PauseTalk Vol. 60 happened this past Sunday (May 13), on the last day of Magazine Library 10, and I must say that it was quite nice to have the event in that setting (in the exhibition space, at Hillside Terrace). It also influenced the talk, and for one of the first times in the series history, we really just stuck to one main topic, “magazines,” although we raised and discussed quite a few points in relation to that theme. I’d like to thank everyone who made it out for this special afternoon (and later than usual) edition of PauseTalk.

We were about 20 or so, and below you’ll find the list of participants who signed the attendance sheet (and thanks, Eric Chan, for the photo above). There will in fact be a PauseTalk (Vol. 61) on the first Monday of next month at Cafe Pause, which will be June 4, so do put that in your calendar.

• Annelies de Ridder (Costume Designer)
• Ayako Koga (Designer)
• Eric Bell (Interaction Designer)
• Eric “eepmon” Chan (Hybrid Artist)
• Genevieve Sawtelle (Photographer)
• Jason Farago (Writer)
• Jean Snow (PechaKucha-er)
• Kevin Foley (Art Director/Designer)
• Luis Mendo (Editorial Designer)
• Naoto Oguri (Designer)
• Niko Lanzuisi (Filmmaker)
• Nozomi Shimodaira (Producer)
• Seiko (Hair Color Specialist)
• Tom Bowden (App Creator)

Just a reminder that I’ll be having a special PechaKucha event on Friday (May 11) as part of the Magazine Library exhibition at Hillside Terrace in Daikanyama. The theme is of course magazines and print culture, and I’m very happy with the lineup, which will include, among others, TOO MUCH magazine and my fellow Radio OK Fred co-host Audrey Fondecave, De Rigueur‘s Antonin Gaultier, Tokyo-based designer Ian Lynam, Amsterdam-based editorial designer Luis Mendo, and Postalco‘s Mike Abelson. 

The event is free to attend, and will kick off at 19:00 (presentations start at that time). Hope to see many of you there, and it’s a good chance to take in the exhibition as well.

And here is our second live session of Radio OK Fred, recorded earlier tonight at the Magazine Library 10 exhibition in Daikanyama — download yesterday’s episode here. Our guest this time was Luis Mendo, who not only contributed designs and illustrations to the exhibition (flyers, website), but is also participating in the form of a few workshops, in collaboration with TOO MUCH magazine — the first one is tomorrow (Saturday, May 5, from 11:00) and involves the creation of City Reports. You’ll hear the interview we did with Luis later in the episode, and of course there’s music selections throughout. The last live episode of Radio OK Fred will happen next week, on Saturday, May 12 (from around 17:00).

Radio OK Fred 25 (71.4MB)

Yes, after what feels like a hiatus that has gone on forever (since 2010, actually), we were back tonight with a brand new episode of Radio OK Fred, recorded live at Hillside Terrace in Daikanyama, as part of the Magazine Library 10 exhibition. Our special guest was Antonin Gaultier (Digiki) who talked about his recently launched digital magazine De Rigueur, and who also contributed a few musical selections to the mix. It’s a longish episode (about 90 minutes), and you can download it from the link below (I may add the complete tracklist later). We will be back tomorrow night for another live recording (Friday, May 4, from around 17:00 to 19:00), and then again on Saturday, May 12. And yes, our RSS feed is still active, so subscribe to make sure to get the next few episodes.

Radio OK Fred 24 (75MB)

As I teased the other day, after a hiatus of a couple of years, Radio OK Fred is back this week, live! The Magazine Library 10 exhibition runs May 3-13 at Hillside Terrace in Daikanyama, and me, Audrey, and Yoshi are reuniting for 2 live editions of Radio OK Fred this week, on Thursday and Friday evening (May 3 and 4). We will be starting around 17:00-30, and each show will go for 1-2 hours. It will be a mix of music selections and interviews with special guests, so if you’re around please drop by and come say hi, we’d love to chat with you! There are also plans to do an extra edition on Saturday, May 12, and I’m have more details later about the time.

You may have been wondering what’s going on with the May edition of PauseTalk, which not only is Vol. 60, but also marks the 6th anniversary of the series. It will be a special edition indeed, and not only will it for the first time not be held at Cafe Pause in Ikebukuro, it will also not be on the first Monday of the month. I am very pleased to announce that PauseTalk Vol. 60 will be part of the upcoming Magazine Library 10 exhibition, taking place at Hillside Terrace in Daikanyama on May 3-13. The exhibition is a lovefest for magazines, and so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that I associated myself with it — on top of the PauseTalk, we will have a PechaKucha event (May 11), as well as the return of Radio OK Fred with two live editions (May 3 and 4).

The PauseTalk will cap the exhibition, happening on Sunday, May 13, with a start time of 15:00. Yes, it will be an afternoon edition, and although I’m sure the topic of magazines will pop up a lot, expect a regular session of PauseTalk, with people sharing ideas and opinions on all things creative. I do hope that many of you will be able to make it for this special edition — and yes, like I did for last year’s 50th edition, I do plan on producing a few badges for the first people who arrive.

I know it’s been slow going these days here, and oh how I wish I could share with you some of the cool things we’re developing on the PechaKucha front, but that’ll have to wait for a bit. One fun little thing I did the other day was to put together a Tumblr blog to just share PechaKucha Night posters, as I thought it would be great to see them all together up on a wall like that. It only includes posters from 2012 (so for the past 2 and half months), and I’ll keep updating it with new ones I receive.

I know I haven’t put up the last PauseTalk participants list yet, but I’ll do that soon, and in the meantime, you can have a look at photos by Michael, up on Facebook.

I haven’t had time for much else, but I do hope to record a new episode of the Codex tonight, and over on Warren Ellis’ blog, you’ll find a few thoughts I shared with him on the topic of magazines.

Despite this gray and rainy weekend, it really does feel like warmer spring weather is just around the corner, which should mean my bike life will become active again — can’t wait.

As I did last year — read it here — this is my list of favorite media for the year, which is basically me telling you what I obsessed over the most in 2011 (as far as I can remember, since it’s usually the case that some terrific things get forgotten by the end of the year). It’s not a “best of” list, I did not sample everything that came out this year, this is just something that I put together to remember what it was that I liked in a year, and I figure it can also act as a guide for some people who are looking for recommendations in various categories. I choose five items for each medium, which I list alphabetically (it’s rare that I can really choose one thing over the other), and then include a few honorable mentions.

Again, I don’t include books since I unfortunately don’t read enough of them (the vast majority of my reading time goes to the web, magazines, and comics). 

Favorite Games
This category is definitely one where I can choose an absolute favorite, and that would be Forza 4. Not only is it the game that I’ve spent the most time playing, I’ve become obsessed with it, and it turned me into a huge fan of the Top Gear TV series (see below). For the platform, I only list the one that I played the game on.

• Forza 4 (Xbox 360)
• Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Mac)
• L.A. Noire (PS3)
• Portal 2 (Xbox 360)
• Sideway: New York (PSN)
• Honorable Mentions: Back to the Future: The Game (Mac), Cave Story+ (Mac), Dead Space 2 (PS3), Dragon Age II (PS3), Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (PSN), Pinball FX 2 (the Marvel tables, XBLA), Saint’s Row: The Third (Xbox 360), Uncharted 3 (PS3)

Favorite Games (iOS)
As with last year, I’ve separated the iOS games, because as much as I do enjoy playing games on my iPhone and iPad, I’m afraid that for the most part they still would not fare well against my console selections. 

• Assassin’s Creed Recollection
• Bang!
• Elder Sign
• Kard Combat
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• Honorable Mentions: Aquaria, Bug Princess, Jetpack Joyride, Neuroshima Hex, Shadow Era

Favorite Magazine Apps
Last year I didn’t include a magazine category because I felt like it would have been too difficult to narrow it down to five — and you can always follow my other site, The Magaziner, to see what I like in terms of magazines — but this year I do feel like these are the ones that I look forward to reading the most (and yes, it’s all digital, I don’t read much print these days). I should also add that these are not necessarily what I feel are the best magazines apps in terms of innovation and execution, but rather the ones I like because of content. I included the Izneo app, a digital platform mostly for French comics, because through I buy the weekly Le journal de Spirou.

• Bloomberg Businessweek
• Izneo
• Letter to Jane
• SPIN Play
• The New Yorker
• Honorable Mentions: GQ, Wired

Favorite TV Shows
Again this year, it’s the category I have a tough time keeping short, since there are quite a few series I really do enjoy. The most conspicuous addition, and to be honest, the series I enjoy watching the most these days, is Top Gear, and from the newest season I’ve been going back through seasons to watch more. I’ve never considered myself a car guy, or been particularly obsessed with cars, but there’s something about the way the show is filmed, and the humor found throughout, that has completely sucked me in — here’s a post I wrote a few months ago about all of this. You’ll also notice Glee, which I only started watching this fall — I found myself immediately addicted, rushing through the first 2 seasons and eventually getting caught up. What can I say, it makes me happy watching it. 

• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• Glee
• Louie
• Top Gear
• Honorable Mentions: Boardwalk Empire, Bored to Death, Community, Curb Your Enthusiasm, How to Make it in America, Justified, Luther, New Girl, Parks & Recreation, Sons of Anarchy

Favorite Movies
Since there are many films that haven’t reached digital/video yet, there’s still a lot I haven’t seen (like all the big December releases). I think I cheat a bit with some of the picks as well, as some of the honorable mentions may have been released in 2010. Most telling though is that my top 5 was composed of 4 documentaries before I saw the Tintin film today (and there are more in my honorable mentions). 

• Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
• Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
• Drive
• Senna
• The Adventures of Tintin
• Honorable Mentions: Bill Cunningham New York, Bridesmaids, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Lemmy, Moneyball, Source Code

Favorite Albums
I had a really tough time here narrowing it down to five, and so many of the honorable mentions are probably all to be considered a “6.” Also, I will admit that the album that I really have enjoyed the most this year is Q-Tip’s The Renaissance, which came out in 2008 (but that I got into after watching the Tribe Called Quest documentary). I will do special episodes of the Codex and play all of this music (in this category, and the next).

• Days (Real Estate)
• James Blake (James Blake)
• Strange Mercy (St. Vincent)
• The Year of Hibernation (Youth Lagoon)
• Undun (The Roots)
• Honorable Mentions: David Comes to Life (Fucked Up), Let England Shake (PJ Harvey), Mirror Traffic (Stephen Malkmus), Shangri-La (YACHT), Torches (Foster the People), Underneath the Pine (Toro Y Moi), Wild Flag (Wild Flag)

Favorite Tracks
It wasn’t as easy to come up with this list as last year, since I’m a 100% Spotify user these days — last year I mostly looked at the play count in iTunes. But to help narrow it down I looked through the playlists of all of my Codex episodes, and came up with the following. 

• “England” (PJ Harvey)
• “Our Hearts Are Wrong” (Jessica Lea Mayfield)
• “Ravan” (Brasstronaut)
• “Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)” (The Roots)
• “Video Games” (Lana Del Ray)
• Honorable Mentions: ”Audio, Video, Disco” (Justice), “Civilization” (Justice), ”Please Ask for Help” (Telekinesis), ”Tada no Tomodachi” (Salyu x Salyu), ”The Noose of Jah City” (King Krule)

Favorite Comics
I always find it difficult to really remember my fave reads of the year, but here are a few that I quite enjoyed. Also, I will say that my most enjoyable comics-related reading this year was going through the entire Tintin series, something I hadn’t done in years (probably in 2 decades). 

• Batman, Inc.
• Daytripper
• FF/Fantastic Four
• Mister Wonderful: A Love Story
• Northlanders
• Honorable Mentions: The Walking Dead, Punisher Max

Let me point you to a new post on The Magaziner that helps explain why you should go and support this Kickstarter campaign to help finance a fourth issue of Letter to Jane on iPad. Tim’s a friend of mine, and he’s been doing some amazing work in terms of editorial publishing on iPad — first with his independent magazine called Letter to Jane, and then by collaborating on the third issue of Port magazine. I really want to see this fourth issue happen, so please consider chipping in a few shekels — and for $200, he’ll even give you the source code.

And while I’m talking about magazines, let me also recommend you pick up the new issue of Gym Class Magazine (No. 8), which not only includes a piece by yours truly, but is basically a dream team issue with contributions by a bevvy of magazine freaks (and I of course use that last word in the most positive of sense). You’ll find it in physical shops, but the easiest way to get your hands on it is to order it online from the GCM Shop. Big thanks to Steven for letting me be a part of this issue.

I have this other little site called The Magaziner where I obsess over magazines. For the past few months I took a break from writing up any new reviews (sticking mostly to news items and covering the occasional new releases), but I’ve found a way to make the review process a bit easier (by adopting a template, based on something my friend Andrew Losowsky had been developing for a site that never launched). The first one up is for what I’d say is my favorite iPad magazine, SPIN Play.

Just over a week ago I attended the launch party for the second issue of TOO MUCH magazine, held at the United Bamboo store (in the building’s event space) in Daikanyama. TOO MUCH is of course the follow-up to OK FRED magazine, and is still helmed by the editorial duo of Yoshi Tsujimura and Audrey Fondecave (my fellow Radio OK Fred podcasters). The party doubled as an exhibition based on a feature written by another good friend, Ian Lynam, of which you can see more here. You can buy a 2-issue subscription to TOO MUCH (it’s published twice-annually) here.

After the reception, we walked down towards Nakameguro to get some drinks at Just Another Space, which is a rather funky spot — and hey, there’s ping-pong table there too.

Also, if you’re curious as to the effect I’m putting on these photos (which I also did for the haircut post), I’m using a series of actions in Photoshop that replicate the filters found in Instagram — in each case, I’ve applied “Hefe,” followed by “Brannan.” You can download them here (and thank you Nick Chester for the tip on this).

As you’ll notice if you visit SNOW Magazine right now, I’ve decided to put the site on indefinite hiatus. I’ve been quite embarrassed by the lack of updates to the site over the last few months, and I think it’s just better to have it go on leave for a while, instead of the lame life support I’ve had it on.

Why the lack of love for the site? I just haven’t really had the time to focus on it like I’d want, and to be fair, I’ve been much more passionate about what I’m covering on The Magaziner — and the Codex podcast — and I think it’s best that I just let myself embrace those things, instead of continually feeling like I should try to come up with something to write about on SNOW, and feeling stressed about it. In the end, it’ll be for the better for everyone, as it frees me up to do more casual writing here, and to continue my exploration of how the magazine landscape is shaping up as it embraces new digital platforms.

As for SNOW Magazine, I’ll just say that it’s going away for now, with no definite plans on when it will be back, or even in what form. I don’t think I was ever really able to do what I wanted to do with SNOW, and I think — and I’m hoping — that what I’m doing over at The Magaziner will eventually inform what the next stage will be. And yes, I’m already thinking — and it’s what, in the end, I’ve really wanted to do — that this next stage or new form will be more publication-like, as in regularly released packages of curated ideas and stories (some people call these magazines).

Oh, and I will eventually reinstate access to the archives.

I gotta say I’m getting a kick out of this: In the past 24 hours I conceived of a site, a name, bought the domain, got it working, installed WordPress, imported posts from this site, found a theme that I modded to my liking, and have now launched my latest project, something I’m calling The Magaziner. What’s a magaziner you ask? Here’s my made-up answer:

We hereby define a new term, that of the magaziner, described as a person who exerts an unhealthy amount of love for all things magazine. The Magaziner is a site that mostly focuses on the intersection between magazines and the digital frontier, and what it means for the medium. This does not preclude the inclusion of a healthy amount of print love.

It all started last night when I was reading a comment on Facebook by Craig Mod, who suggested that all of the magazine-related coverage I’ve been doing over the past couple of months is getting lost within the rest of what I post here. I think he made a good point — and god knows I have a lot of respect and admiration for what he’s accomplished over the past year or so — and so I decided to launch a new site that would be exclusively for all of the magazine stuff. Expect the same kind of coverage you’ve been seeing here — commentary, news, new release announcements, reviews — that weighs heavily on the emerging digital side of the magazine publishing industry, something I’m quite passionate about (although I do still love my lovely print publications, thank you very much).

So this site returns to being a hub for news on me and all of my various projects, which on top of The Magaziner includes Codex, my new weekly music podcast, Radio OK Fred, SNOW Magazine, PauseTalk, and other fun stuff. Hope you’ll continue to follow what I’m up to here, and if you really enjoyed the magazine coverage, then please head on over to The Magaziner — and you can of course subscribe to an RSS feed. There’s a Twitter account too (@the_magaziner) that I’ll be using to post magazine-related news as well.

Oh, and one more thing about The Magaziner, please consider this a beta version of the site. As I said at the top of this post, it all came together rather fast, so over the coming weeks I’m sure I’ll be changing things here and there, fixing things I missed, and maybe coming up with new features or sections to add.

To produce? Maybe for the content itself (although for the most part, content is shared between the two), but one of the biggest selling points for going digital is to save on printing costs and distribution. I do still have problems with some of the points this piece from Forbes brings up though on the content production side of things. I get that producing videos for a digital edition adds costs, but the idea that including more photos in the digital edition also raises costs is ridiculous — we’re just getting to see more from a shoot, the parts that usually end up on the cutting room floor.

The question of bandwidth could be an issue, but really, is there actually an alternative to releasing magazines for the iPad than through the iTunes App Store? The article gives Zinio as an example, suggesting that all magazines sold through that device are doing it through its own servers. Is Apple really not getting any cut from sales that are done through the iPad app though? If so, then I guess we can expect to see the release of a Conde Nast (or Time, Inc., etc.) app, that will house all of its magazines.

Update: A reader suggests that the point about the photos is not so ridiculous, considering that most photographers are paid for each photo published. I assumed they were paid for the shoots.