As I just posted on SNOW Magazine, the latest edition of the always excellent “Magazine Library” has been extended until the end of the month due to popular demand — big congrats to David and the crew for putting together another great exhibition.

I had a chance to quickly check it out last week — my wife was waiting outside with our dog, so I couldn’t stay very long — but I did note that the focus this time is more on sales. There’s a great selection on display though, and I think the prices are pretty good, so well worth checking out if you’re looking to stock up on some good reads. I do also love that they hung issues around the space (and outside the shop) — another thing I want to steal for the next SNOW Magazine Cafe.

The video you see above was put together by the organizers, and gives you a great peek at what to expect from the show.

Update: I’ve been told by organizers that every magazine included in the show can actually be read on the premises, they are not just being sold. So definitely take the time to drop by and browsed through a great selection of titles. It should also be noted that the space is right by the store’s cafe area.

As happy as I was to be sent a copy of Grafik for the SNOW Magazine Cafe, it was bittersweet in that it happened just before the magazine was suddenly shut down this past summer. Well, as has been tweeted and blogged by quite a few people today, the editors have regained ownership and will relaunch the magazine sometime next year. Even better, Linefeed‘s Michael Bojkowski will be designing the new look.

If you’ll allow me to go analog for a moment, I need to say how much I love the way they displayed all of the participating zines at the launch party (or “reading room”) for the terrific-looking Fanzines book. It’s incredibly simple, using clips, and my first thought was that I should have done something similar during last month’s SNOW Magazine Cafe. The one problem this poses is that I did want everything in the show to be readable by everyone, but it’s something I need to keep in mind for a future exhibition, especially if I can get extra copies (one to hang, one on table/shelf for people to grab and read).

You may have noticed that over the past couple of weeks I’ve been posting lots in regards to magazines. It is in fact something I’ve “actively” decided to start doing here, and there’s reason for it. First of all, it’s no secret that I have quite a bit of love for that particular medium — there’s a reason why that profile blurb in the column on the right has always had the “sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines” bit.

When I launched SNOW Magazine earlier this year, pretty much all of the Japan-related art/design/culture coverage I used to do here moved there, which has sort of put this personal blog of mine in a bit of limbo since. I wasn’t sure what I should write about, and pretty much kept to things that related to my various activities. So far all of my magazine-related thoughts and comments have pretty much lived only on Twitter, which is of course rather limiting, and it was when I was thinking of commenting about the latest iPad issue of Wired that I thought, hey, why not write it up here. How’s that for an idea, writing on a blog about something you’re passionate about. I know, it sounds weird, but I have a feeling it’s something that may catch on.

So yes, expect to see lots more of what you’ve been seeing here of late. I do plan to focus mostly on how magazines are transitioning to digital — mostly iPad, but other tablets as well — since it’s something I’m particularly interested in. Don’t get me wrong, I do still have a great deal of love for print — in fact, the SNOW Magazine Cafe was just a great big love embrace to that very thing — but I am also quite excited by what’s happening on the digital side of things, especially because of the iPad. If you ask me, there’s never been a more exciting time to be a reader, creator, and lover of magazines.

Just your friendly neighborly reminder that this month’s PauseTalk (Vol. 44) happens tonight (September 6) at Cafe Pause, with the usual start time of 20:00 (and the cafe reserved from 19:30). As previously mentioned, I’ll bring out the magazines from last month’s SNOW Magazine Cafe, for anyone who didn’t get at chance to check out the event.

Yes, it’s already time for a new edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 44), set to happen this coming Monday (September 6) at Cafe Pause, with the regular start time of 20:00 — as always, the cafe is reserved for the event from 19:30, so feel free to come early. Although the SNOW Magazine Cafe event ended this past Monday, I’ll bring out the participating magazines again for anyone who didn’t have a chance to browse through them.

Also, there was some sort of error when I created the Facebook event page, and so this is the correct one (if you receive a message about cancellation, that’s for the extra page it created).

Yesterday I launched a special blog for the SNOW Magazine Cafe. For those of you who are unable to attend the event here in Tokyo, that’s where you’ll find more details about the show — I’ll be posting stuff throughout the month, including photos and the like. Today I revealed the list of participating titles (in the main part of the show), 33 in all. Note that you can subscribe to a feed as well.

Apologies to everyone waiting to see and read more about what the SNOW Magazine Cafe looks like. A bit slammed with work right now, but I’ll be posting stuff soon enough, hopefully by this weekend. Really happy with how it all turned out, although was expecting a bigger turnout for the PauseTalk/opening on Monday — maybe the heat scared everyone away. Some great magazine-related talk was had though, something I wouldn’t mind seeing more of in future editions.

Well, that, and more importantly, we’re having our little gathering to officially kick off the SNOW Magazine Cafe. As I wrote before, there will be a PauseTalk session, but I’ll keep it relatively short, so please come on by even if you’re not into that sort of gathering. So tonight (Monday, August 2), from 19:00 (until 23:00) at Cafe Pause in Ikebukuro, with cheap drinks available. Hope to see many of you there!

And we’re off: The SNOW Magazine Cafe is now go at Cafe Pause, and runs until August 30. I just posted something on SNOW Magazine that details everything you can expect to find there. Sure, there’s all the magazine stuff (33 titles as part of the main exhibition, and then a large selection of zines, as well as special displays for Knee High Media and OK Fred), but I’m also pretty happy with what we (me and the staff at the cafe) came up with for the special menu. You will find the SNOW LASSI (Peach Lassi, 600 yen), the SNOW COCKTAIL (Malibu Rum and Milk, 700 yen), and the SNOW PUDDING (Annin Tofu and Tapioca, 500 yen).

The important thing to note is that the opening party is Monday night (August 2), from 19:00. There will be a short PauseTalk session at 20:00, but the event is definitely open to everyone, and so please join us even if you would normally not attend PauseTalk. Entry is free, and we’ll have a 500 yen drink menu, with all the event menu items available at that price as well.

Now’s the time when I usually post a reminder that the next PauseTalk is coming up, and that’s in fact what I’m doing now, but it’s also to point out that next week’s Vol. 43 (Monday, August 2, at Cafe Pause) is a bit of a special one, as it will also act as the launch party for the SNOW Magazine Cafe. I’ll do things a bit differently by keeping the official PT session a bit short, since I want to spend more time celebrating and chatting with everyone about the topic at hand (that would be magazines). The official session will still start at 20:00, but the reception kicks off at 19:00.

Really hope to see lots of you there, and I promise comfortably cool air conditioning — how’s that for a selling point?

So far I’ve only tweeted it, but let me mention here also that I’m very happy to announce that we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of Knee High Media (Tokion, Papersky, Mammoth) during next month’s SNOW Magazine Cafe. The show will include a display featuring a selection of 15 magazines produced during those 15 years (one for each year). The display will actually make its debut at next week’s Tokyo Art Book Fair (July 30 to August 1), which takes place at both 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Akihabara and Vacant in Harajuku.

The SNOW Magazine Cafe flyer is now out in the wild. Again, big thanks to Hiyoko Imai for the wonderful design, based on Luis‘ original poster design.

I’ve been a bit quiet on the SNOW Magazine Cafe front, but yes, it’s still happening next month at Cafe Pause (August 1-30), and I’m very happy to reveal the poster for the event. It was designed by my GOOD Inc. compadre, Luis Mendo, and I absolutely love the illustration he came up with. The poster will appear at the entrance to to cafe, and a slightly different version will be used for the flyer (and big thank to Hiyoko Imai for the help with that).

I also have a very exciting new development regarding the event — and SNOW Magazine in general — that is going to be very cool. I’ll announce more soon, but for now let’s just say that it truly embraces the medium that is being celebrated at the exhibition.

I. Love. Gym Class Magazine. It’s a great indie magazine produced by one Steven Gregor that has been evolving in format since launch, with the latest issue (#6) now in full-color (the two previous issues were done through the Newspaper Club). And you really should pick up “The Magazine Fanboy Issue,” especially if like me, you really are a magazine fanboy (or fangirl). Here’s more on the issue, as well as a video flip-through, and you can buy it here. I’ll have a few issues at next month’s SNOW Magazine Cafe, and I’m also very happy to say that I’m contributing something to the next issue, but probably best not to say what that is just yet.

Also, Steven is on the lookout for some stockists in Tokyo, so if you have some tips and suggestions, let me know and I’ll pass it along.