Common Folk Journal

FatTag Katsu Edition iPhone App

2010-01-29T20:40:00.004-05:00

Found this post at CreativeApplications.net about an app for iphone where you can tag with your finger and then manipulate it and 'photoshop' it onto a bunch of different backgrounds or photos.

Positive me says "Katsu had something to do with it so it gets some respect. Looks like it could be fun to play around with for maybe about 5 minutes."

Cynical me says "Why? If you want to hit something up go and hit it up for real with some real paint and/or markers. This is for girls who like boys who do 'graffiti' and want to seem cool. (Real girls into graf would follow 1st rule of cynical me)

Doze Green Studio Visit

2010-01-29T12:00:00.001-05:00

Friends We Love does up a bunch of great little video doc's featuring inspiring artists and musicians. Here's one of their latest featuring none other than all around b-boy, Doze Green-

Doze is one of those artists that totally inspires me to want to paint and to quit all at the same time. I think he's from another dimension poking holes into ours.

If you're in nyc, check out the ridiculous current show at Jonathan Levine Gallery featuring Doze Green, Saelee Oh, and Josh Keyes.

Common Folk Don't Forget

2010-01-28T12:00:00.003-05:00

R.I.P. Teddy. Quiet Storm.

Zheik One
"Quiet Storm/Love T.K.O.", 38"x"8"x3/4", paint marker and spray paint on found wood panel, 1-23-10.

Saber is the Man

2010-01-27T12:40:00.002-05:00

Saber steps up to the Health Care debate-

First off, the raging idiots who are sparking controversy over Saber's use of the flag in his art piece are the ones who are actually desecrating the spirit of the flag and what it stands for.

Something obviously needs to be done about healthcare. Well, obvious to those of us who are in dire need of it. It's appalling how many of my friends don't have health insurance, self included, and how it's kind of just the unspoken norm for a lot of us. And ironically the healthcare bill is in some very well insured, cared for hands. It's no wonder a lot of them don't see a problem with the system.

There are millions of hard working, patriotic people not in the traditional 9-5 workplace that need healthcare. We are independent contractors, consultants, artists, musicians, small business owners, etc. So why, here in the good ol' U.S. of A can there not be a real way for the independent, self-employed, entrepreneurial spirited americans to get affordable health care?

We need the Common Folk system!
(I do have to make a note about my indebted gratitude to Harborview Hospital in Seattle which gave excellent care to my uninsured ass when I had emergency surgery for getting hit by a (uninsured and unlicensed) 15 year old driving an S.U.V.)

For an elongated version of this rant with more personal vignettes, http://blog.thosart.com

Oddisee- "Odd Winter" Free Album

2010-01-26T22:45:00.001-05:00

Oddisee had been puttin it down for years and for many that don't recognize the name, there's still a good chance you've heard the music. The man makes some good common folk hip hop that is what it is.
This is the third installment of his seasons series. Check it out and support however you can.

Download Here

-68 and thos owes you 1

K-Solo "SpellBound"

2010-01-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

A surefire classic. Not only could he win a spelling bee but check out the skateboard skills, powersliiiiiiiiiide bitches. OG Hip Hop skater, step aside hypebeast new jacks-

Hipsters Vs. Hasidim, The Bike Lane Wars. Still?

2010-01-25T16:52:00.003-05:00

This goes under Keep Your Religion and Demented Fanaticism to Yourself-

Tonight, the 25th of January, 2010 there is a Lecture/Debate at Pete's Candy Store about bike lanes through a heavily hasidic area of Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn. I will say right now, there is no debate. If the hasidim don't want to look at people biking through 'their' neighborhood then don't. Look away. Board up the windows. Whatever. But don't remove bike lines, there should be more and NOT less bike lanes as it is. Point blank.
I feel a little dirty even giving this thing the time of day but apparently it's still somehow an issue. I really just got dumber for having to even justify how stupid they're being about the bike lanes.
And to their other argument that the bike lanes create traffic hazards, the school buses and trucks and mini-vans are the real actual traffic hazards. I used to drive through there almost everyday during my tour as an art trucker and it was ridiculous.

Common Folk staunchly supports bike lanes and taking them back if need be-

and from the gothamist-

and this total slut-

Orko

2010-01-25T16:47:00.001-05:00

What DC Dan sees when he logs into the Orko server at work-

A Literal, Visual Definition of Irony

2010-01-22T22:19:00.002-05:00

Go Green Homie, Go Green

2010-01-21T15:49:00.005-05:00

Here's a video found from over at ACE (Alliance for Climate Education). This video keeps it on point with real talk and some surprisingly decent hip hop (yea, I'm weary of 'rap for a cause' joints). I don't like people that get overzealous and pedantic with their causes and over exaggerate things for effect . Smash that hippy dippy soft talk. Watch this video.

I'm down for real changes that actual people can put in effect. For one, I would love it if there were better ways to eat more local/organic meat and produce, it just tastes better and it's healthier. If I'm in nyc it makes sense to be able to buy food from upstate instead of having it shipped from across the country (or world for that matter). Granted, there are always going to be some things that aren't going to grow locally like bananas, etc. but there's a ton of stuff that can be. There needs to be a way supermarkets can introduce more locally grown ingredients so that it becomes the norm instead of the exception, and to do it in an economical way unlike Whole Food$. I don't want to be extreme and go live on a commune but It'd be great if I could shop in a way that makes real change.

Humorously enough, I was just reading in Good Magazine how Wal-Mart of all places is making things more green. Energy wise it makes sense for them because making their stores/warehouses energy efficient is saving them tons of money. And also they are requiring their distributors do the same or they'll take their business elsewhere. Because Wal-Mart has so much leverage the distributors have to follow suit but they'll also end up saving money themselves in the long run. A trickle down effect that is causing real change. Think if Wal-Mart decided to do the same for trying get more local and/or organic ingredients in their stores. (I'll keep the post positive and not comment on the not-good effects Wal-Mart has on local retailers, that irony can be saved for another day)

-the thos

Mark Mcgwire

2010-01-12T19:53:00.000-05:00

You get the gas face...

Carla Bruni

"Has the World Gone Mad?"- Suing Over Silence

2010-01-06T15:17:00.002-05:00

This goes under the old news/news to me category.
Apparently back in 2002, English composer Mike Batt had action taken against him by the John Cage Trust for his song "A One Minute Silence." He was sued for plagiarism of John Cage's completely silent piece "4'33"" and ended up settling out of court for 6 figures.
C'mon really?
How can you sue over silence? And more importantly even if you could, why in the hell would you??? Maybe if Mike Batt's track would have also been 4'33" there would have been a little bit more of a basis to go on but still, consider it an homage and call it a day.
I do want to clarify, it was the Trust of John Cage that was taking action not the the late/great John Cage himself. He can still be respected.
Also, Mike Batt himself is hilarious. These are some choice quotes from the CNN article:

"Has the world gone mad? I'm prepared to do time rather than pay out. We are talking as much as £100,000 in copyright."

"Mine is a much better silent piece. I have been able to say in one minute what Cage could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds."

"A One Minute Silence" has now been released as part of a double A-side single." I really kind of want one.

CNN article.

-thosalumplump

The Art of Beat Making "Believe" - Vinroc

2010-01-05T22:45:00.001-05:00

A little long but pretty well done video making 'art' out of making a beat. It's really all that simple and sexy.
(In a very condensed, non-chaotic, smooth, edited way.)
I.e. it's never that simple and sexy but that's alright. Anytime I try to make a beat you can't move in my room cuz it's flooded with the mess of scoured through vinyl. And empty bottles.
But once you get in that zone it is a beautiful thing.
Big up Vinroc, producer/dj.

-thos littles

Love Letters, Snow Storms and a cute photo..

2009-12-19T17:15:00.000-05:00

Love Letters, Snow Storms and a cute photo..

BoomBap

2009-12-17T20:42:00.001-05:00

<a href="http://midazthebeast.bandcamp.com/track/creation">Creation by MidaZ The BEAST</a>

Andy Kessler Memorial Art Show- NYC Saturday

2009-12-12T00:09:00.004-05:00

Support and remember Common Folk. This IS a real homie whose influence is infinite and forever.

and also saturday-

This chick is blazin' and Dalek is back (with new style!!!). Actually I've been wondering how Dalek was gonna elevate and progress to the next step. From what I've seen he's actually still keeping to his same style put pushing it in new ways. I was worried he was gonna type cast himself forever to the space monkey.

HRC Buying for Equality 2010 Guide

2009-12-10T17:12:00.004-05:00

Grab it here

Ghetto Tourism

2009-12-08T14:57:00.004-05:00

Just saw this from TheWorldsBestEver-

"LA’S MAP TO (GANG)STARS HOME

The next time you’re in L.A., forgo the map to the stars homes and instead embark on the Compton tour."

Curiosity? Exploitation? Bleeding heart Liberalism? Buying a Ghetto Pass?
I've heard about these Ghetto Tours going on all over the place, such as the favelas in Brasil etc. In some ways I'm admittedly intrigued by the whole thing. Who doesn't want a special pass to explore 'forbidden' places? It's like getting into the club where you gotta know somebody to be somebody. Whenever I visit a new city I almost immediately seek out the non-tourist areas for better or worse, whether wandering to boring suburbs of Madrid or being grossly out of place and stared at in an Istanbul ghetto or even getting mean mugged deep, deep into Bushwick. Perhaps there's a bit of a designation between tourist and explorer. But really, what makes taking these ghetto tours all that different from paying thousands of dollars to 'volunteer' in some third world country? To really give them the benefit of the doubt, at least they have the curiosity instead of trying to ignore it all together(?).
Now if you want a real OG Ghetto tourist who put his money where his mouth is you gotta check out Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh. While studying at the University of Chicago he got sick of the scholarly, ivory tower approach to sociology and just rolled up into the Robert Taylor Houses of Chicago and ended up living there for 6 years.

R.I.P. Technics 1200's

2009-12-02T18:19:00.002-05:00

It's a sad day to discover that Technics will stop production of the indisputable institution of the 1200's in February 2010. It really is the seeming passing of an era. They'll be replacing it with the SL-DZ1200 digital turntable. And it's almost like rubbing salt in the wound to find out this digital turntable will play almost anything but vinyl, "The distinctive slip surface on the 10" platter lets you spin, scratch, break, and otherwise work a track in a number of formats, including CD, MP3 and AAC." I mean, c'mon, really? If they have the technology to pull this off I would think it wouldn't be too far off of a cry to enable it to actually play REAL vinyl as well.

Sigh.

There should be no war between digital and analog. There's no reason it should be an either/or situation. It's the unfortunate case that instead of a more utopian reality of coexisting with analog, digital is completely pushing it out. Why is it there can't be a more dynamic reality than just right/wrong, better/worse? Why should technology edge out tried and true solely for the sake of technology? The 'best' is not an absolute. I think this is a real root problem in a lot of instances of conflict whether it be opinion, race, nationalism, religion (no religion), etc. There's enough room in the world for a lot of things to coexist as opposed to being one or the other. To make another illustration along this line, yes, the U.S. is ONE of the best places in the world but it's not THE best, 'THE best' doesn't exist. To quote, "what might be right for you/might not be right for some."

I'm all about rockin and ipod or Serato but that doesn't mean I still don't want to go back to my real turntables. For reasons both logical and sentimental there's some music I just don't want in digital format- old school soul, r&b, jazz. Like I said, it's sad that what was a true innovator doesn't see the room for both. Technology is a good thing, it just shouldn't be the only thing.

I love Ninjasonik and you love Ninkasonik

2009-11-07T15:05:00.016-05:00

I meant to post this awhile ago. But as my momma would say "better late than never!" This of course was in reference to thank you cards and not blog posts... Anywayzzz

Just found out my favorite I heart asian people blog (disgrasian.com) also loves Ninjasonik.

Their fave? Tight Pants remix featuring synchronized Uniqlo dancers, of course.

NINJASONIK PRESENTS DAYLIGHT remix

2009-11-04T12:01:00.003-05:00

what to do on a rainy day ??

call up your friend nick

post on face book your making a music video

wait for people to show up

shoot the video

put it on the internet !

Dell and Best Buy down with Tristan Eaton and graffiti

2009-11-03T13:50:00.000-05:00

hahaha. From Best Buy's Sunday circular- "...Tristan began pursuing street art as a teenager, painting everything from billboards to dumpsters in the urban landscape wherever he lived...Not committed to one medium, Tristan multi-tasks effortlessly moving from pencil and paper to paint brush and canvas, to computer, to city wall." Individually numbered out of 5250.
Um, nice to see Tristan Eaton get some shine, right?

Nietzsche Says:

2009-10-22T15:28:00.003-04:00

“The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.”

Awol One says:

2009-10-15T09:32:00.003-04:00

"I've figured out by now, I'm gonna live forever
No one's a legend until they pass away..

I've been up all night, sleeping all day
My father wasted sperm when he made me
And it's hard enough nowadays just acting normal
Still gotta be to work on time"

Awol One "Sleeping All Day"

Anthrax adhd says:

2009-10-14T12:00:00.003-04:00

"Jameson is the white man's Hennessey"

Anthrax Madoff
Originally uploaded by sabeth718

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Originally uploaded by sʎɐʍlɐ pıʞ