iPad 2

I'm glad that I didn't have to buy my iPad, that I got one for work, because now that the iPad 2 is coming out next week, I am going to have to start saving for real!

Rebirthed

Well, they have gone and done it. Propellerhead Software has released ReBirth for the iPad. My favorite software synthesizer/drum machine/techno micro composer is now available on my favorite device. I have been rocking on ReBirth since the late 1990's, and now, what I used to spend hours sitting in front of my desktop machine plotting away at, I can carry around with me to any gig I want. Sure, it has been out for the iPhone/iPod touch for a while now, but with an entirely redesigned interface for the much more touchable iPad, it is finally the music making device I have always desired. It comes with all of the bells and whistles of the original software, the two 303's, the 808, the 909, plus all of the distortion, delay and other effects. It also has mod support and comes with five original user mods. This is the multi-touch, music production tool that I always dreamed of, and now it is here.

Go Native

Native Shoes, a relatively new (founded in 2009, but I just heard about them) footwear company out of Vancouver, BC, but made in China of all places, has got some of the coolest shoes I have seen recently. Their shoes are made from injection-molded EVA and are all one piece, making them extremely light and flexible. It also makes them very easy to clean and supposedly comfortable. They look like Crocs, if Crocs were at all stylish. My favorites, their Fitzsimmons hiking boots [pictured above] look like they would be very useful for the upcoming cold winter months. The Millers are reminiscent of the classic Vans Authentic kicks, the Corrados are nice, mid-top chukkas, and the Jeffersons are rips of low-top Chuck Taylor All Stars. All of them, except the Fitzsimmons, are slip-ons, which would be nice in the spring and summer months. Because the shoes are made in China and are one-piece injection-molded, they are relatively inexpensive. Check out their stockist list for where you can get them in your area. Or you can just get them online at Zappos.

Update: I got a pair of Fitzsimmons in Academy Blue for myself and a pair of Millers in Torch Red for Anne and they are both great shoes! They are so light and comfortable. They are really good looking and eye-catching and they seem to be very easy to clean. I am interested to see how they will wear over time, but right now they look great. And I am amazed by how light they are. Going from my Vasque Sundowners, which are about the heaviest boots I have ever worn, to the Fitzsimmons is like a revelation! I feel like I am floating, which is helped along by the soft, bouncy soles. I am quite happy with these boots and will probably get myself a pair of Millers to rock when it gets warm out again.

Native Shoes Miller

Native Shoes Corrado

Native Shoes Jefferson

Rare Air

Two new MacBook Air models: 11-inch and 13-inch. SSD, multi-touch, instant on, new App Store, new iLife 11, etc. FTW!!! I want!!!

We Wood, Wood You?

I am a big fan of watches, especially those that are unique. And I can't think of any more unique watches than these wooden watches from WeWood. I'm not sure how waterproof these watches are, I probably wouldn't take them diving, or even in the shower, but they are beautiful, sustainable, hypo-allergenic, and free of toxic chemicals. They are made from reclaimed wooden flooring and for each watch purchased, a tree is planted. You can't get any better than that. And they aren't priced out of reach for your average joe watch collector at only $119 each. My favorite is the Black Crono (pictured above, center), crafted from ebony, "a tree that the greeks called 'fruit of the gods' and it was used as an antidote for poisons. Even today it is believed that this wood is able to ward off evil spirits." Sounds pretty good to me!

Update: I got my Black Crono yesterday and it is pretty damn sweet! I like all but two things about it. Those being: 1) the clasp is really difficult to open. It is nice that it stays closed so tightly, I am not afraid of it falling off of my wrist, but it would also be nice if I didn't have to use a screwdriver to pry it open when I want to take it off. And 2) the analog and digital times are not at all in sync. The analog is slightly faster than the digital, so they get a little off from each other as the day goes by. This is annoying and, after a while, I can see them being very far off from one another. I keep having to reset the digital time to be aligned to the analog side. Maybe I will just keep the digital side set to the stopwatch and not use it for telling time. Other than those two things, I really like the watch. It looks beautiful, it is light and fits my wrist well, and I really like the blue indiglo light. I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 on my scale of coolness.

Art March Again

My artwork will be featured at an exhibit at Gallery Godo in Glendale, CA starting next Friday, March 26th. There will be a reception from 7pm until midnight and the exhibit will be up until April 2nd. I have a couple of new paintings that I just completed that I will be showing. So come check it out if you are in the LA area.

Update: Unfortunately, I didn't sell anything at that exhibit, but you can still take a look at pictures from the gallery opening night here. I now have three of my paintings in an ongoing group exhibit at Artisan Venice in Venice Beach, CA. If you are in the area, you can check it out. It is located at 80A Windward Ave.

I Love Gold!

Alife and Krink strike again with this wicked cool Gold t-shirt/mop marker combo [pictured above and below]. I have always been an abuser of Krink's silver mop marker, but as I said in the post previous to this one, I am a huge fan of the black and gold combo, thus t-shirt, gold marker, me happy, Alife store within easy walking distance. Just got paid, Friday night, got a monkey in my pocket, feeling alright. That shit is available now, but it is pouring down rain out, so I might wait a while to head on down there and check that shit out. Be prepared for some gold BizKwik tags, LA!

Me Wanty!

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really want this Sham: Black & Gold vinyl figure from MAD available through myplasticheart! I already have the matching t-shirt from SocialPest that MAD designed. I also have a pair of black and gold Huf Vans to match as well. I love black and gold, being a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan from back in the day (i.e. the 70's) when the Steelers were hot shit and my parents got my brother and I Steelers scarves and toboggans for our Hanukkah postcard picture. I am also a Steelers fan from when I lived in Pittsburgh going to school at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 90's. So I just need this figure to match all of my other black and gold items. Well, maybe "need" is too strong of a word, but as I said, I really want it! So if anyone wants to get me one for my birthday on March 6th (also the release date of the Watchmen movie, which better be good since it is coming out on my birthday!), feel free to do so. For now, with my less than great financial status, I will just have to look and drool.

Lunch With Hank

Henry Rollins wants to kick my ass! Not really, but it sure looks like it from this picture. This afternoon I had lunch with Seth's friend JD at Toi on Sunset, which has decent Thai food, but an amazing atmosphere, which today consisted of eating beside Mr. Henry Rollins, a personal hero of mine for his work in Black Flag back in the 80's. I was a huge hardcore punk rock fan in high school because of my friend Edward who was in the band Celibate Commandos. Anyway, Henry Rollins, just fucking sitting there having a nice chat with a lady friend. Five feet away. I had to get a picture. Henry was actually very pleasant. We talked about East Coast hardcore back in the day. He remembered coming to Chapel Hill to play the Brewery in '86. It was awesome. I was totally star-struck.


Anyway, on a completely different fucking subject, Tokyoflash has got a new watch, negatively called the Negative. "Negative is one of the most sophisticated designs available from Tokyoflash and features an "always on" LCD display alongside its multi-color LED light guide. At the touch of a button, the display can be backlit with one of seven user-selectable LED colors." Just ¥16,900 or $158. Cool. But not nearly as cool as lunch with Hank.

Vodka With The Boss

Yesterday was a rough day at work. I am working on a new website for the gallery, which should be up soon, and my boss kept changing his mind about how he wanted the intro animation to look. First he wanted it to be a paint brush dripping paint onto our business card, then it flipping over to reveal the website. Then he wanted smears of paint going across the screen to become the website. But they were both too busy. Not clean and simple enough. By lunch, I was on the verge of exasperation. I took my lunch to do some meditation and calm down, got some caffeine and headed back to work. By four o'clock we had completed the intro animation for the website and it looks very nice, clean, represents the gallery well. When I am done with the rest of the website I will put a link up here for everyone to check it out. Anyway, my boss was so excited by the results, he busted out a beautiful bottle of vodka. We had to toast to our success. He had even showed it to Billy Dee Williams, who was also impressed. This was right before I was getting ready to leave for the day. So we did several shots over vodka, four or five, in rapid succession, finishing the bottle, with some blueberries to chase it, the only food I had eaten all day.

Then I drove home.

It didn't really hit me until I hit traffic on Sunset Blvd. I was overwhelmed by a sloshing sickness. My head throbbed. Vodka on an empty stomach is not a good thing. I much prefer it with some food or after a meal. When I got home, I figured it would probably be a good idea to eat something if I was going to throw up, give it a little substance. Also, I hate the dry heaves. So I ate a few handfuls of peanuts, some dry bread and yogurt. The yogurt did it.

I called in sick this morning. My boss understood. I am getting ready to head into work right now. We have an art walk this evening, so I will probably be there until nine o'clock, which will be a full day. If you are in the La Brea and Santa Monica area tonight, stop on by and say hi. It should be fun.

Speaking of fun, a few things for y'all folks:

Erick Scarecrow of ESC Toy Ltd. has a new 8" Micci plush coming out in September. It will be available in five different delicious flavors, Purple Lurple, Snow Attack, Pink Rage, Green Master, and Mocha. Available now? Soon? How much? We shall see... we shall see.

A Paper Tiger has a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Nimit Malavia entitled The Spark That Hath Set Fire. Limited to ten 12" x 16" prints signed and numbered.

Update: It looks like they are sold out already.

There is a new iPod Nano and new iPod touch. iTunes 8 is out. The world is changing my friends. The world is changing. Now I gotta go to work!

Moving Right Along

This past weekend Anne and I traveled 3,004 miles (twice) at an average air speed of 452 miles per hour and ground speed of 45 miles per hour from Los Angeles, California via Atlanta, Georgia to Fenwick Island, Delaware. It was a grueling trip that began at 12:55 am (PST) Friday night in Los Angeles and concluded at 3:05 pm (EST) Saturday afternoon on Fenwick Island, but it was worth it. Somewhere in the Atlanta airport, I lost my mind. Luckily, I didn't sleep Friday night, so when you factor in the time change, I was awake for 38 hours straight. Sleep deprivation and traveling across time zones rapidly does some strange things, especially when you add alcohol, which I promptly did upon arrival at our palatial beach house, mere steps from the beach.
I didn't make it to the beach that first day, but I did eventually make it to bed. Before that, though, I was treated to the finest of foods: corn on the cob, hamburgers and Frogmore stew. The second day began with a trip to the beach for a little boogie boarding, volleyball and getting sun burnt as hell. Sunday afternoon, Seth grilled up some sickly delicious lobsters for lunch [pictured above]. They were indescribably good. After lunch we set up the horseshoe pitch and threw some shoes. That was fun. Sunday night I made a huge pot of paella with grilled chicken, sausage and shrimp for the family. It was delicious. I think some of the family might have had their doubts, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to paella. After dinner we had what everyone had been waiting for, Mama's chocolate bourbon pecan pie a la mode. I went to bed drunk and full again Sunday night. The sunburn and jet lag didn't help, though.

Monday, Seth and Gena left in the morning, then it was off to the beach again for more boogie boarding, walking hand-in-hand with Anne on the beach like two lovebirds and trying to keep from burning any worse than I already was. I wore the wrong shorts for boogie boarding, and lost them in the surf a couple of times, to everyone on the shore's delight. Lunch Monday was hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue chicken on the grill a la Scotty G. It was delicious, and still we begged for more. After lunch Anne and I walked down to a little skateboard shop called Rebel One to check out their 45% off sale. They had some decent wares, but I don't have any money to spend right now. But if I did, I would definitely get one of these exclusive Limited Ed. Yuta Onoda Wishing Upon a Star prints [pictured below] from the I am 8-bit show that are available from A Paper Tiger. It is a 12" x 16" archival print, signed, numbered, and limited to only 30.
Scott, Magnolia, Hip Hop, and Peter left Monday evening, then the rest of the gang ordered pizza and played Taboo until it was time to go to bed. Anne and I had to leave early Tuesday morning, but not until after a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and french toast bagels. Back in the car, back on a plane, back to the Atlanta airport, and finally home to Los Angeles. It is still a little weird to call Los Angeles home.
Anyway, another Los Angeles, well Culver City, friend of Limited Ed., project:gallery, is moving. After their new exhibit, Fresh Faces [Yuta Onada's Libido, pictured above], which begins this Saturday, September 6th, from 7-10 pm (PST), they will be moving to a larger space just down the street. The new exhibit features the work of Nimit Malavia, Yuta Onoda, Dominique Fung and Martha Chan. I might try to make it there. I will see if I have fully recovered by Saturday.

Speaking of recovery, Lee "Scratch" Perry [pictured above] will be at Amoeba Music on Sunset this evening at 7 pm (PST). I would like to make it out for that, but I don't know if I will be able to. Anne isn't home yet, she will have Kallie the Kat with her and we haven't had dinner yet. It is going to be a mess trying to get everything taken care of before seven. I still might try to make it out, 'cuz I'm a huge "Scratch" Perry fan. Anyway, I am exhausted from work today. Check out my pictures from this weekend here.

So Rebellious

We are out of ink! WE ARE OUT OF INK!!! I am sitting here at work with nothing to do because we have no matte black ink for one of our printers and no magenta ink for our other two printers. The magenta won't be here until September 2nd for some reason. The black should be a little easier to find. So I have time to post something, you lucky dogs.

Tokyoflash has got a new Limited Ed. watch in stock, the Rogue [pictured above]. Mysterious... sexy... green. Just like Kermit the frog. I think it looks pretty sweet. Maybe another nod to Star Trek with this one, or maybe just sci-fi in general. It doesn't look too complicated to tell the time on, it uses a combination of LCD and LED technology to project five green bands that light up to display the time. You can tell the time just by looking at it, or you can press the LED button and have your own sci-fi convention on your wrist as the watch glows with an eerie green. It has a nice, solid, stainless steel band and also features an alarm setting, something not seen on most of Tokyoflash watches. Only ¥16,900 or $154.25, not too bad for a watch of this quality.

Anyway, I guess I should get back to looking like I am working. Lev is going to the store at nine o'clock (PST) to get some more black ink so I can work some more. I did three prints for Billy Dee Williams yesterday which all turned out amazing. Two 19" x 23" prints and one 29" x 34" print. He really liked them. He was talking with Lev about the prints and asked if he could come to the back of the shop and thank me for the job I did. It was really an honor.

Other than that, Anne and I had fun at the Sunset Junction Street Fair. It is like a really amazing version of Apple Chill in Chapel Hill. There was a ton of really good food, all kinds of stuff to look at or buy, rides and state fair boardwalk-style amusements, and three stages of music, plus DJ booths set up at various locations. We saw Broken Social Scene, which was worth the $20 admission price by themselves. They were really good despite technical difficulties, which they just seemed to laugh off. We also got to see the end of soul legend Billy Paul's set, the last minute replacement for Isaac Hayes I believe, where he busted out an amazing rendition of Me and Mrs. Jones, one of the only songs of his that I actually know.

I like living in LA so far. I just wish I knew more people out here. I still haven't hung out with Jeff Seibenick yet. Bastard keeps blowing me off... and not in a good way. I guess that's what happens when you start working on the Sarah Silverman show. You forget who your friends are. Just like I have since I started working with Billy Dee Williams. Later, b'yatches!

Hot Shades

Alife has got some hot new Limited Ed. shades coming out this Saturday, August 23rd, in collaboration with Italian sunglasses manufacturer RetroSuperFuture (terrible website, btw). I like all of them, but would probably only wear the black ones [pictured above], 'cuz I'm ol' skool like dat. Very similar to Ray Ban's Wayfarer design. Which they had all of the new styles of in bunches at Kicks Sole Provider. They are $103 a pair down there, though, which is out of my price range. I'm not sure how much the Alife Super sunglasses will cost, but I do know that they are hand-made in Italy, feature Carl Zeiss lenses and are limited to 480 pairs, 80 in each color. They will be available at all of the Alife stores as well as Colette and the following retailers:

USA:

Atlanta, Georgia: Standard
Boston, Massachussets: Bodega
Chicago, Illinois: Leaders
Dallas, Texas: Adikt
Jersey City & Teaneck, New Jersey: Packers
Orlando, Florida: Beta
Las Vegas, Nevada: Epic
Seattle, Washington: Goods

International:

Amsterdam, Holland: Patta
Barcelona, Spain: Limited Edition (copycats)
Mexico City, Mexico: Headquarter
Milan, Italy: Slam Jam
Moscow, Russia: Kixbox
Singapore: Black Chamber
Stockholm, Sweden: Cali Roots

I'm gonna' have to go to Alife in LA on Saturday to check out the hoop-la. In the meantime, check out the other colors that will be available, below.

Full Vinyl Jacket

Ningyoushi has got the new goods from probably my favorite vinyl artist, Michael Lau, in stock. The Limited Ed. SK3 Set is Lau's homage to Stanley Kubrick, one of my favorite directors of all time. I remember staying up late Friday nights to watch A Clockwork Orange on Skinemax. A bit of the old ultraviolence for little Alec. And who doesn't remember the first time they saw 2001: A Space Odyssey all fucked-up on acid? Actually, who does remember that? I sure don't. Or in Full Metal Jacket when Gomer Pyle blows his brains out. I didn't see that one coming. Anyway, these new figures from Michael Lau are pretty sick, and only $285 for the set of all three. Not too bad for Lau's work. Out of my price range right now, though, with just having gotten a job and having to pay for a trip to Delaware for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and all. 40 years, who would have thought? And 2001 was their first movie date. Isn't that precious.

Update: The red/silver version of 2bb1 is out of stock at Ningyoushi, they are now only shipping the blue [pictured above], yellow or green versions.

Buried

My old pals over at project:gallery have an exhibit opening this Saturday, August 16th from 7-10pm entitled Buried Beneath Me, a group exhibition curated by the Friends United Network. Here's the good word from project:gallery:

The concept for the exhibition is the idea of being "buried" - and not necessarily in a morbid way. The main body of work will be a reflection on the simple beauties which are so often overlooked in our fast-paced lives, emphasizing that we are a relatively small, but important, part of a larger collective consciousness. The hope is that this show will help the viewer recognize the playful joys of living despite being "Buried" under a mound of superimposed social constraints.

This will be the second major Los Angeles show curated by the Friends United Network, and will host several artists that have shown in the gallery including: Rebecca Urias, Derek Albeck, Ken Garduno - as well as new artists to project: Ian Mailhot, Seth Neefus, Tim Karpinski, David Wien, Mark Warren Jacques and Scott Ferguson.

Looks like some good stuff. Project:gallery also has a new blog, here. Anne and I are going to try to make it out for the opening this Saturday night. Culver City is a haul from Echo Park, though, but it's worth it.

Also worth it, if you are in the Sunset Junction area of Silverlake in LA, is the sneaker shop Kicks Sole Provider [pictured above]. Anne and I stopped in there while strolling around Sunset Junction. There is also a Giant Robot store, an Undefeated store and Secret Headquarters [pictured below], a good comic book shop. I could spend all weekend at those four shops. Of course, for sneakers in Sunset Junction, I think Kicks Sole Provider has a better selection than Undefeated. They had some real nice Onitsuka Tigers and some dope Limited Ed. Nikes on consignment. There are also some good vintage shops around Sunset Junction. My kind of area. I think I will be spending a lot of time down there while I am living in Echo Park. It is so close! (Check out my other pictures from LA here)

Neglectin' My Duties

Sorry I have been a little lax with the posts the last few days. I have been busy exploring LA and searching for a job. Yesterday, Anne and I took an unexpected tour of Los Angeles when I tried to find Cedar Sinai Medical Center without my iPod. We ended up in Inglewood. 45 minutes later, we found Cedars, then it was on to Runyon Canyon Park for a little hiking and sightseeing. I will have to bring a camera next time 'cause from up there you can see all of Los Angeles. It is pretty amazing. Today I got a job at Art Territory, a gallery and studio on La Brea and Santa Monica. I start on Monday. It only took me six days to find a job. I guess I can rest tomorrow.

Anyway, today, there is no rest for the weary. I got some Limited Ed. stuffeses to share with y'all. First up, Erick Scarecrow's SDCC Kissaki Sandstorm colorway figure [pictured above] is now available at the ESC eBay store. It is limited to only 300 pieces and comes with a signed limited edition print by Erick Scarecrow. This is definitely one of my favorite ESC pieces so far, and I especially like this Tattooine-lookin' colorway.

And the other thing I wanted to share with y'all for right now, Julie West will be showin' an exhibit of her work at the Myplasticheart Gallery in NYC startin' tonight. The exhibit, entitled Sickly Sweet features a wide range of new artwork, from paintings to prints and customs based around her sugary theme. Unfortunately, I forgot I am on West Coast time, so the opening has already ended. You can still see it, though, through September 9th.

Man, it is crazy being out here in LA! I have just been drivin' around gawkin' at people and at places that I done seen in the movies and on the TV. I feel like a regular country rube bumpkin givin' blumpkins out here. I keep yellin' at people in other cars, "I'm from North Carolina, man! I don't know where I am! I don't give a shit! I'll kill us all, dammit!" in Edward's redneck accent from The Dog Prince. Of course, I got the windows rolled up for the AC, so people just think I'm some crazy guy yellin' to himself in his car. They steer clear, though. It's fun.

Death

Alright, now that I'm settled in, it's time for some Limited Ed. shit. I got e-mail from 3A, Ashley Wood and 3-Zero's collaboration toy company, letting me know that their new 12" figure Les Mort [pictured above] is now available over at Bambaland. I am a huge fan of both Ashley Wood and 3-Zero and this is one sweet-ass figure. Unfortunately, I just moved to LA and don't have a job (yet) or an apartment, so it might be a little while before I buy any more toys. But for only $130, it is a lot cheaper than some of Ashley's other toys.

Bloggin' In Austin

Anne and I are in Austin visiting the infamous Michael Lucas. We arrived last evening and will be leaving for El Paso in the morning. Damn it is hot in Texas! I can't wait to get to LA where it is a pleasant, constant temperature all year round. Anyway, Anne and I haven't killed each other yet, but I think Anne is planning on doing Kallie the Kat in before the trip is through. Kallie has been a little annoying, crying in her luxurious cage in the back seat of the car for five to six hours of the trip each day. She does like it when Anne and I read to each other, though. She will actually go to sleep. And she likes putting her paws up in the window sill and looking out the window when we pass 18-wheelers. Alright, so that's the trip so far, now for some Limited Ed. business.

Tokyoflash is having a special Summer 2008 Festival in which they are presenting four Limited Ed. watches [pictured above]. They are also having a sale on selected watches. Also, when you purchase a watch between July 30th and August 6th, you will be entered for a chance to win one of three excellent prizes, a JVC Everio Camcorder, a Tokyoflash watch of your choice for you and a friend, or a selection of funky keychain games and a Nekura brand watch of your choice. Sounds pretty sweet to me.

Well, that's all for now. Anne and I will be on the road for the next three days, so the next time I will blog will probably be from LA! See y'all there!

KAWS JPP

We are just two minutes away from the drop of Kaws latest creation, JPP [pictured above], in association with Medicom Toy. Get ready to hit refresh over and over until you can actually get this to pop up for you and then try to get it before it sells out in ten seconds. No price or availability info, of course.

Everyone We Know

I got e-mail from Yifat over at Urbanix Gallery in Tel-Aviv in Israel letting me know about what's going on at their gallery. Urbanix is the first gallery and shop in Israel dedicated to urban art and vinyl toys. That's pretty freakin' awesome! I am very glad that urban art and vinyl has caught on somewhere like Israel. It gives me hope for the future. Anyway, they have an exhibit opening this Thursday, July 24th, entitled Me, You and all the Others featuring works in different media by five young Israeli illustrators and graphic designers: Gabby Nathan [painting pictured above], Gal Shkedi [sculpture pictured below], Nura Porat, Tamar Moshkovitz and Shlomi Schillinger (the last two are the creators of Plushhood). According to Yifat:

"The exhibition deals with the dialog between the urban (the city) and human texture (the society).

The difficulty of coping with a demanding and competitive urban life, the subjugation to consumerism, money and social status, beside social manifestations like violence and indifference, can be found either openly or concealed in the works presented."

Pretty heady stuff. If you are in Tel-Aviv this weekend, stop by and give them a big Shalom for me!