REAL TALK: I’m 29

1. I’m glad I didn’t work on Wall Street. I probably would have turned into a big asshole.

2. I wonder what would have happened if I would have become a high school english teacher? I probably would be less of an asshole than I am now.

3. I’m not trying to hide. I’m not trying to stand out. I’m trying to be neutral: camo goes with everything.

4. I’ve found love. I’ve lost love. I’ve searched for love. I’ve been blinded by love. I’ve found clarity in love. In the end, ain’t no love lost. I am a lover.

5. Obama happened. And I cried.

6. I’ve more or less tried everything that I’ve wanted to try professionally.

7. I come from a successful blue-collar family. I will always be scrappy. But I went to private school and a really expensive liberal arts college so I know how to politic–with intelligence.

8. You never know when you’ll find a new life-long friend. I’ve met two people this year that I will talk to forever, unquestionably. We are souls, not people.

9. My parents never hit me. I will never lay a hand on my children. Force doesn’t mean harm.

10. Sometimes friendship is an upward battle. Some people need some convincing. I’m learning to ask more questions, especially after this last year. People deserve friendship, they aren’t donated it.

11. In order to trust someone, you have to trust them.

12. Don’t run from your problems. You can never escape your own knowledge that you’re lying.

13. Return favors. If you don’t, you’ll start having to ask for them.

14. Find a mentor. Find a passion. Stay dedicated.

15. Be creative, every day.

16. Both of my grandfathers were very solid men. My dad honors his father and protects my mom like her father would have liked. I’ve had good examples.

17. If you make a woman pay for dinner you’re a serious loser.

18. If a woman cooks you a meal, you owe her a few meals.

19. I don’t agree with violence but I will always respect the courage of those who are willing to serve our country.

20. I will not settle in a city. But I will never sell my apartment in Manhattan.

21. Standing around in a club with rich and/or famous people was cool–before I knew rich and/or famous people. If the lights were turned on, and the music shut off, it would get really awkward, really fast.

22. The coolest dinner conversation that I’ve ever had was with Steve Nash, Jay-Z, and my best friend from high school.

23. Coffee is bad.

24. The Sunday New York Times and coffee is good.

25. I am a Scorpio. I am an only child. Hi, my name is Sky.

26. I’ve NEVER cheated on a girlfriend. Yes, I am not lying.

27. There are friends that I should spend more time with. There are “friends” that I have that are really just “people I know.” Recently, especially around my birthday, I’ve realized that the friends I’ve had since a teenager–will always really know me and love me.

28. If you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance.

29. Family first.

REAL TALK: Hummer Love

From Rob Walker’s column “Consumed” from the NY Times Magazine:

+++

Recently I noticed a Hummer in the parking lot of a Goodwill location. Almost involuntarily, I smirked. This reaction was not particularly surprising — least of all, I would guess, to whoever owned the thing. Lots of people judge not just Hummers but also the people who own them, right down to their fundamental morality (and thus whether their presence at a Goodwill is smirkworthy), and do so with no information beyond the existence of this large, gas-guzzling object. Some observers even record a pithy summation of those judgments in the form of a mean note left on the vehicle’s windshield. Or if the owner is present, the critique may be manifest as an obscene gesture, a diatribe or both. Plus, of course, there are Web sites devoted to Hummer hatred. Among the material goods that people are willing to see as reflecting and embodying very specific aspects of their owners’ identity, the Hummer looms large.

Hummer owners surely know that an audience of smirkers and note-leavers judges them as callous earth-killers or worse. Just as surely they must ascribe different meaning to their consumption decision. A recent article in The Journal of Consumer Research takes the unusual step of trying to articulate the Hummer fan’s view of the world and himself. It draws on material found online as well as interviews with 20 or so devoted owners conducted by Marius K. Luedicke, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and an author of the article.

Hummer loyalists come across as a beleaguered lot. Less predictably, Luedicke and his fellow authors, Craig J. Thompson and Markus Giesler, argue that Hummer drivers position their ownership at the center of a “brand-mediated moral conflict” in which Hummer enthusiasts are not only innocent but also heroic. Conflict with vehement critics turns out to play a key role, with the Hummer owner casting himself or herself as a “moral protagonist” who must, according to this theory, “defend sacrosanct virtues and ideals from the transgressive actions of an immoral adversary.” And what sacrosanct virtues would those be? To oversimplify a bit: American exceptionalism, rugged individualism, love of the frontier, community and freedom.

One owner’s comment from the forum of an anti-Hummer site probably falls right in line with critics’ judgments: “I want to continue living in an America where we all have the liberty to drive the biggest, ugliest gas-burning monsters that will fit on the roads.” (Recall that, in 2001, Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, asserted that prodding the citizenry to conserve energy runs counter to “the American way of life.”) The additional twist is that those who disagree are enemies of freedom itself: “Open your minds and hearts, and live and let live.” Another fan makes an even more nimble rhetorical leap: “Grow up and join us Americans that believe in our freedom. . . . Stop trying to oppress others that don’t share your beliefs, color and religion.” Thus the debate is reframed, the journal authors write, as one between defenders and destroyers of personal freedom. Hummer owners are not just right; they are righteous.

This attitude is positioned as descendant from classic American myths — John Winthrop’s vision of the City Upon a Hill, endlessly besieged by outsider foes who hate our freedom but are invariably swept aside by the forces of destiny itself. Clearly this involves ascribing meaning, motive and morals to Hummer critics, who are portrayed in the comments that Luedicke collected as narrow-minded hypocrites — particularly those who drive a Prius, or as some Hummer fans call it, a Pious. Getting down to details, enthusiasts point to volunteer groups that team up in their Hummers to clean debris from highways, or even help the Red Cross in disaster situations by way of the Hummer Club’s HOPE (Hummer Owners Prepared for Emergencies) program. In this way, they see themselves as caring for the land and acting selflessly on behalf of the community. A somewhat-related buy-American argument will presumably fade if G.M. completes its reported sale of the brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company.

The traditional explanation for an object like the Hummer — big, flashy, expensive to acquire and maintain — is that it’s a conspicuous status symbol. After all, consumer goods are often thought of as projectors of meaning, tools for individuals to send signals to onlookers known and unknown. Surely that theory is incomplete. The Hummer carries meaning, all right, but what it exemplifies is how wide the gap can be between what the owner and those onlookers think the meaning is. And while it’s an extreme case, it’s hardly a singular one. Probably we all send signals with products — your Birkin bag, my Levi’s, everybody else’s iPhone — that fly so wide of the mark, we’d be chagrined to learn just how differently the members of our invisible audience receive them. Probably we don’t want to know. And neither, I suspect, do Hummer owners.

INSPIRATION: JRS Reigns

Heaven.

INSPIRATION: Alchemist vs. Just Blaze

Wow. Sound Clash.

INSPIRATION: KR for Mini Cooper

KR + Mini Cooper = a venerated art style, brought to life on a new canvas.

REAL TALK: “History” is Still Historic

Seeing Jay-Z, DJ Neil Armstrong and the Roc Boys rehearse this song before President Obama’s Inaugural Ball has to be one of the most motivational moments in my life. I haven’t heard the song “History” in several months. Just hearing it now threw me back to a cold rehearsal space in Jersey City, sitting on a couch, witnessing Hip-Hop history–before the suits and the ties and the cameras.

A powerful anthem for our nation–rapped by my favorite lyricist and scratched over by one of my best friends. I felt proud to be American again. I honestly just almost teared up hearing this song again. It was as if Obama had just been re-elected. Thank you again team H.O.V.A for allowing me to be a fly on the wall for the rehearsal of this performance. History.

+++

In search of victory, she keeps eluding me
If only we could be together momentarily
We can make love and make history
Why won’t you visit me? until she visit me
I’ll be stuck with her sister, her name is defeat
She gives me agony, so much agony
She brings me so much pain, so much misery
Like missing your last shot and falling to your knees
As the crowd screams for the other team
I practice so hard for this moment, victory don’t leave
I know what this means, I’m stuck in this routine
Whole new different day, same old thing
All I got is dreams, nobody else can see
Nobody else believes, nobody else but me
Where are you victory? I need you desperately
Not just for the moment, to make history
So now I’m flirting with death, hustling like a G
While victory wasn’t watching took chances repeatedly
As a teenage boy before acne, before I got proactiv I couldn’t face she
I just threw on my hoodie and headed to the street
That’s where I met success, we’d live together shortly
Now success is like lust, she’s good to the touch
She’s good for the moment but she’s never enough
Everybody’s had her, she’s nothing like V
But success is all I got unfortunately
But I’m burning down the block hoppin’ in and out of V
But something tells me that there’s much more to see
Before I get killed because I can’t get robbed
So before me success and death ménage
I gotta get lost, I gotta find V
We gotta be together to make history

Now victory is mine, it tastes so sweet
She’s my trophy wife, you’re coming with me
We’ll have a baby who stutters repeatedly
We’ll name him history, he’ll repeat after me
He’s my legacy, son of my hard work
Future of my past, he’ll explain who I be
Rank me amongst the greats, either 1, 2, or 3
If I ain’t number one then I failed you victory
Ain’t in it for the fame that dies within weeks
Ain’t in it for the money, can’t take it when you leave
I wanna be remembered long after you grieve
Long after I’m gone, long after I breathe
I leave all I am in the hands of history
That’s my last will and testimony
This is much more than a song, it’s a baby shower
I’ve been waiting for this hour, history you ours

Now that all the smoke is gone
And the battle’s finally won
Victory is finally ours
History, so long, so long
So long, so long

INSPIRATION: Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die

Sky -

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I’d been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I’ve said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won’t all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it’s recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award — and the call to action that comes with it — does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we’ve begun together. I’m grateful that you’ve stood with me thus far, and I’m honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,
President Barack Obama

MOVEMENTS: Fall Forward

Looks.

Places.

Palettes.

All for.

REAL TALK: High Gloss, Protect Secrets, Be Bigger

“Imagine a universe where internet leaks did not occur. Imagine this is the first time you’re reading and seeing these kicks. Please. It’ll make me feel better.” – Jeff Staple

Live like anything is possible. Parades on any day. Even if it’s just you.

Where creativity lives on and the suspense of the eventual makes the future much more sweet–if even bitter.

Where no matter where you’re from, everything is half full. A new star is born every day. We all have a fixed history in time.

And where the only thing that can make you sink is the weight that you put in your own life vest–or the weight that you decide not to be stronger than. Even the smallest of margins.

We all have to climb a ladder to be able to jump off the diving board once again. Ascension before true flight.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW: 1

Jeff Koons at the Serpentine Gallery.

NEW YORK MINUTE poster pack by O.H.W.O.W.

KAWS x Interview Magazine.

NY Times Magazine 5th Anniversary Cover by Frank Gehry and others.

INSPIRATION: The Selby

Creative spaces. Personal Spaces. Work Spaces. Retail Spaces. Leisure Spaces. NY. Paris. London. Milan. Beyond.

 The Selby.

MOVEMENTS: ALL BLACK EVERYTHING

Everything.

INSPIRATION: The Sartorialist, A Calculated Commission

And the beat goes on.

REAL TALK: Everyday Ephemeral

In today’s barrage (read: persistent onslaught) of hyper-frenetic social media, I’ve been thinking about a way to try and make some sense out of how immediate, reductive, and transitory the exchange of information has become. Instant messaging has given way to texting, which, in turn, has birthed tweeting. And I don’t think that people are becoming robotic “outputers” of fragmented narratives–it’s more so the form of information exchange now, than the function. People think big–and today they just spurt small. Portion control: the Nutrisystem of information… 

And yet, I think that what’s more glaring now, more so than ever, is the short-lived notion of an individual’s legacy or lasting footprint on the world (carbon or otherwise). Aren’t our legacies just tweets when compared to the timeline of all history? Do we take ourselves too seriously? Or perhaps, not seriously enough? Are we inconsequential blips–or confined pockets of unquantifiable potential?

And I’m still not set, by any means, on how I feel about this. But I guess one way to look at it, is by taking into account a few ways that people are memorialized–how a memory of one’s life can be aggregated into a series, or a singular, relic of sorts, one that was created by them, or informed by those who remain after their passing.

Like Picasso’s drawings with a flashlight (as shot by Gjon Mili for Life Magazine), even the most luminescent of souls can at once be a blaze–and then seemingly, overnight, left in the fabric of the past. 

Of course there is the heartfelt goodbye blessing; the celebration of a lost life and the power that they left with us. Brooke Shields’ farewell speech to Michael Jackson was one of the most gut-wrenching speeches I have ever heard. Certainly, funerals are not very often made part of public discourse, or mass media to be catalogued on YouTube. So intriguing how this so private of a moment was made so public:

There are then too career-spanning retrospectives, curated glimpses in the cannon of a past artist’s creative record. DJ Soul’s recent tribute mixtape, celebrating the career of rapper Big L, certainly falls into this category (read: let’s take a trip, once again, down memory lane).

In some cases, even the relics of venerated artists, even some that have been re-erected, have too been replaced–as had the original–with a new work. The wheel keeps on turning, over and over… Os Gemeos’ “going over” Keith Haring’s memorial mural on Houston and Bowery is certainly a nod to even monuments being ephemeral. Not even a monument can be, or is intended to be, forever…

And the last type that I’m especially interested by are the ways in which some folks create self-referential ways of remembering themselves. The autobiography, the memoir.

Even Michael Jackson was memorialized–while he was alive–by Jeff Koons:

“I wanted to show Michael as a contemporary Christ figure: I wanted to give the viewer a sense of a spiritual authority…the type of adulation, the type of support that’s given to pop artists — this was the contemporary type of support that I thought that Christ would have received in his time”

In a much more “web 2.0″ way,  Tyler Brule, for example, recently interviewed, well, himself.

And some, like Terry Richardson, even erect statues of themselves–while they’re still living… an action figure for the lens that captures fame…all is fair game, in love and mem-war. 

I guess with all of our notes recorded in the digital world, we all have an RSS feed and a set of google alerts that will outlive our ability to add to them…

Ultimately, everything that you do in your life has the potential of being remembered in this digital age… choosing if you want to be memorable is now more deliberate than ever before… being recorded, however, is as much a given, and as fleeting an event, as a passing second in the annuls of time…  

 

REST IN POWER MICHAEL JACKSON

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

I said if
You’re thinkin’ of
Being my brother
It don’t matter if you’re
Black or white

So listen to my heart
Lay your body next to mine
Let me fill you with my dreams
I can make you feel so right
And baby through the years
Gonna love you more each day
So I promise you tonight
That you’ll always be the lady in my life

Download the MJ tribute mixtape by DJ M.O.S here.

MOVEMENTS: Truisms

Jenny Holzer
Truisms (1977 – 79) and Essays (1979 – 82)

INSPIRATION: Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective

Cubism, Picasso, the reigns of Hitler and Mussolini, Surrealism, rampant alcoholism, the echoes of gambling halls, masochism and mortality, romance and sex…all from a man that, in his last interview, said “I painted to be loved.” You need to see this show, right now.

Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective
May 20, 2009–August 16, 2009
Special Exhibition Galleries, 2nd floor, the MET

And for good measure, here’s a lot of context…

From Jerry Saltz at NY Magazine:

To understand Bacon’s impact, look no further than the young Brits emulating him. Jake and Dinos Chapman place tortured figures in glass cases; Jenny Saville’s contorted Gargantuas are direct descendants of Bacon’s golems; Tracey Emin works with blood and guts; Sarah Lucas gives us spooks and deformities. Damien Hirst not only makes vitrines straight out of Bacon—he puts meat and carcasses in them. Like Dalí and Munch, Bacon is an artist we love when young. Tantalized by the urgency, angst, weirdness, blood, sex, and bodies, we think, That’s me! That’s how I feel!

From the MET:

The first major exhibition in New York in twenty years devoted to one of the most compelling painters of the twentieth century, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective features some 130 works–sixty-five paintings and as many archival items from public and private collections from around the world–that span the entirety of the artist’s full and celebrated career. Marking the centenary of the artist’s birth in Dublin in 1909, the exhibition brings together the most significant works from each period of Bacon’s career, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through his extraordinary creative output. The presentation affords the most comprehensive examination to date of Bacon’s sources and working processes, offering a reevaluation of the artist’s work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992.

From Art Daily:

In the 1960s, working in his classic style of much looser, colorful, and expressive painting, Bacon showed the human body exposed and violated as in, for example, Lying Figure, 1969 (Foundation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland). In the following decade he increasingly used narrative, autobiography, and myth to mediate ideas about violence and emotion, as in the 1971 painting In Memory of George Dyer (Foundation Beyeler) and Triptych Inspired by the Orestia of Aeschylus, 1981 (Astrup Fearnley Collection, Oslo, Norway).

From the NY Times:

Entirely self-taught, Francis Bacon emerged in 1945 as a major force in British painting. He rose to prominence over the subsequent 45 years, securing his reputation as one of the seminal artists of his generation. With a predilection for shocking imagery, Bacon’s oeuvre was dominated by emotionally charged depictions of the human body that are among the most powerful images in the history of art.

The exhibition’s loosely chronological structure will trace critical themes in Bacon’s work and explore his philosophy about mankind and the modern condition with visually arresting examples. The earliest group of works, from the 1940s and ’50s, focuses on the animalistic qualities of man, including: paintings of heads with snarling mouths (Head I, 1947–1948, The Metropolitan Museum of Art); images of men as pathetic and alone (Study for a Portrait, 1953, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany); and the human figure portrayed as base and bestial (Figures in a Landscape, 1956, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, England). The exhibition also features numerous versions of Bacon’s iconic studies (1949–1953) after Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Innocent X (1650). Mortality is addressed directly in his last works (Triptych, 1991, The Museum of Modern Art, New York).

His contorted figures and portraits, his screaming popes and apes, his flanks of beef and crime-scene gore, and his wrestling lovers bring to mind any number of video-melodramatists, most quickly Bill Viola, reflecting a taste for hokey humanism, spectacle and sensationalism that often seems pervasive today. His emphasis on loaded narrative over form, which can make his art seem formulaic and repetitive, is now nearly epidemic

…(here’s to late bloomers!):

Bacon later said that he regretted having wasted so much time while young. Instead of learning his craft, he was often drinking, gambling, sleeping around and having a brutal affair with a violent, alcoholic, drug-addicted sadist named Peter Lacy that sometimes made his friends fear for his life.

INSPIRATION: Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star (K.O.S)

Mos Def and Talib Kweli produced the album that I’ve probably listened to the most in my life: <<Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star>>. Seriously, this album got the most spins in my car, in my CD player, and on my 1200’s…HANDS DOWN, no payola.

What more do you want? Streets, women, and Cosmology (capital C). Yes, thank you.

And my favorite track has to be “Respiration”…

Chorus from “Respiration”…

So much on my mind that I can’t recline
Blastin’ holes in the night ’til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can’t take it y’all, I can feel the city breathin’
Chest heavin’, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leavin’

And (drum roll please) Black Star are reuniting. Finally!

Big respect to my friend Corey Smyth who managed the Black Star movement via his artist management firm, Blacksmith (launched in 1991,yes, 1991). Keep the dream alive, Corey!

Peace to my main man Kenshin at Rocksmith Tokyo for producing the tees commemorating this regrouping…

1,2,3, it’s Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

Check out more info on the collaborative tee drop here.

WE THE LIONS / YOU THE CHEETAHS

INSPIRATION: Barbara Kruger

Mastery of Mantras in Futura Bold Oblique. Declaritive. Iconic. Empowering. I’m really frustrated that I missed her show in NYC last month. Yes she created “this” style. Barbara Kruger, here’s to what you accomplished, yes, Pre-Digital… You and George Lois need to have a kid, please.

From the NY Times on her recent show at Skarstedt Gallery:

“Truth through advertising” could be a blanket title for much of Barbara Kruger’s art from the 1980s, which used the stripped-down graphs and punched-out language of commercial promotion to deliver political warnings and admonitions. The phrase “Your manias become science” stutters across a photograph of a mushroom cloud; the spaced-apart words “Your body is a battleground” nail down the image of a bifurcated female face.

Ms. Kruger came to this work from several directions. In the early 1960s she studied at Parsons School of Design; Diane Arbus was one of her teachers. From school she quickly became the chief designer at Mademoiselle but at the same time created covers for small-press political books and pursued an interest in poetry. The 44 collages in the Skarstedt show bear evidence of all these interests.

Although we’ve come to expect large scale from Ms. Kruger — billboard-size paintings, gallery-filling installations — everything in this show is small, roughly the size of a book or magazine page. Each piece takes the form of old-style cut-and-paste mechanicals, long since made obsolete by computer software but once assembled by hand using printed galleys, an X-Acto knife and paste. Many of Ms. Kruger’s best-known pieces are enlarged versions of these originals,

Some people complain of feeling hectored and bullied by Ms. Kruger’s work, but it’s hard to tell why from what’s here. Hers is a calculatedly theatrical form of aggression: a kind of performance through pictures and texts. The prevailing tone is a sardonic, noirish Arbusian humor, with melodramatic pronouncements set against often outlandish period images. As is true of Joseph Cornell’s assemblages, many of Ms. Kruger’s images appear to date back to the era of her childhood and project a kind of Hitchcockian version of cold war paranoia.

That said, the phrases she uses can be moving. The most resonant of them — “Your comfort is my silence,” “Who will write the history of tears,” “Admit nothing. Blame everyone. Be bitter” — recall the plain-spoken, politically probing poetry that Adrienne Rich was writing in the 1970s and ’80s and that Muriel Rukeyser was writing before her. Ms. Rich’s poems from that time, with their stark, passionate discontinuities, have retained their potency. So has Ms. Kruger’s art.
HOLLAND COTTER

INSPIRATION: Mark Dean Veca Phantasmagoria

Mark Dean Veca is one of the most imaginative artists in the world; the characters and universes that he creates are stunning. Check out a recap of sorts for his show “Phantasmagoria” that was created and exhibited at Otis College’s Ben Maltz Gallery at the end of 2008; he also produced a retrospective show at UCSD at the top of 2009 that can be seen here (via Supertouch).

Installation discussion…

Installation walk through…

Installation time lapse…

And yes streetwear kids he made this too…hooray.

INSPIRATION: Masamichi Katayama’s Wonderwall

Masamichi Katayama’s design firm WONDERWALL creates the world’s premier retail environments; the experiential spaces that Katayama and his brain trust produce are nothing short of mesmerizing. Have you been in a BAPE or Uniqlo store, perhaps even a Dean and Deluca in Japan? Yeah, that’s all them. Watch the above video from Tyler Brule and BBC and check the photos below. Everytime I feel like I know what to expect from them, they flip the script entirely: they suck me right back in. No one on the planet knows how to use reflective metal surfaces like WONDERWALL. I’d love to take a spin in the swiriling breezes of their design vacum…

From the Wonderwall site:

Founded in 2000, Masamichi Katayama, founder of interior design firm Wonderwall, elicits an uninhibited sense of energy towards design even in Japan, where architecture and interior design is known for being one of the most exhilarating in the world. Katayama’s interest in design has always been broad, respecting conventional and traditional aspects of architecture, while believing in breaking boundaries. A “total concept” designer, Katayama’s intensions are focused in creating an environment that would touch the subconscious of the consumer and occupant.

While the firm is best known for retail design, Wonderwall has extensively built a wide range of pursuits in design including architectural direction, and product design. His work has expanded to Japan, Hong Kong, China, Russia, France, England and the United states. In 2007, Katayama was honoured as the ‘Interior Design Firm of the Year’ through The Great Indoors Award, a biennial international interior design award. (The Netherlands/Mr. Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of International Jury).

In 2008, his second monograph “Wonderwall Masamichi Katayama Projects No.2″ (Frame Publishers) was launched in September at specialty boutique colette in Paris, which was redesigned by Wonderwall, followed by the rest of Europe, the United States, and then Japan.

INSPIRATION: Cai Guo-Qiang

The work of Cai Guo-Qiang is simply stunning.

Take a quick stroll through some of it, won’t you?

And yes, “I want to believe” too… as should you.

From New York, to Spain:

INSPIRATION: Phoenix, mes amis

Phoenix is a band that I was introduced to by my friend Sylvia Adams on a random afternoon drive in 2006. I have to admit that since first hearing Pheonix, I’ve been brutally addicted to them. I listen to a few of their tracks at least three times each, every week. I just can’t shake their appeal. Ok, maybe that’s five times each…

Last week…Phoenix played on SNL. It was like my hometown hero hitting a homerun for the Yankees; or like seeing DJ Neil Armstrong on Letterman last year. And I thought they were but only my secret obsession.

In any case, Phoenix are an amazing band from France…but they sing in English; yes, in English, even during the Bush era.

Please check them out. They are perfect for Sunday afternoons.

The band has a new album titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix that drops on May 25, 2009. BUY IT.

Here’s the link to the band’s website.

Here’s a link to all of their other videos on YouTube.

REAL TALK: G500

We don’t drive X5’s, we give ‘em to baby mamas.

INSPIRATION: JJJJound

Home: it’s where I want to be. But I guess I’m already there. JJJJound.

REAL TALK: Kurt Cobain…In Vain

I’ve had an on-going battle in my head the last few years about brands and their ability to do collaborations with the estates of deceased artists. My first two “WTF?” moments were two particular collaborations by two otherwise respected sports brands: (1) Reebok’s collaboration with “Basquiat” and (2) Burton’s collaboration with “Warhol.” Both collaborations were apparel plays; Reebok created a footwear capsule collection adorned with Basquiat’s art…

…and Burton produced a line of snowboard apparel with Warhol graphics. Did Warhol snowboard? Was it even really beyond Jake Burton’s backyard yet?

Moving on… After going to Basquiat’s show at the Brooklyn Museum a few years back, and seeing his art…and then hearing the looming cash registers coughing up receipts just beyond the show’s last piece, I was kind of set off.

In a post on Gawker by Hamilton Nolan on February 26, 2008 (“Please Keep Our Dead Heroes Out of Your Freaking Ads“) Nolan spoke on his disgust over “posthumous” brand collaborations:

There’s nothing that will tear your heart out quicker than seeing one of your immortal heroes decide to sell out. Hearing the “conscious” rapper KRS-ONE declaring “The revolution is basketball” in a Nike ad back in the 90’s was a particularly dark day for me. But at least living people have the free will to decide to sell out. An even more despicable practice is waiting until an icon is dead, then pimping their image out to the highest bidder. Some responsibility falls on whoever licensed their image for commercial use. Some of it falls on us, the consumers, for making these campaigns financially worthwhile. But most of it falls on the damn ad people who co-opt someone’s cool without their attendant philosophy. And now that Gonzo extraordinaire Hunter Thompson has popped up in a Converse ad, it’s time for some serious boycott action. Some things just aren’t right. Right?

I really doubt Basquiat would have ever made his art as commercial as commercial product. Sure, his art, like Warhol’s, was “serial” to a certain degree. But “serial” is certainly not synonymous with “gift store purchase.”

So what has been lost in translation?

On a recent trip to LA, I read a compelling article that addressed this same topic: Kurt Cobain and the dealings with his estate and its “commercial viability” since his passing.

In the March 2009 issue of Details, Jeff Gordinier’s article “Here We Are Now…” speaks on Cobain and his economic gains since his passing; these profits were facilitated by Courtney Love:

If Gen X has succumbed to the big sellout since then, well, it’s not as though Cobain escaped the same fate. You might say he’s the victim of posthumous gentrification: Memorializing Kurt has turned into its own industrious wing of the media business. In 2006, Forbes crowned Cobain No. 1 on its list of the most lucrative dead celebrities—higher than Elvis Presley and John Lennon. Cobain earned the rank in part because his widow, Courtney Love, had sold one quarter of the spoils from his back catalog to Primary Wave, a company that places songs in TV shows and commercials and builds associations with various products. Its most visible deal was with Converse, which created a line of Kurt sneakers decorated with Cobain’s signature and chicken-scratch musings. (Scrawled on the sole of one version: PUNK ROCK MEANS FREEDOM.) “Kurt wore those shoes,” Primary Wave’s Devin Lasker says. “It wasn’t like it was, like, some artist who never wore Converse before.”

But Cobain didn’t just stage-dive in Chucks. “He died in the things,” points out Ad Age blogger Charlie Moran. “I mean, that’s disturbing.” Nevertheless, Cobain’s gruesome finale hasn’t proved much of an obstacle to the marketing machine. “He still represents the last bit of real mainstream rebellion, and I think that’s really attractive to marketers, because he straddles a line by being this really incorrigible anti-authoritarian figure who, at the same time, was commercially very successful,” Moran says. As with Che Guevara, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, or Bob Marley, Cobain’s narrative can be shorn of its complexity and contradictions and boiled down to an image on a T-shirt. “He’s an easily identifiable figure,” says Ted Royer, the executive creative director at the Droga5 ad agency. “It’s easy to poster-ize him, to break him down to basic elements.”

Jeff’s closing point on Cobain, and his Amazon.com’d afterlife, is right on the the money:

In the same way, the disaffected youth who rallied around Nirvana in the early nineties have become affected adults… “I’m not like them,” Cobain sang back in 1993, and yet we’ll never know for sure. He stopped trying to pretend, while over the years we’ve become less and less like him.

As Gordinier points out, Cobain’s “signature” range of Converse shoes are now in stores. To be accurate about it: Kurt Cobain is in Foot Locker?

Yes, another moment of “WTF?!”

But ultimately it rests in the hands of consumers–and music fans alike–to voice our disgust (or disapproval) for these unapproved collaborations.

When I pass away, I certainly wouldn’t want my face plastered on a bottle of Skyy Vodka. Seriously, please no.

I am exclaiming my disapproval for the Kurt Cobain Chuck Taylor.

Right here, right now.

Seriously, Kurt DIED wearing Converse. This is tasteless to an exponential power. No Apologies…

REAL TALK: KAWS and Effect

From Chris Lee at the LA Times:

“By parlaying vandalism into a brand identity as a purveyor of mass-produced collectible toys, KAWS became a bona fide subculture celebrity with a recognizable presence in street fashion.”

So I was in LA two weeks ago for KAWS’ solo show opening at the Honor Fraser Gallery in Culver City. On the day of the event, my friend Rickey was a tad hesitant to attend–and he was warranted. The assumed sneakerheads in cue, the entire spectacle of hyperconsumerism en mass, the flocks of SLR cameras tied to RSS feeds: pandemonium personified.

Ultimately, he was hesitant to go to the show because he wanted to see the art. Not the flock.

But that was Rickey’s take.

I, on the other hand, wanted to see the entire spectacle; the ravenous wolf pack, in full phalanx, ready to pounce. I wanted to live the context of the opening of the show that would be, chronicled on innumerable lifestyle blogs hours later…Those “news sites” never really seem to “tell” or “report” they just show and write worser than b4…

That said, when we pulled up to the show it was truly insane. There were at least 500 people in cue. Kids holding sneaker boxes, vinyl figures, and magazine covers all designed by KAWS. A grumble of eBay strategy was crisscrossing in the air. To these kids, KAWS was, and is, their Babe Ruth: they wanted to have anything that they owned with XX’s on it signed by their Sultan of Swag.

But KAWS is certainly much more than a purveryor of product… he’s built an identity out of himself… an alternate reality, his own branded reference set–and visual language–for imagination.

And I’ve been kind of conflicted about how I felt about seeing all of this.

On the one hand, it’s great that kids (I am formally saying that I’m not a “kid” any longer) have taken an interest in KAWS. Whether through their own curiosity for contemporary art, or from a multitude of pop culture enigmas (Kanye West, BAPE, Medicom, Hypebeast, Pharrell, DC Shoes, Complex, or, well…just google “KAWS.”), that these kids were at least interested in a form of creativity and were willing to line up to see an art show, and not simply to buy something, was encouraging. Sure, if  some of the kids wanted to get a pair of KAWS Air Force Ones signed so they could flip them, so be it. Better sneakers than drugs.

But, when I thought about it some more, is it enough that the kids just showed up?

Last week, I was reading James Jebbia’s Q+A on Interview Magazine’s website; great interview by the way. Beyond talking about the history of Supreme (shouts to Angelo), Jebbia talked about his rationale behind the creation of product (production and supply and demand), especially his skate decks with artists such as Jeff Koons–and now Damien Hirst. In the Q+A, I came across a pretty interesting quote from Jebbia that made me think about these kids, and their interaction with the consumerist web-driven lifestyle to which KAWS is attached, from a new vantage:

“What’s important for us is the kid who comes into the store. It’s actually easier to get the art crowd, because they’ll buy anything if they think they can make money off of it. But for us, it’s not good if a kid doesn’t look at it and say, “I don’t know what the fuck that is or who did it, but that’s really cool.”

KAWS was once an “unknown” artist to the masses; well before Original Fake there were his DC Shoes. I’d argue that back then, KAWS’ DC shoes, just looked really cool to kids (read: Jebbia’s point). After all when ESPO, HAZE, and STASH got their Nikes at the turn of 2000, KAWS wasn’t included…maybe it was because of his DC, or maybe it was because he wasn’t doing Kanye covers yet? And yet, if we’re showing kids “cool stuff” shouldn’t we too be educating and informing them–as if they were “the art crowd?”

Back to the actual opening… While in the gallery, there were tons of kids running around, so happy to have gotten inside. And yet, I had to kindly ask one kid to stop from actually leaning on a canvas–and–there were more flashbulbs going off than in Paris Hilton’s face leaving some horrible spot, in Beverly Hills, in The Hills beyond. All in all, these kids weren’t really looking at KAWS’ art as such; they were looking at it as product or as a mere backdrop for a hypefest photo shoot and potential economic gains…

So yes, the kids showed up, but why?

Ultimately, just to be “cool.”

And was it their fault that many of the kids just looked at KAWS’ art as artifice–and not as artifact? Possibly, but I’d argue that the online magazines for these kids don’t teach them anything, they just show them “stuff.” And the brands jsut pump the crack without any education about why it tingles the tongue. And let’s not talk about the more educated “heads” in the game who have something to say, and don’t say anything to kids. That’s for another conversation…

All in all, while at the show, I noticed that KAWS placed one of his busts on the floor; it looked like someone had knocked it off its pedestal. To me, this signaled that he was fully aware of the assumed hyper hype context of the show–and was having fun with it. I would too.

Earlier this week, I read KAWS’ LA Times article about his show; in the article he was asked about his art at Honor Fraser:

“This show is the first time there’s nothing identifiable with my aesthetic except the palette and the way it’s painted,” KAWS said. “There’s no X eyes. I feel like I’m at a point where I don’t have to signal back to past works.”

It was almost like KAWS deconstructed his own iconography for this show, tore up his old fabrics, and arranged them on blank canvases. And that his own head laid on the floor, surrounded by shuffling feet, said to me that he was as humbled by all of his success as he was humored to be smirking inside, having a laugh at the whole spectacle. It’s beyond his control now…

“I wanted to put a personal part of myself into an object world,” he said. “It’s a severed head. You look under the neck and it’s totally chopped. It’s kind of like an offering.”

Or is it? Maybe he was ushering in a hopeful start to a new era of understanding for his work and for creativity in general (probably over thinking here: thanks captain coffee), in a world where people who never knew who he was a year ago are now buying his paintings for $30,000. Humor and posterity over commerce.

I liked that he offered up himself as if he was Bart Simpson or Papa Smurf; he embed himself into the side of his art from which he always borrows…

Ok, I’m done. But for the kids, ahh, the cult of collectibility.

REAL TALK: Diddy x Terry Richardson

Starbucks and Ciroc. If you got a camera, you better break yo’ self. French Vogue Mafia. We gonna leave it at that.

REAL TALK: Vanity Fair on Mortality

So I’ve been in Brazil for a week now, totally overwhelmed by the varied scenery. And whereas the weather was initially perfect for a healthy stint of heat stroke, it’s now raining, very hard–totally unrelenting. No hanggliding.

While reading Vanity Fair, I came across a great article by James Wolcott on mortality and the instituion of American self-help books bent on minimizing our fear of dying; Wolcott aligned these books, Tuesday’s With Morrie as a prime example, with what he considers to be “final-exit strategies.”  

In one part of his article, Wolcott talks about how many people travel the globe, largely out of a motiviation to do and see as much as they can before death. Lists of ”to do’s” crossed off, buckets filled, new spots to add to your ”Where I’ve Been” app on Facebook… 

 ”Slipping off the mortal coil is no excuse for slacking off. Only in America could the prospect of dying be promoted as a motivational tool to rack up frequent-flier miles. Bookstores and Web sites abound in self-help guides listing the 10 (or 100, or 1,000) things and places you must do and visit before you die (there’s even a 100 Birds to See Before You Die catalogue), as if life were a race through the supermarket aisle to grab as many experiences off the shelves as possible before collapsing at the checkout line. Breadth of experience rather than depth is what’s being peddled.”

I do have to say that I too travel, and often times at random, just so I know that I’ve seen as much as I was able; I also do it knowing  full well that, in my mind, its very activity is foreboding of an eventual end to my journey.

And yet, on rainy days like these, I find comfort not in being in, say Brazil, but rather in the people around me here: Ben, Fernanda, Coltrane, Lisa, Jason, and a certain NASA-sanctioned DJ. Wolcott ends his article in the same fashion as well:

“But they managed to cheer each other up, which is perhaps the most any of us can do, and more than is done in most of the American mortality odes, where nothing seems able to dislodge the lonesomeness.”

Ok, enough low-grade ontology quaterbacking (read: the mud-thick coffee is wearing off)… I have to go sightseeing…

MOVEMENTS: KAWS x CBS

Via CBS Sunday Morning:

“(CBS) This morning we launch a trio of reports looking at graffiti artists who are turning a corner into the mainstream. With Serena Altschul we make the acquaintance of KAWS: 

---

What is it … or who, to be precise … that has brought both art collectors and skater kids to this gallery opening on New York’s Fifth Avenue? 

 

Meet KAWS … painter, designer, former graffiti artist, and one of the hottest names in the art world. (More on his unusual name in a minute.) 

After years of shying away from galleries, this reluctant star is now showing his face, and his work, to a whole new crowd. 

REAL TALK: Obama on Twitter

Today is a good day. I’m proud to announce that I’m now one of Barack’s 200+ thousand friends on Twitter. I love emails from David Plouffe and Michelle, but tweets from BO, that’s what’s really good. Keep those computers putin’. Hit me on my Twee-ter, hit me on my Tweeter (Famlay voice).

FUTURE PAST: Just Blaze x John Mayer

In 2006, just after I had left my post at MTV, I was invited by JEST to help co-produce and chronicle the first Alife Sessions featuring John Mayer and Just Blaze. I remember when JEST told me who was slated to perform; needless to say, I was totally flattered to be asked to run point on video production for the now-famous creative concert between John Mayer and Just Blaze. Above is video segment number one and below is segment number two; both videos are selected segments from the concert.

Thanks again to JEST, Arnaud, and my main man Jesse Gordon for bringing this concert to life on video. Special thanks to Thuy-An at iTunes for promoting the podcast of the concert; the podcast actually performed so well that it made the homepage of iTunes–for an entire week. Click here to download the full concert podcast. It’s over an hour long. Yes, a jam session between John Mayer on guitar and Just Blaze on the wheels for $free.99. And, it goes without saying, but thanks again to John and Just for being so accomadating with our post-concert interview and, of course, for their muscial artistry!

OBAMA: Peril to Progress

Barack Obama’s strategy to communicate with both domestic and international audiences is in full force; his “Weekly Address” from 1.24.09 (below) adequately communicated his short-term aims to domestic ears, and his interview with with the Arabic-language station Al-Arabiya  certainly shouted  to  skeptical ears  beyond. And that new White House website, thank you, thank you. In my mind, Obama’s role in his initial days in office has been not only as a broker for peace, but also as a mastermind for a considerable “diplomatic offensive” (via Foreign Policy).

Via the Washington Post:

By contrast, Obama went out of his way to say that if America is “ready to initiate a new partnership [with the Muslim world] based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress.”

And Obama’s communication with the Arab world through his recent TV interview was certainly proactive–but it has fell on rather critical ears, especially from Scott Macleod at Time: “To succeed, Obama needs a new Middle East policy, one that genuinely addresses the needs, interests and aspirations of the region itself.” It’s true, actions speak louder than words, but it goes without saying that we’re certainly appreciative of the new words–that are a call to action.

Only time will tell…

MOVEMENTS: Marc Jacobs on Stephen Sprouse + Takashi Murakami

Marc Jacobs is an indomitable force in creative culture. I was bouncing around YouTube over the weekend trying to find some videos of Jacobs talking about his recent work with Louis Vuitton and Stephen Sprouse. In doing so, I came across Loic Prigent’s documentary titled Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

And it’s a pretty inspiring watch; you can view most of the documentary here. You can buy it here.

That said, check out Marc talking about the inspiration behind his recent collaborations with Stephen Sprouse and Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton below (his inspiration ranges, from piles of luggage in hotel room to Duchamp…):

Jacobs on Stephen Sprouse and LV via NY Mag and Hypebeast:

Jacobs on Murakami and LV via the MOCA Los Angeles:

CORTNI TUCK

Cortni Tuck is without question one of the most inspirational, intelligent, and beautiful people that I’ve ever known. Wow, this is hard. Her vibrancy touched so many; her positivity was so infectious. When I was around Cortni, I felt that change was on the horizon, that there was someone out there whose capacity for caring actually equaled what I wished I could give to others–and receive if I were so lucky.

I was walking through a snow storm when I heard that Cortni had passed. I remember staring into a wall of white, totally stunned, a gripping pulse running through my body. I pictured an image of Cortni and I eating lunch when she and I were working at Conde Nast: tall, powerful, poised, and so very much in charge–all wrapped in an aura of kindness. Those women at Conde Nast had nothing on her. They moved to the side when she all but pivoted. And I don’t think Cortni ever noticed–or was even looking. That wasn’t her nature.

In the last week, I’ve come across two interesting articles on what happens when people pass, the first one is written by Karl Carter about Cortni for AdAge (excepts below):

We all came to know Cortni when she worked at the American Legacy Foundation, the home of the “Truth” campaign. Cortni was our one of our first clients and was constant barometer on the brand’s relevance to young people. Cortni dedicated her life to impacting young people, and as a result of her efforts and those of the dedicated team of public heath, marketing and advertising professionals, the campaign has gone on to prevent hundreds of thousands of teens from smoking. That is impact.

…

What does it all mean? As I sat watching photos at her repast with her circle of strong family and friends in Durham, N.C., it hit me: We can count on the sun rising another day, but we cannot count on being here to see it. We must breathe every breath like it’s our last, live every day with intention to do what we must do. We must do what is best for ourselves, our families and our community.

When I think of Cortni, I too channel how inspiring she was and look to the future. I’ve had several friends pass on in the last few years. And they are always here with me: when I’m writing, when I’m running, when the lights are off, when I’m dreaming; they are looking down on me and are always at my side.

The second article that I came across was from Rob Walker’s blog Murketing. In this particular post, Rob posed an interesting question: what happens to people’s “digital identities” once they’ve passed on? The subject matter and voice of this post is not really in the same tone as this post or Karl’s so I won’t post an excerpt here. But, ultimately, it did make me think: what should I do for Cortni and her legacy, especially online.

I will certainly aspire to live as righteously as her; I will try to empower others and myself as she always motivated me to do. Respect the art, the voice, and the hearts of others–and lend a hand to those in need.

You will always be pushing me to be a better person.

Rest in Power Cortni Tuck

MOVEMENTS: Banksy on eBay

My longtime friend from Jamaica, Peter Dean Rickards (I first spoke to Peter in 2004 for an interview published on Freshnessmag.com), is, well, at it again (read: good news). Peter has always been an outspoken voice and lens from Jamaica as one of the country’s premier photojournalists. Most recently,  both his words, and his actions, are speaking rather loudly. We all know Banksy. Some of you know Peter’s involvement with Banksy’s supposed “unmasking.” Peter has recently upped the anti, considerably. Let’s just say Banksy’s work is now for sale on eBay as a result of a saw, some elbow grease, and a little iconoclasm…

REAL TALK: My President is Black

My president is black, in fact he’s half white

So even in a racist mind he’s half right

If you got a racist mind it’s alright

My president is black, but his house is all white

Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk

Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run

Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly

So I’m gonna spread my wings, you can meet me in the sky.

<<Respect to Jay-Z>

INSPIRATION: Va$htie and Jadakiss

I honestly have to say that I am very often, and very thankfully, humbled and amazed by the moves that my friends make. And it’s great when very special things happen to the good ones… My friend Vashtie just directed the video for Jadakiss’ song “Letter to B.I.G” off of the Notorious soundtrack. Wow. Honestly, I am amazed. This song really brought me back to when Biggie was alive. It makes me feel 16 all over again.

REAL TALK: Shepard Fairey on Obama

“I believe that without hope, people are de-motivated. But with optimism, they’ll act.” – Shepard Fairey

Fairey on his portrait of Obama, via the LA Times:

Congrats on the induction into the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, Shepard.

MOVEMENTS: Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth is one of America’s greatest artists, and certainly one of my favorites. His portraits of rustic American living are simply stunning. When I think of Wyeth’s work, I think of amazing pastoral landscapes and wood-sided homes, tinged with a haunting undercurrent of darkness (Hitchcock as a painter…Edward Hopper meets Kubrick). Wyeth passed away this past Friday. Rest in power Andrew Wyeth.

From the NY Times:

Andrew Wyeth, one of the most popular and also most lambasted artists in the history of American art, a reclusive linchpin in a colorful family dynasty of artists from tiny Chadds Ford, Pa., whose precise realist views of hardscrabble rural life became icons of national culture and sparked endless debates about the nature of modern art, died on Jan. 16, 2009. He was 91 years old.

MOVEMENTS: Eugene Tong

My good friend Eugene Tong is an amazing fashion stylist; he’s also the current the Market Editor for Details Magazine. Eugene’s knowledge of contemporary menswear is second to none (he also owes me a BR 01-92 Phantom aka why you frontin’ on the kid?).  Eugene’s blog on Selectism is also pretty on point; his neighboring columnists include Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean and Tim Yu of Cool Hunting. Solid.

A short while back, Eugene styled a fashion story for Contributing Editor, an online fashion magazine helmed by Details’ Contributing Fashion Editor, Matthew Edelstein. CE is an incredibly inspirational fashion site, filled to the brim with full fashion features, no filler. Check Eugene’s full fashion feature  titled “Passing Me By” (please cue up some Pharcyde) here and add Contributing Editor to your regular men’s fashion reading (that is if you read about men’s fashion). Thanks.

REAL TALK: Lil Wayne for GQ

Devin Friedman’s extended interview with Lil Wayne is now available on GQ.com. Here’s an excerpt from the middle of the Q+A’s transcript. And yes, Terry Richardson is on the flicks. Oh yes indeed.

INSPIRATION: Making Monocle

This post is a link (read: low-grade shrine / humble thank you) to one of the most inspiring articles that I came across in 2008. I originally came across the post via Khoi Vinh’s blog, Subtraction (side note: Khoi is a super nice fellow, The Design Director for the NY Times, and the Author of the blog Subtraction), while doing some web research during my time as the Multimedia Editor for Details Magazine.

Simply put, if you’ve even wanted to know how the amazing media specimen known as Monocle was created, please go here now. If you know Monocle, then I’m sure you didn’t even read this sentence. You must have already clicked on the link, right? Seriously, do it. Now I’m worried. Seriously.

INSPIRATION: “On Biting” (bitten from…)

From Piers Fawkes via 12ozPROPHET via Jim Jarmusch via…

THE NEW GUARD: 13thWitness

My friend and super-talented photographer Timothy McGurr aka 13thWitness just relaunched his website, loaded with new back country snowboarding shots from Vermont and British Columbia. As always, Timothy’s shots are incredible; the one above is but a mere glimpse into his recent photo style. Included in his most recent gallery are flicks of another amazing NY-based photographer, Craig Wetherby. Whereas you can see Craig snowboarding in Timothy’s shots, you can see Craig’s work here. Seriously, check Craig’s work out (exhibit A below).

REAL TALK: Mr. Misunderestimated

Later gator. The dishes are done.

JET LAG: Certified Roc Familia

So as many of you know my main man (read: friend + client) DJ Neil Armstrong toured as Jay-Z’s DJ for all of 2008…and will be with Jay Peso in Washington D.C. next week for a little event called Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration. And here’s the two of them, Jay and Neil, on stage at this small venue in midtown called Madsion Square Garden…

BUT…What should also be noted is that while Neil was in Europe with Jay-Z in 2008, Neil also repped as Memphis Bleek’s DJ too. Yes, the whole Roc family…

REAL TALK: Bombs Over Burials

I was reading the NY Times this morning about Osama Bin Laden’s unilateral support of Hamas and their efforts in the Gaza. Not a shock at all. I guess I was more interested in seeing if and how the Bush administration would react to Bin Laden’s remarks. While reading the article, a particular passage really jumped out at me more than anything else:

The Israeli military says its warplanes have carried out more than 2,300 air strikes since the conflict began on Dec. 27. The Israeli military said its 60 air strikes overnight included attacks on what the army called weapons smuggling tunnels, rocket-launching sites and weapons production facilities. The Associated Press quoted Gaza residents as saying one strike hit a cemetery, destroying 30 graves and scattering body parts.

I’ve been following this conflict pretty regularly, both as a result of its religious implications and as a result of wanting to fully understand a conflict that Barack Obama is going to inherit once in office. The above quote really turned the conflict on its head for me. Whereas most of my thinking and consternation over this battle has been for those alive, this bombing of 30 graves really brings to life the idea that certain cultural conflicts never end–even if, perhaps, we have…

In a time of ruthless bombings, even those already passed are not safe from war; even in a time of ruthless warfare even those who have died are still not safe from newer incarnations of their enemies passed. I guess reading about these bombings highlighted the all-too-real alternate meanings of legacy and tradition.

INSPIRATION: City of God’s Son

My big brother Hyun Kim hipped me to this amazing experimental project by artist Kenzo Hakuta aka Kenzo Digital.

Watch the above video, read the brief description from the HuffPo below, and download the audio file on the project’s site here.

From Ben Aron at the HuffPo:

COGS is quite unique. It can be described as an epic, a musical, a soundscape, a movie for the blind, an art installation and a coming-of-age story. Kenzo also refers to COGS as “viral musical sound art.” COGS is a blend of multiple media and art genres and it explores new grounds for unconventional storytelling and ultimately gives rise to what Kenzo terms the world’s first “Beat Cinematic”. Kenzo arrived at this term by combining various mediums including 3D audio, multiple musical genres, and sound bites. Using some of hip-hop’s and film’s greatest talents (including Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie Smalls, Samuel L. Jackson and Joe Bataan), his aim is to create his own cross-medium ensemble cast, and out of many mediums, to create something epic and new.

Wow. I’m mesmerized. Seriously listen to this now.

THE NEW GUARD: Eric Elms

Nike Sportswear has recently dropped a rather hilarious video with, ok I’ll say it, my favorite contemporary artist, Eric Elms. There is just something about Eric’s identity work and, most especially, his recent foray into sculpture that really speaks to my visual language (read: whatever that means). The Nike video has very little to do with Eric, other than his comedic timing, but it’s pretty funny and you need to check it here.

If you don’t know who Eric is, you’ve most likely seen his work before, many times over. Maybe you’re wearing it now…

REAL TALK: Utada

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of listening to this single at an impromptu listening session with a few kind folks including Jeff  Staple and my good friend, Riko Sakurai. Riko is pretty much one of the most on point women I’ve met in NY. Beyond her former helm as President of Def Jam Japan, Riko was a VJ for MTV in Japan and co-hosted Japan’s premier Hip-Hop radio show with DJ Muro in the 1990’s. She loves Hip-Hop more than anything else and knows her history. Riko has been running point on Utada’s US album release for quite a while now and Utada’s first single has finally hit US shores. Utada has some bangers on the horizon but her first single, “Come Back to Me,” is smooth on the ears. Utada is a real sweetheart! Thanks for the preview Riko! Vist Utada’s MySpace page here to listen to the single yourself. More on Utada when the time is right…

MOVEMENTS: Advertising Atheism

This message — except the “probably” — has been approved by Richard Dawkins, scientist and author of “The God Delusion.” - From the NY Times

I came across this rather interesting article in the NY Times today about a range of advertising in England for Atheism. Yes, the capital A. And, to my amazement, like many pundits in British government (excluding the Queen, but including Tony Blair…), I too question the “capital R” from time to time.

That a tremendous amount of support for “a godless message to the greater public” has rallied in Britain, or anywhere in the West, is not terribly shocking. What is a bit amazing is that this groundswell of support centers on donating money to create advertising for, well, propaganda against the church–in arguably one of the places where it is still figures in most prominently.

From the NY Times:

And so were planted the seeds of the Atheist Bus Campaign, an effort to disseminate a godless message to the greater public. When the organizers announced the effort in October, they said they hoped to raise a modest $8,000 or so.

But something seized people’s imagination. Supported by the scientist and author Richard Dawkins, the philosopher A. C. Grayling and the British Humanist Association, among others, the campaign raised nearly $150,000 in four days. Now it has more than $200,000, and last Wednesday it unveiled its advertisements on 800 buses across Britain.

“There’s probably no God,” the advertisements say. “Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

I find some comfort in the ad’s rather simple, matter-of-fact jargon. After all, propaganda is supposed to move you; and in some cases it can provide support for those things you’re already doing–iconoclastic or otherwise. Comfort in commentary. We could all do with a little less worry right about now.

INSPIRATION: Haring | The Ten Commandments

Installation view, Keith Haring, The Ten Commandments, November 8 - December 21, 2008, Deitch Studios 4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City

This installation is certainly worth the “trek” to L.I.C. The scale and color of this project is simply amazing. Pair it with a stop at the Noguchi Museum too…

But before you head out, please read this Haring interview by Sylvie Couderc from 1985 about “The Ten Commandments.” Jungian psychological theory anyone?

An excerpt from Haring:

“I could not remember what the “Ten Commandments” were so I had to get a bible when I got here. I read them and took a few notes to think of it before I started working. For me they rapidly became metaphors. For some of the ideas are a little abstract, so the picture that represents them can be about other things at the same time, like “honor the Sabbath” for instance. The way I worked on the “Ten Commandments” is: even though its says “thou shalt not steal”, the picture I show is someone stealing: the antithesis. I present what not to do instead of saying “this is what you should do”. And at the same time there are things that allude to other ideas. If you did not know that they are the “Ten Commandments”, you would probably read a different story.”

From Deitch:

The Ten Commandments, one of Keith Haring’s most powerful series of paintings, will be presented at Deitch Studios, Long Island City, from November 8, 2008 – February 15, 2009. The works portray the Ten Commandments from Haring’s point of view, combining a traditional Biblical interpretation with the artist’s liberating spirit and apocalyptic vision. The Ten Commandments were painted for Haring’s first solo museum show, a 1985 exhibition at the CAPC, Bordeaux, a reconverted wool warehouse with a span of twenty-five foot high archways supporting the roof. Thinking about how to best use the space, known as “the nave,” Haring had the inspiration to order ten tablet shaped canvases to fit within the arches. While on the dance floor at the Paradise Garage the day before leaving for Bordeaux, he had a vision to paint The Ten Commandments.

REAL TALK: Letter to B.I.G

I heard this track on the radio for the first time on “Friday Night Live” the way I should have (too bad the video that I posted originally was removed).

And yes you can find the full track online, but I think hearing how “Letter to B.I.G” was leaked on the FM waves is the right context. Here’s to the old old Aiwa cassette player with the built in record function; mine was always loaded with a blank tape for this very reason.

Real excitement and an organic feel. Here’s to the grit of the airwaves.

DJ Mr. Cee on the wheels. Jadakiss and Faith on the vocals.

“Remix the joints you had but they can never ever duplicate your swag.”

Rest in Power.

Signing off with Jadakiss and B.I.G from back in the archives.

And yes, I got that track on white label from Rock and Soul. And I got doubles. And the Whoo Kid mixtape. 1996.

INSPIRATION: Warhol Museum

Pittsburgh is the place where my mother grew up; it’s also the place where Andy Warhol was born and raised. And like Warhol, my mom moved away from Pittsburgh more or less as soon as she was an “adult.” She just wanted to see what was beyond the three rivers…

And the ‘burgh is much more than a post-industrial, blue-collar city. It’s a place where Southern values (the good and bad) converge with Northeastern work ethic, where people celebrate family traditions and the smallest victories. The Church figures in prominently, every Sunday. It’s a place full of soul, where big money families live in the hills and modest folk grind out in the valleys and streets. When I go to Pittsburgh, I feel like I meet America face to face…and we have a chat. How’s America really looking…

INSPIRATION: Boston Globe | Big Picture

If you’re not already up on it, The Boston Globe has a rather amazing section of their website called the “Big Picture.” Rather than presenting news as long-winded (read: my writing style) features, The Globe instead posts large, incredibly-vivid images with tight, to-the-point captions. Sometimes a picture says a thousand words; certainly, in most cases, we’d rather look at picture than read a thousand words.

The Big Picture’s team has also just published their beautiful annual feature: The Year in Photographs. 2008’s edition is a three-part feature. Please take a look (Part 1 | Part 2 |Part 3)

More selects from the Big Picture after the jump.

MOVEMENTS: Nigo | Honeyee

Nigo's blog on Honeyee.com

Nigo, the founder of A Bathing Ape, has recently launched a blog on Hiroshi Fujiwara’s “influencer matrix,” Honeyee. And it goes without saying that Nigo’s blog will garner a tremendous amount of traffic for the Japanese-based site…as it should. Yet, I truly wonder if Nigo will finally shed some light on his creative acumen–or simply post about sample sales for his fanatically-consumed brand. Snooze…

In an era of global recession (read: deflated consumer spending) do people even really want to read about the pursuits of an alpha consumer whose life pursuit is maintaining one of the world’s most fanatically-consumed brands? Reading about consumption is certainly free; that’s a plus.

Ultimately, do we even have an interest in the smoke and mirrors of streetwear’s Wizard of Oz? All of a sudden Bape’s allure certainly looks like, well, a huge pile of bright shoes…maybe we’re really not in Harajuku anymore, Toto.

By meticulously controlling his company’s image and output, Nigo has made A Bathing Ape the ne plus ultra of urban streetwear—his $300 sneakers get more time on MTV than bottles of Cristal. Now comes the hard part: Will he sell out and turn his brand into a global icon, a hip-hop Polo, or will he crash and burn? – Karl Taro Greenfeld, Porfolio.com

Maybe we should just ask Pharrell…

THE NEW GUARD: Neek

Photo by Neek (www.wheresneek.com)

My friend Neek was in town last week from the blazing strip of Las Vegas. Neek is one of the most talented photographers that I know; he’s been an internet cel-webrity of sorts ever since Rob Walker wrote about him way back when. Removed from his Niketalk lore of yesteryear, Neek has grown into a great visual artist and a young mind in the Stussy Tribe and the Fruition Family. Be on the lookout for more from him in the coming years…the future is bright for Neek; ya’ll been warned. Neek is lurking…

JET LAG: DJ Muro | King of Diggin’

Kenji Oga, DJ Muro, and DJ Neil Armstong

So, the very short version of this exceptionally poignant story for me and my best friend Kenji Oga goes like this…

In 1994 I met Kenji as a freshman in high school. A few years after graduating from grade 12, Kenji co-launched VintageKicks.com, now known as Flight Club. Back in 2000, Kenji put me onto a DJ that I now represent, DJ Neil Armstrong. From Kenji’s travels to and from Japan for Vintage Kicks around 2002, we got put onto another amazing mixtape rocker, DJ Muro, arguably the pioneer of Hip-Hop in JP.

From 2002 on, Kenji and I listened to Muro and Neil’s mixtapes pretty heavily. Muro’s King of Diggin’ was, and still is, straight record digging madness at its finest; and it should have been as Muro was the Indiana Jones of record digging in Japan. Likewise, Neil’s first mix, Original, exemplified a commensurate level of digging, melded with turntablist tricks. These two guys were in a class of their own and yet they had never met or communicated with one another. Lost in Translation…

DJ Muro x Lord Finesse circa 1999…

MOVEMENTS: The Clipse | Road to Till the Casket Drops

Pusha and Malice of the Clipse are the two of the hardest-spitting MC’s in Hip-Hop. And…even though their rhymes usually revolve around moving “That Whaa-iiiite,” their wordplay and general maneuvers in the record industry are pretty progressive. Case and point: the Clipse are documenting the creation of their next album, Till the Casket Drops, in a series of weekly video episodes. And yes, this is not a new idea by any means, but filming, editing, and posting these video before their album drops is a pretty smart decision. It’s safe to say that this footage is usually seen on a poorly-distributed DVD months after an album drops. And that they used Vimeo…certainly a good look. Get it. EYUHK

REAL TALK: Rob Walker | “Crisis of Confidence”

Walt Handelsman for NEWSDAY

Rob Walker is undeniably my favorite “marketing” writer. on 12.12.08, his column for Consumed touched on a very serious American epidemic: our hyper consumerism and its fierce intersection with the harsh realities of today’s sharp economic downturn. More below.

Second thoughts about that paradigm are nothing new. “Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption,” Jimmy Carter declared in 1979 in his “crisis of confidence” speech. “We’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.” It’s hard to imagine anyone, then or now, arguing otherwise. But who, at the end of the 1970s, would have predicted the emergence of a new normal that included gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and McMansions?

INSPIRATION: Damien Hirst | The Hours | See The Light

A distraught Sienna Miller, cow blood hand prints, and a persistently-pulsing piano. Francis Bacon in shotgun. Damien Hirst behind the wheel. The Hours on the clutch. And you gotta love that monologue. I miss class at the Lever House…

JET LAG: Maia Norman

Neil Armstrong and I were kindly invited by our friend Raoul Shah to attend the launch party for Maia Norman’s clothing line, Mother of Pearl. Needless to say, Raoul’s invitation was nothing short of flattering, and the opportunity to let Neil’s skills shine for such an astute UK crowd was quite an honor. After all, the last time Neil played in the UK, he was a tad let down; he was only able to rock a little concert called Glastonbury..