TB.Pensar 9

What is TB.Pensar? Find out here.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written one of these, and honestly, I don’t know why. I’m sure I’ve written at least 4-5 of them in my head, but for some reason never got around to putting them into writing.

First off, it’s official, I’m writing a book! I’m pretty excited about this, and am already hard at work on it, with the hopes that it will be released in time for the 2008 holiday season (a great Christmas gift for one and all). I can’t go public about all the details, but can say that it will be published by Kodansha International, and that I’m co-writing it with a friend of mine.

I haven’t talked about it much, but we are indeed producing (me and Jesper Larsson) another Swedish Style-related event at Cafe Pause this year. The event will run from October 29 to November 8 (Swedish Style is a bit shorter this year), and is called Creative GBG. The event is in fact a showcase for a project that Jesper has started in order to help promote creators from Gothenburg, the city he calls home. The event at the cafe will include installations from various Gothenburg-based creators, as well as a publication that will act as a sort of “creative index.” We will also offer a Swedish-flavored menu, similar to what we had last year, and the party this time will be combined with next month’s edition of PauseTalk, to be held November 5, so expect a mix of the usual talk and presentations, with maybe more of a party atmosphere. A website for the event should be up within a week or two with more event details.

Those of you who have have me as a friend on Facebook (and if you’ve tried to add me but haven’t gotten a confirmation, apologies, but I’m still old fashioned when it comes to social spaces, and only add people that I personally know) may have noticed that “Jean is sad that his bike is in such bad shape.” I’m still biking quite regularly, but my MUJI bike has certainly taken a beating over the past year of heavy use, and it’s showing it. I mentioned a while back that I really wanted a Tokyo Bike, but I’m holding off a bit because Craig Mod is supposed to give me a crash course in maintenance, and has suggested that a few upgrades may give my current bike a new lease on life, so we’ll see. Last year I didn’t really ride much past September, and then only started again in the spring, but this year I’m hoping to make it through some of the colder months (I expect maybe until the end of November or mid-December).

On Saturday I got my hands on an iPod touch (16GB)! I think I was pretty lucky, I just happened to walk in the Bic Camera flagship store in Ikebukuro as they were setting up an area to sell them (they’d just gotten their stock), and hadn’t announced it yet, so I was the first to grab one (I’m sure they sold out within a few minutes — a guy who saw me grab one ran over and quickly picked up two). The verdict? I absolutely love it. Not counting my iPod shuffle, I’ve been waiting to update my main iPod for 3 years now (I think it’s a 3G, and before that I had a 1G), and I can say that it was well worth the wait. The reason I held out for so long was because I knew I needed to wait for a video iPod with a bigger screen, especially since I’ve been using my PSP for the past 2 years to watch videos. But more than just the video functionality, I’m in love with the web access too, and for the first time, cover flow! I’ve never really been interested in using it in iTunes, but for some reason I really like browsing through my music that way on the iPod, so I immediately found images for all my music (took me close to 2 hours, but it was worth it). The only 2 bad points I see are the size (16GB feels small, but I realize that it’s the price you pay for a flash drive and the slimness it allows) and the lack of a remote (meaning you have to pull it out of your bag if you need to pause, change the volume, or skip a track).

Last thing, if you stop by the cafe, you’ll notice 2 things: we have a new exhibition by artist Tomoko Oosuki (the event details should be up on TAB shortly), and the Pause T Gallery is now go! (More on that later today.)