The Gumball 3000 is an annual 3000 mile (5000 km) international rally which takes place on public roads and weaves around the world. Straight off of Gumball 3000 2008, our homey Faisal of Kuwait opens the first car-tuning shop in the Midddle East. Be on the lookout for the Middle East chapter of Frank in ‘09!

Snoop has been taking on Hollywood for a while, credited in such movies as Training day, Half Baked, Soul Plane, Bones and more. Now he’s set to take on Bollywood, by rapping in the theme song to “Singh is Kinng,” the Bollywood film that opens Friday. Quite a jump for Snoop’s career.

Check out this article for more info

New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin has unveiled a new jet pack at the annual EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, WI. What makes Martin’s design revolutionary, is that it can fly for as long as 30 minutes at a time. Up until now, jet packs have only been able to stay aloft for a few minutes at a time. Martin’s design has two rotors encased in ducts, making for a more efficient design. The inventor has found investors, and hopes to bring the product to the marketplace shortly, with an estimated price tag of $100,000.

You can click here to check out the NY Times full account (including video) of flying with the jetpack.

Cuz you’re still fiending for stories of aviation hijinx after the Jet Set Chapter of Frank151 dropped months ago, Frank commemorates the 70th anniversary of Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan’s flight across the Atlantic and into the hearts of wingnuts who thought Charles Lindbergh was a punk. Corrigan took off from Brooklyn, NY and wound up in Dublin, Ireland after over 28 hours in the air, despite having submitted a flight plan that named California as his destination.

When the Bureau of Air Commerce came-a knockin’ for an explanation, the seasoned pilot blamed a faulty compass and claimed he hadn’t noticed how off-course he was until 26 hours into the journey. The Irish prime minister welcomed him in the emerald capitol and New Yorkers threw a ticker-tape parade upon his return that outdid Lindbergh’s — all for shoveling so much bullshit onto The Man and getting away with it. What’s more, Corrigan pulled it off in a gangsta ride:

The thing is, Sunshine really was a crate. It was patched up and lashed together and, worse . . . had developed a gas leak that Corrigan decided he didn’t have time to repair. Gasoline actually leaked into the cockpit while the plane was over the Atlantic. Corrigan solved that problem by using a screwdriver to punch a hole in the cockpit floor.

Props to “Wrong Way” Corrigan for elevating the phrase ‘ghetto rig’ to a whole new level.

(via Wired)

 

“In preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, China and its well crafted police forces launched a series of anti-terror drills at the national level to ensure security for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing.” Click here for the full story …

Don’t ever accuse astronaut Buzz Aldrin of being part of a conspiracy to fake the Apollo Moon landing.

After returning from a work trip in Las Vegas, NV back to New York City, The Boston Blade was carelessly forgotten in a backpack that was carried onto the flight. Surprisingly, the Boston Blade made it through the TSA security line at Las Vegas McCarren International Airport without a hitch. While the line was over an hour long and wound throughout the airport, the x-ray scanners failed to notice that a heavy duty boxcutter (with 2 replacement blades) was indeed inside a backpack and would soon find its way onto a commercial flight flying across the friendly American skies. Good thing the Boston Blade meant no harm this time and was just trying to make its way back to New York to go back to work, laboriously slicing boxes.

We at Frank151 are usnure of how many box cutters still find their way on airplanes post 9-11, but we sure can say that this pesky Boston Blade always manages to find its way on board no matter how many security checkpoint and screenings are thrown at it. It definetly makes us a little nervous that a box cutter easily boards a flight and hope someone with ill-intentions doesn’t have the same sort of luck. Hopefully the TSA will find a solution to this security gap that doesnt include stripping us of our jet setting leisure, but instead easily stopping threats before they have the chance to do damage.

 

In other news, congratulations to the other Boston Blades, the Boston Celtics, for finally cutting off the Lakers’ heads. They had a great season & a championship to complement. Props to the veterans who finally got their shine.

Also, be on the lookout for the official FDL Boston Blades New Era Cap coming out this summer at your local FRN store.

Anyone who’s serious about going to the best parties in town — whether you live in London, Sydney or Philadelphia — likely knows about Diplo and his Mad Decent label/crew. If you don’t, then you really need to start paying attention to what the rest of your generation’s up to. Frank151 recently had the opportunity to get down with Jasper, co-founder of NY’s own Turntable Lab and, more recently, label manager at Mad Decent.

Jasper was nice enough to lace us with the exclusive streaming audio of Blaqstarr’s new King of Roq mixtape (go check it now, on Radio151) and to share his thoughts on the difference between retail and record label, and what’s going on with Mad Decent’s global-street chic….

FRANK151: So, you founded Turntable Lab a while back, but now you moved over to managing Mad Decent. What inspired that shift?

JASPER: I’d been doing Turntable Lab for awhile. I started directly out of college, and by the time I left, I’d been doing it for eight-plus years. I mean, it’s retail. That’s basically what it boils down to. We tried to make it fun, but the grand majority of our day is retail — budgeting, doing inventory, ordering…. I guess I just got kind of tired of it after awhile. So I’m just trying to take a break from that. I’m still co-owner of the company, but I’m not really working there anymore. The opportunity came to do Mad Decent, and that seemed like an interesting thing to do, so I thought I’d just jump into it.

FRANK151: How is the Mad Decent experience different from Turntable Lab for you? How are you doing things differently?

JASPER: I mean, it’s two completely different things. Doing this is a much more fluid job for me. As Turntable Lab, you’re pretty locked down. You’re in the office, just kind of banging it out … [Mad Decent] is a much more … modern job. I can work from anywhere. But it’s one of those things, where you’re like, “when does work end and private life begin?” It’s got its ups and downs — sometimes the girlfriend doesn’t believe me when I’m like, “No, really, I have to go out!” You know?

But I’m definitely excited to be working with Mad Decent. I’m excited for all the things we can do together. All the things we are doing, all the things we will do.

FRANK151: Is there something you particularly enjoy about being there at the start of something new?

JASPER: I really enjoy being in the beginning of a company. That’s the thing I most enjoy, actually… Building stuff up. It’s an appealing thing, to be in on the beginning and working on — not that Mad Decent wasn’t already established, but in the next year — a legitimate record label, you know? Working with [Diplo], working with the artists, organizing the release schedule, all that. The other cool thing about Mad Decent, like what Turntable Lab was, is that it’s kind of whatever we want to make it. We can just kind of do whatever we want , sell whatever we want. It’s undefined as to what a record company can be, so we can do it with more of a lifestyle approach. It’s pretty hard to make money just doing one thing — but with Mad Decent, the style can be anything. We’ll put out a baile funk record, then Baltimore club record. [Ed. Note — you can find a list, in order, of Mad Decent’s upcoming releases at the end of this interview]

(more…)

Devin The Dude and Frank Distro League rep Matt Sonzala (The man behind Houstonsoreal & Austinsurreal) are seen here jet setting on a sea plane over the fjords of Bergen. By the looks of this video, these world travelers are definitely familiar with “Jet Set” - Frank151 Chapter 32

One of our Bay Area Frank Distro League reps, DJ Platurn (Oakland Faders) stopped by the Frank151 office yesterday to tell us about his current documentary “From Oakland to Iceland: A Hip Hop Homecoming” directed by Ragga M. Thordarson. The documentary was recently premiered at Iceland’s leading documentary film festival a week ago and received rave reviews. Check out the trailer and myspace for more info.