Month: August 2004

E2O

e2o

I just love all the products being designed for the E2O project.

The E2O Project has been established by Hokkaido based designers and artists active in the Japanese and international art scene. The project’s objective is to provide a new style of products, where the product itself becomes, or is viewed as a work. The products will be created through worldwide collaborations, incorporating many different artistic mediums and types of products.

Check out the Japanese side for more products than those presented on the English side.

Samurai Champloo TV Problems

A reader mentioned the following just yesterday as rumor, and I guess it’s now been confirmed.

Anime News Network reports Fuji TV has announced that after airing episode 17, Fuji TV will stop Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe’s scratch style samurai series. The complete 26 episode series will be broadcast on BS digital satellite television. (AICN)

I’m relieved that they’ll at least finish the series.

Hinism

A while back I moblogged the 0 issue of a new magazine called HINISM. Yesterday, I went to Planet 3rd for a latte and some magazine reading (ended up staying there 2 hours), and got a chance to read issue 1. It seems that the magazine is produced by Gallery Wall, which is located in the Roppongi/Azabu area. The theme for this issue is “Stylized Design” (the 0 issue’s theme was “Crafts”), and the imagery is again simply beautiful. There was a lot more to read than what I remember seeing in the first issue (the magazine is bilingual), and it was interesting reading at that. A bit pricey (1600 yen), but very well produced.

The above image is from this listing, which has more info in Japanese.

Update (16/08/21): The image is unfortunately no longer available.

Dijf Sanders

While in Shibuya yesterday, I did my regular stop at the Apres-midi Selecao record shop (in the basement of Parco Part 1), and it’s there that I discovered my new favorite record (I ended up buying it, of course). The artist’s name is Dijf Sanders, and I believe he is from Belgium (from what I could make out on the little info card written in Japanese next to the album). The album is called MATING SEASON (Clone Records/Dub Holland), and it’s an interesting mix of electro/beat/jazz/etc. Scanning through the album I felt that I needed to get this, and listening to it now at home just confirms that this is indeed something really nice. You can listen to samples of every track here.

Samurai-C Records

tokyoboy-040823

I’ve shared with you my love for the SAMURAI CHAMPLOO animated series (still as good as ever), but the fun doesn’t stop there. One of the draws of the series is the mix of hip-hop with a traditional samurai setting, and the strong musical ties continue with the launch of Samurai-C Records. I was at the Logos Gallery yesterday (basement of Parco Part 1 in Shibuya), and it’s now setup as a temporary shop (until the end of the month I think), with a few releases from the label (artists related to the music that plays on the show). They’re also selling some really nice vinyl album covers, which you can sort of see pictured above.