A public monument to the Soviet Armed Forces in Sofia, Bulgaria was vandalized spectacularly over the weekend. The statues of the Second World War soldiers were painted to resemble such candy-colored figures of capitalist iconography as Superman, Ronald McDonald, Santa Claus, Captain America and The Joker. The spray-painted writing beneath it says the hack now puts the statue “in step with the times!”
Today, Bulgarian Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov denounced the act as “vandalism…We are the only ones led by some kind of destructive force when it comes to monuments of socialism.” The kid in red on the skateboard just thinks it’s awesome. [sofiaecho.com, photo via AP]
Spike Jonze, who you may remember as the director of the uber dope Pharcyde “Drop” video, or from this or this old post of mine, also worked on this amazing film a couple of years ago. Literally one of the most visually stunning movies made in a long time. No doubt a live action tribute to one of my favorite painters Salvador Dali. A.must.see.
So years ago, around 2007, when BAPE was in its pop culture prime (aka when you could buy all over print hoodies from that gas station on Crenshaw that sells Laker gear every play-off season, back when everyone in LA was waiting for the Melrose store to open) I read a really interesting interview with Nigo, BAPE’s founder. In it he talks about how one of the things that happens when you become an adult is you stop thinking only about your clothing and things your want wear, but start thinking MORE about your space, your home or room, whatever, and making it reflect you as much as your clothing does. I never forgot that, it stuck w me for a long time and now that I’m about three of four years into thinking a lot about the four places I’ve lived in that short time, I hella feel what he means.
Wish I could’ve found the article to share :/ anyway this is all to say that im gonna start posting stuff that ive done to make my own space a place of peace.
Enjoy!
check this post on my tumblr, where I’d originally posted it.
as a parting gift til my return from the motherland, i give you what may be my favorite video on all of youtube.
as usual, enjoy.
i know i will.
-peace.pace.selam.
“In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. A spellbinding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit and timeless message, I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short and won the 2009 Emmy for ‘New Approaches’ (making it the first film to win an Emmy on behalf of the internet).”
i’m a huuuge banksy fan (promise there is an awesome banksy post coming soon), but until then here’s the trailer for the recently released film about banksy…and the man who made the film about him. haven’t seen it yet but i can’t wait.
took an animation class my senior year in highschool and the first, and last, thing we did that semester was watch a plympton anthology. the mans like animation 101. below is a clip from his anthology, two of his commercials and the heard ‘em say video he did for kanye west. like ive said time and time again, kanye is an artist in every sense of the term. the man knows his stuff. so its no surprise he knew to get plympton. anyone who’s ever taken a drawing class knows how incredibly talented, and dedicated, this man MUST be. in.cray.ee.blay.
many of you may remember Takashi Murakami for his out of nowhere revamp of the classic louis vuitton monogram, or for the international museum tour of his paintings and life size figurines which brought more celebrities to the opening nights of an exhibit than…idk, but it was more than usual. whatever. anyway his work is awesome (despite contestations that his paintings are really done by apprentices and understudies). i remember seeing the show when it came to LA in ’08 and feeling like he’d managed to invent not only a new way of painting, but new colors to paint with as well. good stuff. anyway here’s an animated short he did in the spirit of his work for louis v. those who’ve seen Hayo Miyazaki‘s Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, & Ponyo may feel a little tingle of remembrance watching this.
does ANYONE remember “Daria”?? for literally years i thought i was the only kid who had ever seen the cartoon on MTV about the emo bland girl until, alas, the fader came through with much provided support and confirmation. in announcing that daria would finally be out on dvd they not only brought me fantastic news but too assured me that i had not been dreaming all those years, that part of my childhood did exist; there had in fact been a show called daria that excited my little bones every time i caught it. and make no mistake i’m in no way delusional, i fully accept that part, if not most, of that excitement had to do with catching a cartoon on a channel that did not usually show them but still, watching daria again as a semi-almost-somewhat adult this week has re-convinced me of her awesomeness aaannnddd of my own for ever having such good taste. seriously, its a surprisingly well written, well thought show for the now failure of a channel. and how could you not love a cartoon that unpretentiously plays songs like Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit, Daft Punk’s Around the World, and most impressively, Portishead, in the background of random scenes like its nothing (and thats only in the first season). My strong advice, just go find an episode and watch it, if your worth anything at all, you’ll love her.
and if your still convinced that MTV isn’t now a complete cultural tragedy of a channel, do yourself another favor and read the fader’s post about Daria. you owe it to your bad judgement.
for your viewing pleasure, and as a last ditch attempt to convince you, here’s a youtube of the first half of the first episode of the first season of daria, (ignore that the images are inexplicably inverted).
some of the coolest people i know are huge monae fans -i mean die hard, almost occult-like fans. heard her music for the first time when i saw her perform live a couple of months ago (thanks def sound and fisseha for insisting i attend and miriam for taking me with you). she’s definitely an acquired taste, never seen or heard anything like it but I think I’m sold.
found this and i just had to put it up. it’s an illustration of a clip from Katt’s stand up movie “It’s Pimpin, Pimpin.” funny, somehow its different with the visual… i’ve posted the original clip from his stand-up show too, on the off chance you haven’t seen it (and i’m hoping you have, in addition to “Pimp Chronicles” which is a must see- the ultimate in guilty pleasures). anyway if you haven’t seen it, watch his stand up version first then watch the animated version. different at all??
there is far too much happening in the world to keep up with. a.place.for.peace. is my way of sharing the small pieces of the world that come my way. read the articles, start a discussion, visit the sources. learn, live, share, repeat. enjoy. -peace.pace.selam.
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