BLOG — MARK HOPPUS

This exclusive piece was designed and created by Mark Hoppus and Rich Simmons. Rich, who you may know already from the collab he's done with HMNIM, but in case you don't, he's an award-winning street artist. Do they give awards to artists? Apparently they do and Rich has the trophies to prove it.

Rich described the piece so we didn't have to and here's what he said, "the painting was done to compliment the print run we did for HMNIM and has the same color pattern and was sprayed by both myself and Mark. The background is created using reclaimed billboards and the skullapus stencil was created just for this painting and collaboration. The money raised from this exclusive painting will go towards running more exciting art workshops with Teens Unite and Art is the Cure".

The canvas has been signed by both Mark and Rich as both of them worked on the painting in Rich's London studio. And the painting is 1 of only 3 that were made. The other 2 are owned by Mark and Rich.

100% of the proceeds will go to the charity Teens Unite Fighting Cancer.

The canvas is 24 inches wide by 24 inches high and will be shipped by courier or can be collected from the Teens Unite office in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire (just north of Hogwarts). Click HERE for the ebay link to the auction.

If you have any questions please email info@teensunitefightingcancer.org

There's not much we can say about Filmage that we haven't already said a million times before. It is an amazing film that should be required watching for everyone wanting to start a band or make a film. You could hate the Descendents, hate music, hate documentaries, and you will walk away loving all three. We loved it so much we went all the way to London to give our support to the Filmage guys. 

Grab some popcorn the movie has started.

The UK edition of the Descendents X HMNIM tee.

The Q&A with the Filmage guys and Mark.

How cool is this screening room? Dozens of couches and chairs.

Mark and a Descendents fan. 

None of this would be possible without, Mark, Filmage Crew, and Everything Sucks Music.

London has called and we have answered. We've jumped on the coattails of the Filmage movie crew and HMNIM is headed to London. The Descendents documentary has been playing all around the USA and is finally going to be playing across the pond. First stop is London, and that's where we get on. There are two showings on Saturday the 16th, 8:00pm & 10:30pm and two showings the following day, Sunday the 17th, 1:30 & 4:00pm. All four screenings will have our very own Mark Hoppus in attendance to make the movie experience that much better for everyone. Sure, he's in the actual movie but that wasn't good enough, he's going to be right there eating your popcorn and talking over pivotal scenes in the movie.

As we did in San Diego, we've come correct with a limited edition Descendents X HMNIM collab tee. In San Diego, we had the black tee edition, for London we played around with a Union Jack colorway, but in the end we decided that was a bad idea, so white it is. With special London edition artwork in the neck, and a hand-numbered hangtag. 300 shirts were printed for the event. Once they are gone, they're gone.

Were you wondering where this pumpkin came from? Wonder no more. We are going to tell you. This Royal Crown blue pumpkin comes to us from one of the most prestigious farms outside of London. A place, world renowned for their fertile soil and harsh weather, making it the ideal spot for the Royal Crown blue. A place where pumpkins flock to like the salmon of Capistrano. We are talking about a little place called...Hoppus Farm.

The Royal Crown blue is known alternatively by these names, 'triamble', 'queensland blue', 'crown', 'jarrahdale', take that knowledge and file it away incase you ever make it onto a pumpkin quiz show. The Royal Crown blue was born and raised on the Hoppus Farm until the day came where it willingly gave its life for the greater good of Halloween.

The octopus logo was hand carved by Mark himself.

Last night, London saw the opening of the latest Lazarides annual art show, this time aptly titled "Brutal."  It took place in an abandoned bank building on The Strand.  First recorded in 1002 as "la Stranda," meaning "shore," The Strand runs along what used to be the north bank of the Thames River, before the construction of the Victoria embankment. It now delineates the southernmost edge of the Covent Garden district, and is in no way pertinent to this blog post, or the art contained herein, other than the fact that it is the name of the street upon which the show took place.  Also, my wife almost tripped crossing the road and her friend dropped her phone, but the screen was okay.  Let's move on, shall we? 

Lazarides is the gallery at the cutting edge of the intersection where fine art meets street art, and this show is no different.  Walking into the venue, you feel like you're entering a zombie apocalypse, or a rave from the early '90s.  Decaying walls, exposed concrete, darkness, and loud music.  We arrived early and were met with performance artists beating the walls with metal pipes and baseball bats.  A crowd gathered and watched as they eyed the audience members and launched into a macabre contortion act.  

We wandered the dark ground floor halls of the forgotten financial institution, and around every corner we encountered work from some of the world's foremost artists.

Conor Harrington.

Antony Micallef. 

Miaz Brothers.

Pete Hawkins.

And other works from Know Hope, Estevan Oriol (photographer for the blink-182 untitled album and director of the "Down" video), Todd James, Katrin Fridricks, Faile, and on and on and on.  Paintings, sculpture, wall projections, installations, video art, and photography.  

There was even a cafe in the back serving soup.

We spent the night hanging out with artist and collaborator Rich Simmons, and here's a photo of us awkwardly standing next to one another.

Here's another photo from the night, of me standing next to my wife in front of work by the Miaz Brothers.  She's the one standing on the right.

As we were leaving, the event was in full swing, and as we approached the exit, I got to meet Antony Micallef.  We spoke for a few minutes about art and and the importance of honesty in expression, and I'm happy to report that the dude is friendly, smart, and very down to earth. It's awesome when you meet one of your heroes and he turns out to be a great human.

Brutal runs through the 27th.  You can book tickets online.  Steel yourself and enjoy.

We know, we know the site has been all Filmage for weeks now. So consider this a week end wrap up of a super fun time. If you were there, then you know it was an awesome film, made by a great bunch of guys about one of the best bands around. 

There are plans to release Filmage on iTunes and Netflix but those are still far out. Until then, be sure to follow Filmage for the latest news on screenings, events and all things Filmage. Are they doing East Coast shows? Yes. Are they coming to the UK? Maybe. How do we know any of this? We follow them on Facebook and Twitter and so should you.

And now to the main event, the "meat and potatoes" of this post, and if you are vegetarian or vegan, then let's get to the "potatoes and potatoes" of this story. A little over 3 weeks ago, we joined forces with Vannen Watches to put on a Filmage event in San Diego. We asked Mark if he could do the Q&A, and we waited for his response, and he said...wait for it...."yes". We invited San Diego's hometown radio hero, Mike Halloran to join in on the fun. Mike knows more about music than iTunes. And there the stage was set. Filmage San Diego was a go.

These fine people circled around the block to catch one of the 3 screenings.

The guys behind the film but in front of the poster. Meet Deedle and Matt.

A packed San Diego Digiplex house.

Can you find Waldo in this picture?

In between screenings, Mark mingled with the crowd. Nice HMNIM octo hat photo bomb.

None of this would have been possible without all these great people and that box of popcorn.