In the book I talk about how graffiti is a type piracy manifesting in space, a symptom of our failure to create common physical spaces where everyone has an oppurtunity to communicate. Jon Reiss’ new film BOMB IT looks like it explores this idea too, I’m really looking forward to seeing it.

From the BOMB IT website: “Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe. Featuring old school legends and current favorites such as Taki 183, Cornbread, Stay High 149, T-Kid, Cope 2, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, KET, Chino, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One. This cutting edge documentary tracks down today’s most innovative and pervasive street artists as they battle for control over the urban visual landscape. You’ll never look at public space the same way again.”

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

My friend Dan just pointed me to this great new short by Blu, who makes animation using street art in Buenos Aires. It’s creepy and delightful all at the same time - the soundtrack is awesome as well. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the other artists who had their work buffed to make way for Blu’s characters, but I guess that’s the cost of doing business.

Check out more of Blu’s work here.

From Hi-fructose, via Boing Boing.

The production team that interviewed me for Current TV a few weeks back also did this great spot on Ji Lee’s Bubble Project. Ji is the designer behind The Pirate’s Dilemma logo - who I met when I interviewed him about The Bubble Project for the book. Also, be sure to check out his latest caper, Parallel World, here.

Current TV just put up an interview I did a few months back with Brooklyn producers John Carluccio and Mark Kotlinkski - They dug up some cool slides I haven’t seen before. Mark also has a production outfit called 88 Hip Hop which does some great stuff - look for his film The Mural Kings about legendary graffiti artists TATS CRU - which is well worth checking out.

I did an interview for Booz Allen Hamilton’s strategy + business magazine with Edward Baker - you can read it here.

A few weeks ago I noticed this X-wing, complete with R2 unit, outside a beach-front hotel in the town of Jaco, Costa Rica. I could find no apparent reason for it being there.

It’s mounted on what looks like a small stage, but there isn’t much room around it. You can see roughly where it is on google maps here, the problem is it’s not there yet - many new buildings have gone up since this was taken, the town is developing fast.

Is is street art? An advert? Is the local theater company doing an outdoor performance of Return of the Jedi? Could it affect the country’s efforts to go carbon neutral? If anyone out there on the intertubes has more information on the X-wing, I’d love to know what it’s doing there.

There’s a great article over on Salon by Jeff Yang, who asks the questions: Which brands best represent the American presidential candidates? And which of these brands will best represent America? The answers from those in the advertising industry are fascinating. Yang writes:

“There’s no way to put this delicately, so I won’t: America’s global image is in the crapper. Last year, the BBC World Service conducted a poll of over 26,000 individuals in the world’s 25 largest countries and found that more than 52 percent thought the U.S. had a “mostly negative” influence on the world. Fifty-three percent of respondents to a survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs felt America could “not be trusted.”

“Which means that, on top of everything else it represents, the current presidential election is something like an ad agency review — a chance to put a set of potential stewards for “Brand America” through their paces, to see the creative and strategic directions in which they’d take our product. “

Get the rest here.

Apologies for the lack of activity these last few days, was taking a break in Costa Rica, but normal activities have now resumed. While I was away a lot has been going on…

Lawrence Lessig might be running for congress.

Ji Lee developed the ultimate t-shirt for Red Sox fans.

Some great books came out, like Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody and Gerd Leonhard’s Music 2.0

The BBC thinks the Chinese model of music-as-advertising could be the answer, I think that loss of independence will damage music and all we’ll be left with is muzak. As a revenue stream sponsorship makes sense, but as the revenue stream, it will damage music. There needs to be royalties and licenses and other ways for people to earn money from their work. I think as prices of these things fall (which they will) the value artists can create will go up, because more people will be consuming their material.

Oh, and I did an interview with Creative Generalist.

From BoingBoing (with thanks to Ji Lee):

“In December, graffiti writers AUGER and REVOK modified a billboard advertising the wonderful Takashi Murakami exhibit at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Two days later, the billboard was removed. The LA Weekly now reports that Murakami himself saw online photos of the graffitied billboard and thought it to be “so wonderful, he had to have it for his collection.”