A video of world hunger created by Udesh Cooray.
Next time you buy a pair of $100 sneakers think about donating some money to an organization that works towards combating world hunger, poverty, and famine. Michael Jordan definitely does not need the extra dough. Check out organizations like: http://action.one.org/
Posted on October 26, 2007 at 06:23 PM | Comment (2 comments)
So my good friend SIGN 104 recently sent me a video collage of his work. Check it out.
Posted on October 24, 2007 at 04:31 PM | Comment (2 comments)
This is by far the most clever and well executed concept involving bombing trains on video that I have ever seen.
Big ups to the Germans.
Posted on October 19, 2007 at 11:56 AM | Comment (6 comments)
Here’s a rare gem found on location in NYC years ago. A LEE throw up from 1979. Much respect to him.
Posted on October 19, 2007 at 11:30 AM | Comment (0 comments)
So I just returned from a short trip to Berlin to check out the Rhythm of the Line film festival organized by the Overkill shop. ROTL is a film festival showcasing graffiti films from all over the world. Thomas from Overkill was a great host as was Zebster of From Here to Fame. I checked out Bomb It, Dead Space, and Who is Bozo Texino and I highly recommend them all. While I was there I was able to check out the local night clubs like Tresor, Watergate, ZMF, and many others (way to much electro for me Adam) as well as walking around all over the city for days taking photos with Mr. Cemnoz who was kind enough to show me around. Below are some photos of Berlin, 2007.
So it just so happened that there was a transit strike on one of my days in Berlin. I was waiting for a train the next morning and all of a sudden whole cars and panel pieces were zooming by. At the time I was unaware of the previous night’s strike so I was quite surprised. Of course I caught some pictures of the trains and rode them around. I loved riding trains with the windows covered like the one below. Reminded me of the old days.
Another train…
1UP, THC, and CBK were some of the crews up everywhere. 1UP was my favorite. Here’s some of their work…
more streets…
Style master, CEMNOZ TFP. His style would make PHASE2 proud.
the bridge from east to west…
Posted on October 17, 2007 at 06:42 PM | Comment (2 comments)
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=116#video
2esae is about to serve 3 months for a graffiti case. He had a legal aid represent him and I wonder if he could have gotten a better deal if he has a private lawyer? Now he is facing a Queens case where he needs to get a lawyer to properly represent him. He is holding a benefit event on the 22nd and could use your financial support. Check the web link above for details and to find out how to donate online.
Mike Baca / 2ESAE – Solo Show and Fundraiser
Special guest performance by Large Professor
L.A.S.E.R. Tag after-party
October 22nd, 2007, 6:00-9:00PM
@Eyebeam
540 West 21st Street
New York, New York
Free
Posted on October 17, 2007 at 10:33 AM | Comment (0 comments)
I am relieved and happy to update everyone on my situation. The lawyers have removed the gag order on me finally. All along their concern was for my freedom and my case being impacted by my writings in public since there are “confidential informants” that have received my emails in the past. In any event I am now free to discuss my cases again.
As many of you might have heard in the news I have plead guilty to each case against me. After a year of dealing with this ordeal it’s almost over. I plead guilty to one charge in each case only. The deal that my lawyers worked out yielded the following: three felony convictions on my record, $15,000 in fines, a mural as community service to be painted by me for Brooklyn, and a 3-year conditional discharge. It’s a tough deal but one that involved no prison time.
Many of you might want to understand why I would even take a deal since I have maintained my innocence during this process. First I must explain that having three cases running simultaneously is huge and costly. Having three trials back to back would have cost me in excess of $150,000. That’s $150,000 that I do not possess. Second, the risk was too great for me to go to trial. Odds are that if I would have gone to trial I would lose at least one and get hit with the max and do state prison time. I did not want to risk my freedom it seemed crazy and stupid. Lastly, the circumstantial evidence against me was too strong. I do go by the name Alan Ket or just Ket. Regardless if I painted anything or not that fact remains that since I am knows by these names a jury might very well convinced that it was me that painted all the alleged crimes. Instead my lawyers and I worked for weeks with the Manhattan DA to come to a solution, a middle ground that I could live with.
So where I am today is home, as a convicted felon, happy to be free and done with the courts but owing them lots of money and in debt. I have my beliefs about graffiti and public art intact. Yet, now I know a great deal more about the justice system here and the corruption that exists on all its levels. And of course I am angry, angry that this had to happen to me in this way. That all this money was spent, better yet wasted, when there are so many more important things to spend our collective time and energy on. But the system needs to be fed, so there I was, food for the system and a great way to get back at me for my past work. A good scapegoat for the press I guess.
What’s next for me is the big payoff. I will be raising money to finish paying off my legal bills, fines, etc. This will be done in the form of another art event and online auction. Many people have approached me to help and I have great new art from fantastic artists to sell. Besides that I will be launching a few initiatives to raise awareness and challenge the way New York City deals with these “art crimes” and at the same time help others in my situation. Especially now that the norm will be to break into artist’s homes and harass them with phony allegations (be careful with what’s on your computers and on your web pages).
I hope that the support that you have given me to date continues. I do need your help in purchasing art. I also need your help and support and raising awareness about over prosecution of art crimes and petty crimes by New York City’s DAs. And lastly, I need your continued support of this art movement. The creators of this art form need to be accepted not criminalized, they need opportunities to sell art and display it publicly and not be imprisoned. I have hope that you will be down with it and with me.
Please check out the site (http://www.supportket.org) for event listings, artwork, and updates. And in the words of Andy Warhol, “art is anything you can get away with.”
PS- In the coming weeks I will post my legal motions, court documents, etc on the site in order to help out people with similar cases. The motions each cost over $10,000 each so why spend more money when plenty of basic research has been done and paid for by me already.
Posted on October 09, 2007 at 01:01 AM | Comment (6 comments)
Worth checking out the film. You can find it in parts on Youtube.
Posted on October 01, 2007 at 12:55 PM | Comment (1 comments)
NYPD’S ‘Ring of Steel’ camera rolls, monitors license plates
Thought you should know where the latest surveillance camera has been found. Sheesh....
NYPD’S ‘Ring of Steel’ camera rolls, monitors license plates
BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Monday, October 1st 2007, 4:00 AM
Camera at corner of Church and Duane Sts. scans plates of downtown cars in test of city’s ‘Ring of Steel’ surveillance.
A high-tech camera in lower Manhattan has been secretly monitoring the license plates of passing cars periodically for more than six months in a test of the city’s planned “Ring of Steel” surveillance system, the Daily News has learned.
The camera scans the rear license plates of northbound traffic on Church St. from a light pole at the corner of Duane St., just blocks from Ground Zero and City Hall.
The images are sent wirelessly to a computer system that can automatically scan the plates and compare the numbers and letters against a database - so the NYPD can instantly know when a suspicious car or truck has passed that corner.
So far, sources said, the system was used only for a month of testing in March and April, as well as occasional demonstrations since then - but it is still feeding images and could start reading plates again at any time.
“It is not storing data at this point or being used for any law enforcement purposes,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. He said the license plate data created during those tests were “not retained.”
He said the NYPD has some license plate cameras mounted on squad cars, but the camera at Church and Duane Sts. is the only one in a fixed location.
“This particular camera is just a test camera,” said Paul Cosgrave, commissioner of the city Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. “It worked as it was designed to work, which is that it was able to read most license plates.”
The camera is part of the NYPD’s Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, an $81.5 million plan to protect the Financial District with more than 100 license plate readers, thousands of surveillance cameras and barriers that could automatically block streets.
The plan is nicknamed the “Ring of Steel,” based on a similar project that encircles central London, which Mayor Bloomberg is to watch in action today during his visit there.
The camera is also similar to those that would be used in Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which would charge drivers in parts of Manhattan by reading license plates and E-ZPass tags at 340 locations.
The camera was installed by Northrop Grumman, which won a $500 million contract last year to create a secure high-speed wireless network for city agencies.
Public and private security cameras watch over many New York streets, and the city already uses cameras to automatically ticket drivers who blow through red lights.
Still, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the license plate camera raises new fears about privacy.
“These are license plates of innocent people, doing nothing more suspicious than coming and going. In a free society, people should be free to come and go as they please, without worrying about being recorded by the New York Police Department,” Lieberman said.
“For the government to be keeping them on file is not the hallmark of freedom. It’s too much like Big Brother,” she said.
Posted on October 01, 2007 at 12:38 PM | Comment (0 comments)
