We have all been there. Your just having your typical boring run off the mill kind of day. Then all of a sudden WHAM!!! something happens. It could be funny, it could even be tragic, but the reaction is always the same. You look over at the closest person next to you and say, “did that just happen?” OkiZoo promises to bring you as many of these moments as we can. Our first one is a couple weeks old and was apparently a promotion for MC Hammer’s new reality show. I don’t really need to set this one up, enjoy!

Hammer time image by Will Ainley www.willainley.co.uk

OkiZoo and Hip Hop Slam’s DJ Alpha has been deep inside his Lab Insomnia studios for the last year creating  his turntablist debut album “This way or That way”, a magnum opus of his technical ability to use the power of the record and the turntable to create music. This promises to be a bizare journey from beginning to end featuring a few special guests including fellows DJ’s like Dust One, Dawgisht, and Jimmy Penguin . It also features guest emcees, Nations and Dunn-D of  OkiZoo and Skahlah of  The Life Penciled Crew. Set for a fall release, Alf is ready to show us all why the DJ is essentially the backbone of music.  California’s Amoeba Music recently interviewed Alf to find out how he became a turntablist, about his time in Okinawa Japan, and what “This way or That Way” is all about. Click the link below.

Amoeba Music’s interview with DJ Alpha

* artwork by Nate Fisher

Living in Japan, you find out real quick the Japanese like to take the ordinary and flip it up. Going to the bathroom isn’t something most look forward too – at least with men. Get in and get out. No talking, no looking around – pick a spot on the wall and stair at it.

However, bathroom for women is like a social gathering for gossip, make-up, and whatever else women do when they go off to “power their nose”. I don’t really care, and don’t want to know.

But when I caught a line of women waiting to use the bathroom, I knew something was up. The mens room was typical. Nude pictures plastered all over, and your choice of number 1 or number 2 stalls. However, the women’s bathroom was much more and definitely encourages women to go to the bathroom and take their time.

The women’s room at Mumin Papa Cafe in Akashi, Japan (Hyogo prefecture) is beyond amazing. It toilet surround by a salt water aquarium. The owner of the cafe says it cost 30 Million Yen (approx. $270,000 at the time) to build, which is not in the budget of most restaurants. It’s filled with all sorts of exotic fish, including the “famous” male sea turtle that watching women to their business. Surprisingly, many women do not claim it impairs their duty or gives them stage fright.

Okizoo’s camera man and video editor Russell Banks, has been in high demand in the Bangkok acting scene over the last two months. Besides devoting half of his valuable time to filming and editing footage for Okizoo, Russ is now juggling some 12 hour-long days acting as the standing for M.Bison (Neal McDonough) on the forth coming Street Fighter II Movie.

The movie ‘Street Fighter II: The Legend Of Chun-Li’ is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and will feature top Hollywood actors:

• Neal McDonough (88 Minutes, Flags of Our Fathers, Minority Report) as M. Bision
• Kristin Kreuk (Smallville, EuroTrip) as Chun-Li
• Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, The Whole Nine Yards, Sin City ) as Balrog
• Chris Klein (American Pie, Rollerball, We Were Soldiers ) as Nash
• Robin Shou (Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, DOA: Dead or Alive, Beverly Hills Ninja) as Jen

Russ has worked as an extra on many commercials from Sunsilk Hair Products advert featuring Thai Model ‘Am’ to a Mitsubishi advert featuring ‘Tony Jah’ who is known for playing the leading role in Thai martial arts flicks Ang Bak, and Tom Yam Kung.

Russ has also worked as an extra in few Thai and Indian films but his luck came after landing a part as an extra on the Street Fighter II Movie. Only a few days into his job, Russ quickly got promoted to become the standing for M.Bison.

For those who aren’t sure what a stand-in is required to do; a stand-in is the person who acts out the scene for the first time in a kinda of trail run. Whilst the cameras roll, they must act out the scene precisely, as is required. When the scene is reviewed by the director and his team, elements such as the camera angles and lighting can be adjusted if needed. Some actors choose or are required to watch these scenes to give them a better idea of what they have to do.

In true Zoo spirit Russ has been getting in with the director, drinking champagne after the days work is done, and generally having a great time whilst working his ass off for the camera.

Things are also looking good for his future projects as Russ is already lined up for an audition to take a small speaking role in the forth-coming John Cusak movie, Shanghai and there also talk of a role in a new Oliver Stone movie being filmed out this way, but that’s not confirmed yet…..

So its fingers crossed for the Zoo director of moving visuals, but not just for the forth-coming BKK raw video (yeh don’t be forgetting now!) but for his acting career too!

Alex, Bon and Hey local Bangkok graffiti artists completely bombed the whole scene of the new Coca-Cola commercial filmed on Petchburi Soi 39, Bangkok, Thailand (Famous Soap Land Area). This Coca-Cola commercial will be shown in Australia and some other international locations, to check out the video go to the Coca-Cola website and stay tuned for the video release on BKK RAW Video Magazine…

Listen graff heads… This location is completely insane, so huge it would even make SABER give props to Alex, Bon, and Hey… (SABER painted “the world’s largest graffiti piece” on the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River.)

It was a hard three day job for the local Bangkok writers, the task at hand was to cover an old Theater building in graffiti, They were handed a concept to design an angel coming down to refresh the world with Coca Cola in an urban environment. Alex got the call from Coca cola to do the Job for 90,000 baht and that’s about $2,848.19 which equal money in the bank and an unlimited supply of paint cans. What else can a graffiti artist ask for, permission to express there self freely and a whole building as a canvas…

Great job to Alex and the Homies… To see the whole project click on the graffiti image below!

Trix One worked long and hard on this video and developing the concept. Directed and assisted by Loser Company, an Mtv and Channel V music video award winner. Filmed deep in the Soi in the heart of Bangkok with beat creation by Dip – an up and coming Thai beat maker.