A while back I posted about an exhibition by Zoren Gold and Minori Murakami at Depot. They’ve recently updated their site, and host a great portfolio. I really love some of the fashion photography.

Ani Watanabe is the art director for GENEVEtokyo, and has a great photolog that you should really take a look at (the image above is from that log).

I can’t say that I’m really into keitai gaming — I pretty much limited my gaming to Solitaire, which stopped as soon as I got my DS, and then my PSP. But Paul over at In-Duce is really into mobile gaming, especially when it comes to networking and GPS-related functions. He gives us the lowdown on the gaming scene on the very popular WIN phones (I have a W21S, which is the same phone he had, until he recently upgraded to the W31S).

A few days ago I dropped by the Deux et Neuf Cafe, next door to Conceal Cafe (literally) in Shibuya. Deux et Neuf is actually more of a bistro, so it complements Conceal quite well. The two spots have become my favorite destinations in Shibuya.

I’ve been invited to be guest editor again at Gridskipper next week, so if you have some interesting tips, please send them along!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I want a Muji house! Pictured above is the “Ki no Ie” demo home they have on display at their Yurakucho store.

Mumbleboy is in town for just over a week, and I had a chance to drop by SuperDeluxe tonight after work to see some of his VJing for the “Animal Lounge” event. It was quite nice, with an interesting crowd — gotta love seeing Marxy making some political art aimed at Livedoor’s Horie — and I’m just sorry that I had to leave early (hungry and tired).

Quick rule of thumb: don’t make any gallery outing plans towards the end of the month. During my walk through Harajuku, Aoyama, and Shibuya yesterday, I checked out the following, only to find that they were between exhibitions: Lapnet Ship, Nadiff, Spiral, and the Logos Gallery.

Oh, and I’m sort of disappointed with the KDDI Designing Studio now. I’ve stopped by a few times, and they don’t seem to change much of anything. It was exciting to visit the center the first time around, but with nothing new, I can’t see how they’re going to keep getting people to visit — already, the place is next to empty every time I go. With the amount of money you gotta figure that KDDI spent on the whole thing, I think they need to rethink things a bit.

• A new issue of PAPER SKY (13) has hit the newsstands, and as expected, it is Japanese-only. I like what they’ve done with the format, reducing the size a bit — easier to travel with? But it’s still sad that they’ve decided to go this route, and ignore their international readers (even if we were few).
• The latest issue of DIGMEOUT (5) is quite nice, and deserves a look. DIGMEOUT is a Japanese graphic art magazine featuring bilingual text (Japanese/English), with most of the space taken up by images. Reading the editor’s forward, it seems like they’re doing quite well right now, collaborating to produce all sorts of interesting events and projects. The gorgeous cover really stands out.
• The June issue of the Japanese edition of ESQUIRE features a look at German products. It’s a nice piece of design-porn.

Taschen, purveyor of drool-worthy titles, is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a special series of books that they are selling for ridiculous prices. I was at the Libro bookstore in Shibuya’s Parco earlier this evening, and picked up a hardcover copy of the gorgeous ARCHITECTURE NOW! for only 2000 yen! They also had quite a few other books at those prices — click here for a complete list of titles available.

I was in Aoyama this afternoon, and decided to drop by the Seleqlo guerilla shop (located at Rocket Gallery) to see if I could get my hands on the Groovisions designed tee. Well, you snooze you loose, as all the designer remixed Uniqlo tees were already sold out. They told me that another batch would arrive in early May.

• As mentioned yesterday, a new issue of ART iT (7) is now out on newsstands, featuring a look at “180 creators ‘with the jolt factor,’ together with lists of outstanding venues and books hints at Tokyo’s current cultural life.”
• There’s a very cute magazine out called CAMERA BIYORI (LIFE WITH CAMERA). Obviously aimed at girls, it sets out to cover photography in a very attractive manner. It looks like those zakka-friendly magazines, with lots of keitai-sized images throughout. It does get technical though, featuring camera suggestions and the like, even giving tips on how to photoshop your digital images into looking like Lomo shots. Vol. 2 is out now.
• Graniph has put out GRANIPH VOL. 1: CREATORS INDEX MAGAZINE (cover image here), and like the title suggests, it offers up short creator profiles with examples of their work. The thick magazine is relatively cheap (1000 yen), and entirely in English.
• This months’s issue of SWITCH (May 2005) covers Shimokitazawa, something that a lot of magazines are doing lately, related to the plans to build a highway in the area — last week’s issue of METROPOLIS had an article on the topic. It’s your basic “celebrities list their favorites shops/cafes/bars/eateries” kind of thing.

Well, looks like blogging has hit the Japanese TV mainstream. As I was flipping through the channels last night, I came upon BLOG TYPE (Saturdays at 23:30 on Fuji TV). They — including uber-gravia idol MEGUMI and actress Kanno Miho — basically dramatize posts that they find on blogs, and then chat about them. Oh, and being the enterprising people that they are, they also have a tie-up with Yahoo! Blogs.

After my bittersweet introduction to the PSP earlier this week, I have to let you know: I’m in absolute love with my PSP! This is one hell of a nice piece of hardware, and I just can’t get enough of it. I’m now playing RIDGE RACERS, which I think I’m enjoying even more than WIPEOUT PURE (some nice Jazztronik-type tracks on there). Contrary to my habit of using portable game systems only when on the go, I’m finding myself crashed on the sofa for hours playing games with it while at home (even watching videos at night while Yuko is asleep).

As for video, I’m now using ffmpegX to do the converting, which I find does a much better job than PSPWare (although I still use that to sync up the files). The files end up smaller, looking better, and it will convert anything — PSPWare had some trouble with a few anime shows I tried feeding it. It’s a hell of a nice program.

Again, I still think Sony has dropped the ball on the “dead pixel” issue, but if you can get your hands on a non-defective one, you will probably be a very happy gamer.

I really like these photo manipulations that Yuki has put up.