Month: September 2017

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Debaser

The Orville

I didn’t really know if I wanted to watch The Orville, Seth Macfarlane’s parody take on Star Trek — and I’m much more excited to watch this fall’s Star Trek: Discovery. I like Star Trek (I’ve watched every series and every movie), and I did like Galaxy Quest, but I didn’t know if I was in for a joke-filled Trek-like. I watched the first episode last night, and was first surprised by the fact that it’s not as joke-filled and spoofy as I was expecting. I actually had a good time watching it, and the funny bits were mostly funny, and the overall episode was pretty entertaining. I won’t say that I love it, but I’m definitely going to watch a few more episodes.

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Debaser

The Good Place (Season 1)

I’d heard good things about this series, and so when I saw it pop up on Netflix this past week (the first season, ahead of the start of the second one), I decided to check it out. I’m only on the 3rd episode, and I already love it. On top of a great cast (I especially like Jameela Jamil’s character), the situations and jokes are just generally pretty great, which I don’t really expect to get from network TV anymore. Very much looking forward to watching the rest of the first season.

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Debaser

Narcos (Season 1)

When the first season of Narcos was added to Netflix, I remember watching the first few episodes, and enjoying it, but for some reason I got distracted and never finished it. With the addition of a 3rd season recently, I was reminded that I always meant to go back, and since I couldn’t really remember what had gone on in those first few episodes, I started from the start, and just finished watching that first season (watched it this past week). This is a fantastic show, I really enjoyed every bit of it, and can’t wait to now get through the next two seasons. Also, funny thing, I was trying to place the actor who plays Pena, and it was only the other day that I saw a tweet where someone was mentioning that he was Oberyn on Game of Thrones — I’d completely forgotten.

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Art Magazines

Browne’s Tokyoiter

The latest Tokyoiter cover, produced by Andrew Browne — see the original image here.

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Advertisements Games

Hyping Destiny 2 in Japan

Even though I’m sure I’m going to end up playing it soon enough (and despite not being a particularly huge fan of the series, the first game is the game I think I’ve put in the most hours ever), I’m not really onboard the hype train for Destiny 2, but I sure as hell love this commercial they produced in Japan to hype the game.

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Art Books Design Photography

Making Koya Bound

Craig recently shared a new essay that talks about the process he went through in putting out Koya Bound — as with all of his essays, it’s as informative as it is entertaining to read. I’d also point you to the latest edition of his Roden Explorers newsletter, in which he describes in detail what he experienced during a meditation retreat he attended earlier this year.

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Art Design

Mr. Mendo Comes to Tokyo

My good friend Luis gets a nice feature over at This Works telling the story of how he decided to make a major career change in his 40s (from designer to illustrator, or “drawer,” as he would say) and make the move to Tokyo. It was during that initial 3-month sabbatical that we met, and I could tell then that he would soon be back.

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Books

Nicholas Hogg’s Tokyo

Although it was released a couple of years ago, I just came across Nicholas Hogg’s Tokyo novel, which appears to be quite good — I think I’ll pick it up. On the promotional site for the book, there’s also a great short video by Samuel Cockeday, a mesmerizing time-lapse of the city.

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Film Web

Toco Toco Summer Special

The summer may be pretty much at its end, but we at least got two new episodes of Toco Toco TV this week, part of its promised “Summer Special” block, as we await the start of the next season. They both focus on filmmakers, Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura, working in the indie horror genre, and are both fascinating in how frank each creator is about the difficulties of making indie films in Japan these days, with budgets for non-mainstream fare hard to come by and a fraction of what they used to be. It was also quite nostalgic for me to see Iguchi walking around Ikebukuro, the part of Tokyo where I lived for over 13 years.

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Architecture Design

Picchio Visitors Centre and Ice Rink

The latest project from Klein Dytham Architecture (my ex-employers, while working at PechaKucha) is the Picchio Visitors Centre and Ice Rink in Karuizawa — Dezeen has a full post showing off the beautiful complex.