Only (not) in America

Some nice design from Amsterdam's Tjep.

West African beats

Speaking of Africa...check out these songs Soul Sides posted. Good read too.

Chinese is the New Black

On June 18th South Africa ruled that the Chinese in South Africa that were subjected to apartheid will now be considered black. Now contrary to popular belief this is kind of a good thing since they can "benefit" from the affirmative action policy given to people that were victims to apartheid.

Check out the rest of the story at the Wall Street Journal. And please read the comments to it at the bottom. Looks like some whites feel like they are getting discriminated, blacks are crackin' jokes and everyone is getting racially heated.

How does this make me feel as a Chinese American? Um, pretty good (but I must disclose that I don't know all the details, since there are always different sides to stories, especially affirmative action, and hidden truths). So from the surface it sounds good. I am also forever fascinated at how Chinese have pretty much settled everywhere in the world such as my favorite artist, Wifredo Lam, who's from Cuba.

Red Dawn

The sky has been grey and the Sun has been Red. Its crazy mayne!

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fire crews from Nevada and Oregon have arrived to help California firefighters battle hundreds of blazes that are darkening the sky over the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley, leading public health officials to issue air-quality warnings.

The lightning-caused fires have charred tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

"It's just extremely, extremely dry," Berlant said Tuesday. "That means any little spark has the potential to cause a large fire. The public needs to be extra cautious because we don't need any additional wildfires."

kar'ikter

kar'ikter just updated their website. They are a store in downtown SF that carries rare European popular characters' art and ephemera. Worth checking out. They have better stuff in the store than online.

Rolling Stalls

I really want one of these for my house but it would be cool to have these in a club or bar out here in the city.

"A McDonald's fast-food outlet in the south east of the Netherlands has agreed to remove urinals that are shaped liked wide-open red lips.

The decision was taken after a shocked American customer complained to the McDonald's head office in the US."

Left & Right

IMG: Flickr.

Fogo Design

Cool/twisted stuff from Fogo Design.

Lamp lights up when u pull up.

INFO: coolhunting

More stamps for that azzz...

These are definitely gonna be a hot item. Eames stamps. Probably the most famous furniture designers eva, eva.

Stamps

The geek in me (or just me the geek) can't help but love stamps.
Especially these Israeli Environment stamps above. Nice.

Here's another beauty from Poland.

IMG/INFO: NOTCOT MINISTRY OF TYPE

Engrish

Forgot about this site. It hewarious, for re-rawl. Still love my fellow asian people. They had/have somthing like this in the beginning of Mass Appeal but this is it like times a thousand. Here's a few...

Chairs

I've been posting a lot of chairs not just cuz Yeezy does but I love all design. Here's a chair I made in college. It's half size but still sturdy. Made completely of recycled material (cardboard, tires & bolts'n'screws), it is definitely eco friendly.

sketches

my festo chair (short for manifesto, we had to name the chair)

close up

Olive & Pink

Been thinking about getting another tattoo and stumbled upon this artist. I like her work too bad she's in North Carolina. Love the colors and clean lines. Check out her work here

To-orist

Seen this designer recently. Thought it was worth mentioning. Not my style but eye catching nonetheless.
Reminds me of Jeremy Scott & hails from same spot as Cassette Playa. Its like runway streetwear I guess u can call it?

Happy Friday!

have a coke and a smile.

Cover Art: The Truth Vol !!!

So here was the process for the Spank Pops mixtape called "The Truth Vol 3" Homegrown-ness to Freshness. Check it out below.

The inspiration. Halloween '05 Mad Scientist making a dash.

Set the scene.

Photo shoot in the backyard. We had to really use our imagination. It got kinda funny.
I was standing on a step stool on the lawn trying to get a right angle
and not fall into one of the pot holes in my lawn. haha.

Cutting out the winning photos from the background (of our house)

Some elements for some flavor.
Top 2 are chalk rendering for the board.
The bottom 2 are scans from a dictionary.
I used the type and style straight from the dictionary to keep it authentic.

All done!
Added a few elements from the 1st mixtape (grid lines / graph paper)
and from the 2nd mixtape the shading and diffusing.
Also dabbled a lil smoke and shadows to make it more cohesive.