200 pounds of sterling bullshit...

Here's a juicy little scam letter I got today. Enjoy:

From: FedEx Express UK® (noreply@fedex-customer.co.uk)
Medium riskYou may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk
Sent: Sat 3/07/09 10:39 PM
To:



Dear Customer!

Kindly contact our delivery department with the details given below:

FEDEX REDSTAR EXPRESS
Contact Person:Anthony Chris.
E-mail: anthonychris.dpt@live.co.uk
Tel:+447-035-931-105

Reasons:This is due to the fact that we are in possession of your Package
containing a master card worth of Five Hundred Thousand United State
Dollars that was registered with us by the Master Card Award Team for
shipment to you.You are to act fast by providing your postal address
and your direct phone number to enable us make the delivery ASAP.

Note that as soon as our Delivery Team confirms your informations,it
will take only two working days (48 hours) for your package to arrive
your designated address.For your information, the Mail, VAT & Shipping
fees have been paid by the Award Promo Board you will only have to pay
a sum of £ 200 to the FedEx Delivery Department being full payment for
the Security Keeping Fee of the FedEx company as stated in our privacy
terms & condition page.

©FedEx Online Team Management 1995 - 2009 FedEx Express UK®
THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please notify us by return e-mail and delete the document.

-------
I wish these "wankers" a bloody, fuckin', good time!

Pz.

... and Then Some

And holy shit! Between doses of Talib Kweli, Photoshop and Amp Lightning... I stumbled upon this article on the Adbusters site.

The article is a bit lengthy, so I won't post the whole thing here, but here are a few tidbits that caught my attention ::

"We have reached an impasse. Capitalism as we know it is coming apart at the seams. But as financial institutions stagger and crumble, there is no obvious alternative."

"Communism is already here. The question is how to further democratize it. Capitalism, in turn, is just one possible way of managing communism. It has become increasingly clear that it’s a rather disastrous one. Clearly we need to be thinking about a better alternative, preferably one that does not systematically set us all at each others’ throats."

"One might object: a revolution cannot confine itself to this. That’s true. In this respect, the great strategic debates are really just beginning. I’ll offer one suggestion though. For at least 5,000 years, before capitalism even existed, popular movements have tended to center on struggles over debt. There is a reason for this. Debt is the most efficient means ever created to make relations fundamentally based on violence and inequality seem morally upright. When this trick no longer works everything explodes, as it is now. Debt has revealed itself as the greatest weakness of the system, the point where it spirals out of control. But debt also allows endless opportunities for organizing. Some speak of a debtors’ strike or debtors’ cartel. Perhaps so, but at the very least we can start with a pledge against evictions. Neighborhood by neighborhood we can pledge to support each other if we are driven from our homes. This power does not solely challenge regimes of debt, it challenges the moral foundation of capitalism. This power creates a new regime. After all, a debt is only a promise and the world abounds in broken promises. Think of the promise made to us by the state: if we abandon any right to collectively manage our own affairs we will be provided with basic life security. Think of the promise made by capitalism: we can live like kings if we are willing to buy stock in our own collective subordination. All of this has come crashing down. What remains is what we are able to promise one another directly, without the mediation of economic and political bureaucracies. The revolution begins by asking what sorts of promises do free men and women make one another and how, by making them, do we begin to make another world?"

(All quotes copyright David Graeber and Adbusters.org.)

I have to say... Damn... It's a shame no one else will realize what is happening around them.

Pz.

OMG!!

Georgia Red Mud Painter was pointed out to me just today. Apparently he's an eBay art dealer, and from what I hear uber-legit.

The most fascinating thing about this enterprise is the fact that they interview each artist they sell. I found the following video just precious. Enjoy! :)

Two bits...

First, I want to thank all who responded to the call to petition Congress I sent out last week here and on Facebook. Congress cited our response to their vote as the main reason for rethinking the addition of the arts to the stimulus package. I'm glad to report that the arts was officially included in the bill that was signed yesterday, and should be a victory for artists if the funds are handled correctly. (crosses fingers)

Next, my father just forwarded me this e-mail which should be of interest to creatives in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas:

>Gary,
>The following is an announcement of a program taking place at
>Carnegie Mellon that may be of interest to you.
>
>Thank you,
>Dxx Sxxxxx
>
>
>ART AND CODE is a symposium on "programming environments for artists,
>young people, and the rest of us", taking place March 7-9 at Carnegie
>Mellon University. It features hands-on workshops and a conference
>showcase for nine different creative toolkits -- programming languages
>made by artists, and for artists.
>
>Just as true literacy in English means being able to write as well as
>read, true literacy in software demands not only knowing how to use
>commercial software tools, but how to create new software for oneself
>and for others. Recently, a number of projects dedicated to
>democratizing the education of computational thinking have coalesced.
>Emerging primarily from the arts sector, a set of new programming
>environments (and accompanying pedagogic techniques) have been
>developed to help artists, regular folks and other
>non-computer-scientists learn to make software. Using visual and
>musical expression as the "hook", thousands of people have not only
>learned to code using these new environments, but found new reasons to
>code in the first place. These toolkits – many of which are free,
>open-source initiatives – have made enormous inroads towards expanding
>the computational skills and interests of hundreds of thousands of
>creative people worldwide. You too can join this movement!
>
>The toolkits presented will include: Processing, Max/MSP/Jitter,
>openFrameworks, VVVV, Actionscript, Alice, Scratch, Hackety-Hack, and
>Silverlight. Most of these workshops will be presented by the main
>people responsible for creating these tools!
>
>This conference is for:
>• Artists, designers and musicians who want to create interactive art,
>information visualization, or personal software tools;
>• Teens, undergraduates, and graduate students who wish to combine
>art, design, interaction, and computer science;
>• College educators and professional artists who want to learn the
>most cutting-edge tools for interaction design;
>• Computer-science education researchers interested in
>visually-oriented languages and learning tools;
>• Middle-school and high-school teachers who want a more expressive
>way of teaching programming and computer arts;
>• Anyone who has been wanting to learn how to program their own
>software, but hasn't known where to start!
>
>Saturday March 7th features intensive three-hour workshops, taught by
>leading developers and authors, in a variety of programming languages.
>Some workshops are intended for more advanced users, but many are
>totally introductory in nature and are suited for all ages.
>
>Sunday March 8th offers a day-long sequence of 50-minute presentations
>about each programming environment. Learn about who's using each
>programming environment, and why. Many of these lectures are given by
>the main people creating these toolkits!
>
>Monday March 9th begins with two morning sessions of "Hello World"
>workshops that are ideal for beginners or people wanting a quick "leg
>up" into learning a new toolkit. These are followed, after lunch, by
>panel discussions featuring developers and educators.
>
>Registration fees: Discounts are available for early-bird
>registration (before February 24th). Early-bird rates are as follows:
>General registration (Sunday symposium and Monday panels) is $15;
>Intensive workshops (Saturday) are $45; Brief introductory workshops
>(Monday) are $20. Places in workshops are limited.
>

Seems cool. And cheap... May be worth checking out for the ActionScript portion (or the Max/MSP portion for musicians!)

That's all I have today...

Pz.

Shepard Fairey Still a God to Some of Us

If you don't know who Shepard Fairey is, don't worry... Apparently not too many do. Although his work is on T-Shirts, bumper stickers, lawn signage and walls everywhere sporting none other than this particular image:

Or maybe you're on the other side of the fence and know him for this:


Regardless, his work as a graffiti artist has superceded that of many followers, bridging the gap between what is art and what is vandalism.

Fucked up as it is, the debate for vandalism always wins.

From the artbistro.com news site:

Barack Obama Artist Jailed

BOSTON BLITZ: stickers and posters by Shepard Fairey are plastered near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street.

O’Ryan Johnson

February 07, 2009

Boston, MA – Arrest adds to Shepard Fairey’s tale.

The graffiti artist who rocketed to fame with an iconic portrait of President Obama was released yesterday after spending a night in jail when he ran afoul of Hub cops unimpressed by his media blitz.

Frank Shepard Fairey, 38, of Los Angeles was arrested Friday night for tagging a Massachusetts Turnpike building, police said.

Shepard Fairey walks by his most famous work, ‘Obama HOPE, 2008’ while giving a tour to the media Tuesday.

“Given his popularity, the suspect, prior to his exhibit, was interviewed by various media outlets in Boston and on a nationwide scale,” a police report states. “In several of these interviews, suspect spoke openly about illegally tagging. Suspect further acknowledged or admitted to recent tagging in Boston.”

Cops said they tracked down Fairey’s signature tag – a portrait of famed wrestler Andre the Giant over the word “Obey” – at several places throughout the city, including on a Massachusetts Turnpike utility building.

After his arrest, police discovered Fairey had a default warrant dating back to September 2000 for failing to appear in court on a tagging charge in Brighton.

He was released on $1,500 cash bail yesterday morning, police said. He is due to appear in Brighton District Court tomorrow morning, said Suffolk District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jake Wark. He faces an additional tagging charge in Roxbury for the Pike graffiti, police said.

Fairey – whose show, “Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand,” began Friday at the Institute of Contemporary Art – has stoked his countercultural image while making the media rounds, noting he has been arrested more than a dozen times. He was picked up by Boston police about 9:15 p.m. while walking into an event he was supposed to DJ at the ICA, cops said.

The museum defended Fairey’s reputation in a statement, noting his sold-out Massachusetts speaking engagments and a huge Fairey mural on the side of City Hall.

“We believe Shepard Fairey has made an important contribution in the history of art and to popular thinking about art and its role in society,” the museum stated. “We are enthusiastic to be working with him and are pleased to be showing the first museum retrospective of his work.”

Fairey’s red-white-and-blue Obama portrait was featured on hundreds of thousands of pins, stickers and posters during the campaign, and a mixed-media version is now part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Fairey made headlines earlier last week when The Associated Press filed suit against him for basing his work on a copyrighted Obama photo.

Fairey “was completely unaware there were any warrants for his arrest. Had he known, he would have resolved all such issues before the opening of his art exhibit” at the ICA, his attorney, Jeffrey Wiesner, said in an e-mail.

[ g: Irony: Not just for pleats.]

Just that quick (aka Only in America)

I opened up Facebook today to find the first disappointment of the year. I'd ask why, but I fear I would be sidestepped by the right-wing. I'm going to act on this. What will you do?

Senate Cuts Arts From Economic Stimulus Bill

To members of Americans for the Arts

Breaking News

This afternoon the U.S. Senate, during their consideration of the economic recovery bill, approved an egregious amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that stated “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.” Unfortunately, the amendment passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and surprisingly included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.

If the Coburn amendment language is included in the final conference version of this legislation, many arts groups will be prevented from receiving economic recovery funds from any portion of this specific stimulus bill. It is clear that there is still much work to be done in the Senate and in the media about the role that nonprofit arts organizations and artists play in the nation’s economy and workforce.

Plan of Action

1. Arts advocates need to quickly contact Senators who voted for the Coburn Amendment and express your extreme disappointment with their vote. We need these Senators to know that their vote would detrimentally impact nonprofit arts organizations and the jobs they support in their state. We have crafted a customized message for you to send to your Senators based on their vote on the Coburn Amendment. http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12612041 The correct letter, customized to each of your Senators will appear when you enter your zip code. If your Senator voted for this funding prohibition, you can send them a message expressing your disappointment and ask them to work to delete this language in the final conference bill with the House. If your Senator voted against the Coburn Amendment, you can thank them for their support of the arts.

2. We need as many news articles as possible this coming week to publish stories about the economic impact of the nonprofit arts industry and how the recession is negatively affecting arts groups across the country. Please click here http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12427561&type=ME to customize an opinion editorial to your local media. We have provided you with easy-to-use talking points.

3. Next week, Americans for the Arts will be sending you another action alert that targets the White House and the soon-to-be-named Senators and Representatives who will serve as conferees to the final economic recovery bill. Please be prepared to take action on this alert as well.

4. Americans for the Arts itself is submitting op-eds to several national newspapers and online blogs. We are enlisting high profile leaders to co-sign these letters as well.

5. Americans for the Arts is purchasing full-page ads titled “The Arts = Jobs” in Washington’s top political newspapers in Roll Call, Politico and The Hill on Monday and Tuesday of next week. http://www.americansforthearts.org/images/afta_news/0209_politico_forWeb.pdf We encourage you to post the ad on your social network sites.

Please help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. Play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today -- it's free and simple. https://ww2.americansforthearts.org/secure/registration/membership_actionfund/become_member/index_mail.asp?code=G08C6CWAM

Huh? Oh... Wow!

I stumbled upon this site while I should probably be in bed sleeping. Super cool site for those interested in becoming more "brand-conscious". Apparently it's tied into a book as well... I'll check that out as well sometime.

Bonfire of the Brands

Enjoy ... or not (it's your call).