#Kong the Artisan

[britishhiphop]

Wish Master - His Story / Already Know [Video]

Double header video from Wish Master as he first takes it way back to his childhood to tell His Story, followed with Already Know on which he’s detailing his business and success. Performed by: Wish MasterProduced by: Kong The ArtisanFilmed and edited by: Honey JD https://www.instagram.com/honey___jd/Mixed and mastered by: Rola at Khameleon Sounds https://www.instagram.com/rolaroc/ Wish…

[thelifeelsewhere]

Addressing Disinformation & Propaganda with Social Science & Hip-Hop

What a pleasure to converse with Professor Walter Grayson and Danian Darrell Jerry two insightful men who are undeniably passionate about their endeavor as co-editors of Illmatic Consequences: The Clapback to Opponents of ‘Critical Race Theory’. Their exceptional book combines social science and hip-hop studies to address disinformation and propaganda that distorted political discourse after the…

[strawberrycrepes]

[dolly-birdi]

The fact that etsy now allows dropshipping while still claiming that they don't is so audacious, the site is literally worthless now. I feel so bad for the artists having to compete with floods of dropshippers and people shelling out $80 for a bjd outfit being like "it's worth it to support local artisans" when in reality they're buying an item from taobao that actually costs $15 and is sold for $25 on aliexpress and ebay. Not even joking the etsy markups are that bad. I wouldn't even hate these taobao resellers if they didn't try to scalp the prices so much and were honest about being resellers instead of making it look like they are the ones making the clothes. Not to mention all the recasts on there...

Anyway, here's some of my fav legit doll clothing shops on etsy:

RopitasKawaii: pullip, blythe, and rainbow high lolita dresses from Spain

AtelierMilabrocc: casual pullip, blythe, and barbie clothes from Poland

Yukijiro: pullip lolita dresses from Hong Kong

Cottonhoney: cute 1/3 and 1/4 bjd clothes from Thailand

HelloCoolCat: clothes and supplies for pullip and blythe from Taiwan (they also have a website that has more stuff for bjds)

Toocuteclub: printed graphic clothes for rainbow high and 1/3 bjd from USA

Ninaherisson: 1/3 bjd alt clothes from USA

Balljointedsoulmates: cute casual 1/3 bjd and minifee clothes from Austria

TiffyCuppyCake: 1/3 and 1/4 bjd sweaters/sweatshirts and hoodies from USA

MilkyWayDreamsFR: cute 1/4 bjd accessories from France

DollishSweets: cute 1/4 and 1/3 bjd clothes, accessories, and eyes from USA

PetiteBonita: cute 1/4 bjd outfits from Indonesia (includes custom measurements)

EliteDollWorld: casual smart doll clothes from USA

YumeWearShop: cute and casual 1/3, 1/4, and 50cm bjd clothes from the Netherlands

HauntCoutureAtelier: monster high, rainbow high, and barbie clothes from USA

Shout out to these artists! If anyone else has more let me know!

[faretheeoscar]

Moon Knight Exclusive Artisan Edition Hot Toys 1/6th scale collectible figure.

Limited to 400 pieces for Toy Hunters and Secret Base members in Hong Kong.

[cuprohastes]

Caffedruls

I see posts with a pic of a Cathedral, and it’s captioned something like ‘Nobody builds wonders any more’.

Fig 1:

I mean we could: All you need is to resurrect enough trained artisans such as stone workers, painters, carvers and so on, and then pay them for 200-300 years work.

Same with the Pyramids: They weren’t built with slaves they were built with paid labourers.

But industrialization was in large part about making a machine that could do the work of a journeyman woodworker and do it the same each time, so factory owners didn’t to pay Guild rates, so you could then hire that woodworker as a machine operator for a pittance.

So One answer is: We could, but nobody wants to pay for them.

The other anser is…

Holy fucking shit you useless provincial doink, have you not heard of shit like the Burj Khalifa, Christ the Redeemer, all the Washington Memorials, the giant statues, and let’s face it, every major theme park of the modern age?

Are your eyes too small to see the huge scale of the things around you, to marvel that small cities four times the size of the Titanic or larger are regularly tooling around the oceans?

Some of which take a shortcut from one ocean to another by a giant canal that spans an entire country from shore to shore.

Hong Kong ran short on land, so they filled the ocean in, and now you can walk to Islands that used to be 45 minutes by hydrofoil to reach.

We have fucking video from Mars.

Anyone in the UK can get on a train and within hours have travelled 80 miles under water to a country to get a decent fucking croissant.

That hundreds of tonnes of machinery regularly just hurl themselves into the sky and haul their asses so high that they don’t have to deal with the vibration of nearing the speed of sound… while a few hundred people eat hot food and watch their choice of TV and movies?

How grim is your life that you can’t imagine that there’s anything amazing in your world?

Do you live on water and stupidity? Do you eat pablum? A single Big Mac is a whirlwind of food compiled from sources beyond the horizon and presented to you within minutes of ordering, and you look at this, the most mundane of wonders, and think ‘Nothing at all is exciting about this’.

I’d curse you to eternity shut inside your own head staring at the blank and colourless walls, but it seems that would be wholly redundant.

[brillliantcorners]

++++++++++ Best known for having founded Japanese cult menswear label Visvim, Hiroki Nakamura’s vintage-inspired reiterations of American workwear are frequently seen on all the right backs, including Kanye West, Rihanna and Nick Wooster. Nakamura was born in Kofu, Japan, grew up in Tokyo and studied in Alaska, where he spent time camping, whale-watching and snowboarding. For eight years, he worked as a designer for Burton Snowboards, learning to produce high-quality performance products. In the 1990s, the American workwear movement had been established in Tokyo and Nakumara wanted to contribute. “Japan is an island and we really like something from outside,” Nakamura told BoF. “Many new things come from America, still now, and because it’s so free-thinking. There’s something about Americana style. It’s so eclectic, so young.” In 2001, he began making footwear under the brand name Visvim. When the Tokyo-based shoemaking business took off, he expanded into making artisanal apparel inspired by vintage workwear, tribe culture and traditional garments, often using fabrics that are developed specifically for the brand.

Today, Nakamura is Creative Director and Chief Executive at Visvim, which has stores in Japan and Hong Kong. Nakamura was invited as a guest designer to the Spring/Summer 2017 edition of Florence-based trade show Pitti Uomo, where he staged Visvim’s first ever runway show. In addition to Visvim, Nakamura designs a conceptual menswear line named F.I.L. Indigo Camping Trailer and a womenswear label called WMV. International stockists include 10 Corso Como, Mr Porter, Barneys New York and Browns

[batmannotes]

The Dark Knight Trilogy - 1/6th scale The Joker Figure

Coming soon from Hot Toys

Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker in The Dark Knight is a remarkable performance that still gets recognized today as one of the best depiction of the character outside of the DC comic book. Despite on his limited screen time, the Joker steals the show by his menacing presence over the movie. He’s the agent of chaos, the unstoppable force to Batman’s immovable object.

Commemorating the 15th anniversary of The Dark Knight movie and Heath Ledger’s critically acclaimed performance, Hot Toys is bringing a more delicate and storytelling figure of Heath Ledger’s Joker to demonstrate our top-of-class crafting techniques. Presenting Hot Toys’ Artisan Edition of The Joker in 1/6th scale collectible figure from DX Series. This is an Exclusive release available with limited quantity of 4,000 pieces only in selected markets.

This time we have worked closely with Derek Kwok (Hong Kong Film Director), a Christopher Nolan fanatic himself, who spent over a decade to refine his passionate The Dark Knight Joker’s costume in 1/6th scale, as a hobby. Hot Toys is honored to create a custom-tailored costume based on The Joker’s signature purple coat outfit in Nolan’s The Dark Knight with Director Kwok’s involvement. From the choice of material to the cuts and layer arrangements, Derek showed his professionalism and expressed great passion, combining Hot Toys’ workmanship to give the real fabric costume the highest level of screen accuracy.

Our brand new Joker figure is faithfully crafted based on Heath Ledger’s stunning portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Features a newly developed head sculpt with separate eyeball rolling system, and its pupil diameter only up to 4.5mm produced by numerous layers of painting. His phenomenal make-up accented by the red grin, and two styles of mouth piece including a gesturing tongue for different expressions.

Hot Toys has expanded its leading-edge expertise, introducing a superior level of craftsman work goes into the wool hair implants which recreated Joker’s green coiffed hairstyle with added volume and curls at the strands to reflect his maniacal nature.

The Joker’s real fabric costume including his purple topcoat, blazer, vest, dress shirt, pants, socks, are all recreated with fine texture and accurate patterns. Most importantly, we have introduced a form fitting body unique to this figure, reflecting his actual physique yet giving great articulations under a layered costume.

His chaotic look completed with detailed weapons and accessories such as guns, grenades, knives, playing cards, bank note and a LED lighted diorama base with the famous bat symbol. It’s a base with two lighting modes for alternate display.

[britishhiphop]

Wish Master and Kong The Artisan - His Story [Audio]

“His Story” is the stunning debut collaboration between top Bristol underground rapper Wish Master and producer Kong The Artisan. Stacked with underground features, this is his story from the streets to fatherhood. Performed by: Wish MasterProduced by: Kong The ArtisanMixed and mastered by: Rola at Khameleon Sounds https://www.instagram.com/rolaroc/ Wish…

[fashionbooksmilano]

Pierre Frey Textiles, Wallpapers, Carpets, and Furniture

A Family Legacy of Passion and Creativity

Text Patrick Frey Photogeraphy Mattia Aquila

Flammarion, Paris 2023, 400 pages, 25x32cm, ISBN 9782080421999

euro 78,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Pierre Frey, the leading French producer of furniture, textiles and wallcoverings, seamlessly combines artisanal craftsmanship with modernity. Enchanting brocades and damasks, luminous hand-woven silken velvets, traditional woodblock printed fabrics, striking contemporary patterns made into works of art: Pierre Frey, a family business founded in 1935, is famous for the variety and boldness of its inspired designs, and has asserted itself in the luxury market as the uncontested global leader in soft furnishing textiles and wallpapers. Having acquired the venerable houses Braquenié and Le Manach, Pierre Frey possesses one of the most important private textile heritages in the world. Pierre Frey has worked with the Louvre and the château de Versailles, decorated castle interiors, and provides the fabrics and wallpapers of elegant private homes around the world—from Paris to Hong Kong to New York. Drawing from their archives of more than 25,000 documents, which date from the sixteenth century to the present, this indispensable volume will serve as a reference and a basis for contemporary inspiration to professional and amateur designers.

15/11/23

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

im gonna show my friend dnp videos tonight after their upload. what would you choose to show? :D im just curious

Omg that's a great idea! Make a whole event of it really, get drinks and snacks, hope you guys have fun!

As for what videos I'd choose, if I'm watching with someone who is already familiar with them I would probs watch a series like impossible quiz or something. If it's with someone who hasn't watched them before I would start with one of the later pinofs, think 6 and above. I would also show friends something like a #relatable Dan video, what not to do on the bus or psycho thoughts or my personal favourite to show new people: Spiral of lies. I haven't even checked them in ages, are they still around? For a Phil video to show I'd say it depends on the friends I'm showing, if it's someone whom I know to appreciate the strange and the artisanal I'd show something from this early videos. If they're the kind of people who are usually into more mainstream stuff maybe Why I was a weird kid, or one of the ones where there's a specific story he's telling like Why I can't go back to the gym. For the gaming channel you wanna start with something fun and accessible like cards against humanity. Unless your friend is someone who actually likes video games and watching video games in which case choose the kind of game they might like. Someone who's into the Pokemon, Mario kinda stuff? Show them bishi bashi and donkey Kong. Someone who's into first person shooters? Show them Outlast 2 demo. Also for people who especially like react channels and watch YouTube gamers because they like to watch them annoyed and screaming at games: Getting Over It is your best bet.

Ik you probably were hoping for more of a 'which are some fun videos to watch?' thing but I have provided you with a whole recruitment plan XD

They fulfill such a niche for weirdos that sometimes I end up showing videos to friends where they can't find any ground to relate at all and aren't able to get into it, which can get awkward, so I've gotten better at finding just what kind of videos to show for introducing your friends to DnP. Find yourself in a similar dilemma? Tell me about your friends' personalities and interests and I'll recommend some starter videos to show them lol

[drownmeinbeauty]

FAR, FAR AWAY

Years ago I met a man who told me he was from Côte d'Ivoire and those words, uttered on a frigid Sunday morning on a street corner in midtown, conjured up a fantasy of Africa, a romance of the continent, almost entirely uninformed, that remains with me.

The words Angkor Wat do the same.

I know little about the twelfth-century temple complex in Cambodia. I've seen grainy nineteenth-century photographs and talked with architects who've visited. I remember the gorgeous footage from In the Mood for Love, in which Hong Kong film start Tony Leung wanders the grounds alone, in silence, running his hands along the stone, summoning a long-ago heartbreak that will shadow his entire life. The place obliges. It's sensual and severe, ancient and embracing, with chambers and corners in which to hide.

A smart video from the Worlds Monuments Fund goes a way to dismiss the romanticism. Drone footage highlights the vastness of the site and its lush watery surrounds. The camera lingers over piles of giant stone blocks, which are being reset after structural reinforcing and waterproofing work is completed. There's a discussion of the enormous fig tree whose roots straddle the roof at Ta Prohm like tentacles, with the promise that both structure and tree will be preserved. There are interviews with engineers and artisans carrying out the restoration work, which seems terribly pragmatic.

Then there's a pan shot of Churning of the Ocean of Milk, the iconic bas relief depicting that episode in Hindu mythology, with phalanxes of demons and angels stirring up the elixir of everlasting life, amrita. Right then the dream of Angkor Wat re-emerges. We see these creatures carved, life-size (that is, at the size of human adults), compressed in dramatic repetition, rendered richly within an inch of the surface of stone, a work of delirious craft and precision. What men carved these stones, through how many years, and what thoughts, what songs, were with them as they worked?

Longing for a place requires knowing something about it while at the same time knowing nothing. Can one understand a place correctly and remain enchanted by it? I want to see Angkor Wat and also hold onto my fantasy of that place.

Photograph by Émile Gsell, 1866.

[mrscorpio]

Another MR. SCORPIO'S HOUSE FIRE is UP!

Mixcloud: http://bit.ly/Mixcloud306

D/L: http://bit.ly/DL-HF306

Shows: http://bit.ly/ScorpioPodcasts

Featuring:

Name/Artist/Album

Party People (Extended Mix)/CASSIMM, Gene Farris/Party People

Drippn' (Karizma Baltimore Drip)/Mr. Flip/Drippn'

Acid Groove (Extended) /Zurra/Acid Groove

Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funk Mix)/Tori Amos/A Tori Amos Collection: Tales of a Librarian

Ruleta (The Real Deep Bossa Mix)/The Sandbust Orchestra/Ruleta

Suncastles (Original Mix)/Libellula/Suncastles

Afraid To Feel (Extended) /Lf System/Afraid To Feel

Better Off Alone (Extended Mix)/Marlon Sadler/ Sam Supplier/Better Off Alone

Let Me Show You (Extended Mix)/AKA AKA, Artenvielfalt/Let Me Show You

Alegria (Extended Mix)/Dave Winnel/Alegria

Freak Me (Extended Mix)/Adapter/Freak Me

Overture (Edit)/Tibi Dabo/Overture

Mighty (Untouchable)/Blu, MED & Bane Capital/Good Fortune

Tsunami (Intro) (Prod. By Jamil Honesty)/Substance810/Makin Waves 2: The Tsunami

ComeOnHomeSoul!!!/9th Wonder/Zion IX

Lost Forever/Travis Scott/Utopia

Memba/Mustafa Shakir/A Harlem Boi Biopic

P.O (Patent Ocean)/ONENESS & Freemanz Production/Unity

W.E.B./Count Bass D/Walter Dwight

Locked Up/Jemini The Gifted One & Danger Mouse/Born Again

C.A.U.T.I.O.N/Nyck Caution/Nyckstape

Cold Sphere/Da Flyy Hooligan & Kong The Artisan/F.O.M.A. (Fundamentals Of Musical Art)

Marionette Flex (Feat. Nolan & Fly Anakin)/Denmark Vessey/Omakase

Don't Panic feat. Defcee, ZeroStar, SolarFive & Ace Cannons/Zilla Rocca & Jason Griff/Stacking Chips

Spiderman/Giggs/Zero Tolerance

The Speed of Power/Raw Poetic. Feat. Damu the Fudgemunk/Away Back In

Born Sinner/J. Cole/Born Sinner (Deluxe Edition)

hold me down (feat. Jimetta Rose & Voices of Creation)/Noname/Sundial

Vibe 56/Marques Murrey/Chai Tea Vibes LoFi/ Vol. 6

Painted Houses feat. Conway the Machine/Smoke DZA & Flying Lotus/Flying Objects

Show & Tell (feat. Freddie Gibbs)/Mick Jenkins/The Patience

RUNAWAY/Touch Sensitive/Ta-ku, Rini/Songs To Come Home To

Time To Go/A.M. Breakups/REDIVIDER

It's On/Kaidi Tatham/The Only Way

[stuffedeggplants]

I have serious doubts about whether this is actually Scythian; it's stylistically inconsistent with anything recovered from Scytho-Siberian cultural sites--let alone the western range of Scythian cultures--or artifacts from northern China and southern Siberia from the same time period which the Scythians as nomads with broad trading networks would have had access to, but we'll get to that later.

This piece seems to have been first posted online by a now defunct art auction website. But where was it first recovered from? The most the site can definitively say about it was that it was purchased in Hong Kong in 1999.

As far as the analytical tests go, the fact that somebody ran this through XRF analysis to determine its elemental composition doesn't mean much to me without seeing a comparison between the analysis of this torque and the analysis of other gold artifacts ostensibly from the same place the gold ore itself came from. Being able to say "yeah this is gold" is less helpful than being able to say "the results are consistent with gold artifacts found in Pazyryk kurgan burials thought to be from a workshop in [distant location here.]"

Construction, patina, and tool-markings can all be faked very convincingly by professionals, and unfortunately uranium thorium-helium dating alone is not reliable enough to determine the age of an artifact made within the last couple thousand years.

I'm also confused about how this company knows that the torque originates in Western Asia considering that the "provenance" as we're told it is merely "purchased in Hong Kong." Did someone behind this website believe that this was made in a goldsmithing workshop in 1st century Yemen or Egypt or Turkey? It wouldn't be unusual if it was and made its way to a Scythian leader who was buried in Siberia, but again, it doesn't make sense stylistically. I've only taken a couple Near Eastern art history classes and obviously I'm not an expert, but it really doesn't look like anything I'd expect coming out of those areas in the 2nd century BC.

Now just because it's pretty, and also Scythian (and made by Greek workshop!), here's a golden pectoral discovered in Ukraine.

Anyway, circling back to the very first paragraph, if we're talking about "Scythians" as an archaeological cultural network of Eurasian steppe nomads, then yes, they did have access to the dragon motif, particularly in the east. We actually have a golden belt buckle from a 3rd century BC site near Omsk of two tigers battling a dragon, which I believe is the earliest Scythian artifact with a depiction of dragons that we currently have.

It's hard to make out, but luckily we have a bronze belt buckle from Buryatia a century later, over a thousand miles east of Omsk, showing the exact same scene. The dragon head is near the center, biting the tiger's waist. We also have a third, identical buckle from Mongolia carved out of nephrite.

I know I'm belaboring the point by showing you three identical belt buckles, but you can see why I am skeptical about the original photo being a Scythian piece.

Here are some other dragon motifs we have from northern China from roughly the same time period that our Scythian torque is said to be from. A lot of these are from the Xiongnu. They employed some Han artisans who lived south of them, and were thus influenced by their style. (The last image is said to be an unusual depiction of a 'feline' rather than a 'lupine' dragon, possibly intended for the domestic Chinese market while still adding a bit of northern steppe flair.) The source book for these images is Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes, easily accessed here.

If the golden torque isn't fake, I believe it's likely misidentified as Scythian. I will say though that I don't know anything about Chinese art, so maybe it truly is quite old and just from some later time period but found in an area with a lot of Scytho-Siberian cultural sites. Again, if it's real, its origin may also have been obscured on purpose to shield whoever dug it up and sold it from the law coming down on the illegal antiquities market.

Edit: I won't post a deluge of Scythian art pics here because this post is long enough, but another reason I'm skeptical is because I have never seen scales depicted in that way--overlaid one on top of the other--in Scythian art from either the eastern or western end of their cultural continuum.

Scythian gold torque in the form of dragons, dated to the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. Private Collection (?) via Gemma-Antiqua.