Elli Grace is a fashion brand that was launched in February of 2009 by designer duo Sojung “Sue” Yang and Lamarr Nanton. Earlier this month, I spoke with Lamarr, who has 19 years of experience in apparel design and development with companies like Giorgio Armani and JC Penney, at the first Elli Grace retail location in Plano, TX.

See the three videos below to learn more about Elli Grace, Lamarr’s personal story, and some of the geeky stuff they’re doing to differentiate themselves in the fashion world (including blogging and tweeting):

Lamarr shows how to use a mobile device to charge customers from virtually anywhere that has a cell signal or Wi-Fi, after the jump..

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Jonathan Crowley is the co-founder of Black20, a multi-platform digital studio that operates out of Long Island City, Queens. There’s a good chance that you’ve seen or at least heard of one of their viral videos or award-winning web series, which have been viewed by over 60 million people. A recent partnership with 15 Gigs means their entertaining content is going to reach even more people. Prior to co-founding Black20 in 2007, J. Crowley was a part of NBC Digital Studios developing comedy programming for the network’s digital initiatives. You can check out more of their programming at Hulu and Black20.com.

1. Black20 recently partnered with Fox TV Studios’ 15 Gigs to produce Web-based pilots like “Heart Felt.” What kind of relationship do you have with FTVS and how has it been working with them?

We partnered up with FTVS to create innovative and cheap-to-produce content for the web, and always with an eye towards its extension to other platforms like television.  We view it as both an opportunity to develop stories and formats that can really speak to a Web-video-consuming audience and also as a chance to play around with a much more cost-efficient development model.

“Heart Felt” is merely one example of a digital pilot we produced to gauge our audience’s appetite.  In this case we wanted to test whether people wanted to watch a comedy about relationships between people and puppets. The viewership and feedback were very strong, so we now look at how to shape this series for both online and television platforms.

2. Black20 seems to focus on the content instead of spending money on marketing. What are some of things you need to do when creating content that is meant to be spread by the online masses?

We’ve never paid a single cent for marketing or promotion. We’ve relied on our content to virally spread itself. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. It’s tricky predicting what videos will go viral, but we’ve realized content focused on nostalgia or topical events tend to spread much faster. Oh yeah, or anything related to Star Wars. (more…)

In this 9th edition of the now widely loved and truly epic saga known as Random Tuesdays with Summer Rose, I (Summer Rose) ponder… education.

More specifically, I think about the unique challenges + groolness of “going back to school.” And yes, I do realize school started weeks ago. I’ve been busy and Tuesdays only happen 4 or 5 times a month

Keep tuning in for more Tuesday randomness!

In this 8th edition of Random Tuesdays with Summer Rose, I go to one of the coolest cities on Earth. Or at least just one of the coolest cities that I can drive to.  All I can say to you is that it is weird, and that weird is good and that weird must be kept weird. So there.

Oh, by the way, if you like the video (or don’t), please vote for the “Here Come All the Latino Bloggers” panel that’s up for consideration at SXSW Interactive 2010. The internets depend on your vote!

Don’t forget to check in next Tuesday because I might have a back-to-school special. Maybe.

These are Diegoliath’s Top 5 Movies of 2009. The “Creative In5piration” series is a showcase some of the things that can brighten your day and re-ignite your creative thinking. In this case, it’s all movies. Leave us a comment. Share your top 5 if you feel like it. 

1. District 9
If you haven’t seen this please shut your computer down right now and head to the theaters because this is probably one of the best movies coming out this year, and probably one of the best movies you’ll see in a long time.  It’s been up in the Twitter trending topics since its release a week and a half ago, if that means anything.  What makes it even better is that it’s the first full-length film by new-comer director Neil Blomkamp (who was supposed to direct the Halo movie). 

2. Where the Wild Things Are
Narnia and Domo Kun come together in what looks to be, like, the cutest film ever by Spike Jonze.

3. Inglorious Basterds
A war film by Quentin Tarantino. Enough said.

4. Zombie Land
Looks amazing and funny. I can’t wait to see Woody Harrelson come back from the dead, to fight the undead…

5. Paper Heart
Michael Cera plays the same character in every single movie he’s ever made. Paper Heart is no different.

Welcome to the 7th edition of Random Tuesdays with Summer Rose. I’ve been wanting to do something around the idea of food as more than just something we eat. So I checked out an awesome local Japanese restaurant in Dallas, TX and concluded that yes, food is art.

Don’t forget to check in again every Tuesday for more fantabulous randomness.

And please don’t be shy! Leave a comment below with your thoughts. I know you have some.