well, slightly at least. Using a theme named Simple Balance which is pretty easy to edit, if you’re PHP skills are in tact. Put together a quick banner for the top, which is not set in stone yet. But why would anyone notice if they don’t come on this site? Actually if you do view this, why don’t you leave a comment on this post, just to make Lou happy.

Well, stories don’t get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum.

The alleged explosion came from the gas cylinder that was in the base of the chair, the part that allowed the user to adjust the seat up and down. The canister gets compressed when you sit on it, but can it actually create enough energy to make the seat cushion explode like that and kill a man? I doubt it, but this is what people are reporting.

In other news, I am working from a beanbag from now on.

After Haze recently created a wall installation for the Stussy Las Vegas Chapter Store, a matching t-shirt has been created and it released today in two colorways at Stussy Direct.

Over the course of a career that has variously infuriated anti-graffiti task force officers and enthralled Japanese street couture collectors — meaning winning props from hip-hop superstars Kanye West and Pharrell Williams — the pop artist KAWS has carved a unique niche for himself. The soft-spoken 34-year-old Jersey City native, born Brian Donnelly, created a new business model that bridges the high-low culture divide in ways that would have made steam come out of Andy Warhol’s ears.

By parlaying vandalism into a brand identity as a purveyor of mass-produced collectible toys, KAWS became a bona fide subculture celebrity with a recognizable presence in street fashion.

But now, KAWS is at a career turning point. In spite of his renown in subcultural circles (which galleristas and museum directors have historically snobbed), he is now being mentioned in the same breath as pop art luminaries, such as Takashi Murakami, Keith Haring and Jeff Koons. And while KAWS has proven himself perfectly capable of trafficking his own pop offerings — on skateboard decks, stickers, T-shirts and sneakers — KAWS has infiltrated the rarefied world of institutional art after being held at arm’s distance from it for much of his career. Pretty fly for a graf guy.

Read the full story at The LA Times.

The Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles played a major role in tonight’s showcase of New Jersey native KAWS. The highly appraised artist showcased his mastery of the superflat style with a medley of new works including a life-sized Chum character and a wide assortment of large scale paintings. Packed with lines around the block, the exhibition signified KAWS’ mass influence within the contemporary art world, shining a new guiding light onto the genre.

Photography: L.A. Ruano

Spring Training starts tomorrow and if you’re not a true baseball fan, you can get in on the action with Upper Playground’s baseball league comprised of vicious characters including Outlaws, Stranglers and Brawlers to name a few. Playing on different pop culture legends and characteristics of twelve cities, the UPLB collection is a tongue-in-cheek version of how UP thinks baseball teams should be branded. The cities and teams represented are: Los Angeles Diablos, Seattle Hoods, Brooklyn Brawlers, Oakland Outlaws, San Francisco Panhandlers, Chicago Racketeers, New York Pickpockets, Cleveland Slingshots, Portland Vipers, Philadelphia Players, and Boston Stranglers. Morning Breath created all of the designs; the hats are made of wool and feature front and back embroidery. The black sheep of all the teams, the Miami Kilos, do not have a 59FIFTY hat because to some companies, cocaine is just not cool. All of the teams have a corresponding tee for men and women and the UPLB collection of hats and tees are available at Upper Playground stores and on the Upper Playground Web Store.

February 28th will be the release of the Brooklyn Projects Nike SB colab. Unfortunately for me, it will only be released at the Melrose store.

YAY!

The first sneakers from the Nike SB March 2009 drop have been released and we give you a first look. For March 2009 Nike SB presents a Blazer Low Hybrid, Dunk Low, Blazer High, P-Rod II and the Air Classic. In general we definitely see Nike SB taking a more solid road and releasing quality colorways, rather than crazy stuff all the time.

Following up closely on the initial preview into the upcoming Medicom Toy OriginalFake Companion Bearbrick comes a look into some additional colorways slated for release. Joining the original colorway are the two other colors originally seen in non-Bearbrick form such as black and monotone. The original colorway is set for a February 28th release however no word yet on the release of these additional versions.