Thursday, October 27th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Dam it’s been more than a minute since I’ve blessed these pages with something other than 140-char snippets from my Twitter feed. Ugh, doesn’t feel right, but such is Life right now, so I’m content to know that I’m doing my thing – being a 24/7-365 Dad! And, being a full-time Provider…it all adds up to more than a full day, everyday. Word, Life.
But I’m here now posting something filthy to ChooOn… as fortune would have it via the digital channels of fate, I was lucky to recently connect with filthygood contemporary graphic/street artist named Chor Boogie, hailing from the West Coast – sunny California. He actually stumbled onto my site somehow…word up. Either way, Chor Boogie is a a supremely talented cat that you should surely look further into. I mean, I went through his site www.chorboogie.com and was definitely surprised at the amount of theory and analysis he had posted on his work, his Art. Surprised because you rarely see an artist go so far in depth about their craft – gotta respect that. I also think that the more literature and information about the science, theory and culture behind (post) modern contemporary graphic art, the better.
So yeah, definitely worth the look. You can catch up with Chor Boogie on this blog or for more info on the artist, the art and bookings, hit up his main site www.chorboogie.com. Would love to do a more in-depth feature on Chor-Boog at some point…stay tuned, we’ll see if we can make it happen!
Sunday, May 8th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
As a member of a generation that bridged old to new, I vividly recall in my younger days, how much I loved to draw, doodle, colour, tag, write. How I used to collect pencils, erasers, pens, tools for art, tools of expression. Somehow along the way, I ditched a lot of those wonderful old habits for typing and clicking.
I was with my my brother-in-law last week at his friend’s place – an artist who’s studio is tucked away in a back alley in downtown Toronto. Pretty much what you would expect at an artist’s studio, but it was a great little spot, and his friend is very talented. We’re checking out the piece his friend is working on and he turns to me and says, “You need a place like this.” “Yes,” I said, “I couldn’t agree more.” Considering the fact that I live mostly in the digital side of things these days, it was inspiring to be there. I would like to go back. Back to those old habits. Back to a time when the value of Art & Expression was different. This is not a resignation, rather, more of a plan to bring back and mix some of the old with the new. I think that would be healthy.
Yes, in our world that doesn’t stop, it’s sometimes hard these days to put a finger on anything. It’s Sunday nights like these, where I have to take those few hours for myself and revisit things that inspire me. Things that I love and love to do. Music, writing, art.
Above is a canvas put out last year by Brazilian artist Herbert Baglione, who’s art for me is definitely inspiring. Part of the South American graffiti movement for over ten years now, Baglione’s art, inspired by street culture, is a fresh take on the urban scape that surrounds him. Baglione does some very dope mural art-designs, but my favourite pieces are the stretchy human-alien figures he creates – rounded and elongated figures with clean, yet dramatic icons/symbols, often in balance with familiar urban architecture.
You can check out his blog here, or try Googling him too. I found a cool Flickr stream by “â–˛ = trashisfesch = â–˛” who took one of the pictures below at a Graffiti Exhibition in Wuppertal, Germany back in 2007. Nice detail in the shot, well done.
Would love to get some of Herbert’s work as wall prints too. All his work is fuckin dope. Check out “The Run-Up”, a video by Walrus TV (Upper Playground) at the end of this post.
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Yeah, I don’t think there’s a lot more I can say on this. I already posted a few weeks back about the Operation Doomsday Lunchbox, and how ill the designs that are coming out the Doom Camp are…you can read the post here.
Crate Diggaz, collectors, Hip-Hop aficionado’s…I’m guessing and suggesting you cop this quick – incredible stuff like this can’t last for long!
Friday, March 18th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Was it me or did the SXSW get TONS of online press and coverage? I feel like all I’ve seen everywhere online are S’s X’s and W’s over the last week. And, it seems like a lot of press was participant generated, which is a brilliant marketing strategy. Ha, that said, here’s a little more! A short but sweet tidbit from Frog Design’s David Sherwin on his new book Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills, that looks to be a good reference resource for any designer or design studio. The slide deck was used as part of a Q & A session at SXSW.
On a slightly different note, I was also surprisingly impressed by the simplicity and power of the slide deck using Slideshare. It wasn’t just the fact that the actual slide deck well scripted and designed, but I was really pleased with the experience using Slideshare. Super easy to use with all the bells and whistles for easy sharing and embedding. Very well done methinks. I never realized that most Slideshow tech that I’ve used was actually pretty crap until I used this as found the experience seamless – maybe it was just me. I have yet to actually post a presentation myself. Either way, I’m guessing it won’t be long before Slideshare becomes a standard….especially since it’s all based in the cloud.
Oh, check out and subscribe toDesign Mind, Frog Design’s blog on design thinking, business, technology and culture. Awesome stuff, word.
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Power in Culture; Art transcends… From Parisian street graf-artist to using the world as his canvas, JR shares his story and TED wish with the world. Very effin cool. No, brilliant. Learn more about JR, his work and how you can join the movement: www.insideoutproject.net. Help turn our world inside out.
Monday, March 7th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
In our Digital Age, instant-everything-at-a-press-of-a-button (or touch-of-a-screen) socially networked mass culture, it’s easy to forget about the brand genius that came out of Hip-Hop street culture; Hip Hop artists, as self promoting, highly creative entrepreneurs. Russell, Diddy, Jigga, are some of the more ubiquitous larger than life Hip-Hop icons in pop culture, who figured out how to really leverage the hustle and flow format that Hip-Hop pioneers crafted way back when (well, uncle Russ was one of those pioneers). In fact, the brilliance of guerilla street branding and marketing is a cornerstone of Hip-Hop culture and testament to it’s genius and true creativity. Yes, Hip Hop, OG Brand Designer and original creator of street couture (and much, much more).
Anyway, as someone in the design business who works with and helps create brands, that’s why I love this new OPERATION: DOOMSDAY release so much. In this impersonal era of mp3 bootleg, de-value-the-hard-work-of-true-artists online culture, packaging your brand, your product, has changed dramatically – especially in the music business. “Artists” and Labels definitely do not put as much thought into how they market and package their product these days. It’s sad. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I miss owning the record/CD; I miss the intimate association of actually owning the music physically – the extended interpretation of the artist and music through the cover art and the details of the liner notes! (although I’ve always been a “collector”).
I mean, you all know the story – it’s not that the “hard copy” product doesn’t exist anymore, it’s more of a change in consumer behaviour, driven by new systems of distribution that directs the consumer through digital channels. Yeah, and as a result, demand changes and as such, so does the product as a whole. How many record labels do you see putting out lunchbox double disc packages like Metalface Records?
That said, gigantic props to Stonesthrow for putting out artists that are still, Artists. Stonesthrow has been a fearless trendsetter in an industry that many thought was doomed. They’ve continued to forge ahead behind what they believe in and stand for – creativity and artistry – and have set the pace for other labels to try and follow suit.
And most importantly, let me give blessings and thanks to supremely gifted artists and true creators like MF Doom, who just know how to create an undeniable persona, character and unforgettable brand. I don’t think anyone has done it this well since the Wu (although Madlib is most definitely on par with Doom with his own twist on character development and brand brilliance). Yeah, Doom is the total package.
Note, this is NOT your regurgitated and downloaded a million times over web mp3 copy of Doom material you can find anywhere online, but OPERATION DOOMSDAY complete and remastered – the real deal. Available in 2/CD LUNCHBOX and 4/LP METALBOX sets, these ridiculously awesome collector’s items “each contain a 32-page lyric book and set of 10 cards with images of the Operation Doomsday MCs”. Stones Throw has an advance pre-sale for the lunchbox that started last week and starts shipping out March 28th. Who doesn’t need to transport their lunch in style while they listen to some serious, one-of-a-kind Hip Hop? Yes, it really is a perfect extension of the music, the man behind the mask, the brand, if you really think about it. The Doom camp obviously did. Yeah, Operation: Dope Brand, brand designers take notes!
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
In one long, satisfying exhale, February was gone. Yeah, it really didn’t take long for Life in 2011 to shift into high gear. But, I guess that’s just how it is with mini-me’s running around – word. And, one 2011 milestone coming up – my eldest turns six tomorrow!
At any rate, in fine visual fashion, here are some great shots showcased on FWA Photo for February. My faves: Mile Storey’s Egyptian Rally Portrait (above), Aleksander Willemse’s Forgotten Places, Kadir Murat Tosun’s Anitkabir, and Josh Lieberman’s Weightlessness of Immensity (this pic in particular is just so filthygood. The Egyptian portrait is dope too, and shot in Toronto!)
Friday, February 25th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
It’s been a crazy-nice last week and a half helping my brother-in-law with his new Massive initiative, the Massive Change Network. Everyone should join the conversation about the design of our world – the design of our future.
Yeah, it’s been a little crazy, positively hectic and sleepless, but extremely satisfying all said and done. This sort of thing is what really motivates me these days; being involved and part of real change is what inspires me.
So, I’m working away the other night and Bruce sends me two essays he wrote last year. One originally published in the World Policy Journal and the other in Fashion Magazine: Storm by Magnum Photos, edited by Paolo Pellegrin. Bruce tells me he thinks it would be a “fun read”, ha! Yeah, as usual, I was blown away. Which isn’t surprising.
Yeah, Bruce Mau has that affect on people, the business of Design, the world. And, thank God for that. Thank you Bruce for that.
Urbanity Revised is a brilliant piece on why it’s necessary for us to rethink the City, entirely. Yes, utterly and completely….rethink and change our ideas and conceptions, our fundamental beliefs of what a “City” is. But what really struck me, was the essay Special Extra Mysterious Magical Immesurable (SEMMI). In my opinion, one of the most important and inspiring essays I’ve read in a long time. See, we (as a global community) know so much. We know what’s wrong, what’s right, we know what we can do, what we can’t do yet, and we know what we should be doing. But yet, nothing is being done – the message doesn’t seem to be getting through. Whether it’s the idiot box that’s numbing awareness, or just plain old ignorance, people still wake up every day and go about their business like the world isn’t going to end. WTF is up with that? So in this essay, I think Bruce nails it it on the head with this revelation of the importance of Beauty. Yes, with Beauty by design and through design, people just might wake up – they might find the desire to do the right thing.
I can’t really say it better than the man himself, so you’ll just have to read it. There is hope…and it starts with you and me. Join the global coversation at www.massivechangenetwork.com.
Special Extra Mysterious Magical Immeasurable, by Bruce Mau. Urbanity Revised, by Bruce Mau.
[Sorry, links to these texts have been removed]
If you’re interested, here’s my response to Bruce’s email to me after I read SEMMI:
Hi Bruce, thanks for sharing that “fun” read with me, ha! I am grateful. I don’t think anyone on the planet could have said it better. I will read it again, and again. I especially think it’s fantastic that this essay was published in Fashion Magazine. Shift in perspective is one massive change we are in dire need of as a planet.
I wonder daily about what I do. What I’m doing. Why I don’t feel “connected”, or fulfilled or challenged in a way that actually means something. Mind you, I am not talking about being a husband or about fatherhood. Those life roles are what drives me, and is where I find the most fulfilment and inspiration – purpose. I can not say that I have learned lessons in life more important than after I became a father. (I chuckle quietly to myself now at the blissful ignorance of my non-parental friends…boy, do they say some silly sh!t some times, haha. But, I don’t hold it against them, that was once me too!)
But I am finding it difficult to motivate myself or really, truly care if we (the company I currently work for) sells more software (is that bad?). Yes, if it weren’t for B and the girls….genuinely caring about my job, work, would be impossible. The Marxist in me still believes that we should all be doing our Art. And, it seems that I’m not alone though. My generation – born in the 70′s – are a unique bunch in our own right, a nice mix between old school and new. Fortunate enough not to have had to wear bike helmets and shoes outside, and also there for the advent of the first video game console and Apple computer. Yes, we are the last generation to still hold some of those old time values, and the first generation to grow up with all the conveniences of the modern button pushing, I-want-it-now era. Down-to-earth-tech-savvy, hybrid genXers?
Yes, I see the look in the eyes of some of my close peers. I hear them ask the questions and propose ideas that lead me to believe that we are all aware (and thankful) that we are very fortunate to live the lives we live, but also know that the illusion can not last much longer.
When I first became a home owner, I went through a phase where I had all these romantic ideas in my head about technology that would allow me to live “off the grid” if necessary… Stuff like a green on-site power generator, rain water collection, water filter & water tank, solar panels, hydroponics etc., nothing crazy. One of my close buddies asked me why I was so “paranoid”. I told him I wasn’t paranoid. I then asked him if he remembered the blackout we had in the early 2000′s…I believe it was 2003. I asked him to think about what would have happened if that blackout lasted a whole week; a month; or even longer.
Yes, the current set of existing systems in place from 1st world right down the socio-politcal-economic fraying line do not work. And, the appearance that they do work will not last. We need something other than – how did you put it? – “our current resource extraction model” to share and care for our planet if we are to remain here even a touch longer in the grand scheme.
Through university, among the many interesting odd-jobs I’ve had, I stocked produce shelves at Costco one summer. I was appalled at the amount of fresh fruit and veggies that got tossed on a daily basis (and would stuff myself in the back room as much as I could every shift, lest see all the goodness go to waste). I was blown away by the fact that with everything we can do, these grocery giants (at the very least) haven’t yet figured out how to disperse that “waste” to people who need it locally?!! So much could be done with that “waste”. (We have had heated discussions about this very topic here at my household – ‘red tape’, ‘bureaucracy’, ‘liability’ and other lawyersome words thrown around, all hogwash.)
So yes, I am grateful. Grateful and thankful that there is now something like the Massive Change Network. Thankful, that you have kick started a lazy planet on the long path toward enlightenment…and more importantly, survival. Everyone can lead, but not anyone can Lead. I agree with you… “Beauty is the tool with which we are able to continuously reconnect to desire.” No one will respond to the picture if it isn’t painted nicely or fashioned in a way that actually sends the message through.
I am thankful that I now have something for which to apply my Art: help paint the Big Picture! That sculpture, Future. The new Starry Night. It is frightening, but yes, beautiful.
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
So yeah, here we are approaching the end of the 5th year without godDiLLa….and DiLLa Month is already in full swing. In good timing, I received my Stones Throw e-newsletter today and the first 3 entires were all about DiLLa. What I love (and want for my own) is this 28″x28″ poster you can only get from the Stones Throw online store. I’m sure it will sell out like wack emcees, so get yours now.
I’ll leave all the tribute mixes to everyone else…instead, here’s a dope collabo by The Ins and Miles Bonny – a video entitled J. Birly. The tune is a cover of the classic tune “Just Because I Really Love You”, by Jerry Butler, one of the original lead singers of the Impressions (the other lead was Curtis Mayfield). DiLLA sampled the tune for the “Luv U” beat off the Donuts album. Classic shit giving life to Immortal shit. Word.
Monday, January 31st, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
So I woke up to a snuggly -18 Monday morning (without windchill) up here in balmy Southern Ontario, Canada….which instantly made me think of this crazy ass picture above, published January 1st, 2011, on FWAPhoto.com. (So that was me this morning, the Polar Bear, waking up and gazing out at the world….minus the Chernobyl-like smoke stacks and grim iron curtain landscape). Click on the pic to see a larger version via FWAPhoto.com…the image looks much crazier on a high-res monitor, preferrably Mac, 1920×1200).
I’m definitely a big fan of Chris Clor’s work. A few sneak peeks from his portfolio below, but check out Chris Clor’s website for a more complete collection of his outstanding work…it speaks for itself. I added a few more choice photos from FWAPhoto.com below too…check out the site for their monthly collection of photography.
A few more pics from FWAPhoto.com that caught my eye from January 2011…
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
I can’t say I’m a big fan of Karim Rashid, the person (which isn’t entirely fair because I don’t know him personally, only what I’ve heard of him), but it’s tough to front like he hasn’t created some effin cool shit over the course of the last two decades. So, I won’t front… and I’ll tell you that I think the Water Bobble is probably my favourite products he’s (ever) designed. From function to form, the Bobble has ‘Rebirth of Cool’ written all over it (mostly by plastic water bottle standards). Everyone should get one. Like now.
“Why?” you ask, should I get a hokey looking fairy coloured bottle with a silly name? Well, you insolent little ignoramus…because our planet depends on us to take care of it, that’s why. Because the perpetuation of the human species living sustainably on Earth requires that we take our heads out of our asses now and start living like we care; like we want to be here for a while longer. The fact is, approximately 38 billion plastic bottles end up in landfills each year (I got that stat from the Water Bobble site). Yeah, 38 billion…and you thought Chinese people were growing in rapid numbers.
Friday, January 14th, 2011 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Ok, it’s minus 8 outside right now, sun shining, minimal windchill…straight-up balmy weather for this part of the world. O’Canada. So, I hit up Selectism.com this morning and came across these badass kicks – Lanvin Grey Jacquard High Tops.
Yeah, I know Spring is still a few months away, but with dope gear and apparel, you can’t go wrong staying ahead of the seasons. And old habits die hard…still an addict for sneakers. Between these Lanvin sneaks and the new line of Supra’s that are out, I’m torn like a washed up porn star. Fark.
Also check out 1TwoClothing.com…just linked these guys via Twitter and they defeinitely have some fresh Tees and gear in their catalgoue.
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 | by choorocca | No Comments »
Yeah, so the inner pointdexter in me is always fascinated with acts of creative intellectual brilliance. But, who isn’t right? Especially when you combine sophisticated analog technology that dates back thousands of years to ancient Greece (100 B.C.), only recently discovered (by a diver in 1901), and only actually figured out (just what the hell it is) 3 years ago! And then to make a replica that actually works out of lego?! Incredible.
The brain behind it all? Andrew Carol. Full time software engineer at Apple, part-time Lego Mad Scientist.
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 | by choorocca | No Comments »
So earlier this week Stonesthrow release Madlib Medicine Show No. 11 – Low Budget High-Fi Music…the latest in Madlib’s Medicine Show series. I haven’t had a chance to get it yet and absorb, but I’m sure it’s DOPE. It’s safe to say that I’m pretty much a fan of everything that Madlib puts out.
I did want to post the artwork for the new record though because it’s supremely dope as you can see by the cover art above. And, it’s another good example of “creative process” that I recently wrote about in the Linen post below. Check out more of the art and inserts here, along with the seeing some of the process by Hit+Run – these guys do some serious work….come one, Hennessy-infused paint!?? Nice way to waste money and feign creativity, ha! I’m just kidding…I very much appreciate that Stonesthrow posts glimpses of the process Hit+Run goes through to create the artwork. Stonesthrow posted similar pics for the release of Madlib’s Medicine Show #7 – High Jazz.
What I love most about seeing the actual product – CD, packaging etc. – is the fact that it reminds me how much I loved actually collecting the tangible stuff that came with music i.e. inserts and artwork! The digital world is cool and all, but nothing beats unwrapping something tangible and getting to read liner notes. That’s real, word.
