More Cool Street Art

Disneyland for Ghosts

We went to the Recoletta Cemetary the other day.

It's a whole city for the dead, complete with houses and trees.

If I were a ghost, I would be very comfortable here.

Running, screaming pookas will be shushed.

Mosquito Coast

My awesome family.

Dudes in the street call me Chuck Norris.

But I think I have more of a Joaquin Pheonix thing going on.

Directions

I'm 4 for 12 in giving directions now. The last one was in English, so Maria says it doesn't count. I say I'm 3/11 in Spanish and 4/12 multi-lingual.

People assume I know where I'm going because I have a beard and therefore look wise.

This way to the Golden Flower thing.

When An Economy Crashes

What happens when inflation soars into the double digits?

Your savings evaporate, and your cost of living gets out of touch with the money you're pulling in. Eventually, when wages don't keep pace with the cost of goods, you just stop buying things, except rent and food.

Suddenly, no one's buying cars, or electronics, or homes, or building materials. Money stops moving. And bam! The economy falls apart.

When an economy crashes, work dries up, people stay home, extra bedrooms get filled, daycare disappears and families pull together.

This happened to Buenos Aires ten years ago. The whole system fell apart, so they circled the community wagons. And you can see the aftermath of these values in every park. Children are a focus here. Family events. Weekend fairs. Merry-go-rounds. Hundreds of toy stores.

When you don't have money, you have time. And in Argentina, they spent that time with their children and families.

The People's Gym.

Puppet shows in the park.

A shot from the 'round'.

La Boca

I went to La Boca (AKA The Mouth) this week with my friend Steve (AKA Lip).

All the houses there are painted wild colours.

There are tango dancers, tourist traps and shifty eyed guys in track suits.

And of course, lotsa Che.

Olive loves the swings.

Ok.

Horsie is seeping, Mama.

Hail

They have some wicked lightening storms here.

When you have a tin roof, the sound gets amplified.

But last night was out of control. I thought someone was throwing rocks on our roof. I thought we had poltergeists.

Turns out it was hail, some the size of golf balls.

Hail hits Buenos Aires.

Snaps From The South

Oh.

There is light at the end of the tabloids.

Palermo Soho --> Palermo Hollywood.

Vitomar truck wraps.

I think this may have been a train at one point.

This is the head office of Madre.

One of the most prominent advertising agencies in Buenos Aires.

They make stuff like this.

Brilliant. I bought a bottle.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Puerto Madero pookas.

Cool Street Art in Buenos Aires

Today I stormed the offices of Ogilvy, Santo and Publicis.

Tomorrow I have an interview with Saatchi.

Not sure what this place is. But I like it.

Directions

I'm 3 for 9 on giving directions in Buenos Aires.

Disco

I spend a crazy amount of time at the Disco.

Now, this isn't half as glamourous as it sounds. It's not glamourous at all.

The Disco is a supermarket here in Buenos Aires. And a necessary evil.

Just as we ravenously consume its goods, it mercilessly consumes my time. Here's why:

1. I have these two little eating machines that never stop. I bet the twins put back more than I do. We go through as much food as I can carry every couple of days.

2. The checkout process is ridiculously slow. I don't know what they are paying these cashiers, but note to Disco higher-ups: you need to pay them more. There can be long jangling lines of 10-15 customers at a time, deep into the aisles, sighing, slouched over their carts, and still the cashiers move with this Zen-like, sloth indifference. Faster, slower, same thing. I spent an hour in line once. An hour! Just to buy my insatiable creatures food. At Disco, they're lucky to go through 3 people in 20 minutes. I've picked up the local trick of getting 3/4 of what I need, and then leaving the cart in line to hold my place, while I run around finding Diana Arroz and wipes and other stuff.

They need to fill out these coupons by hand. It takes forever. I don't know what they are doing.

Every time I go there, I get these vouchers. But I have no idea what they are for. When I buy something I just hand over a stack of 10 and fan them out like playing cards. But they always say something like 'manana' or 'no aqui.' So I just keep collectin'.

The Hunt Is On

DHL delivered my portfolio yesterday.

My brother had it custom made for me, and it looks amazing - kind of like a spell book.

Now I'm ready to start showing my work to agencies.

Yesterday, I met a filmmaker that worked with Ogilvy. Today, I'm going to drop in on Publicis - they're three blocks from our apartment. I worked with them back in Hong Kong, so you never know. Tomorrow, it's a guy from DDB.

Crazy Packaging in BA

Diana Arroz.

Arroz is Spanish for rice. I almost never eat rice. But I had to buy this.

Much better than they sound.

I prefer the original.

Uh, I don't get it.

An Azure Sky Of Deepest Summer

I do most of my writing on the terrace. You can't hear the traffic from up here.

Despite being a city of 15.2 million, there's not a cloud in the sky. All around me is perfectly blue.

This is our 'retractable' roof. We get natural light indoors when we crank that sucker open.

The air here is crystal and clean. This city lives up to its name.