Scratching the Surface: Portraits Carved in Walls

From: http://www.visualnews.com/


Using decaying plaster on old walls as a canvas, street artist Alexander Farto (aka Vihls) makes large detailed portraits by carving with hammers and chisels. His works give new life to decrepit buildings, while helping them retain a timely character at the same moment. Often his works leave chipped away plaster at their base, tipping off observers as to how the piece was created. Farto’s work has made an impact far and wide, with examples in many European cities and New York.
For more on Alexander Farto and his many works in many mediums (from graffiti to motion graphics) see his website alexandrefarto.com.

































Source: omgshots.com,

Urban Rain Dance - pop n lock

YAKfilms | October 27, 2009

for Dreal, stay up my brother

Dancers are No Noize (red jacket), Man (back jacket), BJ (striped shirt), Dreal (white shirt).

Directed and edited by Yoram Savion
http://www.YAKfilms.com

Music by Erk tha Jerk!!
Twitter.com/erkthajerk
Facebook.com/erkthajerk
Wix.com/erkthajerk/redplanet




© YAK 2009

New Yorkers told to 'pull their pants up'

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Low-slung trousers give their wearers a bad image, according to a US state senator who is behind an advertising campaign telling people to "raise your pants".

A Stop the Sag billboard is seen on the side of a building in Brooklyn Photo: AP

Eric Adams, a state senator from Brooklyn, is behind the $2,000 (£1,309) 'Stop The Sag' advertising campaign showing two men in jeans that hang low enough to display their underwear.

Mr Adams is calling for the end of the sagging trend that has become popular in men's fashion. In an online message posted on YouTube, he said: "You can raise your level of respect if you raise your pants", while pleading to young people not to "surrender control over your own image".

The politician, a retired police captain, is the latest to speak out on the trend. He follows Larry Platt, an American Idol performer who became an internet sensation earlier this year with his song "Pants on the Ground". Even Barack Obama has previously said: "Some people might not want to see your underwear. I'm one of them."

The campaign in New York follows a similar one in Dallas, where officials embarked on a 'Pull Your Pants Up' campaign in 2007, while in St Petersburg, Florida, a high school principal ordered thousands of plastic zip ties to help students pull up their trousers.

Mr Adams said he had had enough after watching a train passenger who wore a particularly low-slung pair of trousers.

"Everyone on the train was looking at him and shaking their heads," he said. "And no one said anything to correct it."

The low-slung trousers trend is adapted from the unbelted and sometimes oversized look of prison uniforms, according to Mark-Evan Blackman, who heads the menswear department at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.

Initially seen as invoking street credibility, the style has spread from inner cities to suburban shopping centres and school classrooms.

Related:

http://www.pocketburgers.com/2010/03/pants-on-ground-guy-king-of-vegas.html

http://www.pocketburgers.com/2010/01/pants-on-ground-ripoff-detroits-green.html

25 really weird - or really awesome - umbrellas

By: Scott Kleinberg

National Umbrella Month:

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2...

Usually, we just hope they don't break or we don't leave them on the bus. But there's more to umbrellas. Lots more.

During National Umbrella Month, lets take a look at some really weird - or awesome - ones.

42 Prefab Buildings & Flat Pack Furniture Designs

When a prefab home or building solution is required it can kick a design-oriented mind into high gear - the search for a visually appealing yet functional solution can be incredibly motivating. These creative designers are no exception. Prefabrication, modularity and portability also translate well into the world of furniture design, where versatile kit-based and flat-pack products can be more easily made and sustainably shipped.

Prefab is becoming a major buzz word in the world of contemporary architectural design. Prefabricated and flat-pack homes, buildings and furniture represent the possibilities of partial mass production and extreme portability fused into aesthetically awesome finished products. The challenge is to combine the need for mobility and sustainability with a building design that appeals to clients and overcomes potentially negative stereotypes (such as shoddy workmanship or poor design) that are conventionally associated with prefab. Click the thumbnails below for more images of and information on these amazing designs: