The Dallas Morning News has more on this story.

I know anything that has the word guerilla in it is for sure cool, so I decided it would be a major supplement to my Google page if I wrote about this new trend that is sweeping the world: guerilla gardening and moss graffiti.

As one website put it: “Armed with trowels, seeds, and vision, the idea is to garden everywhere. Anywhere.” Rock out with your…spout out? Ditches and Hoes? Sorry.

Now don’t think I’m sipping on the proverbial haterade, I really think guerilla gardening sounds like a great idea. For the most part it seems that its a lot of very horticulturally minded citizens (the Guerrilla Gardening website includes the scientific name for each plant) that feel like getting your ya yas out by putting old faithful lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) on a neglected highway. Basically its the Lupine Lady realized.

Who doesn’t need a little green wherever they go? Why is all the city gardening done by the city? Guerrilla gardening seems pretty easy and satisfying. One gardener says that whenever the cops stop him to ask what he’s doing, he just tells them “gardening” and gets left alone. I’m inspired, you’ll soon see the walker looking like this. If you are thinking about getting a green thumb here are some tips.

Adidas (of course) has also gotten into the mix and as part of their new grun line have a video of some guerilla gardeners in London:

To continue with my dead people watch, here’s the top, but by no means definitive, Heath Ledger films to see while you mourn the dearly departed, in no particular order.

1. Ten Things I Hate About You–teenage classic, the outfits get funnier with age, Nigel with the Brie, and I watched it at every sleepover in like 7th grade. Its, like, totally great.

2. Brokeback Mountain–at first it seemed like a rumor that was too good to be true, and then turned out to be an actual movie that was actually good. I just watched it yesterday, and I’m still thinking about how I can’t quit you…visually stunning, and a storyline that will pull on your heart strings and make you thank Stonewall. Anyways, it also introduced Heath to ex-wife Michelle Williams (which makes it interesting to watch their love scenes) and godfather (of his daughter) Jake Gyllenhaal, aka my husband.

3. I’m Not There– as the people say, Bob Dylan biopic in the loosest sense of the term. Heath played the asshole movie star (literally, haha) Dylan, with a lovely love story. I liked the movie, even though it required a long attention span, and a good knowledge of Dylan’s life. Still, it was very enjoyable and didn’t play down to the audience. Righteous.

4. A Knight’s Tale — a classic, if you’re into all of that knights in shining armor business.

Ones that I haven’t to see, but are supposed to be good:

-Monster’s Ball

-Lords of Dogtown

-Candy

-The Patriot

And just to add some creepiness to the already creepy Joker, The Dark Knight comes out this summer, starring Heath Ledger as the Joker.

Also, if you can read one of the worst written bios (starts with “When a young, hunky 20 year old heart-throb Heath Ledger”).

and finally TRIVIA.

Was a men’s-fashion judge at the Melbourne Cup Carnival in November 2001.

He and his sister are named after the two main romantic characters of the Emily Bront novel, “Wuthering Heights.”

Named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 2001.

Was selected in the State U17 squad in field hockey and was touted as one of the up and coming young stars, but chose to pack it in and try to make a career out of acting.

As the story goes, in junior high it was compulsory to do one of two electives, either cooking or drama, and as Heath could honestly not see himself in a cooking class, he tried his hand at drama.

I LOVE HEATH LEDGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When googling “teens walker” I found the competition site. I think they have better graphic design. Japanese pink and bubbly is so in. And they definitely have better looking members.

P.S. Does anyone else see the angry man in this wallpaper? I kind of like it. Victorian wallpaper with a twist.

Everyone likes a sweet deal and everyone and their grandma likes a sweet deal on their terms. Paste Magazine billed as “Signs of Life in Music Film and Culture” is letting you pay what you want for a year long subscription.

This subscription not only lets you get a magazine monthly, but it comes with a CD every month. 11 CDs, 11 songs, thats about 220 songs, for as little as $1. And if it sucks, well, then its just something more to add to the recycling bin. If its great, there you go.

The website is promising. Each section has recent stories that I haven’t heard about, but are interesting–always a good thing. Topics include: What song would you like to play in a Guitar Hero Sequel?, Disney Land on 5 bucks, Justice League film, free listens to the New Pornographer’s very good CD The Challengers, a review of the intriguing One Hundred and Forty Five Stories in a Small Box, and a lot of indie stuff. Oh, and theres a video game section. Gross.

Plus, they’re all over a lot of Walker related stuff, Deerhoof (just came), Juno (aka next Napoleon Dynamite, coming soon), and other stuff. Here’s the trailer.

Check out the magazine, be generous, and if you hate it, remember: reduce, reuse recycle!

Look at his sketchbooks, walls, and animations. Why? Watch this:

If you like that you’ll be hyped about this:

I dedicate this post to the World Wide Web, Youtube, my inspirational friend Lauren, all the people who realized that cute cats and videocameras is a stellar combo, and my own little kitty, Duchess who looks just like this one plus 35 pounds:

KAPOW!

thats Kick Ass People (showing) Original Work!

Its the up and coming talent of the Twin Cities showing off the work they’ve been doing in an after school class, and outside the class.

its FRIDAY 7-10 PM.

@ 1905 3rd Avenue aka Stevens Square Center for the Arts. Thats at 3rd Avenue and Franklin Ave.

Come check it out! Free food!

Turns out he’s a real guy. I think he’s inspiring. Here’s the obit.

The name: when he was in jail for stealing hubcaps, when he was just a wee lad, he met a man called Awful Knofel.

WACTAC connection: Instead of being on WACTAC as a teen he was a great ski jumper in Butte, Montana. WACTAC member Olivia participates in a mundane form of skiing (nordic) and has an American flag jumpsuit.

Kanye West connection: Evel Kanyevel music video for Touch the Sky. Get it?

And his start: At the tender age of 27 he became the co-owner of a motorcycle store. A true entrepreneur, he decided to attract customers by he announcing he would jump his motorcycle 40 feet over parked cars and a box of rattlesnakes and continue on past a mountain lion tethered at the other end. Before 1,000 people, he did the stunt as promised but failed to fly far enough; his bike came down on the rattlesnakes. The audience was in awe. “ Right then,” he said, “ I knew I could draw a big crowd by jumping over weird stuff.”

God Bless America.

Kanye West has co-”authored” a book with J. Sakiya Sandifer. Due to be out December 15th. $10. See more for reviews.

Kanye says:

“an entertaining volume of ‘Kanye-isms’ — the creative, humorous and insightful philosophies and anecdotes used in creating my path to success.” So modest.

His fans say:

“Oh Lawd…..this is SO going on the coffee table! definitely will make for entertainment.”

“Is it going to be filled with phrases like …10 Bucks!? If it is…then its gonna be dope…Crumbs”

“I love the typeface..looks like Ben & Jerry’s crossed with “Free to be, You and Me.”"

“The world is about to blessed once again.”

New York magazine says:

“Expect lots useful advice on what to do if you’re denied a Video Music Award or if your album receives only four and a half stars from Rolling Stone. ”

Oh snap.

are befuddled by new fashions. That whole uproar over sagging pants totally lost me. I just saw boys growing their hair out, riding skateboards, sagging, and starting to look fine. It just seemed like another indicator of adolescent rebellion, not an indicator of the health of the stock market, as The New York Times Bill Cunningham (known for those street style spreads that embarrass people wearing the same thing) postulates. (If thats true Bill, why did the trend start in the prosperous 90s?)

Check out the clip, and revel in the feeling of cool when you think, this guy just doesn’t get it. Plus, you can pick up on some pretty fly fashions at the same time (two belts? glittery goth/street belts? boxer briefs?)

Click here for the video.

P.S. His over pronunciation of graffiti is an especially nice touch.

THURSDAY MAY 29TH! 7:30!

This inaugual event has been organized by It girl Liana Simonds as a showcase for the young musical talent in the Twin Cities. Unfortunately these fine specimens (above) won’t make it. It’ll be featuring:

Best Friends Forever. I saw these guys in a basement, and let me tell you, they managed to make the Interstate Highway System, Lincoln and that basement seem like the coolest thing in the world.

Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelle’s. A 6 piece (wow!) band that is defined as “folk/fusion/ghettotech”, let me tell you, there are some hotties in this band.

The openers will be the ineffable DJ Relax and Johann. Now these kids are great, you may know them from tooling around the town but now they’ve stopped long enough to open the show.

See you there!

So heres a nifty happening at the Walker. Dosh, that loopster around town is making an appearance at the Walker along with some of his friends. Now, Dosh has gained some acclaim for not only his fascinating surreal sound, but also for his little superstar friends such as Andrew Bird. So it follows that Andrew Bird will be joining him for this soirée (and playing Rock the Garden in June!)

Its more than a month away, so be sure to mark your calendars. Heres the lowdown: The World of Dosh– Martin Dosh and Friends at 8pm on May 3rd. $20. Yeah, its expensive and its a Saturday but it’ll be one of those things where you can say “yeah, I was there. No big deal.”

This is by some Japanese design firm called Loworks. I found it when I was looking for a ipod skin. But look in the right hand corner, doesn’t that car look a little like Patrick’s painting? Strange.

WACTACers will remember Tino Sehgal as the man who imitated a zombie in the office. People who don’t remember, or know, Tino can get a very good briefing by clicking here.

There are two very good parts of this New York Times article. First, the title “You Can’t Hold It, but You Can Own It”, explaining the dichotomy that is Sehgal’s work. Second, the quote near the end by Yasmil Raymond, the curator of Sehgal’s Walker show, about her experience with stripping security guards.

The guards were, of course, part of Sehgal’s work. He sees himself as a creator of experiences. Simply put, his art is making someone do something weird and people reacting to it.

But, according to Sehgal its much more complicated, and intellectual and conceptual, etc. than just that. Last year WACTACers got to meet him and hear about his work.

Read the rest »