I was never much of a Van’s kind of kid, and I haven’t changed my stripes. What I will say is that the footwear brand has changed my perception of what they are in the past two years. If I’m going to get over my complex about the footwear brand for my own style well the Vans Sk8 may just be the beginning. Above is the Camper Pack, inspired collection of hiking and outdoor design, on a cool Hi-top style, and with the top areas all in leather. The detail, and accents really make the kicks pop out. So you honestly gamers can wear these all year round, and be swagged out.

Now listen Van’s like DC is to skateboarding what Nike is to running. It’s their ‘thing’.  So I wonder what’s up with Moc’s Vans? Any other time I’d be turned off, except these leather and canvas combo pack is mean from Vans. The sickalatte black leather upper is comes in different color ways such as grey, navy or black canvas on the lower.  Now the plaid, and flannel lining with brown laces are uh, uh interesting. Honestly they are saved with a marriage to the sole bottom. For $65 bucks though you can’t go wrong. Just head over to Premier  http://www.thepremierstore.com/news_detail.cfm?ID=983 and get your Zapoto Del Barco Moccasin Lace Ups while they last.

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A friend of mine told me some years ago that approach is 98% of what makes a person, entity, place, or thing successful in life. As I have pondered his statement since that day, it changed my outlook not only on myself, but everything I pay attention, am told, or have an interest in. A working example of my perspective I believe is exemplified in Marvels approach to creating movie’s around their storied comic book publishing characters. Under Avi Arad, and the Toy Biz leadership Marvel was able to go from a bankrupt also ran publishing house into a behemoth. Creating enough value that they are now part of the Disney family. The aggressive leadership that Avi approached Marvel’s properties in film gave way to success in movies which redefined Marvels direction as a publishing company.Thus changing the super hero movie landscape in a profound way that now is a standard. Starting with smart licensing, and some hit/miss movies. The success of flagship characters such as Spider Man, along with niche “B” “C” level characters like Iron Man, and Blade. The perception of what a comic movie franchise is, and can be has been changed. You enter in the second phase, and Marvel with their synergy in creating Avengers with a long term vision. They have effectively brought episodic movie making to a new generation of movie, and home entertainment.

Before I go on, let me also give a huge credit to DC and Batman. No comic book to movie character has done more for legitimizing the niche then Batman. Unfortunately for DC they can’t get it right past him. Which is baffling. When you look at how with out being hooky, and moderate success in some cases. Marvel made sure that with the characters that make up the Avengers in each individual standalone movie there were seeds, and nuggets of synergy that let you know what they wanted to do. Marvel’s commitment to the HULK after two decent movies is a testament to their fundamental belief that their characters matter not just money. In watching the latest Avengers trailer the HULK will be the hero that we have not seen in his films. It’s where I believe he will become a fan favorite. We can talk about the Thor, and Iron Man movies as the true catalyst for giving credence that Avengers movie even made sense to do. Both were extremely good movies that gave each character individual legs to stand on. They were big enough in their own way to allow for other characters to come out of their respective universes to make the Avengers movie feel epic, and balanced. By doing this Marvel has systematically changed how super hero movies should be made. If successful this is the blueprint. With Spider Man on the way by Sony later this summer. Marvel & Disney are also not looking to cannibalize their own characters for the sake of ego, and money. To push this fact forward Marvel now has a new April 26, 2012 release date for the Avengers. Perhaps there are various reasons for pushing the date up from it’s May release. I’d wager the overwhelming anticipation, and various ways to gain revenue from this movie event is strategic. Why not bolster the entire summer movie season by having all the Super Hero movies do well. By Spider Man winning, and even Batman their DC rival character is good business, and healthy for the movie industry. Looking at Marvels approach it’s safe to say that the new paradigm shift is a platform that movie super hero movies can build on for the future.

Original Article