Kaikai Kiki!

So Takashi Murakami, that demented disco dwarf, has been furtively putting together a totally amazing collective of Japanese pop artists, called Kaikai Kiki. Check it out:


Murakami, with part of his Balloons series, which were hung in Grand Central Station.


All of the artists in the collective are worth checking out. Clockwise from top-left:
I'm sure they love you: Rei Sato
Elephant Underpants vs. Apple Half: Chinatsu Ban
The Scene: Mahomi Kunikata
Moon: Aya Takano
Kuwanetto: Mr.

But I have to highlight one particular member of the Kaikai Kiki Krew, namely Chiho Aoshima, who does incredible, ethereal digital illustrations and installations. Her City Glow, Mountain Whisper installation, seen below as it appeared in the Union Square subway station in NYC, and the Gloucester Square station in London is totally breathtaking.


City Glow...


Mountain Whisper.


Another Chiho work, called Magma Spirit Explodes. Tsunami Is Dreadful

Finally, very cool, is this ad campaign for Louis Vuitton featuring Takashi Murakami's characters.


This is a collaboration between Louis Vuitton, obviously, and Takashi Murakami, in a pleasing little animated short based on Alice in Wonderland.

Ligers and Tigons and Cuppies; oh my!

Madness!

So when you saw Napoleon Dynamite, did you have any idea that ligers were real? Yeah, me neither.

The product of a tigress and a lion (a tiger and lioness offspring is called a tigon), ligers are way bigger than either lion or tiger, standing up to 12 feet, and they love to swim.

Seriously? They've been bred (usually by accident) in captivity since the early 1800's, and no one was going to tell me?


This is Hercules the liger. He lives at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.).


Kinky nineteenth Century painting of an animal trainer with lion, tigress and three hybrid liger offspring.

I found out about ligers while linking about looking into the puppies born to a cat this week in Brazil. The DNA still needs to be confirmed, but, if it is verified, it would be one of the most genetically dissimilar hybrid parentings since the Chicken Lady.


These are the puppies and their mom.

And how about the other magical hybrids that are legitimately happening around the planet?


A wolphin!


A zony! Cross between zebra and Tony Danza!

Also noted: when I told KT about this breaking story, she claimed that her mom had a cabbit as a child - a cat/rabbit hybrid. Searching about, I found a persuasive case that they don't exist, and are actually cats with malformed hindquarters. I wouldn't recommend pressing the subject with her though... it's best not to mess with family legend.


Some alleged cabbits! Veeerry curious.

Hip Hop Flyas

So here's another sweet site I found while clicking about for work.

It's an archive of flyers for hip hop shows in New York in the 80's. AKA the Golden Era. They're pretty sweet:


Who doesn't love a good shorts n sneaka ball? I wish they still had contests for the tightest shorts... I would totally win.


It's 1981. Parties are $4. Life is good.


Who didn't love The Fat Boys?

Plenty more on the site.

McDonald's Hilarious Race Sites!

Okay now really.

Not only does McDonald's conduct an active campaign targeted to the black community, it does the same for the latino and asian communities.

Now I have no problem with the idea. I'm not one of those covert 'then-whur's-the-white-kid-program?' racists, although I would prefer an ordering by socio-economic or geographic group because I think it would be more effective.

Rather my problem is with the unbelievable racial stereotyping on the microsites. Seriously - check this shit out. All straight from McDonald's fun headquarters.

i-am-asian

Which I guess means 'i hate upper case'. At least this site speaks to some scholarship money. But seriously - look at this interface. It's every Asian stereotype rolled in one ikea-decorated dorm-room nightmare. And what is up with the mash-up of Asian cultures represented in this 'asian' dude's room? Is he just a fan of 'Asian' or something?


You should go to this site just to hear the rollover voice on the dog. It yells 'Year of re dog!' in a voice best described using a word I never thought I'd use - chinky. [washes mouth out]

lomcximo

Which I imagine means 'Hand's Off My Burrito Esse' or something. Seriously now, McDonald's is just being cruel here. In between the blatant jabs at Latino-American education and status, all they get here is soccer and video games like 'Taxi Metro', for which the instructions are, not even kidding:

Drive your taxi around the city and when you see someone thinking about chicken... you know where to take them.

For fuck's sake - is this really the best they can do?


Focus group research shows that Mex-i-cans mainly aren't real clear about the concept of 'Dollar Menu'. A clear jab at the comprimised education received by latino students who speak Spanish at home. I mean hot damn that shit's remedial.

Bonus Racist Aside!

Look for it:


A bone for the Jewish-American demographic, or a blatant mis-interpretation? Watch the image to find out!

Someone's probably going to have to talk to McDonald's about racial sensitivity. I mean seriously - Taxi Metro?!?!

Great soundtrack = better ad.

So here are two ads that are completely made by the music choices in them. Plus - they're both beautiful songs.

Enjoy these short moments of blissful escape...


You loved it in the brilliant Donnie Darko, now hear it again. Gary Jules covers Tears for Fears' Mad World in this magnificent ad for Gear of War


Spike Jonze's beautiful 'Hello Tomorrow' spot for Adidas, with Karen O. From TBWA/Chiat/Day San Fran.

P.S. Yes - I am procrastinating while working at home. Bad Beckstar! Soon I will finish that website! Hey - my bedtime suffers, my blog wins... good deal for you guys.

It's vintage ad hour!

While bobbing my head around the apple bucket of McDonald's ads past, I found these very funny ads from the 60's and 70's. So good!


1960's Cheer Ads. These ads are beyond creepy! When can I stop kidding myself? - a classic piece of dialogue.


1970's Koolaid ad. You all know of my koolaid addiction. I get hot and thirsty riding a skateboard. Who doesn't honey?


1970's ad for Tab. Huh? Be a mind-sticker?

McDonald's: 365wack.com

Okay, a big w-t-f to McDonald's over their 365black campaign. I guess the program officially started in 2002, but is still running strong as seen in this Rolling Stone ad I caught yesterday:


Get it? He's not a starving artist when he can afford items on the Dollar Menu!

Copy deck at bottom:

Whether it's a Double Cheeseburger, fries, or Hot Fudge Sundae, I can create anything from a meal to a snack out of McDonald's Dollar Menu. Enjoying good food every day doesn't make me less talented. Take a look at my work. I call this my happy period.

The artist, Hebru, is actually pretty tight, what in a 'figurative neo-pop derivative of Basquiat' kind of way:


Some of Hebru's work - as seen on his myspace page.

But the 365black campaign? Jeezus.


Hey! It's Getty Images #200254000-001!. Keywords: 'black youth - non-threatening'; 'the kids we're supposed to depict only wish they had clothes this nice'.

Communications-wise, in name, execution, everything, it just seems embarassingly condescending. Case in point: their website.

It has profiles of the 'leadership officers', which taught me that both the president and chief marketing officer of McDonald's USA are black. Two more dedicated men, doing whatever it takes to keep poor Americans reaching deep into thin wallets for more poly-saturated fats.

The site also has their 'ad campaigns', with a loft introduction about how for more than 30 years, McDonald's has demonstrated its appreciation for the African American consumer base by giving back to the communities where we do business. Sounds great, except the ads aren't about the community at all, rather are just some of the ads featuring black actors and urban culture (breakdancing burger wrappers!) they've run recently.

Seriously, if this program is about celebrating African American achievements, where are they? Even the artist isn't on their website, despite having his name listed with it in the ad. Am I missing something?

Some multinationals with questionable ethics run amazing advertising campaigns (Coke, Nike). To be honest, I never really love the Mickey Dee spots. At the same time, these are some memorable ones from advertising past:


1967 - McDonald's first national ad. Children of this era may remember one or more of the derisive 'Jingle-Bells-Batman-Smells' variations that it generated. Mcdonalds is the kind of place. They serve you rattlesnakes. They spit right in your shakes. etc.


1969 - eat there! It's cleeeeaaaan!


1980's. McDonald's plus Jet Skis? Brilliant!

Painting in the rain...

How better to spend a rainy day than painting, smoking and baking cake with Nate-Dogg and Lil' B?


Hot cake is fur-tastic!

Nate's been working on a series of dark, cartoony portraiture of hot women, so we decided to collaborate on a big piece for the series. It was good times - always interesting to put on someone else's artistic style for an afternoon.


Our girl-posse art piece. The girl on the right that looks like Mena Suvari? All me, baby. Except for what Nathan did.


Other Nate-tastica.


This girl reminds me of my friend Nikki.


Hey! It's a hot chick done in neon and glitter!

In other exciting news, we - the polygamous family roommates - transformed the bottom floor of our house into an art/creative studio this weekend. So expect to see lots more painting/drawing/amazingness in the next little while, as we settle in for rainy season.