VNA x Faile...

Yesterday, after work, I rushed down to the Reed Space gallery on Orchard Street for the launch of the latest edition of VNA Magazine...

VNA (Very Nearly Almost) is a British Street Art magazine, but they were over in New York to launch their latest magazine which is all about Faile.

The celebrate the launch Faile had taken 50 of the magazines and screen-printed one of their images over the front and back covers. They were letting the first 50 people to the launch buy one of these very limited edition pieces, so needless to say, there was already a queue by the time I got there...

Luckily though, I was the 23rd person to turn up, so I got one!

It's a simple one colour screen print, but it's got a lovely thick texture and you can see the brush marks in the white where they put down the base colour...

After getting it back to Brooklyn and having a look through it, I found that it's numbered and signed inside! Which was a very nice surprised, I have number 149 out of 200.

I've just seen someone's already trying to sell one on eBay for $450!!! It's such a shame that people like that go to these events, taking the place of someone who really wants one, and then tries to those who couldn't get to the event pay a premium for it... Oh well.

I'm just going to enjoy mine and add it to my mini Faile collection.

The Newsstand...

On the way to and from work, when we transfer between the G and L trains we pass a little news stand in the corner of the station. It used to just be a normal newsstand selling newspapers, magazines, chewing gum and stuff and then it closed, and stayed closed with the shutters down for quite a few months.

Recently the Newsstand's been given a new lease of life by a creative collective called All Day Every Day - they've taken over the old Newsstand and turned it into Brooklyn's newest hot spot, called...

They now sell loads of independent zines, newspapers and old vinyl...

Before and After

 They have a great little zine vending machine, you put in a quarter and you get a random little zine in return...

On some nights the Newsstand plays host to special events, sometimes they have 'guest' shopkeepers who are local artists of photographers who are launching their zines or exhibiting their photos. The 'gallery' for the photos is just subway walls...

They also host special events or have DJ's playing from behind the counter. The other evening on the way back from work they had some DJ's from the East Village Radio show 'Chances With Wolves' playing some brilliant music from one of their mix tapes.

The best thing was, they were selling the mixtapes - which were actual tapes...

The tapes came in a little branded paper bag along with a website address and download code, so you could listen to the mix online.

It's such a great idea to take over an unused space like that, and it's great that they're promoting local, independent artists, photographers and zine makers. I'm tempted to make a little zine myself and see if they'd sell it there?!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning...

The views weren't bad on my bike ride this morning...

Across The Tracks...

5 Pointz...

I cycled up to 5 Pointz this afternoon to take a look at what was going on. There's been a lot of talk about 5 Pointz recently as there's a real threat that it might be knocked down to make new apartments.

There have been rallies and petitions to try and save it - I'm not sure if they've worked or not as I don't think a final decision's been made yet.

It seemed busier than ever - so the news must be spreading and it certainly seemed like there were more tourists knocking around...

 It'll be a real shame if it does get knocked down - it seems like they're building new flats on every spot of land they can at the moment. But it's always great to see communities come together to try and prevent unwanted buildings going up. I'm noticing more and more community gardens popping up, which is fantastic - the garden down on Myrtle now has chickens!!!

Hopefully 5 Pointz will be around for many years to come.

Bicycle Made For Two...

I saw this wonderful and weird contraption hanging on the wall at the bicycle shop today...

I would LOVE to have a go on it!

Punks Never Die...

Counting Cars...

There were all sorts of lovely cars out on display today...

Tall Boy...

When we were out on a little bike ride today this tall boy pulled up alongside us at the traffic lights...

I FINALLY found out what happens when those tall bikes have to stop at traffic lights - he just had to keep his balance, standing up on the bike, waiting for there to be a gap in the traffic to keeping moving...

I suppose it's not that different from when people rode Penny-Farthings and had to stop... mind you, there was a lot less traffic around then.

Out & About...

As You Do...

Just out for a casual unicycle ride!

Skylines & Sunset...

We stopped off to enjoy the views by the river yesterday evening.