On the final day of the Esquina Norte Tijuana Design Conference, Jerry and I ran a Custom Toy Workshop. Over the course of 4 hours we walked participants through the process of custom toy design using Jamungo's Sqwert as our platform. The students amazed us with the amount of passion and enjoyment they approached their work. The gorgeous results can be seen below:"Dualidad" by Amaranta Delgado"Sloppy" by Claudia Castro"Soladito Black Warrior" by Martha Garayzar"Chaca" by Cristian A. Rodriguez Valadez"Bloohoo" by Gerardo Najar Haro"La Virgen Luchador" by Xtian Rosas Alvarez"Pancho Nopal" by Josefina Aguilera Albarran

So Jerry and I were chillin' in our room yesterday preparing for our lecture when something weird happened. We were both online using the hotel's wireless internet connection. I was using my Mac laptop's Iphoto program when, "pop", all of a sudden I see that I now have access to all of Ricardo's Iphoto pictures. Jerry didn't believe what I was saying so he immediately opened his Iphoto...and what do you know, he had access to Ricardo's pics as well.By sheer coincidence we left the hotel at the very same instance that Ricardo and his airline team did. Jerry was sure to take a few photos of our new best friend!What's the lesson of the day? Making your Iphotos library "public" isn't the brightest idea...

I was pretty stoked and nervous about giving a talk today with Jerry. I was a bit nervous at first, but I'm happy to say that the lecture went pretty well. The attendees were super supportive of our work and really appreciated our take of Lucha Libre. We've met some wonderful people out here. Thanks to Mr. Kone for his AMAZING print, Escobar for the beautiful mask, Zovek for his gorgeous Santo statue, and Ledy Ledy for the stylish shirt!We met some amazing artists in Mexico. More on them soon.

Jerry and I have just spent our first day in TJ. We were invited out here for the Esquina Norte Design Conference. Jhoana Mora and her awesome team have set us up for a couple days in exchange for a few words of Muttpop "wisdom". We're honored to be a part of the solid line up of artists Jhoana has gathered from around the world.Thus far it's been a cool experience. Jerry and I parked our car at the edge of the Border and walked across with bags in hand. It's amazing how you can immediately feel the difference between the two countries the second you cross that line. There's a chaotic energy to Tijuana that you'd never find in California.We met Escobar (who occasionally frequents our blog) and his talented crew of artists. Thanks for the awesome gifts! We also had a chance to walk around Tijuana. There's no better way to get a feel for a city than to walk it for a bit.Now I have to find some time to prepare our lecture before a night of drinks...Here's some pics that Jerry took thus far:

Osamu Tezuka's output was outstanding. He developed universes in a variety of genres for both animation and comics. Practically all of them were successful (Astro Boy, Kimba The White Lion, Black Jack). He singlehandedly established the manga and anime industries through his work. Yet beyond that, Tezuka and his team of animators found the time to do artistic animation that pushed the perceived limits of what anime can be. He is and always will be a great inspiration!Here's a clever piece he did in 1964 about man's methods of memory:

I'm sorry for those of you that are sick and tired of my Kanye West obsession. But the man knows how to do things right. I always felt that "Stronger" sounded like West channeling a bit of Timbaland. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. Here's a look at West learning from the club-banger master. I found this off of Kanye's awesome new BLOG.