QUESTION

What do you think is the difference between imagination and reality?

Wonder Showzen

A Boy Named Sue

Definitely one of my favorite songs

Michel Gondry's Feet in Humor

Tom Waits "For No One" Animation

HOKKAIDO

The other week I took a trip up North to Sapporo and Asahikawa for 3 days.

CROSS HOTEL(Hokkaido)

The hotel we stayed at was in downtown Sapporo. The exterior and lobby were well designed. My favorite part was when you pushed the elevator button, a projector projected a blinked image of an arrow on the wall. On the top of the hotel was a large bath with a view of downtown. The room was good, but fairly normal as far as the design, watching TV was the best part of it. The breakfast was quite good.

SOUP CURRY(Hokkaido)

a very famous dish in these parts and tastes amazing.

ASAHIKAWA DOBUTSUEN (Hokkaido)

This is a famous Zoo. About 3 hours by car from Sapporo. This zoo was renovated about 5 years ago when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The owner of the zoo got together with the staff and tried to think of ways to make it more interesting. The results were pretty good. At times it was more interesting to watch the people get so excited and how almost everyone had a camera. It might be cooler if they gave everyone pencils and paper to try and draw the animals or describe how they move words.

Here is a tunnel you can walk through and see the penguins swim above you.


The seals were amazing to watch as they swam under the floor and through a narrow tube to a pool above you. Everyone shouted every time the seals went up


The polar bears were also amazing to watch through a giant window as they bombed into the water with their overweight bodies

RETURN HOME

Wild Thing Eats Table

The typical American diet of cheeseburger, fries, and milk shake
could not even tame this Wild Thing's hunger.

Hiromi Uehara

Hiromi Uehara has become one of my favorite musicians in the Japanese main stream. Her playing style as well as her obvious passion for playing are true inspirations. i saw an interview on television with her childhood piano teacher, whom uses verbal imagery and color definition in her teachings to help her students identify with and express the emotion within a given piece of music. i've heard a rumour that because of this training in childhood Hiromi Uehara has developed a sort of synaesthesic sense, seeing colors as she plays. 

Pie paper from New Zealand looks good.

DELTA

One of the greats. This seasons stussy collection has a bunch of pieces designed by him. Check out this video they made with him

CRYSTAL CASTLES

VANISHED

VERY NICE BOYS AND GIRLS

Megapuss

T-Pain

Barack Obama

I'm really happy to see that he won the election. I don't know a whole lot about him or if he will do a good job and he's definitely got his work cut out for him with the present state of the economy and uneasy foreign relationships. But he's definitely a canary in the mine. Watching his speeches I can feel his passion like that of Dr. King or Malcom X. He has definitely made me more interested in politics and gave people hope that change is possible.

On another note

Recently I've been taking a look at the whole economic crisis so that I can try to understand a little bit as to whats going on. I've found that its really difficult to understand just what it is investors do on Wall St and even worse In some cases a lot of them don't understand what it is they do either. But I've come to a conclusion; that we live in a world of specialized knowledge. In the case of investors, they have a knowledge that people outside their world don't understand. They told people they could make extra money or buy houses more cheaply without them really understanding how.

But is it their fault?

I don't think that's exactly correct. The second conclusion is that we live in an extremely competitive society. For example all of these investment companies are watching each other. They read about each other in the magazines and they know about each other's financial products. They will do whatever it takes to get ahead, even if that means doing something a little shady, like as I said before swindle the general public who are ignorant of what we are actually getting ourselves into.

Should we regulate?

In some cases yes. But another conclusion is that technology and information are moving much faster than the law. In the case of investors who have PHD'S in economics, they are often smarter than the law. In the last decade they have been very good about finding loopholes in the system so they can get those extra dollars. So even if you create a wall, someone will find a way to break it.

We got to know when someone is swindling us. We have to create better ways to see through the bullshit. Hopefully that isn't the case with Obama. He's made big promises and I hope he can achieve them. I really want to see some light prevail in this world.

check out some interesting stories about just how disturbing this crisis is;
"From the midwest to the MTA"
"Taking Hard New Look at Greenspan's Legacy"
and I also recommend the documentary on Enron

The Cruise

This is kind of an older documentary, I saw it first maybe 5 years ago. Its about a tour guide who is obsessed with his city searching for the perfect roof top view. He also made an appearance in Waking LIfe.

Ethan Fowler

Epicly Later'd is one of the best documents of skateboarding I've seen. I've watched almost every episode. I really like how its presents skateboarding as a lifestyle rather than a sport or competition. This episode totally reflects that. There's a point where Chris Pastras is talking about the video tin can folk lore. The goal was just to bomb a few hills, drink some beer, and make the music. This idea really reconates with me cause I think we often take stuff we do way to seriously. Of course we should try and push ourselves or be motivated, but on the otherhand sometimes if we don't try its a hell of a lot more interesting. Anyway, enough of my bullshit.

Roadside Memorials

A little bit of humor for an otherwise tragic scenario can go a long way...

I passed by a roadside Memorial last night, (Halloween) and it occurred to me that it might be the memorial for the cyclist that died in my friends arms. What is most strange for me about seeing this memorial, is that I have crossed paths with this sentient being several times since his sudden, and fatal accident.

First knowledge:

On Facebook, my friend Erin posts, "I can't stop thinking about the man I saw die today"

Second knowledge:

I talk to Erin at a concert, she brings up the fact that she is still very shaken by the experience. I get her story of the accident... she was riding behind him a couple blocks when he collided with a car... she held him, and comforted him until he died.

First experience:

Walking back to the car from the Boulder Theater I stopped at a roadside memorial that was marked by, among other things, a bike completely painted white. I like public memorials so I stopped, and slowly the idea of this memorial being for the same person that Erin saw die crept into my thoughts. I sat down spent and some time with this site... I was taken by how this person's life and death, even without knowing each other had continuously crossed my path over the past couple months. I took out a black sharpie and wrote on the all white bike:

R.I.P. I knew of you, even before seeing this beauty

I sprinkled some dirt over the sprockets, attached my sharpie the break cable, and left two smokes to be shared.