Wordless Wednesday #71

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Live Graffiti

There's always something interesting going on in Eindhoven, today we happened upon a live graffiti session!  I happened to be a big fan of graffiti, as long as it's not destroying something.  I've posted in the past about sticker graffiti around town, and my Instagram account even features a couple pieces near my house.  From the 14th - 23rd, Eindhoven is hosting E-Moves, it's an urban festival spread throughout town, featuring everything from break dancing to BMX bikes.  We witnessed just a bit of the street art event... would have liked to stick around but it was lunch time and we were hungry.  There were multiple empty canvases set up, and even a few already in use.  It still amazes me that a large white canvas can come to life so quickly.  As usual I snapped a couple pics for you, and if you're in the Eindhoven area you should pop over to Dynamo and check out the street art below on the square.

Eye Opening

I've always enjoyed photography (even wrote a post about it)... I'm far from professional but that doesn't make me enjoy it any less. But in the past year or so my interest has taken on a new life, and in a way, I can thank this blog for that. We all know the term stop and smell the flowers, well, I feel I have been doing that more often. Used to I would just go from point A to be B lost in my own thoughts or on a mission but nowadays I actually look around, take in the sights, look for interesting pictures and posts. I feel media like this blog and Instagram have opened my eyes. There are many fascinating things around us everyday and yet we over look them.

I was sure to include photos of things I often see in my life recently. Are you overly focused on your daily tasks or do you take the time to look around & appreciate your surroundings?
 

Sticker Graffiti (#2)

Ever since I wrote a post about sticker graffiti throughout Eindhoven I can't stop seeing stickers everywhere I go!  And neither can my dad because he's sending me his own shots. 

The first photo was taken in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA.  (You can't miss the palm trees in the background.)  If you look close enough there's also a reoccurring theme to the stickers on our drain pipe, apparently cats & light bulbs are popular among taggers.  Since I wasn't there to take the photo I can't make out too many of the stickers, at the top I do see Wa* though.  Of course I Googled this, I couldn't find anything matching it, but it did seem to bring back a lot of results for the Japanese word Wa, which is the oldest recorded name for Japan.  Maybe my dad has some background on the stickers...  Dad, a little help?

The next shot my dad took while he was in New York City, NY, USA.  Here the taggers take a different approach, they use the sidewalk (as well as everything else).  I'm actually surprised the stickers have held up so well with all of the pedestrians in NYC.  This photo has quite a few legible stickers; and keeping up with my last post about sticker graffiti, I'm going to list off what I see.  I'll let you do the background work and if you see something I don't, let me know!  Cr8 Your Fate, Decon, 10Deep, a paintbrush, some guy with a  crew cut, Asian triangle guy, and a heart.  O.k., o.k., I couldn't let it go, I looked one up, I'll give you a heads start, Cr8 Your Fate.

Like I mentioned, I can't get away from the stickers here in Eindhoven, NL, so here's a photo I took of a door near the center of the city.  In the bottom left corner you can see old friendly Gato & Reus (cat & giant), they're also on the drain pipe outside of our apartment.  And obviously a lot we haven't seen before, luckily the graffiti artists haven't gone this crazy on our drain pipe.  Some of these I actually bothered to look up (I promise, I really do have better things to do, ha-ha!)  There are a wide range of stickers, some stickers are protesting against the treatment of animals prior to slaughter, some are just advertising music festivals, and some are marketing their own companies.  Some are a bit more interesting, like Big Daddy Gun, he's a graffiti artist (sticker-sticker, funny), and you can find him on You Tube.  And there is even one promoting a band through MySpace (wow, does that still exist). 

No matter what, each sticker has some sort of story behind it.  Maybe the sticker itself has little to no meaning and the story lies within the act itself.  In my teenage years I definitely stuck random stickers around town, what a silly adrenaline rush!

Sticker Graffiti

Well the drain pipe outside of our apartment has turned into sticker central, modern day graffiti.  I don't mind graffiti if it is done well and in the proper locations.  And I don't mind the stickers on the drain pipe either (this is not an invitation for more).  Now if someone was tagging the front of my house in the suburbs I might not be so pleased, but the stickers seem to liven up the front of an otherwise fairly drab apartment front.  All along our street, a busy road in the center of a big city, you can find these stickers... all over town actually.  Every time I pass one I wonder who did it, what does it mean, and how in the world did they even get it up there.  Often as I walk by I think, today I'm going to take a photo and put it on my blog, and most days it's just a fleeting thought.  But today, today I did it.  I stood outside of my apartment snapping shots of a drain pipe, I must have looked a little strange, but who really cares.  Like so often in life, once something is brought to your attention you start seeing it everywhere... much like the light bulb sticker or the girls face.  Wondering what they mean, I headed over to Google Images (love this feature) and of course answers started popping up.  Well, answers, not exactly, let's just say I'm not the only blogger to have taken notice.  Some people say they're soccer football related, others blame the Stickerkoning (aka Sticker King), and some people don't give explanations just a lot of examples.  When I was a teenager my bedroom door looked much like this drain pipe, was it art or was it just another way to leave my mark?  Probably both.  Our drain pipe is now host to 14 different stickers... there's duck dude, weird ghost guy, eye with a hat, light bulb, wolf/sheep, shiny hair girl, flower or star, European Student Vereniging, Mr. Cat, one-eye guy, Nostradamus, the faded one, armed hooligan, & creepy monster.   And yes, I just named them.  I can't imagine what it would cost someone to produce so many stickers just to tag the town... but people will invest anything to advertise - it might just help to know what they're advertising though.  Maybe it's a secret society and they have to follow the stickers to get to their lair (maybe I've seen too many movies).  As I write this my brain is churning, I'm going to have to investigate some more.  Cue the suspenseful, ominous, dramatic music... picture footsteps and a magnifying glass.  Voila!  And the only thing I found out was that Mr. Cat is actually referred to as Gato.  Oh yeah, and apparently the combination of stickers is important, wow do I feel out of the loop (do I even want to be in the loop???).  Anyway, just thought you all might enjoy another random, fleeting thought of mine, and if anyone can explain the stickers to me - I'm interested. 

Driving Decisions

 I probably have no right to complain about people's driving decisions considering I do not have a license, but I am going to anyway!  As mentioned in previous blogs, I walk everywhere, while out and about I can't help but notice odd decisions people on the road make.  I don't know if it's legal to post pictures of people's vehicles so if my blog gets shut down you'll know why.  Also, if this happens to be you or your car, sorry but c'mon!  In one 10 minute walk I came across 3 situations worthy of taking photos (there's a big chance you'll see a follow up to this blog). 

The first shot is of a man who decided to park in a non-parking zone vs. an actual parking spot.

While walking along I actually saw him make the conscious decision to block a driveway (a non-parking zone with a large X painted on it) instead of parking in the open parking spot directly in front of him!  It makes me wonder what he was thinking, was he trying to avoid putting change in the meter yet risking a more expensive parking ticket, does he know the owners of the driveway, or does he not know the rules (he had a Polish license plate)???

The second shot is of a car frustrated with work traffic.

The traffic around them is at a stand still because of a light about a block away and this person decides to pull out halfway and sit there.  According to the laws they should be stopped behind the triangles on the road.  Instead they decide to block a bike path and also risk a ticket.  I understand people want to get home from work and some intersections can be frustrating but seriously.  It's not just rush hour for cars but also for bikes, now every bike and scooter has to swerve to avoid this car.  And for those of you that know the intersection, you'll also notice the black car in the corner of the photo is blocking a pedestrian/walking path.  This all might be understandable if they were both rolling through the intersection but like I said they're all waiting on the light to change.

The last shot for today is of a prize winning parker!

I think it takes effort to park this bad.  If you could see the light blue car from the side you'd see it is a dinky (small) car.  How on earth do you get out of your car and walk away leaving it like that, with one adjustment they'd be in the middle of the spot.  They obviously can park straight they just can't judge distance.  I also question the person next to them, why would you squeeze into the spot next to this car?  I hope for them the parking lot was full when they made these decisions.

I can think of a couple family members and friends that also make these kinds of decisions, so please don't take this blog the wrong way.  You are allowed to make whatever decisions you want, as I am allowed to laugh at them!