Banksy Does Paris

This is awesome:
Appearently, guerrilla artist Banksy has tampered with moron princess Paris 'Jailbird' Hilton's CDs in stores around the UK. Have a look at this video (via UbuWeb):

Utter, utter brilliance!

Surf's Up!

Another quiet couple of weeks have gone by, and there's a good reason for it: I had to go surfing! (And not on the Internet, either, but the real waveriding deal!) Traveling conditions were just too good to say no, so I went to the Cote d'Argent with a couple of friends. Surfing gets better--have a look:

Also, while visiting Bordeaux (btw--a really cool city!) I happened along this graffiti late one night:

If it wasn't Banksy himself, it sure looks like one of his.
And finally, this vacation marked my first experience losing a tire while driving at roughly 80 km/h. Looks a little something like this:

Everyone came out unscathed and we were all richer for the experience, so that's that.
Anyway, hope y'all are still out there. I'll catch up and keep the posts coming.
Aloha.

Art? Vandalism, says I!

Apparently, not everyone likes Banksy (cf. the last post); this comes via BBC (SpiegelOnline has it, too):
It just so happens that the people at Transport for London think that "a tough line had to be taken on graffiti because it created an atmosphere of social decay." So they whitewashed this Banksy original in London.

Brilliant, eh? Said the outraged pseudo-hip public: "But that was a piece of art! You can't do that to ART!" A spokesperson for London Transport replied: "our graffiti removal teams are staffed by professional cleaners not professional art critics."

Subversive Art, Pt I

sub·ver·sion

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin subversion-, subversio, from Latin subvertere
1 : the act of subverting : the state of being subverted; especially : a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within
2 (obsolete) : a cause of overthrow or destruction.

If you don't know his art, check out British grafitti artist Banksy's website; true subversion in effect. I love the mischievous little rats (all from the aforementioned site):

Listen: Kurt Vonnegut Has Come Unstuck in Time

One of the great American authors of the 20th century, Mr. Kurt Vonnegut, died last Wednesday. If you've never read one of his books, go and get Slaughterhouse-Five. His wit, his absurdity and his style are unique.
Here's a fairly recent interview from The Daily Show:


He'll probably get this epitaph from the aforementioned book:

Because it's like this: "Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is."
You can see the influence on the "Why World?--Why Not?!" blog.
Go on then, Kurt. In your own words: "It was alright, somehow, his being dead. So it goes."

Innovative Marketing

Take a look at this article about the clever viral marketing scheme for the next Nine Inch Nails album, Year Zero. You can find more information about the whole thing here. Once again goes to show that Mr. Trent Reznor is one of the more subversive characters in the business.

The Fountain

I still don't know where this blog is going, but some of it is going to be on film. So here's a my suggestion for a must-see flick: Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. This movie is an absolute masterpiece, high up on my top 5 list! I don't think it's for everybody, with its slightly esoteric/SciFi allusions, but cineastically and visually, it's an outstanding movie. Following his first two major flics, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Mr. Aronofsky has now shown that he is one director to be reckoned with.

Go watch it--it's good stuff!

PS: Aronofsky's films also tend to have spectacular accompanying websites--check 'em out here, here and here.