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Last night I was reading through the latest issue of Rolling Stone — really loved the cover feature on Mad Men, as well as the profile on SNL creator Lorne Michaels — and seeing how they branded the issue’s theme (“Fall Television”) made me wonder just how relevant that particular imagery really is these days. The branding in question is what you see pictured above — it appears with all of the TV-related articles in the issue — and is of course inspired by the TV test patterns of old (pictured below, and technically known as “SMPTE color bars,” as I learned through Wikipedia).

As a retro effect, it works — I certainly remember them — but has anyone under the age of 20 ever seen one? As far as I know — and keep in mind that I’ve been living in Japan for 10+ years — they haven’t been used in at least a decade, and not just because they’re not necessary anymore (in this world of digital sets), but also because we live in a world with 24-hour broadcasts.

I’m just curious as to whether it’s still a good icon or image to use when referring to TV, although I’m the first to admit that I liked how it was used, and I can’t think of anything off-hand that would work better.

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I’d like to thank everyone who made it out to the cafe last night for PauseTalk Vol. 44. Although still a smaller group than in past months (we were probably 20 or so) it was a nice mix — as is often magically the case — including lots of new faces, and a few old ones that hadn’t checked in for a while. Topics covered included web aesthetics (Japan vs. the West), filming in Japan, getting the “old guard” to sign those checks to get projects moving forward, and the Foreign Correspondents Club (to join or not to join).

As I only realized not long before heading out that my printer was out of ink, I didn’t get to bring attendance sheets, and so no list this month. The next one (Vol. 45) will take place October 4.

What’s wrong with the picture above? My beef with it is that it’s a page from the new iPad edition of MacLife magazine — they’ve just launched a free “zero” issue — but it looks like pretty much any blog post, with it’s row of “social sharing” icons. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely want iPad magazines to embrace the idea of sharing interesting articles, note taking, and all that great functionality that the digital medium can exercise over print, but this is not how I want it done. There are much better ways of integrating all that functionality without using what amounts to “web aesthetics.” Just look at iBooks, touch the screen and you then gain access to your bookmarking-highlighting-note taking tools.

I will say that the MacLife experiment does have some good points, and that it’s nice to see how the creators really want to marry the best of digital and print — it’s the first magazine I see that includes commenting threads for each article, and at least those are hidden and live on their own pages. But it hasn’t quite found the right balance.

by craig

Last year I posted a list of some of the amusing band names I'd come across while scouring the livehouse schedules. Here are a bunch more I've found since then:

ANTI-MANNER KICK COURSE
BAD FROG COMPANY
big fat duck
boots on avalanche
the calendar of unlucky days
THE CAT LOVES STRAWBERRIES
THE CATTLEFISH FRITTER
Catalog of Personal faults
ChocoChopBear
clumsy psycho arts
concentrate on popping
CUNTANUS
Cynical“Ping-Pong”Fotography
DASH ONESELF AGAINST MONSTER
DEATHABALONE
despair inside buffalo
donkey vegetable voxxx!!!
Dood Omnivorous Players
Emily likes tennis
ENERGISH GOLF
FECES KID
hot-hotter-hottest
husband is funny isn’t it
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Mississippi Duck Festival
MontecarloScrapFlamingo
Morbid Sloth
mother fall asleep
Nice band.
Nine Innocent Material
Nonsense Family Revolution
One's second son
THE PARANOID BEE
POPCORN MONSTER
Prairie Prayer
the pretty good lookings
RED SLOPE HUG BAND
THE ROOT RATS
Sanitation Facilities
Selfish apple
Selfish girl
she might be swimmer
SHOVE-IT
SLOBBERY HOT CAKES
smash funny stone
SMELLY SOX
Squirrel Scratch
TASMANIAN BABY
useless chairkicker loves dawn.
Wellness in mouth of ditch
Zombie Blasphemy
$16 CHINESE MAN

What are your favourites?
Some of the spellings may not be the bands' original intentions, but this is how they appeared on the livehouse schedules.

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.

Just over a week ago the latest issue of Wired (September 2010) was released for iPad, and as I’ve done for all issues released for the device so far, I immediately bought it. Yes, despite the less-than-perfect way they’ve handled the digital conversion of the magazine, I’ve been enjoying the magazine, not only because of its nice price — for us Tokyo expats that is, although I still want an even cheaper subscription option — but also because I like the way it reads, and the way the material is presented (and those videos have been quite good too).

BUT, I was pretty surprised at some rather ridiculous flubs in the latest issue, both cases tied to the use of type. First example, pictured above, is an entire story — which also happens to be part of the issue’s cover story, “The Web is Dead,” which means it’s long — presented as white text on a red background. Really? Did anyone at Wired actually try reading the article after it was set in those colors? My eyes were practically in tears by the time I got to the end.

Next up was the use of type too tiny to read. The image above shows said article in landscape mode, and that “Buried” piece is where you encounter the problem — interestingly (if that’s the right word) enough, if you change it to portrait mode, it’s the page’s other article that becomes barely readable.

The big issue here is that these problems are tied to the fact that you can’t change type size in the magazine. So far it hasn’t been an issue for me because all previously issues were formatted in a way that made all text very readable on the iPad screen. I can appreciate that adjustable type size would ruin layouts, and I do like the layouts we’re offered in the magazine, but you can’t sacrifice readability just to make sure a column fits somewhere, or to attain a certain aesthetic (in the case of white type on red).

Harajuku and Aoyama are Tokyo's most fashionable neighborhoods. Home of world-class fashion houses such as Mori Hanae, Comme des Garcons, and Issey Mikaye showrooms, as well as most foreign fashionistas. But Harajuku is also the gathering spot for the costume players on weekends, Meiji Shrine - Tokyo's most venerated Shinto shrine as well as the sight of the Tokyo Olympics at Yoyogi Park.


Tokyo Harajuku Images - Images by John Lander

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).

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Tokyo Gig Guide's next Farm Party gig will be this Sunday, September 5th. It will be loads of fun so we hope to see you there! It only costs 1000円 (plus 500円 drink order) to see three great Tokyo bands and a bunch of ace DJs.

Tokyo Gig Guide presents FARM PARTY #3

Live:


1000s of cats
Guitar & drums 2 piece not afraid of blending cuteness with noise. They appeared on the Tokyo Gig Guide blog list of amusing band names.

ABIKYOKAN (with special guest Sawako on vocals)
International avant-pop new wave band with members hailing from 4 continents. Abikyokan will play as a 5-piece with me on bass and Sawako on vocals.

PSOCASE
Fun sax and electronics duo who appeared at the very first Farm Party.

VJ: craig eee
Old films and craziness cut-up and projected throughout the gig.

DJs: Mu-tan, Goatherd, Antonio Yodobashi, Grant McGaheran, Jake Arntson, craig eee
Super-eclectic international DJ team playing all kinds of danceable stuff form all kinds of places.

Kicks off at 18:30.

Schedule:
18:30 DJ soundclash - Jake & craig eee
19:00 DJ Grant McGaheran
19:30 LIVE: PSOCASE
20:00 DJ Antonio Yodobashi
20:30 LIVE: ABIKYOKAN
21:00 DJ Mu-tan
21:30 LIVE: 1000s Of Cats
22:00 DJ Goatherd
22:30 DJ craig eee

On Tokyo Gig Guide: http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/3301

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142454559120344

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by craig

Day Two (Aug 1st)





It was impossible to get an early start, so the first band to see was YEASAYER at Red Marquee. Fun indie psych dance. As there was nothing on for a while after that, I napped at Gypsy Avalon, my favourite napping area, and had some lunch at the ONLY vegetarian food stall.





I checked out a bit of RIDDIM SAUNTER, but remembering that I don't really like them much, I headed back to the White Stage to meet up with friends and wait for VAMPIRE WEEKEND. Good stuff - loved the African vibes.





Over at White Stage, nodded off during FOALS, then saw LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. Great, great, great.





On the way back to Red Marquee, I caught a bit of ATOMS FOR PEACE as I passed through the millions of people at the Green Stage. Thom Yorke, yes, good singer and I like Radiohead. But Flea? Ugh, can't stand RHCP.



Was very excited to see AIR for the first time, and they didn't disappoint. I was grinning and grooving. Caught a little of MASSIVE ATTACK at Green Stage, but BELLE AND SEBASTIAN were calling me from White Stage so I rushed over there. Standing in the rain, and a little drunk, B&S brought back lots of pleasant memories and I enjoyed myself immensely. They even did their favourite trick of bringing fans up on the stage to dance to The Boy With The Arab Strap.



Realising I'd lost my friends again, I headed to Red Marquee, watching a bit of SCISSOR SISTERS as I passed. I proceeded to dance the night away by myself, later to be taken under the wing of some friendly people. Caught DJ sets of JAMES MURPHY, HORSE MEAT DISCO, Y. SUNAHARA and RASMUS FABER at red Marquee, somebody at Ganban Stage, watched the Human Cannonball, visited the Miniscule of Sound and talked to carnies at Palace of Wonder, crashed in Crystal Palace as SIM CASS played, then staggered back towards the tent at daylight.





Back to Tokyo the next day, tired, sunburnt, blistered feet and with a cold. It was definitely worth it though! Thanks everyone, especially Pete, Lyle, Asami, Saoirse, Sayaka and Smash.

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I’m not a big fan of Japanese dramas in general, but there are the occasional series that I like to follow, usually something that my wife has been really enjoying. I would include Trick and Jikou Keisatsu in that bunch, and now Atami no Sousakan. Atami is a new Twin Peaks-ish mystery produced by the same crew behind Jikou Keisatsu, sharing the same black humor, and Jo Odagiri as a star, as well some of the supporting cast (it also includes Kill Bill’s Chiyaki Kuriyama). It’s pretty interesting so far (episode 4 just aired, of a planned 8) and my wife has been especially obsessing over it, to the point where she’s even examining screen grabs for clues or oddities (the images above show that a passport that has been issued in 2008 includes stamps for 2007). It airs Friday nights at 23:15 on TV Asahi.

Mostly Cloudy  24°C

Wind: N 1 m/s Pressure: 1012 mbar Visibility: 12 km Humidity: 73% Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:57