JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

We were all pretty cracked yesterday between juggling commercial design work, art work, the web steez, and the pressure that comes with maintaining our recently coined “hipster” status… we needed a day of rest. Personally, I just couldn’t pull together the right outfit, so I never left the house. Actually that’s not totally true. Once Alex, Stevesy and sAne stopped by to help me decide what cap and which sneaks to wear, we split out to the theatre to freak on some Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino collaborative film making. “GRINDHOUSE” IS NASTY! GO SEE IT. NEARLY 4 OF THE MOST TWISTED AND DISTURBINGLY ENTERTAINING HOURS OF MY ADULT LIFE. Rodriguez and Quentin first collab’d on “From Dusk Til Dawn”, which in my book was fucking brilliant. The critics panned it. They may very well do the same with their newest collab, but whatever. “GrindHouse” is a god damn cult masterpiece.

Bringin’ back the Etch A Sketch up at Lefavor’s the other night…

So, we opened the little token from Japan today. While we got many responses, nobody quite got it. As it turns out, most of our readers are a little perverted, as a condom was the most popular answer. Come on guys, get your minds out of the gutter, how does that graphic relate to getting it on (in a safe and responsible manner)? A few of you even knew japanese and got it wrong. A chocolate biscuit? How would that ever fit?

Well as you can see by that awesome animated gif, it’s a sticker… OF A NEW POKEMON*! That’s right Niels Davis, you won! Awesome! Good job!

*It’s not really a Pokemon (we don’t think…) we just feel bad that nobody got it. But Niels you’re still getting a free t for giving it your best. You’re the best loser! Nice! Email me and we’ll get that shirt to you asap.

We’d like to thank everyone who participated, there will be plenty more opportunities to win some fresh JE gear. Better luck next time. Suckas!

Sooooo, we really gotta thank the Westword for hittin’ us with a “Best of Denver” award, particularly since we’re in Boulder. Thanks Westword peops. We really appreciate the luv - 4real. The “Best New Hipster Hangout” title came as a bit of a shock - it probably shouldn’t have, but it did, and regardless, we’re warming up to it. See, a hipster is a person who derives his identity largely through his association with a subculture which has been deemed “hip.” Hip means “fashionably current,” and likely came from the Wolof word hipi, meaning “to open one’s eyes,” or “to be aware.” If you really know the meaning of the term “hipster” which most don’t, it’s pretty damn appropriate, particularly considering it’s roots in the word hipi, meaning “to open one’s eyes”, however “hipster” as used in our modern lexicon typically comes with some negative, super trendy connotations. On that note, I just wanna make one thing clear - so here goes: while the work we do at our design studio, cypher13 and the art/artists, toys, and products that we push in our boutique/gallery, Joyengine, may be deemed “hip”, and we believe they certainly are by the terms current definition, there’s a hell of a lot more to it all than just being fashionably current. Our shop, our design studio, our friends aka the “hipsters”, and the thinking that we collectively bring to those around us is not about being cool, or hip, or trendy, it’s real, it’s who we are. The lifestyle we all live, the work we do, the art we make, the way we look, and the shit we talk about is not a function of what others are deeming “fashionably current”. It’s about who we are, our similar influences growing up, our creative zeal, our willingness to push ego aside and share ideas, collaborate, and think larger than ourselves. We’ve been doin’ it since we were kids - it ain’t a new thing, at least not for us. You see, we’re not following trends, or trying to be “hip”, we’re forging culture, making shit happen, and bringing people together to lift ourselves up collectively and make the proverbial “whole” greater than the sum of it’s parts. As long as when you think “hip” you think about all that shit - then cool. We can handle that.

Anyway, after receiving our hip kids award some rather funny discussions went down around the shop regarding stereotyping and related crap. We all get trapped sometimes by the invisible confines of our culture, the unavoidable stereotype being one. We’re gonna live up to that stereotype - at least visually. The following photo was taken at the shop on Friday afternoon. Out of the blue the place just went totally “hipster”, one rolled in after the next, until shit… HIPSTER HANGOUT! Dope, YO! We gotta admit, we sorta fall right in to our current culturally defined box, eh?

HIPSTERS (from left to right): Ihatealex, Lifter Baron, sAne, Krez, J.R., Thielke, Lefavor, teebee, Shitty Kitten, Boots, and Small But Dangerous. Tragic, right? Regardless, there’s some seriously fuckin’ crafty bitches in this crew. Belee dat!

Our guest contibutor, Stephen Foehr, Small BUT Dangerous’s father would you like to take a second and consider the following question. Please reply to lucian@joyengine.com if you feel so inclined. Here goes:

If you were to kill a Very Important Idea (VII), which one would you chose? Why? What would you replace it with?

Potential victims:

• All men are created equal
• Poverty is an inherent part of the natural order
• The meek shall inherit the Earth
• We live in a free democracy
• A government should be benevolent

The JoyEngine crew thanks you in advance for your participation. Spread Joy! Make your friends famous! Paint on shit. Eat greasy mexican food cuz it rules. Oh, and share whenever possible. It freaks people out and makes them very uncomfortable. This is good. Wait, wait, don’t forget to wash your hands. We have the technology: fuacet + soap + water + scrub = clean hands. Peace.

According to Business Week, Boulder, Colorado is one of the top ten places for artists to live in the United States. Cool, huh? There does seem to be more and more artsy types rollin’ through town and stickin’ around. We see ‘em and kick it in the shop with cool new peeps every day. With the addition of Crispin Porter (Agency super power for those of you not in the know), after moving their Miami headquarters to Boulder, maybe Business Week is right.

Here’s a piece of the article, “Want to know where a great place to invest in real estate will be 5 or 10 years from now? Look at where artists are living now.

Sociologists and policymakers have long touted art and culture as a cure-all to economically depressed neighborhoods, cities and regions. The reason? It has been proved that artists — defined as self-employed visual artists, actors, musicians, writers, etc. — can stimulate local economies in a number of ways.

Artists are often an early sign of neighborhood gentrification. “Artists are the advance guard of what’s hip and cool,” says Bert Sperling, the founder and president of Sperling’s Best Places, based in Portland, Ore., and the compiler of BusinessWeek.com’s list of the Best Places for Artists in America.”

Here’s a pic to drive the point home… King? King of what?

Phil dropped off some crazy Japanese shit yesterday. We have no idea what it is. Do you? If you can guess the contents we’ll hook you up with the new JE logo T. Oh and if you know Japanese, that’s cheating you educated bitch.

The unveiling will be a week from today at 2:13 pm, and will be broadcasted live on our web cam. Psh, we don’t have a web cam, that last bit was a lie. Anyway, send your answers to lucian@joyengine.com.

So apparently sharing is very cool. Today we received an email with a photo of the new JoyEngine logo shirt with a girl in it. At this point we don’t know if this is meant to be anything other than a kind gesture or an old fashion battle between t-shirt models. We need to look into this a little further before we can be sure. Until then check out this girl’s version of the JoyEngine logo.

If you are interested in showing us your version of the JoyEngine logo please share via myspace comment or message, points will be rewarded for originality.

Well I had a little meeting with a Subaru Forester today. Needless to say, bike vs car never works out. In this case my aluminum ‘06 Bianchi Pista Concept left in a sorry state - totaled. If you don’t know, when an aluminum bike cracks it’s over and mine did a bit more than crack.

Obviously I’m bummed. Hopefully the Subaru’s insurance company will buy me a new bike.

Oh and I’m fine. Maybe a bruised hip in the morning and a sore thumb. When you ride a bike everyday in this car infested world, incidents are bound to happen, I’m just glad I didn’t break anything (other than my bike) or incur any serious injuries. The ‘07 Pista Concepts are white - could be cool.

While it’s not officially spring (the equinox is just around the corner), Boulder residents are getting spring fever. If you’re not too familiar with Boulder, you should know that the hippie tea company, Celestial Seasoning, is located here. Oh, and we have Naropa University, the only accredited Buddhist-inspired university in the United States. There’s also a café and yoga studio on every block. It’s a nice place. So, when Boulder sees the arrival of spring, it means the birds and the bees… There’s College girls in mini skirts, and a large increase in rear-ends, creating traffic more than stopping it. The seasonal Thursday night bike rides are initiated, and of course a guy getting arrested for participating in nude yoga on the lawn of the Boulder court house just across the street from the shop.

Evangelical Fundamentalists scare the shit out of us. We’re drawing a line in the proverbial sand. We aint down with their way of life. If you fall into that category, see ya. JoyEngine aint about that shit. WORD.

We watched “Jesus Camp” last night and it was a real eye opener. We all knew that Evangelical Fundamentalists were crazy, but these people are on a fucking rampage. The movie starts out with Becky Fischer, a child minister and definitely one to watch out for, describing the “crazy” muslims and training their children with weapons at age five, but then goes on to say she wishes that American Evagelical Fundamentalist children were as willing to lay down their lives in the same manner. Um, a little backwards, but we’re just getting started.

The Evangelical Fundamentalist community have taken their children out of the public school system and back into their home. 75% of Evangelical Fundamentalist are homeschooled. In one scene a mother is quizing her young (maybe 8 years old) son. She asks:

Mother: “One popular thing to do in American politics is to note that the summers in the United States over the past few years have been very warm, as a result, global warming must be real. What is wrong with this reasoning?”

Levi (her son): “It’s only gone up 0.6 degrees.”

Mother: “Yeah, it’s not really a big problem is it?”

Levi: “No, I don’t think that it’s going to hurt us.”

The mother goes on to say, “science doesn’t prove anything, and it’s really interesting when you look at it that way.”

Um… right. Anyone see “An Inconvenient Truth?”

I don’t want to go into every detail of the movie, but these people are seriously fucked. And these poor kids, they go to a creepy ass camp where they cry and feel empowered by some of the most twisted people walking this earth. In Becky Fischer’s opening address at the camp she segways nicely between sin and Harry Potter.

“Let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God and I don’t care what kind of hero they are. They are an enemy of God and if Harry Potter was in the old testament he would have been put to death! (clapping) You don’t make heros out of warlocks! This is a generation that will stand for purity and righteousness and holiness and you’re going to serve the lord all the days of your life. And we declare these things upon you.”

Wow, slow down there tiger. Warlocks? Last time I checked a warlock is a fucking mythical thing. I mean they have kids crying, screaming, being washed in holy water, and apparently Nestle makes some damn good holy water. These kids are talking about battles, calling themselves warriors, dying for God, they have no concept of reality. Ted Haggard got caught banging a dude in the ass down in Colorado Spring. Ted Haggard is, well was prior to his little adventure up the poop shoot, a major player in this movement, a leader if you will. He’s also a consultant to George Bush. You would think that maybe a kid would think, “hey, that guy that was telling all this shit, doesn’t even follow it himself and who knows if he believes it?” There is an “army of god” being manufactured out there and something is going to go down. We know where we stand on this one. Do you. With maniacs like this making up 25% of America, somethings gotta give.

Jesus Camp