Grown Ass Men Podcast, Ep 69: Adstravaganza Pt. 2

Speaking of super cool interviews, fellow writer Doug Bost of the Grown Ass Man podcast found my old article on Count Dante recently and was nice enough to invite me on to the show (via phone) so that we could discuss Chi-town's late martial arts legend. The production value on the podcast is tops, and the host somehow managed to make yours truly sound like an authority on the Count, comics, and the golden age of martial arts in America. I hope you'll give Episode 69 of the GAM podcast a listen!

Ep. 69: Adstravaganza - Part II (with special guests Joseph Dasaro and Paco Taylor) https://apple.co/2TsazvB

A super cool interview with NY graffiti & flyer legend Phase 2 in IGA Eye On Design Magazine #04

IGA Eye On Design Magazine #04

Back in October of 2018, graphic designer and teaching fellow at Maryland Institute College of Art, Jerome Harris, reached out to me after he'd happened across that little 2012 blog post I wrote on the 1980s hip-hop party flyers of legendary New York graffiti artist, designer and art historian Phase 2.

Jerome had had the honor of curating a show in September 2018 exploring the work of black graphic designers for the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Phase 2's hip-hop handbills were a big part of the show and IGA Eye On Design, a handsome print mag devoted to design, asked the curator to work up a long form piece on the influential (and somewhat illusive) Phase 2.

I was kindly asked if I could be interviewed to get my thoughts on the impact of Phase 2 on graphic design, graffiti art and hip-hop culture as a whole. And I, of course, couldn’t be more pleased to get any chance to talk at length about the dude who's always been one of my biggest creative inspirations.

 eyeondesign.aiga.org

Because he'd been largely unable to pin Phase himself down for a Q&A, Jerome had also reached out to half dozen Phase 2 enthusiasts in addition to me, including Charlie Ahearn (director of Wild Style) to flesh out the piece. I was given a fairly lengthy list of questions that allowed me to cover a lot of ground...but ninety percent of it wound up on the proverbial 'cutting room floor’ when Jerome was finally contacted by the illusive subject himself!

Nonetheless, I was flattered to see that Jerome was using my earliest personal recollection of Phase 2’s impact on hip-hop culture in New York and beyond to help frame the intro of his super cool interview with Phase 2 for the March edition of Eye On Design magazine. And I'm glad that I got the chance to be even a small part of this amazing retrospective.

Priced at $19 + shipping & handling, print editions of the gorgeous Eye on Design #04 (the "Worth" issue) are available at premier retail locations in cities across the US, Japan, the UK, Italy, Germany, China, Taiwan, and several more far flung locales. It'll also be available for digital download for only $9, at some point. But you can order a copy of the print edition today.

Oh, and if you're in Chicago and I like you like that...I may let you borrow mine. LOL

Paco Taylor, Esq.

"It's been a while, T'challa."

Super-duper-cool meme, right?! Wish I'd been the one to think it, but still glad that another brilliant mind (@swagnetomagnetoinsta) did!

This lil'  beauty came through my Facebook feed just now and made my face just light up as it quickly reminded me of the age progression idea I mentioned near the end of that piece I wrote on Halle Berry being the right choice to play Storm in the X-Men movies. 

So ay, yo, Marvel Studios...what's good? You've officially got the X-Men film rights from SONY. Can you imagine the box office receipts with Storm making a cameo in Black Panther 2? Plus, we can serve all o'dem lame-o haters, like...DJ Darrel D!

C'mon brother Coogler!!! Make it happen, fam. For Wakanda! For Zamunda! For the culture!!! 

LOL

Craving in Vain?

When you've been craving – in vain – Japanese Kit Kats and then visit a shop that you've never been to before that has shockingly little in the way of comics, but two boxes of the Japan Airport EXCLUSIVE white chocolate Ume (plum) Sake Kit Kats sitting on the counter. Yum.

Anywho, not like you asked, but this past weekend was a good weekend, True Believers. In addition to these tasty imported goodies that I picked up at the previously mentioned but unnamed shop (Otaku Hobbies), I stopped into Amazing Fantasy, my regular shop here in the Chicago burbs, where I grabbed up two copies of Harley Quinn #59, a copy of the small press mini comic Magical Beatdown #1, and some other goodies (not pictured). 

Over at Half Priced Books, I snagged a copy of Flash #59 for $2–half of the $3.99 retail price, because...Half Priced Books! I don't even read Flash comics, but I saw this uber cool manga-inspired variant cover by artist Karl Kerschl online a couple months ago and made a mental note to snag a copy whenever I ran across one in the wild. So I did. ^_^

The Flash #59 (Variant Cover Edition)

The Flash #59 (Variant Cover B by Karl Kerschl)