...my dad uses it to send me porn.....grody
...my 80-something-year-old grandmother just sent me anti-Kerry spam (in addition to every single send-this-to-5-people-to-be-lucky type spam....is there a name for that particular spam? Has to be...)
...all so very creepy
It dawned on me the other day how we, as an information hungry culture, create our own self-fulfilling prophecy…I know this topic sounds about as interesting as re-entering all your numbers in a new cell phone, but follow this...
Ok...so in the past three days I’ve seen about 4 articles about how the “elusive” target market of males aged 18-30 just aren’t responding to advertising like they used to...males 18-30 are probably the second advertising cash cow behind the teeny bopper market, who’s parents feed them all their cash to buy their Christina Speers albums...these 18-30 males are impulsive, given to group think, and will buy just about anything if the price’s right as long as there is a half naked girl draped across it...
I read one article in Wired (article will be up July 30th here) while I was on the plane to Miami…another in the WSJ while inhaling a quesadilla last night (sorry gotta have a subscription for the online article, which I don’t …nazis) , and others in tons of other web articles...infact, Wired posted another similar article at the same time I'm writing this post. Basically, in these articles, the writers postulate that since males of the 18-30 market segment spend more time playing games, surfing the web, watching online porn, and watching DVD’s that the advertising dollars they spend on TV commercials just aren’t effective. I would argue this has been the reality for the past five years, but since we’re slowly coming out of this recession, “the Suits” wanna know why, since they finally have some loot to spend on advertising, it’s not paying off…ok...I’m rambling again. Basically, the advertisers are targeting video games for product placement as well as creating custom video games based on their products to shill their wares....BTW, this isn't *that* new of an idea...these ad geniuses just weren't born yet.
Now, here’s where, to me, it gets interesting. What you have is a couple of smart guys in the advertising field who “get it”. They know how to reach their target market because they know what their market likes, etc. These guys pull these video game placements off and the advertising gurus hail them as genius. These “brilliant” marketing folk then proceed to get bombarded by news and magazine writers who expound upon their brilliant achievements and, ultimately, these stories deluge the media, in this case, over the span of about two weeks.
So at this point the sensation is on fire...all the ad execs searching for an answer to their bosses question of “how do we get to our consumers”, well duh...they pitch a video game...which I predict to be the next mesh trucker hat of the advertising industry. And what’s interesting is these fools don’t understand that producing a video game is sheer magic at times. There have be SO MANY video games where the playability sucks, or the whole plot is just ghey and the game is worthless. The kind of quick re-edit, re-writes these guys in the advert industry are use to aren’t available when you’re making a video game...it’s out of your hands at some points because making it is so complex (save flash-based games). So, mark my words...you think you’ve seen a lot of shit video games on product sites inviting you to slide beers through a mouse hole to undress some sweetish hottie...as the say in the New York…. you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Ok…so here’s my question. I’m pretty sure the money from advertising poured into custom video games, and video game placement is going to go up. But I wonder is it actually going up because the advertisers have done their homework and know how to reach their market, or because the general media picked up on this little advertising related tidbit and made such a big deal about it, that companies will be turning out useless video games at the rate they turned out websites and e-business “strategies” at the turn of the century….just to keep up with the Jones...
Quote of the day from Al Sharpton's speech at the DNC wherein he excercises his right as a black man to evoke the spirit of Ray Charles (SORC™) in liu of his own actual political vision...
"And it occurred to me as I heard Ray singing, that Ray wasn't singing about what he knew, because Ray had been blind since he was a child. He hadn't seen many purple mountains. He hadn't seen many fruited plains. He was singing about what he believed to be."
Note to Al: Ray didn't write that song mang...
....and the Harlem Dry Cleaners called, your purple jumpsuit is ready for pick up...and theres been a shooting @ 123rd St, near a housing development, Channel 3 request that you be there...
Music for Robots - not only a dope name for a website, but also one of my fav sites to check every out once in a while.
Whoever runs it basically just posts and mp3 or two every couple of days and a little blurb about it, who did it, what it evokes.....it's nice b/c who ever runs the site has great taste in music (IMHO) doesn't run the over commercialized gammit....kind of like being a fly on the wall in really high-end vintage record store, with no Jack Black diatribes.....my song for the morning
(pic from ExplodingDog.com)
...back from the Miami bachelor party and damn did we have a good time....not that my personal life's that exciting but whatever....
Anyway...it's monday after a much needed vaca...so I gots nothin fo ya mang....
...well, with the exception of this new Juju mix that's up on his site for a couple of days...it's a drum and bass mix and most of the tracks are super flavorful, all unreleased business....a couple of the tracks sorta fall a little more on the tweaker tip that I need on a Monday morning, but the mix is fresh and you should cop it while it's up (which will only be for a day or two)....
Well, today Thursday equals friday....which I soo happy about. The 3-day Miami bachelor party weekend starts tomorrow...it should go off...enjoy yo-selves...
Just why do people run blog sites..who knows...maybe to make people laugh, emote about themselves endlessly, or turn the political system on it's ear....
Ana Marie Cox has done the latter with her Wonkette blog (featured by us earlier here...and on a related topic, I'm really disappointed I didn't pick up on the whole Sloganorator thing she was runnin a bit ago, izz real funny)...anyway...you gotta give it up to her...she's been doing her thang, and doing it so well, she'll be covering the Democratic Convention for MTV...gwan girl...
...this as a screensaver (or this)
...some free time to screw with this some more.
(both from Doc. Jones...the kid's got the goods)
Dear Friday,
please come soon...kthnxbi.
have you heard of flickr yet? it's like shutterfly fucked livejournal and out popped flickr, a way to share photos and provide off-color commentary on just about anything. killer app.
anyway, my friend schlomo rabinowitz is all about flickr, and one of my favorite photo projects that schlomo has worked on is his infamous pickle project, aka new ways to shame my friends and random drunk people on the internet.
so, got some seconds to spare? check out flickr, the pickle project, and then walk over to the house of shields and ask schlomo when he has time for another headshot. ahem.
Yo, hopefully some new content coming soon...just been rill busy...
don't forget about us...
Since 1992, Frank and Lida lee have run the 4Star movie theatre in the Richmod district, which they built from scratch, dedicated to showing first run asian films, bolleywood films and other cult classics. They built the theatre with the intent to buy the building, but negotiations have broken down and their dream is in big trouble. Please give them a hand. - www.save4star.net
Glen Danzig + Northside Kings = knuckle sammy
Yao... my friend Chris put these fashionable medical alert bracelets together...fully customizable hotness. If you or some one you know is a diabetic or needs a medical Alert bracelet, but isn't feeling the current geriatric version, you should check into these....guaranteed conversation starter at your next indie rock show. - www.mylifewear.com
...it's Friday...I'm hungover as fuck...deja-vu anyone??
With all this talk on ComeCorrect about fashion, I feel it's important to talk about the ultimate fashion faux pas -- sweaty men without shirts. On my tour of Bastille day festivities last night, I found myself at Minna watching people dance (not usually my style to park in or around the dancefloor, but the music on Wednesdays doesn't usually do it for me). Jerry Bonham was spinning some energetic stuff that folks seemed to be digging. One of the dancers on stage took off his shirt at some point to reveal a muscular torso that looked like it was dipped in Wesson. I'm not theoretically opposed to sweaty guys dancing with their shirts off, but there's a time and a place. If he were dancing outdoors on a sunny day, what the hell, go shirtless. But the way this guy at Minna did it seemed like a desperate attempt to justify all those extra reps he pumped out at 24 Hour Fitness ("It's all you, man, it's all you!"). I would have been less offended -- impressed, actually -- if the guy was roly poly and had juicy breasts.
As unsavory as this guy's public display of lubrication was, it would have been 10 times worse if he were dancing near me on a crowded dancefloor. If you are near this man on the dancefloor you become part of his collective towel. This is a good argument for the return of shirts studded with blades.
Bastille Day ratings: Claude Alley (5.5), Minna (4.4), Bardot A Go Go at Rickshaw (8.66).
Congrats! You’re arrived. The only problem is…you look like everyone else.
Witness the latest hipster phenom called Stroke Cloning. Viewable at venues such as Arrow Bar and most recently Rickshaw, this involves emulating the hipster dress most closely associated with the Strokes, including shaggy hair, pegged pants, pseudo 80’s wear, horizontal stripes, etc blah blah blah.
The in crowd has been designating uniforms for identification of others for mating purposes (and to ease the bumming of a smoke) for centuries. But as of late the deviation from the Strokes ideal is so minimal that we have all achieved Style Nirvana…that most holiest of all places where in an effort to emphasize our differences we stake out a new route…albeit with 200 of our closest friends.
Is it so much to ask that now that you have outlived your expectation to die at 25 you can now claim your own personal style?
I'm a lil late on this...saw it and spaced on it, but whatever. This guy Mike who runs a site called Satan's Laundromat, touched down in SF a bit ago and took some really impressive urban decay pics...funny how some things look completely different in pics....
...just great...woke up late, work's hittin like a Mack truck, and the software that runs this site's been effed all day....so sweet...One day I'll have time to yuck it up with actual sentences, but shit's too hectic right now.....hold tight for the time wastah.
did you know that internet travel companies are really slave drivers in disguise? it's the truth - that's all i speak. i wouldn't fuck with you.
so, get this - my "real job" has kept me so busy that it's sapped the creative juices out from me, and it's taken more than a couple nudges to get me back up on this site. lately i've felt like a complete delinquent slacker, devoid of imagination and inspiration. my content is weak - i'm grasping at straws. but here i am. i'm ready. ready for just about anything except for the rest of my friday afternoon.
i thought i'd just make this entry about pop culture, or maybe just about my life. but hell, my life is sorta interesting ... isn't it? i mean, within the last week i:
- saw farenheit 9/11 - while it had heavy content, i felt that mr. moore used a pocket rocket instead of a full-sized dildo to nail bush's ass. a great film for anyone to watch, if for no other reason than the scenes with gum-smacking britney and when GWB wrecks that infamous quote "fool me once ..."
- went to bruinslair and saw the dirtiest guitar-humping metal-loving rock band, mongolian death cloud and the sick, throaty beatboxer kid beyond. kid beyond was amazing -- in fact, i'm going to catch him at brunos next tuesday. the things that boy can do with him mouth. trust me, all the ladies were thinking it. ;)
and, as if that isn't enough, this weekend i plan to:
- open up my third eye a little wider, and get the energy running up and down my sushumna nadi at my yoga teacher training. tonight's class, meditation led by darren main.
- bust out the taffetta and go to the kickball prom before heading out lush camp's gathering of friends. breaks and crushed velvet - it don't get sicker than that.
for those who want to keep it going on sunday ... pacific sound's sunset party might be the way to wind down. but don't go looking for me there, i'll probably be working from home, my electronic collar sending a prickly buzz and reminding me that it's time once again to make sure your asses get the best deals on travel.
The answer is fuck yes if Norwegian couple Tommy Ellingsen and Leona Johansson of Fuck for Forest have anything to say about it. While some people moan but do nothing about the environment, these two are putting their moaning to work. Through their porn website, and through controversial public sex acts, they intend to raise money to help create a prophylactic barrier for the Rainforest.
Somehow, this seems so San Francisco. If only the couple lived here and not Oslo, they would have been prime material for the City's great new "Only in San Francisco" poster and billboard campaign (reload to see all).
Spiderman 2 in Legos (via Yap)....almost as cool as Thriller in Legos (under "News", then look for "Thriller")
Remember when you where about 8 and you would go to the movie rental joint which, if you're like me, was probably a grocery store....I think the thing I remember the most was just marveling at all the really weird horror flicks there were turning out in the early 80's....gems like "Howling III: The Marsupials".....such a cinematic watershed moment (the word "watershed" just owns dunnit....) Anyway, hit up badmovies.org. Someone has spent many a long hour dutifully cataloguing hundreds of truly horrid cinema...that effort should certainly not go to waste. Every b-movie review comes standard with pics, sound clips, video footage and a pretty exhaustive breakdown of all the weird quirky things in each movie (sorta like the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 treatment in text)...Definitely a perfect site for getting that ominous sci-fi movie sample for you're new psy-trace track....Woah, there are so many of these joints I *need* to see...I mean cummon, how could I have missed Jesus Christ Vapmire Hunter.
So to some, the title of this post may be understood, to others, it’s completely arguable. As I've been doing different articles for this site, I've been happening upon tons and tons of street sticker archives on the web. Now, I get into this stuff immediately…it’s artistic, usually pretty quick witted, pleasing to the eye, etc, etc….but last week, while scouring the web for some dumb link to give you one more reason to screw off work, the real importance of renegade stickers dawned on me...
So, I was trying to figure out where this whole phenomenon came from. It has roots in graffiti, but there's a completely different element to it. Tagging and other forms of graffiti have to be honed as a skill, the artist has to gain familiarity with the medium. There's also limitations on what an artist can do given the size of his canvas and, depending on where the art's going down, the safety of his (or her) location....the two definitely go hand it hand, but the stickers are something literally anyone could make for any reason....there's appeal in the universality of it...
The best I can guess is that it breaks down like this....Guys used to like to tag bus seats and trains, etc…but, since it’s illegal, and it’s hard to do much more than cheap scrawl on a moving vehicle, you evolve to the sticker. So, for the aspiring urban artist, this means popping over to the local Walgreen’s, picking up a pack of “Hello, my name is” stickers, or dropping by your local post office and picking up some wide white packing labels, taking those sweethearts home and staying up scrawling “phAkie”, “germ”, or “mackOner” until the crank runs out….then the next time you hit the PT (public trans), you’re bombin’ like Bush on every surface that will hold your name. You claim your turf, share your tag, and aren’t caught with those fat little markers the cops have so much trouble over….now, I know, this is sounding like a nuisance at this point, not much value right...which itself is arguable, BUT this is the important first step in the evolution...the difference in the way the "work" is made available to the public is an important one...
Over time, you begin to see a different sort of sticker popping up around town. For a while, it was mostly those ultra-clever-at-the-moment Andre the Giant stickers. Fronted by Shephard Fairey, behind his OBEY project, these graphic visions of Andre the Giant are pretty prominent in most major urban locations. Shephard Fairey then went on to espouse about the details of his phenomenology experiment…..ok…sidebar, real quick-like…. I’m not completely convinced the Shep actually conceived this idea and then executed with his Andre stickers or he capitalized on a fad and went on to explain it in quite an eloquent fashion. Bottom line, the second step in this evolution was realizing that the medium itself could serve aesthetical purposes and not necessarily have to convey a direct meaning, yet still touch/move people….
So…at this point, what you have is the emergence of an urban-styled art-based in graffiti in a medium that is reproducible and highly distributable. Through the emulation of this technique, you allow for bedroom artists to produce their art in an anonymous fashion. Circumventing to barriers to entry that exist in many art circles. It mirrors the generation that creates it and the movement that constructs it. I would argue, in some aspects, that the graffiti and sticker art of today is the “pop art” of our generation, sans Warhol and his idea factory….it’s a movement or people expressing themselves in a renegade fashion with almost no venue for criticism or praise...art in a vacuum...expression for the sake of expression...a medium utilized to convey feeling, messages of protest, amuse, defy…..
I guess when explained as it has been here…the “wow” factor of this whole movement is a little lost. However, I challenge you to think about how many quirky little stickers you see on an ATM or a street sign versus when might have appeared 4-5 years ago…I also challenge you never to look at them the same way again...it’s a movement; a voice of your generation…there’s a never ending list of these sites that catalogue different stickers from around the world. Most of the sites I’ve happened upon are British, which I’m guessing is a direct correlation to how British people, as a general stereotype, seem to view hip hop, a music tightly related to this type of movement, from much more of an artistic perspective...hence the interest in cataloguing...
Some ports for your perusal...
http://www.woostercollective.com/index2.html
http://www.invisiblemadevisible.co.uk/
http://www.stencilrevolution.com/homepage.php
http://www.streetstickers.co.uk/
there's *tons* more...hit me up with some of your favs..I'd love to checkum out
Oh yes...Friday Flash, in a dub stylee...
I'll have to break it off proper at some point about my current love/obsession with Dub music. It's one of those things that ranks right up there with boobies and chocolate milk on the "I <3" list...
But until then...feel these grooves....I'm feeling the Burning Babylon and the Echo Chamber the most. (via Cyan)
