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This video be dope, son.

This video be dope, son.

This video be dope, son.

High Powered Graffiti Tags Unleashed In ‘Anime Blackbook’

For his latest project, graffiti instructor and exceptional artist SABE KST collected tags from scores of highly respected graffiti bombers and animated them over vintage anime backgrounds used for TV and film. The result is a high energy burst of history and handstyles from the likes of JOZ (RIP) EASY, VEEFER, CES, SKUF, RIME, VIZIE, NEKST (RIP), WANE, JEST, SACER (RIP), ARK, NOV, SYE5, PIXOTE, SABIO, KADISM, RASAD, END, AMUSE126, SEGE, HOUND, KORN (RIP), DCEVE, SNOEMAN, CINIK, FAUST, YEAR, REHAB, AKS, REMO, NEMZ, FORES, SHAUN, GUESS, REAS, ESPO, KAWS, LEWY, ADEK, MALVO, KATSU, DAYS, GUNS, OPTIMIST, RESQ, BEGR, PEAR, ZOMBRA, PHAT2, UDON, NUNO, FANTA, TOM246, WANTO, QP, SECT, VERY and of course SABE.

Here’s how SABE describes the video piece:

The Anime Blackbook film is a graffiti animation based on Mecha Anime from the 80s and 90s,” said SABE Produced by SABE KST with animation direction by Celia Bulwinkel. Hand painted backgrounds from anime TV series and films were used for the film. It starts with some of New York’s pioneers and veterans of street bombing graffiti, drifting across the east coast and along the west coast and spanning into other cities of the world. The soundtrack is by Trouble Andrew/Gucci Ghost.

We also asked him a few questions about stuff…

Why did you do this project?
The film was an answer to seeing graffiti on canvas, stencil and train
maps. It was a challenge.

How long did it take to get all the writers?
About a year.

Where are these anime cells from?
They are all from Japanese Anime Production studios and were purchased online.

Is there anything unique about this group of writers?
Other than than the Philly wicked styles, each writer brings their own unique flow

What’s the weirdest thought you had in the past week?
I work on a four hour sleep schedule on hibiscus iced tea. It adds to having thoughts outside the box.

Who’s the best Republican candidate for president right now?
The country is run by Corporations.I would say Amazon.

Surfing Guru Jon Wegener Profiled In Episode 2 of ‘Human’

Long before advanced polymers were used to build surfboards, ancient surfers shredded waves atop big planks. It was a spiritual practice that was handed down from generation to generation. In the modern world, a lot of that culture has been lost, but Jon Wegener is looking to bring the sport back to its roots.

The world renowned shaper has become devoted to reintroducing the world to the Alaia, a minimalist-style wooden surfboard with no fins or rockers, making them very hard to get the hang of. However, once you do, the experience is unlike any other. Although Wegener borrows elements of the design from a centuries-old tradition, he adds his own modern day touches, bringing the worlds of old and new colliding into harmony. Check out the artisan in action for episode two of Human, a new web series from Uproxx that profiles the lives of innovative people.

Watch This Retro News Report From 1985 About Graffiti Plaguing the NYC Subway System

Nowadays, graffiti is an art form that can be found in the collections of major museums and cultural institutions throughout the world, but back in the ’70s and ’80s, it was considered a symbol of urban blight and lawlessness in the city. In July 1985, mustached WPIX reporter Alec Roberts spoke to some New Yorkers and writers about the aerosol phenomenon that adorned subway cars — both inside and out — providing a snapshot of how it was perceived at the time. Here’s how the broadcast news outlet summed it up:

While regular train riders and homeowners called it “the most disgusting thing that New York City has,” others defended graffiti as a kind of art. However, facts both sides agreed that Mayor Ed Koch’s efforts to stop vandals from tagging the city’s underground tunnels had proven to be both costly and ineffective.

Apparently these costs exacted a mental as well as a monetary toll as well. “While the psychic costs of all this visual pollution is incalculable, its been estimated that New York City and New York State have spent over $150 million cleaning up graffiti,” explains Roberts. “And as you can see, they haven’t been very successful.” The segment includes an interview with SKI ONE, a writer who brazenly discusses how he steals spray paint.

The MTA eventually instituted a policy that would remove all painted trains from service, denying these underground artists the chance for their work to be seen. And it worked. The transit agency declared victory over outlaw art in 1989, when it put out a press release claiming that all its trains were now graffiti free.

Teen Trespasses Onto ‘OITNB’ Set, Recreates Her Favorite Moments

Committed Orange Is the New Black superfan Samantha Gardella, a 19-year-old film student, got the attention of the show’s cast and crew when she released a video of an unauthorized visit to the show’s exterior set in Orangeburg, New York. Days after the show’s third season dropped on Netflix, it was reported that the crew was filming the fourth season at the abandoned Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center.

The teen, who lives “25 minutes away” from the site, then visited the location and began snooping around. She posted the results on Tumblr, including a video that helpfully points out what’s real on the set, versus what’s fake (that barbed wire is quite real). She even printed out photos from the show and shot them in the exact locations.

Gardella’s video made headlines after Lionsgate Television issued her a letter asking her not to trespass again. The tone of the letter is pretty amiable, though:

The show itself pretty cool about it, too.

(Photo: llcoolade)

Here’s What NYC’s Largest Fireworks Display Looked Like From A Helicopter

NYonAir, the city’s sky taxi for photographers, did some laps around Manhattan on July 4th to document Macy’s annual fireworks show. The footage was edited to create a dazzling hyperlapse video of the pyrotechnics display like you’ve never seen before.

Listen In: JiHAE Made You A Playlist

“Listen In” is a feature in which we ask musicians to curate a mixtape-length playlist of songs they’re currently digging. Click the big play button above to hear the whole playlist or scroll down to see and hear individual tracks.

With the release of her fourth album, Illusion of You, New York-based artist and musician JiHAE caught the attention of music critics at NPR and the New York Times’s T Magazine. One of the more notable tracks on the album is a song penned by Leonard Cohen that pays homage to orgasms. JiHAE will also be exhibiting a visual, photography component to the album at the Ethan Cohen Fine Arts later this year.


Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Red Eyes And Tears”


Massive Attack – “Splitting the Atom”


Band Of Skulls – “Hoochie Coochie”


Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”


PJ Harvey – “To Bring You My Love”


Cream – “Sunshine Of Your Love”


TV On the Radio – “Wolf Like Me”


Pixies – “Where Is My Mind”


Joy Division – “Disorder”


The Clash – “London Calling”

Airbnb Enriches Real Estate Moguls, Ad Alleges

Airbnb, the controversial short-term property rental company, has about 25,000 listings in New York City, and about 14,000 of those are technically illegal. Affordable housing advocates accuse the company of exacerbating the housing crisis by turning apartments that could be used for New York City residents into expensive hotels. On top of that, a new ad from the housing rights group Share Better Coalition alleges that commercial landlords abuse the listings service by using it to force out tenants and make millions of dollars from unlawful listings.

The satirical spot presents Airbnb as a charity benefiting struggling real estate moguls. “By renting out just one of the hundreds of apartments and homes they’ve listed on Airbnb, you can join the fight against affordable housing,” says the sarcastically earnest pitchwoman.

According to text in the ad, “nearly 40% of Airbnb revenue goes to real estate moguls.” Airbnb says this number is exaggerated, and 90% of listings are private individuals renting out their own home. Even if both sides are exaggerating, Airbnb as a company has raised $2.3 billion in venture capital funds. The executives of Airbnb have become real estate moguls in their own right. Airbnb presents itself as being for the people, but it isn’t.

Also, the Share Better Coalition is funded by the hotel industry, which is threatened by Airbnb. The boom in hotel construction has also been bad for affordable housing in New York. Basically everything is fucked.

How Jesse’s Deli in Cobble Hill Became the Symbolic Bodega of Anti-Gentrification

Neighborhood staple Jesse’s Deli has served up sandwiches and bodega staples on Atlantic Avenue since 1989. But recently the landlord more than doubled the rent, and the business may have to close, leaving the people of this part of Cobble Hill without a bodega, a New York necessity as vital as a laundromat or a pharmacy. Some neighborhood residents decided to show their support for Jesse’s Deli and protest rent hikes by creating a satiric ad campaign that rebrands ordinary bodega items like cans of tuna and Duracell batteries using buzzwords like “artisanal” and “curated” and doubling the price. Learn how they did it in Brooklyn Independent Media’s video above.

(Photo: David Ewalt)

Plainclothes Detective Initiates Street Fight During Arrest Attempt in Harlem

This video, posted to Facebook on July 1, has gotten over a million views due to the stunning aggression shown by the plainclothes detective enacting the arrest. Two men were walking down Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem when they were stopped. It’s unclear if the police told them why they were being stopped, or if the police thought the man being arrested had a penknife, or why the cop puts the man’s ID in his pocket instead of running his info to see if he has any outstanding warrants and finding some reason to justify the stop, but it is clear that the detective escalates the physical altercation each step of the way. First he grabs the man, and when the man tries to leave, the detective punches him in the face. It turns into a bareknuckle boxing match. Eventually the scene gets swarmed with cops, and the man is taken into custody in an ambulance, because he was spitting out blood from getting slugged in the face.

Cyber Psychic: What it’s Like to Get Your Fortune Told By the Internet

On the internet you can find the answer to almost any simple question with just a click. But what about the big questions, like “Who am I? What should I do? What does my future hold?” You can’t Google the solutions to existential dilemmas yet. But the art collective the Institute for New Feeling is trying, and they’ve devised a method to use the internet for good old-fashioned divination.

The Institute for New Feeling is a trio of artists (Scott Andrew, Agnes Bolt, and Nina Sarnelle) who use the language and design elements of high-end medical care to create interactive installation art. The IfNF’s installation “Seek” was on display at Recess in Soho from April through June as part of the art organization’s residency series. “Seek” allows participants to visit their office (in this case, Recess’ storefront gallery space, outfitted with dimming one-way film over the windows) and receive “a clairvoyant reading generated by the misuse of online search engines. For each intimate one-on-one session, a specialist will lead a participant through a series of assessments in order to compile his or her personal video file,” as described on the IfNF’s website. In layman’s terms, it means they ask questions and scan images and then plug in the results to fill in customizable blanks in the video template, like an extra-surreal Mad Lib.

The readings are generated through a calculated misuse of various Google search tools. For example, the interlocutor types words into the Google searchbar that are gibberish to read but are actually answers to prompts asked verbally, including “What is your mother’s maiden name?” “Do you readily help people while asking for nothing in return?” and “Tell me the name of a person you wish you’d never met.” One snippet of text is then isolated from the link descriptions of the search results and run through Google Translate about a dozen times until it too turns into apparent gibberish. That retranslated phrase is a mantra (mine is, “It is not cheap, but it depends on the use in months,” as you hear in the video). After that, scanners in the chair photograph the sitter’s face and butt, and then those get image searched for similar images. These results generate much of the content in the video. The computer-animated meteor flying through space that makes up much of the video is tinted to the sitter’s aura. All of this is up to the recipient to interpret.

The chair itself began life as a massage chair, but it has since been customized with a new paint job and hardware. It’s shaped sort of like a toilet, one where you sit backwards on the seat and look down into the tank. Inside the tank is a monitor where I can see Andew’s computer screen as he logs my answers to his questions.

Andrew, the “specialist” who conducted my session, has a deep, gentle voice that would probably set off ASMR if I had it. He began the session by asking my name, including middle name and nickname, and the address of the house where I grew up. It was unnerving to give my address to a stranger, watch him Google it, and then have the Street View image of the house where my parents still live pop up in front of us.

The biggest surprise of my reading for the members of the Institute was what happened when they googled my butt. Often when they google someone’s butt, the person is wearing blue pants, which results in photos of things like boulders or ocean waves. But I was wearing pinkish pants, and many of the results were really gruesome photos of diseased and bloody limbs. It caught Scott off guard.

“Wow,” he said. “Pretty grotesque today.”

The session takes about 20 minutes. At the end, I got a video that tells me something about myself. I don’t know what it means, but something about it definitely feels relevant. Here it is.

The Institute for New Feeling completed its residency at Recess, and plans to bring SEEK other places are in the works. In the meantime, another one of its projects, the “Felt Book”, a collection of artists’ home remedies, is touring the country and available for online perusal.

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