Naturally Unnatural

I got an e-mail from my good friends over at Wootini giving me a heads-up on their exhibit schedule for the next few months. Their first exhibit for the new year is titled Unnatural History and will feature works by Bloo Empire and Tony Shiau a.k.a. "Nakanari" (curator of the Funny Club Show).Bloo Empire is a close-to-hometown artist, hailing from Charlotte, North Cackalacka, our largest city. Not my personal favorite city, but I guess I have had some bad experiences there that deter my return. Nakanari originally hails from Taiwan, but has set up shop in Florida. The show will feature paintings, custom 3D pieces and a special Nakanari exclusive only available on opening night. The opening will be Friday, February 10^th from 7 pm until they kick everybody out. Uzi and TJ of "Family" will be providing the beats, as usual. You can get info about the rest of the upcoming shows on Wootini's News page.

Get Alife Online

New Alife online store The Upset now up. Get it now while it's hot. This is the definition of Limited Ed. Some pieces have already sold out.[via Freshness]

New Kid In Town

There's a new urban vinyl toy store in town ('town' in this case, being the internet), Fugitive Toys, set to stir up the pot a little. They sent me an e-mail with their press release letting me know about their new urban vinyl community and toy store. Their website is meant to be a community for collectors to come together to communicate. Visitors can create their own groups, befriend others, suggest toys, message each other, and much more.

“By allowing the collectors to have their own individual groups, we’ve allowed them to expand on and specialize in topics not achievable on your average forum,” says owner Josh Pigford. “We wanted to give toy collectors a chance to really bring in non-collectors and let them experience the community that’s involved with this.”

Sounds cool to me. The store has a large selection of vinyl toys ranging from the latest Dunnys to older, classic In-Crowd figures. Just one more place on the internet to get your urban vinyl fix on.

It Hurts

A couple of things I forgot yesterday while waiting for Blogger's maintenance to end so I could post. First off, the new issue of Music Hurts, their third, has gone live. It includes a free 'digital supplement'; As Told by Others, "an astonishingly perfect homage to Johnny Cash, realised through film, sound, images, graphic fiction, and the odd bit of inspirational typing." Featuring visionaries as diverse as JT LeRoy, Futureheads, Cut Copy, Hedi Slimane, Shepard Fairey, Aisle 16, Sylvie Simmons, Rob Hann and Woof Wan-Bau. They grapple with video, audio, illustration, images and words, offering wonderful contemporary interpretations on the influence and inspiration provided by the Man In Black. This issue also includes fine and far-reaching coverage of wedding DJs, Dennis Wilson, the law, lounge lizards and Belgium, alongside great art, beautiful images and our brilliant partnership with iTunes to bring you tracks that inspired the creation of the issue; including Peaches, Frank Sinatra, the Pixies, Devendra Barnhart, James Taylor, Chic, Spiller, British Sea Power, David Toop, and Derek & Clive.

Next, in honor of Valentine's Day (usually my least favorite holiday because I only get gifts from my mother, but this year I have a girlfriend which should make it a whole lot better), Threadless is having a contest for the lonely losers out there to win a date with Threadless. According to Threadless, "Boys and girls are both welcome to submit - beggars can't be choosers! To be eligible for the contest, you must be at least 21 years of age and reside in the continental United States. There is, of course, no purchase to enter, although you must be a member of the Threadless community to enter." Just for submitting a love letter to Threadless (if you are one of the two lucky Grand Prize winners chosen), you will receive round trip tickets for two to see the Threadless offices, eat dinner with the Threadless crew at Ballo, party in the VIP suite at Crobar, spend the night at the W Hotel, and get $250 in spending cash to enjoy in downtown Chicago. Twenty First Prizes of a $20 Threadless.com gift certificate will also be chosen. The contest ends at 11:59 pm Central Time on February 3^rd. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

That's all for now, but I will be back later to write about the new Kidrobot 11 Valentine's Day figure.

What The F#@k!

Damn! Blogger has been down most of the day today and I have so many good things to share with you fine people. I'm glad they have finally finished whatever maintenance they needed to do that took from yesterday at 4:00pm PST until just a few minutes ago. They said it would only take half an hour, but it has taken nearly 24. Just like that show with Kiefer Sutherland. Whose brother Rogue went to Princeton with my brother Seth. Who was presented the award for Best Narrative Short at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival by Kyra Sedgewick. Who is married to... Kevin Bacon.

Anyway, enough of that for now. The first thing I gotta' share is the Cut & Paste 2: Live Art Jam (not Electric Boogaloo, but similar) featuring artists Tristan Eaton, Travis Millard, David Ellis, Kenji Hirata, tattooist Troy Denning, and DJ's Rich Medina and Spinna at the Supper Club in NYC (240 W 47th St. between Broadway & 8th Ave.) on Saturday, February 4^th at 11pm. $20 general admission / $15 with RSVP. Must be 21 or older. Limited complimentary beer provided by Budweiser (yum?)! Personally, I have always enjoyed painting in front of a live audience, and DJ's would make it even better, so I think this will be quite a fun event.

Next up, I received an e-mail from Liz Nord today, letting me know that her documentary Jericho's Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land is now available on DVD for sale exclusively at www.jerichosecho.com. Its worldwide retail release in stores won't be until August of this year, so until then this is the only place to get it. The DVD features Liz's behind-the-scenes of the movie's screening in Israel last year. I haven't seen it yet, and can't afford to buy any DVD's at the moment, but as soon as it comes to my local Visart Video I will be sure to rent and enjoy it.


Lastly, Kidrobot announced the release of their new Acid Head Dunny by Tim Biskup which will happen today, January 26^th! I sure do love acid. Anybody got any? Anyway, the Acid Head Dunny will be a Kidrobot LA and Rotofugi exclusive. The release of this Dunny coincides with Tim Biskup's art opening at the Kidrobot LA store. The rest of the LA Dunny Series will be released on February 2^nd with a party at Gallery 1998 in LA that will feature original canvases, customs, and appearances by Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Shepard Fairey, Joe Ledbetter, Buff Monster, Thomas Han, Nic Cowan, and more.

Well, that's all for now. I'm pretty sure I missed some stuff, but this whole Blogger maintenance thing has really thrown me for a loop. Send me an e-mail if I missed anything.

So Much Stuff

So little time. I got a lot of work today, so I'm going to try to make this quick. First, I got an e-mail from Assault! Design today letting me know that they have a couple of new Limited Ed. button badges in stock. Badges! Badges! We don't need no stinkin' badges! Unless of course they are as cool as these two. First off is the Limited Ed. Assault Soldier button badge [pictured above, left], featuring a play on the Jordan logo using a soldier with a helmet and a gun instead of Michael Jordan with a basketball. Are they trying to tell us something about the nature of society, or is it just for fun? Second is the Limited Ed. "I Rock Deadstock" button badge [pictured above, right]. According to Assault, "If you rock those vintage deadstock kicks, you need to let people know!"

I also received an e-mail from Wootini this morning letting me know that their latest figure release, the Limited Ed. Squire vinyl figure by Jermaine Rogers, will be available for pre-order very soon. It comes in four different flavors: the Regular Squire, limited to 600, the Shadow Squire, limited to 250, the G.I.D. Squire, limited to 50, and the Clear "The Stalker" Squire, limited to 25. Pictures of each of them are below.

Living On Cloud 360

I wrote about this earlier, but I got an e-mail from my cousin Scott reminding me that the new Air Max collection, including the new Air Max 360, was released this weekend with quite a bit of fanfare. I am not a huge fan of the Air Max, like I said before, I prefer more old skool kicks, like these Hemp Nike Dunk Lows available at select Journeys locations, but Solebox in Germany is getting the Air Max Evolution Pack in stock coming up on Thursday, January 26^th and I am quite fond of the new Air Max 360 Evolution [pictured above]. There isn't any information about it on their website, other than a picture, but it appears to be geared for the great outdoors with what looks like a brown, laser-cut leather upper and heavy-duty lugs on the sole for better off-road traction. Of course, you wouldn't want to get these Limited Ed. kicks dirty by dragging them through the mud. Also, if I were going to get a new pair of sneakers from Journeys, I would get these Hemp Rasta Adidas Superstar II's.

A.G.N.S.

Here's a little something that has gotten me all randy this morning. Maybe it will get your blood up as well. Today's Daily Candy is about a new line of panties appropriately titled Sexy Panties and Naughty Knickers, or S.P.A.N.K. for short. If you are anything like me, than you are almost blind and your palms are covered with fur... and you appreciate a nice pair of panties and a good spanking. According to Daily Candy S.P.A.N.K. are, "The brainchild of Pom Lampson (a funky young Brit photog who’s also the cousin of It model Liberty Ross), it’s a line of Parisian-inspired retro briefs, bras, and camis that packs quite a punch." I don't know if "punch" is the appropriate word to use in this situation. People usually frown on black eyes at dinner parties. But spanking is a different story, as long as you don't leave too bad a mark. Remember, psychological abuse is much more effective and only leaves deep, inner scars. Anyway, these sleek silk and elegant lace panties feature modern, wearable shapes with no bulgy bows or ruffles. S.P.A.N.K. also produces simple, well-cut cotton boxers for men, so we don't feel so left out. These sexy underthings are available online at sexypantiesandnaughtyknickers.com. Now, I've got a monkey around here somewhere that needs a good spanking.

Cap-A-Toe

I got an e-mail from my sis, Leia, about CAP USA Sportswear in Harlem. Apparently, according to Daily Candy, CAP USA will paint anything on your kicks... for a price. For $110 for bring-your-owns or $220 for a pair of their Nike Air Force 1's, they will spray paint, reupholster, or emblazon your footwear with colors, dyes, fabrics, textured paints, or photo images of your choice. Or you can choose from their in-house collection. If I could, I would want to get a pair of Wicked Wicked Wilson Pickett memorial Nike Dunk Lows. Just another reason for me to move up to NYC. CAP USA Sportwear is located at 112 West 125th Street, at Lenox Avenue (212-864-1000).

Toys, Toys, Toys

Didn't they get the message? Designer toys are soooo 2003. But they keep producing them, and they are coming in bunches. I guess some people must still be buying them. Time to move onto the next trend, people. Pottery! Anyway, I got an e-mail from My Plastic Heart yesterday afternoon letting me know about several new toys that they have newly in stock. Here are my three favorite sets:

        

First, Toy2R has several new Qees available through MPH. I really like the cute, street-art-inspired, Limited Ed. MÖTUG series Egg Qees. I especially like the Doze Green, Obey, and CES Eggs [pictured above, L to R]. I paid homage to CES in my painting Entering a City: Redux available for purchase at Wootini. He is probably my favorite old skool tagger. And I really like Doze's part in the movie Wild Style. And I always appreciated Shepherd Fairy's phenomenology campaign experiment with the "Andre the Giant has a posse" stickers.

The next new toys that MPH has that I like are Touma's new Limited Ed. Aniballoon vinyl figures produced by Wonderwall. They are so chubby and cute. If I wasn't so manly I would get the one with the pink flocking [pictured above, left] and sleep with it beside me on my pillow. I also really like the panda [pictured above, center], but it is already sold out. I'm sure the others will sell out quickly, as well.

Lastly, MPH has the new Limited Ed. LMAC (a.k.a. Les Minimal Autistic Children) Gehenom Zombies vinyl figures produced by Flying Cat. These removeable-head zombies are ready to bash your brains in, with their articulated arms and club accessory, and then eat them. Luckily, there were only 100, 200, or 300 pieces of each version created, unlike the zombies in George A. Romero's Land of the Dead. My favorites are the Reebok Exclusive, Candy Creature, and of course, Glow Version [pictured above, L to R].

New Kicks At Pick

        

I'm sure all of you sneaker-heads out there already know about the 3 Decades of Cushioning extravaganza from Nike that is going on right now all over the place. The new sneaker packs go on sale starting this Saturday, January 21^st and are available at the Alife Rivington Club, NORT, Niketown, and 255. The packs come in seven different flavors, All Whites, Extraordinary Oranges, Blue Ribbons, Extraordinary Greens, All Blacks, The Originals, and of course, Limited Ed.'s. The Limited Ed.'s are available from the Rivington Club and NORT and are inspired by the toy industry, a common source of inspiration these days, and one that I believe is getting a little stale... or maybe I'm just getting old. Personally, I prefer to seek out my kicks from Pick Your Shoes, my favorite online sneaker retailer. They may not have any of these '3 Decades of Cushioning' kicks in stock (yet), but that doesn't stop them from having some other unique colorways available. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Nike's Air Max sneakers, anyway. I prefer my sneakers like I prefer my hip-hop: old skool. For example, check out the dope Blazer Mid 73 Premiums [above left] that Pick Your Shoes recently acquired. These are throw-backs to the original style of Nike's first basketball shoes, with an updated feel, premium leather and a very interesting, organic pattern. Perfect for the hard-wood or the dance floor. I'm also a big fan of the Nike Dunk Low. Check out the Asian Exclusive Edition [above right] of these retro basketball kicks dressed in imitation basketball material. A must for any b-ball b-boy. Speaking of b-boys, these shoes are only available in boys sizes. Don't forget to check out the rest of the kicks at Pick Your Shoes. They have quite the selection.

Aesthetic Faesthetic

Faesthetic's Fifth Anniversary Issue (their fifth issue, by the way; they come out once a year) is now available. It is 174 pages of original black & white art, photography, graffiti and design. Only 1,000 copies are available, and each copy comes poly-bagged with a Quiet Life "Think Faest" button designed by Andy Mueller and is offset printed on 70lb Luna Matte paper, perfect bound with a spot varnish on the cover. The first 250 copies sold come with 2 signed and numbered postcards made by Karen Ingram. The artists represented in the magazine are, in order of appearance: Sara Hanken, Bwana Spoons, Tim Biskup, Ryan Burghard, Maureen Gubia, Gael Cecchin (YUCK), M-City, Larry Mayorga, Sean Donnola, Pablo Marques, Neuville, Mike Maxwell, eThos, Paul Schiek, EPHKA, Mike Giant & Mario Peralta, Jason Brunson, Lilly Piri, Keith Andrew Shore, Siloette, Mark Sarmel, Guillaumit, Gregory Jacobsen, Gluekit, Dan James, Aaron Paula, Aaron Winters, Dutchpress, lmac, Koadzn, Drout750, Delta, Dave & Debbie Crosland, Thought Ninjas, Steven Harrington, Robert Hardgrave, Fourteen, Anne Michaux, EVIL, MAGMO, Chris Silva, James Paterson, Derrick Hodgson, Joshua Davis, Adam Garcia, Scott Rench, Prate™ Computer Channel, BuffMonster, Ryan Santos, Shepard Fairey, Paul Clark, Joey Harrison, Jackson Hoose, Andreas Karaoulani, Jon Burgerman, Alexandre Braga, Martin Smith, DEVI, Anthony Sheret, Anthony Brennan, Aye Jay & B+, Alexis Mackenzie, Tommy Penton, Verbnine, BSHIT, Porus Walker, Alex Sacui, Funkfu, Britt Ehringer, Abe Atri, Teitsma, Phil Ashcroft, Neuarmy, Skullphone, Nanospore, Andy Rementer, Mark the Cobrasnake (featuring photos from the set of Kill Girl Kill), Fumi Nakamura, Mars-1 and Lee Misenheimer. Click here to order the 'zine.

Ché Storm Trooper

Sorry for no posts yesterday, the servers were down here at work while they were installing a new phone system. I was able to receive an e-mail from Mac, however, letting me know about a new video from one of my favorite art collectives, Urban Medium. I really like Urban Medium's appropriation of Ché Guevara and Star Wars Storm Trooper imagery. They also work with combining other war and pop culture imagery, presenting it in a very graphic, monochromatic method. The stencilled look and subject matter of their work is very reminiscent of Banksy's stencils or Andy Warhol's Pop Art silkscreens. Of course, Urban Medium's medium of choice is stickers rather than stencils or silkscreens. Anyway, the video is 60 seconds long and consists of 2,000 frames of still photography from the 9,000+ frames used to create a longer video for the Heavy Ammunition Project that will be presented at the Project: Gallery in Los Angeles on February 11^th from 8pm-1am in conjunction with DJ Spider. Fifty Limited Ed. box sets with a printed ammo can containing the Heavy Ammunition CD, stickers, buttons, a black spade t-shirt, a print, and mystery 6" figures were produced for the exhibition and will be available at the Project: Gallery.

R.I.P. Cy-Kitten

I know this story has already made its way around the internet quite a bit, but when I first read the story I was touched by the disturbing cuteness of this one-eyed kitten. Think of what we could have learned if this alien being had lived more than a few hours. Could this be an explanation for the mythical cyclops from Homer's Oddysey? I guess I just really appreciate the fact that someone took the time to paint such a fine memorial portrait of this medical oddity. To quote Kipling West of 7 Deadly Sinners:

"Cyclops Kitten" is featured on Yahoo's "Buzz Log" as one of the most searched keywords of the moment, and there are even blogs with poetry dedicated to this strange and delicate creature.

We weep for thee, kitten. Rest in Peace.

We weep for thee, indeed, sweet, disturbing, cute, freaky cyclops kitten.

[Thanks, Mac, for the link]

Alife Rivington Club Sale

E-mail from this weekend:

FROM JANUARY, Monday 19th to Thursday 23rd
ARC WINTER CLEARANCE SALE 30-70%OFF
161 BOWERY, 4th Bet. Delancey & Broome
Noon to 6PM Everyday

DIRECTIONS FROM YOUR LOCATION
DIRECTIONS FROM THE ALIFE RIVINGTON CLUB

Matisyahu Drops New Knowledge

Matisyahu's new studio album, YOUTH, will be hitting stores on March 7^th. If you Pre-Order it here you will receive the YOUTH DUB album FREE! That's two great CD's for the price of one. Matisyahu, the master of Hassidic reggae and now apparently dub, will be making his unprecedented second TV appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman this coming Monday, January 16^th, I guess in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the diversity it promotes. There's really nothing as satisfying as watching a Hassid jump around on stage, his Tallis flapping around his shoulders, his black hat barely staying on his head, as he drops some of the illest rhymes this side of Dizzee Rascal.

Blade

I got an e-mail this morning from Ben Greene letting me know that Medicom has released a new Real Action Hero figure in the form of Wesley Snipes from the film Blade. The figure comes with the Japan-only release of the Blade DVD boxset and is available for pre-order from Action HQ. It is scheduled for delivery in March and will run you a whopping $299⁹⁵. Ben sent me a bunch of nice pics, so here are some of them. I am tired as hell, so that's all for now. Maybe if I wake up a little later I will post more stuff. Until then I will try not to fall asleep on my desk. Now they just need to come out with a Real Action Hero version of Kris Kristofferson's character from Blade. Or should his figure be a Fake Action Zero?

Get Decked

I got an e-mail this morning from Ningyoushi letting me know about all of the new products that they have gotten in for the new year. I already posted about the life-size Yoda yesterday. I think I may have mentioned the new Star Wars series 5 Kubricks as well. What really interests me right now is the new book Boards: The Art + Design of the Skateboard. According to Ningyoushi:

The seventies had album covers; the nineties had zines. Today, the coolest graphic design is underfoot, on the decks of skateboards around the country.

Boards is the first book to focus on the unique art of deck design, featuring hundreds of color images spotlighting some of the hottest work of today's hippest designers, including the boards of Birdhouse, Girl, Chocolate, Zoo York, Enjoi and 5boro. In addition, today's top artists and graphic designers talk about why they do what they do, from their influences and inspirations - kitchen appliances, sixties design, skate camp, the New York City subway system - to their technique. Combined with sick trick shots, Boards is a visual feast for any skateboarding fanatic.

I'm not sure about that first paragraph. There was plenty of amazing skateboard design back in the eighties and nineties as well as today. Remember the old Lance Mountain Future Primitive deck? Or how about the old Kevin Staab Pirate deck? Even Natas Kaupas' old-skool Panther deck is pretty cool. And don't even get me started on the Tony Hawk or Powell Peralta skull decks. Those are my favorites. Seth had a Powell Skull and Sword deck back in the day, with clear grip tape, that rocked. I wonder what happened to that board? I still have both of my old boards, my Alva Eddie Reategui and my Tony Hawk signature edition deck. Both of them are well-worn and covered with stickers. I can't seem to find pictures of them unmarred anywhere on the 'net, though. If anyone has any pictures of artistic ol' skool decks that they would like to share, I'd love to see them. Anyway, that's my two cents on the subject.

Another Life-Size Yoda?!

Some of y'all out there may not remember this, but way back when I first started this blog in April of ought-four I posted about a life-size Yoda sculpture from the Sharper Image for around six hundred bucks. Now Ningyoushi has their own offering of a Limited Ed. life-size Yoda sculpture available for pre-order. This one isn't the original version of Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back, but the version from the Genndy Tartakovsky Cartoon Network Clone Wars series. Made of fiberglass by Gentle Giant Ltd., these giant figures are limited to only 1000 pieces and will run you close to five hundred bucks. A lot of money to spend for the piece-of-mind of having a Jedi master protecting your family and property, but it's worth it. Plus, it looks so cute next to that ugly little mutant girl in the picture.

Q*Bert Dunny

After all of the hype and hooplah from yesterday's big Macworld announcements, I thought I would switch gears and go with something a little lighter this morning. I got an e-mail from Kidrobot last night letting me know about an upcoming release party at MILK in San Francisco tomorrow, January 12^th, from 8-10pm, for the new DJ Q*Bert Dunny. The man himself, Q to the Bert, will be spinning a set, so get there extra early to find room to get your groove on. Q*Bert's Limited Ed. Dunny will be available at all of the Kidrobot stores starting this Friday, January 13^th. I have always enjoyed Q*Bert's scratchtastical abilities, from his work with the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, through his reinterpretation of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing on the aptly titled Preemptive Strike, to his "highly" entertaining extended cartoon music video Wave Twisters. His blindingly dextrous manipulations of the wax always keep my head bopping and my toes tapping. And Huck Gee's design for his 3-inch Dunny does justice to this maestro of vinyl. Limited to 1000. Cute, idn't it.

Monkey! (Ltd.)

So many posts today, so much stuff out there! Here's a little something I know Seth would enjoy cruising around on in Chaing Mai or even NYC. It's the Limited Ed. Honda Monkey Limited (redundant, I know, but I gotta' get my name in there somewhere). Seth always did have an affinity for monkeys. According to Gizmodo, because I can't read Japanese, "Honda’s 50cc leisure motor bike aka 'Monkey' first appeared in 1967. It is small, but carries a 4 stroke engine is beloved by many and looks like something Yoshi would ride." Only 3000 of these chrome-plated beauties will be produced. I want one just so I can do wheelies up and down a dirt road all day long. It looks so cute. I'm sure I wouldn't break my back again if I fell off of this thing (yeah, right).

Intel MacBook Pro at Macworld '06!

In Steve Jobs' keynote speech from Macworld 2006 this afternoon, he announced the introduction of the MacBook Pro, the successor to the PowerBook. My birthday is coming up in March, right after the scheduled February release, so if anyone out there doesn't know what to get me, this is it! The MacBook Pro features a 15.4 inch display that is as bright as the Apple Cinema Display and there's an iSight camera on top of the screen. It contains an Intel Core Duo processor and is 4-5x faster than the PowerBook G4. The SPECint_rate2000 leaps from 6.7 to 30.3 and the SPECfp_rate2000 leaps 4.5-5x, whatever that means. Well, for one, it means a really, really, really fast new laptop. The price leaves a little to be desired, running from $1,999 for the 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 80GB hard drive, 4x superdrive, Aiprort Extreme version and $2,499 for the 1.83 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 100GB HD, etc. version. It's too bad the price didn't come down with the new hardware, but the speed sure did go up! *Drool!*

[Check out everything else from the keynote at Engadget]

For Seth

One of Seth's favorite photographers, and subsequently one of mine (Seth gave me his book for my birthday a couple of years ago), Charlie White is having his first solo show in nearly three years, "Everything is American," starting this Friday, January 13^th (spooky), my father's birthday, from 6-8pm at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York. Whew, that sure was a mouth-full. Anyway, Seth, if you get the chance, go check out the opening and let me know how it went. Also, give Charlie a great big hug and kiss for me! I love that guy and his disturbing imagery. According to Ami Kealoha at Cool Hunting:

White's latest subjects, like the Tate-LaBianca murder trial, gymnastics, and early man, are cultural touchstones that capture the popular imagination and inspire controversy. Created with elaborately-staged sets and lighting design, his work is about the horror and pathos of history and current events; in part, a comment on how popular mediums like film and television communicate these collective stories. The dramas as envisioned by White's unflinching gaze make for unsettling results: a young gymnast open-mouthed in her coach's arms [picuted above], a human-like creature with gore in his hand and at his feet, and a courtroom crowd foregrounded by three women with shaved heads. Honest and ambiguous—Is she yelling or moaning? Are the entrails human or animal?—the effect is neither drained of emotion nor overtly manipulative.

All in all, very different from White's earlier work with his "Understanding Joshua" series (the book that Seth gave me), but still very interesting and elaborately-staged like his earlier work.

[I'll upload pics of my new kicks as soon as my 'net connection at home starts working again (stupid neighbors).]

Dpmhi Sale

From an e-mail that I received last weekend. Pretty self-explanatory. Sorry I didn't inform y'all sooner. Get there before the sale ends on Sunday.

Also, I got my shoes today, I will post pics later. They look much better in person than the preview on Nike iD.

Bring The Toys!

Check it out, yeah y’all c’mon, here we go again. Turn it up! Bring the toys!

Paraphrased from Bring the Noise by Public Enemy

Check it out, the new Limited Ed. "Twilight" Mad*l from My Plastic Heart, here we go again. I thought I was over the whole toy thing, but this is such a nice little artistic piece, it could be in a gallery or painted on Asian pottery. Instead, it is painted on a little vinyl figure. The Asian landscape painting with Kanji characters gives the figure some well-deserved artistic cred. Limited to only 300 pieces, I appreciate the fact that you can get it with a Limited Ed., signed & numbered, archival quality Giclee print and double-sided metallic postcard. The full set is limited to only 50 pieces and both the set and single figure are only available from My Plastic Heart. I really like this design and find it very aesthetically pleasing, maybe because of my fascination with Asian art, maybe because of my love of the outdoors and the landscape in art. Either way, it is a very attractive Limited Ed. toy as well as a work of art. My birthday is coming up in March, maybe they will last until then.

Mmmm... Chocolate... D'oh!

Who doesn't like starting the New Year off right with some yummy-delicious chocolate? If you are anything like my dad, you are constantly yelling, "Where's my damn chocolate?!" I ate a lot of chocolate over the holidays, but none of it was as cool as these Limited Ed. Yoyamart x Chocolate Bar Artist series Chocolate Bars.

10 artists and designers created the labels for these new chocolate bars. The set features dark chocolate with almonds (Gary Baseman), ChocoMinty (David Horvath), Crispy Rice (Sun Min Kim), Dark Chocolate (Rolito), Dark Caffetto (Nathan Jurevicius), Chocolate Milk (Toy2R), Milk Toffee Crunch (Dalek), Milk Hazelnut (Tim Biskup), Dark Salty Pretzel (Friends with You) andMilk Salty Pretzel (JD Boujnah).

A portion of the proceeds benefit the Third Street Music School.

[via Cool Hunting]