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November 23, 2005
I.D. Magazine's Japanese Design Issue is a Keeper
We picked up the November issue of I.D. (International Design) magazine last week. This is rare because though we often flip through the mag every time we're in the bookstore, we seldom actually buy it. But the November 2005 edition has a striking cover that beautifully sums up the theme of this special issue: The Honda ASIMO robot walking in front of a massive glass window with a view overlooking the towering glass-and-steal –and-concrete inner-city sprawl of Tokyo. The theme is Japanese design. But the cover headline and teaser put it best: "Keeping Up with Japanese Design" and "So beautifully strange and oddly familiar--we can't take our eyes off it." The last time I.D. dedicated an entire issue to Japanese design was 1984. Some of the highlights are articles on the designer toy makers a la Kubrick; Osaka indie fashion designer Cosmic Wonder; and Japanese design mags and mag design (this article by Jean Snow of the blogs jeansnow.net and MocoLoco Tokyo). As they say, this one is a keeper.
Essential Links
I.D. Magazine Web Site
jeansnow.Net
Posted by Ray Chan at 12:28 AM
November 22, 2005
Lugz Kicks Eminem's Butt in Video Clip
There has been controversy over the originality of the recent Apple iPod and iTunes television commercial featuring hip-hop star Eminem. The ad is stylistically very similar to a 2002 ad for hip-hop footwear brand Lugz. Amid charges of alleged "video plagiarism" from lawyers repping Lugz, a brilliant commercial mash-up has found its way on to the Net. The video clip uses imagery from the two spots and pits Eminem against Lugz in a royal ass-kicking of the former by the latter. If the Lugz camp is somehow responsible for this commercial, then it is a masterstroke of viral counter-marketing.
Essential Links
iPodz Lugs vs. Eminem TV Commercial Mashup via BitTorrent
BitTorrent Download
Apple iPod + iTunes "Eminem 'Curtain Call'" Commercial [Apple]
Adweek article: Lugz to Apple: 'Cease and Desist'
Luz Official Website
Eminem Official Website
Posted by Ray Chan at 12:14 AM
November 21, 2005
The Wired Store - New York City
Seminal technology and Net culture magazine Wired has hung out its shingle on an expensive and trés fashionable bit of retail space in Soho, New York City. A major magazine opens a store not, mind you, to sell its magazine, but rather to sell many of the products advertised or written about in its glossy pages. It's an interesting idea. But it's not a totally original one, nor is it the best execution of the one. (For a good example, check the small but always interesting and engaging space that is the Tokion store in the Lower East Side of NYC.)
Wired's store displays and sells many of the latest leading-edge consumer products featured in its flagship mag Wired and in its recent new, even more gadget-centric title Wired TEST mag, which is a very polished and -- let's face it -- magalog for those with unquenchable early-adopter techno-lust.
We visited the store last Firday, and we regret to say it was a dissapointment. Being in Soho, and Wired being Wired, and cool techno gadgets being, well, cool techno gadgets, we expected the store's interior and use of space to be something truly inspiring and fitting. It's not. (For a good example of that look at the Moss store a block away, or, for that matter, just about every other retail space in Soho between Broadway and West Broadway.
The space is "creative," but it feels terribly cramped, poorly lit (despite huge windows), and thrown together in a rush and on a tight budget -- it was as if they blew all the money on the lease, which with Soho's absurdly high rents, could have been substantial. Wired should have just looked at Moss or, say, the Yohji Yamamoto or Apple stores a few blocks away and jut plopped down the merch on display stands -- it would've been a better experience.
On balance, Wired store is a cool, interesting development in itself, and we'll visit the shop again soon to see what they do with it, what they have to offer. But as a retail experience, it fails. To its credit, the collection of phones, laptops, solar-energy backpacks and micro computers really is the latest and greatest stuff, much of which would be hard to find at other retailers.
Admittedly, we being long-time Wired readers and among those early-adopter techno-lusting gadget freaks, our expectations had been much higher. Wired could learn a lot from Apple in regard to retailing.
Essential Links
Posted by Ray Chan at 01:35 AM
November 18, 2005
Sony PlayStation 3 Ranked "Most Important" Entertainment Trend in Giant Magazine's "Giant 50" List
Riding the New York City "C" train home from work last night, we were flipping through the November issue of Giant mag. This month's cover touts a feature titled "The Giant 50." The sub-head teaser boasts "The most important people and trends in entertainment--right now!" That's pretty compelling; Giant had our attention. Naturally, we dove right into the thick glossy pages.
The Giant 50 is probably the least predictable "Top-(insert number her)" list we've ever come across in the universe of media fluff that is most entertainment coverage. The list defies expectations more often than not with so many oddball, off-the-wall inclusions, though this very quirkiness seems to lend it some kind of barometric pop-cultural credibility and authenticity--as if the editors and over-consuming entertainment cool hunters at Giant really do know what they're talking about and aren't "just spittin' hype" (as our Web producer-buddy Ivan would say).
Anyway, all we need to tell you is what made the number 1 and 2 on the list to prove our point:
Number 1 is the Sony PlayStation 3. We, mean, for chrissakes, it won't even be released until 2006! But that's the whole point. By making the PS3 number 1, Giant recoginizes just how massively major the whole video games culture and industry (and the underlying technology for them) really are. From that perspective, it makes sense that it would be on the list, even pretty high up on the list. Ok, and, maybe, maaaybe, arguably, number 1. It also reflects the anticipation (going on several years now) and import of the follow-up to the global category-ruler in the video console wars that the PlayStation 2 has been. The coming of the PS3 is a cultural event. It will be--as shallow and pathetic as it may seem--a defining moment for more than one generation of gamers. (We're not kidding.)
And number 2? Charlie Murphy. Ahem ... we said, Charlie Murphy ... CHAR-LIE MUR-PHY. That's right, Eddie Murphy's brother, who in just a couple of years has gone from total obscurity to being the genius behind one of the funniest, instant-classic comedy sketch series in the entire run of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. But, c'mon! Number 2? Ok, Giant. We're going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this. Look for Charlie Murphy to be a major comedic force within a few years.
Essential Links
Sony PlayStation 3 [Wikipedia]
Charlie Murphy [IMDb]
Giant Magazine Website
Posted by Thurston Ali at 01:03 AM
November 11, 2005
Dangerdoom
When we heard about this collaboration between rapping rhyme lyricist MF Doom and mashup maestro Dangermouse, we were salivating in anticipation -- our ears were drooling, boyo!
So when we finally got our paws on Dangerdoom (The Mask and the Mouse), we were ready for some truly original hip-hop. Something not mainstream, but not backpack either.
Dangerdoom lives up expectations. We've been bopping along to the collabo album to and from work everyday this past week -- its that good. But that's what we expect from these guys.
Dangermouse gained global acclaim for the bootleg Grey Album, a startling and skillful mashup of Jay Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' White album. Since then he's gone on to a series of A-list projects, including the recent new album by the Damon Albarn supergroup Gorillaz, "Demon Days."
Then there's Doom, the legendary, mysterious and fiercely independent Chicago rhymemaster who hides his face and identity with his signature metal mask. Brilliant stuff.
Essential Links
Metacritic Reviews of Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
Dangerdoom Official Website
Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:55 PM
November 10, 2005
Buff Monster
Courtesy of sister street art site Global Graphica ... Here's some recently found work by the street artist known as Buff Monster. This pink Japanese-anime-like character - the "Buff Monster" - can be found in many places in Los Angeles, where the artist lives. But this example is a continent away in lower Manhattan, NYC. Sometimes one of Buff Monster's "X" eyes sports an eyepatch. Sometimes the character's domehead has devil horns or antennae. Here, it sprouts breasts that could be the envy of many a pornstar. According to Tristan Manco in his excellent book "Street Logos," Buff Monster has said that the inspiration for his pink street-art icon was inspired by the rememberance of a sticker he saw in Tokyo, Japan when he was a child. (Global Graphica/Ivan Corsa Photo)
Essential Link
Global Graphica
Buff Monster Strikes Downtown New York City #2
Buff Monster Strikes Downtown New York City #1
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:13 AM
November 07, 2005
Muji Total Lifestyle
We found this interesting Guardian newspaper article on Muji and its new foray into taking the company's product line one giant step farther by building houses in Japan. The story by Fiona Rattray for the Guardian's recent Observer Design Special does a good job of profiling the company and explaining its business and design philosophy.
First, some disclosure. We are admitted Muji freaks. We became infected with Muji-love in the early 1990's while in the U.K. and a visit to the Japanese chain's London branch in the West End. We developed our addiction and a full-blown case of hopeless devotion to all things Muji years later while in Japan.
Muji, in case you don't know, is the iconic Japanese designer and brand retailer of stationary, household goods, clothes, furniture, CD cases -- almost anything you can imagine for your home or office -- that are utterly devoid of unnecesary decorative flourishes.
Famous for being a brand based on the concept of no-brand, Muji products are often made of translucent plastics, polished stainless steel and brown paper and they come almost exclusively in white, gray or brown.
Muji is about good -- no, first-rate -- design and minimalist style in a way that seems the quintessence of contemporary Japanese aesthetics. Though as Rattray's article points out, one look around the landscape of Tokyo would suggest the Muji style is not so much the essence of Japan as much as a reaction to the nation's cluttered, garish, neon-filled urban environments.
Now Muji is running nature camps and building homes and planning further overseas expansion (a store -- FINALLY -- in New York City in 2006!). Muji, we heart ya'!
Essential Links
Design Special: Your Life in Their Hands [The Guardian, UK]
Muji Online UK
Muji Japan
Posted by Ray Chan at 12:33 AM
November 06, 2005
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Now on PSP
One of the most acclaimed and controversial game titles ever created has come to the PSP. Rockstar Games has just released "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" for the ernormously popular Sony handheld videogame platform released earlier this year. For the PSP, Rockstar went one step better than just converting the Sony PlayStation console version of GTA. As the subtitle "Liberty City Stories" implies, this GTA is something a little different. It's a modified version of the game, both in terms of variation of content and tapping the potential of the PSP technology. The game is still set circa 1999 on the three islands of Liberty City, an urban cliche filled with warring tribes of organized crime. The action still revolves around the avenging gangster Tony Cipriani working all sides of the criminal underworld. Now that this violent and controversial mature-content title is available in a portable format, one wonders if playing such a game in in view of strangers (especialy those with children in tow) will spark hot-tempered public confrontations between GTA gamers and those who disapprove of the game. Culture war, anyone?
Essential Link
Rockstar Games Official Site: "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories"
Posted by Thurston Ali at 09:47 AM
November 03, 2005
Ultra-mod Lucas Slippers
Orange is a bold, strident and confident color that lends a modern-contemporary -- or "moco" -- sensibility to innovative designs, be it for furniture, interiors, objects, products or even slippers. In the case of these awesome "Lucas" slippers by Perfecto Dragones, orange seems like the best possible color to go with the materials and curvy form-factor. These slippers look like snugly and comfortably form-fitting and as if they don't slip off too easily, which is has been one of our pet peeves with most ill-fitting slippers. Best of all, these look compact and flexible enough to carry on a trip or even to wear on long flights abroad.
Essential Links
Lucas Slippers at Design Object
Perfectos Dragones Website
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:06 PM
November 02, 2005
Super #1 Robot
We wandered into the McNally Robinson bookstore on Prince St. in Soho last night and stumbled across a wonderful art-design book devoted to a distinct Japanese product. "Super #1 Robot: Japanese Robot Toys, 1972-1982" beautifully catalogs a widlly imaginative collection of all sorts of plastic, diecast, aluminum and metallic small-scale play automatons. The period from 1972 to 1982 was the golden age of Japanese robot toys. "Super #1 Robot" is a defintive document of every robot by every Japanese manufacturer of the era. Published by Chronicle books, "Super #1 Robot" is the work of Tokyo-based American writer Matt Alt and LA-based Robert Duban. Saburo Ishizuki, the founder of a couple of well-known robot toy designer-manufacturers, has contributed an afterword that puts the collection into the important Japanese perspective. Brilliant stuff for the coffee table, "Super #1 Robot" is a book that every guest will pick up.
Essential Links
Chronicle Books Webpage: Super #1 Robot
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:34 AM