The Factory...

Random Images From My Desktop

And when I say random... I mean random... Don't judge me...
SIKE!
guess what? Me nah care.

Self-Critique

Mood: Awake
Category: Friends

My personal philosophy alllows for many mistakes because I'll try anything once... Well, almost anything.

I thrive on personal experience. Perhaps this makes it difficult for me to take advice.

Sometimes I take it, sometimes I don't.

I'll take it if I respect the source or if the source allows itself to be questioned.

I'm very rational-- perhaps almost to a fault. Some people say I think too much!

My step mother asserted that this quality was the hallmark of my American-ness. If I was a Nigerian child, I would learn from the mistakes of others and blindly obey advice from my elders because they've been there before/seen it all/etc.

But I'm from the school of you do what you do, that's why you get what you got!

I'ma just do me! I'll take my chances.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes, not so much.

I have no shame about it. I live to fuck shit up another day! ;-)

Have you ever known anyone who could not admit to themselves that they made mistake?

For some reason, I happen to know an abundance of folks with this disease...

I personally have no problem admitting I've made a mistake. I know that I'm not above them. I make them all the time. What matters to me is the manner by which I am informed...

If I feel disrespected then, I will really show my ass.

But then I'll take some time, think about it, and then try to do better.

I've noticed however that many, if not most people are very fearful of self-critique.

Extreme cases will invent any excuse or construct an entirely new identity to avoid it.

Self-critque is the only way to grow as a person.

It's kinda like when they make you do critque session in art school.

You set out to learn something or express something. That's your artist statement.

You bring your project and your peers evaluate have you achieved your goal from their perspective.

A lot of ass kissers will just say something like "I like it." or "That's nice." But occasionally people will be generous enough to tell you the truth of what they think.

Many people could not withstand this process and I saw them run crying down the halls of Lulu Childres Hall, never to return again...

Life is kinda like that, too, sometimes.



image by carrie mae weems

*if something even remotely like this happens to you when you look in the mirror i'ma need to you self-evaluate immediately!!! it's all about self-love and self-acceptance, ya'll*

Grace Jones Interview And Commentary

I don't do nudes.

Days later and I still can't get off the topic of nudes.

I love shooting them but I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with me always taking my clothes off. Am I dying for attention, or trying to use it as a crutch? Is naked somehow inherently bad and I'm demon possessed trying to continually showing my goodies. Am I going to hell? Am I already there? ;-)

Anymindlessramblingway, I still shoot the nudes and i wonder what images I portray for the youth and what future opportunity to be Queen of the World I am sabotaging.

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

I've always been nude and I love being nude and it's too late to stop now.
I only started wearing clothes around the house around the age of 14 at the insistence of my mother's boyfriend. My whole family is nude. No one cares. Nude is the natural state of being. The ancestral way of being. I've always known that and made the connection in my art.

I used to do the weird spaced out african body paint nudes but lately i've been exploring my sensual side.

Check out my Model Mayhem if your in the mood for an eyeful.

I think the pic above is damn hilarious.
And the clip, I have no words for. Lmafo at all the artists and models who are getting it popping or wishing. I grew out of that ages ago...

Strictly professional in the new millennium. Sheesh! There are way better methods of dating. SMH.

Jenifa/Jennifer

I let morning slip away as I watched the first part of this movie completely transfixed. Big ups to Funke Akindele for her stellar performance in Jennifer.

Can't nobody tell me we are not one people! Same problems plague us all over the world. The materialism. The conformity. The competition.

Who knew chickenheads were an international epidemic?

But our shared blessings are what makes this film a pleasure to watch. Does anyone know when Jennifer Part 2 comes out?

THROWBACK HUMP DAY

A Look Back...

It's important to me to know where I came from in order to remain focused on where I'm going. This is my heavy graphics phase. I still like graphics kinda... but my inspiration has undergone dramatic transformation and is still transforming.

My biggest goal at this time in my life was to make a technically complex vision that people had never seen before. Secondly, was to educate people about what I thought was my opinion about the state of the race and the fate of the planet.

Now, I realize that my real important thing to do is just communicate clearly. I'm getting out my visual shit through boomthreads.blogspot.com but I'm just trying to ship out the amount of backed up work I've shot.

Then the hard drive that had all this stuff on it crashed so who know's if I'll ever see this stuff again in its entirety and not on the internet. That's the way the cookie crumbles when u wait to do shit.

Now I no longer with to educate or compel any person's actions with information. I'm actually just more interested in completing and documenting my individual cycle of growth.

Call me selfish. That's just the shit I'm on right now.

I find it frustrating trying to make people understand what I'm saying. Some do, but that means the mind is already open. Some try to pretend they don't but that has little to do with me but relates more closely to the ignorance that they allow to colonize their mind.

Either way...

I'm on some next.

South Africa's Fashion Week

This was really fun to watch and inspiring. I especially liked the part when they talked about cultivating the local market. That's dope that those creative African are doing their own thing. It's not all about imitating other artists all the time or trying to break into the mainstream market.

Sometimes it can be more grounding and in the long run more fruitful to work with what you have instead of chasing some outside shit. Chasing some alien shit.

We got it all in the motherland.

Africa on the RIZE.
Nigeria stand UP!
Igbo Kwenu!

What? Me, Vote?

Still buckee nekkid..

I Appreciate Your Honesty.

I almost typed on here, "I appreciate your Hennessy."
I can't really handle any more Thug Passion since my "incident" but if you give it to me, I'll have a gift for someone else. ;-)
Gifts of any kind and monetary donations are very welcome around these parts.

I'll settle for honesty.

If you visit this site, please leave a comment.

Thank you.

-the mgmt

LOOK OUT!!! HERE THEY COME!

Ok. So enough people complained about the price of hand painted works of art on T-shirts, that I designed a lower priced line of Boom.Threads. I haven't decided what T-shirt service I'm going to use yet, but keep checking this blog and you'll be the first to know.

Random pics from Rory's ultra hip birthday bash photographed by the sickeningly hip photographer The Cobra Snake

Anybody who knows me knows I love to get loose on the dancefloor. I don't care about how I look. That's just what happens when the holy spirit takes over.

Maybe that's why I'm not that hip... Or maybe I'm hipper than hip and I just don't know it yet. :-o

SUMMERTIME IN THE LBC

Ok. I lied. It's not really summer anymore. But it sure feels like it to an East Coast girl like me. My trip to D.H. Gremlin Studios in Long Beach produced this shot (among others...) from the very talented Wendy aka Wynnesome. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

And the D.H. Gremlin story is interesting, too. From what I could peice together he's a multi-talented artist who wound up in LA w/ no family/friends/connects/etc., and built a community around himself that continues to be a successful recording studio, and photo studio that services the LBC and Los Angeles communities at an affordable cost.

What's sprung up there is a tight knit community of artists and professionals that support and learn from each other. And they are very welcoming.

When I went in there I saw the African drums and crystals, a little stone henge shrine, some gongs... a little something sacred from every culture... and I knew I was in a good place.

That's tight. :-)

INSPIRATION

I love these scarification designs... the sacred textures and patterns inspire me when i paint boomthreads.

Video Blogging In The Buff

U came here for something REAL, right? It gets no realer.

New Shirt. New Day.

Hey, folks.

Check out my latest photo shoot with Long Beach based photographer Tatiana Lavin and model Cazz. Make-up and hair done by the Deadly Illyne.

They were an exuberant team of creatives and afterward we chatted about self-expression. More photos and video coming soon...

what is self-expression?

boom really wants to know...

Saturday Showdown!

Mercy!
Two great shows in one day!

At least you don't have to choose because Nat Creole's Ready or Not is during the day on Saturday, and Deep Green is an evening event. Sound round up the kiddies and mommies and daddies and head to the Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Saturday, Ocotober 4. Take one dose of BOom in the morning and another at night to make your day complete!

This show features the "Boss Logic" Shirley Chisolm portrait, as well as the special limited edition "Amigo -o- Enemigo" to commemorate the so-called Economic Crisis. Had a good laugh with that one. Gift economy, anyone? Also featured is the classic "V is for Victory" design.

I Go BOom.boOM In Jersey City

Wassup to my New York naybahz. ;-)(get it? naybahz from my naybahood.)
Boom.Threads has come to a city near U!

All those in the mood for great fun, it is advisable to take a journey to Jersey City to visit the lovely "conceptual project space" of Eto S. Oro, Es Oro Gallery.

The event is:

Deep Green
New works in polymedia by:
Ogechi Chieke, Henry G. Sanchez, Eder Muniz, Jade Kuei, Rodina Mikhail, Xenobia Bailey, Maurizio Zuluaga, George "Geo" Smith & Eto S. Oro!

The Deep Green concept is an innovative approach to using simulation to support ongoing creative operations while they are being conducted.

For those of you that don't already know Jersey City has been dubbed "Brooklyn-lite" by the local bohemian elite. This is a good thing, mind you. I take it to mean fun for the whole family.




What this means for Boom.Threads is that YOU get a chance to visit the gallery and try out the line and get your picture taken in any and as many of the shirts that you want! See yourself on the Blog!!!! Impress your friends with a hot new myspace picture.

YESSSS, lovelies! It's time 2 get your model on...

Es Oro Gallery's new show opens this weekend along with the Jersey City Studio Tour.

Fun! Fun! Fun! & Fabulousness! Fashion, Art, Music, Dancing and Networking! All for free!
Can't beat it with a stick.

I wish I could be there but the country being in a financial crisis has suddenly put a damper on my plans. MERCURY IS IN RETROGRADE, PEOPLE! We gonna do this like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and "Don't Panic." But that's another story for another time...

*Bonus! Es Oro has works on loan from George "Geo" Smith. (1945-1999). Artist. Activist. Powerful chronicler of the African diaspora experience and imagination. These are some must see works. seriously.

She Put The Fantastic In Boomtastic

This is Rory. She's a 14 year old student by day, full-time hip-hop dancer and 24/7 trendsetter. All of this activity makes her a little wiser than her years, but I can assure you, she is a certified card carrying young person. Don't mess with her or you deal with me :D

Rory is wearing the classic "So, Boom" Logo design which is available in various colors. She chose this design, "because there was splatter all over it, which looks like fun. It represents fun because splatter plaint or dots seem to represent freedom because you cannot control where the paint is going to fly." Stated in her own words.

To sample more of Rory's wisdom and philosophy, add her on myspace or search Aurora Hoffman on Facebook.


*Bonus Pearl from Rory: "I NEVER EVER LEAVE MY FRIENDS BEHIND."

Girl With The Boom

Meet Kasha. She's an Los Angeles, resident dear friend of Boom.Threads and Renaissance Woman of the Fine Arts. Her talents include independent Filmmaking and Production.


Kasha wears the "Starry Eyed Girl" design from Boom.Threads. She likes the bold color palate and the liberal use of Magenta, for which she has an "affinity." She found it sexy and unique. "It's hard and soft at the same time," Ms. Esque noted. The character design resonated with her own no nonsense character. "The woman on the shirt looks like she knows what she wants and won't settle for less," Kasha remarked.

Check out Kasha's Latest Photography on kashaesque.com
Feel free to contact her on Myspace

BOoM! Shake, Shake, Shake The Room!

WE IN THE HOUSE!

And I am your host, Ogechi aka Uchiwali The Extraterrestrial aka Somethin' U Never Seent Befo'. Enjoy the energy radiation from these one of a kind paintings from the artistic mind of a true earthbound alien and the dynamic spirits who model the designs.

Why is it???

That every time I go to a doctor's office, the doctor talks fast than an auction announcer? And runs tests like he's speedy gonzalez and then poof! he's gone.
then that silly ass no-information having nurse comes back to play some wizard of oz shit, like, "Are you sure you have a question for the doctor?" And I'm like, "Yes, ho. I'm sure." Then the doctor comes back after a while (cause they have to make you wait.) with an attitude. And here I am just trying to get a clear picture of my health. Shit. I just dropped my pants to get a shot of who-knows-what-pharmaceutical in my ass! And you got me on the table all vulnerable and got a damn attitude when I'm asking legitamate questions about his diagnosis and my health?

See, that's why I don't mess with ya'll "doctors."
How you gonna leave the CARE out of healthcare?
I'm not relly convinced with the health aspect either. U need more people.
U need to rename that system Pharmacutical Dispersal System or something to better represent the robotic nature of you money-grubbing customer relations.
U make the illness, then you make a drug.
U can't create a cure cause the foundation's too impure.
Babylon Must Fall.

btw. i have tonsilitis. pray 4 me.