views)
3. Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A.” (54+ million views)
4. The Lonely Island “I’m On a Boat” (48+ million views)
5. Keri Hilson “Knock You Down” (35+ million views)

In comparison, what topped Pitbull in the “overall” category was Susan Boyle with 120 Million views of her breakout and shocking performance on Britain’s Got Talent.

More information on CreativeSeen over at www.creativeseen.com

I want to send a big CONGRATULATIONS shout out to Sweat Records for winning a $150,000 grant by the Knights Arts Challenge headed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. They were one of about a dozen or so recipients of a grant from this year’s competition. Since opening up shop in 2005, Sweat Records has definitely become a staple in Miami’s music scene. They receive the award with much promise and one of the highlighted projects under their grant include the creation and support of a locally based “e-commerce site” focused on South Florida made music. Here’s what the foundation wrote:

This grant will help Sweat Records, a store and community resource that offers live performances, film screenings and an art gallery, strengthen and expand its cultural offerings. Sweat Records will hold additional workshops on a variety of cultural and educational topics. In addition, Sweat Records will develop an e-commerce site showcasing music and other goods made in South Florida.

Sweat Records was established in 2005 in order to unite and strengthen Miami’s growing independent music scene. After surviving Hurricane Wilma destroying its first location, Sweat has settled into its permanent home: a full storefront, organic coffee bar and event space next door to Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti. Sweat supports local artists and presents over 100 diverse events every year to further enrich Miami’s cultural offerings. Visit www.sweatrecordsmiami.com.

Watch the video below below for a little further info. Once again, congrats to the Sweat Records family. This only proves that positivity and dedication to your local community DOES pay off in the long run.

I ran into this interview with Weston and Miami based Victor Harvey, CEO of V. Georgio vodka, over at Miami.com. If the wines & spirits business is something you’ve wanted to get into, it doesn’t hurt to read this interview for a little inspiration. Here’s a small quote…

“…When I moved from here in the ‘90s, I knew I was always coming back. Miami has been a launch pad for a lot of different things, whether its music – from disco to bass – or fashion. V. Georgio is not about me. It’s about us. It’s something that all of Miami can embrace and take pride in, like we do art deco, disco, or fashion. We can say, ‘hey this started in Miami, and we set trends for the world – no matter what we do….’”

Read the entire interview by clicking here

Poe Boy Records CEO E-Class, and artist, Brisco - stopped by Downtown Miami’s FOOT SOLDIERS sneaker shop to get their shopping on. According to FOOT SOLDIERS, they “swung by…to do some well-deserved shopping. From Adidas to Nike SBs, they cleared a lot of hot stuff from the store.”

Say word. Look out for that Live From The 305 compilation, coming soon.

Foot Soldiers
100 SE 1st Ave
Miami, FL 33131-1002
(305) 374-3501

Carlos East, half of the Azteca Dunny artist duo, The Beast Brothers, puts the finishing touches on their custom 20-inch Dunny for the Miami show, The Beast Brothers Flip Out, opening September 16 at the gallery in the Kidrobot Miami store! Via Kidrobot’s Blog

If you want to see how hip hop dance can be wholesome, just take a look at the Hip Hop Kidz. For almost two decades, these dedicated and energetic youngsters have been entertaining crowds at charity events, ballgames, music videos and almost every venue imaginable. Now the nation’s premier dance program, which has spawned its own full length movie, music CD and book series, comes to Gainesville.

Culture Kings has finally made the jump to creating an online store. I know I’ve heard that this was a move that they’ve been looking into, they finally went full force with it and launched. I definitely think it’s a good look. I have a good amount of experience in seeing how the online retail world works and there’s a WHOLE LOT of money to be made. Check out the new store and support one of Miami’s top shops. Click here to view the store. Good luck on the new venture guys!

Photo courtesy of Treskoi PR

Today is “305 Day” over at Ocho Placas. They will be offering “three-oh-five” and “Miami related tattoos for $35. All day. The shop is full of highly respected and requested artists, such as owner Jose Carrera, who has just recently worked on tattoos for the likes of Lil Wayne and Birdman. Stop on by or give them a call before you head out.

Ocho Placas
6240 SW 8th St
West Miami, FL 33144
(305) 264-0888
www.ochoplacas.com

Also, there’s this article entitled “Tattoo U” over at the New Times that gives you a better idea about what Ocho Placas is about. Click here to read it.

On August 22nd, Miami-based entertainment blog site, iBlog126.Com will be celebrating their One-Year Anniversary. Its been an interesting year for founders Napps and Prima-Bloggerina. They’ve put in countless hours a day and sometimes posting like 20 stories in one day on the blog. Which in blog-terms, as easy as it might sound, takes up an insane amount of work. And its good to see that they’ve weathered the storms and kept up with iBlog on a consistent basis and will hopefully bring many more yearly anniversaries to celebrate. We invited the crew over to our office to take a couple photos (photo-booth style) and to talk and discuss a variety of things including Myspace Stalker stories, where the “126″ suffix comes from, and their opinion on what it takes to be a blogger. Read below…