(Sneak peek of the Nike/UNDFTD billboard on La Brea and 1st St. Design by Keith Scharwath)

On Friday August 29th, Beautiful Losers makes it’s Los Angeles premiere at Landmark’s Nuart Theater. To date, the response to our little film has been overwhelmingly positive and audiences have eagerly embraced our message of inspiration and creativity with open arms. With no major film distribution company behind us, we’ve been fortunate enough to have gained the support and good will from audiences who have seen the film and have continued to spread the good word amongst friends, family, and something called the “internets”. Hopefully this grass roots approach can continue to bring our film to more and more cities as we have just added Boston to our tour which already includes San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago.

The 7:30 and 10pm shows on opening night will feature Q&A sessions with myself, Aaron Rose, and Money Mark. Tickets for the L.A. premiere and theatrical run are now on sale and can be purchased at Landmark’s website here (Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)

During this quick trip out to New York I’ve been staying out in the hipster-mecca of the world, Brooklyn’s  Williamsburg neighborhood. So since I don’t have much time before I jump on a plane and head back to Los Angeles for tonight’s Beautiful Losers screening (after party w/ Money Mark rooftop performance!), I thought it would be ultra-appropriate to post this hilarious little cartoon by Devin Flynn based on the fashion phenomenon known simply as “Lady Pants”. Loosen up your belt, or belts, and enjoy. I’ll be seeing you L.A. Style Chudz soon, “Westside!”

]]> http://chumpchampion.com/2008/08/12/lady-pants/feed/ http://chumpchampion.com/2008/08/06/beautiful-losers-ny-premiere-8808/ http://chumpchampion.com/2008/08/06/beautiful-losers-ny-premiere-8808/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:14:44 +0000 chump1 http://chumpchampion.com/?p=63

Fresh from Tokyo, Japan after our official theatrical world premiere (much more on the Japan trip coming soon), Beautiful Losers makes it’s homecoming with the U.S. theatrical premiere on August 8th at the IFC Center in New York city. This release has been a long while coming as we’ve been on the festival road for over a year now, even capturing a documentary jury prize along the way. Select showings of this weekend’s special release will feature Q&A sessions with several artists from the film. The lineup goes as follows:

Friday, Aug.8th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Steve Powers (ESPO), Chris Johanson, and Cheryl Dunn

Friday, Aug.8th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Tobin Yelland, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

Tickets can be bought right here. (Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)

The New York theatrical release at the IFC Center will run from August 8th through the 28th before shifting to the West Coast with runs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and finally end in Chicago (the film may have a longer run depending on the success of this initial roll out).

In addition to the the film’s U.S. launch, Nike Sportswear has partnered with us to give back to the people. “Make Something!!” is a series of D.I.Y. creative art-based workshops taught by some of today’s best creators aimed at inspiring and educating young people. The first set starts in New York and runs from August 8th through the 22nd and then moves to Los Angeles and goes from August 29th through September 8th. The workshops range from sign painting, photography, skateboard graphic design, toy design, filmmaking, tattoo art, footwear design and zine making. Classes will be taught by the likes of Aaron Rose, KAWS, Todd James, Tobin Yelland, Cheryl Dunn, Mike Mills, Ed Templeton, Money Mark, and yours truly to name a few. Come by my class August 30th where I’ll be teaching kids the dark arts of film editing! More on the workshops to come as they happen.

The paint is still drying and the time is almost upon us. The highly anticipated show will open tomorrow night at the Laforet Museum at 6pm! Like the sign says…

ESPO vs. Valentino? Find out what it’s about in a few days!

Steve Powers, a.k.a. ESPO, has long been one of my favorite artists for both his sarcastic signs and clean lines. Along with the rest of the artists putting together the show, the studio gangster is currently holed up in the exhibition space cooking up punchline after punchline. When he’s not perusing the aisles of Tokyo Hands of course. Here’s the hand made myth himself along with Jo Jackson, Aaron Rose, and Yours Truly.

Yesterday I failed to mention half of the other artists involved in the Beautiful Losers opening at the Laforet Museum. Here’s whose crates of artwork arrived yesterday: Thomas Campbell, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Mike Mills, and Ed Templteton (Mark Gonzalez sculpture to be included as well if we can track it down somewhere in Shibuya). And here’s who arrived via plane last night:

It’s the lovely Jo Jackson straight out of Portland!

Elevator at the Laforet in Harajuku.

This week I’ll be chumpchampioning from the far East as I’m in Tokyo for the Japanese Premiere of Beautiful Losers on August 2nd. A bunch of other peeps are out here as well as our director Aaron Rose will be curating a group show with Steve Powers (ESPO), Jo Jackson, Josh Lazcano (AMAZE), and Alexis Ross of the Gents of Desire, and will also include original pieces by Margaret Kilgallen and Barry Mcgee. The show also features Nike’s Lightning Bolts artwork and will open at the Laforet Museum in Harajuku the day of the film’s premiere. I’ll be documenting the setup of the show leading up to the premiere, so stay tuned as there’s much more to come!

With my editing roots stemming from the world of music videos, it’s always great to see clips that push the boundaries of conventional music video making. Radiohead’s latest, “House of Cards”, instantly comes to mind. I hate to admit it, but these types of videos are few and far between these days. Anomalies even. But every now and then one pops up that instantly grabs your attention and reminds you that there’s still much more to explore within the medium. And when your friend is responsible for such an offering it makes it even better. Have a heart and peep Chris Milk’s latest video for Gnarls Barkley’s “Save My Soul” which also reminds you what it’s like to be in a failing relationship. Bastard.

]]> http://chumpchampion.com/2008/07/25/gnarlsy/feed/ http://chumpchampion.com/2008/07/23/stop-motion-thoughts/ http://chumpchampion.com/2008/07/23/stop-motion-thoughts/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:08:56 +0000 chump1 http://chumpchampion.com/?p=55

Sorry. Super busy. Don’t have much time. Working on multiple projects. Upcoming trip to Japan for movie release and art exhibition (more to come). Not much sleep. Need to do laundry. Hungry too. In the meantime, chew on this visual candy by PES. Sorry again. Be good.

If you’re not going to be lining up to see one of the thousands of sold out Dark Knight showings this Saturday the 19th, you might want to check out the Santa Monica Pier anywhere from 7pm to 7am for the event known as Glow. After perusing the website and checking out the scheduled events (DJ’s, live bands, parades, and a possible Grunion run sighting!), this fairly huge and ambitious art offering may not be right for me. Maybe if I had gone to a Burning Man or two I would be all over it. But lucky for me I’ll be enjoying a glow of another kind, namely the glow of a 60 foot Joker’s smile on an IMAX screen.

From the Glow website (not to be confused with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling-G.L.O.W.):