Stenciling is Dope

Inspired by Banksy himself I wanted to do something similar to his infamous "Girl With Bomb" . I found this perfect picture.

I thinned down the image using photoshop and brought it to three layers including the background.

I got lucky, you need to be 25 to buy spray paint in Philadelphia (Which I only found out recently) but the day before I left I went out and picked up four cans. Whee. All I need to do now is come up with a larger better stencil and this city is as good as mine. I also met a kid who talked to me about the lack of a "Connecticut bombing scene." Rad.

It's on the back of my sketch pad.

There is the stencil for the shadows next to it. I had to cut out a new stencil for each layer of color.



IT'S TINY. You have no idea how long it takes to make all of those tiny tiny cuts over and over again. White was the background layer so that stencil was just the outline of the whole figure. They Grey layer is mid tones and the black holds the darkest shadows.

I gotta do more of this stuff.

Munted Mondaze

Totally tagged up wall on South St. This shit is too high profile not to be commissioned by the city though. DAYM CELL OWTZ

In case you forgot: DEMS STILL BE MURDERERING

I'll merk your goldfish.

Irraderphia's Chinar Town

Philly's China town is small and only takes up part of a couple streets but it's still fun. All the same people work at the same stores and sell the same things. Something tells me that if I actually went to China I wouldn't be able to find those miniature turtles anywhere or even those small round red Chinese hats with those black tassels. I've always liked China Town's either way.

Did you know that some big corporation got together and decided how every China town should look and fixed them all up (or down) to make them the same all over the world. Like Disneyland.


That's what I would call my deli too.




Fancy entrance type gateway into China Town.



This is a picture of a chubby fire hydrant. THATSNOTTHEONLYTHINGCHUBBYINTHEPICTURELOLOLOL. The picture doesn't really do it justice but trust me. One to many Pudgie Patty's I think...



This is either the best invention in the world or the grossest. It's little pudding either way.




This movie poster was up on the wall of some grocery store in China Town. I glanced at it as I walked by and UPON FURTHER INSPECTION:




HE HAS A THIRD EYE. We MUST find and watch this movie Sooner than later please.

So, I have my first big paper for writing (lol only academic class) due tomorrow and I haven't started. I spent all afternoon recreating this master drawing with using only LINES and now I have to spill 1000 words on some paper about some short story. Blarggshgh. I don't have class until 11:30 tomorrow though so I'll be alright. I hope sleeping and getting work done in timely mannerisms is happening for all of yous.

Good night sirs.

Demons

On our way to Ubiq we were graced by the presence of Theresa. Theresa is the type of person who you don't really want to come to Ubiq with you...or anywhere really. She's nice and all, but she talks about nothing. All day long. For years. And when she's done she'll talk about how she is fat and her parents hate her. Those are the type of things that you hear and hearing and wish that you never ever have to hear them in person. What the fuck do you say to that?

T: It's because I am fat and my parents hate me.
Anyone else: Oh...thats cool I guess.

Ugh, not a fun situation. She also coined two quotes that immediately hit the record books.

Brace yourselves.

While in cafe Cosi, looking at a menu:
T: "Margheritas?! Yay!

pause...silence.

Oh, it's just the pizzas. Damn."

eh...heh.....eh.....ehhhhhhhhh.

While in Ubiq looking at purple and green Pumas:
T: I like these shoes because they remind me of Barney

Fuck you.

On a lighter note, I'm watching a fantastic Jerry Springer episode. "My son is possessed by a gay demon!" The mother tried to beat her son with a bible to turn him straight. The best.

Ubiq

Ubiq is where it is at. I am lucky to have landed a spot just a few blocks away cuz I most definitely will be checking back as often as possible. They stock pretty much everything and they have a massive selection dunks, Pumas and Vans.

The reason for my last visit was to check out the new Staple tees that dropped a couple weeks ago. I went the day after the landed in the store. Their site said they were having a sale as well so I thought I could grab a few of them for cheaper...or at least cheaper. As I found out, the sale was only a summer clearance sale so of course the Staple stuff wasn't on there. I ended up not grabbing anything but a few pictures.

It's cheaper anyways.

Door

Looking through the front window from the street all you can see is bright lights and walls lined with fancy shoes. FUN. It seems that stores of this caliber like to seem overly neat. Not only that, but Ubiq specializes in hiring people to stare at you the entire time you are in there. They aren't really staring with the "How may I help you?" face either.

Rows and rows.

There is something about rows of rainbow pooooms...

quack

See those purple quakes there in the middle? I want those so bad. I saw them on some kid at a party this past weekend and they kick it even harder off the shelf. Actually, at that same party another guy had Pigeon Dunks. Urvehbudi wuz a hipshtr.



You can just make out the two Staple shirts there in the closest rack. They were fantastic. I love that black A4 print short so much. This part of the store was down and short hallway filled with toys and in a back room that was furnished like a fancy mansion parlor. It has leather couches, animal print chairs, fancy lamps, a fire place, and wood paneling everywhere. I was not expecting that the first time I came in here.

There is also an upstairs to Ubiq. The stairway is much like the fancy back clothing room where it's all carved wood and red carpeted stairs and big wooded railings. It's slick.

Massive wall print in the hallway. I love it.

Upstairs they had a massive Vans section. Vans shoes aren't really my style but their selection was impressive. They had a bunch of custom painted shoes and a ton of other styles.

On the other side of the upstairs was a a Vans art gallery of sorts. They had some pretty cool work in there.






Such a cool picture. I like that guys stuff.

I'm tired. Come to illadelphia and we'll go to Ubiq and spend all of our monies, Kay.

This is about everything and nothing

"I can't decide which piece to start with so I won't start with any of the pieces because I've already started. I hope you like what you hear..."

You guys are PHAGs.



I found a place that has Pawel Kwak. It's a Unique Belgium specialty.



This is one of my main University buildings. It's called Hamilton Hall. There are a bunch of classes you can take there and it also houses all of the administration stuff. Behind it is Furness dorm which is one of the main freshmen housing dorms. Fuck that, Spruce where it's at. I actually don't have any classes in this building, but I'm there all the time hanging out in other peoples dorms.


One thing I don't like about Philadelphia is the squirrels. Granted I've only seen a handful or so in parks, but they were fucked up. Have you ever seen a squirrel lie down? No you haven't. I don't like it. Hop around you dick, don't lie down.


IT'S A R2D2 MAILBOX I KNOW IT'S AWESOME. What a gem.

Forgets

I thought I'd mention two things that I forgot to in the last two posts.

1.) Gayborhood: Alright, you guys know that 70's porn star mustache look that was ever so popular? Of course you don't remember it, but do you at least know what I am talking about? Let's hope so, cuz in this Gayborhood I so pleasantly inhabit it's back and in action all over the place. Every now and then you'll come across a guy that rocks a mustache (Tom Cotton) but it's not very common. Here, it's like completely opposite. I guess it's some rule of Philadelph Bum Fiends to have some scruff on the upper lip. In many cases this "scruff" turns out to be a full fledged handle bar. I saw a pair of dudes with matching mustaches the other day. They were too cool for me.

Another fun fact to tickle your fancies: My roommate is gay.

He doesn't have a mustache though, just thought you might like to know.

2.) Mad Chill: The following conversation took place between my friend (Josh) and I at the 40 Forty party.

Josh: Yo.
Ben: Yo
Josh: Hey, do you want to do some acid?
Ben: What?
Josh: I have a friend coming who's bring a bunch of acid, I can get you some for real cheap. Like $10 a pop.
Ben: Yeah?
Josh: Don't worry, it's not like shrooms. You know what's up with acid. It's mad chill.
Ben: It's mad chill, huh?
Josh: Yeah, mad chill. I hope he comes.

So in case there was any confusion, ACID IS MAD CHILL. Now you all are aware.

More pictures of the awesome house:


The Hoohk and me playing fuseball in the back right.


A piece of the rad basement.

40 Forty

A couple weeks ago I went to a radder than rad house. Four or five upperclassmen lived in this three story apartment type building about 10 blocks from where I live. The location wasn't the best, but the scene inside quickly made up for what it lacked in surrounding awesomeness. First of all, the only way we actually FOUND the house was because we saw super bright pulsating lights coming from inside this one window.

We went up and knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a riot of smells, sights and views. Just from the doorway I was hit with a wall of smoke from quite clearly more than one variety of smokable material, and a blindingly bright traffic sign. It was jumping between red, yellow and green and flashing crazily. It was so awesome. It was propped up against the wall on a table to the right side of the room. I asked someone about it and they said the grandfather of one of the kids who lived there "acquired" it somehow. I don't know the WHOLE story but just thinking about how you'd go about to get a working traffic sign is hilarious. I gotta get my own.

It was called a 40 fourty party for one reason. They bought 40 FORTIES. Forty of 'em. Since we didn't quite get around to having our own malt party in Wepo, if this doesnt convince you that we need to then I don't know what will.

HURRICANE
xxHaRdxxCorExx

And there, just under the bottle is half the reason why this house is so rad. Upstairs in the living room there was a few couches surrounding this table. About two dozen paint markers littered the table and people were tagging it up all over the place. By the end of the night the table was COVERED in colored goodness of all sorts. I marked my spot and spent most of the night drawing various things. You can see most clearly in the picture my yellow acid drips. It was so much fun.

The next week they had a party at the same place (I hope this becomes a tradition). As if it could get any crazier, this party was an 80 FORTY clusterfuck. Not only that, but I came prepared. I brought my Krink. Needless to say, I made use of it.

SENTI IS UP

And this wall, is the second half of why this house was so rad. The ENTIRE basement was covered with graffiti from cans and markers. There was some very cool hits too but most of it was just signing and words, not really finished stuff. I marked my territory here, as pictured, and on the underside of some stairs. SO much fun. This was only the second time I have ever used my krink and already I'm addicted. There was also a massive sign of a sandwich that looked like it could have belonged to a subway. 'Twas rad. What college party isn't complete without a beruit table?! Of course this house had one... Bleh, the only cool part of it was that it kept falling over and every time a few bottles would shatter and everyone would get all angry and yell. It was funny. Even better than beruit as I found out is fuseball. Uh, I guess that's is all I really need to say about that...

The first time I ever used my Kranky Krink was here:

I KRINKED THE HOOKA. The bottom of their old hookah got shattered somehow so whats the next best thing? One of those massive 10 gallon water dispenser jugs of course! Water Jug + hookah makes one massive hookah. Two hoses is a hell of a lot better than 1 also, especially when there are so many people around. The shiish went fast but it was still fun. The only downside was not being able to get people's attention across the room because they weren't covering their end of the hose. I hadn't thought of it before, but with two hoses if you suck on one and the other isn't closed, then you will be sucking fresh air. Who wants that?

Lastly, Krink is Kranky. It took more than just Chris's purple one to explode on a water bottle at my house to convince me. I used it twice in one night and the next morning I found Krink all over my pants and hands. Hopefully it'll come off of the UFOs, but either way I think it was worth it.

Gayborhood

I'll admit I was a little apprehensive before coming to Philadelphia. It is after all the 6th largest city in the US. I know New York well and before I got into to uArts I wanted nothing more than to be in New York City for school. Of course that didn't k out so well but now that I have more or less settled into Phildelph I wouldn't have it any other way. I am having so much fun here and the surrounding area is absolutely fantastic.

I didn't found out until I moved into my dorm that I am living in the heart of the GAYBORHOOD! ashgashgahsghagshagshagshga Is that NOT the best name ever? I love it.

LOOK WHERE I LIVE

Not only that, but there are rainbows EVERYWHERE. Again, fantastic.

That is the sign right outside of my dorm building. I live on Spruce St. and the dorm is called Spruce Hall. Besides rainbows being on all of the street signs within the gayborhood it seems that every other building has some rainbow flag or sticker poking out of somewhere. Of course those aren't the only items poking out places, either.

K's Pad

Now that I'm reppin' uArts at Philadelphia what better way to keep the Wepo scene and beyond updated with the hap-happenings of myself and the wild people I meet.

First things first, one of the biggest aspects of college life is dorm life. I live in Spruce Hall with my roommate Adam. He's going into Musical Theater so he's singing and dancing all over the place but he's easily one of the nicest people here. He's a chill bro. Here is our living vessel:



















BED

Harry will probably remember these speakers...He left them with me when he moved to London and I hadn't touched them the entire time they were in my basement until the day I left for school. I thought they might be a good idea. You'll get them back sometime...soz bro. That's Adam's desk next to my bed with various playbill's and whatever else Theater Majors use.

Also, NEW DUNKS UNDER THE BED. I don't know how I have lived without a pair of these for so long. Super fly and super comf. I'm getting more.



















Adam's bed. We got our TV hooked up to cable and Adam brought his Playstation. He brought it mostly for DVDs but I brought DDR as well. I have no complaints that that is the only game we have. DDR parties have yet to begin.






















The A-Dam flag came with me. I also picked up this fantastic Trainspotting poster at 'Beyond the Wall' which is a super slick poster shop on South Street (more on South later). Next to the flag is of course the coolest of the FabricLive calender posters. And a flying Manatee. That's my desk there and my closet down the hallway. The hallway leads to the door outside our room and attached to the hall on the opposite wall is Adam's closet and the bathroom. Yeah, we have our own bathroom. It's a full bathroom too. BATHTUB. There is also wall paper in our medicine cabinet...it's probably the shoddiest wall paper application I've ever seen. I'll post pictures of that unique specimen later. There is also a little piece of hardware on the desk that you might be interested in.























Last but certainly not least...my new MacBook Pro complete with the ENTIRE Adobe Creative Suite. Check out all of those programs there in the Dock. It is ridiculous. Everything is synced and I can hop any project into any other program seamlessly and easily. It's all compatible and super fast. This computer is insane. Best of all, it's practically FREE. There is a slight technical fee but that mostly covers insurance and technical support. The only downside is that the program is registered under a "shared" license so I can't use the programs outside of campus wireless net. That was a huge disappointment but I am going to be spending nearly 24/7 here so it's not that big of a deal. It's only unfortunate that when I leave I'll be CS3-less. One of the coolest features about the new MacBook Pro is the power cable. It doesn't snap or clip into the side of the laptop. It's held on by a magnet. This way, if someone is walking by and kicks it out it just slides out, no problem. And when plugging it back in it kind of sucks it's self to the side of the computer. Apple thought of fucking everything. So awesome.

I hope all is well with everyone and that everything is going smoothly for those of you who are starting college this year. Those of you who haven't heard yet check out JerJapan. It's the hottest thing to hit the net since the Phat Pheed.