Fresh Williamsburg Banksy?

This went up a day or two ago. The artist has extraordinary talent. Made me wonder...

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Living the ALife

InquiringMind Magazine has a behind the scenes peek at one of the original NYC streetbrands, ALIFE. ALife has been a truly original brand, establishing itself through mainly footwear and growing the brand to a global conglomerate. Their followers are nothing short of rabid, as I can attest to standing for almost 3 hours with 60+ folks for a red/flourescent green t-shirt down on Rivington. InquiringMind has an extremely candid and open conversation with its founders, Rob, Arnaud & Matt. They let loose on their creative backgrounds in graffiti, professional deathshifts of business and advertising, and how their love of brands developed into Alife. The guys take the time to discuss their thoughts on the overplayed art/street movement, which brands can step to them, who else could do a worthy collabo with Levi's. Hint: Ego plays a big role in this discussion. With that being said, its great to see the mindset and motivations of major streetwear players. They even give us a hint of where the scene might go next. All you kids thinking of creating the next big hit, take a read and see what you are up against. It might make you think twice.

ALifestyleLikeNoOther

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Packard Jennings

Boingboing has pointed me to this incredibly creative site run by the Centennial Society /Packard Jennings. Their acidic look on life in the states and globally is well-executed in their graphic design and farces in the common spaces of the office, advertising and the mall. They even go so far as to distribute pamphlets of their mockeries in the public space. One of the best is a 16-image that was produced to put inside the postage-paid, business-reply envelopes that come with junk mail offers. Every envelope collected was stuffed with the pamphlet and mailed back to its original company. Yes! Creative ideas such as this have a currency that spreads not only because its funny, but because it creates social situations everyone only dreams about. These guys are disruption at its finest!

LaughaThon

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Running The Numbers

Waste is a bit of a sticky issue in the USA. Our recycling is sketchy and impractical at best, and the city I live in, NYC ships tons of garbage to New Jersey on a daily basis. YECK. Sometimes things need to be seen on the scale of impact ot be truly appreciated. Everest certainly looks tall to me, but on paper it just can't convey justice. Artist Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers "series looks at contemporary American culture through the lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on... Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day."

Beautifully poignant, this is a reminder of the world we populate and impact everyday. What is waste? Is it the wrapper left behind after we eat a sandwich or is it something that is dissolvable, sustainable or reusable in another avenue of life? Heck New York city's foundations were built on garbage and dead livestock. Its time we consider the lifestyle of things before we produce and consumer them. Reduce your impact and improve your life.

via core 77


Running the Numbers

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PSFK's MindDance

PSFK has an upcoming conference that is shaping up to have a ton of heavy hitters. Should be a great meeting of the minds! Will be there . Come say hi!


Speakers
Mike Byrne of Anomaly
Scott Campbell
Kacy Coll of Naked
Wendy Dembo
Josh Deutsch of Downtown Records (tbc)
Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat
Doug Jaeger of TheHappyCorp
John Lee & Jiae Kim of Theme Magazine
Floyd Hayes of Cunning
Grant McCracken
Sascha Lewis of Flavorpill
George Murphy of Fitch
George Parker
Peter Rojas of Engadget
David Rosenberg of JWT
Lauren Rosenwald
Elizabeth Spiers of Dead Horse Media
Ken Rother of Treehugger
Kevin Slavin of AreaCode
Scott Witt of Droga5
Simon Sinek of Sinek Partners
Steve Hardwick of StawberryFrog
Rony Zibara of Fahrenheit 212

Meetup!
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Banksy Prints

Banksy is at it again. Sort of... With his popularity skyrocketing, he is out against the countless bootleggers selling pirated prints of his work on eBay. Banksy has now released a selection of huge, high-rez files of nearly a dozen works for FREE on his website. These are the instructions that comes along:

“Serving suggestion:
Prints look best when done on gloss paper using the company printer ink when everyone else is at lunch.” —Banks

Right on.

What more do you want?
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Interactive & Open Source Brands: A-Z Skateboarding

It seems these days that the consumer is being attributed success to every aspect of marketing. While that is really just laziness, there are a few projects that wouldn't be possible without the work of zealots. DXInteractive has done an incredible amount of research to create a visual encyclopedia of skateboarding tricks. This interactive reference has tricks and terminology, that has been verified by skaters themselves, much like wikipedia. Skateboarding terminology is often subject to localism and tricks can actually have two different names despite accomplishing the same result. This open source experience has become one of the defacto guides for skaters through its open-sourceness along with its meticulous trick list. Great example of consumer created content, but i wouldn't give em the bank yet.
Methods
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Banksy brings Guantanamo to Disneyland

The ingenious Banksy has a how-he-did-it video posted of his juant to Disneyland. The stunt was intended to highlight the plight of terror suspects at the controversial detention centre in Cuba. What better place than the so-called 'happiest place on earth'. Banksy is notorious for his secretive and subversive stunts - such as sneaking doctored versions of classic paintings into major art galleries. The hooded figure was placed inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. It is understood to have remained in place for 90 minutes before the ride was closed down and the figure removed. Surely one day this man will get caught(we hope not!), but these videos are really flaunting his bravado.


Happiest Place On Earth
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Nike: Past and Present

We seem to have nike on the brain. My former boss has just left for Nike and we are waiting for him to send us some damn shoes! Oh and besides that, we wear em everyday. Air Maxes, Dunks, AF1s we love em all. Two interesting looks into Nike over at Josh Spear. The first is the origin of the swoosh which is about as synonymous as any logo on earth. Phil Knight asked for a logo representing movement wasnt bowled over by the original designs. Take a read, great inspiration to all you aspiring designers out there.



The second is a look inside a nike factory. Literally a behind the scenes pass to this often secret world. I half expected 3rd world conditions for all the politcal campus rallies ive seen. For some reason it says Pegasus on the sign, yet the molds are nike. Very sobering reality to those hot dunks on your feet.

Swoosh
Fleet Feet Factory
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Banksy: Wall & Piece

I was passing by Barnes & Noble when i saw a book from one of my absolute heros: Banksy. I thought it was too good to be true, how could he sell out? Truth its he didn't but it is his book. Banksy is artistic genius, political activist, painter, decorater, mystic legend, and the world's most notorious graffiti artist. His identity is completely unkown yet he is adored by thousands around the world for sticking it to the man. While he has a self-proclaimed cynical loathing for society, he is a champion of the people. Bansky is a hero to many for being unafraid to speak his mind in an extremely creative way that often uses his medium in uncanny connections and symbolism. From painting animals in zoos to the segregation wall built through Palestine to statues in London, Banksy has left his mark in thought provoking ways. His never-ending creativity always seems to top his latest escape such as the time when he managed to smuggle his works in 3 of the worlds most famous art museums and have them remain for days at a time. One of my personal favorites from the book are his fake crows that have pirated all the big brother cameras around london hoisting the jolly roger. His paintings which now command quite a bit of money(Brangelina bought some at his most recent show in LA) are loved throughout Britain to the point that city councils have voted to keep them out of popularity with the general public. Banksy takes on the subjects most keep silent and he does so in a loud and arresting manner that makes one think twice. Who else would put a blow up Guantanamo doll in Disneyland, in the middle of the park, in broad daylight? Banksy believes any public wall is the best spot for an artists work so it can be enjoyed by all. He says "some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place but some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place."

Banksy isnt just trying to make the world a better looking place. He remains active in his work, ever-provacative such as his Paris Hilton stunt and yet ever relevant and omni-present, all while his identity continues to remain a mystery. The book is amazing and I recommend everyone who loves art and inventive communication pick it up. He takes mundane to insane and inventive. His aciduous style and manner of blunt communication position Banksy as on one of the greatest artists of our time.



"If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model."
- BANKSY

Laugh now, but one day we'll be in charge
"There is no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover" -Metro Police Spokesperson
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New Pretty Things

Whoa.. Some of you just may be seeing stars right now. As many of you can tell the Lifefilter has upgraded quite a few options on the site such as

-Tagging EVERYTHING
-Email
-Links
-Archiving
-Improved coding for browser compatability issues
-More Ads! (sweeeeet) -*Come on. All you ad people are rejoicing i know it.

Let us know what you think (if you arent stumbling on for the first time) or better yet even if you are, tell us your thoughts. Subscribe to the email listserv and stay in touch even when you can't visit the site. Who knows we may even have a few goodies to send your way.

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Insta-silhouette

Just a quick update from busy worker central. A photo teaser for now. Videos from Nextfest are coming! yes we havent had a chance to put our nice logo (lifefilter branding!!) on the clips yet, so as soon as thats done they will be up and running. In the meantime this robot can look at someone and in less than a minute draw their silhouette. Programmers also set it up to make music by the distance it moved its arm and its spin rotation. Not sure what it really accomplishes but was pretty neat nonetheless. More to come
Mr. Roboto Draws

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Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror

Running until October 27th is Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror in New York City's Rockafeller Center. This mirror is about 50 feet in diameter and absolutely spectacular. Apparently the square had some extra money for the month and decided to do something for the people. This is a photographer's playground. I got some absolutely amazing shots and the illusions it creates reminds me of Millenium Park in Chicago. If you have a moment, do check it out. Lifefilter will bringing you a series of photos covering this great art installation.
Lifefilter's Sky Mirror Coverage
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Shepard Fairey Gives Us a Lesson in Phenomenology

An icon in his own right, Shepard Fairey is now on G4 talking about his philosophy and some of his latest happenings. There is a second part floating around the net somewhere, when today gets a little less crazy i will see if i can post it. Shepard is the genius behind OBEY, a now worldwide phenomena that started as a simple stencil on the street. No other brand has had success stemming from a street marketing campaign of this manner. The great thing is that Shepard is still a down to earth guy after all his success and times in jail. These days as Obey reaches the mainstream, people groan that it isn't cool, but that really doesn't take away how it has been a grassroots success. Many brands are siphoning his slogan too (hint: see sprite's newly hijacked tag) If you have a Shepard fact, feel free to post it in the comments below. Oh and i have the ONLY photo of Shepard's latest pasting from nyc. Posted in Williamsbury during this very signing, its not even up on Wooster yet. Just click on my Flickr link and its one of the most recent shots.
Obey The Link
Shepard fairey bombing nyc sounds off book signing 64 video
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Cool Hunting Summer 2006: 10 minutes of Ideas

I used to do quite a bit of cool hunting back at my last agency. NYC is the perfect town for it, and i quite never had as much fun sending out my interns to do the dirty work. Chuco/JWT has a nice cool hunting video which gives you the latest in under 10 minutes. And i didn't even break a sweat from the office. Some are great creative, some are just cool and some are actually great ideas that work.
Cool Hunt
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Art or Crime?

continued from yesterday....
nice little discussion going on in flickr
Art or Crime?
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Lil Hoodlums

FOR THE CLUELESS: Found this on flickr. So if you have a hood and a set of fat markers, you might be a tagger...Not to be stereotyping or anything. Sort of like if you find your child with a BONG shirt and smelling like incense..... The chart was from a Pasadena newspaper. Not sure how this helps the problem. Just ask Sony how powerful a medium graffiti can be. I for one, am a lover of street art. Banksy recently had a great article, after it was announced that Melbourne would be erasing its rich art-heritage for the Commonwealth Games, speaking out for the medium.
Bansky Goes Off
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Your Wutang Style Can Not Defeat Me!

This is wrestling Haxor style brought to attention by WWMNA:
The artists will duel – using images, sounds, flash, HTML and javascript – for two hours assembling and disassembling the work and coding of their opponent. During each turn, the respective player will also play sound or music which will be heard live through at the venue and on the net in real-time. This music can be then remixed by their opponent.

The match will be held physically in a wrestling ring surrounded by three projections that will display the hacked page and the desktops of the two competitors. A referee will comment live as the battle develops. On the web you will be able to see the state of the page being hacked, listen to the music or sounds produced by both artists, listen and see the referee and the combatants, and vote for the competitors.

If you register which net champion you wish to support before April 1st, you will receive on the night a support item from your champion.

The winner will be decided through a combination of public voting and a committee of jurors. Much as video games have now designated viewing areas, coding is becoming a more popular means of entertainment. As media becomes more self-run by the interest itself, we will see more things like this. Anyone can be their own media channel (youtube)...As the younger generations take over content will be the vehicle.
On Guard
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Border Crossings

The Border Film Project is an intriguing double looking-glass venture into the migrants vs. miltiamen world of the U.S. border. The BFP distributed over 400 disposable cameras to undocumented migrants crossing the desert into the U.S. and the Minutemen militia guys trying to catch them. The cameras were all sent back to the project headquarters in prepaid, self-adressed envelopes. They gave empty Walmart gift cards to the photographers and put money onto them when their cameras came back an incentive-- which seemed to be working, there are over 1500 photographs so far. The pictures are amazing and truly show what life is like on the border. My favorite part is the eerie comparison between shots. We are one people and there should be a solution to this...(personal feelings aside) Would love to have your thoughts on this..
Run for the border
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Grains of sand blowing in the wind

Wooster Collective spotted the work of artist Jorge Rodriguez who draws huge illustrations onto the side of Madrid buildings. The amazing part is that the wind and rain removes them. I have never been able to understand how artists can translate this from head to reality. Its so massive on a scale; how can they know what each brick should have. This guy is on a crane and it blows away?!@# Tragically beautiful.
Wow
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