UPDATED: Dumb Starbucks Opens In Los Angeles, Making A Latte Fun Of The Original.

UPDATED 2/11 : Despite earlier reports that graphic designer and artist Marc Horowitz was behind the pop up parody coffee shop, the Los Angeles Times reports that it is actually the brainchild of comedian Nathan Fielder.

Yes, it's true. A faux Starbucks coffee shop named Dumb Starbucks opened in the hipster hood of Los Feliz yesterday to long lines of curious coffee-craving crowds.



With Dumb Cups, Dumb Cafe Umbrellas and even Dumb Music, the strip mall satirical store has a menu that features “Dumb Iced Coffee,” “Dumb Frappuccinos,” and a seasonal “Wuppy Duppy Latte.”





According to a Frequently Asked Questions flyer posted on the door (shown below), the people behind “Dumb Starbucks” are using “parody law” to get around what appears to be blatant copyright infringement.“ By adding the word ‘dumb,’ we are technically ‘making fun’ of Starbucks, which allows us to use their trademarks under a law known as ‘fair use,’” the notice reads.



The parody store, located at 1802 Hillhurst Ave. was giving away free coffee and pastries to those who had to wait longer than an hour yesterday.

The Associated Press reports that "Starbucks says it's trying to contact the people responsible for a "Dumb Starbucks" store that set up shop in Los Angeles this weekend."




"We are aware of this store, and it is not affiliated with Starbucks," spokeswoman Laurel Harper said in an email Monday. "We are evaluating next steps, and while we appreciate the humor, they cannot use our name, which is a protected trademark."

She adds that the vast majority of trademark disputes "are handled informally," suggesting the company will not need to take legal action. - AP

Owen Wilson in The Killers' Christmas In LA , a 5 Minute Melancholy Mixed Media Music Video.

The Killers have shared their latest charity Christmas single, Christmas In L.A., whose proceeds will benefit the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. This is the eighth year that the Killers have partnered with (RED), the AIDS awareness organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, to produce a Christmas single.



Directed by Kelly Loosli (who is the program director of BYU's animation program) , the mixed media five minute and 12 second music video casts Owen Wilson as a melancholy out of work actor who is dreading December 25th in Los Angeles. I'm not sure if this is odd or perfect casting given Wilson's suicide attempt in 2007 , which everyone seems to have forgotten. The lonesome video also features actor Harry Dean Stanton (below with Wilson) and animation by Loosli's students at Brigham Young University.




Watch the video below, and head over to iTunes to purchase "Christmas in L.A.," which features supporting vocals from Dawes.



The Killers

Mundane Made Magnificent: Michael Ward Paints The Mystery Of The Ordinary.

A self-taught artist, Michael Ward captures what British-born philosopher Alan Watts called "the mystery of the ordinary" in his acrylic paintings of things we often overlook in our daily lives. Based on photographic images, his neo-realistic interpretations of unspectacular environments and people in the world around us are composed and rendered in such a way as to bring out the beauty in what one might have previously considered mundane, if not ugly.

Here are several of his paintings:





















Biography (courtesy of the artist):
I began my artistic career doing pen and ink renderings of historical architecture. I began painting in 1980, first in gouache, then in acrylics. Artists whose work I admire and draw inspiration from include Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Richard Estes and Vermeer. I am most interested in depicting what Alan Watts called the mystery of the ordinary; the workaday world we live in without seeing until we are forced to focus upon it, as in a painting.

Nearly all my paintings are based on photographs I have taken, primarily of Southern California scenes, over the years. Though it was never my intention to depict nostalgic scenes, many of the images I have painted have disappeared or been radically altered in the ever-changing landscape that is Southern California. Thus nostalgia is thrust upon the works. But what I am really after is bearing witness, and making people stop what they're doing and pay attention, to something they may have never seen before, but that makes them feel “I know this.”

I am currently working on a series of house paintings. These simple, ordinary, unnoticed places have hidden interior lives, though they do not reveal them to us. The houses are from a variety of locations in the United States and Mexico. They are the place you grew up in, a place of nurture, experience, trial, memory and forgetting. They are all a common size, to symbolize our shared experience of being human.

Phyllis Lutjeans, Museum Educator and former curator, has said of my work: “Although Michael Ward may be called a neo-realist painter his work can ultimately be described as abstract realism. The picture image is photographically realistic, but within the context of the painting his compositions are complex and almost abstract. Deciphering the work section by section one sees how a multitiude of individual complete compositions are put together to form the entire work. For me the viewer is confronted by a realistic image that puzzles us and clearly tells the story simultaneously.”

As a painter, I am self-taught.

Michael Ward Art and Design


A book of his works is available here on Blurb

See his paintings at Pasadena's Tirage Gallery

Other galleries that represent Michael Ward:

Mesa Art
789 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
949.548.3570

Studio Gallery
18001 Skypark Circle, Suite R, Irvine, CA
949.851.9181

Contact the artist directly here.

30 Pics, Inside and Out, Of A Breathtaking 9,000 Sq Foot Modern Home Overlooking The Pacific Ocean.

The Ziering Residence in California's Pacific Palisades is a 9,000 sq foot private residence with a three car garage, a swimming pool, evacuated tube solar collectors, radiant floor heating and IPE wood siding.

Letter-pressing and Loteria Cards in Cedar Boxes Make For Stunning Wedding Invitations by Konnect Design.

Branding and design company Konnect Design, took the bride and groom's backgrounds and the the event venue into consideration when designing these beautiful and unique wedding invitations which include letter-pressing, elegant typography, loteria cards, reply cards and vintage stamps, packaged in a cedar box.

Union at the Union


She’s from East LA. He’s a gringo from the South Bay. When their worlds united it was truly meant to be, which made for an appropriate theme surrounding this couple’s big day.



Her Latin roots inspired the use of Loteria (Spanish Bingo) cards, as well as cedar boxes that Konnect Design of Santa Monica had custom made and shipped from the Dominican Republic. The boxes housed the letterpress invitation and reply cards (complete with vintage postage stamps) and also served as a nod to the cigar roller who would be entertaining the guests at the wedding reception.



Reply Cards:


The letter-pressed menus at the wedding were also designed by Konnect in keeping with the look of the invitations:


Since the couple was to be wed at the historic Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, it seemed more than fitting to title the piece, Union at the Union.



all original images (they have been composited for this post) and descriptions courtesy of konnectdesign.com

The bride and groom are as beautiful as their invitations. Here they are in Argentina on their Honeymoon:
above image from Facebook

konnect design
710 Wilshire Blvd
Suite 404
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.394.1247

Azature's Black Diamond Polish Nabs Title For World's Most Expensive At $250,000.

Hollywood-born jewelry couturier Azature, also known as the Black Diamond King launched his first jewelry collection in 2007. Now recognized as the premier black diamond-focused jewelry designer, he's added nail polish to his repertoire. And not just any nail polish, but one made with 267 carats of black diamonds.

Magnificent Street Map For Movie Lovers Replaces Venues With Film Titles.

Based on the style of a vintage LA street map, this new Film Map from the hipsters at Dorothy is made up entirely from film titles.



The street map has over 900 film titles including cinema classics such as Lost Highway, On the Waterfront, Jurassic Park, Reservoir Dogs, Carlito's Way, Nightmare on Elm Street, Valley of the Dolls and Chinatown.



The Movie Map, which is loosely based on the style of a vintage Los Angeles street map has its own Hollywood Boulevard and includes districts dedicated to Hitchcock and Cult British Horror movies. Like most cities it also has its own Red Light area. There's an A-Z key at the base of the Map listing all the films featured with their release dates and names of the directors.



A 4-color litho print on uncoated art paper
Dimensions: H60 x W80cm

Available as a signed and stamped Limited Edition print and an Open Edition print (£25).

The Limited Edition signed and stamped Litho Prints are printed on a premium stock (Keaykolour Particles) and cost £100 each. The print run is limited to only 250 copies.

Shop for them here.

When Los Angeles Is A Man. A Short Film For Louis Vuitton By Jean-Claude Thibaut.

This is the second short film in a series on cities around the world for Louis Vuitton, using gender as a lens to interpret each city's identity.





above: stills from Jean-Claude Thibaut's When L.A. Is A Man

Directed and written by Jean-Claude Thibaut, the film has some very beautiful scenes of Los Angeles (as in the stills above), despite being accompanied by a voice over of which I am not a big fan (excerpt shown below).

“From the hill, suspended above the starry skyline, L.A. appeared to me as a whole.

He’s a lonely and secretive player, blazing and unrefined, dedicating himself to his dreams - and incidentally ours - with a disconcerting ease.

He has the nerve and imagination of one who has nothing to lose, always walking a tightrope. His weaknesses are concealed.

Untouched by criticism, L.A. works in faith and finds his way to a new era, the one he imagines being his own future. The burning ease of his achievements has something of prodigality and childishness. Each scene of his life is the most important. L.A. is fated to be young forever, eternal. He walks through the night, striding along, indolent while unrestrained, with the style of a gifted kid.

In my mind a far-fetched idea is growing slowly: it seems L.A. gave me this blind confidence to turn things into art, without ever looking back. L.A. drove me where I have never been before.”

I do think the direction is wonderful, even though I exactly don't love the casting and the copy. But it's a lovely look at LA. What do you think?


info and video courtesy of Louis Vuitton