Jeremy Castro

It seems many folks are running into (or have ran into) a problem with the flash media uploader in Wordpress 2.7.1 and 2.9.1.

Here is a basic fix for the HTTP Error message you may be getting when trying to upload images via the flash upload.

1. Edit your .htaccess file, which is located in the ROOT of your Wordpress installation.  Not your theme, not your main http root.

Add the following lines, save and reupload.
#BEGIN Image Upload HTTP Error Fix
<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>
<IfModule security_module>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>
<IfModule security2_module>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>
#END Image Upload HTTP Error Fix

2. It might help for you to delete the remote .htaccess file before trying upload the new one.
3. Make sure you keep a backup of the original just in case.

With all this talk about new cell phones coming out trying to compete with this or that, convergence between the computer and the handheld, data plans and 2-year contracts – I decided to go retro.

I saw this ad in Wired today and figured for $1499, this is a steal so I can make of take calls wherever I go.  This technology is gonna change the world, I’m telling you.

So, I figure I will make this announcement officially – on a whim – through the internet.   I will be moving back to California (although Vancouver is an option) April 14th.  Plus or minus a day or two.

Jay, Kathy, my Dad and I will be driving the BMW 740IL (comfortable x-country car!!!) across the US exactly a year from when Jay & I set East to call Philly home.  We have yet to decide a route or even a plan, but seeing that we have 29 days before we leave, there is still time to figure it all out.

We want to take a couple weeks to traverse the country and flank our various friends/family from current and past lives.  In the spirit of www.weareonamission.com – we will set out on an adventure in change.  As quoted by Jeremy Castro circa 2001, “Life has brought some very unexpected changes. Either you embrace the change or you fight it, either way, it will change. So, with little thought, I bought my plane ticket and my EuroRail pass. Time to scratch the itch called my wild hair and do a little self discovering”

Since I brought the topic of WeAreOnAMission.com up, I might as well provide some interesting (or not) commentary.

Life appears to be filled with what we think are rapid changes.  However, these rapid changes are actually the accumulation of chains of events.  Take 2001 whien Nick, Chad and I dropped life as we knew it and left for Europe.  To make a lifelong story overly simplistic and short – it appears the trip started one drunken night at the Brass Monkey in LA’s Koreatown when I proclaimed “Let’s drop our lives and go to Europe”.    However, that life changing trip actually started years and years before that night.  I don’t know whether we can say it was when Nick left to study abroad in Itally in 1998 or when Chad went skiing in Big Bear sometime in 2000 or when I flipped a coin to go to Oxy in 1995.  Or, hell, we can even trace it back to a decision our parents made at some point in their lives.

The point I’m trying to make is that we set ourselves up for what has become of our lives whether we know it or not.  The interesting thing about that fateful trip in 2001 – Nick and Chad never came back from Europe.  Each is happily married to beautiful Spanish women living and working in their adopted home of Spain.  And for me, my mission continues just as it began – as part of a series of seemingly inconsequential events.  The mission never really begins or ends!

One of my favorite quotes…”the only thing significant about that night was the morning it proceeded.”

If you have any suggestions or would like to get put on our itinerary across the US next month – please hit me up.  We figure we will hit up anyone and everyone that we know.   Camera, stomachs and curiosity in tow.

One of the nice things about living and working in Philly is the convienence of a walking city.   Over the years I’ve lived in Oakland, Los Angeles, Vancouver – all on the west coast.   While at Occidental College my freshman year, some of us took a “Culture & Technology” course that transitioned into a course titled “Autotopia:  The Automobile and Los Angeles”.  This course reinforced the connection between cars and the sprawling cities on the west compared to the pre-automobile cities of the east.

Last April (21st on my 31st birthday to be exact), Jay and I made the move from LA to Philly and for the first time in my life I wasn’t connected to my car.  We moved into Northern Liberties and worked in Northern Liberties and drank in Northern Liberties and ate in Northern Liberties and anywhere else we went it was quick cab ride or a light walk.

Over the course of the 11 months we’ve been in Philly, I’ve driven less than any of the previous 11 months since I was 16.  The freedom of car keys is an amazing feeling but the freedom of not actually needing your car makes you go hmmmmmm.   Especially after spending 9 years (29% of my life) living in Los Angeles, this freedom led me to bring my camera on my walks…

This is one of the coolest and scariest things at the same time.  The folks over at Wallstats.com came up with this visually concise representation of the US 2009 Budget aka Death and Taxes 2009.  For them to fit all this information into such a confined space is absolutely amazing.

Then to top it off, it’s embedded into a cool flash application that lets you zoom in and look at all the gory details.

Some scary figures from Bush’s proposed budget…

• Department of Defense… $515.4B (7% increase aka $36 BILLION)
• Global War on Terror… $189.3B (
• Department of Homeland Security… $37.6B budget (8% increase)
• Department of Defense… $15.9B (6% increase)
• Department of Justice Counterterrorism… $2.7B (9% increase)
• Foreign Military Financing… $4.8B (8% increase)
• Office of Violence Against Women… $0.280B (-27% increase)
• Department of Education… $59.2B budget (0% increase)

We are so worried about people bombing, raping, pillaging and terrorizing our country while simaltaneously forgetting that it’s probably worse to have a safe and sound country full of uneducated idiots that beat women up.

Click the “Full Screen Mode” button in the top right corner to get the full effect.  Use the Zoom feature to dig into the info.

It has been a whirlwind crazy last 10 days since the WHOLE Undrcrwn crew took off from around the US to hit our semi-annual tradeshow…Magic.

The crew consisted of…

Dustin, Set Free, Jay, Pete, Jeff, Matt (video), Kelly (kellyturso.com), Mos Def, Asher Roth, Beanie Sigel, DJ Don Cannon, Mark (609 Studios), Damani (Dubb Union), Mistah F.A.B. (the bay) & Dirty Joe.

To make things even crazier, we had part of the gang coming straight from Denver at Rock The Bells and the Democratic National Convention.  Don’t forget to check out the Spike Lee video…crazy!

Here are some videos of what went down that week…

Sometimes it’s important to take a step back from the life you live through you’re own eyes because it can become quite hard to truly appreciate what you see.  The last several years have been a very trying and rewarding time for me both personally and professionally.

As I sit here watching Barak Obama deliver his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, I cannot help but look at him and see myself in some ways.  Within him, I see not only myself but I see at least 100 other people that I know and love.  People that I’ve grown up with back in Alameda, or people that I met from around the world while at Occidental College in Los Angeles, people that I met as a teacher at Alameda High School, people that I met in Vancouver, BC while attending UBC or people that I met while traveling the world as a heart broken broke backpacker or the people that I met while starting and building an international clothing brand.

Barak Obama represents people.  Real people, ordinary people, non-ordinary people, so fucking many people.

Somehow through various twists of fate, luck and chance one of the most memorable moments of my life came while watching a video on YouTube while being hung over because I was out with Mos Def until 8AM.  Watch this video below.

At our Undrcrwn party on Tuesday in Las Vegas we heard word that Spike Lee was seen on TV wearing our Obama O-Face Tshirt.  I was def excited to hear about it because Spike Lee is the shit and I’d be lying if I didn’t think it would help us sell tshirts.

But, after watching this interview on YouTube I realized how big of a moment that was for not just me, Undrcrwn or our tshirt.  Spike Lee came out and said some things that I think really put the stamp on the importance of this election.  And for Spike to choose our tshirt while on the floor of the convention is not-coincidentally symbolic.

Spike Lee is an American Filmmaker, social activist and more importantly a representitive of a generation that will be leading our country and world for the next 30 years.  He says in this interview that he is only a handful of generations removed from slavery.  In roughly 5 generations our country, our leaders, our culture enabled a segmenation of people to advance from slavery to a presidential nomication for President.  This is a moment that has been building for a long time and is a symbol of what we need to do and continue to do in this country of ours and this world we live in.  Spike’s interview embodied this fight we must continue to embrace.

And how does Undrcrwn fit in?  Obama fucking plays and loves basketball.  How untraditional is that?  Basketball is an American sport that is now making strides on an international scale.  It is a sport that is dominated by urban black males.  It is a sport that is as hip-hop as hip-hop itself.  It is a sport that embodies more than just sport right now.  It embodies a changing world through the people that play it.

Obama plays it.  Spike loves it.  And we need to get every person that plays basketball to go out and vote to make Obama’s run to the presidental basket a reality.

So, yesterday, I had to take a step back to really appreciate what I’m doing right now because we are all living in an important time in world history.

Every year in February and August, the fashion industry does a mad scramble for the marathon we call “selling seasons”.  Everyone from your urban mainstays like Ecko, Sean John to your Indian or Korean bootleggers sets up shop at the Las Vegas Convention Center for several days of fashion peddling to buyers and media across the world.

Undrcrwn is def no different – outside of the fact we are not paid like Ecko and Sean John or come-up artists like the notorious bootleggers and trend jackers.

This show marks the 7th installment of Magic for Undrcrwn and will by far be our biggest yet.  For the first time, we might actually have full sample sets from our entire upcoming collections (showing Spring09 and Holiday08.  With the whole industry trying to make crazy deadlines, every apparel/footwear factory in the world is bogged down developing samples and it’s no easy task.  We also just brought on a team of seasoned sales vets to help make sure what happens in Vegas ends up in our bank accounts!!!
Not sure who actually reads this site…but if you do and are in Las Vegas this week (August 25-27) come check us out.  We’re also throwing a sick 3 part-party at the Palms Hardwood Suite – you know – the one with the basketball court inside.  Yeah, that one.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26th

Part 1:  EA vs Undrcrwn:  First Look @ NBA Live ‘09.  This will be one of the first public showings of the new game from Electronic Arts which releases October 6th around the world.  6PM – 9PM.  Open Bar

Part II:  Mos Def vs Undrcrwn: We are going to unveil our Mos Def Collection to buyers and media.  It’s set to drop February 2009.  There will be a live presentation of the line by Mos Def followed by a performance.  10PM-12AM.  Open Bar.

Part III:  The Undrcrwn Experience: This is the lounge after party to let people get fucked up, eat some food (Chicken & Waffles) and some good company.  Food, booze and music.  DJ Don Cannon, Beanie Segil, Asher Roth will perform.