#16 Otamatone (unfinished)

#15 USB (unfinished)

In the age of technology, everything is power by eletricity. How can we make an ordinary banana 'cool' and 'morden'? We can add a USB cable to it. Of course, everything is better with USB.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/e771/

#14 Pale Blue Dot (unfinished)

I believe that this video is pretty much self explanatory.
Human put too much emphasize on 'I' over 'world'.

#13 Shirt Plate

When I first came across this shirt plate, I thought 'Ah, it's finally here.'

I'm sure everyone had experience a time where you want to go grab some food but yet your eyes won't leave the computer screen. Well, here is the best invention made for our generation of people - Shirt plate.

Many news recently are about young teens (as young as 13) becoming obsessive over computer. Last year, a mother collapsed near her 15 year old teenager, but he did not notice until 5 hour later because he was too focused on the computer. The mother died, and the son showed little remorse.  Recently, a 13 year old boy faked to be sick and stay home to play computer, and he committed suicide when his mother caught him.

When did playing computer became for important than eating, your mother or your life? I believe our generation of children/teenagers (or even adults) are overly spoiled and protected. We can hardly take care of ourselves, let alone surviving in the real world.

This shirt plate isn't really for you to eat when you are playing Wii, but to make fun of us and say 'what kind of fat, materialistic world have we become'.

http://likecool.com/The_Original_Shirt_Plate--Gadget--Gear.html
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/looflirpa/e8c0/#tabs

#12 森の木琴 TOUCHWOOD

When I was watching this video, I thought it was a brilliant idea. Using natural material to create such beautiful sound that echo through the forest.

And then the phone and the tag ling appears.

I suddenly didn't know how to feel. Sure, a phone that promotes energy-saving, and recycled material is great. But did they just used a large amount of wood to make this commercial? Does this not go against the meaning behind the phone?

...Then I realized that it was only when I notice it was a commercial I began criticizing it.

'Because it is art, they can do whatever they want - as long as we enjoy it.' 'Because it is for art, we can overlook the resources it wasted.'

Perhaps some people do feel this way, and perhaps it is not entirely wrong. And there are many artist who speak for the environment. But you cannot deny that there many 'art' that are entirely waste of space and resources (physically and mentally). Yet many people still enjoy this art. How far are we going to allow these art take us? Do we know when to stop? This pose is becoming off-topic.

A comment on the video states that "The instrument and the frame of the phone are made from the woods that were cut down for thinning the forest to maintain healthy environment. Too many trees in the wet land block the sun and wind, and that could weaken the forest." According to the website of the phone, this seems to be the case. This company does seems to be genuinely care for the environment, and this phone is definitely a great idea. But I look forward to phones made with old battery and computers made with old metals to be released on the market. Or maybe company can just stop wasting extra resources making chips that stores your location data aka stalk-you-everywhere-you-go.

P.S. Touchwood, what a great name. (not sarcastic)

Website: http://answer.nttdocomo.co.jp/touchwood/

#11 Bloody Monday

Bloody Monday is a TV drama apotion of a manga of the same name. This drama's main character is Takagi Fujimaru (Miura Haruma), who is a student by day, and genius hacker 'Falcon' by night. A biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town overnight. The terrorist organization plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody-X into Tokyo, and it can kill about 8 million people in no time. Fujimaru becomes involved when his father is wanted as a member of the terrorist group and his sister's life is on the line. Working with THIRD-i (Japan's special defense unit) and his best friend Kujou Otoya (Satou Takeru), Fujimaru begins to unravel the organization's sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."

A scene from Japan Sinks

The apocalypse have became a huge topic though out the last decades, many Hollywood movies bases on different theories of the end of the world is made. Many people now talks about if 2012 will be the end of Earth, and what will happen at doomsday. But in Japan, their view of idea of doomsday is very different from ours, it is already part of their life.
Recently I read an article about Japan's view on disasters. Japan is an island country located right on seismic zone, with threats of volcano, typhoon and other natural disasters. Japan's culture, which is influenced by Buddhism, accepts the fact that people's life is very fragile, and continue to live a humble, meaningful life everyday. Japan's cultures are very fascinated by how the way Japan will end. From Japan Sinks
in the 1970s to the recent Bloody Monday, Japan have one of the largest disaster film collection in the world.
 

 

Season 2 of Bloody Monday. This time, it's a nuclear bomb.

This is part of Japan's unique culture, and speaks a lot about the Japanese teachings. As evident in the 3.11 Sendai Earthquake, Japanese people reacts completely different from other nation under the attack of natural disaster. They were calm, collected and were prepared (although not completely) for the worst. They do not 'add oil to the fire' but instead helped each other and conducted themselves in a manner that outsiders like us can only stand and admire.



P.S. SNOW IN TORONTO!

#10 Fashion with a conscience

Baseball Puffball Dress

My family have a a certain dislike towards second-hand shops. Actually, 'dislike' might be an understatement, 'fear' would be a better word choice. My only visits to a second-hand shop was to Goodwills to donate clothing, and when I asked my aunt to go to the shopping side of goodwills, she gave me the look. I never understood why some people look down on second-hand items. Sometimes you can find useful and interesting things that you can longer buy in a normal store. Thrift store is like heaven to vintage lovers. Yet many people associate it with being poor. Fashion designer Gary Harvey realizes this as decided to do something that will make people rethink their perception of second-hand clothing.

Military Dress

"I believe we can contribute to an ethical fashion revolution." he says in his website. "By sourcing fabrics and raw materials that have literally been thrown away, you can look good and be good too. Too many garments are deemed aesthetically redundant and discarded at the end of a season, when there are still many years of wear left."

Denim Dress

His first project is a dress made with 42 pairs of used Levi jeans. Soon his passion of creating eco-friendly cloths grew, and he created more ball-gowns using second-hand materials. Now, Harvey's dress collection have been in many exhibitions and even expanded to taking private commissions.

Newspaper Dress

I find this project absolutely fascinating. For the last decades everything are trying to be 'eco-friendly'. 'Eco-friendly power scoures', 'eco-friendly travling', 'eco-friendly living'... Yet many people buying a prom dress that they will probably wear once before it is tucked away, and people are throwing away perfectly fine jacket that are apparently 'out of season'. Ball-gowns are one of these 'wear-once-per-year' and 'easily-out-dated' but 'cost-more-then-my-yearly-salary' luxuries. And Harvey use material that have been thrown away to make glamorous, and perhaps awakening, dresses.

Wedding Dress

Visit Gary Harvey at http://www.garyharveycreative.com/

#9 How to Train Your Dragon

Last year January, I went to watch Alice in Wonderland ~in 3D~. The fact that it was directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp made me very excited for that film. But I went out the theater thinking to myself 'I did not just spend 16 dollar on this'. Perhaps I just don't understand it, but Alice in Wonderland disappointed me.

So when I was asked to go to the theater to watch How to Train Your Dragon later that month, I decided to not have any expectation before I watch the film, in case it leaves me in despair again. The reasons I decide to watch this movie was one: dragons, two: vikings.(Thankfully, I did not see the trailers beforehand, or else I wouldn't have went in the theater at all.)

And I came out the the theater crying. (In a good way)

I don't think I've ever left a movie theater like this. I can't really explain this feeling. Sure, I cried the entire way through Toy Story 3 and re-watched Nemo more than I should have, but How to Train Your Dragon somehow touched (if not stole) my heart without trying too hard. I wanted to go back in, I wanted to see it all over again. As or right now, I've watch HTTYD twice in theater, 5 times at home.

The premises of HTTYD is actually very simple. Hiccup is born and raised in Berk, a island occupied by Vikings . But that village always had some troubles - with dragons. These stereotypical dragons are the sworn enemy of the also stereotypical vikings of Berk. Hiccup, although being the chief's son, is actually the weakest viking of that village. And when he shot down the rarest dragon of all ,a Nightfury, he realize they might have had it all wrong...

At first, it might sound just like any other typical coming-of-age story, but How to Train Your Dragon isn't as shallow as it appears to be. This movie can be enjoyed by a adult as much a 5-year-old would. Vikings are usually stereotyped as a violent, dirty, horn helmet wearing brute who think with his fist. Hiccup, on the other hand, is a scrawny boy who prefer to think with his head. His small build, weak mindedness, and intelligence makes him an outcast. HTTYD speaks out against stereotypes, main stream and discrimination. In the film the characters learns to not judge people (or dragons) by their cover, but by who they really are. Another of HTTYD's moral is to 'be true to yourself, even if it means to be different, only then you will achieve true success and happiness.' Although this is what many people believe in, it is not necessary true in today's society. HTTYD show the viewer a realistic, dark side of this moral. *SPOILER* In the end, Hiccup loses his right leg saving the village (which also parallel with Toothless' missing right side of his tail), showing that there isn't always a perfect happy ending in life, sacrifice needs to be made.

HTTYD isn't just pretty animation and funny jokes. It's surprisingly deep and insightful story will speak to many people. I hope, like me, many people will find this movie taking them on a breathtaking and heart warming ride.

#8 Thought of you

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Created by Ryan Woodward, Thought of You is a 3 minute dance animation that sweep many people off their feet when it was first released in September 2010. This video revived a huge amount of positive response from viewer and also winning numerous awards in different film festivals. It is also a big part of Ryan Woodward's exhibition, which showcase Woodward's conte works. This film is drawn traditionally with conte, which is rare as most animation recently are all digital drawn.

There is no story to this animation, viewers are free to interprate the meaning of this film. Woodward wrote in his site "rather than creating a narrative animated piece that communicates a well defined story, this piece allows for each individual who views it to  to experience something unique and personal that touches their own sensibilities." In his exhibition, Woodward showcased interpretations from different viewers.

I think Thought of You is a true piece of artwork. It allows the viewer to be part of the work and rise different emotion within each viewer. Thought of You means something different for each individual audience. I believe an artwork should not tell what the audience should think, but help the audience think. I also think this is why Thought of you speaks to so many people, because it does not target a certain group of audience.

Visit Ryan Woodward's project at http://conteanimated.com/

#7 Q10

Recently I've finish watching a Japanese Drama name Q10, although not being a fan of love-themed dramas, I found myself taking a liking to this particular drama. The story begins with high school student Fukai Heita (Satoh Takeru) found and activated a robot name Q10 (Maeda Atsuko). Q10 (pronounced as Kyuuto) is a robot in a girl model and is still at learning stage. This 9-episode drama follow the adventure of these two and their classmates and teachers. Q10 have a theme that would become reality in the future - relationship between human and robots. As the story progress, Fukai face many dilemmas and begins rise many philosophical questions.

To be honest, story with a similar premises is not uncommon, but that made Q10 stood out for me is how realistic it is. The story was shown in a calm yet touching way. There was no emotion forced to the audience, everything seemed very natural. Which I think is appropriate because when one day robot is living among us, they would not come with a 'BANG!', but instead they will just blend in with the rest of the society. The problems that they will bring are not just wars and political matters, but something smaller yet affects us much stronger.

What also make Q10 interesting is the classmates, in Fukai's class, there is a hidden rocker, otaku, poor loner, star chaser and many more interesting characters. Each of them struggle against problems with society because who they are. They are show a large amount of character development though out the series. Although being the supporting characters, all of them are interesting in their own way and it's not hard to find connection between ourself and one of the characters.

Q10 says a lot about technology, but I think what really made Q10 what is it is how it talks about life and our generation. In conclusion, I think Q10 is a interesting drama and it's story might become reailty in the near future.

#6 Minecraft

Minecraft is a game that do not have striking visuals, beautiful character design, deep story plot and gorgeous cut scenes. It is a simple block building game.

The objective of Minecraft is simple - to survive in a world with monster running around by collecting materials and building shelter. The game's creator, Markus Alexej Persson, created the first version of Minecraft in less then 10 days. But such a a simple game does great on sales, with over 1,520,000 units sold on March 7, 2011.

I'm very glad that a game like Minecraft managed to made it big. Minecraft give a large amount of freedom to the player and allow them to use their creativity, contradictory to the linear story line often seen in recent games. Playing Minecraft feels like as if you are playing a digital version of lego, our favorite childhood toy. There is no complexity to this game, in fact, it goes against everything a game need to be successful. Yet in the end this game proved itself with the number of sales and award. To me, this is a message to the entertainment industry. You do not need a huge advertisement campaign to do good in sale. Having impressive graphic does not necessarily mean it is a good game.

#5 Decorated gas tanks

(Tomisato, Chiba prefecture)

This is not a giant genetically mutated watermelon, it’s a gas tank.

In Japan, gas company decided to spice up their gas tanks into something more colourful, for instance, chickens. (It is actually call Tokkikki, the mascots of Niigata prefectural). I really enjoy looking at these gas tanks. These gas companies are spendingextra money to decorate their gas tanks to make them look friendly. In a way it's promoting their company (and in attempt to beautify the usage of gas), but it does make the environment looks better and friendlier.I think these decorated gas tanks is a fun and cute idea and I'd love to see them outside of Japan. Imagin driving down the 401 and see a giant soccer ball. Priceless.

(Ouchi dolls, Yamaguchi prefecture)

 (Nicotan (mascot of Shibata Gas), Niigata prefecture)

Photo source: http://pinktentacle.com/2011/03/decorated-gas-tanks/

#4 Bubble Tree

It's a bubble, it's a house.

Ever want to be part of nature but still be like at home? Well, Pierre Stephane Dumas wants that, and have that.

French designer Pierre Stephane Dumas designed this tent in hoping to create a place where people can be with nature as close as possible but still be at the comfort of home. These structure call Bubble tree are tent made with transparent material so people in it can see everything around it while being inside the tent. Want to be close but not too close to nature? Instead of the Crystal Room, you can have the Bubble Room, which the bottom half is covered to give privacy to the user.

To me, this is like the "easy way out" for morden people to become one with nature. You wish to be close to nature, but not pay the price (ie: mosquito bites, uncomfortable environment etc). Nevertheless, I still think this is a brilliant idea. If I have the money, I would want one of these. Waking up to the full view of Alps? Yes please.

Visit Bubble Tree's website at http://bubbletree.fr/bbtree/racine/default.asp

#3 My Little Pony...?

Do you love My Little Pony? Or Lady Gaga? Well, have both.

This is a collection by Mari Kasurinen, a Finnish artist who became famous because of her "My Little" series. She takes the children merchandise My Little Pony and turn them in to pop culture icons. From Star wars to Micheal Jackson. Mari Kasurinen says in an interview that she wants to "express her concern for today’s materialism and individualism." What does these dolls say to you and to society? Is this Lady Gaga, or a pony? I thought these dolls are really fascinating. They are not just customized dolls, but a representation of our popular culture. Idols and movie characters are becoming the toy of this generation. They are more of an icon than a person.

Check Mari Kasurinen at marikasurinen.com

#2 Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith

  Alice won't be a unfamiliar name to most (if not all) of us. Written in 1865 by English author Lewis Carroll, it is the one of the most popular children books of the late 19th century to 20th century. It's influence extends to today's entertainment, inspiring many adoptions in including numerous TV series, films, theatrical productions ans spin offs. One of the most recent one is Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland, which grossed over 1 billion worldwide. Another one would be Disney classic Alice in Wonderland (1951).

A version that is more commonly recognized, Alice in Wonderland of Disney

  Why is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (More commonly known as just Alice in Wonderland) still a huge phenomenon even after so many year since it's first publication? Perhaps the pure absurdity is the charm of this story. You never understand what is happening in Wonderland, like a child's imagination, the possibility is endless. The sheer craziness of Wonderland draws many people in. Alice's journey through Wonderland speaks to generations of children.

AAiW inspired fashion, story, and craft

What makes Alice so special? I think everyone wants to be Alice. We all want to fall into a rabbit hole into our very own Wonderland and engage in our own adventure. Alice have changed a lot since her first apperence in 1865, it will be interesting to see how Alice will grow as the society evolves.

A photoshoot by Annie Leibovitz

#1 Mori Girls

Many of you may have heard of lolita, ganguru and other Japanese trends, they are the product of Japan's unique society. But the rise of Mori Girls is a proof that some might just want to go back to nature.
Mori Girl literally means 'forest girl', it's a new fashion trend that started in Japan in 2007. It was started by Japanese Actress Aoi Yuu with her role of Hanamoto Hagumi in 2006 drama Honey and Clover (originally a manga by Umino Chika). Mori Girls have down-to-earth life style, and wear natural coloured clothing and vintage accessories. Although it has a short history, Mori Girls quickly gain support of many Japanese girls and even spread to Europe.

Aoi Yuu as Hagu

They aim to have a 'natural' look, to portrait someone who live in the forest. They do their hair in a natural way (wavy, braided) and sports organic hair pieces like flower and lace. Contrary to most Japanese fashion trends, the Mori Girls prefer little or no make up. Organic one-piece dress, earmuff, and fluffy hats and scarf are all the signature of Mori Girls. They love oversize, puffy clothing and layers (Layer is a major part of Mori Girls). Being a Mori Girl may sound simple, but it is the exact opposite, there are many small details in how a Mori Girl dress, and living like one is certainly easy....

The major part of being a Mori Girl is actually living like one. They have a very down-to-earth approach to things and enjoying things that are what I call 'enviormental'. Mori girls love to drink tea and enjoying time with friends, collecting thing, and taking photographs. (One of the rules of Mori Girls is to carry a camera with you all the time. What is different from other Japanese girls is that instead of taking photo of themselves, they take photo of little things in life.) Mori Girls are fascinated by European cultures. Northern Europe, London and Germany are the main influence in Mori Girl's life style.

The Mori Girls are a interesting phenomenon in Japan. Many other popular Japanese fashion trends (or should I call life style) are perhaps focused in look (I'm generalizing, as Lolitas and many others also have a 'specisfic' life style like Mori Girls, but Mori Girls' life style are the most distinctive and different from others). Mori girls goes against every other trends. Sporting no make up (or natural), flats, and easy-to-the-eye colours. It is almost like these girls are going backward - back to the origin of everything. Japan is the country of technology and invention, yet these girls (and boys) are rebelling against everything that country is. There is a Chinese saying call '物極必反': Things will develop in the opposite when they become extreme, perhaps this is why Mori Girls was created.

Japan not only view fashion as clothes, but a life style. Becoming a Mori Girl is not just about dressing like one, but being one.
Do you want to be a Mori girl? Check out this list created by the original Japanese Mori Girls and translated by the English Mori Girls community.

http://community.livejournal.com/morigirls/1122.html#cutid1

Photo sources:

http://www.flutterscape.com/product/no/4947/mori-girl-style-halter-neck-one-piece-dress

http://herlumpiness.blogspot.com/2010/12/very-mori-winter.html

Test Post #1

Let's see if this layout works.

Somthing I came across last year for a project. I thought this advertisement is brilliant and the cat is absolutely adorable. But it also represent a phenomenon in our society - the rise of status for (pet) animals. Guys, take hangover pills - if you don't want to drown your kitty. If so I'll drown you too.