Live The Life!

While going through issue #9 of "While You Were Sleeping" magazine...I happened to find the letters they received amusing. That is to say, almost as amusing as their replies. Please laugh and feel the mirth as I post some of my favourites.

Hey whatz up,
I'm an artist and I would like to make my own graff mag. I'm from California. I was wondering if you can hook me up with some info to produce a graff mag. If you can break it down for me so I can try to make my own shit on mag.

Peace,
PROTOCULTUR3@aol.com

Get some construction paper, some elmer's glue, a box of crayons, and put on your imagination cap...


Dear Editor,
I was recently going through my 12 year old son's room and found a copy of your magazine. To say the least, I was appalled. I asked how he got it and how long he had had it and he replied "three months, slut." Well, if my memory serves me right, three months ago is when he was charged with molesting the neighbors' 10 year old daughter, and since then we have had complaints of him busting out windows with slingshots, scratching "My Stupid Parents" and his nickname "Lil Chubby Chuck Rok," into three of the neighbors' vehicles, and stealing vacuum cleaners. Prior to all this, he was a straight-A student, and I am fully holding your magazine responsible.

Sincerely pissed,
Parent of once sweet,
"Lil Chubby Chuck"

Once again, our intern Andrew is having serious issues he has to deal with at home...


Dear WYWS,
Hey, you guys seem to be into the younger chicks, so I wanted to ask you guys if you think I should hit this cute little girl who is a freshman in high school right now. I'm back from college and I'm twenty. The holiday break is a good time to catch up with friends and have some fun, but do you guys think she's too young?

J-Train
Pittsburgh, PA

Barring hospitalization or natural disaster, we are home at 3:15 every day to watch the 7th grader across the street get off the school bus. Does that answer your question?


Dear While You Were Sleeping,
I have been contemplating suicide for some time now. I have weighed all the pros and cons of it, and every time I come to the same conclusion. The only thing holding me back is I don't hate myself, I just hate everyone else. So what I am wondering is should I just kill other people instead?

Thanks,
Jose Phaeo
(Just after the VT Massacre...I know I'm tasteless.)

If you have any brothers or sisters with genes like yours, please take them with you...


WYWS-
I'm pretty new to the graff scene, and I'd like to say thanks for the inspiration and motivation you guys have given me. Here's the problem I've got - I just moved from Brooklyn to South Jersey a few days ago, and so far I've only seen tags around. Don't get me wrong, tags are dope, but I'm dying to see some insane pieces. Give me some tips if you could on where to go and maybe some tips on painting, and I'll send you a picture of my first piece and some naked chicks' pictures.

Thanks again,
BEING-?

P.S. I got arrested last night for tagging the F-Train and need a new name. 17 hours in jail. They took my paint and markers. Off the pig.


They probably took something else from you in jail too. My best advice to aspiring graffiti writers is quit now! Join the football team, you'll get way hotter chicks and drink way more free beer if you score the winning touchdown.



Dislcaimer:
It is not ok to hurt people, break into buildings or homes, write on people's shit, do drugs or touch underage girls. Though these activities might seem fun and amusing to read about, doing them can get you in a whole heap of trouble. If you do anything and get away with it, please write and tell us about it. If you get caught, don't blame us.




Damn, man...I should totally turn this into an online magazine. Send me a message if you think it would be a cool idea.

(C) 2007 SEASE Productions. All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.

Critical Mass: The Death Of The Freight Train Scene.

I doubt that the people I most want to reach with this thread care much about history or the way events converge to create change. Graffiti itself to many who do it is a reckless, rampaging "fuck you" to anyone watching or listening, so the idea of using foresight and intelligence to make life easier for yourself or others is a foreign one. Despite this, I'm going to throw my thoughts out there for people to chew on. This isn't a sermon, just something to think about.
Make no mistake, these are the good old days of freight graffiti, the years everyone in the game will remember most fondly: for their chillness, the names, the styles, the feeling of being part of the next big wave of rolling canvases since the suppression of the NYC subways. Did anyone doing trains in 1980 suspect they had less than ten years till the scene died down to almost nothing?
What did it take to kill the New York subways? A bunch of factors converged. A couple of mayors harping on "quality of life" issues. Public ignorance of how the scene worked was a bigger factor than anybody gives it credit for, in my opinion. The public made no distinction between piecers with a vision, like Dondi, and gangs whose thing was busting out subway windows and fucking with passengers. They were all lumped together as one big "bad element", and dealt with by people with that mentality.
What will it take to kill the freight scene? "Critical mass", a bunch of factors converging, some of them seemingly unrelated. First of all, it will take years, although I think we have less of those than everyone else thinks. Also, it will be a death by degrees - it's not that there will be a day when nothing will run, it will just be harder to get over, and harder to find a spot where you have time to do more than small stuff.
Everything plays a role in achieving critical mass. Painting over numbers on freights. Bombing engines. Leaving cans for workers to trip over. Increased general security after 9/11, especially regarding chemical/hazmat shipments and bulletins to workers to be alert for suspicious persons. Innovations in trespasser detection technology, and a drop in price in this equipment, such that yards get much harder to work with. Continuing capitalist philosophy that property is worth more than people ensures the hiring of more security personnel and the building of more fences, lights, cameras, etc. at layups as well as yards. Pissed off railfans forming watch groups in league with the railroad companies themselves, for a more "community policing" approach to dealing with writers, burglars, and random vandals and trespassers (who, again, are often lumped together as all the same in the eyes of the property owners). Independent companies offering fast turnaround and low cost on buffing/restamping painted cars (this is already happening).
The swing vote will be railroad workers when it comes to the life or death of the scene. They are the guys most likely to discover writers or their spots, and they have the power to let it slide or report it and put heat on the spot and the scene. Being nice to workers (in ways that count) is the number one thing any writer can do to delay critical mass. That means staying off the numbers, not painting engines or other RR equipment besides the freight cars, and disposing of your empty cans elsewhere. The empty cans issue is not a "don't litter" thing - it's a safety issue. Workers have to run alongside moving trains and throw a lever to uncouple cars, or mount and dismount moving trains, and they don't need to be landing on round, slippery cans.
Every small thing you do that you hear freight heads advising against contributes a little bit toward critical mass. I hear all kinds of excuses. "Well yards out here are already burnt so why not hit engines." You might not notice a difference in security in your area. But you are having your effect. Workers, railfans, management, internet toys are all paying attention. If one worker gets killed tripping over a paint can and falling under a train, that one incident will do a lot of damage, create a lot of anger. If enough company logos on engines disappear beneath pieces, railfans will start banding together with RRs to police spots better. Toys come on the Net and see stupid behavior and copy it, heating up more and more spots from the city to the cuts. They might also pay too little attention to yard/train safety and get killed trying to paint, which could spark some reporter doing a "spotlight" story on kids and freight painting that gets play. (I'm still waiting for a movie or book to drop which blows up the scene by portraying it fictionally.) All of this shit contributes to critical mass.
I think some heads secretly want the scene to be much harder in a few years, so they can enjoy their "back in the day" king status, like the subway kings can now. Others, like me, would rather spread the word about how to make it last longer. I'm not one to tell people what to do without offering logical reasons - "you shouldn't hit engines or go over numbers" - I'd rather make people aware of the consequences, and let them make their own decisions. I know I'll do what I can to delay critical mass. I hope others can see their own role and make an informed decision about how to handle their spots and situations.

- Cracked Ass (12.Oz Prophet Moderator)

(C) 2007 SEASE Productions. All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.

Rest In Power WASTER12

Yet another Canadian great is gone. WASTER12, a prolific writer from Montreal has been taken from us. I wish I had known him more personally, having only spoken to him online a few times. Needless to say, from what little I did know of him, I held and still do hold nothing but respect for the man and his awe inducing art. Willing to help out just about anyone that didn't have an over-inflated ego, and an incredibly funny guy...he was a key member of the Bombing Science community and shall be missed by all of us. I write this post to commemorate him, his work and his dedication to the culture we mutually take part in.

Rest In Peace WASTER12 (666Camp,CAC)
Rest In Peace Antonio.

New Linkin Park Album: "Minutes To Midnight"

I think that this is official, just thought I'd share it with you guys.

Directory: Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight (2007)

Files:
01. Linkin Park - Stand!.mp3
02. Linkin Park - Bleed It Out.mp3
03. Linkin Park - Get Through.mp3
04. Linkin Park - What I've Done.mp3
05. Linkin Park - In This World.mp3
06. Linkin Park - The Little Things Give You Away.mp3
07. Linkin Park - Hold Nothing Back.mp3
08. Linkin Park - Over The Top.mp3
09. Linkin Park - Promisse.mp3
10. Linkin Park - Real Life.mp3
11. Linkin Park - Afraid This Time.mp3
12. Linkin Park - 2 Worlds.mp3
13. Linkin Park - Until The End.mp3
14. Linkin Park - Collapsing The Unit.mp3
15. Linkin Park - We Use The Pain.mp3
16. Linkin Park - One Perfect Something.mp3
17. Linkin Park - No Way (Bonus Track).mp3
18. Linkin Park - Feel (demo '01) (bonus track).mp3
19. Linkin Park - Screaming At Space (Bonus Track).mp3
20. Linkin Park - [Qwety] (Live Somer Sonic '06) (Bonus Track).mp3

Digital Blasphemies

There's no time for analogy or metaphor in the land of the lost. Life has its own schedule and we have to find our own way to pick the lock.

Conquering and subjugating nature is what we've been conditioned to do. Reaching for an ambition higher than circumstance requires accepting our natural state. This is what organic growth is all about.

Decorations such as music and graffiti live parasitic on the margins of nature and just as melody is the ultimate triumph of form over detail, graffiti is the triumph of will over state, will over power.

Graffiti addicts have at it, servicing craft to inform truth and beauty, creating sublime work from suspect beliefs, running on a love with limited passion and a lust consumed by its own want.

Having love for what something is rather than for what something isn't settles our souls. Helps sleepwalkers slip silently. It allows us to get past our past while presenting a case for the present presents moments of great pretense. But we need to get past this point.

If you have bad shit in your soul, it has to find its way out. So we must go to the devil in our own way, controlling our demons so that we can become the monsters we wish to be.

Borrowing a phrase from Shakespeare, rock stars with voices from the edge leading to the ledge are false pundits "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Bonfires of sanity are ceremonies for drunks riding a wave of hiccups.

Great graffiti writers steer clear of potential potholes. They get fixed on simple information knowing the key to all art is in violating expectations. Mastering the mathematics of music, the craft of graffiti, and handling your malt liquor makes for meaningful mood swings.

Anybody that stakes anything against itself talks mad shit. There's no analogy to it. No metaphor to put it in perspective. To speak of things sacred while navigating through the ruins says it all.

(C) 2007 SEASE Productions/Buford Industries. All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.