Rdm.

December 2011

Vol. 1 No.

The rapper, actor, and all around funny man speaks on being one of TVs funniest co-eds on NBCs Community

Donald Glover

Dont Sweat Your Sweaters

How to wear the winter staple without looking like your grandpa

Also Inside:

Best Eats in Austin

And other crazy things Iphone users ask their new know-it-all bff

Get ready for SXSW early by getting familiar with these Texas eateries.

Siri, I love it When You Call me Big Poppa

S#@t You Might Like

Super Bass Try this rechargable, wireless stereo speaker with built-in subwoofer on for size. ($149)

Because Life is Never Boring.

December
Goodies, Gadgets and Giveaways available now on RDM.com

December Giveaway
Available Dec. 14-29 For the Ladies

Watches for Christmas? Why not?!

Is it soda or pop?

Cant Get Enough?

Check out more gifts and goodies available now until Dec. 31 on RDM.com

No matter what you call it, you can make it whenever you like using the SodaStream Fizz cost $150

For the Fellas

Michael Kors Tortoise Watch ($275) 15 in stock, Code: KILLER

Woody Watch ($150) 15 in stock , Code: WOOD

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Because Life is Never Boring.

This

RDM.

City Life Best Eats: Austin....................................................................................................................... p. 5

They say everythings bigger in Texas, weve come up with a list of restaurants that prove some things tast better too

Photo Courtesy of Donald Glover/ Google The photos for the Donald Glover spread were originally shot for an online magazine and were accessed through Google Images. The cover photo was adapted from an advertisment featuring Donald Glover.

Issue
Get inside the mind of Donald Glover in our cover story on page 10.

Technology Go Ask Siri..........................................................................................p. 7 Music & Movies Whats Eating Drake? ..................................................................p. 13
With the release of Drizzy Drakes sophomore effort we cant tell if the real or depression is on the rise.

Meet Siri, the Iphone 4s built-in, high tech magic 8-ball. See some of the *ahem* tasteful questions some super classy (and clever) Iphone users are dying to get answered.

Style Dont Sweat the Snug Stuff.................................................................................................p. 16

Forget snuggies, this seasons sweaters are sure to keep you warm as the temperature plummets. RDM Magazine December 2011

Editors Letter

Because Life is Never Boring. Because Life is Never Boring.

What is Rdm.?
Random: [Ran-dum] adj. 1. haphazard. 2. chosen
without regard to any characteristics of the individual members of the population so that each has an equal chance of being selected 3. The bossiest magazine that youve read thus far. Welcome. Rdm. Magazine covers the spontaneous and ecclective lifestyles of young people. We call it random, because our lives our never boring-- there is always something new to play with, taste, drink, listen to, watch or try on. And, even if theres nothing new, our age allows us the freedom to experience old things in fresh ways. Rdm. stays above the trend and thinks out of the box, and has mastered the concept of mashing together all of the cool stuff young people come across that can both spark conversation and mass movements toward freshness. This is a magazine that caters to the 18-24 year-oldcrowd, regardless of gender, creed, or other affiliations that cause separation. Thats the beauty behind it. All of us are different, but its the differences meshed together that make Rdm. so easy to relate to. This magazine will provide reviews, features on the latest and greatest, lists and breakdowns on whats hot and whats not, throwback moments, whats happening in pop-culture, television, fashion and a view from the street. Rdm. readers need only remember one thing--live. watch. enjoy. Because life is never boring.

Enjoy. Ashelee Gerald Maya Rhodan Editors.

RDM Magazine RDM Magazine

December 2011 December 2011

Because Life is Never Boring.

CityLife

Best Eats : Austin, TX

Dirty Martins Place
2808 Guadalupe 512-477-3173 dirtymartins.com In just a few short months, itll be time for all of Americas coolest-of-cool kids to head south for SXSW, the go-to conference for all those interested in music, film, interactive media and creative growth. But while youre down there expanding your mind creatively, dont forget to grab a bite to eat at one of the capitals premiere food destinations.

Hit up this grab-and-go, old-fashioned burger joint. Home to greasy burgers with prices ranging from $3.25-$6.75. Also hosts a daily beer special from 3p.m. to close.

Compiled by Texas Monthly.com staff

2000 E. 12th, 512-478-0378

Sams BBQ

What would you look like going to Texas and not eating BBQ? Dont worry, Sams is open until 3a.m. on the weekends. Despite a short closure this summer becasue of stolen meat, this small joint in East Austin will slap BBQ on anything and make it taste like gold.

Food Heads
616 W 34th St, 512-420-8400 foodheads.com

Vivo

2015 Manor Rd., 512-482-0300 vivo-austin.com

Whats a taste of Texas without a little Tex-Mex? Check out Vivo, located on the East side of Austin. Home of kickass margaritas, mile-high nachos and monster burritos.

Voted Best Sandwich by a 2003 Austins Chronicle Restuarant Poll. Uses bread from local bakeries, delivered daily and specializes in fancy sandwiches you wont find anywhere else. Vegetarians welcome.

Check out more of Best Eats:Austin on rdm.com

RDM Magazine

December 2011

CityLife

Occupation nation
O
Since protesters made Zuccotti Park their home in September, the Occupy bug has bitten citizens everywhere from Los Angeles to Sesame Street. The movement, which is centered on combating economic inequality in America, has since become a staple in pop-culture and across the globe. Story by Zach Williams for The Villager

Because Life is Never Boring.

ccupy Wall Street is spreading beyond street demonstrations and into a niche a bit more close to home. As the movement enters its third month, a new type of occupation is growing within American popular culture and is finding its way into all types of public forums, including Dept. of Education hearings in Lower Manhattan. The ongoing demonstrations against corporate greed and government malfeasance have inspired a growing presence in common discourse, television, fashion, and online. When a New York City political science professor could not catch the words of a soft-spoken student toward the back of the classroom, she decided to make a cultural reference which soon resonated with her students. The professor asked for the Peoples Microphone to be used. The device developed by occupiers has listeners repeat a speakers words in order to allow others further away to hear. It may have been originally needed in order to circumvent New York City ordinances against electronically-amplified sound, but it now has found a purpose elsewhere. The technique is just one of many features derived from Occupy Wall Street which have extended their reach beyond activist circles and into the wider realm of popular culture in the city and throughout the country. But in a movement that has directed considerable energy

The success of a movement is all about being co-opted. Thats what happened to flower power; it suddenly became cool to be a hippie, said Rose Reddington, a 22-year-old occupier. Part of the success of the Occupy movement has come with the droves of youngsters who think its cool to sleep in the street for a cause.

towards protesting the excesses of American consumers as well as corporate executives, the mediums of exposure are a mixed blessing, according to the activists. Occupier Rose Reddington, 22, said the growing profile of the movement in popular culture had to be taken in stride since it could ultimately help the movement reach a wider segment of society. They had those t-shirts with the Occupy Wall Street message on it. I ground my teeth but at the same time its important for other kids to ask What is Occupy Wall Street? and the wearer says

Sit down and Ill tell you, said Reddington. The success of a movement is all about being co-opted. Thats what happened to flower power; it suddenly became cool to be a hippie. Throughout the web and television, references to the protests continue to pervade news stories. Actions taken by law enforcement across the country against Occupy demonstrators have only increased its profile in popular culture in addition to keeping the movement in the headlines. After University of California Police Lieutenant John Pike casually pepper sprayed

non-violent protesters who refused to disperse during a Nov. 18 demonstration at U.C. Davis, a video of the incident gained millions of views on YouTube within hours. Ensuing outrage preceded the suspension of the police officer pending further investigation. The incident also inspired a popular picture series online featuring the officer in such iconic images as The Beatles Abbey Road album cover and Associated Press photographer Nick Uts 1972 Pulitzer Prizewinning photo of a little girl crying in the streets following a napalm attack during the Vietnam War.

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Photo by Heather Guatney / Google Images

Because Life is Never Boring.

Technology

Hey Siri, Can I Ask You Somethin?

Have you spent an entire weekend making increasingly offensive comments to your phone? Now you can share the fruits of your iPhone 4S obsession with others on the Tumblr S*&! That Siri Says. Check out these...ahem...tasteful Q&As between Siri and these iPhone users. Compiled by Ashelee Gerald

To see more convos with Siri check out http://www.shitthatsirisays/tumblr.com

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Technology

Because Life is Never Boring.

Spotify Is Good For The Music Industry, Its CEO Says

Story by Joel Rose for NPR
American music lovers took note when the digital music service Spotify arrived in the States this summer. Its already Europes largest paid subscription music service. Spotifys essential offering is a robust catalog of music some 15 million songs available for on-demand streaming. Users can call up songs for free and download them to a mobile music player for a monthly fee. Some industry watchers see Spotifys offering as the end of the music download business. But Daniel Ek the companys Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, speaks at a news conference in New York on Wednesday. Swedish-born, 28-year-old found- make tenths of a cent every time er and CEO feels differently. one of their songs is streamed. I dont want to be characterStill, Ek stands by his comized as an iTunes killer, Ek tells panys business model. Spotify Weekend Edition host Audie is only two years [old], almost Cornish. What we really are three. In that short period of trying to do is move people away time, we have become the secfrom piracy into a legal model ond largest revenue generator for that contributes revenue back the labels in Europe, and weve to the music industry. Its really paid out more than $150 million that simple, and I think the key back to the music industry. is by creating more convenient Ek says that Spotifys preproducts. mium subscribers, by paying a Though the service may be $9.99 monthly fee, spend more convenient, some artists would on music each year than people rather their fans download their who only download songs from music or purchase physical copiTunes and other services. All of ies. A few high-profile acts such a sudden, by being a subscriber as Coldplay and Adele have kept on Spotify, he says, youre their latest releases off Spotify actually contributing more than and other streaming music subthree times back to the music scription services, since artists industry.
Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What is Spotify?
Confused? We thought so. Spotify, a music sharing website has been available in Europe for three years, but made its way to the states in June 2011. The site, like Pandora, allows listeners to specify the kind of music they want to listen to, but offers them more freedom to decide what they want to hear. Goodbye repeats of old music on your online radio, hello 21st century.

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Because Life is Never Boring.

Music&Movies

Photos Courtesy of IMBD Cool movie, bro...but whats it about? Roger Ebert explains his confusion and content after watching the highly anticipated action flick.

mmortals is without doubt the best-looking awful movie you will ever see. Eiko Ishiokas costume designs alone deserve an Oscar nomination. They werent at all historically accurate, grumbled a woman in the elevator after the sneak preview, as if lots of documentation exists about the wardrobes of the gods. She added: I guess thats what we deserve for using free tickets we got at a Blackhawks game. One image after another is gob-smacking, including the early one in which a prison cell of thick granite, buried inside a mountain, holds the imprisoned Titans. We see them from above, chained standing upright, their teeth clamped onto iron rods. Theyve been this way for eons. Other images include Greek villages carved from the sides of precipitous cliffs, spectacular temples and thrones, and a startling shot of the Oracles dressed in towering red costumes against a slate background. You look at these visuals and drink them in. Alas, the movie makes next to no sense. It involves, in a very broad sense, the attempt by King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) to conquer Greece, and the battle to stop him led by a plucky peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill). Much depends on the possession of the hidden Epirus Bow, which can fire arrows that materialize from thin air and guide themselves to a target. This sounds great, but when youre shooting arrows at tens of

Immortals Will Confuse You, Seriously

Review By Roger Ebert
thousands of enemies, your fingers could get bloody pulling that bow string. The movie is sometimes completely CGI, and there must not be many scenes with no computer work at all. That allows for lots and lots of towering cliffs. In fact, all of Greece seems to be on the edge of a drop of hundreds or thousands of feet, although sometimes in the far distance we see flatlands, which are no doubt where the peasants live. No one on the cliffs but Gods, heroes, Oracles, warriors and suchlike. These characters all seem compelled to live as close to the edge as possible, where they run nimbly, survey the horizon, push each other, and never look down to check their footing. You know how nervous that makes me get. One legendary character does dive into the sea, turning into a kind of missile and impacting like a bomb, creating a giant tsunami. Youd think the waves would wipe out civilization, but the payoff seems mostly when everybody finds themselves covered with mud. There are no end of battle scenes, interminable and incomprehensible, in which beheading and skewering are routine. Theseus is so strong he actually stabs one enemy with the end of his pike and tosses him with great force against a rock wall. Try that sometime. I was encouraged by this because the actor, Henry Cavill, will soon be playing Superman, and here we see he can do that stuff for real. But a lot of the time I had no idea what

Photos Courtesy of IMBD

was going on. Characters would turn up for the first time, seem terrifically important, and disappear. If at many moments I had stopped the film and asked anybody around me, who is that, and what are they doing and why?, I think theyd have been stuck for an answer. There are such puzzles as why an army stretches the width of the horizon and has to funnel four abreast through a narrow opening in a wall. And call me an idiot, but when they found the three people trapped inside the giant (golden? brass?) bull while being slow-roasted, I had no idea how they got there or who they were. The movie was directed by Tarsem Singh, of whose wonderful The Fall (2008) I wrote, it is a mad folly, an extravagant visual orgy, a free-fall from reality into uncharted realms(Tarsem) has made a movie that you might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it. Now there is.

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Cover

Because Life is Never Boring.

Childs Play
From starring on a hit TV show to traveling around the country on tour, Donald Glover proves that being a so-called nerdy black kid is pretty effing cool in 2011. Story by Ben Jensen for The Village Voice

Photo Courtesy of Billboard

ed sweatshirt hood pulled tightly over his head, brown leather jacket wrapped tightly around his torso, fresh whiskey sour sweating in his hand, Donald Glover peels his way through the packed crowd in the upstairs lounge at the Lower East Side bar Pianos to the area where a lifesize panda, peering from behind a giraffe, pig, and monkey in a display window above the stairs, is staring at him. The previous night, the 27-year-old recorded his first hour-long comedy special, Weirdo, at two sold-out shows at the 500-capacity Union Square Theatre. He flew his family in to watch. His younger brother, Stephen, Tweeted after the performance from

10

the bar: Watching two women fight over my brother, LOL. Glover didnt go home with either of themhe went home instead with a woman he calls the Holy Grail, the one he tried and failed to get the entire time he lived in New York, before bolting to Hollywood two years ago. Why now? Glover asks no one in particular, turning his back on the pandaits eerie eyes staring like some sort of harbinger of ill timesand gazing into the mass of bodies writhing in the center of the room, speaking as if to the Holy Grail herself. What changed that youre making out with me now? What changed is that Donald Glover is blowing up.

Donald Glover, the black hipster from Stone Mountain, Georgia, who landed a gig writing for 30 Rock while still an R.A. at NYU. Donald Glover, the former Jehovahs Witness who penned some of Tracy Morgans most classic lines as idiot savant Tracy Jordan, only to leave his Emmy-winning writing job for California and quickly snag the role of Troy Barnes, the clueless jock, on the NBC show Community. Donald Glover, the asthmatic nerd who remixed Sufjan Stevenss Illinoise album into a dreamy, chill hip-hop record and whose latest rap EP, released under the moniker Childish Gambino, has been downloaded 150,000 times. Download the Childish Gambino EP here. Donald Glover,

the guy whose viral videos as the part of Derrick Comedy team have been watched 200 million times and counting. This week, Glover embarks on the first large-scale mash-up of all of his abilities in the I Am Donald toura live show for the ADD generation that combines hip-hop, comedy, and viral sketch video. He will tour 23 cities in 33 days, including stops at the Bowery Ballroom on May 10 and Williamsburg Music Hall on May 14both shows sold out in three hours. Ten years ago, I Am Donald could never have happened. Handlers and brand managers may have allowed a guy who played a lovable character on a popular mainstream network TV show to perform

RDM Magazine

December 2011

Because Life is Never Boring.

hardcore, dirty-mouth standup, and even dirtier emo-rap but they would have insisted he do it all on a separate stage. But the transparency and immediacy of the Web makes it possible for Glover to avoid cutting his talent into tiny pieces for his different audiences. In a sense, he has spun the TV-personality paradigm on its headhis persona is what people see on the Web, and the TV show is merely an extension. Because of Twitter, people dont go to my shows expecting Troy to rap, says Glover, a reference to problems other performers have encountered, like Andy Kaufman facing crowds that only wanted him to be his Latka character from Taxi. The birth of Gambino He had been mixing beats since freshman year with a ripped version of Fruity Loops, but now he began rapping over them with rhymes about girls and love. The name Childish Gambino popped up on a WuTang Clan name-generator site, so he kept it and put the first tracks on tape. He can go from a suck-adick verse (When rappers start rappin over indie shit/Just remember I was first to hit this shit) to a child just trying to fit in (I coulda been a tragedy/ Thats why these fake niggas who call me pussy are mad at me/Cause they aint have the smarts or the heart/Aint you read the fuckin book, Things Fall Apart?) to a wailing, hopeless, and hurting romantic (I dont wanna be alone/Cause you know/Somewhere inside/I cannot find/The feeling I got from you). Its a bit schizophrenicbut much like how Glover doesnt separate his TV persona from his Web persona, he doesnt care to compartmentalize.

Cover
one tattoo to be etched on him at this stage in his career. In his raps, he makes frequent mention of his manhood. His propensity for thick women, particularly of Asian descent, is well-documented, and on one track he gives a shout-out to e.e. cummingsyou can fill in the rest. But in between, hes rapping about alienation, trying to fit in, getting girls to like him. Nerdy emo with a fro. Namedropping Greedo and Inspector Gadget one minute, then laying something like, Whiskey-sippin/Wanna drink the whole bottle/But these smart middle-class black kids need a role model the next. So many black kids Tweeted me about that line, says Glover. This is the first time in history we are able to talk about alienation and nerd things. Black kids do like white stuff. Arcade Fire were at the top of iTunesit aint all white people listening to them. He represents a new archetype of entertainera black nerd who can like white stuff. Not a black nerd in the over-the-top Steve Urkel or Dwayne Wayne sense, but a regular black guy who likes the same stuff white people likebut just happens to be more talented than you. The black middle-class kid is a real thing. Earlier that night, before heading to Pianos, around the table of Boka Bon Chon with his two biological siblings, brother Stephen and sister Brianne, and high school friend Lauren, the conversation turns to race who can say the N-word and who cant. He was voiced by a black dude, he wonders out loud. So is it OK for Darth Vader to say the N-word? He quickly Tweets the question out to the world. During the whole SpiderMan thing, the only thing that ever hurt my feelings was

his is the first time in history we are able to talk about alienation and nerd things. Black kids do like white stuff. Arcade Fire were at the top of iTunesit aint all white people listening to them.
For this, he has his detractors. Satirical cultural critic Hipster Runoff teased him by wondering if the blipster is too eager to make it as a buzz band (in a review of a Voice review). The AV Club picked apart his album Culdesac as a collection of good ideas that still need to be finessed into a strong statement, attacking the wild range of emotions and personality from song to song. But thats exactly the point. Fuck Rap Cool, the hashtag Glover often adds to his Tweets, is the

Photos Courtesy of Billboard

Photos Courtesy of Billboard

RDM Magazine

December 2011

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Cover
this one comment. The guy said, Look, I love you. I think youre great. But lets be honest: There are no black kids like Peter Parker, he says, shaking his head. There are! He has told his entourage that now is the time to strike. When most performers usually wrap a TV show, they take a holiday. But he is charging ahead. The week of SXSW, he wedged a Chicago performance on Friday in between the Wednesdays mtvU Woodie Awards, Thursdays unexpected cameo at the Voice/Wu-Tang show at the Austin Music Hall, and Saturdays show at Red 7. Then hes going to do another gig in Texas, one in a church in Atlanta, up to New York for the Comedy Central taping, then Virginia, back to Texas, up to Arkansas. Nonstop. Why the rush? Funny you should ask, because we were just talking about that, says Glovers manager, Greg Walter, as we eye Glover talking to the band on the stage. For the past three months, I have not been calling him saying, Take this job. I am usually calling him saying, Dont take this jobyou need rest. I get worried because he doesnt sleep enough. I tell him to slow down, and he says, You know what, Im 26, 27I can do it now. Pudi, who looks decidedly healthy and rested in a military cap and fresh face, walks up to the side of the stage. Glover sees him and flashes a smile. Are you alive? Pudi yells, leaning his body across the stage. Glover, still resting his voice, holds up his pointer and thumb, pinched with little space in between. Just barely. The previous week had been one of the biggest in Glovers career. On Tuesday, March 8, he

Because Life is Never Boring.

released the new Childish Gambino EP. Over the next four days, he was on the set of Community as they tried to finish shooting the second season before the weekend. He wove press interviews about Childish Gambino in between takes, and after each days wrap went back to his studio to remix some more songs and put them on the Web. At night, he was preparing for the Comedy Central special as well as working on slides for the I Am Donald tour. He spent eight hours on Saturday, March 12, covered in orange paint for the last day of shooting for Community. (They are revisiting a paintball theme.) 5-Hour Energy. Whiskey. Remixing. Girls. Bits and beats flowing through his head that needed to be captured on his iPhone. Writing a new song for the Woodies. Sunday was a Community goodbye get-together followed by performing at his regular Sunday-night comedy show, Shitty Jobs. Onstage at Red 7, you can see some ill effects of the pace at which Glover is living. His voice cracks in certain places, which he acknowledges, giving the crowd a look of promise that it will get better. He refuses to use Auto-Tunethe product of his performing-arts backgroundand it just adds to the sincerity of his delivery. On the last song, his best song, Not Going Back, he encapsulates all he wants to say. Couldnt see me as SpiderMan, but now Im spittin venom Now you payin attention, pick your fuckin face up When I wanna be a superhero, I just wake up Renaissance man with a Hollywood buzz I refuse to go back to not likin who I was He is currently writing two movies. He just signed on for a part in The Hand Job, and will have a cameo in the James Bobin/Jason Segel Muppets movie coming out this fall. These are all just Lego blocks of the nerd fortress Glover wants to construct. If one day, I can be a neo Michael Jackson, I want that. I dont know if it is possible for someone to be that big anymore. But I want that. And its not as if he is looking for Elephant Man bones or backyard amusement parks. Moneyeven if it can land him cute girls he might have already gotten anywayis not whats changed him. And its not what hes after. Hes after power. Power is what allows you to do whatever you want, he says, getting energized again. If Will Smith wanted to play Hitler, theyd make that movie. Thats power. I want to do a Nazi movie. I want Jay-Z and Eminem to rap on the same track with me. Im in it for the power.

Whether hes being Troy Barnes on Community, cracking jokes on a stand up tour, or vibing with crowds during a rap set--Donald Glover always has something interesting to say.
I wish I was a book. She could pick me up, flip through my pages. Make sure nobody drew wieners in me.- Donald Glover as Troy Barnes, on NBCs Community

Being an entertainer, thats the only job where you cant enjoy your own work. If I worked at Subway--if I made sandwiches-- and I went home and make myself a sandwich, you aint gon be like Getting a little conceited, arent we? - Donald Glover Stand up, The Laugh Factory Its kind of redundant have a black dude wearing an Obama shirt. Everybodys like, Yeah, we know. You like Obama; we get it. Its just like, I would do the same thing. I realize that its kind of redundant. I dont go up to white people wearing Coldplay shirts. You like Coldplay? For how long? Forever?- Donald Glover Stand up I guess were all friends here/Except for I dont know you, like you was me last year - Childish Gambino, Put it in my video I wanna f-ck these small girls, minus sm/Meaning that I f-ck all girls, that is wordplay -Childish Gambino, Put it in my video

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Compiled by Maya Rhodan RDM Magazine December 2011

Photo Courtesy of Donald Glover/Google

In his own words

Because Life is Never Boring.

Music&Movies

Dear Drake,

Being rich, famous and well-received must be hard because Drakes sophomore release, Take Care, is a far cry from the haughty, braggadocious lyrics weve grown accustomed to from hip-hop stars. Drake has paved the way for a new genre of music. We like to call it sapfor sad rap, because were pretty sure that he could make the birthday song sound like a suicide note. Follow us on an emotional rollercoaster through some of the Canadian rooner (rapping crooner)s saddest and sappiest lyrics from his latest and works prior. Compiled by Maya Rhodan

Drake Lyric Sad-O-Meter

Talk to me please dont have much to believe in... I need you right now are you down to listen to me? -Marvins Room

Photo Courtesy of Aubrey Drake Graham/Take Care Cover Art

Who Hurt You?

Cant deny that I want you, but I know that I have to cuz you dont say you love me to your friends when they ask you. Even though we both know that you do. -Take Care feat. Rihanna Just a little down

RMFS
Real MuthaF-ckn Sad

Feeling lower than the floor They keep telling me dont save you/ If I ignore all that advice/ Then something isnt right/ Then who will I complain to? -The Real Her

You wont feel me til everybody say they love you, but its not love/And your suit is Oxblood and your girl fuckin hates you and your friends faded off shots of/What you ordered to forget about the game you on top of - The Ride RDM Magazine December 2011

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Features

Limitless
A look into the world of congintive-enhancing drugs. Story By Mark Scott for Time Magazine
A 40-year-old high-level e-commerce executive in the Pacific Northwest well call him Bob felt he was losing his edge. Although his colleagues saw him as a star, he feared he wouldnt be able to continue the lightning pace and constant multitasking his job required. So he saw his doctor. Now Bob takes Adderall, a prescription amphetamine ordinarily used to treat attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It gives me clarity of thinking and focus, says Bob. He credits the drug with improving both his career and his personal relationships. I am still getting accolades, he says. He was initially wary of taking any substance with a so-called black-box warning, he says, but after nine months of using Adderall under close supervision by his doctor, he has not developed an addiction, required a dose increase or had any other adverse effects. Welcome to the brave new world of cognitive enhancement, a term that typically refers to the use of attention- or memory-boosting prescription drugs, such as Adderall, Ritalin and modafinil (Provigil), along with other performance-raising medications, to improve productivity.

Because Life is Never Boring.

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RDM Magazine

December 2011

Because Life is Never Boring.

College kids have been doing it for years. About 7% of U.S. university students report having taken stimulants nonmedically at least once, according to a 2005 study of nearly 11,000 students. On some campuses primarily private, lite schools a full quarter of students admit to nonmedical drug use in the past year, mainly in an attempt to improve grades. Smart drugs are used widely off-campus as well: fighter pilots take stimulants to enhance alertness and cognition on critical missions; in the civilian world, executives take beta-blockers to calm nerves, while some time-pressed writers use wakefulness drugs, like modafinil, to meet deadlines. Its become commonplace enough that a group of seven leading bioethicists and neuroscientists published an editorial in the science journal Nature last month advocating the use of performance-boosting drugs. Cognitive enhancement has much to offer individuals and society, the authors wrote, and a proper societal response will involve making enhancements available while managing their risks. Indeed, it would be hard to argue against promoting the use of an intelligence enhancer if it were risk-free and available to everyone. Imagine a legion of cancer researchers on smart drugs, racing toward a cure. Or how about a better class of Wall Street executives, blessed with improved thinking and wiser judgment? Considering the torrent of negative public responses to the Nature editorial, however, many Americans appear to regard enhancement as cheating, unnatural or a rationalization of drug abuse. But ask these bioethicists, and theyll say its not cheating at all as long as everyone has fair and free access. One problem, of course, is that access is neither fair nor free. Businessmen like Bob get stimulant prescriptions from their doctors. (Whether those prescriptions are legal is another matter; state laws determine the nature of a legitimate medical purpose for controlled drugs and could choose to interpret cognitive enhancement as medical.) Students usually get stimulants from friends or family who have legitimate prescriptions, which is illegal. In any case, one cant access the drugs without some amount of expendable cash, which raises the concern that they are available only to the wealthy. Another worry is that societal acceptance will turn into coercion, particularly in a cutthroat, winner-take-all environment. Jessie Klein, an assistant professor of sociology at Adelphi University, says she believes students give in to the pressure to take drugs just to keep up. It makes

Features

Photo Courtesy of UWire

more sense to me to transform this pernicious culture rather than discuss whether students should be able to legally take drugs to compete, she says, adding that when minority students take drugs, people call for get-tough policies and crackdowns, but when wealthy, white Ivy Leaguers do it, the discussion shifts to reducing the legal consequences. As for the health risks, researchers are only beginning to discover both the possible benefits and the real hazards of prescription stimulants. The effects of chronic, high doses of amphetamine are toxic; it can cause psychosis, depression and cognitive deficits, which are sometimes irreversible. Thats why the street drug methamphetamine rightly has a terrible reputation. But lasting problems dont usually emerge from the therapeutic use of prescription stimulants while the drugs do carry a risk of increased blood pressure, which raises the chance of heart attack and stroke, close medical monitoring reduces that risk. Although recreational stimulant use can be addictive about 10% to 20% of people who use amphetamines to get high (particularly if they snort, smoke or inject) will continue to use, despite negative consequences addiction rates are much lower when drugs like Ritalin and Adderall are prescribed for ADHD. Its not clear whether the pattern of addiction under medical supervision for enhancement would follow the former or the latter or whether it would even meet the bar for addiction. Medically speaking, without the element of harm, regular drug use or even dependence alone doesnt qualify as addiction. One has to distinguish between all kinds of issues here, says Michael Gazzaniga, director of the Sage Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California at Santa Barbara and an author of the Nature editorial. Habits are not addictions, necessarily. Nonetheless, because addicts tend to rationalize their use and because stimulants can engender overconfidence, using drugs as enhancement can be problematic for the minority of users who may develop a true addiction. If it were possible to call for a moratorium on cognitive enhancement until the risks are better understood, that would obviously be the best thing to do, says Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania and another Nature author, but the genie is already out of the bottle. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/ article/0,8599,1869435,00.html#ixzz1eNfx8Big

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Style

Because Life is Never Boring.

Street Style

New York City

RDM would like to begin by thanking the people of NY for being so damn swaggy. We hit the streets of NYC and (naturally) ran into some of the best-dressed people in America, you make our jobs easy, friends. How do the people of New York do it? The only problem is theyre consistently making the rest of us look homeless or washed-up...thanks again?

Photos by The Sartorialist

Name: Hudson K. Hometown: Boston, Mass. How do describe your style?

Street nerd...or well-versed derelict

Name: Nia R. Hometown: Manhattan, NY Whats your favorite article of clothing?

My teal skirt, I can make it work with pretty much everything.

Name: Marcus P. Hometown: Brooklyn, NY What are you looking forward to in the winter?
Winter being over so Im not forced to wear a coat over all my clothes and people can see how fly I am.

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Picturing Fashions Past:

Fashion Histories of American
Story by Lisa Wong Macabasco for Hyphen.com
Growing up in 1980s Southern California, Minh-Ha Pham remembers accompanying her mother as she shopped. But instead of returning with arms full of shopping bags, her mother brought back a head filled with inspiration. We were poor so we didnt buy anything, but shed spend hours studying clothes, Pham says. Then shed go home and make it. Talk about the inspiration for Of Another Fashion. I was reading an article in The Washington Post about the Smithsonian receiving the entire Black Fashion Museums collection. I had never heard of the Black Fashion Museum, and while looking into it I also learned about Harlem Institute of Fashion. These are huge institutions, and it got me wondering, why dont we know about these things? What other fashion histories do we not know about? We all know when couture was invented. We know about European fashion, and how it became American fashion. But what about the fashion histories of Asian American women who have been here for so long? Latinas? Native women who have been here even before there was a United State? When I was in New York I went to a lot of fashion exhibitions, many of which were about fashion and nationalism: American Fashion, the American Woman, things like that. None of them really focused on the kinds of fashion that I was interested in. They would focus on couture fashion or designer fashion. Women of color historically didnt have access to those luxury fashions. It inherently excluded them, or it focused on eveningwear but not the everyday clothes. These national fashion exhibitions didnt include women of color implicity, though not overtly. What is your ultimate goal with Of Another Fashion?

Because Life is Never Boring.

Style

Minh-Ha Phams mom in Vietnam in 1966 wearing an outfit from Sears.

The first goal is my own intellectual curiosity: what are these other histories we dont know about? What does it mean when we imagine a Latina women in the 50s wearing a poodle skirt? Thats an image we never see but it must have existed. The second is, what would it mean thinking about, for example, my mom in the 60s in cigarette pants, dressed just like Mary Tyler Moore? How does that change what we imagine the fashionable body is? In general when we think about the fashionable body, its an implicitly white, thin body. This has implications not just for rethinking fashion history but rethinking American history and the role of American women, American popular culture and history. The other one is to get community involvement. Its really important that people actually submit photographs and articles of clothing because there is no museum I can go

to, no archive, nothing. This is going to require people digging through their closets, attics, basements, and trusting me enough to send me the stuff. Clothes and photographs are not considered important enough to save, so they dont know where they put that coat that they made, and its gone. Either it wasnt saved or its so precious that no ones willing to let it out of their hands. These are challenges for this project. For a lot of women of color, they didnt buy Chanel or Gucci. They bought secondhand or they home made their clothes or they altered budget label clothes bought at Woolworths. Fashion is about the original design. Well that doesnt really exist here. They either werent the first owners, or theyve altered it, or given it away. These histories are very ephemeral. Id like the blog to not shy away from these challenges but deal with them. If the histories are lost and ephemeral and fragile,

I want it to be reflected. It underscores the consequences of making these histories insignificant, the consequences of curatorial and critical neglect of these histories.

On ofanotherfashion.tumblr.com, readers submit photos of looks from fashions-past. Check out some of the pics below.

Photos Anonymous

Women getting arrested.

Sexy ladies from Miss Chinatown pageant.

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Courtesy Minh-Ha T. Pham.

Style

Ways To Wear Grandpa Sweaters

Channel your inner Heathcliff Huxtable and Mr. Rogers for winter wardrobe inspirations inspiration.
Kn able its

Because Life is Never Boring.

For a less all-out look, try belting a baggy sweater and wearing it with your favorite pair of skinny jeans or jeggings. Or if the top is long enough, wear it with leggings. You could also model two of this seasons trends by pairing a neutral-colored chunky sweater with a pair of brightly colored skinny jeans.
C

Check out more looks on RDM.com

Tired of the same styles?

Spice Things Up!

Unique Prints and Patters are a great way to jazz up the standard sweater-boots-jeans winter wardrobe combo. Check out some of these styles below.

Theyre always in style.

If you want unique prints like these, check out your local Thrift Store or Consignment Shop. Theyre chuck full of hidden sweater treasures. If you want to save a little cash (and time) sift through your grandfathers old clothes, hell definitely have something great to offer and probably a story to go along with it.

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December 2011

Thats Random

Because Life is Never Boring.

A Golden Smoking Barrel

(Getty Images / Philippe Desmazes)

Ask and They will Tell

(Getty Images / STAN HONDA)

Legalized Love

(Getty Images / Sandy Huffaker)

Phyllis Siegel, 76, left, and Connie Kopelov, 84, both of New York, embrace after becoming the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhatta n City Clerks office.

A Libyan rebel is pictured with Gadhafis golden gun. The dictator was murdered in late October of this year after months of death and destruction in the African country.

US gay service members march in a gay pride parade for the first time ever.

Pepper-Spray Facial

(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

As the year comes to a close, we have compiled photos of events that signified change in the first year of the second decade of the new millenium. This has been an interesting year for America from the Occupy movement to legalized marriages, and things are just getting started.

Christians protect Muslims during prayer in Cairo, Egypt. Protests erupted in the beginning of this year at the start of Arab Spring, during which a string of uprisings occured in the Middle East.

A Breathtaking Rescue

A protester gets sprayed in the face with pepper spray at an Occupy Portland protest. Occupy movements have been popping up all across the U.S. since protesters took over Zuccotti Park this September.

A distressed bride attempts suicide in China after her fiance abruptly called off their marriage. Still in her wedding gown, she tried to kill herself by jumping out of a window of a seventh floor building. Right as she jumped, a man managed to catch and save her.

(Reuters / CHINA DAILY)

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Source: @NevineZaki

Moments of Change in 2011

Peace Among Friends

Because Life is Never Boring.

RDM Magazine

December 2011