Anymore: September 2006

"...in being asked what steps he took to stop Al Quaida, President Clinton, freeing many to ask what steps, if any, his successor took in the most critical time before the plot.
Yesterday President Bush declined to address Mr. Clinton's remarks, saying "we've already had the look back this and look back that" but if we are to look forward with any clarity it is important to know the facts about where we have been, and how we got where we are."

...and what happened with that horrible, blatantly immoral bill waiting to be passed?...
shocker

fun memory game

Camera Mind - Flash Game

via GrowABrain

...choose meatball? or choose life?...

Meatballs or Consequences

Dan Witz

This is another great street artist I discovered while looking for pics by Shep the other day.
A New Yok based 'street artist', he tags the city with these amazing trompe l'oeil pieces in several prolific themes (as well as many other random and wonderful trompe l' oeil pieces of various subjectry) - he paints a lot hummingbirds - bright and unexpected against the rust of a dumpster, and things floating on water...
He has a series of 'hoodies - the shadowed and slightly menecing - if only in their complete anonimity, figure of someone in a hooded sweatshirt... and perhaps my favorite - a slew of alters branching out in a star pattern from Ground Zero in Manhatten. His web site is FULL of gorgeous and often humorous work (he has a whole series of 'pranks' - which include adding big red noses to houses that appear to have 'faces'... and 'improving' signage... ) and his current 'theme' is tiny realistic skateboarders...
Well worth a visit

hear that a-holes? REDUCES your risk of cancer!...

Erowid Psychoactive Vaults: "Many people think smoking marijuana is just as harmful as smoking tobacco, but this is not true. Those who hold that marijuana is equivalent to tobacco are misinformed. Due to the efforts of various federal agencies to discourage use of marijuana in the 1970's the government, in a fit of 'reefer madness,' conducted several biased studies designed to return results that would equate marijuana smoking with tobacco smoking, or worse. "

"In fact, marijuana has been shown to be an expectorant
and actually dilates the air channels it comes in contact with.  This
is why many asthma sufferers look to marijuana to provide relief.
Doctors have postulated that marijuana may, in this respect, be
more effective than all of the prescription drugs on the market.
Studies even show that due to marijuana's ability to clear
the lungs of smog, pollutants, and cigarette smoke, it may
actually reduce your risk of emphysema, bronchitis, and lung
cancer.  Smokers of cannabis have been shown to outlive non-
smokers in some areas by up to two years.  Medium to heavy
tobacco smokers will live seven to ten years longer if they also
smoke marijuana."
Produced as a public service by the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst Cannabis Reform Coalition
Researched and written by Brian S. Julin

via look at this

Meet The World

The Artist, Icaro Doria:

"This is how we thought of the concept Meet the World.
We started to research relevant, global, and current facts and, thus, came up with the idea to put new meanings to the colours of the flags. We used real data taken from the websites of Amnesty International and the UNO."
via Neatorama

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey is one of my favorite artists. I feel especially fond of him, as I had the amazing opportunity of growing-up around him. I was in highschool when he was in RISD, and he used to skate with several of my good friends. I never knew him to speak of, but his face floods me with memories, I remember him being around... and having been part of the original incarnation of this huge production that has become the OBEY empire, I feel ridiculously proud

of him... I remember the 'Buddy Billboard'...

I remember the police coming to Fellini's - the coffee shop we all used to hang out at- looking for info on him. Buddy was not amused...

everyone else was, and Shepard Fairey became legend.

...and now he has stationary! stationary I WANT!...

Obey Stationery Set: "Andre the Giant has a Posse - and he's going postal! Shepard 'OBEY GIANT' Fairey has turned the urban landscapes of the world into art galleries with his poster and sticker crusade and taken over your local skate store with his line of clothing. Now, the czar of absurdist propaganda manipulates the U.S. Mail to spread the word. You and your comrades can join the Posse with this revolutionary stationery set. Comes with 8 letter sheets, 6 envelopes, 1 sticker sheet and punch out stencil."

the man

kopenhagen, DK -6. maj 2004: Interview med Shepard Fairey:
"Is there a message in your work?
The message with my work is: ”question everything…question everything that you are bombarded with”. I think the main things that I'm interested in, and that I'd like to deconstruct with my work, is how emotionally potent images and phrases are used to indoctrinate people, whether it's advertising or politics. How everything is turned into a symbol and that you have to be very suspicious of what kind of spin people are putting on things."

obey
(click)

everybody loves a sing-a-long

Hilarious Dutch Television Commercial

if you are listening to this around others, be warned, the f-word is involved...

via Steve's Nude Memphis Blog

Alluvial Bends

BLDGBLOG: Alluvial Bends:
"The Arkansas River. More hypnotically beautiful Army Corps of Engineers cartography"

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) -
al‧lu‧vi‧al [uh-loo-vee-uh

l]
–adjective

1.	of or pertaining to alluvium.

al‧lu‧vi‧um [uh-loo-vee-uh

m]
–noun, plural -vi‧ums, -vi‧a [-vee-uh]

1.	a deposit of sand, mud, etc., formed by flowing water.

2.	the sedimentary matter deposited thus within recent times, esp. in the valleys of large rivers.

I totally agree with the 'hypnotically beautiful' bit...

"Cafe Like is now said to be considering a take-away and delivery service."

I read this article and really I just rolled my eyes at the complete ridiculousness of it all... and thrilled at the sure and sudden proof that THERE IS A MARKET FOR EVERYTHING...
I would have then moved on, were it not for the pure hilarity of the last sentence... (the title of this entry...)

BBC News: Israel's latest in designer nothingness: "It is the ultimate poseur's paradise, according to BBC correspondent Ade Akintonwa. Cafe Like boasts the most fashionable menu ever - one with nothing on it.
Taking the idea of cafe culture to the extreme, it is a restaurant that sells style, not food. Or so say its owners.
You may laugh, but Cafe Like is doing a roaring trade
Customers can choose anything they want from the most exhaustive menu which includes everything from fried octopus to chocolate rolls in cranberry sauce - but all you will get is an empty plate.
The dubious pleasure of enjoying an invisible meal costs $5.
Ordering an after-dinner coffee gets an empty cup. Clearly for some the service is enough on its own."...

"Cuter than a basket of Christmas puppies"

I seriously hate the new VW bugs. Not like I hate 'Smart cars', but still... a lot. I hate their 'straight curves' and bud vases... I hate them so much that I forgot how much I liked the 'old version'. I saw an old convertible one today, as I was walking and listening to 'Feelin' Good' by Nina Simone, and the moment was perfect. It made me wonder why they stopped making such a great little car

Hitler's original sketch

Volkswagen Beetle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The origins of the car date back to 1925, when Bela Barenyi submitted his concepts to the Maschinenbauanstalt Wien. Further influences came from the 1931 Tatra T97, and the 1931 Porsche Typ 12.
In 1933 Adolf Hitler met with Ferdinand Porsche to discuss the development of a 'Volks-Wagen' ('People Car'), a basic vehicle that should be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), and which should cost no more than a 990 Reichsmark (at an average income of 32RM/week).

Ferdinand Porsche formulated the original parameters of the Beetle several years before it was commissioned... However its production only became financially
viable when it was backed by the Third Reich."

Visitor Photo Galleries - Vintage Photo Album 1: "VW38 Prototype -- 1938-2908"
On May 26 1938, Adolf Hitler presided over the conerstone
ceremony for the new VW factory at Wolfsburg, Germany.
It wasn't until July 1939 that the first production models

rolled off the line."

The Automobile Association of Singapore - Oct. 2003 Last of the VW Beetles: "The curtain has finally been drawn on the production on what remains the biggest selling car in the world - the original Volkswagen Beetle.
Cuter than a basket of Christmas puppies and more reliable than an MRT arrival, the 'Bug', as it became known by millions of American fans, was truly an icon of 20th century that helped shape an entire automotive industry."

update: I just caught this very weird and incredibley uncomfortable looking, though striking, version at Arbroath's place...

This is happining. Not here, but now

Amnesty International
I lost the link to this site eons ago and had a strangely hard time relocating it. even through various searchs on various engines...
I was thrilled therefore to see it again posted by Sum1.
It's an amazing campaign that uses trompe l'oeil to really bring into focus, with shocking and brutal immediacy, the horrors occuring in MANY places throughout the world...
The message, printed in many languages accross the top: "This is happening. Not here, but now" is extremey powerfully illustrated.
There are 12 images, all are both powerful and beautifully done. I highly recommend viewing them all...

The Nostalgic Glass

PHOTOS BY JASON GRANT

"PHOTOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF
THE RUINED HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE
OF RUSSIA & ELSEWHERE. ESTATES, PALACES, THEIR HISTORIES AND FATES."

this site has some really beautiful and extremely atmospheric B&W photography.
I love shots of architecture in general, but in knowing that a lot of the images had the added bonus of being taken in lost and forgotten, mainly institutional buildings, they are even more engrossing...
via Look At This

best hazard sign ever.

Other Strange and Funny Signs via Look At This

All things Allsburg

..so... in looking for the pic for the last blurb, I was thrown into the world of Allsburg, and I liked it... a lot...

I can remember the thick feel of the pages.... the crisp and old 'library smell' it emanated... the cross-hatched detail and story of mystery and fantasy...
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, was one of those books that I 'sank into' and re-emerged from reluctantly... I loved it. It made me want to be an artist and illustrator and story teller...
His web site is a fun little adventure with some neat interactive pieces, the best being the opening page in which in an illustration direct from the Garden of Abdul Gasazi, you, enter...
(the WORST being the screensaver... don't do it... blech)
He is extra cool because he lives and creates in Providence, RI...

Anymore

Saturday, September 30, 2006

...because while water may be fine in scotch, it sure wrecks a good g&t...

Spontaneous Resumption. A Function.

an honest and detailed look at the 'road to 911'...