Categories
Events

PauseTalk Tonight

That’s right, following a break in July, PauseTalk (Vol. 23) is back tonight (August 4) at Cafe Pause, with the usual start time of 20:00. Come one, come all!

Categories
Books Games Meta

Arcade Mania

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So there you have it, the cover to Arcade Mania: The Turbo-Charged World of Japan’s Game Centers. That is indeed the book I’ve been working on since last fall, and it’s finally time to start revealing details.

First of all, you’ll notice that Brian Ashcraft — the man without whom there’s no way in hell any of this would ever have gotten done — gets the main credit on the book, and there’s a good reason for that. Over the course of the project, Brian took a big lead on things, in terms of both direction and writing. Arcade Mania is as good as it is — and I really think it’s good — because of Brian’s incredible dedication and killer instincts, and I thank him for taking on the hard — and stressful — job of putting all the pieces together, which he has done in a brilliant way.

Huge thanks also go out to our tireless editor at Kodansha International, Cathy Layne, for putting up with us, Yuki Nakano, for the amazing photography you’ll find within, and Andrew Lee for the outstanding art direction.

So what exactly is this book about? Brian just put up a great post over at Kotaku which I think describes it in the best way possible, so go there for more details. We will be launching a website for the book which will include more details. It should be up sometime in September. There’s also a Facebook group, which I invite you to join. It already features plenty of photos that Yuki took over the course of the project.

When and where can you pick up the damn thing? It officially comes out September 24 in Japan, although I’m told it should be hitting shelves a few weeks before that. The North American release is set for January 2009. You can already pre-order the book on both Amazon Japan and Amazon US. I notice that the Amazon Japan listing includes the US release date, but I’m assuming it will become available in September.

Below, a look at the back cover. Big thanks also to Warren Ellis, Wired‘s Chris Baker, and MTV‘s Stephen Totilo for the lovely quotes.

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Categories
Architecture

Munetsugu Hall

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Designboom shares a few photos of the Munetsugu Hall in Nagoya, designed by architect Norihiko Dan.

Categories
Design Events

Yuri Suzuki

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Dezeen posts photos of a collection of sound-related projects from interior designer Yuri Suzuki, presented at the “Royal College of Art Show Two” in London.

Categories
Magazines Meta

Pausetalk Magazine Giveaway

It’s gotten to a point where I just have too many magazines, which gets mixed with a desire I now have to lighten my life (i.e. get rid of the piles of stuff I have lying around). So, instead of just throwing them all away, I figured I’d bring them to the next PauseTalk, which happens this Monday (August 4).

Obviously, there will be lots of design-related stuff (+81, AXIS, Casa Brutus, etc.), but non-design as well. So if you want something, please come and grab, since everything left will go to the recycling bins.

Categories
Anime Art

Kappa no Tabi

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Enrico Casarosa has turned the comic page he made for the Totoro Forest Project into an animated sequence, which you can watch here.

Categories
Design

Neojaponisme: Pattern 2

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Ian has prepared a new pattern for free download from Neojaponisme, based on Japanese graphic design from the fifties. I really liked the last one too, which I use as the background on my iPod touch.