Also Pharrell’s been a producer, artist creating odd items such as a chair with human feet molded in for chair feet, and has worked with Takashi Murakami to create artwork so expensive it’d make your eyeballs bleed. What he’s doing now isn’t so much a solid item as it is a teaser for the future of his musical endeavors, always exciting since he’s good at that sort of thing, and all. This orchestra, the HMI Orchestra that is, will be coming your way again soon hopefully by the end of 2012.

The first time Pharrell mentioned this piece seems to be an Esquire interview in which he said the following after being asked “How important is fashion to you as far as it relates to your creativity — to your everyday life?” After noting how many “industry machines [are] locking up,” he’s been “fixing things” by bringing on the heat:

“There’s a storm coming. You’re gonna see me working in other musical mediums, too. Hip-hop? Yes. R&B? Yes. Pop? Yes. But watch. I just did a classical piece. It’s gonna be cool.” – Pharrell

Then here’s where it gets weird. The original story written up about this situation appears to be the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, whose story was titled “Pharrell Williams Records with Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.” This post is now down, but a cached version of it remains thanks to Google. The text from this post can be found here in its entirety for all of you to know and love:

January 13, 2012 — Coral Gables, FL — The University of Miami Frost School of Music announces that multi-Grammy Award winning music producer, singer, rapper and composer Pharrell Williams was at UM Gusman Concert Hall this fall to record a new work for orchestra entitled “i am Other” with the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.

Williams hired the all-student orchestra for the session upon recommendation of producer Quincy Jones (honorary D.M.A. ’99). A video clip is provided below.

Williams composed the mixed-genre orchestral work—which features soft and ethereal atmospheres contrasted with fortissimo brass themes and driving rhythms—to explore a different side of his musical creativity, and to encourage his hip-hop fan base to expand their musical horizons. Shelly Berg orchestrated and conducted the work, and Director of Recording Services Paul Griffith (B.M. ’83) was the recording engineer. Pharrell Williams is best known for his work with Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Shakira, Jay-Z, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg.

The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the Frost School of Music is comprised primarily of graduate student “fellows” who are focused on developing cross-genre performance and entrepreneurial skills that will help prepare them for today’s professional world.

[via WavTelevision]

Full disclosure, one of the folks on staff over at BobbleDroids is a friend of mine and did make an Android figurine of me to use as an example for the site’s launch. You can get a better peek at it below, but check out the source above as well. It’s just fantastic how simply awesome these little folks are, and how simple the combination is for complete Android victory. And look, mine even has my little baby girl on a front strap, for real!

And of course the glasses. Look at those glasses! The detail is fabulous, the presentation is sweet, and the price is right for a hand-made piece of artwork designed to your specifications. Head over to http://www.bobbledroids.com/ right the heck now and see if you can resist. And don’t forget to give yourself a nice pair of shoes!

Those of you familiar with the storyline and have payed close attention to the names of the planes, you know that none of the game takes place on earth. Instead, though it might SEEM like your own planet is being invaded by bloodthirsty demons of all sorts, its waht’s called “Sanctuary” that you’re protecting. Here you see Leah hear the demonic Azmodan speak of the future in which the forces that in the film here seem unstoppably massive overcome the world of Sanctuary. The animation will have you having a heart attack and the epic nature of the product will have you salivating unholy liquids.

Then, as a bonus, have a peek at this Diablo retrospective, also made and distributed by Blizzard Entertainment for your redigestion of 15 years of the Lord of Darkness. Take a quick look through the beginning all the way to 2008 when Diablo III was formally announced to 2012 when the game is set to be released. What will become of our everloving awesome massacre of guts for everyone?

Months now, just months left to go!

What’s going on here, essentially, is that D-Face (and crew) have devised a way to attach spraypaint cans to the bottoms of skateboards, these cans then remotely controlled and able to spray paint on command. They’re spraying a pool on commission and, by the looks of it, are creating pathways that skaters of the future will be following for years to come. Look like a pool you’d like to drop into? Or would you have a massive headache after 10 minutes and fall down and bust your arm and head right the heck open?

This apparently has been a dream of D-Face’s for some time now, culminating here in this “Ridiculous Pool” project documented in this video. Attach paint to a device, make the device move, find a way for the paint to exude as the device moves. When you’re making something like this happen, it’s the middle part of the project that matters the most.

First, you can get these prints right now (unless they’re sold out of course) over at GraffSupply for $95 USD each or $250 USD for a full set. Each print is part of an edition of 250, each is hand-numbered, and each of them is a Giclee Print on Epson Somerset Fine Art stock 255GSM. That means they aren’t a screenprint, they aren’t painted, they’re printed from a printer – a very, very nice printer on very, very nice paper. These will last you basically forever is what that means.

These cans were recently part of an exhibition at MOCA called Art in the Streets, and Gastman once again now has them in his home (or in a closet somewhere wrecking the linoleum on the floor, I’m not sure on that.) What I am sure on is that I’ve got some work by Gastman on my bookshelf right now. This is the guy who created the book Freight Train Art, helped start one of the coolest short-lived magazines in history SWINDLE with Shepard Fariey, (may this magazine rest in peace, by the way,) and back when he was 19 he borrowed $4,000 USD from his mother to start a magazine by the name of While You Were Sleeping, a graffiti inspired magazine that you won’t have a whole heck of a lot of luck finding any information about on the internet. Grab yourself an issue from Electronic Bay if you’re feeling lucky today.

The image you see here shows Gastman sitting amongst a small part of his massive collection of graffiti history, this photo taken by Freshly Serious back in March of 2011 for a post called Graffiti Gasping by S.D. Rockswell. Gastman is currently pursuing art projects, archival projects, and a general continuation of his collection of most excellent Graffiti artifacts. — thanks for the tip, RG!

What we’re looking at here is a set of three skateboards, gum green, gum pink, and flat white, each of them with a screenprint-esque pattern of Snow While faces amid the Supreme blog logo. If you’d like to keep any of these decks in tact, that meaning not slapping on some grip tape and taking them for a ride, you’re rewarded with another bit of text and box logo on the top of the board.

Next there’s a tool case with a lock, all red with white lettering on top. This makes the box logo go 3D for real and you’ll certainly be able to keep your stash, whatever that may be, safely inside with a front-facing lock. After this you’ll see a set of pins as well as a rug, both of them playing off the classic LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana, both of them highly inappropriate for children.

A set of three scarves can be found here in this late 2011 collection, checkers on one side and a correctly sized box logo on the other in several combinations: black and mustard, white and red, and white and black. You’ll also be able to keep warm with a new set of fingerless gloves, each of them with a leather (or pleather?) palm and SUPREME MFG CO COLD WEATHER printed on the wrist in some rather plain block lettering.

Next there’s a set of many bags, each of them having a similar checkered motif to the scarf mentioned above only this time they’re similar tones of the same color. there’s a set of three duffel bags, three phone cases, three messenger bags, and three backpacks, each of them in black, red, or blue. All of these bags also have the Supreme box logo. There’s also a completely mis-matched set of three coin pouches in red, yellow, or bronze with a snakeskin-like finish.

A set of belts will be available, these in red, blue, black, or army green. These belts have a leather/pleather front clasp area with Supreme non-box logo stamped on one side – the rest of the belt has a row of flies, or the same fly rather, sitting one after another along the entirety of the belt.

There are several colors available for an ash tray – red, black, or white, with the non-box Supreme logo printed on one side and SEE YOU IN HELL printed on the other. This combined with the “classic” dice and lighter set makes for a real swanky ultra-set incoming. The lighter is of course a gold ZIPPO with the red box logo printed on one side near the base. The dice have Supreme printed on each of them, each of them being a transparent red with white ink dots, five of them contained in a glass box with Supreme logo printed across the top. These dice appear again in a much larger size as a set of banks, white with black, red with white, or black with white, each sold separately.

Several keychain sets are coming with this release, the first of which is a set of three floaty block box logos. These should be familiar to you if you live in an area where fishing is prevalent as keys dropped into the water as you’re bagging a few dozen sunfish isn’t going to make your day sweet unless you remember you’ve attached them to a Supreme-brand floaty. Whether these floaties actually float or are just for show is not yet known – we’ll see!

Next there’s the number one shaped plastic keychain set which I’m CERTAIN I’ve seen before (without the Supreme branding, of course,) but cannot place at this very moment. What you’ll find on the front of every one of these five keychains (black, red, white, green, or white) is the Supreme non-box logo while the back has the slogan “YOU’RE NUMBER 1 WITH US” as well as an image of a human hand displaying the middle finger and the text “FUCK THE REST”.

Of course none of these items compare to the final two items in this collection, both of them religious in their origins. First there’s the simpler of the two: a relatively elaborately modeled Jesus Christ on a cross with a rose on the back above the word SUPREME. This lovely metal keychain then also plays host to a fold-down knife blade of course for all your stabbing needs.

Then there’s the perhaps even stranger piece of this puzzle: a Saint Christopher pendant necklace. If I hadn’t seen the Jesus cross direct from the source as well, I would have thought it was a mistake, especially since it says Supreme nowhere on it at all, but here it is. It’s got an airplane and a car on the back above two saintly figures and the letter “M” with stars around it, while the front has three holy characters below Saint Christopher himself who is surrounded by the words “ST CHRISTOPHER • BE MY GUIDE”. Of course we all know that Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travel. The most famous story of how Christopher became a saint involved his wish to serve the highest king, whom he found to be Christ. To serve Christ, he was instructed by a monk to use his immense size to help people across a river. One day he had a child request passage. Upon crossing with the child, the river grew deep and the boy felt heavy as lead. Upon reaching the far side of the water, Christopher said to the child:

“You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were.” The child replied: “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work.” The child then vanished. — STC

Cool story, huh? What Supreme gets out of all this I cannot say, but because Saint Christopher is a radically cool character and because your humble narrator shares his awesome name, I can’t say I don’t want the necklace in question here.

Supreme also has a bunch of clothing coming out soon, all of it along the following lines:

Release Dates:
August 25th (Thursday) – NY & LA
August 27th (Saturday) – Japan
September 1st (Thursday) – Online
September 22nd (Thursday) – London

Grab it all!

First let’s have a look at this jacket. The jacket goes with the green shoes, but we’re going to look at the green shoes last because they’re the best. This coat is called the Galactic Scoundrel Flight Jacket and has both embroidering and screen-printed ink on the back and on the front. This jacket has a sort of 1980′s look to it with the stretch bottom of the jacket as well as at the wrists, an army / dark olive green accentuated by the massively bright red zipper pulls and checked red strip on the front right side. What makes this jacket unique here is the gigantic name of the brand as well as the specific model name for the article of clothing – streetwear is quite meta at the moment I would certainly concede to saying.

Next there’s the Darth Vader Stan Smith 80s Mid – the name Stan Smith, for those of you that don’t know, being the model of the shoe regardless of the Star Wars content. Darth Vader here appears very much to be a Ralph McQuarrie concept illustration of the dark lord, the time at which this drawing was made and the style of the shoe again both reflecting the late 70′s/early 80′s look seen in the jacket. The shoe is white and black on the whole save for an entirely blue interior, gold printed Adidas logo on the back, stitched gold and black logo block on the tongue – plus a little bonus at the top with two gold metal lace loops as well.

Then there’s the extremely wearable Galactic Scoundrel Forum Mid, a high-top sneaker with green laces, a zip-up green lace cover with orange pull, and a black leather (or pleather) velcro strap with orange rim – this strap leads down to the sides of the shoe where you’ll see the “Originals Galactic Scoundrel” along with the Millennium Falcon embroidered in the same orange thread. This black strap makes sort of a big “X” and leads down to the back of the shoe while the other line wraps around the back of the shoe and moves down below the three Adidas stripes on the outsides of the shoe.

The inner side of the shoe is mainly the green canvas material that covers the bulk of the shoe with a white rubber sole, black dot and orange arch underneath. On the tongue you’ll find an embroidered logo box that has the Adidas logo, “HAN SOLO” complete with quotes, and a lovely portrait of the #1 scoundrel himself, all of this orange thread on black material. The insides of the shoe are also the same burnt orange tone.

Look like a few items you could wear on the street without getting stomped on this time around? They’re Star Wars but they’re not the most nerdiest threads on the block, if you take my meaning. Wear without fear. Each of these items will be released inside September 2011, prices incoming. They’ll all more than likely be available at bigger malls in your area as well as at Adidas online store of course.

This film contains interviews with several folks including the fellow responsible for putting a mohawk of green turf on the Winston Churchill statue near parliament, Noel Godin whose famous for tossing pies in the faces of celebrities. Then there’s a talk with Michael Fagan, the man who broke into the Queen’s bedroom and sat at the foot of her bed: “I looked into her eyes, they were dark.” Rattling stuff.

What The Antics Roadshow examines is a bunch of stories surrounding some of “the most audacious stunts of recent times” including what motivates them and what makes them go about their business, be it heavy political business or just some fabulous finding of fun. It’s free to watch and if it’s taken down here by the time you get to this post, leave a comment and we’ll find you another one.

Each of these posters are created with some rather new software, likely Adobe Illustrator, and each are available, (most of them are available, that is,) each on their own as well as in a 9-up poster of only Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter posters. Aaron Wood also sells Euro-type stickers with things like +1, AFK, and ROFL inside them, this leading us to note that Wood seems to focus on internet-based subject matter on the whole, appealing then to consumers across the world – quite modern.

Each of these posters at the moment costs $7.50 and will be printed on an 11-inch by 14-inch sheet of paper. You can also purchase a limited edition 18-inch by 24-inch poster with 9 of these social networking posters on it below which “Social Media Propaganda Posters by Aaron Wood” is printed. These limited edition posters are printed on C1S 80# glossy paper and are indeed limited to a run of 250, costing $25 USD.

In the images you see above and below you’re going to see a quick look at the city as it continues to stand built and painted many years ago. As Erin notes, she aims to peek at the elements that provide an obvious documentation of the history of the city. She also notes that big cinema productions are “moving upstate” because places like Schenectady are both visual stimulating and relatively cheap to use for movies. Erin recently found herself face to face with Ryan Gosling just across the river in Scotia as well – filming in New York, who knew?

Photos below come strapped with descriptions made by Erin Colligan, again, and all photographs were taken the first week of August, 2011. Can you feel the sweetness in the small businesses? Look at the killer wild letting in the lettering up in BI-MOR – and Pablo’s, with only a sign to the side of the window, nothing above? Completely undeniable.

Then there’s the Yellow TV set painted on the wall that we’ve been tipped by a T. Falk as being SACC TV – 16, a former public access station in the city. Additionally, there is a bit of information on the “Mr James” storefront as well, as noted by another trusted commenter:

“Mr James” Scolamiero arrived in Schenectady from Italy at age 4 in 1907; became a barber at the Van Curler Hotel, now Schenectady County Community College; moved into the red facade building on State St in 1963, at age 60; and reportedly was still cutting hair there at age 94.

If you’ve got any more info on the buildings pictured, feel free to let us know!

[via Times Union]

Seeking an ancient interview by Internet standards, we’ve uncovered NIGO x BredBand talk conducted somewhere in the early 2000′s in which he speaks in detail about the figures and how they came about, along with who worked on them and how their clothing was made specifically by A Bathing Ape, in addition to a factoid about how NIGO had each of the Beastie Boys’ heads photographed 360 degrees for the project, but then lost his full set of the original photos. Indulge with us if you will:

Interviewer: What’s your deal?
NIGO: My name is NIGO, I’m 30 years old, from Tokyo. I started my clothing line namedA Bathing Ape in 1993 with my friend SKATE THING. And we started our toys section, Ape Play, and music label Ape Sounds in 1999. I released my own album, Ape Sounds,in 1999 which featured Ben Lee, Money Mark, Cornelius, U.N.K.L.E. and more. I will release a hip hop album featuring Biz Markie, Rakim, Beatnuts, GZA, and Flava Flav. And oh yes, Mario C remixed the tracks for the Ape Sounds remix album.
Interviewer: What other figures have you made?
NIGO: Futura 2000, U.N.K.L.E., SDP (A Japanese rap group) and Planet of the Apes figures, and myself.
Interviewer: How long does it take to make one set?
NIGO: Usually it takes 6 months or a year. But it took 2 years to make Beastie Boys action figures.
Interviewer: How many sets of the Beasties figures were made?
NIGO: 1,000 sets.
Interviewer: How are the heads made, especially the incredibly accurate faces?
NIGO: I asked Hama Hayao who is famous molding artist to make the face. He is so great.We took pictures of the Beastie Boys’ heads from every side, 360 degrees, as the data for the dolls. I lost the pictures though.
Interviewer: Do you make the clothes or does someone else?
NIGO: Yes. All clothing was made by A Bathing Ape. I made whole thing except face and body.
Interviewer: How did you decide on the outfits that they would come with?
NIGO: I tried to reproduce Hello Nasty album jacket for the action figures. And about the extraQuasar outfit, I and my friend Matt Takei had helped to find their uniforms in Tokyo when they had come to Tokyo for the Quasar tour. And I also helped to make their stickers to arrange the outfit with Beastie Boys’ direction. And Beastie Boys gave us their guitars as our friendship.
Interviewer: Is it safe to take them into the bathtub?
NIGO: NO WATER!!!

At the time the figures sold through GrandRoyal.com, aka the Beastie Boys 1992-2001 vanity record label which took a place on Beastie Boys records from the moment they left Def Jam Recordings to work with Capitol Records. The figures sold then for around $500 USD. The figures today cost $750, and all proceeds, again, go to charity. Two charities actually, that being The pablove foundation and Alex’s Lemonade Stand, both of these being foundations for childhood cancer.

The reason these fantastic figures are up for sale again after all this time is, first of all, the renaissance nature of the newest Beastie Boys record, “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two”, as well as the appearance of these figures in the newest music video of the moment, made for the newest single off the album: “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” featuring the Beastie Boys and Santigold! Have a look at the video here:

As the original description notes, “these are some real limited edition, explicit, bottle service/ v.i.p. type items. And no, we are not trying to take you for all your Mozarell.” This “Motzarell” they speak of is of course the cash you’ll be laying down for said goods, and not taking it means they’re, again, sending it all in to the dialing charities. What the actual package contains is thus:

• 3 Action Figures (1 MCA, 1 Mike D, 1 Ad Rock – each 11.5″ tall)
• Action Figures come dressed in button down shirts, pants, and shoes
• 3 Doll Stands
• 3 White Jump Suits
• 3 Safety Goggles
• 3 pairs of Work Boots
• 3 Safety Vests
• 3 Belts
• 3 Japanese Decal Stickers
• 3 Extra Hand Attachments
• All inside a 16×12-inch metal box

This set also comes with the 2-disk special edition of the Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science complete with an 88 page full-color 11.3×11.3-inch book with photos and lyrics. All of this is, of course, while supplies last.

What do you think? Holidays close enough that you can toss a few dollars down on your old friends the Beastie Boys in a fabulous tin of three?

The first of three pieces of clothing now available at the Pop Shop is Radiant Baby, this being one of Haring’s most universally recognized symbols, a human being on knees and hands with light emanating all around. Next is a lovely robot in gray and black with red electricity jamming out of his hand, the final romper being the fabulous Dj Dog, most certainly playing some Dogg Pound music, if you know what I mean, all in white ink on black t-shirt material.

Each of these rompers is available in 12 months, 18, 24, and 6 months, and is available in one color combination. Both the Dj Dog and Radiant Baby are black t-shirt material with white ink, the Robot being black, gray, and red ink on a white material. Each of these rompers is $24 and is in stock as this post is being written in all sizes. Check em out and pick em up.

The homepage of Fashion Fabrics Club lets you know they mean business instantly, with an absolute overabundance of links in all directions, your browsing made easy with every different kind of fabric listed out for you: canvas to cotton to denim to fleece to faux fur and back. What more could you ask for? High quality imagery? They’ve got that too, of course!

Hang out in the following gallery for a bit and get your fingers wet with some fabrics from all areas of Fashion Fabrics Club, then if you do so dare, go directly to the club to see their full collection. I’m sure they’d appreciate the business, and with 1000′s of Notions and Supplies as well as 15% off storewide, you’ll appreciate the time and effort they’ve put into their business. Once you’ve purchased your product and have made a magnificent piece of magic, post it here or at LEAST tell them what you’ve done.

MOCA Los Angeles’ current exhibition is ART IN THE STREETS, the latest in a long string of graffiti-inspired shows popping up across the United States for some three years or more – a resurgence, if you will, of the graffiti art in shows scene shown in the film Style Wars. As Mr. Cartoon will show in several framed paintings made with paints generally reserved for metal painting on cars, pinstripe style painting on a bench, and his famous Ice Cream Truck, the art form is both alive and exceedingly diverse. The Ice Cream Truck in particular will show you exactly what it means to be a true genius of an art form, in Mr. Cartoon’s case, paint applied in his own tattoo style.

Jumping out the S Class to do a throw up is a bizarre look, you know what I’m saying? – Mister Cartoon

The exhibition you’re getting a peek at is, again ART IN THE STREETS which will be up at MOCA Los Angeles until August 8, 2011. We recommend you get out there and take a look – Mister Cartoon is only one of many artists in the exhibition, and as seeing a Mister Cartoon work up close alone is worth the trip, surely the bonus is more than just that. Below have a look at the video, then below the video have a look at a gallery of cuts from the video to get a still look at what we’re going through here. Mr. Cartoon – low brow brilliant.

Every owner of a bit of the BAPE legacy knows that the cost of said branded goods are enough to turn any casual purchaser away forever. For the cost of more than five t-shirts at your local Target Superstore, you’ll be able to purchase a single BAPE, and should you decide to grab a new winter coat, you’ll be talking at least a week’s wages from a $40,000 a year salary. Big money for fine craftsmanship and cool designs, sure, but what you’re REALLY paying for is exclusivity as the pieces you’re purchasing are always limited edition, and brand power, as BAPE is certainly a name to be remembered.

Then there’s this season’s collection. There’s quite a few items that should have been expected: college tees, a Baby Milo head pattern, and worker shirts for several marks (that being the ones with the tiny graphic on the left breast and a larger item on the back center,) but there’s some treats to be sure. Some treats that begin with a few non-traditional items you should be freaking out over because they’re cross-branded: two brands synergistic power goes greater than one and one and two!

Porter is the subject of this season’s most predominant cross-branding, this showing up in a few bags with simple Bape camo and bright single-color insides. There’s a backpack, there’s a messenger bag, and there’s a few little pouches. One of the pouches even costs the mighty-low amount of $40, and that’s not even the least expensive item in this season’s full fabulous collection!

There’s a “1st Camo Mobile Mascot” that runs at $30, a cool little sewn patterend Milo that’ll hang nicely from your cellphone or from a bag or whatever you feel to be hanging it from – and even THAT isn’t the least expensive item in the set.

The least expensive Bathing Ape item you’ll be able to purchase this season comes in two sets. One is a bright Bape Camo set, the other is a set of tartan patterns, here known as “Check.” These are file folders, each of them having a see-through ® registered trademark symbol to accent their coolness. Each set costs $22, and if inexpensive Bape items of the past are any indication, you’d better pick them up quick because they’ll be selling off the shelves in a matter of days, if that.

There are some strange items with color choices, an example being this Jack Tar Milo Tee 03, black and some odd neon-yellow set on a navy blue t-shirt. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was a mistake – I suppose the designers know something I don’t. The beige combination is a much snappier colorway.

There’s an Argyle tee in gray or navy that’s amongst the $86 t-shirt choices, this being a rather nice text-based selection you can make in the lower-tier of shirts right this moment. The higher tier, as I’m sure you’d be interested to know, will be costing $100 per. We’ll see a few selections from that set soon as well.

The Surfer Tee is one of a few new logo items, a strange sharp-faced ape rolling hard on a sweet wave crashing in with some hardcore 3D font bashing BAPE into your brain. The wave-crashing ape’s face is quite reminiscent of the BPAWN faces you’ll see on a t-shirt later. Very strange new vision of the classic logo mark.

Jack Tar is back again with a Milo Tee inside a honeycomb sort of six-sided shape, another new font rolling a “Bape Equipment” on harshly and rather nicely in black with all gray ink or navy blue and white ink.

ABA ASNKA TEE is probably the most unique text-only shirts in this season’s collection, having A BATHING above and APE SHALL NEVER KILL surrounding APE in the center, the center of the P containing the face of the ape. If you’ve not figured it out already, ABA is A Bathing Ape while ASNKA is Ape Shall Never Kill Ape. It’s interesting to see the names broken up in such a way here and on at least one other shirt which uses “Shall Never Kill” by itself – brand deterioration appears to be a non-issue in the BAPE world.

Jack Tar makes his final appearance (for now) in a set of shirts called Jack Tar Milo Tee 05, “Prepare for the Season” and “Let’s Go!” being the lines for sweetening up the feeling here. Again there’s a couple of odd color choices, those being black and gray on gray with the eye of the monkey being the darker bit, same being true of the red and black on white, accents on the oddities.

WGM or World Gone Mad makes a big impression on several items, the first being inside the pouches mentioned previously, next here on this WGM Football Tee in which an Average Chimp (or is in a human?) is shown running to the left, then to the right and the left on the back of the shirt. This football theme is repeated in a Milo shirt as well, though with completely different aesthetic choices in execution.

There’s an American Independence Day shirt for those who need a single-day shirt for that one day we all celebrate the country’s independence from England by blowing up a bit of it, a patriot monkey with a flag in tow – I wonder if these tees are available in Japan as well, or only in the US season set?

There are a few daring – and lovely – ladies selections, dresses and rompers for the new hipster in our cities of superfashionability for the super rich attempting to look poor — good luck to them here, these are strictly high-class.

Probably our favorite selection from the entire season (in t-shirts, at least,) is this Bape Frat Party – a completely unique image that appears very much to have no predecessor, BAPE below in college font and the ® registered trademark inside the outline of a classic Bape Head. Wild and one wicked winner.

The strangest – hands down – selection in this season is the BPAWN Tee. It’s what we THINK is a take-off of the classic Spawn comic series in a sharp “wicked style” font being used on the front and back with a couple of hovering Spawn-like Bape heads looking on surrounded by electric lines again on the back. Completely out of left field once again.

Take a peek at the whole collection below and head on over to your local Bape to pick up your favorites if you so dare – they’re also available online at http://us.bape.com/

You’ve just got to know by now that NVIDIA has a quad-core processor in the works (as well as every other step up into 2014.) The chipset we’ll be seeing before the end of this year is a quad-core project code-named Kal-El (aka Superman.) This project combines a “battery friendly powerhouse of a quad-core processor” with a 12-core NVIDIA GPU that supports 3D stereo. What we’ve got today to demonstrate the capabilities of this new superpower is no less than a hands-on demo video of a demo game by the name of “Glowball” running on project Kal-El.

What this game does is serve primarily as a demonstration of the abilities of the processor on which it’s being allowed to run. Globall consists of a glowing ball moved around via the accelerometer inside the device you’re using. This means that as you move your device, the ball moves via the virtualized gravity your machine creates – the ball moves, drapes around the circus ring in the game move, and you’ve got a fully interactive situation going on that will certainly blow your mind.

The ball itself is the light source for the entire environment in the game. This situation provides the opportunity for Project Kal-El to show off dynamic lighting rendered in real-time with physics – NVIDIA reminds us that this is done, indeed, in real time, with no canned animations of any kind. This is, according to NVIDIA, the first time this type of lighting is feasible on any sort of mobile device.

This demonstration also shows Project Kal-El’s four CPU cores working at different levels as the ball rolls back and forth, bumping over barrels and activating jack in the boxes, etc. You’ll notice in particular the massively impressive drapes surrounding the arena move in perfectly realistic ways as the global passes underneath them.

There’s also a point in the video where only two CPU cores are used instead of Kal-El’s total of four. What you’ll see is a degraded experience that’s certainly not nearly as realistic as when the full four-cores are activated.

What do you think? Impressive? Also, this game is for demonstration purposes only, but it seems massively entertaining to us – would you like to see it developed into a full multi-level experience?

Perhaps you may be possibly aware that World Famous Design Junkies has been experiencing some technical difficulties of late. These have happened because of gross people planting evil codes into the bones of this beast, and they’ve hopefully been knived out as maliciously as they were implanted. If this sort of thing ever happens again in the future, you can rely on http://wfdjshadow.com/ for all your updates on the wellbeing of this main news and sweets feed. Thank you and that is all.

The above image comes from http://www.humbleego.com/

Hello all you fellows and ladies who love artworks in huge exhibitions. Here’s an yell about an art show that’s got some fantabulous names in it that don’t often hold shows, then a ton who’ve never shown works together before. Subliminal is an art gallery in Los Angeles run by some of the same people or otherwise close associates of the people who bring you Obey Giant and Studio Number One. That means they know what they’re talking about as far as effective art and design. This show is going to be a blast upon their walls with wonder, and if you’re in the area, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t head on over and take a big giant peek. There’ll be Martha Cooper works there (pictured above,) that should be more than reason enough by itself!

Image: Martha Cooper, Happy Holidays by Jason & Richie (Seen), 1982, South Bronx
Digital C-Print, 8 x 12 inches
Signed Edition of 100

Wreck the Walls
A Winter Group Exhibition Featuring Over 30 Artists

Opening Reception:
Saturday, December 11th, 2010 / 5-9PM

Exhibition Dates:
December 11th – January 15th, 2011

Valet Parking Provided!

Subliminal Projects Gallery is pleased to present Wreck the Walls, a group exhibition on view December 11, through January 15, 2011. A reception for the artists will be held Saturday, December 11, from 5-9 p.m.

Wreck the Walls includes works by over 30 artists, established and emerging, who have helped shape the artistic spirit influenced by their times. Rebellious pioneers of their artistic genres, who come from a background where there are few rules and anything is possible, have helped pave the way for a younger generation of artists who are influenced by their prevailing subculture. From gallery to street art, this show expresses each artist’s divergence and individuality, offering a visual cornucopia of painting, photography, mixed media, works on paper, digital prints, sculpture, graphic design, and illustration.

This show seeks to allow the viewer a window into the myriad worlds of a group of artists whose careers span over two cultural generations, and whose individual visions create a disjointed mosaic. Their works recall the vastly differing self-perceptions cultivated in a patchwork art world constantly seeking to define and redefine itself. Wreck the Walls embraces the multiple identities of the artistic practice, and rather than seeking to congeal the complex layers of artistic vision that make up the culture, the show celebrates distinct perceptions by juxtaposing artists, whether established or emerging, who reject uniformity in a culture that defies singular classification.

Participating Artists Include:

Alan Shaffer, Alejandro Gehry, Andy Moses, Bertil Petersson, Billy Al Bengston, Blek Le Rat, Craig Stecyk, Curtis Kulig, David Ellis, David Yow, Ed Moses, Ellwood T. Risk, Erik Foss, Eric Schwartz, Eric White, Evan Hecox, Greg Lamarche, Jason Alper, John Van Hamersveld, Laddie John Dill, Larry Bell, Martha Cooper, Monica Canilao, Retna, Robbie Conal, Ryan McGinness, Ryan Travis Christian, Skullphone, Swoon, Tim Biskup, Vanessa Prager

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS GALLERY
1331 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
E: info@subliminalprojects.com
P. 213.213.0078
F. 213.213.0077

Presenting a brand new adventure from the fine folks who bring you World Famous Design Junkies. This is Insane Overload: an interactive exercise in good design, good art, and good fun. Made to be as simple as possibly possible while still remaining progressive – that is – a picture posting site with the simple automatic ability to link back to the picture’s source, be that a portfolio, blog post, or any other sort of target. This is content sharing without the deterioration that comes standard with the bulk of these wild untamed internets.

When this post is being written, Insane Overload is currently in a Public Beta stage, which essentially means you, the public, our beloved friends and allies, are invited to both test and have a good time with the engine before it’s totally finished.

If this seems like a rockin good time to you, use the invitation code: FHETERS

Sign in at http://insaneoverload.com/login/?action=register

And please feel free to post all of your work, linking back to your portfolio, or post an image from a post from your own blog, linking back then to that super interesting post! Use Insane Overload to your heart’s content for all sorts of fab traffic and enjoyment.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies Wall-O-Stuff category.

Drodding about the internet helped me happen upon the image you see above this sentence. It is a high-quality patch made in the real world reflecting the alternate-reality depicted in the 1986 story “Watchmen.*” This patch is presented by The New Frontiersman Watchmen fangroup, made by the people who were in charge of promoting the 2009 Watchmen movie, I’m pretty sure. Inspired heavily by this excellent manifestation of what was and what wasn’t, I went on a hunt for other, more “real” patches from the Vietnam war, as worn by the real soldiers on either side of the conflict.

*Watchmen was originally created as a 12-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins in 1986 and 1987. In 2009, a film was made of the series, directed by Zack Snyder and overly-promoted by Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures with books and action figures and all that fun stuff.

But this post is all about the patches! And not the Watchmen patch so much as the inspiration for that patch, the patches of Vietnam. Ten examples of Vietnam War patches are shown and described below, followed by a gallery of all kinds of patches from all along the timeline of the war, from all kinds of companies.

Such lovely stitchings.

Several of the patches below are from the same galleries of photos. The following list shows every gallery these images are from along a description of one of the patches: Flying Death (heart) USM forum, Grim Reaper ace of spaces Dive Patch, Nurses Haven Flying Tigers Surplus, 1st Cav Grunts, 1st Cav Deck Landscaper, Hatchet Team Worthpoint, PRU Strike Force 7 (ebay seller), Screaming Eagles Colin MacGregor, and USS Kitty Hawk NavySite.

1. One of the few non-American patches in this collection is this district militia patch from South Vietnam. Look at that lovely blue! Look at those soldiers with their hats!

2. Recon Wyoming has such a harsh message that you’d almost think it was done in jest: “KILL FOR PEACE” it says on one side, “NEVER RETREAT” on the other.

3. An excellent example of an insane skull. This sort of rudimentary skull… with fangs… struck FEAR into the nightmare hearts of not only the enemy, but the bunny rabbits, the fish, the locals, the air, the water, everything. Holy crap look at those fangs.

4. Bravo Bears! Such a distorted vision from the MeKong Delta!

5. The completely bad-ass 101st Division’s First Brigade were deployed to Vietnam in 1965. They wore a huge assortment of these “chicken patches,” assorted because they were made by such a variety of producers, “pro” and totally amateur. Four examples are here, 1968-72. Check out an extended story on the chicken patch at 101A.

6. The 7th Infantry Division Scout Dog Platoon is orange and black. Reddish orange. Like it’s on fire, dangerous and toxic. Simple. Triangular.

7. West Virginia CCC Ace of Spades Reaper Skull reminds a fellow of the scene in Apocalypse Now where Colonel Bill Kilgore tosses death cards on the bodies of his dead and defeated opponents. This happened in the real war as far as I know too, this being companies of soldiers having their own brand of playing cards which they’d toss on bodies, showing the enemy who killed their comrades. Terrifying. Here’s a patch along those lines.

8. Da Nang 282nd AHC Alleycats. Look at that cat. It has a large, powerful gun that it’s going to use to kill the hell out of everything, everywhere. Also, he MIGHT be on a rocket which will propel him straight on to victory.

9. Photo Recon RRU – FAC Mosquito. Photo spy time! According to the auction listing for this patch, it’s unfinished, so this design might never have ended up being used in the war, but you can see the style similarities in the weirdo animal illustration.

10. The 584 Engineer Company, Cam Tanh Bay Vietnam, WOOLY BULLIES. That’s what’s to be scared of. These triangle warriors, holy crap. I doubt they were ever defeated, even a one of them. Look at them! Wooly Bullies! They danced to Sam the Sham. Clearly.

Now look at this collection of patches. There’s so many of them. This is only a small sampling of the whole worldly batch because of the awesome nature of the situation.

End war.

Patches forever.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies collection category.

I hope you remember Mighty Max. The adrenaline pumped up equivalent of Polly Pocket. All you fun loving compact-hands holding and playing around people who were kids when it was 1992. That’s me! That might be you. So what’ve we got here? A bit of artwork. This is a set of hands that graced the fronts of the packages that held the Mighty Max blister packed playsets. A couple examples of those are included below, plus the rest of the whole set of hands. They’re creepy and they’re cooky.

UPDATE 2: RE-POSTED FOR SIZE – this post was originally posted before we had a site layout that allowed images larger than 500px wide. Now we do, so now this is!

Now there’s a guy out there, one heavy collecting dude. He loves to get toys, images of toys, everything that’s got to do with toys. One’s that had big effects on our brains as kids, especially when the toys were small. This guy’s name is Spectrum is Green and he’s got it all. He’s also on the lookout for new playset-related toys all the time so drop him a line if you’re into getting rid of all of yours, or just want them to go to a good home.

UPDATE: After an extended conversation with the collector behind the “Spectrum is Green” collection, (his name is Guy Himber,) we now know that these pictures are scans of the original artwork, aka the painted images as they existed before being applied to the packaging. Hot! Sexy! Amazing!

Now what you’ve got here is monster playsets and their monster hand equivalent. Sometimes it’s a wolf with a wolf, sometimes it’s a shark head with a mass of octopus tentacles for a hand. And they’re nice. They’re really simply painted, really precisely executed. Looking really pretty all the way through.

Now check it out – we’re on the lookout for the artist of these masterpieces. They were on the boxes, so maybe the boxes have a little signature on them? Anyone whose got one of these in the package still should take a peek!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies toys category.

Typographic illustration. What is the oldest known instance of this? I’ll tell you one of the first, if not the first instance of the face, aka the emoticon. It’s in a 1881 issue, (No212, page 64,) of the magazine Puck. It’s what you see above, a call out to the artists of the world by the type setters of that magazine. Some faces! Made of typographic symbols! Can you believe it!? Technically the original one might have been in a written speech for President Lincoln, which you can find out more about this at the New York Times blog by Jennifer 8 Lee. An image of the original speech is also included in this post in the gallery below.

The Lincoln speech was written sometime around 1862. That one is something like a “;)”, and there are some big doubts about weather or not it was a typo, some sort of incorrectly used mark, or a sort of “wink” symbol. So that would be the first one, but for certain the next one is the 1881 set of faces you see above. Supposedly the next time a smily can be tracked is a 1982 as typed by IBM researcher Scott Fahlman in some sort of online message to an associate. Did he know how epic his simple gesture would be to the sideways world?

Below in the gallery, you’ll see both the items noted here, plus more amazing typography from Puck magazine.

But hey, lemme tell you something. Somone used a smily before 1881. The article snip you see above is the first time this group of folks published their works. They’d done it before though, but did they ever make a note about it? Keep your eyes open.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies typography category.

Now I have never seen, in my days of looking, a better description of what it is like to be a modern obsessive design…well…junkie. This person right here, Gabriel Baldessin sums it up as he describes his design collection: “Proof of a constant oscillation between accumulating objects (notably printed matter), and the desire to own the absolute minimum.” What a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to collect ephemera. I feel this, and so should you. You collector of cargo. Below you will see the evidence designer/photographer Gabriel Baldessin describes. Lovely things.

From the post card to the book collected for a single spread to a computer-read test sheet to a person-form target for gun practice, these are the makings of an essential collection. Incidentally I’d call this a studio collection, as many of these would be best kept hung on the walls of the workers workplace. Very fun, very inspiring.

And I would like to at this time encourage you to go see the works of Gabriel Baldessin as they are lovely, well thought out, and nicely organized: http://gabriel.baldessin.fr/

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies collection category.

So. Pop. Where are we at on that? Pop Art I mean, not my dad. Look at Pop and tell me that this is not part of it: color crayons used in their natural habitat (a coloring book) to adjust and enthusiastically embellish. Yes indeed, it was never the intent of the coloring book artists to have their works added to in such a way, but surely they must have considered it. And Hello Kitty! You don’t even have a mouth usually! Your face is a wide open acre of real-estate for me to build a playground on! Oh ho! The things that will be done!

What you see above and below are a collection of colored sheets I’ve found on the internet and cannot identify the artist of. Incidentally, if you happen to know who threw their skill upon them, please let me know. But for now, let us appreciate what we have and be glad.

When let loose upon a coloring book, it is a child’s prerogative to engage in the pictures they see, learning fine motor skills as they do so. Learning to appreciate colors, to stay inside the lines, and to find out which colors belong where for what purpose.

But then the child grows up into an older version of a child.

And they go wild.

Releasing themselves upon a book for coloring, changing it as they see fit. Taking those childhood memories and turning them on their head, creating macabre, twisted burlesque and strange forms for their own delight. They delight in the comedy of it all! And always because they take secret joy in knowing how far they’ve progressed from the days when it was a difficult task to stay inside the lines with the correct colors, to now when those lines are only empty shells that you’ve just got to fill to the brim with silliness.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies custom culture category.

Welcome to the world that Ralph McQuarrie never intended. A world of stormtroopers. Willing volunteers, the world over, dressing their selves up for the greater good of the hypothetical Empire. Based in the universe of the Star Wars phenomenon, these human beings make it their business to be in the coolest club in the whole world. Take a journey with me, if you will, into the twisted and splendiferous world of the troop.

ABOVE: Photo by Kiku.

You might know about the world of cosplay, that being the people who make it their MAIN goal in life to be a character from a fantasy world, especially characters from movies, comics, and video games. I’d put this stormtrooper situation in a different category. Not just because the people who dress up as stormtroopers are part of probably the biggest group of people to dress up as the exact same character, but because there’s stormtrooper groups that do charity events. For realsies!

The most important group of stormtroopers in the real world is the Fighting 501st Legion: Vader’s Fist. They are a real deal club. They organize via the official webpage http://501st.com/ and make appearances for charity, for conventions, and just for fun. Conventions are their home turf, though. If you’ve never been to a convention yourself, that being a comic convention, Star Wars convention, or otherwise, please do yourself the favor of experiencing this unique version of reality.

There are MANY different kinds of stormtrooper. Even before the Star Wars movies I II and III were released, there were many many different iterations of the original stormtrooper costume. Now with those prequels and the stories they told released into this universe, there’s a big fat list. Not to be limited to the following (NOTE: I tried to include at least one of each of these in the gallery below):

Stormtrooper
Biker Scout
Sandtrooper
TIE Pilot
Snowtrooper
Royal Guard
Clone Trooper
Imperial Crewman
Special Operations
Imperial Gunner
Clone Trooper (ROTS)
Clone Commander
Imperial Navy Trooper
AT-AT Driver
AT-ST Driver
Republic Commando
ARC Trooper
Specialty Clone
BARC Trooper
Galactic Marine
Clone Pilot
Clone Firefighter
Spidertrooper
Tusken Raider Trooper
Jack Sparrow Trooper
Kidtrooper
Femtrooper

+if you’ve got more additions you don’t see here, please feel free to communicate with us about that. Like all posts on WFDJ, we’re in this for the long haul. Any and all posts are open for additions and improvements!

Ralph McQuarrie is responsible for giving Star Wars its aesthetic. Ralph McQuarrie was the original, and certainly most influential conceptual artist on the original Star Wars project. If you take a peek at the gallery below, you’ll notice one of the first images is a painting of a stormtrooper with a lightsaber. Behind this troop are several others, some of them holding small shock-shields. This is the beginning! Ralph McQuarrie made this painting to show his first vision of the stormtrooper. NOTE: this painting was made to show how a lightsaber would be held as well as how a stormtrooper might look.

And so! Now! On with the contributors to this collection: No Onions, Kris McElman, Nala, Mirka23, kbaird, mhaithaca, tofuguns, Duderama, Arkansas Crimson Nova Squad, Steven Weng, Dideo, Old Line Garrison, bns3178, Aralani, Phinzup, Femtrooper Julie, Evil Benius, Jedi Trilobite, Matt & Kristy, Lori Goldberg, nwalkner, earthdog, Madchengeist, the Official Star Wars blog, myleneann, zolotkey, Zanthia, Storm Cab, hyku, madchengeist, mchulin, pathogen2001, kimncris, Agent Kenobi, elmoizme, howiemuzika, Vogue, WF&DT, and Corsair’s Boutique.

Look! Look to your heart’s content! It is troop mania!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies category.

Oh friggy it’s a set of prints from Shepard Fairey. These are called “Eye Alert” and are two separate eye prints, one left, one right, each of them 18″ x 24″ and an edition of 350. If you’ll take a peek at the iris, there’s a skull in there. If you take a peek at the tear below the eye, you’ll see an inverted Rod of Asclepius, aka the symbol most often associated with the medical world in modern times.

WORLD IN BLOOD – you think Shepard Fairey is worried about the state of Health Care in the USA today? I think so. Look below for larger versions of each poster.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies posters category.