...i worked on the torso. Id say this section is about 90% done.



ps - Eastbay catalogs are great for mixing paint on.

pps - the skin tone isnt as orange as it looks. I took the pic under yellow light and with no flash.

...i totally would have been rocking this shirt.

Genius, pure genius.

...So this is a new idea. Im gonna throw it out there & see what happens.

Im about to be on the grind saving money for a vacation i have planned for June. Ive also had the picture below saved on my hard drive for a while, cause i like the pic and think it'd be interesting to draw/paint.

SO...if anyone out there is a bob marley fan, and would like an original piece of art done by yours truly, and is willing to pay for it, get at me: oo206oo@gmail.com . This could potentially be a win-win for everyone involved. Ill get some beer money for vacation and get to draw/paint something ive wanted to for a while, and someone out there will get a nice piece of original art.



I know its a long shot, but you never know. Get at me people. (Price will be discussed privately. Serious offers only folks. Dont offer me $50 and a pair of jock-word Jordans, or ill block you from the blog forever.)

...i just worked on that 300 painting i started, then quickly abandoned, about 8-9 months ago.



...stay tuned for pics of the progress.

...so here it is.

These are pics i took, the scan i did got a little screwy. Anyway, its hard to see the facial details so i took a few pics, none of which turned out very well. (but you can click on the pics to view them bigger, it helps a little bit)





Then i framed it.



I even got my arts & crafts on, and made a little tag for the back of the frame. Its all in the details folks.

..but these dudes are flying.

Ive seen videos of guys in "wingsuits" before, but these fellas are taking it to new levels.

I especially like the moment at about the 2:00 mark.


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

...im drawing a buffalo. Its for a friend of mine who is starting a pretty serious round of radiation therapy in a few days. He's part Black-foot indian and his house is decorated with kind of a western/country style, so i figured this would fit. Hes asked me to paint him something in the past and ive just never gotten around to it. So im doing this, and putting it in a care package im gonna drop off for his next two weeks of what amounts to solitary confinement, in his own house. (he'll literally be emitting high levels of radiation from his body and cant be around other people for two weeks) My lovely lady is gonna bake him some cookies and ill probably loan him a bunch of DVDs, to kill all that time.

Anyway, this is the begining stage, ill post pics when its done.

Other than i havent posted anything in a few days. Ill get back on track though, gimme a minute.

New Lebron James commercial.

If you dont know whats up with the good ol' Red Box, i feel sorry for you.

Theres one about 5 minutes (walking time) from my apartment, right outside a Walgreens, and its god damn awesome.

$1 a day, and tons of the new releases on the day they release. I watched Righteous Kill last Tuesday when it came out. I spend about $5-6 a week on this thing, which i have no complaints about. If i was watching 5 or 6 movies from Blockbuster, which is a 3 minute walk for me, id be spending $25-30 easily.

Netflix is great, and my girl has it so i watch tons of DVDs through them, but while youre waiting for that little red envelope to show up in your mailbox, check out the big red box outside your local drugstore. (or wherever else they may be popping up)

...heres the wine fridge i got for Christmas. Dont get me wrong, i love it and the wine inside it (about half the wine i own is from gifts). But it a way, it does make you feel old. Seems like long gone are the days of a fridge full of Bud Ice, only to be replaced by the days of a wine fridge and refrigerator full of hoppy IPAs and Winter brews.






And since i havent posted any design work in a while, here are a few concepting sketches (in one of my new moleskine notebooks i got for Christmas, thanks to my folks and my lady) for my buddy's soon to be open barber shop. Its gonna be called QUOVAHDIS, which is African (Egyptian i think) for "the journey".











The ideas are still all over the place at this moment, since he trusts me and didnt really give me any direction as far as what hes looking for, aside from possibly a tree\nature theme we discussed. I did his last shop logo too so he pretty much told me to do whatever i wanted and he's sure he'll like it. It almost sounds like a "dream client" to have as far as design work goes, but in reality, since hes a friend of about 15 years, its almost MORE pressure. I feel like i REALLY need to come through with something great for him. Not neccessarily a groundbreaking barbershop logo, cause im going for more of a classic, old timey feel this time, but i just really want to come up with a solid, classicly detailed logo. Ill post it when its all done, as usual.

and while one can think of it as a fresh start, something else has been on my mind as well. I am getting to be old.

This is my thirty third new year, and that is a lot more than most of you. I remember cassette tapes, and remember when CD's came along and replaced them. Hell I remember going to Tower Records EVERY damn Tuesday to grab whatever CD's came out, or when 12 inch singles were still available everywhere (I remember waiting in line for the Ultramagnetic MC's Four Horsemen album even). I remember Brand Nubian with Puba, without, and when he returned. I remember Puba made it okay to wear Hilfiger. I remember when RunDMC was no longer cool, and I remember being really upset about EPMD breaking up. Now of course it won't be long before those are completely swallowed up by .mp3's (for many of us that is already the case). I remember having to explain to people that "that music where they just talk" was actually called rap. I remember the Christmas I got both The Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill" and RunDMC's "Raising Hell" on tape. Hell my first CD was Public Enemy "Fear of a Black Planet" and I didn't even have a CD player yet. I remember corduroy Fila hats that we crowned by closing the crown in our drawers before we would ever consider wearing them out, I remember wearing leather African medallions purchased at the Pike Place Market, and fake dookie ropes. I was on top of creased Dickies, and creased 501's back in the day. I remember buying the Jordan 1's brand new at Nordstrom in the Hoyas colors for 45 bucks, and my mom telling me not to tell my dad the price "or he will fucking kill us both". I remember once on vacation, the kids pool side were so jealous of me for being from the city cause I had Guess overall shorts, and a sequined 49ers hat on and was bumping the U-Krew's "If you were mine" on my snazzy Realistic Walkman (we shopped at Radio Shack back then). I remember before anyone had a computer when we played Oregon trail on commodores at school, and my first computer was a 486 AND we were like the last damn family around to have one. I remember the first friends I had with an Atari (Frogger, Canyon Bomber, and Pong were the shit), or when the OG Nintendo came out with the robot on it, and then how the Sega Genesis buried it. I remember the Turbo Graphics 16, the Playstation, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, Playstation 2, and now I play Call of Duty on an Xbox 360. I remember Hammer pants (yes I had them) but hell I remember wearing jeans with the fake cow fur patches on them, and even the red leather Michael Jackson jackets. Parachute pants were the shit then too. I remember Nas' "Halftime" single was out like a year before Illmatic dropped, and "Biggies Party and Bullshit" on the "Who's the Man?" (Hell does anyone miss Dre and Ed Lover like I do? or Fab 5 on Yo! Mtv Raps on Sat mornings?) soundtrack like a year before he dropped Ready to die. I remember when I went to Peaches Record Store to buy Ice-T's Iceberg album I got sent away for not being old enough to buy it, then some dude in the hallway bought it for me cause he believed in freedom of speech (I was just pumped to get the tape, AND not have to pay for it) then I got home and the "Martial law" intro scared my ass so bad I didn't listen to the tape again for months. I remember rappers taught me it was okay to drink Moet (so I stole like 10 cases of the stuff) and the Beatnuts made me decide it was okay to try cocaine. Thanks a lot Phsyco Les, Juju and Al Tariq (course back then he was called Fashion). I remember Seattle Graffiti, when the only names you needed to know were Ron, Bruno, Verse, 2Sick, Biz and Keep. Hell I remember the crack downs in 1993 or so that landed my butt in jail along with many others, I remember the old RKCNDY night club that I wasn't old enough to go into but would take the bus to, just to see the art on it, tag my corny old tag on the dumpsters in back (anyone remember my O.G. name circa 1990?)and go across the street to the old International Motorsports Garage (one of the oldest graff spots I remember, along with The Paradiso yard, The Comet, the Freeway wall, The New City, and the Vogue). I can tell you about seeing Sir Mix-A-Lot at the Longacres Horse Track with like 15 people, ALL in fur coats and Gore Tex boots. I remember Darryl's Auto Sports Emporium where Sir Mix always left one car on display (guess his 40 car garage was not yet done). I remember when your posse might actually "floss" on Broadway, before that neighborhood changed up like it has. Mix was on a record label called Nastymix, owned by Ed Locke before he had a sex change. I remember KFox dances at the Center House, and Shockmaster Glen Boyd's radio show "Sh-sh-sh-sh-shockmaster Gleeeeeeeeeen Boyd". I wore bandannas tied around my knees, and the whole deal. Now I am old, I work a real job, I pay real rent, I hate most rap music, and my niece thinks I am an old man. I recently got active on Facebook, and it is funny to me to see some of the chicks I used to run with that were extremely active back in the day. One in particular spent a winter night locked on a friends roof naked, after his folks came home to three dudes playing a game of train with her. Now she is married with 3 kids. bet hubby has NO IDEA. It is funny how as we get older we become exactly who we laughed at when we were younger. I remember taking the bus home a few years ago and seeing some kids writing on the seats in the back of the bus, and the freaked out look on their faces when they saw I saw them. Little did they know. I know the sense of pride I still feel once in a GREAT while when someone remembers when i did write graff. Not more than a few years ago, when i met Shooter from WINNERS CIRCLE for the first time he remembered me as "Old School Fame One" and he knew what was up, I'm not exaggerating when i say I was really proud. When he told a friend who i was the kid clearly had no idea. I have always had a thing about respect, if I feel like you are not showing it I get extremely upset about it. This ridiculous trait has caused a number of fights and more than one gun to be drawn (but not since I was a dumb kid). I have always wanted to leave my mark, most likely that's what appealed to me about writing graff in the first place. It upsets me that all the work I put in has been forgotten, or that the antics I pulled in High School which were legendary at one time were long forgotten in like 5 years. Oh well, such is the plight of an old man, who is just no longer all that cool. Be easy folks, and have a wonderful 2009, anyone have any good old man stories to share?

So like many of you I am watching the Colts play the chargers, and something came to mind. Bud Light ads are terrible, these bullshit ad's with the guy making the imaginary map with his finger in the club expaining "drinkability" or the "Why a million air conditioners?" one are terrible. So I thought I would take you back a bit, back to a time when Bud Light embarked on what may be the best ad campaign ever.

Cue the harp music that signifies a flashback now....

The ad campaign was so ill, that right now on January 3rd 2009, I am watching

the game with two buddies, Gordon and Dallas. We all three just had to admit to

having the Spuds stuffed animals back in the day.

...im not even gonna summerize or explain this, because i want you all to watch\listen to this video.

Artists all over the country are about to be sodomized. Watch this.

so if anyone wants to give me half a birthday present it would certainly be appreciated. Apparently it is also the first day of 2009, which I am sure it is easy for us all to overlook in light of my turning thirty two and a HALF. I hope you are all starting off the year right, and have high hopes for  big year. I know we, here at TWC are planning some really big things, and although we have been saying that for a while we really do mean it. You will see if you just bare with us.

2008 was a huge year, and I would go over all of the important details with you but we can just let Mad Skillz handle the RAP UP. I have really big plans for 2009 myself. I feel like there is a lot to look forward to, and I say that every year but these time I mean it. I will finally take over the world and sit atop my throne with scores of naked women serving me ice cold Crystal Lite, and quesadillas (Seriously I have my earthly reign all figured out). Since most of you have been loyal followers there will be cabinet positions for many of you.

• Nick will be the Minister of tall People in Jordan shorts and Motos.
  
• Boston Chris will of course hold a high ranking position in the department of swag, and I don't mean swagger ( I hate that term, and hate that rappers are now judged on that as the most important factor). He will be the official shopper for the court.
• Mannie will make the only shoe anyone will be legally allowed to wear.
  
• Adam will be busy, first of all I need him to design and construct my throne and then the rest of the furnishings for my palaces.
  
• McLuda will be the official documentarian (I am not sure if that's a real word, we shall see when I spell check) and photographer for the court.
  
• Stabwound Joe will of course be the Minister of Security and Karaoke (no point in hiring two people to deal with these areas).
• The international visitors to our blog will be asked to take charge of their respective countries after I force the current leaders to work in the TWC laundry room.
• Mr. Obama will in fact do most of the actual leading of the nation, as I will be for the most part a figure head.
• I am making Spank the all powerful leader of Texas (the only state to ever be it's own country will again be it's own country).
• There are many other positions available, and some of you will be brought on in various consulting capacities.
  

Also I would be interested to hear if anyone had any good New Years Eve stories to share. What did I do?

Stayed home, killed off a bottle of Paul Masson, played some Guitar Hero, and watched Eagle Eye to the sounds of neighborhood gunfire and fireworks . I know it sucks getting old folks.

"Now bitches bring me the maidens of the court before I become angry!"