Metropolitan Museum

The Sogetsu School of Ikebana chose some of their New York based members to create some beautiful arrangements to be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum! Two of those members were my Grandmother (Kazuko Moriwaki) and my Aunt (Shoko Iwata).

When we first walked in, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my Aunt's arrangement (top) was the center piece in the room. It had a strong sweep to it that left me staring at it for a while. Below that was an arrangement done by my Grandmother, and two other members (Yuriko Hiramoto and Jacqueline Lorieo). This one was very interesting in that it had two arrangements almost physically interacting with each other to become one piece. Really beautiful and inspiring work from everyone who participated.

But it had also been a while since my last visit to this grand museum and I ended up having a lot of fun with my Leica camera. Below are some various shots I took throughout the enormous structure.

Vintage Cereal Boxes at Target

They're selling these vintage cereal boxes now at Target. This photo of a Kix cereal box was taken from Flickr. I wish there was a Target nearby, I'd definitely pick them all up. Anyone near a Target wanna buy one for me? ;)

Make Martha Cringe!

Over at Food Nerd, blogger Caitlin LaRussa is holding an interesting contest called Make Martha Cringe! (Good food behaving badly). The idea is to create a delicious dish but photograph it with a dated look (of course post work in photoshop is allowed). I loved the idea and decided to submit my own dish with a bit of a "70's" feel to it:



"Shrimp and Fish in an Herb Sauce"

Here's a brief summary of the recipe:

Jumbo shrimp and monkfish mixed into a sauce made up of coconut milk, mustard oil, leeks, green chilies, garlic, ginger, cilantro, fennel seeds, ground coriander, and a sprinkle of salt. On the side is a bowl of rice pilaf with a dash of chopped cilantro on top.

Ikebana Lesson 7

I forget what these flowers are called but they look and feel really strange. Almost artificial in a way I guess. But they are so fun to arrange with. This is probably the simplest arrangement I have done so far. Adding more in such a small container would've made it way too cluttered taking away from the focus on the "mystery" flowers. If anyone knows what they're called let me know in the comments section below. Thanks!

James White

I can't stand this guy's work. It's brilliant! His name is James White and he's a graphic designer from Nova Scotia. In an interview on abduzeedo.com he says, "I was the kind of kid that got excited when I would see the NBC Special Presentation logo appear onscreen while watching television, because it inevitably led to Star Wars or Superman." This made me realise why I love these posters so much. They look like something straight out of Superman: The Movie! The crystal-like shapes resemble the structures on the planet Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude. There's a clarity to them that I can't get over. Love it.

Ikebana Lesson 6

Whoops, I forgot to post one of the last arrangements I worked on. I made this one on March 14th. I chose the "Pod-shaped" container since it was so different from what I've used before. It was also more of a challenge since the hole was so small so there wasn't much space for the flowers to spread freely. I liked it in the end though. It was a very colorful arrangement.

I also attended a workshop the other week which included a demonstration by Gary Heise and a delicious pizza lunch. I took photos of the event. I'll upload them soon.

Postcards

Another visit to my Grandmother's house, another treasure found. This time a very impressive collection of postcards from all over the world, each one carefully labeled and inserted inside large photo albums. Most of them are typical images that you'd expect to be printed on something such as a postcard. But then there are others that really get my inspiration tingling. The colors in some of these are terrific. I'm definitely scanning some of them in higher resolution and printing them out as posters, particularly the top one.

Anyway, not too far from where these were I found a whole load of black and white film negatives and color slides that my Grandfather took. So I decided to buy a really nice scanner that can scan film and slides and will upload some of those on flickr soon.

Update: More postcards...

Kumo Art Website

It's about damn time I had a legit, fully-functioning website. Click the image above to have a look-see. Make sure you have the latest version of flash player installed before viewing it though. Enjoy!

The Notwist

The Notwist, a German-based indie band, are finally releasing a new album. If you've never heard their album Neon Golden (2002) I suggest you go buy it now or download it (for previewing purposes of course ;) ). It is a masterpiece. Truly one of the most beautiful albums ever created. The production is perfect and their ideas and lyrics leave me inspired musically and artistically. Below is one of my favorite songs from Neon Golden called "Off The Rails".



The new album, due out around May, is titled The Devil, You + Me. They recently revealed one of the songs which is titled "Good Lies".



To be honest, it's not up to par with their previous material, but I'm hoping the rest of the album's a bit more catchy and pop-ish.

3/18 Update on "Good Lies": I freaking love this song now! It has grown on me as did most of Neon Golden as far as I can remember. A good sign me thinks. The new album shall be great. I've transcribed the lyrics below. Not sure if they're correct but they are indeed interesting words.

"Good Lies" Lyrics:

We'll remember good lies when/ we carry them home/ with us/ to our bedside table & our coffee sets. We'll remember good lies when/ they live in a room/ with us/ use our kitchen table & our needle beds. We'll remember good lies when/we carried them home/ with us/ to our bedside table and our coffee sets. We'll remember good lies when/ they're always with us in our beds/ even when we shake our heads.

Let's just imitate the real/ until we find a better one.

Remember the good lies win.

Pioneer RT-71

I just received this beauty in the mail today. It's a Pioneer RT-71 'reel to reel' player and recorder. I've always wanted to record live music on to one of these but have always thought they cost hundreds. But recently, after finding a large bag filled with old tape/reel recordings done by my Ojichan, I decided to research them and found one on eBay for about $103. Not bad considering other models run for hundreds, even thousands. Plus, Pioneer has always been a top-of-the-line company when it comes to audio equipment.

So when I opened it and plugged it all in I gave it a test run with one of my Grandfather's recordings. The sound is so clear on these things. I can't wait to hook up my Yamaha mixer to it and start recording some drums and guitar.