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There's a May Day conferance in the works! We'll keep you updated with more info.
A New World in our Hearts: Building for Revolution May Day Conference will be held in NYC
Thursday, April 28 – May 1
There will be workshops, skill shares, music, a really free market, a critical mass bike ride, parties, speakers, films, and more...
Some of the workshops we will be hosting:
-Bridging the Generational Divide: An open dialogue between older and younger radicals to learn from the past
-The A-word: Is Anarcho-pride Always a Good Thing? With the Curious George Brigade
-Networking: In what ways can radicals in different areas coordinate and work together better?
-Actively Supporting Political Prisoners
- Are computers secure? When and for what?
-Building Permanent Autonomous Zones: creating the infrastructure to support a successful revolutionary movement.
-Blogging the revolution: anarchists on the web, the potential and the limitations.
-Radical mental health.
-Free School education
Guerilla workshop space will also be available for those who don't organize with us ahead of time.
The folks from Un Mundo Feliz who particpated in the NoRNC Poster Project sent us this call for artwork.
See their NoRNC poster here.
Diseño para la solidaridad
Design for solidarity
From the 8th to the 11th of March, Madrid welcomes an international summit on "Democracy and Terrorism", in honor of the first anniversary of 11M. We would like to take advantage of this international event so that designers from different countries and cultures contribute their views and personal opinions regarding this subject. We have created a virtual gallery and would like to display in different spaces throughout the city with all the works that we receive.
This is a project for the creation and free distribution of graphic material against terrorism and supporting the victims, on the first anniversary of the 11M terrorist attack in Madrid.
This project intends to be a public design forum for the creation of images that express points of view on terrorism and promote public debate.
Bad news/ design for solidarity wants to be a symbol for democratic response and citizen participation, on behalf of designers, against terrorism on the first anniversary of the 11M.
The project is conceived as a space that is open to designers all over the world and comes forth parallel to the conference on "Democracy and Terrorism" that will be celebrated in Madrid in February of 2005.
Bad News/ Design for Solidarity hopes to be a symbol for international solidarity against terrorism. For this we need for you to contribute with your creativity and talent.
Bad News/ Design for Solidarity
This is a gallery for activism, with free domain usage without commercial intentions.
1. Submit your work:
- Files must be provided as PDF, TIF, JPG only
- Preferably DIN A4, A3...
300 dpi Resolution for printed images (that should be no bigger than 4.5 MB)
- 72 dpi Resolution for online images
- Please consider the possibility of using vectorial images and texts converted to paths (vector), since this will allow for better quality and versaility.
2. Send your work to: love[at]unmundofeliz.org with the information you deem important.
(C) 2005 Un mundo feliz /a happy world production against terrorism
From Newsday:
N.J. trio accused of leaving graffiti on `The Gates'
Police had no trouble locating three men suspected of scrawling graffiti Saturday on four of "The Gates": the trio allegedly had written their names on the saffron-colored art installation in Central Park.The three suspects, all from New Jersey, had their first encounter with police at about 1:30 a.m. near East 62nd Street when they were ticketed for being inside the park after the 1 a.m. closing, police said. A short time later, officers spotted graffiti written on four of the 16-foot high gates; the men had allegedly signed their names to the work created by artists Christo and Jean-Claude, police said.
The Change You Want to See Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn would like to invite you to huddle up this Sunday at 3pm. We're drafting a dream team of creative folk to take on Dr. Doctoroff and the city's insidious Williamsburg/Greenpoint Rezoning Plan. This is one of the most aggressive rezonings in NYC history. Don't get me wrong... brownfields are eyesores and a waste of space. And they make your hair fall out if you live too close to them. Development can be a great thing. It can revitalize the local economy, give businesses a boost. But there's good development and there's bad development.Come plug in at this planning meeting so's we can raise a ruckus and paint a picture of the world that we want to see.
WHERE: The Change You Want to See Gallery, 84 Havemeyer St @
Metropolitan Ave (across from Black Betty's)
WHEN: 3pm, Sunday, February 27
WHAT: planning powwow to save our city
RSVP: beka [at] notanalternative.net
The city's plan will create as many as 22 new 40-story luxury condos along the East River, will privatize and limit access to the waterfront, it provides no minimum requirement on low-income housing, will kick out the light industries in W'burg (metal shops, furniture shops, etc), won't add parks or green space, won't re-open the firehouse, won't increase L or G train service, but will bring 40,000 new higher-income residents to the hood. Instant Soho-fication on steroids. You, me, local industry and businesses, and long-time residents...PRICED OUT.
We have to move fast...there are just a few months to affect the process. A number of bad apples with dollar signs in their eyes and designs on development have partnered with the Mayor. They seek to push the diversity and creative energy that defines the Big Apple toward the fate that has destroyed the core of so many small towns across the country. There's been a lot of resistance to their rotten plan, from religious institutions, community groups, schools, and local residents. But the creative community needs to step up to the plate to support this work. We can fight back to stop the homogenization and borification of our neighborhoods. To preserve the diverse cultural landscape of our mixed-use, mixed income communities.
Invitees Include Reps From: Art Hijack, Art is Permitted Everywhere, Autonomedia,
AWAG (Anti-War Action Group), Axis of Eve, Black Label Bike Club, Blacked Out Media, Block Magazine, Bowery Poetry Club, Breaking in Style, Cinders, Circus Amok, Complacent.org, Flavorpill, Glassbead Video Collective, Greene Dragon, HOWL Festival, Hungry March Band, Independent Media Center, L Magazine, Madagascar Institute, Music for America, NoRNC Bike Project, North Brooklyn Alliance, Not an Alternative/The Change You Want to See, Oh De Twirlette, Ohms Video Collective, Repo History, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, Ring Out, Rubulad, THAW (Theaters Against the War), The City Reliquary, The Eh Team, The Lucky Cat, The Roundtable, The Williamsburg Warriors, Toyshop Collective, Visual Resistance, Vomitorium
About us: The Change You Want to See Gallery and Convergence Stage is a project of Not an Alternative, a Brooklyn-based arts collective. In support of creative resistance to the Republican National Convention last summer, Not an Alternative offered resources to artists and groups in the form of a space, arts materials, production crews, and organizing support. Not an Alternative also produced and curated larger-scale events including Majority Whipped at WhiteBox in Chelsea, and the NEO-CONey Island Block Party and Fashion Show.
Carlos Cortez --- artist, printmaker, poet, Wobbly --- passed away last month in Chicago at the age of 81. From the Center for the Study of Political Graphics:
Carlos Cortez was an extraordinary artist, poet, printmaker, photographer, songwriter and lifelong political activist. His mother was a German socialist pacifist, and his father was a Mexican Indian organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies. Carlos was a Wobblie until he died. He spent two years in prison for refusing to "shoot at fellow draftees" during World War II.After his release, Carlos took a series of jobs: in construction, in a small imported foods shop, in a chemical factory. He also started drawing cartoons in 1948 for the Industrial Worker, the IWW newspaper, but soon learned to do linoleum block prints. "Many radical papers --- not having advertising, grants or angels who are rich radicals --- operate on the brink of bankruptcy. So Industrial Worker couldn't afford to make electric plates out of line drawings. I saw that one of the old-timers was doing linoleum blocks and sending them in because the paper was being printed on a flatbed press. I started doing the same thing, and each issue would have one of my linocuts."
When the price of linoleum became too steep, Carlos started using wood. Used furniture was easy enough to find in any alley. "There's a work of art waiting to be liberated inside every chunk of wood. I'm paying homage to the tree that was chopped down by making this piece of wood communicate something."
In my mind, Cortez is a legend, and it saddens me that I only learned of his death today, after John Emerson posted a tribute at Social Design Notes. Carlos Cortez should be a household name in the political art world --- while never "famous," his influence is certainly widespread. Of course, he never sought fame,
"When you do a painting that's it, it's one of a kind. But when you do a graphic the amount of prints you can make from it is infinite. I made a provision in my estate, for whoever will take care of my blocks, that if any of my graphic works are selling for high prices immediate copies should be made to keep the price down."
Compare his celebrations to Ricardo Flores Magon and Joe Hill, pictured above, and Lucy Parsons (below) to some of the work in the Celebrate People's History posters, for just one example. Cortez's influence will most likely also be apparent in the forthcoming graphic history of the IWW co-edited by Nicole Schulman which will feature a whole slew of World War 3 Illustrated artists.
For more on Carlos Cortez, check out:
--- Center for the Study of Political Graphics;
--- Rebel Graphics;
--- Drawing Resistance; and, especially:
Spread is a magazine by and for sex workers of all genders, sexualities and backgrounds, as well as those interested in the sex industry.The magazine aims to provide a forum for marginalized voices, a sene of community and support among sex workers, as well as a balanced view of the sex industry.
$pread wants/needs illustrations of all kinds. They must relate, somehow or someway, to sex, gender, sex work, gender structures, or power. Think strip club, whorehouse, prostitutes, s&m, doms, subs, pretty much anything sexual done for profit.
Contributions to the second issue are to be made by mid-May. Contact the editors at: contribute [at] spreadmagazine.org or mail contributions to:
$pread Magazine
PO Box 305
New York, NY 10276
Milwaukee artist Brandon Bauer sends in an email: I just wanted to pass on this piece of radical political art history --- it's a book by the artist Giacomo Patri done in the 1930's called "White Collar". I have been searching for a copy of it for a long time and had only seen excerpts from it until recently. I think the last full published edition of the book was done in the mid-70's.... Check it out! ---Brandon
The whole book has been put online by San Francisco State University library to accompany the book The Art of California Labor. From their description of White Collar:
White Collar is a novel in linocuts by Giacomo Patri portraying the injustices of workers during the Depression. There are 128 prints in this unique visualization of the daily life hardships of a middle class family through the 1930s.Unfolding in stark, monochromatic pictures with no text, his novel recounts the experiences of an artist in the years after the 1929 stock market crash.
Unable to find work with advertising agencies, the novel's protagonist loses his house just as his wife informs him that she is pregnant. He soon learns that he shares much with blue collar workers and, like them, can benefit from union organizing.
Largely undiscovered, because the images of class struggle, unionization, and abortion were controversial for their time; Patri was forced to print and publish White Collar privately in limited numbers. Even now, the copies that survive are few and far between.
The book in it's entirety can be viewed online here.
In Detroit, an artist will go to jail today. His crime? Recreating a Michaelangelo mural that includes a nude figure:
He painted Eve as God created her: nude.And when he finished including the bare-bosomed Biblical first woman, he inscribed the word "love" on the mural that covers the outside wall of his Roseville art studio.
In Ed (Gonzo) Stross' eyes, his variation on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" mural is art.
In 39A District Judge Marco Santia's eyes, it's a crime.
Santia ordered jail time, a fine and probation -- a sentence that sounds a little harsh to a state senator, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and fellow artists.
Santia ordered Stross, 43, to serve 30 days in jail, do two years' probation and pay a $500 fine for violating a city sign ordinance. Roseville officials said letters were prohibited on the mural and Eve's exposed chest is indecent.
Besides jail time and the fee, Stross is to tastefully cover Eve's breasts before reporting to the Macomb County Jail on Monday morning, and to paint over "love" by May 1.
"Removing the work is the ultimate punishment. The jail time is nothing compared to removing what I painted," Stross said Thursday.
Full story here. You can call the 39th District Court at (586) 293-3137 (sorry, no email address) --- ask to speak to the "Honorable" Marco Santia. Thankfully, the Michgan ACLU is on the case.
Link via Art Crime's excellent new blog, The Bench, photo taken from the Detroit Free Press.
New York isn't the only place where The Buff is pushing into overdrive. Five teenagers were arrested last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan for tagging on a commercial building, and city officials are promising a wider crackdown. From Grand Rapids independent media source Media Mouse:
Fresh off the arrests of five "taggers", the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is promising an aggressive crackdown on graffiti artists that may result in prison time. Of course, the police cannot do this on their own and the corporate media are obligingly doing their perceived duty to "help the community" by acting as official conduits for police misinformation. Central to this effort has been the portrayal of the city as "under siege" by graffiti artists. The GRPD and the city of Grand Rapids are making use of this supposed "rash" of graffiti to suggest draconian measures such as electronic tethers and outlawing the sale of spray paint to minors to create a public climate of fear in which there is no discussion about the ramifications for civil liberties of using tethers and other methods to stop graffiti, methods which will undoubtedly target primarily youth.Not surprisingly, the corporate media's coverage of the "graffiti crackdown" has been full of sensationalism, effectively portraying graffiti as a type of crime that residents need to fear. The local print and broadcast media has run a number of stories that create a sense of hysteria, with graffiti "tagging" being portrayed as out of control. The articles have been full of completely ridiculous assertions, with Guy Bazzani claiming that graffiti is "robbing the soul of this community," parents supposedly wondering "oh no, where are my kids living?," and even news readers trying their hand at spray paint while talking about how the police are "aggressively searching for the spray paint perpetrators." WOOD TV 8, who claims to have "broken the story," ran a piece last night in which they claim to have urgent information, reporting the supposed "new information" that graffiti artists engage in "competition" and that graffiti involves both art and "protest against capitalism."
Read the whole article here. There's a great gallery of Grand Rapids graffiti where you can see work by a ton of artists. The above image by MEEK was taken from the site.
A while back we posted some information about Mujeres Creando, an anarcha-feminist artists and activists collective based in La Paz, Bolivia. We mentioned how they had just come out with a new book, Mujeres Grafiteando. But, we didn't know how to get a copy. Well, I just got word that their book is available for purchase on their new website, www.mujerescreando.com
The new website features:
- a mission statement
- articles written about the group
- essays and manifestos
- an online magazine called Mama No Me lo dijo (Mother didn't tell me)
- an online store where you can order books and movies
- an open forum for dialgue
- an archive of their projects and actions
click here to check out our previous post on Mujeres Creando.
Today the Wooster Collective featured an amazing project called M-City:
M-city in a first place is a play with the form and space of the city, played on the walls, posters, billboards, stickers and in the virtual world. All of the pieces of M-city --- there is about 100 of them --- were made as stencils [...].The architecture of the town is in a sense a promotion of groups of people who work together for society. These include independent media, charities, non-governmental organisations, off theatres etc. Most of the project realisations are on especially chosen walls and matching the historical or architectural context of the surroundings. People on the stencils are mostly author's friends or people involved in some local social activity. (source).
The whole project seems like both a loving tribute to the artists' home cities, and a utopian reimagining of the same. Check out the whole site. My favorite gallery is the buildings; there are anarchist squats, castles, bike repair shops, an Indymedia office building, factories, Food Not Bombs headquarters, and more.... The people are amazing, too.
It had to happen sooner or later. Technology similiar to that found in projects like Grafedia and YellowArrow will now be used to the buff's advantage. Mirroring the interactive and participatory aspects of those projects the premise of this new system is simple --- take a picture of graffiti and then watch it disappear. The article found at the BBC puts it like this:
Lewisham Council's Head of Environment Nigel Tyrell has been developing a system that allows the public to see problems solved before their very eyes.From Monday, anyone living in the south-east London borough can take a snap using their camera phone of the many problems that blight London's roads, such as graffiti or fly-tipping and send it to the council.
Then all they have to do is keep an eye on the new Love Lewisham website to see a photo of the cleaned-up area.
Timed to correspond with the Valentine holiday, the Love Lewisham campaign gives local residents an opportunity to save their beloved community from the perils of graffiiti. Interestingly enough, it seems to offer only one "solution" to a problem that is not so easily defined. Rather than open up a dialogue about public space, the initiative capitalizes on the fact that, as Tyrell puts it, "Most people just want to live their lives and only contact the council if something goes wrong."
Not only does the project use some of the same technology that fuels participatory street art-documentation projects, it's also being pitched with some of the same grassroots-democracy rhetoric! The program claims to offer residents a "voice" in their community, and, Tyrell notes that the " success of this new system depends on the response of local people. "
You never know, perhaps the locals of Lewisham will flood the new webpage with pictures of advertisments that they would like to see eliminated. One can only hope --- unless you live in or around Lewisham.
Dont Buy Coke! The largest Coca Cola union in Colombia has called for an international campaign against Coke to stop its violence against workers, which has included a half-dozen murders at one plant alone in the mid-1990's. Reports of these crimes sparked a historic lawsuit against the Coca Cola Company and their Colombian bottler by the International Labor Rights Fund and the United Steelworkers of America on behalf of the Colombian union.
Coca-Cola has formally stated that the "Company does not anticipate supporting in any way any form of 'independent fact-finding delegation to Colombia,'" and has even refused a preliminary meeting with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an objective monitoring group created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts.
There is also an intense struggle being faught by people in India against the Coca-Cola Company.
An independent media website called Inida Resource Center charges that Coca-Cola is guilty of:
- Causing Severe Water Shortages for Communities Across India
- Polluting Groundwater and Soil Around its Bottling Facilities
- Distributing its Toxic Waste as "Fertilizer" to Farmers
- Selling Drinks with Extremely High Levels of Pesticides
I downloaded the above photo from the Indian Resource Center photo page. The photo features anti-Coke demonstrators who clashed with police in Mehdiganj, India.
Currently, there are many local students working to get coke banned from their campuses and to get their school administrations to endorse an investigation by the WRC into the allegations of violence in Columbia.
Here are some visual resources (poster and flyer designs) that have been used to rally oposition against Coke. If you want to start organizing around this issue, or if you already have, please feel free to download these images or to send us images you've made yourself.
I got most of these images from www.cokewatch.org and www.killercoke.org. These websites are also a great way to find out updates on the anti-Coke campaign.
Street art love in the photolog. Other themed posts include: Dust Graf and Bike Graf....
From the Queens Chronicle:
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. admitted it sounds crazy, but on closer inspection he said, legislation banning the sale of spray paint in all of New York City makes sense."Whatever we're doing right now to fight graffiti is barely keeping it in check," he said. "Some version of this bill is absolutely necessary"...
Included in the ban are broad-tipped markers and etching instruments. Exceptions would be made for contractors and artists. It is unclear what method would be used for proving one is an artist (emphasis added).
Vallone is the councilman from Astoria, if you live out there he's supposed to represent you. Give him a call at (212) 788-6963 or drop him a line at: email@example.com. More contact info here.
Previous entries on the new graffiti crackdown here, here, and here. Photolog posts here and here.
BAST's First NYC Art Show "MAS VINO"
And the release of his new book "REVOLUTION DE PAPEL"
Opening Reception and Release Party: Saturday February 12, 6-9pm
Transplant Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Brooklyn-based artist BAST titled "MAS VINO" This show will also celebrate the release of his new book "REVOLUTION DE PAPEL". A 60 paged soft covered book released in limited edition. Signed copied will be available on opening night. The exhibition will showcase a collection of new paintings on canvas... (more)
Bast is one of the first artists I noticed on the street when I woke up to street art years ago and i'm super excited to see some posters up in full, not ripped, torn, or weathered. So if your in NYC this weekend come out to the opening, or try to make it here while the show is up! The show will be exhibited from February 12-March 10, 2005 at: Transplant Gallery, 525 West 29th Street, second floor (bet. 10th and 11th Avenue).
For more of Bast's work check out: Pictures of Walls, as well as the VisualResistance Photolog for photos and updates from the opening!
A heads up to our artist friends:
Calling all artists and designers! On May 1st , 2005, there will be a huge demonstration in New York City highlighting the critical need to ban nuclear weapons.... This event needs to be publicized with unique, eye-catching, heart-stopping imagery. We need homegrown provocative design to remind people that the nuclear issue isn't over.We're asking local artists to submit work that will be splashed on posters, banners, flyers, websites and tshirts around the world. The work should be passionate and pointed, focused on this giant new effort to abolish nukes exactly 60 years after they destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We're looking for designs that are bright and forward-thinking, taking anti-nuclear and anti-war symbols into a whole new era. See AbolitionNow.org for more information about the movement and the event.
Read the whole call here.
I've been looking for Garrison & Ray since July, when I first came across their "Sgt. Guy Debord" riot cop on the Manhattan Bridge bike path. So when Garrison introduced himself at the And So Forth I was ecstatic. Together, Garrison & Ray make up Peripheral Media Projects, a culture jamming, apparel-making, bad-ass screenprinting collective. They put out a pretty diverse range of work, and are also getting ready for a show at Zakka in Soho this Friday, so the timing seemed right to send them a few questions:
How did you get started doing street art?
We started doing street art though our mutual interest in Adbusters magazine and wanting to be active in culture jamming. We were hyper-aware of the lack of image diversity in our public living space and sought to change that fact. Using the Adbusters black spot logo/anti-logo to alter, disrupt, obliterate, enhance the urban landscape of NYC was our first foray into reclaiming our visual environment.
Tell us a little bit about Peripheral Media Projects, how you got started, what your goals are, etc....
We met in graduate school, that was the kickoff. The more we hung out and talked, the more we realized we had many similar interests along the socio-economic-environmental-activist avenues and decided to be in action about our desire to create a different reality. This creation happened though an escalated level of commitment, connection, and contribution on our parts as a unit, with the world. Peripheral Media Projects is these notions made manifest.
We have many objectives/goals. One of the main ones is to stimulate independent critical thinking. There is no right or wrong but there are dualities and both sides should be represented. In our surroundings, we only see corporate advertising, messages companies are paying a boatload of money to put out there. We are inundated with advertising and it just keeps increasing. We are not saying our message is the right one and that others are wrong. We are merely expressing our ideas and understandings. It is up for the viewer to decide what they think. If people questioned answers and thought more, the world would be a dramatically different place.
Our vehicle for stimulating thought is via our images. Another goal is to continually grow our abilities and be a badass silkscreen collective that bases our work in activism, social consciousness, and the belief that connection is a cornerstone to creating a sustainable future.
We want to serve as a resource for others seeking to collaborate, produce, and create. We want to generate dialogue, strengthen community, and empower individuals to self-actualize.
We want to set up an international exchange where street artists from around the world spend time with one another, sharing experience, creating synergy, and increasing momentum.
What's the process that goes into a piece like the Sgt. Guy Debord pasteup?
First comes the idea itself from within or without. The idea for the riot cop came from an artist mentioning it as something that we should do. We thought it was a great concept and went with it. Once the idea is in place, deciding on the image that best conveys the message we are trying to get across comes next. The image is manipulated and modified through many means, ranging from old school hand altering (cutting, pasting, painting in, whiting out, copier enlarging, etc.) to computer-based designs. The image is usually reworked again and again until we are happy with it.
Once it is there, we photocopy, computer output, or hand-generate the stencil. The size of the image is a factor in how the setup takes place. The Sgt. was shot in four screens, one each for the head, chest, midsection, and feet. It could be shot in one screen, which we would love to have the resources to execute it like that. Til then, it's hardcore tiling. We have paper rolled out on a long table where we put the screens down and start from the top down.
You work in a lot of different mediums, doing street pieces as well as abstract paintings, and producing apparel --- how do you balance these very different worlds?
It's been challenging as far as balancing the whole time/energy aspects go. Both of us are loving the street art/postering/apparel facets right now and these are where we funnel most of our efforts at present. Much of the imagery we poster is incorporated into our clothing line, called Plan D.
We anticipate balancing out things down the road, where we spend more time doing our painting, but with all four burners going, the painting is on the back one right now. The activism and expression of our ideas on the street and as wearable art is what is fueling the fire.
Our work comprises all of these varied expressions as they mingle with and inform one another. They are a reflection of who we are and what we do. If any one of them were removed from the equation, that void would impact all the others in some fashion. Most of all, we believe having fun and enjoying what we do is paramount. If there is ever a day when that isn't there, we can make a choice from there. Until then, we're having a blast.
What's next?
We want to get our imagery out there as much as possible. Our website,
PeripheralMediaProjects.com is almost complete. It will be up in time for our show at Zakka on Friday, February 11th. We're pumped about that show, where we will put out our latest installation and clothing designs. It's located at 147 Grand, between Broadway and Lafatette in Soho, 7-9pm.
As our work opens up to a larger audience we want to collaborate with people in all sorts of fields to create environments where people get together and exchange ideas, information, dreams, stories...
We have ideas for installations and big street art stuff we'd love to do. Basically we want to do whatever we can to facilitate and encourage relating with other human beings. It sounds simplistic, which it is, but so true, natural, and necessary. We weren't put on this planet to be filed away in our homes, like a paper in a folder. Connection is fundamental to our existence. That's what we have in store.
Thanks for your time and attention,
Garrison and Ray
Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) is an Anarcha-Feminist Group based in La Paz, Bolivia. They are graffiti writers, film makers, radical activists and much much more.
Mujeres Creando just came out with a new book called Mujeres Grafiteando. I haven't been able to find this book any where. So, if anyone knows how to get ahold of a copy, let us know.
More pictures and a statement by one of the members of Mujeres Creando are featured on Indy Media Ecuador.
Bellow is an article about them that was featured in Quiet Rummors, An Anarcha-Feminist Reader.
Making Waves
Mujeres Creando interviewed by Katherine Ainger
OVERNIGHT, in beautiful handwriting, words appear on the walls of La Paz, the high-altitude capital of Bolivia. They speak truths Bolivian women won't say out loud. Deconstructing machismo, anti-gay prejudice and neoliberalism, Bolivian anarchofeminist group Mujeres Creando takes art back to the streets. Theirs is a politics of creativity, of interventions in everyday life. Tired of the traditional Left where, they say, 'everything was organized from top down, the women only served the tea or their role was a purely sexual one, or they were nothing more than secretaries,' three friends - Maria Galindo, Julieta Paredes and Monica Mendoza --- started Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) in 1992. Two are the only openly lesbian activists in Bolivia. At the time, they explain, there was little talk of feminism - a militant, radical feminism, a feminism of the streets, of everyday life.
'We decided on autonomy from political parties, NGOs, the state, hegemonic groups who wish to represent us. We don't want bosses, figureheads or exalted leaders. Nobody represents anybody else --- each woman represents herself.'
'We believe that how we relate to people in the street is the most important thing. We have a newspaper which we edit and sell ourselves, and creative street actions. We paint graffiti - las pintadas - this is one of the communicative forms that really gets through to people. It began as a criticism of what the Left is --- and the Right. It was our response to their painting in the streets saying "vote for so-and-so". They were affirmative or negative phrases, "no to the vote", "yes to this", "no to that". What we do instead is we appeal to poetry and creativity, to suggest ideas which aren't just "yes" or "no", "Left" or "Right".'
They have targeted all kinds of oppression from a feminist perspective --- racism, the dictatorship and debt.
'Our aims aren't always centred on women's themes like abortion, reproductive rights, motherhood. The Government says: "you can dedicate yourselves to those issues, full stop." And we may say "no". Or we may say "yes, that interests us". We have positions on abortion, birth control, but don't categorize us! We are involved' in everything: we are part of society. And for this reason we paint graffiti about different things. There is graffiti which provokes men, graffiti provoking the Government, graffiti which is only directed at women, graffiti about the political situation.
'For us, the street is a space like a common patio, where we can all be, including children. In Europe, everything is controlled: whether or not you can march, whether or not you can protest, whether or not you can sell things. In Bolivia, the streets belong to the people: people doing things, people selling things --- the streets are ours.
'It is very important that what we do in the street interacts with people, talks to them so that they can see the graffiti, that it should provoke something in them, provoke laughter, provoke annoyance, provoke anger, provoke many things.
'People want to dispossess us of something that is ours. To turn creativity into something elitist. But creativity is human --- it belongs to all women and men. It is fundamental to everything we do, in the books we make, in the street actions, in the graffiti. There are people who say to us: "you're artists." But we are not artists, we are street activists.'
This year a group called Deudora ('debtor'), made up largely of poor women from the barrios, came to La Paz to protest at the crippling rates of interest on their microcredit loans. 'We spoke to them about pacifism, we carried out some creative actions against interest, against the banks, against money... painting murals in the streets.' Mujeres Creando brought paint, and the Deudora group took off their shoes and dipped their feet into the pots, then lifted each other up to leave their footprints on the wall. This was a symbol of their long journey to the capital. On another street action the Mujeres threw themselves on the floor to shield the debtors' protest from attack by police.
'After three-and-a-half months, we managed to sit down with the large banking and financial associations and the Deudora group and achieved an agreement. Now people whose houses were being auctioned off have had their debts excused.
'Once an agreement was signed that benefited the debtors, we organized a kind of festival with flowers and bread. The children began to share out the bread with everyone, a symbol of the olla (collective cooking pot) of the poor- the poor who share what they have.'
"even the smallest 'I was here' tag is a social and political statement" ---fi5e
1. How did you first get involved with street art?
I have been posting web-based projects on my site since 2001, but I started to switch my focus from the web to the street about a year ago. Moving to New York City and seeing all of the amazing graffiti and street art happening here played a major part in this shift. I find experimenting in the street similar to the web as both offer a highly democratic and un-curated arena where one can put up work without having to ask permission.
2. a. The All City Council Project was huge in scope --- it directly challenged the new anti-stickering law while indirectly commenting onstreet art itself. Was it initially imagined this way? Can you offer the background and context on how you got started and what the inspirations were?
Initially I was working on a very simple computer application written in C that could mix an ASCII art image (an image composed only of text) with a legible text document (as read from left to right). After this tool was completed I was thinking about how it could best be used within the context of graffiti. At first I was creating pieces which read as a 'ni9e' tag from a distance and read as the HTML code from my website close-up. While interesting, this was not all that hard hitting. Then a classmate, Josh (bikesagainstbush), told about me the sticker law the New York City Council passed. My reaction to the law, which was probably the reaction of a lot of people reading it for the first time, was "wouldn't they be guilty of their own law if someone put their names on stickers?"
b. What was the response?
This project was different than previous work because the audience I was trying to reach was very specific. In other projects, my aim was to reach a wide group of people walking around the city or surfing the web, but the All City Council Project was aimed very directly at the council members. In some cases, I was literally putting these up on their office doors. The response on the Internet was huge. The WoosterCollective linked me up initially, and from there it spread to boingboing.net and other web sites. In terms of web traffic, it has been one of my most viewed projects. I wondered if the Internet popularity might bring the police knocking at my door, but so far that has not happened. In general, I respect the intelligence of the City Council and hope that they will get the joke rather than feel threatened (which was not my intent).... perhaps this is overly optimistic, but time will tell.
3. What do you think of Bloomberg's renewed interest in the "Vandal Squad"?
In my opinion, anti-graffiti legislation is shortsighted and blames the victims of a problem as if they were the cause. Rather than deal with larger issues, such as poverty, racism, and classism, we blame those being affected. Graffiti is not a "quality of life offense." The over saturation of advertising, the price of rent and health insurance, the lack of funding for arts and music programs in public schools, the "no child left behind" act--these are the real "quality of life offenses". Graffiti is a reflection of these issues, not the cause.
4.a.Your current project focuses on graffiti analysis. How did this interest first develop?
Graffiti is often misunderstood by the public and local legislators. This lack of understanding leads to fear, which is why I think the discussion of graffiti most often revolves around legal rather than artistic issues. The "Graffiti Analysis" studies are an attempt to express the intent and beauty I see when I walk down the street and present it in a language that communicates to a larger audience. If more people can view tags as something other than an eye sore, we will see less legislation and more creative new graffiti forms.
b. Can you discuss the differences between analogue and digital and their relationship to graffiti and street art?
Graffiti (both traditional writing and "street art") is usually something made by hand. While some have started using the computer and home printers in the production of graffiti, there is a lot of room for experimentation in what new media and code can create in the streets. I see digitally created graffiti not as a necessity to the art form, but simply another voice to be added to the discourse happening in public urban spaces.
5. Both of your projects have a pronounced technological aspect, both in the use of technology to create the art itself and the incorporation of video communication. Any thoughts on the points where graffiti and media intersect?
I go back and forth on this issue. While I understand the inherent problems with mediating the viewing of graffiti in the streets, those who don't think that the Internet is a part of getting up are kidding themselves. I would never claim that seeing a piece on the web is equal to the power of seeing it in the streets, but the Internet, for better or worse, is now a part of graffiti. Having never seen a BANKSY piece in person, I have been profoundly influenced by his work through the web. Although this may be an unpopular sentiment, I embrace the web as part of getting up and put a great deal of emphasis on how my work is documented and presented in this medium. It would be a shame if graffiti was only viewed on the web, but it would be a bigger shame if would-be graffiti artists were never exposed to the brilliant work happening outside their own city.
6. Who or what inspires you to go out and put your work up?
I feel strongly that even the smallest "I was here" tag is a social and political statement. If people can become comfortable in questioning (and at times breaking) laws which are imposed upon them than we will be one step closer to real change in this country. I would encourage everyone to see how different the world looks when you walk around with a UNI in your pocket. I am inspired by the thought of everyone in the city writing their name on the wall and taking back control of the space in which we live.
Thanks a lot to visualresistance and anyone who took the time to read this.
--- fi5e
Some tragic news from the Globe & Mail:
When Bardia Bryan Zargham got serious about graffiti, he chose Alpha as his tag and set about painting all over Toronto.That was about five years ago, and since then, "Alpha" and "Alfa" have appeared from back alleys to boxcars, bringing underground fame to the 18-year-old artist and frustration from those who wished he would stop.
"One time I asked him, 'Why did you pick that name?' " his father, Saeed Zargham, said yesterday, "and he said, 'Because Alpha is the beginning of everything.' "
On Tuesday night, Alpha marked the end of everything for young Mr. Zargham. At about 9:45 p.m., right after he tagged a parked freight car with baby-blue spray paint, he was struck dead by a train near Dupont and Christie streets....
[Alpha's father] is taking comfort from the passion he showed for his work, fatal as it was.
That passion, the father said, sprang from a simple desire to be known and for his work to be seen, not to harm anyone.
"From the outside, when you look at it . . . it's not worth it. But for him, he put his life on the line for this.
"I lost a son, an 18-year-old son, but I'm proud of him."
It's sad that the first newspaper article I've read that isn't snide or condemning about graffiti artists has to be about an artist's death.... My sympathies and regrets go out to family, friends, fellow writers. R.I.P.
Pictures below courtesy of d r :
On my daily Google News crawl, I was amazed and delighted to find that stencil artist BORF is making quite a splash in Raleigh, North Carolina. From the local Eyewitness News:
It's the mystery that has baffled many people in Raleigh. A grinning graffiti face has popped up all over the place and they're calling him "Borf."We don't know who he is, but we know he has become the talk of the town.
The rest of the story is less positive, and mostly gets the story wrong. An article in today's News & Observer is far less incoherent than the TV news story, but still doesn't seem to really understand the concept of stencil graffiti:
With many of the images, the most impressive feature is sheer audacity. In Washington, the artist decorated -- or defaced, depending on your view -- the Key Bridge. He changed stop signs in bustling Logan Circle to read "CAN'T STOP BORF." In New York, he slapped a "Bush Go Home" sticker on a police car.Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said police had seen the faces but had not received any complaints. The images will be examined to see whether they are linked to gangs, but "it clearly would not be typical of gang graffiti," he said. (emphasis mine)
BORF is a stencilist who, during this summer's anti-RNC protests, delighted visitors to the Time's Up bike space on Houston St. with a nearby 2-color, 4-foot stencil reading "RNC Fuck Off!" We spotted the same figure on the Anarchist Resistance site right before the Inauguration protests.
You can check out BORF's gallery on stencilrevolution.com to see more work.


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♡ Fredric March ll Harpo Marx ll Buster Keaton ll Fred Astaire ll Marx Brothers ll Robert Taylor ll Jack Benny.
I make GIFs .
I also run Fredric March Tumblr.
Greta Garbo
She looks so much like my girlfriend in this picture it's uncanny.
Greta Garbo
Do these pants have lacings down the front? Yes, yes they do.

subset: commoncrawl


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The 23-year-old Dutchman is driving for Volkswagen Motorsport this season and attempting to secure a long-term future with the FIA World Rally Championship's newest manufacturer.
Abbring is the product of a rallying family. His father Edwin's efforts behind the wheel are well chronicled domestically. But he's not the product of a rallying nation.
Prior to his arrival at Volkswagen, Maurice Gatsonides was perhaps the most famous Dutchman to take the stages. Gatsonides won Rallye Monte-Carlo in 1953, but is equally famous for inventing the speed camera.
Speed is not something Abbring is short of. His ability was quickly recognised by KNAF, the Dutch motorsport federation, and ran in the Junior World Rally Championship with its backing for three years - becoming the first person to win a round in an R3 class car, when he dominated the category on Rally Poland in 2009.
Last year, Abbring switched his attentions to the French Gravel championship with a works-assisted Citroen DS3 R3. He dominated his class, regularly embarrassing the owners of cars with considerably more power and twice the number of driven wheels.
It was his success in France allied to his success in the FIA Institute's inaugural Young Driver Excellence Academy scheme which caught the attention of Volkswagen Motorsport.
Abbring was invited to drive one of the firm's Skoda Fabia S2000s on last year's Wales Rally GB and, despite a lack of four-wheel drive experience, he finished an impressive 12th overall, beating his nearest Super 2000 challenger by a sizable margin.
It was little wonder that Volkswagen wanted him to come back for more. So, he repeated that 12th overall on Rallye Monte-Carlo in January, but suffered disappointment on the last round in Mexico, when an engine problem forced him out.
Abbring is expected to contest half the WRC rounds in a Volkswagen-run Skoda this year, but he will complete the recce for every event.


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Jon Avila is No. 7 Sexiest Pinoy of 2008
June 6, 2008 by cd
Jon Avila is voted no. 7 in the poll RP's Sexiest Men of 2008. The Filipino-British hunk ranked no. 84 last year.
Profile: Jon Avila (real name John Mullally) is a half-Irish half-Filipino model who won the title Century Tuna Superbod 2006 contest in the male category and later became a Bench endorser. His breakthrough to showbiz was via the reality show Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition. He starred as Kapitan Boom on his first major tv role on ABS-CBN.
What Makes Him Sexy: His gorgeous eyes and hot body make any girl melt.


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creative status
Hi, please take a look around :) you might like it!
updated over 2 years ago
influence score
design:related link
share this page
Location: Jakarta, Jakarta Raya (Indonesia)
Profile Last Updated: August 15, 2011
Member Since: August 12, 2011
User Type: Student
Disciplines: Character Design, Illustration
Tags: cute, character design, abstract
Occupation: -
School: Bina Nusantara University
2nd School: -
Creative Network (2)
creative reviews (1)
alejandro ovalles said on August 14, 2011
Hi! thanks for ask me to be part of my creative connection, I am really pleased. Your work is really cute!, I want to see more projects of yours soon. bye


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Posted: May 22, 2012 5:39 PM by Ariel Wesler and Caroline Lowe, KSBY News
Updated: May 23, 2012 8:17 AM
New developments tonight in the hit and run in Nipomo that killed a homeless man on Mother's day. The CHP tells KSBY News it has identified persons of interest in the case.
Investigators say Fabian Alexander, 46, was killed while walking across the offramp of Highway 101 North at the 166East exit in Nipomo.
A day later, officers found a Chevy Corvette burning in rural Santa Maria, but they haven't been able to confirm if it's the same Corvette involved in the hit and run.
The CHP says this is a very complex case. At this point, investigators won't say much publicly, but do tell us they are making progress.
Besides identifying persons of interest in the case, investigators were able to pull the VIN off the burned corvette.
They used it to identify who owns the car, but have not confirmed with us whether it's the same corvette involved in the hit and run or if the owner was even driving the vehicle.
We're also told no search warrants have been served.
A lot of people are talking about this case around town and there's no question they think it's linked to the hit and run, but hunches and suspicions are not, which is what is CHP needs to put this case together.
Investigators plan to release more information later this week and of course, we'll bring you that information on KSBY News and KSBY.com.
The CHP is asking anyone with information on the case to come forward.
Offensive or inappropriate comments are subject to removal. To report a comment, please e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com, and include the name of the story and information on the comment.
Thank you! KSBY.com
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This Bulgogi recipe is from Chef David An who used to be the chef at a Korean restaurant called So Hyang in LA. His use of water is quite unconventional, but it works really well. My husband who normally doesn't like bulgogi is in love with this version. A must try!
In the ingredient shot, I have two kinds of soy sauce because I ran out of the normal Kikkoman one. I plan to talk more about soy sauce and other ingredients in full postings sometime in the near future. The left soy sauce bottle that looks empty is the dark kind (joh-rim-gan-jang 조림간장). It's been boiled, reduced and spiced up with mushroom and other stuffs (beef, kelp, plum, garlic etc.) to have more flavor. I use this one for making dumpling sauce. On the right side, the full bottle is light soy sauce (this bottle is specifically Japanese Usukuchi, similar to guk-gan-jang 국간장 in Korea). The light soy sauce is usually used to season soups. Since I didn't have the normal one (regular Kikkoman), I mixed half of these dark and light ones, and bulgogi turns out just great.
Follow the recipe for the first time, and you can always modify and improve upon on your next try. Chef An's recipe is slightly sweet to me, but my husband doesn't want to change a thing about it to ruin the "perfect balance". Feel free to add other vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, more onions) and starch noodle in the pan as you cook. Enjoy with rice and Kimchi (a must!!).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Serving Size: 4 people
Total Time: 20 minutes prep time + marinate overnight + 10 minute cooking time
Main Ingredients
1.5 – 2 lbs sliced rib eye (frozen ones are fine)
1 onion
1 bundle of green onions
½ orange
½ cup of soy sauce
½ cup of sugar
3 cups of water
1/6 cup of pineapple juice
1/6 cup of cooking wine or soju or sake
1 teaspoon of diced garlic
½ teaspoon of pepper
1/8 cup of sesame oil
Rib eye – For frozen ones, let it thaw in fridge for a few hours. Assuming the rib eye is well sliced, cut the slice into half.
Orange and Onion – Cut into ¼ inch thick rings.
Green onions – Cut the stalk into 4 parts. For the white bottom part, I usually chop them into small circles.
Marinade sauce – Mix all liquids together except sesame oil (soy sauce, water, pineapple juice and cooking wine). Add sugar, diced garlic and pepper. Mix well. Add sesame oil as the last liquid. Add onion rings, orange rings and green onions.
1. Place the rib eye in a large bowl and pour down the marinade sauce. Massage the meat gently with your hands (wear a latex/plastic glove) to marinate.
2. Leave it overnight in fridge. I didn't have space in my fridge and left them outside in the deck. A single advantage of freezing cold weather :)
3. Cook in a frying pan or pot in medium high heat for 5-10 minutes. You don't need all those marinade sauce – a third or half of leftover sauce should be sufficient since your meat is already marinated!


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- Filed Under
Attorneys for two men accused of murder in separate cases are awaiting evidence from the government before the cases can go to trial.
Allan Agababa and Carl Gargarita -- both of whom are represented by the Public Defender Service Corp. -- appeared in court yesterday for criminal trial settings.
During Agababa's hearing, Assistant Public Defender Pete Sablan told the court that his office still was waiting for discovery documents from the government. ...


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Irish coaches dominate recent Super Bowl wins --will Mike McCarthy be next?
Posted on Saturday, February 05, 2011 at 05:16 AM
Recent Posts
- Is Rory McIlroy a spoiled brat and just an overgrown child? - Antics during the U.S. Open leave his maturity very much in question
- Was Notre Dame's Everett Golson caught cheating at exams leading to suspension? Quarterback statement hints at major integrity issue and harsh punishment does also
- Orb should win Preakness easily, Oxbow up for second
- Could Celtic boss Neil Lennon be next manager at Manchester United? - His European exploits, especially defeating Barcelona may put him in frame
- Orb has what it takes to win Triple Crown in 2013 - Kentucky Derby winner has breeding, connections and talent
There is something about Irish coaches and the Super Bowl.
Mike McCarthy is hankering to be the third Irish coach in just four years to win America's most valuable sporting trophy.
He would be following in the footsteps of Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants and Sean Peyton of the New Orleans Saints.
If you want to look back further Bill Parcels was Bill O'Shea before he was adopted.
What is it that makes Irish Americans such good coaches?
Part of it is that they keep it simple. They are usually men of faith, with a straightforward view of the world. Tom Coughlin once studied to be a priest
They have the Irish ethos of hard work, don't stand out, stand up when you are called on and give it all for the team.
They are also good leaders of men, who have a gambler's instinct --remember Sean Peyton's call for an onside kick to start the second half last year?
That was a thrilling victory for the Saints, but perhaps the most extraordinary coaching job was Tom Coughlin beating the unbeaten New England Patriots in the super Bowl.
They were given no chance against a team that looked like the second coming of Bart Starr's Packers.
But Coughlin coached a Super Bowl winning performance that was arguably the greatest upset in the storied game's history.
If Mike McCarthy wins tomorrow it won't be such a shock. But making it to the big game with the slew of injuries he had plus the playoffs on the road was a mighty performance too.
And with the Rooney family on the other sideline, the greatest owners in sport, Irish eyes will be smiling one way or the other.


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20 Years Strong
This year marks two decades of the Big Day Out, arguably making it one of the most successful music festivals in Australia. Promoter Ken West explains how the festival almost didn't make it to its 20th year.
"That was probably the hardest question of this year, whether to just end it all, and I was fine if that was the case. I went 'well, legacy is intact, I've been in the music industry for such a long time that I've got other things I could do with my life'.
"I think I've achieved all I could really achieve, and the miracle of this process is that from the depths of not getting the line-up together, and then delaying, and then having two or three other festivals going on sale before us because they'd moved theirs back, all that mess that went on, the negativity of having too many Splendour acts, all that other stuff that fell into line with it, that ultimately (I) ended up parting ways with my business partner (Vivian Lees), and having to make that call then whether the show was going to go ahead at all, it just came down to simply that it couldn't go out like that.â€
West gives credit to his team of trusted friends and his new partnership with C3, America's third largest promotion company, for keeping the show on the road. "When it came down to possibly not happening I really needed the energy of everybody else to tell me what we could do and what we should do, because really, in this business, everybody you hire is your friend.â€
When Ken reflects on the festival's history, he's optimistic about what the future holds for him personally. "It's a rebirth, and that really ties in beautifully with 20 years. It's deeply looked at itself, we've deeply looked at the past, and we've looked at what we've done right and wrong.â€
Of course with every silver lining, there's a grey cloud, and one thing that has changed over the years is the rise in popularity of social media, bringing with it a new wave of critics. "We've been judged fairly harshly this year on the basis that it's not quite what people want. It's primarily been judged quite harshly in the electronic internet world, of which most people with half a brain now know that there are so many agendas that go on in that world that you've just got to try and find some truth in it, and not take in anything as personal.â€
But never fear fans, they aren't leaving anytime soon. "While the event itself remains needed for the Australian music scene, and while the audiences can respond in a level that it's sustainable — it doesn't need to be sellout shows all the time — I think the future is looking great, I think the future is looking really great because it's got a job to do.â€
In a recent interview with Fasterlouder, West had a number of interesting, if not controversial, things to say about the promoter of Soundwave Festival (AJ Maddah). But West stands by his words, believing there's a lesson to be learned for other event organisers.
"I think part of the problem of that show is that it went down a particular path, and I think lots of festivals are having a similar problem. They're taking bands because if they don't take them somebody else will take them, and that's a really bad way to work. You've just got to have a clear vision of what you want to do and just fight for it … It's really important that the integrity of the Big Day Out actually stays, that it's supporting the local scene, and it's not just a pariah and it's actually there for a purpose. There have been way too many events started up because someone thinks that they can make some money, and a lot of them found out the hard way how much you can lose.â€
Deciding on which bands to book is never an easy task, and having bands cancel is part of running a festival. Ken believes you've got to aim high and roll with the punches as they come. "I'll tell you what, it used to be a lot easier when they were all young and stupid and weren't in relationships! You've got to be prepared to take risks, where if it doesn't come together you're going to have some egg on your face, but if you don't do it then you're going to be mediocre.â€
The split from long-term business partner Vivian Lees, although difficult at the time, has turned into a blessing in disguise; emerging from the rubble is the partnership with C3, the team behind international festival Lollapalooza.
"We'd been talking to lots of people that weren't really suitable, that I wouldn't be prepared to partner up with, and C3 actually contacted us and asked if they could help, and that approach is fantastic. And from all accounts, from everywhere, it's a unanimous thumbs-up worldwide, they're highly regarded, they've worked with Perry Farrell, so therefore I should be easier, I hope!
Which begs the question — what does the C3 partnership bring internationally for the Big Day Out? "We're talking a lot, we've got lots and lots of ideas, and everything sounds exciting, potentially a Big Day Out stage at some stage at Lollapalooza with Australian acts on it.â€
As the 2012 edition of the Big Day Out approaches, West is hoping the 20th anniversary reconnects with punters looking for the festival experience, and not just seeing their favourite band of the moment.
"People always ask me what band I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to a few people actually understanding the show. There is a feeling that this show is not going to be very good, which is much better than if they've got such high expectations about it being awesome. I think the chemistry of the show is really good, which is what it's meant to be. It's meant to be a collection of bands that form one living entity for the day. I'm hoping that we can get the Big Day Out back to the idea that you trust us. It's an experience that we're selling, not a collection of bands.â€
The Big Day Out lands at the Gold Coast Parklands Sunday January 22. bigdayout.com
Been Here For Years
Hilltop Hoods are no strangers to performing to massive crowds. With their addition to the Big Day Out travelling circus, festival veteran MC Pressure tell us how the Adelaide crew keep their live shows fresh.
"A lot of the content we're going to perform at Big Day Out will be from our new album that won't be quite out then, it's due out in February, but we'll perform I guess at this point three, four new songs from that album and then a variety of tracks that people know and work well.â€
The Hoods aren't shy about mixing it up on stage with live instruments either. They've previously had the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra backing them up, as well as funk outfit Lowrider. Now they've headhunted drummer extraordinaire, Plutonic Lab, for the latest round of shows. "We just like changing it up live, so for people that have seen our show they're not just seeing the same shit, it'll be new takes on old tracks plus new tracks. So hopefully it'll be something cool and something that people haven't seen before.â€
Hilltop Hoods have a busy couple of months ahead of them, with a tour to Canada happening next month. "Canada is our strongest territory away from home. We're basically just doing a short tour there, firstly as an excuse to get away and hopefully do some snowboarding, and secondly to give the Canadian fans a bit more love because last time we went there we sold our tour out. We can't get enough of going back there, the crowds are just amazing.â€
The new album from Hilltop Hoods will be titled 'Drinking From The Sun', and Pressure says it will be full of that familiar sample-driven music they're known for, plus a couple of party joints as well as a few moody tracks. "There is a fair bit of live instrumentation, there is a fair few guests on the album, there's some rappers, some producers, I can't really drop any names at the moment because it's too far from completion, and some of the tracks might not make the cut.â€
As for whether we can expect a Golden Era tour or posse joint in the future, only time will tell. "I don't know if there will be a posse joint at this stage, there could be, it can always happen in the last week of making the album, a lot of things happen in the last week of making an album! There is definitely some collaborations. Trials has done some production for the album and I'm sure there will be some more, but I don't know about a posse joint or a tour at the moment, although it isn't a bad idea!â€
After leaving Obese Records in 2008 to start their own label, the Hoods had a lot of ideas about how they wanted to operate. With a shelf-full of successful releases to their name, Pressure believes the imprint's success can be credited to the strong relationships they enjoy with their artists. "We are a pretty laidback label really. We give our artists all the creative control so they make all the calls on their music, which is everything from their film clips to how they want to present themselves in their photo shoots and their artwork, that's all them. Sometimes we're probably a bit too casual, but it's a fine line between being a fellow artist, being a label, and to all the guys that are on our label, being their friend as well.â€
As they get set to embark on the 20th anniversary of Australia's biggest travelling music festival, Pressure leaves us with his favourite Big Day Out memory. "I think my best Big Day Out memory was making DJ Debris do push ups on stage! He fucked up our set so badly one day that we were like, 'Right, you're doing push ups in front of like forty thousand people' … He got to about nine, he couldn't even get to ten!â€
Something Different
The Winnie Coopers have been around for awhile now, and even though their sound and their line-up has changed over the years, the message remains the same - it's okay to be different!
Their third studio album 'Surface Parasites' hit shelves in May and The Educator is happy with the response they've had so far. They loved having Magoo (TZU, Regurgitator, Midnight Oil) handle the production side of things, and as for impressive guest spots, you don't have to look far past your own backyard with locals like Kate Miller-Heidke and Evil Eddie.
"We wanted to keep the tone or the flavour of the album Queensland based … We wanted a really diverse mix of artists to collaborate with because I guess that's sort of our sound, we combine various genres in what we do so that was really an honour to work with those artists.â€
For some bands having a few members leave to pursue other things can be the kiss of death, but not so for Winnie Coopers. "You really have to evaluate whether you want to keep on doing it and whether you're passionate enough about the project … But we're really fortunate to have some great replacements. It's also exciting as well because they bring something new to the band.â€
It's fair to say the Coopers aren't your typical hip hop outfit. Sick of hearing raps about fake people and things that didn't apply to them, they make music more applicable to where they're from. "There seems to be this idea that you need to look and dress a certain way, and it becomes a bit clichéd after a while, so I guess we've always tried to challenge that. It's comical in the sense that the hooded jumper is a bit of a symbol, but it's always funny to see people wearing them at gigs in 30 degree heat when it's not really practical.â€
Being genuine and positive role models is something that's important to them as well, and they're ready to challenge how people perceive the hip hop culture.
"A big part of it is we don't come from rough or disadvantaged backgrounds … People forget that the origins of hip hop are really positive - it was about getting together and showcasing skills, and it's only a recent thing where gang violence has been incorporated into the subculture; now that's all people seem to associate with hip hop.â€
Ever Evolving
Just hours before Thundamentals hit the stage in Sydney for a secret show last week, Tuka has a chat about the joys of going back on tour.
"We love Brisbane, we always connect really well with the people there, it reminds me a lot of places like Byron and the Blue Mountains. I think we're on the same page on a lot of things.â€
As for touring with international headliners, Tuka isn't jumping to any conclusions about what might be going on backstage, with Thundamentals to support Big Boi on his upcoming Australia dates. "I don't like to make assumptions about big artists, the press play a big role and make a lot of money by overdramatising things so who knows what went down. Obviously (Big Boi) got caught with some drugs but that's not to say that he's a crazy party animal. It will be cool if we get to meet him; in a lot of these situations you don't actually get access to the bigger artists.â€
Thundamentals have been lucky enough to work with some of their biggest influences, and there is still a couple more they would like to tick off the list.
"I know Jesse would love to do a track with KRS-One. I suppose people that inspired me coming up, other than artists like Pegz on Obese and some Elefant Traks artists, would be Jehst and the UK thing that happened around 2004-2005. A lot of stuff from LA at the moment is really exciting, like Blu & Exile. It's a pretty old record now but that scene and the Detroit stuff like Black Milk has been really inspiring for us.â€
With a couple of projects in the works Tuka is staying very hush-hush for now. "I can't actually give you the hot gossip but there is a very interesting one coming up in the next couple of months that I don't think anyone would have guessed would happen. It's not a rapper, I'll put it that way.â€
With the majority of the production on their latest album handled by DJ Morgs, Tuka and Jeswon comfortably tackle a variety of styles from R&B to dubstep.
"The most important thing to me is to have my own style, and I think all three of us have that mentality. We find it really important not to sound like anyone else, and hopefully Thundamentals doesn't, hopefully we have cut through with our own sound.â€
THUNDAMENTALS WILL SUPPORT BIG BOI AT THE TIVOLI AUGUST 26. 'FOREVERLUTION' IS OUT NOW.


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Baseball truly is a universal game, with fans and players coming from all over the world. Nobody represents that better than Donald Lutz, a Cincinnati Reds prospect who is a dual American and German citizen, but lives in Germany. His emergence as a baseball prospect is just another example of top baseball talent being cultivated across the globe.
Lutz is a big (6'4 and 230 pounds) slugging outfielder/first baseman. He was signed by the Reds as a non-drafted amateur free agent in 2007 because of his intriguing potential. He spent his first three professional seasons playing in short season ball, but finally burst on to the prospect scene with his 2011 season with class-A Dayton. In 123 games, he hit .301 with 20 home runs, 75 RBI, and 85 runs scored. More information on his career statistics is available here.
In addition to playing for the Reds, Lutz has also been part of the German National team, debuting with them in 2008. His older brother Sascha is also an accomplished player, who has been his teammate on the National team.
It will be interesting to see how Lutz progresses in the Reds system in 2012. A little room was recently cleared out with the franchise's trade for Mat Latos, so it is possible for Lutz to make another significant jump this year. In addition to checking out this interview, you can find out more about Donald Lutz by following him on Twitter (@braunerhulk).
Donald Lutz Interview:
Filed under: Down and Dirty - Interviews, On the Farm - Prospects | Tagged: Cincinnati Reds, Donald Lutz, Prospects | 2 Comments »


text:
Dead sailor's aunt says he was killed by closeted colleague
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Usually when I read something like this I explode but for some reason, this was the first thing that popped into my mind. This was done with such hatred and violence. I have no idea why I thought the killer was gay and full of hate for himself but that is what I truly felt. My heart goes out to both families.
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Gene Saks Movies and Career Information
Nov 08, 1921
New York City
Actor and Director
Gene Saks (born November 8, 1921) is an American stage and film director. Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix (née Lewkowitz) and Morris J. Saks. Saks studied at Cornell University and trained for acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator. Saks has shared a long-term professional relationship with playwright/comedy writer Neil Simon, directing his plays Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Jake's Women, Rumors, Lost in Yonkers, Broadway Bound, The Odd Couple, and California Suite. Additional Broadway credits include Enter Laughing; Half a Sixpence; Mame; I Love My Wife; Same Time, Next Year; and Rags. Among Saks' screen credits are Cactus Flower, which won Goldie Hawn the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Barefoot in the Park, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Odd Couple, Mame, So I Married an Axe Murderer (uncredited), and the 1995 television production of Bye Bye Birdie. Saks made his acting debut on Broadway in South Pacific in 1949. On stage he also appeared in A Shot in the Dark, The Tenth Man, and A Thousand Clowns, in the role of Leo "Chuckles The Chipmunk" Herman, which he
- Gene Saks Movies before 2012
- Prisoner of Second Avenue
- Nobody's Fool
- Movies Directed by Gene Saks
- Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986) 1986
- Cactus Flower (1969) 1969
- Odd Couple (1968) 1968
- Barefoot in the Park (1967) 1967


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Lapsang Souchong
Black Tea by The Spice and Tea Exchange
Classic Chinese smoked tea. China tea leaves are smoked over fir tree root to give this very unique tea its dark and rich flavor. Contains caffeine.
Write a tea journal, see what others are drinking and get recommendations from people you trust. Sign Up or Learn More
Black Tea by The Spice and Tea Exchange
Classic Chinese smoked tea. China tea leaves are smoked over fir tree root to give this very unique tea its dark and rich flavor. Contains caffeine.
Looooove! such love for this tea.
It's not harsh or biting at all, like so many other versions I've tried. The smokiness in a Lapsang tends to give it a scratchy sensation but not here, thankfully!
I added a bit of agave(maybe 1/2 tspn) this time around and it's really picked up on the sweet note. I'm getting alot more marshmallow now.
Too bad I have a headache blooming. Maybe time for a chammy after this!
I LOVE a good Lapsang Souchong and my local tea house has a good one too. My grandkids call it The Memory Tea because it reminds them of when they lived in California in the Redwoods…the smell of woodfires in the morning…and camping. I love to drink it and look outside in the Winter at the snow. (I like it anytime really) I have a version called Lion and Lamb that has popped Jasmine Flowers…like popcorn and this mellows the smokiness a little. Glad you like this brand!!! I love some of The Spice and Tea Exchange tea blends!
the memory tea, ahhh what a great name!! I usually call it campfire tea, since I very rarely get to go camping, and I didn't go as a child haha.
Your grandchildren are lucky to have those memories :)
Sounds like you got a shipment from STE, what else was in your package?
Coconut Oolong, Strawberry Chocolate Puerh!!! Dessert at my house!!!! Actually my son is coming for Pascha (Easter) and lives by a STE in San Francisco (Pier 39) so I'm having him bring me STUFF and things from Chinatown (Gaiwan) which are inexpensive there.
Oh the Jasmine…Yep dry and fluffy like popcorn…really good! I was in Happy Luckys yesterday sharing some Puerh with the guys there and they gave me some (4oz sample) of this Lion and Lamb Lapsang Souchong with the Jasmine in it…I keep picking out the dry bits…not good…but it's so delicious dry!
Exciting!! to think you are so near an STE, I am just a tad jealous :P
I can imagine they would be quite tasty. Mmmm, reminds me of our popcorn supply downstairs!
oh right my head is not here! lol
I have a headache… the only reason I can think my fingers would type such silliness :P
Thank you Indigobloom for this sample!
I've been a bit unwell (I'll get to that at the finish) so I decided to SMOKE it out of me! Teach that ol allergic reaction a lession I will! Ya'll know I love me some Lapsang Souchong! With this sample I went past the recommended steep time by 1 minute because I like my tea full bodied. Um, smelled nice and smoky but not in a room filled with smoke sort of way. In other words, no one was going to call the Fire Department.
The golden brown liquor looked just right when I took my first gulp, hum, which was milder and sweeter than I was expecting. I've been drinking a bold and salty Lapsang Souchong with a slightly burnt edge for some time but this was different. This one was smooth and mild with far less salt, and with tannin at the finish creating juiciness.
I added sweetening (I know that Indigobloom does this too) and cream which created a nicely balanced morning cup of smoked, buttery sweet tea. Perfect pairing would be toast and jam or sweet bagels.
Just a note for anyone with food allergies (like me)…Rooibos is in the legume family which I found out by getting a reaction…arf…so you should avoid it! Who knew! Made my throat and mouth all scratchy and sore and swollen and I felt awful…could have been worse!
I'm ok now…just took a couple of days to research and get out of my system! I smoked it out this morning. My daughter will be delighted to receive some Rooibos from me! (I didn't have much to tell the truth which is why this has not happened before…I had several samples in a row which is what did the awful!)
Glad you're feeling better Bonnie! I don't know anyone with a nightshade allergy but I will keep it in mind for sure :)
Odd, nightshade plants (solanaceae) are tomatoes/peppers/eggplants, not beans (legumes, fabaceae), which I do see rooibos is associated with. Are you allergic to beans? Because if not, I wonder if there wasn't a different ingredient lurking in a tea you had that you are having a reaction to. Lapacho appears to be another plant entirely, and appears to have significantly more questionable effects, and you had some of that, didn't you?
You are correct. I removed the incorrect info. I have nightshade and bean allergies so Rooibos is a legume and made me sick (but is not nightshade). People with fibromyalgia are often sensitive to both as well as chocolate, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, smiles and good times. (ok a joke there at the end)
Ahh, that would make sense then, if you drank tea with rooibos. I'm glad you've mentioned its plant family – I think you may have enlightened a lot of people!
And at least on Steepster, it seems like you're a provider of smiles and good times :P
Ok… being brave tonight! Trying my first straight lapsang souchong, courtesy of Indigobloom!
I do love campfire, and smoked meat, so this tea does smell quite good. I just can't shake the desire to eat a large piece of beef jerky .
Oh man. So smoky. SO SMOKY. Shocker, eh? Ooh, this may not be the best tea to mix with others, as the smoky flavour is lingering in my mouth. It's pretty smooth… no astringency. Really tastes like liquid smoke in a cup. It's not actually as strong as I was thinking it could be. I kind of like it. However, I think it's better blended with other things… brings out the maple syrup Let's see what this does!
OK! Added way too much. But… I like it! If I add salt will it taste like maple bacon?? Hmm, not sure I want to possibly ruin it. I like it sweet and smoky.
I think lapsang souchong will be a tea for me to mix with others for kicks, not to drink straight. This one's perfectly drinkable, but I think adding smoky notes to other chocolate teas will be much more fun.
Thanks again for the sample, Indigobloom!
ETA: Second infusion is weaker, but I dosed it with maple syrup anyhow. I suspect the smokiness of this one could last a long time, so I think I'll stop at two infusions. Or maybe three.
You got the right idea. I was talking with my tea shop guy and he told me that Lapsang Souchongs are smoked over different woods. Pine, hickory, misquite etc. which would give different smokey flavors. Interesting. I have had a mix with Earl Grey and one with dried Jasmine Flowers and orange peel that was really good.
Well I'm definitely taking a page out of your book with the lapsang blending, Bonnie! You seem to have excellent ideas about different combinations! And now I have a bit to play with and add to things – need to go read your tasting notes to find out what all you said that I've forgotten :D :D
Just start with a small pinch because you can always add more if it isn't enough. Smoke in a floral tea is nice, in Earl Grey is good. If you have Maple like Oh Canada go with a pinch of hickory or applewood salt if you have it but just a very little bit and a pinch of Lapsang Souchong. That's about all I do.
After sweet black teas, I believe my next favorite category is smoky black teas. I've tried a few Lapsang Souchong teas in the past and liked them all. I was looking forward to trying The Spice and Tea Exchange's (TSTE) entry in this arena. Their black chocolate tea showed me that they know how to load a tea with flavor.
As I opened the zip-lock pouch of thin black tea leaves, my nostrils were instantly slapped soundly by a potent campfire aroma. It was a deep rich odor that almost smelled like burning hickory wood.
I brewed the leaves at 212 degrees for four minutes (my choice as TSTE does not include steeping instructions). The finished liquor was a deep amber color. A strong smoky smell that reminded me of my Boy Scout campout days erupted from the tea pot and filled my kitchen.
The initial sip shot strong smoky signals to my taste buds at the speed of light. Although quite potent, the taste was also smooth and complete. The smoky flavor of this tea was so well defined and complex that I kept trying to identify the components that comprised it. (I'm still leaning toward hickory wood.) There was no bitterness whatsoever. The flavor of each sip was as full and detailed as the one before. The aftertaste delightfully echoed the great flavor. The black tea taste took a backseat as it usually does with good smoky teas.
This is a fantastic Lapsang Souchong tea with all of the elements that you would want in this blend and more. I will be reaching for this selection in the morning again soon. TSTE's teas are pricey but I don't feel cheated.
This was my first experience with a Lapsang Souchong and I fell head over heels with the warm and deep smokey aroma. I could just sit and inhale this all day long (but then people would stare and my tea would get cold…)
I've dubbed this my favorite black tea so far and I personally enjoy this one over Adagio's Lapsang Souchong.
This is one of my new favorite teas. It's the first Lapsang Souchong that I've tried so I can't really compare it to any others, but this tea is perfect for me in the office. The smokiness reminds me of campfire smoke and latakia tobacco. It's the closest thing I can get to being outdoors while still being stuck in the office.
When I first tried it, I was surprised by the intensity of the smokiness. I actually didn't care for the first cup I made of it. I gave it another try a couple days later because the smell of it was so intriguing. I'm glad I did. Either the smoke flavor mellowed out after I opened the package or I knew what to expect so it wasn't as overwhelming, but I enjoyed this tea immensely after the first time I tried it. I regularly grab for this one for a break during the day at the office now. I think it would be great to have outside while actually sitting around a campfire…


text:
Comprehensive Adds HDMI 200â Extender Over Cat5 Supports Resolutions Of Up To 1080p!
Comprehensive is proud to announce the addition of our new CHE-2 HDMI Extender to our 2010 product line. This extender is the low cost solution when an HDMI signal needs to be extended up to 60 Meters or 200 feet (Using Cat6 Cable). The CHE-2 has signal transfer rates of up to 2.25Gbps with a full 1080p video signal.
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