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May 5, 2008

Manbonsai in Nihonbashi

Yesterday we headed to the Nihonbashi area, our main destination being Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition at Takashimaya.

We walked from Tokyo station, and on our way we found really a lot of new QP tags, most of a type we hadn't seen before, cut with round corners and no yellow frame. It was a lot of fun to look at all power boxes and find these stuck everywhere!

We then first went to Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi where we had some great gelatto at Gelateria Canoviano. I had espresso and gianduja, quite typical choices of mine as I love chocolate and coffee flavors, and they were both delicious!

Then it was time for some manbonsai appreciation, so we headed to Nihonbashi Takashimaya. It's an old department store with an interesting architecture, and it has old large elevators still operated by elevator girls.

We took a ride to the 8th floor, at one end of which was the event space where were exhibited a bunch of people's collections and hobbies. There were turtle sculptures made of onion peel only, collections of Expo 70 goods, vintage medicament packaging, shogi pieces made of all materials imaginable, etc.

Paradise's manbonsai collection was fantastic. Over 50 pieces were on display. Many were quite funny too. I especially liked ones with UFOs and aliens, Kitarō, Kim Jong Il, rokurokubi (long-necked lady, a traditional Japanese monster), a man cutting a tree, and Paradise himself. Too bad photos weren't allowed, as I'd have loved using my camera's macro mode there.

Then we stopped at a Espressamente Illy café around the corner. The ambiance didn't really fit the neighborhood, with a lounge-y interior and playing new wave music.

Later we headed to Shibuya and I found this space invader nearby 109.

Left: no flash, right: flash

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition is going on until tomorrow Tuesday May 6.
Find all details here on my agenda.

Posted on May 5, 2008 at 17:25 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)

April 29, 2008

C-Ya Doopees?

Last week I picked up Yann Tomita's new release, "Music Meme 4 Variations", who's is a thick DVD-sized box containing a CD, a DVD, and a book. Also striking my attention was a "Doopee Time 2" sticker! Surely it meant good things to come... or so I first thought.

What I decided to enjoy first was the CD, on my train commute (the place where I listen to music the most). I found it to be very much along the album's title, as a series of 4 chords finds its way into all of the songs, no matter if they're pop (Kahimi Karie, Koizumi Kyōko (1988!), Yamamoto Linda (1991)) or hip-hop (Naives) or electronic tracks. The whole makes for a very nice compilation of his various works, not going too much into his abstract side. The new Doopees track ("C-Ya! C-Ya!") is short and with some Hawaiian feel, fun!

I must say that I appreciate and feel sympathy for Yann's obsession with a sequence of chords, as I've mostly been playing the same 3 or 4 chords (not the same as Yann's) on my keyboards for the last 5 years.

Later I checked out the DVD, which is a recording of a concert at a temple in Kamakura, featuring Ohno Yumiko (Doopees, Buffalo Daughter), Takagi Kan, Itō Seikō and Mokuren. The 3 songs are stringed together. Yann sits at a large table of electronic stuff that only he can understand. The video quality is amateur, the cameraman even coughing at some point, but it feels like sitting in the grass and watching Yann's concert in the nature which is quite nice.

While watching the DVD I was leafing through the book and reading bits, and a chapter towards the end caught my attention, titled something like "Why Doopee Time 2 was canceled twice"... Written by Yann, he explains that he had worked on the album for about half a year everyday without seeing the end of it, and he realized that he wouldn't make it for the original release date (July 2006). Around then he became sick, perhaps from working too much, and he was hospitalized for 2 months. This and other events made him decide to cancel the release altogether, even though it seems like it was pretty much completed, even down to artwork and liners.

That Doopee Time 2 sticker is not an announcement for an album, it IS Doopee Time 2, in the only form Yann is planning to release... I would sure like to hear the nice music too, but he apologizes and asks for his fans to understand his decision.

Inside Yann TOMITA Music Meme 4 Variations

So I just hope that Yann keeps well, and that he will keep making nice music, whether Doopees or not, as I've really been enjoying his releases of the past few years.

元気 de yanns!

Posted on April 29, 2008 at 00:47 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (4)

April 27, 2008

Pure Pop Fes vol.1: report

Tonight was Pure Pop Fes vol.1 at Basement Bar in Shimokitazawa, a fun event focusing on pico-pico and techno-pop. I went there on my own but ended up meeting friends Craig, Hase-san (who played keys for Aprils) and Yumi-chan, Akiko-chan, and even making a new friend who seems to be a big fan of Arcorhyme.

The place was really packed from start to finish! A bigger venue would have been better, but it was a good time though.

First on stage was Furil, a girl-boy "dreamy pop" unit who I saw for the first time. They sang and he played guitar over a backtrack. The girl was cute and I liked her voice, but overall it wasn't quite my thing.

Next up was Hazel Nuts Chocolate with a very energetic set! Yuppa looked younger than I remembered her, perhaps because she changed her hairstyle. She was accompanied with Motocompo's Dr.Usui who played distorted guitar, that really rocked! Yuppa no only sang but she also played keyboards over her backtrack. She opened with "Love + Piece + Icecream", and also sang "Hello", "koi wa kyurukyuru", and some 3 or 4 others. Awesome set! Maybe there was one song that I didn't remember hearing before, so perhaps that was a new one. When someone in the audience asked when her album would be released, she said "it's a secret!"... Let's hope it will be soon.

Next on stage was relatively new techno-pop vocoder idol Aira Mitsuki, who I was really looking forward to. I hadn't really heard her songs yet, but I knew her style was very much like capsule and Perfume who she says she loves. She was a pro, the robot dances and the smile. For most songs she was accompanied by two cute girl dancers. The 2nd song was her latest single "China Discotica", and during that segment the dancers wore red Chinese-style dresses, with those rectangle sunglasses like on the single jacket.

Then there was a part with Aira (...still can't figure out which is her first name) alone on stage, standing behind a Korg synth where she sang her cover of Cornelius' "Star Fruits Surf Rider", that was good! She deserves some credit for actually playing some of her vocoder chords on the synth live (not all of it though). She then sat on a chair and sang the calmer "Darling Wondering Staring", both songs will be released on a Tower Records-only single limited to 2000 copies.

The two dancers then came back on stage, this time wearing different long dresses and holding huge lollipops, again very cute. Aira sang "Candy Light Mode" (from first single "Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9") and another song, and that was it.

Unfortunately I couldn't take photos of her set, I was getting cold looks from some people around me when I was going to grab my camera and I chickened out... I hope Craig will post his!

Last up were Aprils, always giving a great show! I have seen them a few times meanwhile, but it had been almost 2 years since I saw a full show with their full band. They played a full set with their regulars, and also the theme song from "kaede New Town". The big surprise this time was their Perfume parody song "Stainless Girl" that appeared on the web site for April Fool's! The show was complete with an encore (Yano Akiko's "Metropolitan Museum").

On my way out, I couldn't resist buying Aira's two first singles, and I got a free signed poster! Yay! Here's her clip for "China Discotica".

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Update (2008/5/2): Craig has posted his review of the show, with some good photos!

Posted on April 27, 2008 at 02:30 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (4)

April 25, 2008

Bonsai Girl

Last night we went to Lumine the Yoshimoto in Shinjuku to catch "Bonsai Girl", a 30-minute film directed by Paradise Yamamoto (Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys), part of a series of 100 short films directed by various comedians. It was our first time going there, and the place was full of hundreds of people coming out of the previous comedy show. The film screening was delayed a bit, and we entered the large room that felt very empty with only about 8 spectators.

The movie was very nicely done. Sure, the story line isn't deep, but Paradise's love for manbonsai (his art of putting miniature figures of people around a bonsai to make it look like a large tree) and mambo shined throughout, as well as his desire to tell the whole world about it. Indeed the movie even had English subtitles!

The story is about a girl who likes flowers and discovers accidentally about manbonsai, of which she buys a book randomly. At first she doesn't quite get what it's about, but a nice foreign guy (very fluent in Japanese) explains her what's so great about manbonsai, and soon they're making their own. The film had some funny twists and was entertaining to the end. A very nice introduction to the world of manbonsai.

Bonsai Girl 盆栽少女 bonsai shōjo bonsai shoujo

This was presented together with a strange and funny film by comedian Takewaka Motohiro (of Buffalo Gorō), titled "Golden Atmosphere" about a guy who wanders around his neighborhood and sees little things in unbelievable ways.

The last screenings in Shinjuku and Shibuya are tonight (in just 2 hours or so), so... make it if you can(?). Hopefully "Bonsai Girl" will get shown elsewhere in the world too, or released in DVD for more people to see it.

Posted on April 25, 2008 at 19:08 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)

Movable Type NotifyReplyee plugin

In Movable Type 4, there's a new way to easily reply to user comments by using the "Reply" links in comment listings in the content manager, or the "Reply to this comment" link when editing a comment. Doing so shows a dialog where the author can write their reply.

This plugin, NotifyReplyee, allows automatically sending an email to the person being replied to ("replyee"). The "Reply" dialog shows an "email notification" option which sends an email when checked. This can be useful when replying to someone who might not be likely to check back (e.g. a one-time visitor or your aunt maybe?).

The reply comment's text can optionally be included in the email.

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