Grime Fighter

What do you get when you cross A pressure washer, cleaning fluid and a graffiti artist in the cloak of the night? Reverse graffiti.

Also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing, Reverse Grafitti is a method of creating art in public spaces by removing the dirt from its surface. Think writing 'Clean Me' on a dirty car window and expand.

Paul 'Moose' Curtis is one such Reverse Grafitti artist. His thoughts wandered while washing dishes and his ideas of cleanliness swelled into a beautiful stencil project in San Francisco's Broadway tunnel.

These clean tags are bewildering law enforcement as there is no crime. The artist doesn't use any paint. By cleaning the walls he is not only 'beautifying' the city, he is stamping the streets with an environmental awareness of the grime and pollution we are causing and living among.

His stencils (of indigenous trees in the Tunnel project) also further span to justify graffiti as an art form rather than a urban nuisance.

Watch a video on the Tunnel Project.

You Spin Me Round Round: Restyling Vinyl

We're all about recycling our vinyl and in the last post I found some ideas of what to do with the album covers. The actual records inside can be put to recycled use as well.

1. You could cut out the label center, laminate them and used as coasters.

2. Or paint the whole record and attach together for wall art...

.. or a room divider

For the Record: Reuse and Recycle your Albums

All your music is digital and easily contained on your iPod or hard drive. So what to do with the miles of vinyl now that it faces extinction? Here are some cool ideas I found to recycle all those old LP's.  

1. Make a coffee table out of the Album Covers. 

Gorilla Glue some empty covers together -very straight. (As many as you want depending on the size of the table you desire.) Then coat with resin to protect it and add legs or casters.  

2. Use them as wall organizers for your paper or mail. 

 Just cut out a half-moon shape out on one side of the top opening and mount to wall with a foam mounting square. 

What to do with the vinyl insides...  coming up!   

Where's PETA When You Need Them???

In March of this year designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac sent dead Muppets down the runway. His vision went way beyond Muppet-"inspired" to actually putting freaking dead Muppets on clothes.  

But no one really gave it much thought. That's what's expected of eccentric artists. However, what is totally bizarre is when someone- a real person- actually wears those purposed-for-shock-value-only clothing.  

The walking fashion faux-pas known as Lady Ga-Ga did just that.  She appeared on German Television in that Kermit the Frog Roadkill dress.

Beyond the obvious questions to her style sense and sanity, it is puzzling why the entertainer chose Germany to flaunt her fashion "don't".  Germany was the first European nation to amend its constitution to guarantee animal rights in 2002.  Wouldn't that protection pertain to frogs? 

It seems Kermit may have bigger problems these days than just being Green. 

Ashton Kutcher: Best Buy's Best Employee?

According to executives at  electronic Superstore Best Buy, their ideal Senior Marketing Executive would be Ashton Kutcher.  The company posted an ad for a Sr. Manager- Emerging Media Marketing with requirements including:

"a Bachelors degree, two years of mobile or social media marketing experience, four·years people or resource leadership experience and one year of active blogging experience. The ideal candidate would have to have at least 250 followers on Twitter."

"Punk'd" should cover Ashton's qualifications for resource leadership however he may need to go back to the U of Iowa and actually get that degree in biochemical engineering he was studying for.  

But being he was the first ever to claim more than a million Twitter followers should jump him to the top of the Best Buy Interview line. 

I am sure Best Buy feels they are at the cutting edge of social networking technology by requiring this inane trait in future employees. But it is scary that a company would give any credit to the annoying Twitter-azzi that feel that their "Tweets" are important and people actually care for the daily nose-picking updates. 

And if this marketing ploy is to get super sales information out quickly to their eager Consumers, wouldn't Best Buy be better off just setting up their own Twitter feed- setting all the blackberries they sell up with their Twitter account receiving? I am sure a store that size could do better than 250 followers. 

Hey, Why didn't one of their marketing guys already think of that? Maybe they really do need Ashton. 

The G8: Can We Bear It?

The leaders of the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia convened in Italy today to begin the G8 Summit. They will undoubtedly focus on the economy.  But to make sure other issues are addressed, common people are there to protest and have their concerns seen by those most powerful. 

Greenpeace wants to ensure the climate issue gets its fair time in the talks and has organized a cheeky way to get their point across.  

They have peppered, er... salted, the streets of L'Aquila Italy  with Polar bears. 

These 'Homeless' bears bear signs that read "My home has melted" "I've lost my home because of Global Warming" and "I'm a Climate Refugee" .

Go Bears!   

We Are All Mad Hatters Here

Disney has, in their right minds entrusted their Alice in Wonderland project to the imaginative and capable Tim Burton. The film is actually to be a sequel to the Alice book we read when we were younger and will star some of Burton's usuals-like Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Crispin Glover.  Ooh I can't wait! The film is now in edit and we have to wait until March 2010 to see it.  

Lewis Carroll's tale has stretched the imagination of artists and designers everywhere.  In preparation for the film I am so anticipating, I am searching for those artists that use the book as a muse.  

In Tokyo, a gym has taken on the fantastical vision and created a climbing wall full of picture frames, deer antlers and flower pots. 

And this tea party-inspired lamp is available at Anthropologie ($195). 

As the film's release date creeps closer and the minds of the artists are stretched beyond, I am sure there will be more fabulous creations to ogle over. 

Williamsburg Hosts Sport of Warlocks

UPDATE ON QUIDDITCH IN MCCARREN PARK:

Some of you requested pictures of the Harry Potter Quidditch game in Williamsburg that took place in June. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend but found some photos online. Sorry to say, there were no flying broomsticks.

--------------- ORIGINAL POST----------

It's the game popular with Wizards, and recently just as real. But the imaginary sport of Quidditch may be crossing into the world of mere mortals.

This weekend MTV is hosting (and of course, shooting) a tournament in McCarren Park in Brooklyn. If you, unlike me, have actually read any of the Harry Potter books, then you know that those blessed with magical powers play this game on broomsticks.

However not even with their bottomless trust funds, can the bearded trendy Brooklynites buy one of those flying house sweepers. So the question is, how can Billyburgers retain their eternal hipsterhood if forced to run around a field clumsily attempting to hold a broom between their legs? Will their general earthlingness be exposed?

The answer to these questions and the general spectacle of idiocy will be revealed between 12-6pm this Saturday June 20th. Take the Mystical L train west and don't forget your magic wand and Warlock hat.

Reclaiming the Mart

The economy  is sinking, shops are closing, houses are being foreclosed and unemployment tips dangerously close to 10%. Yet one force is strong enough to withstand this economic slump- Wal-Mart.  

Big box retail stores that sell substandard Chinese products at enticingly low prices for the unemployed are reporting sales are up, up, up! 

Some are taking advantage of the recession, and the rest of the country's impoverished new status to upgrade to even bigger cement structures- vacating their old ugly behometh premises and leaving them as eyesores spotted along the suburban-side.  So what can we do with those abandoned stores besides leave them to be infested with rats?   

Two abandoned Wal-Marts outside of Austin,Texas have been modified to better use - defining 'better' as anything other than a Wal-Mart . 

One was turned into an indoor Go-Kart raceway.

And another more aptly modified into a Spam Museum.

A great way to recycle the largest most grotesque form of landscape butchery. 

Your Own Personal Jesus Snack

God appears to us in many forms and many places.  People have spotted Jesus in tree bark, on sidewalks, in wood cabinets, shower mold  and anywhere else he sees fit to show his humanly form.

The most interesting of these apparitions is that of the Cheeto. Why would a Holy icon would choose to materialize in an edible snack?  Only Cheesus knows.  

Am I Human?

Guys who have the unexplicable need to pose with mannequins: 

What's cooler, the 'fro or the breakin' moves?

There's Sleepy, Bashful, Dopey....

Join the Army. Travel to foreign lands and stand near mannequins that do interesting things.

I won't look like an arse if she's doing it too! 

Hang me now and bury me in this mannequin's shirt!

I'm too sexy for this Doll.

Horror Hummels

It embarrassed you when you brought your friends home from school. Maybe it still does.  It is your Mom's 'Hummels'. A morose collection of cutesy ceramic figurines that she keeps in the China cupboard so as not to collect dust.  You told her a hundred times they were dumb but man, the spanking you got when you 'accidentally' dropped one and the umbrella chipped was not worth the artistic duel.

But times they are a-changing.  Thanks to London artist Barnaby Barford.  He finds the dolls (probably for a pittance on eBay) and their ceramic counterparts and transforms them into sinister, yet darkly humorous modern sculptures. Placed in twisted street-real narratives, and dressed in hoodies, these ceramic sculptures actually seem, (can I say it?) cool. And what a way to recycle!

"Does this mean we're not getting any Presents? 2009

Ring-a-ring-a-Roses  2009

For more go to Barnabybarford.co.uk

Still Life After Death

The Future of Taxidermy is one of Gothic Beauty. 

London artist Polly Morgan whispers the breath of art into roadkill. 

Using only animals that have died naturally or are given to her by friends (some veterinarians) she immortalizes the creatures unlike anyone else in her field.  

Polly Morgan is single-handedly  modernizing the antiquated art of taxidermy by taking the animal out of context and allowing others to see the beauty of that instant in time - that instant of the final breath.

Her works remind me of a poem by Emily Dickinson. 

I died for beauty, but was scarce 

Adjusted in the tomb, 
When one who died for truth was lain 
In an adjoining room. 

He questioned softly why I failed? 
"For beauty," I replied. 
"And I for truth - the two are one; We brethren are," he said. 
And so, as kinsmen met a-night, 
We talked between the rooms, 
Until the moss had reached our lips, 
And covered up our names.

Pinned Down Pin-Up

Vaughan Bass was a "paint-over" artist who started his career retouching Gil Elvgren's Pin-Up  works.

He did a series of his own illustrations of wrestling scenes in the 1950s.

To see more of his amazing work check out www.plan59.com

How To Attract Unicorns

And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with their bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness." -Isaiah 34:7

For the past two weeks I have been entrenched in researching how to attract Unicorns to my yard. I know what you're thinking, that Unicorns are just a myth and I am wasting my time. 

However, according to Wikipedia, Unicorns are "not found in Greek mythology, but rather in accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of the unicorn."  And to quote Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office". Because anyone anywhere can submit information to Wikepedia, it must be true.  

So now that I am sure they exist, I have concocted a sure-fire way to attract these gorgeous creatures.  All you need is a garden, some Pez and some gold dust.  With this, and after finding the vortex in your garden, you can coax the Unicorn out to your yard to be seen by an ugly mortal like yourself.

For more complete instructions, follow the link to my eHow article: How to attract Unicorns  and good luck! 

Conserve or Be Stabbed

We've all heard the tragic warnings from environmentalists about over-using our finite resources before we destroy our planet and all life on it. Yet many people still have not changed their wasteful ways. If you know someone who is selfishly burning our supplies, this just might wake them up to the detriments of their behavior.  

This shower curtain allows you just a few minutes to take a shower before it inflates into a Wall of Spikes- literally pushing you out of the bath. 

Designed by French artist Elisabeth Buecher who calls her method "design by pain and for our own good", this shower curtain is used to curb our limits.  I believe it is a good way to show us the evil in our ways of that we may not be aware.

I do not know how much time you have to soap up and rinse before the final curtain call, or if anyone would actually purchase this to push them into conserving.  But I do appreciate Buecher taking a stab at influencing us positively through brute force.

Here are photos of the curtain in pre-stages of shower...

..and in full stabbing force.

If you think this may be too extreme to give as a gift to the Wasteful One in your life, remember the pain they will feel is nothing compared to that they are causing.

To see more of Buescher's and other conscious artists' designs go to the blog  TextilesFutures.co.uk

Everyone Is a Rockstar

I found this on my friend John's facebook page and it is the coolest thing... if you have time.  It's instructions on how to make a fake band/album cover.  Here is mine. 

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to "Wikipedia." Hit “Random Article”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to "Random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click  http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together

Upload yours here- I'd love to see them~ and THANKS JOHN! I love you! xoxox