Zenkichi Restaurant: If Only the Economy Weren’t Doing So Poorly, I would Eat Here Every Week

Tuesday night, the boyfriend and I attended the press-only opening party for Zenkichi restaurant, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was superb.

Zenkichi has actually been open since November 2006, so I’m not sure what last night’s festivities were supposed to be celebrating. In any case, the joint is classy. There is only a tiny, unassuming sign designating its location from outside. Rather, it looks like just a long, plain, wooden wall. Now, normally I’m anti-unlabeled establishments. I find the concept pretentious and unnecessarily highfalutin. But Zenkichi was so cool on the inside that I’ll forgive it this trespass.

There are three floors in the restaurant. The first floor is the “winter garden.” It’s full of bamboo stalks, stones on the floor, and a glass roof over which extends a leafy tree (outside). It definitely shoots for the “zen” look. There are also a few of their signature intimate booths in this area. The booths consist of tiny tables, for no more than three people (though two is really best), with dark wood paneling surrounding each and every little bungalow. It really allows for comfortable, private conversation. It also gives off a very romantic feel. This is the best date spot I’ve come across in some time.

The second floor had more of the bamboo stalks, plus many more private booths, all set up in a snaking maze of a layout. This, again, creates a deliciously intimate atmosphere. The third floor was roped off, but we took a peek, and found a banquet room, with what looked like more rooms cordoned off away from the staircase. I imagine it’d be a nice place for a special, relatively small celebration, like a milestone birthday or an engagement party.

As for the food, it goes way beyond sushi. In fact, they don’t serve sushi at all—rather, offerings consist of “Tokyo-style small plates.” Zenkichi also utilizes seasonal ingredients, so the menu changes every few months. The restaurant places highest emphasis on the “Omakase,” or chef’s tasting menu, which changes every five weeks, though individual items are available too.

Tuesday night, Zenkichi served a selection of cold items, warm ones, and dessert, as well as a lot of sake. My favorite cold item was the Sweet Duck Salad. I usually hate duck, but this dish was a definite exception. A thin piece of slightly sweet medium-rare duck was wrapped around a portion of shredded raw vegetables. I wouldn’t exactly call it a “salad,” because the duck was really the strongest flavor, but either way, it was flawless. The boyfriend’s favorite was the Maguro Carpaccio, which was actually pretty similar to the duck. A piece of raw tuna was wrapped around more shredded raw vegetables. Again, delicious.

As for the warm options, both of us adored the Pork Kakuni, a piece of seared pork belly so good that I don’t even remember what else was stuck on the toothpick with it. This salty little morsel practically melted in your mouth. Kind of a disturbing description considering that it’s a hunk of fat, but trust me when I say it is damn good. A close second was definitely the Saikyo Miso Black Cod, a piece of black cod in a really tasty marinade.

As for the sake offerings, we tasted four different kinds. I’m not usually a big sake person, but after last night, I think that’s only because I’ve never had any good sake before. My favorite was the unfiltered one, of which I don’t remember the specific name, but I could have sat there sipping it all night if not for the fact that I’m a total lightweight.

So final impression: Zenkichi is one of the rare restaurants in New York City that I think is worth its prices. The Omakase menu costs $48 per person, and that doesn’t include drinks; but even I, who have elevated scamming free food and drink to an art form, will be returning. And I recommend that next time any of you are in Williamsburg, and can afford it, you ought to do the same.

Zenkichi is located at 77 North 6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Check out their website at www.zenkichi.com for more information.

France Part 2

It's another rainy day, so I managed to get back to the internet cafe.

Day 6:

We arrived in Normandy late last night and got dinner at the creperie. My galette was disappointing, though. There wasn't enough cheese, so it was kind of bland. Anyhoo, today we went to the market in the next town over, St-Valery-En-Caux. We picked up the most delicious melon I've ever had! It was so sweet and smelled so fragrant. We also purchased lots of veggies and cheese, including a heart of neufchatel, which I think is my new favorite. I'm going to bring some back to the U.S. because you can't buy it there, since it's made from raw (unpasteurized) milk, which is illegal in the U.S.

In the afternoon, I took a hike by myself along the top of the cliff, then down to the water to walk back at low tide. This is my favorite thing to do in Veules-Les-Roses. As it was low tide, you could peer into the tidepools, where I found tons of little sea anemones. The ones that weren't submerged in water closed themselves up into blobs, so it took me a while to figure out what the hell they were. At first, it looked like a colony of squishy (yes, I poked them) black blobs hanging under the larger cave-like rocks.

Day 7:

My mother had found a listing for a lumberjack festival in one of her tourist books, so we drove two hours to get there, only to discover that it was for the next day. My father and I sufficiently teased her for that mix-up. However, it afforded us a a stunning drive through the countryside, along which we saw lots of cows, a farm with miniature ponies, and a closeup view of the windmills that generate electricity around here.

That night, we had dinner in Quiberville, which is another small beach town in Normandy where my mom's cousin Cecile (and her husband Patrick) have a summer home. We ate at this little brasserie right on the beach, with a view of their cliffs. I had the best hamburger of my life there. First off, it was on this huge roll, about six inches in diameter, of delicious French bread. Then the meat itself was thin, but spread out to fill most of the bread, so it actually wasn't horribly filling since there was less meat than you'd think. Toppings included melted grated gruyere cheese, chopped onions, ripe tomatoes, and lettuce, topped off with an orangey, slightly spicy tomatoe-based sauce. So good.

Day 9:

My parents and I took a walk on the other side of the cliffs, and then kept going through all this farmland. We eventually reached this tiny little town (maybe a couple dozen houses total) called Manville-Es-Plais. We went into its old church, which had somewhat ugly modern stained glass, but when the sun shone, it reflected all these bright colors onto the floor. It was beautiful, like being inside a kaleidoscope. On the way back, we took a different route, where we found a whole herd of Normand cows. These cows are used for their milk, to make cheese. They're brown and white speckled and typical of this area. This particular herd was friendly, all coming over to the fence when we stopped to look at them. I fed them grass for a while and tried to pet them, but they were nervous and backed away anytime I reached my hand out without grass in it.

This day was also the Grande Marée in Veules-Les-Roses, which is the day with the lowest tide of the entire year. At high tide, this beach is covered in medium-sized rocks, which are really painful and difficult to walk on. At low tide, though, a huge sandbar is exposed. And during the Grande Marée, the sandbar stretches for what looked like a third of a mile or so. It's incredible. I took a walk on the sand at night, and then stood in the water, letting it rise higher and higher up my legs as the tide slowly came in. It was, for lack of a better word, magical.

Dat 10:

My parents and I took a drive to a town called Giverny, to go to Monet's house. It was awsome! Because it's the end of the season and it was rainy, there weren't that many people. You could walk through the house quite easily, which was decorated in exactly the way Monet had it, right down to the placement of his collection of Japanese Ukiyo-E prints (of which there were dozens) on the walls. There were even photos on display of him standing in the rooms, so you could see how closely the decor matched up. His gardens (yes, the ones in which he used to paint) were also open, including the pond that provided the imagery for his iconic Japanese Bridge and Water Lillies paintings. I was in heaven. Monet is my favorite of the "old masters," and I really, really, really love his work. Standing on his very bridge, looking at the same water lilly plants he used to paint...I don't even know how to describe the feeling. It was practically an out-of-body experience.

In the afternoon, we went to Rouen, which is the old city that houses the cathedral Monet also used to paint. It rained the rest of the day, so we just did some shopping and headed back. We had planned to go to the creperie again, but when we got there, it was closed (even though its door says it's only closed on Wednesday). Then we realized that everything in all of Veules was closed. French people usually go on vacation for the whole month of August, and most of the "residents" of Veules are actually French vacationers. so once they leave on August 31, everything immediately shuts down. It was almost eerie to walk the streets with so many lights off and shutters closed. Also, it was 8 o'clock by now, and we were really hungry, with literally no food we could to cook ourselves. So we drove back to St-Valery-En-Caux, and luckily there were a few restaurants open. We actually ended up having a really good seafood meal, too. I had this dish with muscles, salmon, cod, and sole all on the same plate in an orange cream sauce. The sauce was so delicious, especially on the salmon, and I was really happy to get some fish in me (I am on the coast, after all).

Day 11:

Today!

The high tide today is ridiculous. It goes all the way up the cliff, whereas normally there's at least 15 feet of distance between the water's edge and the cliff face. Also, the raised dock that sticks out into the water is usually too high to jump off, but now the water level is only about five feet down. I guess this is the fallout from the Grande Marée. I've never seen it like this in Veules before, though, so it's pretty cool. If only it were a bit warmer, I could go swimming. But even with the sun out, it's freeeeeezing here!

Two more days to go in Normandy, then one day in Paris before returning to the U.S. Then you can expect lots of photos (I've taken 364 so far! Only 91 left!).

France Trip Part 1

I am in France, attempting to update this from an internet cafe, but the keyboard's letters are in different places than on an American keyboard, and I only have 45 minutes until the cafe closes for lunch (everything in France except the occasional restaurant closes for two hours at noon), so this may get cut short before I finish. In the interest of time, I'm only going to write about the days I actually did stuff.

Ok, let's get started...

Day 1: Arrival

I flew AirIndia because it was the cheapest flight I could get. The plane was kind of stinky and there were three babies around me. It was not the best flight I've ever been on. On the plus side, the in-flight meal consisted of chicken curry. Not bad. I arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport pretty much on time, met my parents (they flew on an earlier flight from Syracuse), picked up the rental car, and immediately set off for Basel, Switzerland.

Here are my initial impressions of Basel: The thing that struck me the most is that nobody locks up their bikes. Everyone rides a bike, and there are tons of bicycles parked everywhere, but none of them are locked up! Some would have locks connecting the front wheel to the frame, but then not locked to anything, just parked on the sidewalk. And many weren't locked at all. I was shocked. I guess people there don't have to worry about their bikes getting stolen. It makes me jealous. That would never fly in NY.

So other things I noticed: There is public art everywhere. There was a statue on practically every street corner, some modern and some classical. There were also these printed sheets of sheer fabric suspended between the buildings on narrow streets. I don't know if that's a usual thing or a specific festival, because there was no information about it anywhere, but it was really cool nonetheless. I also stumbled upon a random Richard Serra piece near a fountain in the center of the city. The other thing that was everywhere was graffiti. It was even on old, beautiful buildings and a lot of the statues, which I was not a fan of. As much as I like (good) graffiti, there's a code graf writers are supposed to follow, which is no doing it on historical buildings, art, or people's houses.

Day 3:

We went to the culture museum in the morning, which was having an exhibit on the color red, and how it ties into every facet of human culture (life, death, religion, etc), in all different cultures across the world. It was an absolutely riveting exhibition and was exceedingly well done. Every theme got its own separate room, which was then filled with red artifacts that ranged from traditional art such as paintings, to objects such as clothing and even a red Ferrari. Red was also used throughout each room just in the set-up alone. The black cubes that small items sat on, for example, were surrounded by a border of red light on the floor. In addition, every object was numbered, and every museum visitor was given a booklet that explained all the items in great depth. You would need hours and hours to read every description, but as it was, my parents and I had a 2 o'clock appointment to ride a boat around the city, so we gave up on reading everything after an hour and a half or so. Even without reading everything, though, the pieces on display were still incredible. Plus you get to keep the book, so you can finish reading everything any time you want.

So next we had lunch and went on a boat ride similar to NY's Circle Line tours. It took us up and down the Rhine, with an announcer explaining things in German (and English, thankfully). The northern end of the river was the historical area, with lots of beautiful old buildings overlooking the river, and the south was the really ugly industrial area. At the south end, though, were more swans in one place than I've ever seen in my life. There were dozens hanging around the riverbeds.

Day 4:

Drove back to France, to the Burgundy region. We arrived in Avallon, a tiny and adorable Medieval town surrounded by ramparts. We wandered around the town in the morning, then went to a castle in Chatellux in the afternoon. This castle has been owned by the same family since the 1300s. The owners during the French Revolution actually had to leave France to avoid being killed. The current owner gave a small tour. The guy was a wee bit grumpy (how French) and he said he's a member of the "Legitimiste" political party, which means he thinks the monarch should be reinstated. Mmmkay. He gave a tour of just a few rooms on the first floor. The two best rooms were the salon and the library. The salon had paintings of the men of the family throughout the centuries. The paintings themselves weren't in particularly good shape, but the stories about them were great. These men spent time with royalty, and one of the later ones was friends with George Washington.

Day 5:

We went to Vezelay, another medieval town surrounded by ramparts and a stunning view of the countryside. The town's cathedral was really nice. It was smallish, but had an usual amount of light. Usually, gothic cathedrals are dark and somewhat foreboding inside, but this one was quite pleasant. Apparently, it was designed so that on the longest summer day of the year, the light coming in the windows projects a specific pattern onto the floor. In Vezelay, my parents and I also stumbled upon the town cemetery, which had an additional section that contained older headstones, from the early 1800s. The old section isn't really being taken care of anymore, so a lot of the stones were crumbling and overgrown with grass and weeds. It was really neat.

After Vezelay, we stopped at these prehistoric caves in Arcy-Sur-Cure that have cave paintings from approximately 24-28,000 years ago. They're the second oldest cave paitings in the world. The cave formations themselves were absolutely incredible as well. I felt like I was walking through the "Caves" episode of "Planet Earth." And we were allowed to get surprisingly close to the cave paintings, of which there aren't that many, because in the 40s people went down there with oil lamps and got soot all over the walls. Then when they tried to clean off the soot, they destroyed 80% of the paintings. But the ones that are left consist of mammoths and prehistoric rhinos. Farther away from the main paintings was an additional small one, of a hand outlined by red. This was the one that struck me the most. It's near the ground, and is very small, so odds are it was a child who made it. It was really incredible. I could picture my own hand over top of it.

After the caves, we headed to Veules-Les-Roses in Normandy, where I've spent the last three days. But that will have to wait, because I am out of time. The cafe's about to close!

David Byrne is THE MAN

Has everyone seen this? Apparently the city of New York was holding a contest for new bike rack designs. (You can see the finalists here.) So David Byrne was slated to be one of the judges, and he randomly started doodling his own bike rack designs one day, showed them to the committee, and they told him he could have them built and put up! No questions asked, no red tape, they just let him go to work! Crazy! They went up at the end of July. You can see photos of the new racks on Gothamist and the original Byrne doodles on his blog.

They're not the most functionally-shaped bike racks I've ever seen, but they are designed per their appropriate neighborhoods. Also, if we're going to have bike racks that can only accommodate one bicycle at a time (as most of the proposed designs do), then they might as well be attractive. The racks will only be up for a year and then will be sold as art pieces. I can't wait for them to get all grimy with stickers and dents and old locks chained to them. Somebody remind me to go take photos of them a year from now.

P.S. Here is the "hipster" rack from my very own neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn:

Sweet!

(Photo courtesy NYCDOT)

couture BLAH

Living in New York City, I see "fashion" everywhere I go. I used to be somewhat into it, because it is no doubt a form of art. However, since there's not exactly an abundance of nice magazine shops or newsstands in Syracuse (much less Binghamton), the most exposure I ever got prior to moving here was the pages of "Marie Claire," "InStyle," and their ilk.

Since moving to NYC, and since commencing my attempt to work in the field of magazines myself, I've read a lot more "serious" fashion rags. In addition, I see actual stores selling the stuff from the pages of those magazines, occasionally get to see pieces in action during NY Fashion Week, and probably see women wearing the stuff on the streets regularly without even realizing it. However, the dire seriousness with which these upscale magazines treat fashion really unnerves me. It's gotten to the point that I no longer pick up fashion magazines at all, not even the ones whose photography I really like, because I can't stand sludging through all the pretentious, snobby articles, especially the ones demanding that I buy the season's new "it" item--every damn season! How are these items "must-have" if I only must have them for three months??

The fashion industry is racist, sizeist, and elitist. How does clothing, of all things, command such respect? Why do people (allegedly) quake in their boots when Anna Wintour enters a room? How do designers justify charging hundreds of dollars for a plain white tee (and why do people pay it!)? How can any industry that considers Rachel Zoe a celebrity (much less an asset) be taken seriously?

Ok, enough with the ranting. The point is, some part of me still likes the idea of fashion as art, which is why the Metropolitan Museum of Art's fashion gallery is always the section I hit up first when I get there. Currently, the Met is exhibiting "Superheroes: Fashion And Fantasy." Now, being the comic-obsessed little nerd that I am, I thought, Comic books and fashion together? Awsome!

But man, was this exhibit disappointing. It's not the exhibit itself that disappointed me, though. On the contrary, I thought the setup was fantastic. They had costumes from the original Super Man movie (!), Batman Returns, Batman: The Dark Knight, the original Wonder Woman tv show (again, !), and others. Then there were couture pieces from the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and John Galliano that were "influenced" by the superhero costumes.

Here's the thing that bugged me: The couture pieces less "referenced" the superheroes, and more blatantly ripped them off! To be truthful, some weren't that bad. The couture pieces related to the X-Men were not obvious homages. The superhero used as example was the movie version of Mystique (Rebecca Romijn's blue, scaly character), while the designer pieces included feathers, metal, and rubber. The centerpiece was a technicolor feathered mermaid dress with a gold metal plate over the stomach. Likewise, the costumes that were related to Ghost Rider and The Punisher included dark, almost violent imagery, such as this cheeky motorcycle-themed ensemble:


The Superman, Batman, Catwoman, and Wonder Woman costumes, however, were not the least bit original. Check this out:


This is a piece from Rossella Jardini for Moschino. Changing Superman's S into an M does not make this an original idea! I see the parallels between Superman and branding, but this is a too-obvious way of pointing it out. How much thought really went into this? It's exactly the same as Superman, right down the the Clark Kent eyeglasses and the little spitcurl in the center of his forehead.

Here are Wonder Woman and Batman/Catwoman:



The Batman and Catwoman "references" bothered me the most. They were the least original pieces of clothing there. Add ears to the costume above and it would be Batman. Some of the couture pieces actually included bat-shaped harlequin masks. Catwoman was just as bad. Take Michelle Pfeiffer's "Batman Returns" costume, erase the white stitches, and you'll have the couture pieces. This all seems very lazy. And practically illegal. What about copyright? Why is it acceptable for high-end designers to rip off pop culture icons, but shops in Chinatown get raided for selling counterfeit handbags and Forver 21 gets sued for making cheap knock-offs?

Now I can add "hypocritical" and "unoriginal" to my list of angry adjectives above. The more of the fashion world I'm exposed to, the more I disdain it.

so stylish...

Remember that entry I wrote about the NY Tattoo Convention? I mentioned that someone from a Japanese fashion website stopped me in the subway that day to take my picture, but when I went to the site, it was all in Japanese so I couldn't find my photo. Well Dave Wallin from Tattoo Culture (he did my back piece) happened to find this here blog, and apparently he reads Japanese well enough to find THIS for me. Sweet! I'm the biggest photo and I'm at the top of the page! And just in case that link ever stops working, here is the specific photo:


I bought the dress on eBay. It's handmade from one of my favorite eBay stores, Lynn's Rags. The skirt portion is from a vintage dress, with new spandex fabric for the top. I added the strap around the neck so that it actually stays up (plus I need to be able to wear proper undergarments). I love this dress! I should go thrifting for funky old dresses so that I can make these myself.

NY Phil in Prospect Park

Monday night, I went to Prospect Park to watch the New York Philharmonic for free. It was fantastic! Susan, Patrick, and I rode our bikes there, first of all. Of course, this once again proved to me that New York City is the most bicyclist-unfriendly city in existence. There are barely any bike lanes anywhere. You're taking your life into your hands every time you want to go for even a short ride. I was, however, pleased to discover that Prospect Park, my second favorite park in New York (after the Brooklyn Bridge Park), is completely car-free! I just never realized before, but then Patrick told me such was the case. I'll have to go riding there more often now.

Anyways, the three of us brought blankets and picnic food, and met up with some other people who'd done the same and had already staked out a good seating area behind the center speaker. We couldn't see the stage very well from there, but we could hear it really well, which I think is more the point. The place was packed, too, so we may have had trouble hearing the music elsewhere, with all the chit-chat going on throughout the crowd.

I didn't pick up a program, so I don't know the names of the music the Phil played, but before starting, they did offer audience members the opportunity to text in (as in on a cell phone) their choice for the encore song (Do I detect an attempt to engage the young'uns here?). The choices were a theme from "Carmen" and an apparently less well-known French song (in honor of Bastille Day!). Unsurprisingly, the audience chose the "Carmen" song.

The performance was absolutely magical. Possessing little knowledge of classical music, I can't really critique the performance much (though it sounded just lovely to me). I can, however, describe the atmosphere. First of all, the sunset was brilliant. It was partly cloudy, which made for some really nice sky formations. The clouds maintained a dusky blue shade, and as the sun set, a bright pink and orange slowly overtook their undersides until the sun completely set. There's too much light pollution in NYC to ever see stars, but the moon was close to full and brighter than I'm used to seeing around here. Then once it was dark, fireflies came out! As I understand it, fireflies tend to prefer long grass and foliage, so it was a real treat to see so many of them mingling among the crowd. The temperature was also perfect: It was just cool enough to get away with long pants (which means no mosquito bites!), and not terribly humid. Now imagine all this with the NY Philharmonic playing in the backdrop. At one point, I said, "I feel like we're in a poem."

And then...

FIREWORKS!! YAY!!! These were really good ones, too (though they seemed unusually low to the ground...). The best was the very end, when firework after firework after firework just kept coming. These weren't the giant, loud, round ones. They were smaller clusters that fanned out when they exploded in the air; and it went on for what seemed like even longer than a usual finale. What a fantastically perfect end to the night. Yay summer! There's so much free stuff to do! Go here for a schedule of other Prospect Park activities (I especially recommend catching indie-rock band Deerhoof this Friday night).

WATCH THIS

Holy crap this is amazing:


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

NY Tattoo Convention

After attending the monster event that was the NY Comic Convention a couple weeks ago (go here for my "official" review), the NY Tattoo Convention that took place at Roseland Ballroom this past weekend was really disappointing. For one thing, the venue was too small. I expected it to be extremely crowded (as all conventions inevitably are), but there was barely any walking space between the aisles to even begin with! In addition, Roseland being a traditional concert hall, the stage is in the same room as the "hall" where the booths were set up. So you not only had booths crammed into too little space, but you also had a massive crowd of people milling around the stage area, which afforded even less space for walking around.

The second floor was just as bad. It's not a whole floor--just a balcony that wraps around three quarters of the room with (again) little walking space between the booths and the railing.

As for the vendors, I was impressed by the distances some of the tattoo artists travelled to be here. There were a number of tattooers from Europe and even a couple from Japan and Taiwan. But I was disappointed that there weren't more vendors selling stuff. I expected there to be art, books, jewelry, clothes... But there were only a handful of booths selling more than tee-shirts. I did end up buying one print by someone named Michael Brown, but he wasn't at the booth, there was no business card, and his name is not on the list of vendors on the Con's website; and with a name like that, I doubt I'll ever find any information on the guy.

I'm not in the market for a new tattoo right now, so I actually got pretty bored after only being there a couple hours. I had planned on making a day out of it, but with nothing new to look at and not even any music or bands to listen to (you'd think that a concert hall would take advantage of its own facilities, but I guess not...), I headed out pretty quickly. I didn't even take any pictures. Even if I had found people whose tattoos I really liked, there just wasn't enough space to photograph them well without dragging them to a more open area (like the bar! Hmm... maybe that wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all...).

Well, at least admission only cost $18 and a I got a few free stickers and a matchbook out of it.

Oh yeah! And on the subway ride there, this guy took my picture for a Japanese fashion website! Oh no! But I just went to the site and it's all in Japanese! I can't even find my own photo! Awww... Well if anyone out there can read Japanese, let me know if you find me on www.apparel-web.com/trend/cafeglobe.com/fashion/streetsnapny/usa

Happy Easter!

Just found this picture on Cute Overload and had to share it here:


"Peep show." Heehee...

kiwiberries

I was in my neighborhood overpriced health food store the other day (I needed Japanese buckwheat noodles and Chinatown is too far away for a grocery run). And they had these weird fruit that I'd never seen before called kiwiberries. Here's a picture:


(from nzkiwiberry.com)


And here's a photo from phronesisaical.blogspot.com that shows their size:



They look like mini hairless kiwis. I assumed they were a hybrid of kiwis and grapes, but it turns out they're a real fruit, just some cousin of the furry kiwi I'm used to. They're also apparently really good for you. Check it:

(from kiwiberry.com)


I thought they were a bit steep at $4.99 (you only get 8 or 9 in a package), but you can just pop them in your mouth like grapes and the thought of eating kiwi without having to peel it really appeals to me, so I bought them anyways. But blech! What a disappointment! They're much more squishy than a regular kiwi--they feel like an overripe peach in your mouth. And all the delicious tart that kiwis have is completely nonexistent. These things are way saccharine. I'm going to stick with my 4 for $2 hairy kiwis.

go me!

I have two new posts up at AnimeIntro today because I'm just that good. (kidding!) I'm hoping the latter one will generate a good deal of debate, as it concerns fansubbing vs. file-sharing vs. piracy, so everybody please clicky clicky.

In other news, I may be getting a press pass to next month's New York Comic Con thanks to AnimeIntro--sweet! I'll obviously be writing a formal blog about it there, but some more personal reactions may surface in here. So far the only events I've ever managed to get into with a press pass have been free admission to museums.

blogging fun

New post at animeintro.

Also found this fantastic artist yesterday. David Horvitz does all kinds of conceptual things that require some serious audience participation. For one thing, he's taking one photo of the sky every day for this entire year. He'll mail them to you for free. I signed up yesterday. Here is yesterday's sky (it's in NYC):



My favorite thing he does is offer for people to pay him a certain amount of money, which he'll then use to go to a specific place and mail you an item. Most of the options are big (expensive) trips to foreign countries (which I totally wish I'd thought of first!), but some are as small as giving him $5 for him to mail you one of his secrets.

I have two favorite cheap ones. One is giving him $10 to write a letter of apology to someone he knows. He'll send one copy of the letter to its recipient and one to you. He has an example of a letter on his website. This letter is really simple, but so touching for some reason. So far, 12 people have bought apologies. I think this is absolutely genius. It's incredibly voyeuristic, but also sort of vicariously relieving. Even if you're too scared to make your own random apology, you can be part of someone else's. I think I might purchase an apology letter in the coming days.

My other favorite is for people to pay him a dollar to think about them for one full minute. Twenty-one people have bought a minute of time, by far the largest number of people to participate in any of these projects. I think this is very telling. People are actually so full of themselves that they're willing to pay someone--a complete stranger no less--just to think about them. But on the other hand, a couple people paid David to think about someone else. Someone named Jim Darrough paid him to think about his step-mom who had passed away four days prior. Quote:

I thought about Jim Darrough's step-mother, Arleen, who passed away on February 24th, 2008 at 3:32 am Pacific Time. Jim was holding her hand at this time. I thought about Arleen from 1:18am to 1:19am on February 28, 2008 in New York.

Ok, that's actually really moving. As is this one:

I thought about Luca Kunz's mom who is in a hospital in Switzerland from 3:12am to 3:13am on February 29th, 2008 in New York. I went a little over a minute to make it stronger.

People love their families so much that it helps them to know that a stranger knows who the family member is, and is actively thinking about them.

I think that the entire body of work just speaks to the interconnectedness of everyone on Earth. And it's as easy as dropping an envelope into a mailbox. Maybe that's too obvious of an explanation, but I think it's rare that you see such a blatant physical manifestation of this. I look forward to reading more about David's exploits.

bob loblah's law blog

I was recently hired as a featured blogger for animeintro.net, and my first post is now up. I'll be posting every Monday and Thursday. It's a new website, so it doesn't get much traffic yet and I pretty much have to create my own readership, so if any of my loyal readers here either care about, or have friends who care about, anime, manga, designer toys, Japanese fashion, and other offshoots of Japanese pop culture, please pass on the link :]

The blog cover page.
My current post: The Oscars Hate Anime

I'll probably be providing a link here every time a new post is up for the next few months, but don't worry, it'll only be a short little sentence each time.

Oh yeah, and the post went up yesterday and I already have three comments! Yay yay! So exciting!

GASP!

OH MY GOD I WANT THIS!



It's graffiti artist Der's contribution to the new French Dunny series. The rest are coated in your standard crazy cool paint jobs, but this one is actually a little French dude! He's holding a little baguette and wine bottle and wearing a beret! Awwwww... I want I want I want!

Kazuhiro Okamoto’s “Translucent”

I’ve been consuming comics like crazy lately, but the titles I regularly follow have been coming out too slowly. So I decided I need to add another new series to my palate. I really want something different, though: no high school romance or boy-on-a-quest stories. Last week, I picked up the first two volumes of Kazuhiro Okamoto’s “Translucent” (from Dark Horse Comics), an unusual story that seemed promising.

“Translucent” focuses on 14-year-old Shizuka, who is afflicted with “translucent syndrome,” a disease that makes her body “see-through.” It affects each person differently, with some people being completely transparent all the time and some (like Shizuka) regularly shifting from visible to varying degrees of translucency. Emotions also affect the syndrome, with negative feelings and stress causing Shizuka to go completely transparent and happiness causing her body to return to normal. If someone with translucent syndrome remains completely transparent for two weeks, it’s likely she’ll stay that way forever.

“Translucent” was a promising concept in theory. An adolescent girl with an unusual disease should allow for some entertaining drama. But in reality, the series falls completely flat. For one thing, there isn't enough attention given to the disease itself. We’re repeatedly told that there’s no known cause or cure. And that’s it. I can suspend my disbelief enough to ignore the scientific impossibilities at work here, but wouldn’t there be people studying this disease? Shouldn’t Shizuka at the very least exert some effort into understanding it?

For another thing, the art is totally unimpressive. The characters aren’t detailed enough to tell them apart. Shizuka’s friend Mamoru is supposed to be the most beautiful student in the entire school, but the only difference between her and Shizuka is their hairstyles. Bodies and body movement are also rendered extremely stiffly.

I could get past the amateurish art if the story itself was well told, but, unfortunately, it’s not. Problems wrap up much too simplistically to be enjoyable. In the first volume, Shizuka’s body turns completely transparent, so she has to move away to be close to a translucent syndrome specialist. But a special parting gift from Tadami makes her so happy that her body returns to normal, so the doctor tells her she only has to visit once a month and Shizuka returns to her old school. This quick fix and lack of development is unsatisfying.

There also appears to be no overarching storyline. This story really needs a concrete direction. I thought Shizuka’s desire to become an actress despite her condition (which develops after her successful drama club performance) would be the spine of the story, but it’s more of an afterthought, really, happening concurrently to the plot rather than driving it.

I actually ended up returning these books to the store because they’re so unsatisfying. It’s really disappointing to see such a creative theme executed so poorly. Next time I want to try a new manga, I’m going to read the whole thing in-store before buying it.

luuuuuurve

I found yet another artist in my internet travels with whom I've fallen in love. Audrey Kawasaki's paintings are STUNNING. She paints these charming art-nouveau inspired wispy girls on wood. The girls have oversized, incredibly expressive eyes and juicy lips, an obvious anime/manga influence. Most of the figures are transparent, so you get to see the woodgrain through them, which gives the paintings a natural, warm feeling. Audrey also retains a sense of edginess by incorporating explicit and metaphorical sexual imagery, as well as the occasional skull or animal skeleton.

Here is a big ole' image dump of some of my favorites from her website:















Audrey currently has a solo show at the Copro Nason gallery in Santa Monica. I desperately wish I could be there. And even though the show only opened three days ago, all her prints and originals are already sold out. All her prints in her personal website's store have also been sold out for some time now. Curses! I really need to take a trip to California one of these days to check out their art scene. Goodness knows there's no shortage of local talent here in New York, but the art establishment in Cali seems more lighthearted, varied, and less elitist, if I'm basing my impression on the art alone. Bits of California culture in general (skateboarding, movie-making, pop culture...) seem to be allowed (embraced?) into the art scene there. For someone to be big in New York, their art has to be Very. Serious. It's like... lighten up! You'd never see something anime-inspired in Chelsea. Maybe Brooklyn, though... Good thing I live there :]

heehee

Ok, this cracks me up to no end:

It's a vinyl toy designed by Amanda Visell. Its name is "Baby-Eating Crocodile."

HA!

And here are two illustrations from her website to accompany it:





HILARIOUS!

The figure was originally part of a multi-artist show at Gallery 1988 in LA, and now the whole series of toys are being released as a blind-box set. I think the set as a whole is kind of meh, though, which is especially disappointing given the awsomeness of Visell's contribution to the collection. As an art show, all the different styles may work, but as a blind-box set, there's not enough cohesion. And it's not just the art styles that differ wildly, it's also the level of detail. The individual boxes are $7.99 each, which is about average (i.e. expensive as hell), but I wouldn't want to pay that for (or even own, for that matter) a couple of these.

Anthony Ausgang's Clean One, for example, features bright, fun colors, but the character's lack of detail gives it a flat and boring look overall. Peter Gronquist's Stella and 'Roo is also unsatisfying. There's a seem right down the center of its tummy! What's that about? Who thought that was a good design choice? The colors, too, are bland. Designer toys are usually immaculately put together and cleverly colored, so this one looks cheaply made by comparison.

On the other hand, Greg Simkins' Scurvy Nevil is highly detailed and intricate (not to mention, ADORABLE). I covet this little trinket like nobody's business. Joe Ledbetter always comes through with amazing toy creations, and his Ledkin and King of the Deadbeets are no exception. This is how you do mock 2D. The creatures, being actual toys, are obviously physically three-dimensional, but his heavy black outlines and solid, stark color blocks give the little guys the feeling of being drawings on a page.

About half of these toys are really creative and weirdo, while the others aren't particularly special. And even though they're sold as a set, none of them match. They're better as singular pieces; but in that case, I don't want to shell out eight bucks in the hope of getting a Joe Ledbetter or Amanda Visell toy, only to end up with some ugly thing I don't want. Let's face it, $8 is too much to pay for a three inch chunk of plastic anyways (not that it's ever stopped me before...), so if I'm going to actually pay that, it has to be for something unique and clever whose design looks like it received a lot of work. The odds of getting that in this case aren't high enough. My advice? Wait a couple months, then buy them pre-opened on ebay.

Do your civic duty, damnit!

I voted today.

Go Obama!

(Poster by Shepard Fairey)

tattoo part deux

So! The tattoo was the most excruciatingly painful experience of my entire life. I think I'm definitely done with the tattoos for a while. Dave did an amazing job! The birds have a very painterly look to them, which is exactly what I was going for. Joe also says he's never seen such a realistic tattoo, if that's any indication. I'm really, really happy with it. It hurt SO BAD, though, especially when Dave was working on my spine. The whole tattoo took about four hours and I don't know how I got through the whole thing without whining or crying, but I did. It also bled a lot, which was kind of icky.

The irritation and pinkness around the tattoo hasn't entirely faded yet, so I'll have better photos up in a couple weeks, but for now, here are these ones:

Just the black outline.

Another angle, so you can see the bird on my shoulder. He's my favorite.

The finished product. It'll look a bit lighter once it has completely healed.

GASP!

GASP! I want these!


They're toys! Made of wood! And they're adorable! And Japanese! (And made by Takeji Nakagawa.)

AWWWWWW!

LITTLE WOODEN SAMURAIS!!

new tattoo

I'm getting a new tattoo this Sunday (but shhh don't tell my parents!), so I decided to chronicle the process here. I'm getting a small flock of birds on my back. There will be five birds in all, starting with one standing at the lower left corner (like at my waist) and the last one on the back of my right shoulder. I'm specifically using a royal tern for the breed, because their wings take on some very sharp angles when they fly and it looks really cool. (P.S. I'm not just getting this done for vanity; the image does have a meaning for me, but it's private :P )

Here are the photos I took from Google images as reference:



They'll be about three inches tall on my back, and will consist of a light black outline with all the inner shading and color having no black linework, and an overall painterly, wispy look.

I'm getting it done by Dave Wallin at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg. At first I planned on going to Saved Tattoo, but they have turned out to be totally elitist and overpriced. My room mate has been trying to get an appointment with them for months and they won't even give her the time of day. When I went, they told me the tattooer I was interested in is currently in Copenhagen, and then told me to contact him through MySpace (Have I ever mentioned how much I hate MySpace?). I can't even get a real e-mail address?? Okaaay...

Anyways, Tattoo Culture is only a couple blocks away from Saved, and I stumbled upon it when I started walking in the wrong direction by accident. It is so much more welcoming. The guys there were friendly and warm, the studio was impeccably clean and organized, they have multiple artists who take walk-ins (not just appointments months in advance), and they have rotating art on the walls. (As an aside, the current art exhibit is cool enough that people should stop by just to see it. It's photographs of regular people in their conservative work clothing, then photos of the same people in their punked out, personal clothes, with their tattoos all showing. Very clever.) And, most importantly, the tattoo artists there do really excellent work, especially Dave and Gene, the two resident artists.

Dave Wallin was awsome. This will be my first really "big" piece, so I'm kinda nervous. But Dave discussed every detail of the tattoo with me--feather style, shadows, exact placement, even the amount and angle of "light" hitting the birds--so I feel 100% confident about being in his hands.

When I go back to get it done Sunday, I'll get Dave's original sketch and will take photos of the stencil, linework, and finished product. He estimated about 4 hours of actual tattooing, so here's hoping I can handle the pain long enough to get it all done in one sitting.

looooove

Found more illustrators whose work I adore, this time through the Vinyl Pulse site.

First up is Sarah Joncas, a Canadian artist whose ultra-feminine work has a decidedly Dali-esque feel to it. These are so pretty it kills me.




Then we have Camilla d'Errico, another Canadienne. Her adorable girls have incredibly expressive eyes, and the girls in helmets are especially quirky and cute. Check out her "Birds and the Bees" series in the Recent Work section for some incredibly sexy (and slightly demented) cuties. Meanwhile, here are two of my other favorites:



These two artists are in a joint show at Thinkspace in LA.



I wanna go! Vinyl Pulse only lists shows and stuff for California. What about us NY'ers??

...

The Society of Illustrators is currently hosting an online exhibit of art that responds to the war in Iraq, by contemporary graphic artists and illustrators.

I rarely write about personal things in here, but this is one time when I really feel compelled to. I met a wonderful man through an online dating site last May. After messaging back and forth for a few weeks, we met for a date, and ended up really hitting it off. Long story short, Joe and I have been together for about seven and a half months now.

Now comes the unusual part. He's in the military. And I'm a staunch pacifist. He's still extremely liberal and atheist (as am I) and we share many of our world views. But in the past, I always maintained that I couldn't date someone in the military because I assumed the thought of (or knowledge of) him having killed someone would change the way I felt and/or treated the guy. Granted, Joe hasn't been sent abroad or seen combat yet, but there have been a few instances already in which he was slated to go to Afghanistan, but then the situation changed for him. Every time he gets a phone call or e-mail from the military, my heart skips a beat. What if things are changing again, and now he does have to go? Would our relationship survive him being gone for a year (or potentially more)? Would he even survive?

Honestly, it's something I don't even want to think about, but unfortunately I have to.

Since meeting Joe, my attitude toward the war, toward the U.S. government, toward soldiers in general, have all undergone a shift. I hate the reasons for going into Iraq, but recognize that at this point, the American military presence cannot just pick up and leave. I mean, with the way things have developed, Iraq is damned if we do and damned if we don't; but at least General Petraeus seems to be making some headway, and a new, hopefully more realistic and responsible, administration will be put in place in less than a year. As for the current administration, my opinion has done nothing but get worse and worse (not that it was even remotely positive to begin with...). Never in my life have I felt so distrustful and disgusted by the U.S. government. Even with elections looming, I still have very little faith in the government anymore. I've always known that politicians are inherently evil (such is the nature of the beast), but by now, I've pretty much lost all faith that these people are trying to help Americans. I'm even leary of Obama, who I support and fully intend to vote for in the primary. I just have a lot of doubt that his message of hope will follow through (though I have way more doubt among the other candidates, both Republican and Democrat).

As for my attitude shift toward soldiers... Well to be honest, I used to hold a lot of disdain for them. I know this was an unfair assessment; there are a lot of different reasons people choose to join the military, and as far as I can tell, blind support for the Iraq war is very rarely one of them. Wanting to kill people is never a reason (or if it is, then that person will in all likelihood get kicked out or not make it through training). After meeting Joe, though, after revisiting Suzanne Opton's photographs of soldiers at Fort Drum in light of the disappearance of some of them, after watching National Geographic's "Inside the Green Berets," after reading the cards sent into PostSecret each week from soldiers... now when I see soldiers in airports, recruiters on the street, etc, all I feel is sadness. Not because I pity them, but because I think I now share at least a little sense of empathy. The entire Iraq war has been such a huge, devastating mistake. Iraq's culture, cities, and civilians have been pillaged and destroyed. What started out as a "pre-emptive strike" has devolved into a mess of sectarian violence, civil war, and destruction. It's not fair that American lives are being sacrificed to this monster, much less the thousands of Iraqi lives.

It's all a big, irresponsible, disgusting mess.

So here is my presentation of the Society of Illustrators' "Artists against the War" exhibit. I'm posting the pieces that spoke to me the most, and my response to them in both artistic and personal parameters:


R.O. Blechman's "Support Our Troops"I love this drawing's simplicity. Its message is clear: blind patriotism is suffocating and prevents anything productive from getting done. I hate hate hate hate the blind patriotism that is foisted upon us by conservative media and the current administration. We're told that if we don't support the war, then we're not supporting the troops. This is completely bass-ackwards. I support removing our troops from harm's way; and I don't like being told that being anti-war makes me anti-soldier. Those fucking "Support our Troops" magnetic bumper stickers, which this piece is referencing, are straight-up stupid. How is forking over a dollar for a car decoration supporting anything? These people who wear their indignant patriotism on their sleeve are ridiculous. Are they sending encouraging letters to the troops, writing congress to demand that the troops receive adequate supplies, or doing anything even remotely constructive? No, they're buying magnets to stick on their gas-guzzling cars (which is part of the reason we're over there in the first place), and then maintaining a mindset that tells them they're part of the solution when in actuality they're doing nothing.



Serge Bloch's "Cannon Fodder" This one in particular is infinitely frustrating for me. How could politicians with no military experience (ahem Bush cough Rumsfeld) so carelessly ship sons and daughters, parents, husbands, wives, friends, companions... into such a quagmire? No plan, no exit strategy, barely any strategy at all for that matter, no real committment to catching Bin Laden, despite the fact that he was the one who masterminded the 9/11 attack, not Saddam Hussein. It's just so enraging! People are not cannon fodder, damnit! But they're certainly being treated as such.



Milton Glaser's "The Losses of War"
Honestly, I think this one just speaks for itself. Many of these pieces are deceptively simple, such as this. One little image evokes a deep gamut of painful facts and thoughts and emotions. This prosthetic arm stands for more than a soldier's lost hand. It stands for lost limbs; lost lives, families, homes; the forgotten minefields remaining in poor, war-ravaged countries; loss of innocence; loss of life; destruction of a culture, of history... of hope...



Gary Kelley's "Manifesto" This is probably my favorite. The figure looks so beaten. It could represent anyone involved in the war. The pacifists who are ignored or insulted, the Iraqis who are being invaded and killed from all sides, the soldiers forced to fight an unjust war... The darkness, simplicity, and skewed, half-fetal position of the figure are haunting. And the quote at the bottom is truly disturbing. It says "Naturally the common people don't want war... but it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along... all you have to do is tell them they're being attacked, and denouce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." Sound familiar? The man who said this was Hermann Goring, a leading nazi officer who ended up being tried and found guilty of war crimes. This is interchangeable with the rhetoric that was spouted to justify the war in the first place and is still being spouted desite the obviousness of what a mistake the war is. Eerie. Just... positively frightening.



Peter Kuper's "This is Not a Comic"
Of course I love this one--it references modern art! It also points out the contradictions at play not just in the Iraq war, but in issues we've faced throughout the Bush administration's tenure. Everything has been glossed over. Iraq was not an "invasion," it was a "pre-emptive strike;" destruction of animals' habitats and encouragement of pollution and consumption isn't "damaging" because there's no such thing as "global warming," and even if there were, it won't kill us in our lifetime; the removal of our "rights" is acceptable because we're "fighting terror;" ignoring the genocide in Darfur is acceptable because it doesn't suit American economic interests to intervene. There is so much going wrong in this country. And so many people are just complacent. I hope the new election brings out droves of voters, from both sides. It's time people start caring.



Koren Shadmi's "Tasting Victory"
I have mixed feelings about this one. Visually, it's very powerful. The red on the dress really stands out and is quite brutal, disturbing even. The painting is right to argue that this war is not comparable to those of the past. The "enemy" now is totally amorphous. There are no clear "good guys" and "bad guys," leaving out a sense of glory in fighting. On the other hand, this piece presents a very grim impression of soldiers in this war: faceless, violent, killing machines. I know there has been some very publicized horrible activity at the hands of American soldiers (torture at Abu Ghraib and that rape and murder of the 14-year old girl and her family, for example), but the vast, vast majority of soldiers are not attacking innocent people on purpose. I feel like this piece stands for the opposite of the blind patriotism I discussed above. Any extreme, obstinate frame of mind is going to be wrong. There is always more than one side to every issue. True, soldiers who have committed crimes must be punished for their deeds, but in general, in the case of Iraq, the blame needs to be spread among those responsible for starting and proliferating the war, not on those who are stuck carrying out irresponsible orders.

i'm in love...

...with these drawings by French illustrator Annette Marnat.











Her drawings are so French. The sketchyness and loose lines, slight cartoony quality, and exaggerated shapes, wrapping up to create an overall quirky feel, are trademarks of French illustration (see Toulouse-Lautrec, these guys, and pretty much any Franco-Belgian comic) , as well as some of my favorite effects in illustration and animation overall. I love love love love love these. Thanks to my French skills, I was also able to glean the following from what little information about her exists on the interwebs:

Annette was born in 1982 near Roanne (central France, northeast of Lyon) and now lives in Lyon. She studied at the Émile Cohl School, also in Lyon. She's had her illustrations printed in various publications and now works as a children's book illustrator, including the "Pavillon Noir" ("Black Ship," approximately) adventure series, which, near as I can tell, is about kids who are pirates.

I wish I could find more about how she creates the work on her blog. Some look like they're pastel, but the backgrounds, lighting effects, and repeating patterns are clearly computer-generated, so I'm wondering if they're not entirely done on the computer, with different built-in effects and textures.