A poster for an AV (Adult Video) contest. Make pornos and win big bucks! Sorry for the flash, I should have tilted my camera or something. I took another picture without the flash, but it ended up too blurry (couldn’t tell on the viewfinder at the time).
It’s the end of the month, so time again for a look at the top searches for the month. Looks a lot like last month, except for the top.
1. kill bill poster – Certainly a result of my excitement for Tarantino’s new film.
2. kill bill bootleg trailer – Which I quite enjoyed.
3. kill bill bootleg – And I’m already thinking about seeing it again.
4. steamboy – Ah, the Katsuhiro Otomo film that just keeps getting pushed back, and pushed back, and pushed back…
5. rah xephon – Damn, I really need to watch this series.
6. happatai – Still getting my happatai regulars I see.
7. battle royale cosplay – I wonder who’s interested in this, Japanese people or Westerners.
8. woori bank – Poor, poor Woori Bank.
9. bibimbap – Reminds me that I need to go out for some. Maybe this weekend.
10. takeshi’s castle – As I write this, there’s another crazy Takeshi show on TV. He’s dressed like a doctor, and a foreign woman is pushing a Japanese guy on a cart.
11. ganguro – I was in total shock the other day when I saw a couple of them walking down the street. I thought
they had all disappeared.
12. kimchee – Don’t come here to talk about kimchee. I don’t like kimchee.
13. zatoichi trailer – When will this damn movie come out on DVD!
14. ikko tanaka – I’m still sad that I didn’t get a chance to go see the recent exhibit. This weekend I’d like to check out the new Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills.
15. japanese smileys – I’m surprised to always see this show up. One post goes a long way.
16. lost in translation posters – I thought it was cool to see Tarantino do the promotion of KILL BILL in Japan while
wearing a LOST IN TRANSLATION t-shirt the whole time.
17. chikan – They are bad. When Yuko comes home late at night from the university, I usually walk down the street to meet up with her because she’s afraid of getting confronted by one.
18. infernal affairs ii – Great film, and worthy follow-up to the first one. The next sequel should be interesting as well, and it comes out in December.
19. penis festival – And what a celebration it is!
20. juon 2 – I still get creeped out everytime I see the poster.
Some more funky street designs from Shibuya.
Readymade International, Yasuharu Konishi’s record label, released a trio of singles/EPs on vinyl last week that I’ve been giving quite a few listens to (and thanks to Patrick for those rips, I do hope these will come out on CD in the near future). First up (and in order of the images that you see above the text) is a single by DJ 440 (pronounced “yo-shi-o,” as the jacket cover tells us, and supposedly an alter-ego of Konishi himself) called DJ 440’S INCREDIBLE MAMBO BAND that features lots and lots of bongos. I’ve actually been enjoying those bongo beats, more than I expected. Next is an EP by Halfby (someone I’ve never heard of) called AND THE COATI MUNDI EP. It’s rather good club-pop, definitely in the style of old Readymade releases. Last, and the release I was most looking forward to hearing, is a new EP by Karia Nomoto, ARIA, KARIA, MARIA EP. There are 5 tracks, but the first 2 are purely instrumental and serve as somekind of intro, but they’re quite good. Another track is actually a very different version of a song she did on the latest Hair album, SEE ROMA AND DIE. I absolutely love the track, and it sounds like something straight out of a 60s musical. When I hear it I imagine Karia traipsing alongside Catherine Deneuve in LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG. The last track on the EP is one I have the most trouble with, mostly because of the extremely lame lyrics. It also has a techno-ish beat that I don’t care for, although it does remind me of HAPPY END OF THE WORLD era Pizzicato Five.
Found this article from THE JAPAN TIMES that covers one of the Tarantino press conferences for the promotion of KILL BILL in Japan.
The 8th Asian Cartoon Exhibition will be happening in Akasaka at The Japan Foundation Forum from October 23 to November 11. Sounds like it could be interesting. Here’s what REALTOKYO has to say:
As you might or might not guess from this event’s brutally frank title, on display here are comics that do not belong to the geek world of otaku, and that do not even look as if they had real stories. Participating are 13 creators of comic strips, caricatures for newspapers, and others from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Sounds a bit tedious indeed, but from such works one can often understand a country’s culture. People are always talking about the influence of Japanese manga on comics, but this exhibition shows clearly how especially also artists from other East-Asian countries keep influencing each other with their original styles and remarkable creativity.
This is what the custom made White Label camera looks like. We send it out to all our artists and stores to document the project.
Update (16/08/13): This post was written by Jesper Larsson, as part of a week-long “Next Century Modern Blog” guest stint he did on the site. The image is unfortunately no longer available.
I was very happy the other day when Colette in Paris returned the camera we had sent them after delivering our first White Label t-shirt collection. The picture shows a part of the White Label concept, with t-shirt packaged in 12″ white record sleeves. No time to explain it all: read more about the projekt at the White Label homepage (soon to be updated).
Update (16/08/13): This post was written by Jesper Larsson, as part of a week-long “Next Century Modern Blog” guest stint he did on the site. The image is unfortunately no longer available.
Got the following two books from Amazon Japan:
MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer by Hillman Curtis.
CSS Pocket Reference by Eric A. Meyer.
Can’t wait to have a crack at them, although as the title suggests, the CSS book is more for reference. Can you tell I’m in a design state of mind these days?
Some more street designs from Shibuya.