Tattoo Quality: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

who what where when why wednesday.

what have you been doing this week?

{someone tell me your week has been as non-stop as mine...}

crafting!

putting the final touches on the holiday gift swap treats.

they go in the mail tomorrow!

... and then five presents come to me. can't wait for THAT.

i started with a few randoms before landing on "be good."

like "love life" - which i happened to find ascribed on the bottom of a box of chocolates my friend ryan gave me for my birthday. it's a theme in my life, apparently.

i also free-handed a "ain't no thang" which miiiiiight be my favorite. might not make it to the mailbox.

more of the design*sponge book signing.

scrolling through my google reader and bam! there's our crew!

if that book isn't on your christmas list, it ought to be.

a post in which i highlight my female ignorance.

this text conversation:

g: did you call me?

a: yeah, as i was driving home. my car was acting up.

g: what's wrong?

a: when i brake, the car shakes a little and my rpm-ometer needle bounces between 0 and 1 for like the first five seconds when i come to a stop.

how else was i supposed to explain it?

全球最長的，任人牆上塗鴨的街道在中國重慶？

World’s Longest Graffiti Street in China?:

MANILA, Philippines — As is so often said about Chongqing, you’ve never heard of it, but with 30 million people and rising, it’s one of the largest municipalities in the world (for perspective, all of New York state has some 20 million people).

Located in the heart of southwest China, a former city in Sichuan Province but now independent, Chongqing also hosts the country’s longest graffiti street, and perhaps the world’s.

In this land of superlatives, Chongqing’s graffiti street stands out, the work of hundreds of students from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, one of the country’s more prestigious art universities. The work covers some 40,000 square meters of wall along 1.25 kilometers of Huangjueping Street (黄桷坪), affectionately known as Graffiti Street (涂鸦路) by locals.

Here’s a photo tour of Graffiti Street, which I snapped a few weeks ago during a brief visit to cities along the Yangtze River (special thanks to Sara Marie Watson for introducing me to the area). If you have information about the artists who made this work please get in touch.

It starts simply enough, in the midst of one of Chongqing’s many hills.

/AX

Some of the styles resemble what I saw growing up in the Silverlake/Echo Park area of Los Angeles, a sure sign of the internet’s influence in street art culture.

/AX

The art covers not just the walls along the street but entire apartment buildings.

/AX

The works wrap around porches and envelop windows.

/AX

The colorful shoes near the base of this building seemed like part of the work, matching the shape and tone of the characters above. But they just happened to be drying on extended pipes. A shoe washer was working nearby.

/AX

“Tuya Street” means “Graffiti Street,” and the painted smokestack references the real smokestacks in the distance.

/AX

As with many buildings in China, the work seems older than it is. The date in the top right corner of this building reads 2007.6.9, or June 9, 2007. Smog has given it a few more years in age.

/AX

I liked this juxtaposition of zebra patterns, a gun, and the Oscar trophy.

/AX

“Graffiti Street” continues, in a sense, within Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in a studio area known as The Tank, the site of an actual tank.

/AX

The figure on the right: “Are you happy?” The figure on the left: “No.”

/AX

Visitors at The Tank studio complex. On the day we visited, no studios were open.

/AX

You can find more photos online. Daniel Man posted some good area shots, and Neocha has some great stencil details.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

a sappy post.

it's been 7 years since i was in college and ten days since i my birthday party guests left my house.

i live hundreds of miles away from some of my best friends in the whole wide world - like, say andi - but if we go too many days without creating a plan for Our Next Great Adventure, my skin starts to itch.

it's totally rad to have friends who make it tip top priority to keep a friendship alive. and not like the minimum maintenance to keep it alive, but a vested interest. the 400 mile trek once a month/book a cheap flight for the weekend/g chat/text/email/updates on our daily lives friends.

i'm lucky everyday and i know it.

i hope i do justice to my friendships + keep up my end of the bargain because i so appreciate the caliber of people in my life.

pin.

of course i like this because it pegs engineers, but for real, i like it.

pin.

from mighty girl:

“you are what you learn. if all you know is how to be a gang member, that’s what you’ll be, at least until you learn something else. if you go to law school, you’ll see the world as a competition. if you study engineering, you’ll start to see the world as a complicated machine that needs tweaking. a person changes at a fundamental level as he or she merges with a particular field of knowledge. if you don’t like who you are, you have the option of learning until you become someone else. there’s almost nothing you can’t learn your way out of. life is like a jail with an unlocked, heavy door. you’re free the minute you realize the door will open if you simply lean into it.”

- scott adams {dilbert.com}

Monday, November 28, 2011

for some reason...

... i considered it so necessary to buy 1,740 yards of bakers twine this weekend. that's almost a mile, people. 5,220 feet.

it all started with a friday morning phone call from a friend... asking me to swing by the restaurant supply store and grab a spool of red + white baker's twine.