MMM. tacos. I eat like a pig, I know… But you know you want some…

I recently received a couple messages relating a certain post I made in February 2009, regarding a Snap of what I thought to be a “Meth” tag.

It appears I was mistaken as these two flickr messages made very clear…

Copied as is…

.

to fill you in on a bit of your extremely uneducated and arrogant statements you made about a graffiti related topic you have slandered on your homo ass buffawhat.com and on your flickr page. first off….know your fucking facts before opening your mouth. the picture that your faggot ass took claiming to be a “meth tag” scratched into a mirror is not even close to a Meth tag. it is a MERK jr. tag. he wrote with a crew from buffalo called BF. secondly for you to sit on your computer and make some pretty outlandish and big claims on a criminal case you obviously know nothing about is foolish. this makes you look quite ridiculous. please next time before you take it upon yourself to act like you are intelligent, do some homework and know the facts about the shit your speaking

The message was from someone with the username of “mtn_2g.” As for the facts, I actually pulled my info from CitiStat. If the tag isn’t Meth’s then I’m mistaken, but the state of your friend’s criminal history remains.

mtn_2g felt that one enraged message wasn’t enough, and later sent this…

..

www.flickr.com/photos/buffawhat/3254402328/

theres a link to your own photo. LOOK AT IT. and notice….that it surely does not say METH. but MERK with the letters JR under it. I really dont understand silly little people like yourself. Considering I am good friends with the person you so claimed to have done this in your picture, I will def. be giving him your name, pictures and personal information, dont think for one min, your faggot ass will be getting away with this shit. and If I happen to see you in public somewhere…..better believe I will be breaking your fucking jaw for his sake. no more sucking cock after that huh?? bet your bf will be quite upset. think before you talk and post shit on public places.

Eric Osborne, your friend is quite the ally huh? He’s a bit annoying really, not so much for the vile and homophobic – yet empty – threats, but mainly for the repeated offense of misspelling “you’re” with “your.” I don’t claim to be a grammar cop, but you definitely show your intelligence when you spew typo-ridden filth. At least you weren’t in all caps, I appreciate that.

Because Google loves you, and wants you to know that somethings really are free with no strings attached (*cough), this Holiday travel season you will be able to enjoy free WiFi at one of 47 participating airports. Additionally, through the holiday season (’til January 15, 2010) All Virgin flights will have free WiFi.

Tearing up at the generosity of Google? Well let them flow because Google is also making it possible for users enjoying free wifi to give back:

“travelers will have the option make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice.”

For a list of all 47 participating airports (I checked, and Buffalo International Airport is on the list… WEEE) go to www.freeholidaywifi.com. The free gift starts Monday, November 15th.

Click through the jump to read the press release.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Yummy Breakfast Keychains were my first blindbox craze. I saw them at Hero Design (93 Allen St, Buffalo, NY) and started collecting them all. I had nearly every one of them, then suddenly… Hero sold out. I managed to cope, and the collection remained unfinished, on display at Angel’s store, Sai One (818 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY). People would come into Sai One and want to buy my collection, and Angel would send them to Hero to buy them. When Hero Design sold out, people kept going there looking for more until Beth asked me to kindly not send people to Hero with false hopes of the Yummy Breakfast series.

FALSE HOPES NO MOAR!

Hero Design is finally back in stock after over a year of  whining and begging from everyone all over. The supply is limited so get there now if you want to pick up the set. They are blindbox, but the duplicates will make excellent stocking stuffers this Christmas.

I noticed Beth was working on this new print last week. I almost stole one before she had put the final color on it, but I’m glad I waited… it looks so awesome! And since I felt bad about almost stealing one, I’m gonna penance and give one away to one of my readers.

Hero Design Studio on Etsy – Autumn is my favorite season of them all. I love all the colors, the brisk air and the smell of the drying leaves. Every year I find myself in the most wonderful mood come mid October!

This year I finally decided to capture that feeling in a print. This is a is limited edition 5 color 8″ x 10″ screen print, printed on Accent Opaque Smooth White 100# cover stock. Each print is signed by us.

I heard Beth is already working on the other three seasons, and maybe I’ll do a giveaway for those too. However, here’s how to win the Autumn print:

1. Contest starts from this post date, until Noon on Thursday, the 29th (of October, silly).
2. You have to comment with your FAVORITE  Fall activity in the town you where you live. I’ll ask Beth to help me pick the sweetest comment, since Fall is her favorite season ever.
3. The winner will receive a signed 8″x 10″ Autumn Print from HeroDesign, courtesy of your favorite snarky Buffalonian. If you live in the Buffalo, NY  area, you’ll have to stop by Hero Design Studio + Boutique (93 Allen St, Buffalo) to pick it up. If you live outside of Buffalo, or hate to leave your house (then how could you love Fall?), we’ll ship it to you.
4. Make sure you leave your real email address in the form (but not in the actual comment) or I can’t contact you if you win.

That’s it!

Time’s Up! Time to get with Beth to pick the winners, I’ll have a winner announced shortly!

Beth is co-owner of Hero Design Studio (with her husband Mark), a truly talented artist, a style diva, and one of my favoritest gal pals. AND… today is her birthday! Going back to the artist part, when she isn’t dealing me the best in vinyl crack, she’s grinding out gig posters, clever cards, and some pretty awesome art prints. I’m gonna highlight my favorites below and you should absolutely buy one or two or three or all of them! It’s her birthday remember, and money is the best present evar!

Get Well Soon Greeting Card – $4.00 each /$12 for 4-pack

Who likes pills? Pills are awesome, and these get well soon cards are classic and cute, if not to the point. 5″ x 5″ Three color silkscreened greeting card printed on100# Cover Cougar Bright White. Includes a frosted transparent vellum envelope and is enclosed in a resealable poly bag for protection. Limited Edition.

Birthday Cards – $4.00 each/$12 for 4-pack

Once again, simple and to the point, but absolutely awesome. I bought my two dads the “Happy Fucking Birthday” cards, and pops loved them. the card stock reminds me of a yummy chocolate cupcake too! 5″ x 5″ One color silkscreened greeting card printed on 113# cover Gmund Treasury in Tradition. It is a beautiful metallic, shimmery, chocolate brown paper with a matte black inside. Limited edition. Includes a frosted transparent vellum envelope and is enclosed in a resealable poly bag for protection. Limited Edition.

Raccoon Artprint – $20

This raccoon artprint glows in the freaking dark! I shouldn’t have to pimp this print anymore, because it GLOWS in the DARK! 16″ x 20″ Four color silkscreen, printed on 100# cover, French Dur-O-Tone Paper in Steel Gray. Signed and numbered edition of 100. The raccoon’s eyes, the stars and the moon all glow in the dark.

Owl Greeting Cards – $4 each/ $12 for 4-pack

Beth was rocking Owls before the hipsters got a hold of them and said they were cool. In fact: Beth said “Owls fucking rock” and everyone else listened up. for realz. 5″ x 5″ Three color silkscreened greeting card printed on 100# Cover Cougar Bright White. Includes a frosted transparent vellum envelope and is enclosed in a resealable poly bag for protection. Limited Edition.

Grizzly Bear – Chicago, IL / 07.19.09 / Pitchfork Music Festival - $25
You really have to see this poster to know why I love it. behind the thumbprint is menagerie of spirographs, offset just enough to show that awesome hand screenprinted style that makes poster shops like Hero design stand out from the Kinko’s poseurs.  16″ x 20″ Four color silkscreen, printed on 100# Cover Cougar Bright White. Signed and numbered edition of 150.

While these may be my favorite, there is a butt-load (indeed) of posters, art prints, and greeting cards on the Hero Design Studio webstore. They also rock on on Etsy, and GigPosters.  Beth and Mark are an awesome team, I’m glad to have friends/dealers like them.

Just to recap, its Beth’s birthday.. and yer gonna buy some of her stuff right? Good.

p.s. – any time of the year is a good time for buying posters, you don’t just have to wait for a birthday.

David, one of my “number one” stalkers fans, had his bike stolen last Saturday, and he wondered if I would get the word out to my Buffalo homies. So check it out below and peep up if you see anything. If you don’t live in Buffalo and you find this bike, that’d be weird, but you should say something too.

To my friends in Buffalo,

Please keep your eye out for this bicycle. It was stolen from my garage on Gill Alley sometime on Saturday along with three other bicycles. I have had it for 17 years and it has been a really big part of my life and I will never be able to replace it. I’m offering a reward of $200. If you ever see someone with this bike, and feel comfortable in approaching them, please give them my contact info and let them know of the reward. Keep in mind that they may have not stolen the bike but possibly purchased it from the person who did. I have never seen a bike similar to this one so if you see it, chances are it is mine.

I let Campus Wheel Works and Ricks know about it as well as register with http://stolenbicycleregistry.com/ I don’t have the serial number on it but could identify it very easily. My phone number is 716-563-3899. Feel free to forward this email to anyone you know in the area. The more eyes out there the better. Thank you all so much.

David

NOTE: The last photo shows the break cables as white but they are now black and the speedometer is no longer attached to the handlebars.

Silent Exchange is an all day (noon-10pm) open air Electronic Music + Art event being held on Saturday, August, 29th, 2009, at the Rock Harbor in Buffalo, NY. Five DJ’s, local performance artists, and other works surrounding a one day installation of awesomeness.

Silent Exchange Electronic Music + Art event will team up with Rock Harbor Commons Village “The Yard” for the debut. his space is in the backyard of the warehouse buildings. What they are beginning to build atRock Harbor is a new ecologically friendly and safe student environment that will incorporate a blending of art, history, nature, and social activies. The village will soon house 300 students in the first phase along with plans for a café , student entrepreneurial offices, food court, fitness center, game/recreational room, big screen TVs, 24-hour security, Wi-Fi, monitored private parking, and eco-friendly shuttle buses. August 2010 marks the beginning of a remarkable future for Rock Harbor and the Black Rock community.
DJ Line Up:

Silent Exchange on The Artery Magazine

http://www.thearterymagazine.com/music/silent-exchange#comments

Mazi-Gourmet Recordings/ NRK (Chicago)

http://www.myspace.com/djmazi

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mazi+Namvar?anv=Mazi

Soul Clap- Airdrop/ Wolf + Lamb (Boston)

http://www.soulclap.us/

http://www.discogs.com/artist/soul+clap

Nico Jaar -Wolf + Lamb/ Circus Company (NYC)

http://www.nicolasjaar.net/

http://www.last.fm/music/Nicolas+Jaar

Mike Parker- Geophone Records (Buffalo)

http://www.mike-parker.net/

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mike+Parker

Bill Bacon- Sunset Sundays (Buffalo)

http://mnmpresents.com/

Performance Artist/Artist:

Bonny Mae Stuber-Fire poi/Live painting

Zack Boehler aka Creative Hustle- street art metal sculptures

http://creativehustle.com/

Steve Myers-live painting

http://www.myspace.com/stevenjmyers

http://www.myspace.com/gatewaygallery2

Cory Brabon- nuclear explosion paintings

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cory-Brabon/12365685585

Alex Makin- live painting

Don Schwartz-photography

Jimmy & the boys-live graffiti

+ a couple interactive activities ….teaser video released soon!

Rain or Shine, this will be unforgettable!

For updates, news, previews info..

Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/silentexchange

Facebook Event Page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50792024996

What a fucked up and stupid thing to happen…

via Hero Design Studio – Local publication, Artvoice, stole original artwork that we created for the band Iron & Wine and altered it VERY slightly for a full page back cover ad, advertising their publication and their upcoming “Fall Arts” Issue. They even used our color scheme and textures. All of the major elements of the full page ad were stolen directly from our poster and used without our knowledge or permission!

This is a violation of the copyrights associated with our artwork and we are not going to deal with this lightly, we plan to take action and we are prepared to do whatever necessary to insure that this doesn’t happen again. Not only to us, but to other artists that the Artvoice and it’s designers could potentially steal from in the future. Another point to be made is when stealing artwork from a local artist, like us, whose work is known in the community, this causes causes confusion with respect to the source, sponsorship and/or our approval of their products and the services of their company. Within hours of the issue being on stands, and before we even saw it, we began getting phone calls, emails and texts asking if we started working with Artvoice and why did our artwork look like that, etc. This is embarrassing and potentially damaging to us and our company’s name and reputation locally.

Artvoice is aware of the copyright violation, but a solution has not materialized as of now.  It’s really shitty this happened, and I’m sure everything will come out in favor of Hero Design, but the fact that the copyright violation came from just down the block, that’s the fucked up part. Jamie Moses, are you getting to be too old to keep your company in check? I had a much higher respect for your company before now.

Oh, and Hero weren’t the only designers to be victimized by Artvoice.

We also learned that one of the two elements that they added to our original design (beyond the type elements) was also stolen, from our good friend Julian Montague’s book cover for Mark Goldman’s book City on The Edge.

Update: Zachary Burns attempts to clear his name.

Attached below is a copy of the email sent to Hero Design, that was forwarded to me by Zachary Burns, one of the Art Directors at Artvoice.

I’d like to start off by stating that I was not the artist who
plagiarized the poster that was so blatantly and embarrassingly lifted
from your studio for the back cover of this weeks Artvoice. Let me
restate that again, I unequivocally and absolutely had nothing to do
with its’ planning, conception or design.

That being said, I would still like to apologize. You have every right
to be supremely pissed (as any designer would) and whatever justice
you seek is completely within your rights. I just joined the Artvoice
staff as a graphic designer about a month ago after moving back home
from Seattle where I was a designer at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
As a journalist and designer, this kind of thievery is an
embarrassment to me and a mark of shame upon the newspaper. I’m sure
you would like to know who was responsible for this, but unfortunately
I don’t want to name names. However, if you get a hold of Jamie Moses
or Geoff Kelly they will tell you who the culprit was.

Again, I feel completely embarrassed and ashamed to work at the paper
right now. If I had any knowledge that a designer was going to so
blatantly rip off an existing design, you can be sure it would not
have occurred on my watch. It was very uncomfortable to be around the
newsroom yesterday as this story broke and have to worry that by
mistake or some miscommunication my name might falsely be attached to
this unethical practice.

Anyways, just wanted to clear my name and show my support for you guys.

–zachary burns