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Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Taul “Toy Crusher” Waters is a Jacksonville, Florida–based artist whose practice evolved the way street knowledge usually does: illegally, obsessively, and with a sense of humor sharp enough to draw blood. He cut his teeth in graffiti and illustration, learning early how to communicate fast, loud, and without permission. That foundation expanded into graphic design, painting, digital illustration, and blogging—each medium treated as another surface to disrupt, remix, or interrogate. His work balances discipline with defiance, blending professional execution with the residue of alley walls, sketchbooks, and long nights spent refining ideas that refused to behave. Taul draws inspiration from hip hop culture, drum and bass rhythms, science fiction, horror, skateboard graphics, and the kind of absurd life experiences you only understand after surviving them. More recently, his exploration of synthography has pushed his visual language into stranger territory, where machines collaborate in the chaos rather than clean it up. Darkly comical and deliberately confrontational, his work invites viewers to laugh first, think second, and then realize they’ve been implicated the entire time.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

EPISODE 18: The Deep

On this day in whatever year this was, I sweated more buckets than a small village trying to put out a fire...
I painted this at 818 Studios at One Spark one year many moons ago alongside Campbell, OXEGEN, VAN, and a few others. I also remember doing a bunch of characer throwies and scaring a few of the patrons of the show. This was something that couldn't be helped, seeing as they came to see street art and that's exactly what we gave them. You can't see it, but I'm shrugging my shoulders aggressively right now...

...From the Archives!
Blackbook Collab 2000

This was something the homie from Chicago and I did when we were out in the desert in 29 Palms in between two 2 month training operations. That California heat did something to our linework for those 4 months. Yet we left there having listened to so much good West Coast Hip Hop we weren't even mad. Young guns.

I'm just going to get right down to making some folks mad...

From Intellectual Takeout:

THE CASE FOR AI LITERACY IN A SKEPTICAL AGE
"The artificial intelligence debate is immediately polarizing. We’ve all heard our family or friends talk about it. AI is either seen as a boon or met with severe pessimism.

But there’s a middle ground worth considering. This isn’t about championing AI as the solution to all our problems. Rather, it’s about realizing that AI literacy is essential, whether we choose to use these tools or not.

AI literacy isn’t about becoming an expert in machine learning. Unless you work in that field, it won’t do you much good. Instead, it’s about understanding what generative AI systems are, what they can and cannot do, and how they’re likely going to shape our economic landscape in the future."
>>> READ THE REST HERE <<<

I imagine that someone who's vehemently against the implimentation of AI systems, LLM'S, image generators, etc. probably sounds like I used to sound when I outright refused to learn to use Photoshop. Turns out you end up kinda needing it at some point. Being a purist is admirable in many ways, but evolution is inevitable. I truly don't believe that AI can in any way replace traditional art, film, music, or any of various other human made creative endeavors. However it's easier and faster to assemble something with an electric drill than a handheld screwdriver.

For all of us on the dark side in perpetuity, let the madness of 2026 begin...

From Screen Rant:

THIS NEW SERIAL KILLER MOVIE FROM THE WRITER OF SE7EN COULD BE THE NEXT SLEEPER HORROR HIT
PSYCHO KILLER TRAILER

"2025 will stand as a benchmark for horror, as it was loaded with everything from Oscar-caliber box office smash hits to universally-acclaimed independent films. While Sinners and Weapons may be the titles that everyone remembers long-term, smaller-scale hits like Companion, Clown In A Cornfield, and Heart Eyes set the tone before we got into peak spring and summer movie season.

2026 is already off to a strong start as far as critical scores are concerned, as January will see the release of We Bury the Dead, Primate, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and Sam Raimi's return to horror in Send Help. While Send Help may still fit the bill, none of the January releases has qualified as a major box office success.

That could change in February, as one horror movie on the docket seems poised to be a breakout hit in the way the aforementioned early 2025 releases were. 20th Century Fox is set to debut Psycho Killer on February 20th, which could be the box office sleeper hit that truly kicks off 2026's horror run."
You may recognize the lead, Georgina Campbell from Barbarian, Black Mirror, or that one movie where she's a park ranger in a very disturbing situation that I'm too lazy to look up right now but will probably highlight this text and link it later on. Andrew Kevin Walker wrote this (yep, that Se7en dude) so the twisted factor will be on 10. Not too many film makers can do a serial killer / slasher joint and make you feel like you can't guess what they'll do next or what they're motives are, so buckle up.

Thank you @dandoonah for sending me this!...
This is a snapshot of the state of mind of the majority of America right now. Even though that photo is parody gold and their tweets are off the chain, it says something that a police department has a social media account that clowns that much...

This had me tense the entire trailer and - at first - I kinda failed to understand why...

IRON LUNG TRAILER

...then I read the synopsis...

From Iron Lung:
"Set in a post-apocalyptic future where an event known as "The Quiet Rapture" caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear, a convict is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a small submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung".

An ocean of blood. The only hope left after The Quiet Rapture. In the rusting halls of crumbling space stations, the last remnants of humanity craft a submarine to explore the bleeding depths… and weld one soul inside to pilot it. But hope in this void is as illusionary as the starlight. This is not an expedition.

It’s an execution."
It's something about the feeling of extreme remote isolation in this description that makes this seem like an interesting story apart from everything that's been released so far. Cosmic Horror works because of the existential dread its narratives usually invoke. To shut the lights out on the entire universe, then somehow come to the conclusion that an ocean of blood has the answers to...look, all I can say is whoever wrote this (Mark Fischbach) pass that, please.

This will forever be etched in my memory as one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced sitting down. Almost up there with Beau Is Afraid...

VIVARIUM TRAILER

From Thrillist:
"This piece contains spoilers for Vivarium.

In Vivarium, a young couple finds themselves drawn into and trapped inside a 21st century suburban nightmare: a neighborhood populated by an endless sprawl of homes of the exact same size and shape, isolated from the world and crushed by the brutal sameness of their surroundings. Unlike your typical 21st century suburban nightmare, the couple also finds themselves enslaved to a race of interdimensional humanoids, forced to nurture one of their kind as it grows, with unnatural swiftness, from infant to adult."
>>> WATCH FULL MOVIE HERE <<<

I went into this blind and not knowing anything about the story it was based on. I honestly didn't expect it to be anyting but an artsy drama, yet it swiftly turned into something strainingly disturbing and a little twisted. The majority of the film has you thinking "W exacty TF is going on right now?", but it definitely pays off. You can relate to the characters frustration and confusion while they endure the surreal events they're suffering and you become emerged in solving the problems they're faced with. I'm glad I stumbled upon this because I'd honestly never heard anything about it.

Speaking of stumbling upon...

LOXY - X OF SWORDS MIX (2020)

You don't just listen to a Loxy mix...you survive it. The breaks, the selection, the mood, the transitions; all of it makes for a head-heavy listening experience. Took me six years to hear it, though.

I was about to do my usual corny outro, but then I saw this...

GHOST TRAIN TRAILER

Sleep tight, and stay up!

LYNX & MAPLE - SHAKU

#toycrusher #taulwatersuniverse #mechdirective #art #artblog #jacksonville #jacksonvilleflorida #jax #jaxart #jaxartist #duvalcounty #duuuval #horror #jacksonvilleart #jaxartblog #intellectualtakeout #ailiteracy #psychokillermovie #andrewkevinwalker #onespark #oxegenmbk #818studios #loxy #metalheadz #ironlung #markfischbach #lynxandmaple #thrillist #vivariummovie #ghosttrain2026

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