A few new treats...

A couple of more tastey treats added to the collection:

The Man by Joshua Budich


Degeneration by Dave Kinsey

This is one of the better releases I've seen from Kinsey. A very old school Kinsey feel to it. Looking forward to getting it in a frame.


Shepard Fairey - 1984 and Animal Farm

Shepard Fairey recently redisigned the new book covers for George Orwell's Penguin classics Animal Farm and 1984.

This sweeet set came with both books and 2 limited edition hand signed prints

Let it Ride!

This movie was truly inspirational and gets 5/5 shaka's from me. This was a truly remarkable story about Snowboard legend Craig Kelly. Craig Kelly was an amazing legend, ikon, and person. Anyone with a serious passion for snowboarding NEEDS to see this film. Even better, anyone that has a serious passion for living life to the fullest and following your own path regardless of non-believers or the mainstream NEEDS to watch this film.

I will not say anymore about this film but watch it and you will be inspired.




Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot.

Round-a-boot

Lovers,

I didn't forget about you! For now enjoy this..

Eurotrip 2008!

Within days both Bill and Amar expressed an interest in coming to visit me in the UK. Thrilled to hear this, I was able to coordinate them to come at the same time which leads to...Eurotrip 2008!

We started off in the lovely Amsterdam. For accommodations we rented a room , a very small room, on a house boat situated on a canal in the center of Amsterdam. Although the quarters were tight this unique experience was one not to be forgotten. Lucas, the captain, made sure we were will taken care of.

Amateur photographer Bill "the thrill" Almond was there to capture some memories..
Our Room..

Amsterdam!






After 6 hours sleep in 3 days the next stop was London.

We were lucky enough to grab second row seats for the Fulham vs Newcastle match at Cottage Craven in Fulham. Built in late 1800's, Cottage Craven is the smallest stadium in the Premiership which, in my opinion, makes it one of the best.


I must take credit for the next two shots:

John Pantsil


Legendary Michael Owen


Not bad after consecutive nights with no sleep!


Another great shot of London courtesy of Bill (more to come!)

Adam Neate's "street exhibit" in London

So! Adam Neate decided that he wanted to do an art show. Instead of hosting this exhibition in a typical art gallery with chilled wine, Adam has decided to take it to the streets by leaving 1000 pieces of his work scattered across London. These pieces are estimated to be worth 1 million pounds in total!

Don't believe me? Read on...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/as-art-market-bottoms-out-a-painter-gives-his-work-away-for-nothing-1003954.html

To Quote Adam, "Between dusk and dawn teams of distributors are going to leave 1000 pieces of my artwork around London, encompassing the whole city," Neate said. "It's going to be even distribution across the whole of London and not discriminating between areas.

"I've always dreamt of being able to do an entire city in one day and being able to work in the gallery and sell paintings has helped me fund my project that I've wanted to do."

Adam is probably second in popularity to Banksy when it comes to street art in UK.

OK so it sounds cool and all but what's even better is..

Well Guess what??? I FOUND TWO!!!



I'm still in shock! I was simply walking through Brick Lane with my friend Antonia, who I told to keep her eyes peeled "just in case", when some guy jumps out of a van and puts a piece of shrink wrapped art down on a street corner. Toni spotted it and said "what's that??" I responded, "HOLY SH*T!! THAT'S IT!" I ran over to the corner and grabbed it! I then saw this same guy run across the street and leave a second piece leaning up against a street sign. I immediate ran across through traffic and grabbed piece #2 before the guy jumped into a van and sped off.

So random..so fun..people spent the entire night looking for these and I can't believe I am a recipient of 2!!

Adaption / Translation - Jose Parla!

I took a trip down to Elms Lesters Painting room in Central London and caught NY's Jose Parla's first ever solo exhibit in London! The show was pretty remarkable and it was nice to see Jose's work up and personal as I am a huge fan of his art.

For this exhibit Parla used materials from the urban environment including wood, cement, vinyl, paint, wax and ink to create these pieces . The Graffiti influence is what I enjoy most of Parla's work.
Some of the pieces are so huge and densely layered with graffiti that you can only imagine the time it took to complete.

Once again, its the price tag that keeps me away from his work. There was one item for sale and it was one of the smaller pieces going for 13,000 pounds which was just a bit out of my budget!

I did purchase a limited edition book of this show which is very well put together and I'm stoked to have it as part of my collection.

A few pics...enjoy!!
PS. Its worthwhile to click on these pics to look at them in full size!!!











13,000 pounds or $20,000..ugh!


The Grand Finale!



Look at the size of that door!



I've posted this video in previous blogs but will add again...

Big Brother is watching UK!

I was walking through the streets of London once again when I stumbled upon this infamous Bansky piece just off of Oxford St. in central London.

UK has the most CCTV surveillance cameras in the world with over 4 million cameras installed! That works out to 1 camera for every 14 people. While Yes, it has reduced crime but they are also used as big revenue generators for the government as they are also flooded on the highway systems and on nearly most traffic lights.

Street artist Banksy pulled off this stunt which is known as his biggest art work in Central London. Banksy set up 3 stories of scaffolding during darkness and painted this comment on "Big Brother Society". All the while there was a cameras on location which did not catch Banksy!




I received my first speeding ticket via CCTV camera last week. 41 in a 30! Doh!

Home sweet Home!

I am home for 2 weeks and although UK has been fun it's really nice be back. Its been an action packed trip home.

Week 1!

Monday - NOFX at Lupo's



Wed - Atmosphere at Lupo's



Friday - Z-trip at Harpers Ferry



Saturday - Chachi's wedding

Sunday - Sleep!

Edinburgh!

Midevil, haunted, and gorgeous Edinbugh Scotland..






Oldest Graffiti ever??

Theater of Dreams

Calo, Aubs, and I took a train ride down to from London to Manchester to catch the Manchester United vs Bolton Match. Ronaldo scored on a suspect penalty shot and Wayne Rooney scored a lovely goal off a feed from Ronaldo giving Man U the 2-nil victory.

Old Trafford

Kick-off

Ronaldo's PK

Best ever? Don't hate the player!

Rooooooney!

Ben Frost is Dead!

So I was giving Calo and Aubrey a tour of London including the one and only Brick Lane when I happliy stumbled across this Ben Frost show! His stuff is dirty...but in a good way!

The Wackness!

OK, it's time for an Uncle Sima film suggestion.

"The Wackness" - by Jonathon Levine.

This film takes place in '94 and is about a young drug-dealing depressed man's struggle with his adolescence as he recently graduated college (big up to 94 alumni!) and is preparing to enter adulthood. He finds trust with a pot-headed manic shrink with a lost soul who has his own pattern of issues but together they learn from each other and pair up to take on their depressions. The story line twists and turns and has many unexpected happenings and mood changes from pure comedy to heartbreaks.

I won't ruin it with any more details but its highly enjoyable so watch it and and let's discuss.

P.S. Worth mentioning..The soundtrack alone is A++!

say something beautiful and be quiet..

I checked out the Cans festival today and it was pretty much insane. Cans festival is a play on words to the famous Cannes film festival. UK's Bansky set up this festival in an abandoned tunnel on Leake Street and over 40 artists from all over the world came to exhibit their work. This was like the graffiti hall of fame.

Many pics so I'll let them do the talking..


BANSKY! My first time seeing his work face to face..


Inkie


Busk ...incredible!



Cept



SweetToof


Chu


ATG


Zeus


Astek


Rugman


Ronzo


unknown




I'm not sure how Banksy can set up such an event and still have nobody know what he looks like??