Eric Nakamura

Richard Mille

2008-05-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Want to know what a watch worth more than a house can look like? Richard Mille watches are high end, so high end, they often don't have any in their shops. They might have more employees sitting around than watches. This one's titanium with a lot of bling added. Tons of diamonds and a solid feel. It's actually quite thick and it's all hand made. Different version of their watches are for different people, and they are often customized.

See the balls of metal that roll around to help keep the time right? That's how a pendulum system should work. There's something like 20,000 parts that make this watch tick. Guess where this watch sells the most? I know the answer thanks to the rep, and I guessed it on my second try.

Geisai Museum 2

2008-05-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts about Geisai is running into some of the folks who are older friends, and some who are new. Some are well known, and some unknown. People come out to Geisai. who are as great and influential as KAWS and Masamichi Katayama.

Sashie with his hair cut.

I won't even try.

Mr Ohata

Earthquake Sichuan

2008-05-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the well wishes from many of you. I'm in China, but the Earthquake is quite far away. I was in a plane, and the devastation looks terrible especially since it happened in a poorer province. The news here in China shows no information except weird graphics and two heads on TV. We also felt multiple quakes in Tokyo. 6.8 was the largest that was 100 miles off shore. Although China seems hunky dory, you don't get the news quickly.

For relaxing times, eat Sushi at Totoyamichi

2008-05-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Sushi in Japan is notoriously expensive. So the cut that cost you hit a conveyor belt spot. Totoyamichi is a smaller chain around Tokyo that I'd suggest. The pink plates are about $1 for two pieces. The green is $2.50. And the selection is enormous. You can just sit and order and not even touch the stuff that's revolving. It's not the greatest, but really, it's pretty good. For the price, if that's a factor, it's amazing. The one we went to wasn't in a touristy area, and we accessed it by car, so it might be tougher to get to. For 5 people and we were all full, it was under $70. This was a great last place to eat, since today, I'm going to Shanghai then Beijing. See you there.

That's a funny smile by Kohei Yamashita who is mountain mountain. He wears green which is his color.

His work looks like this. In the world of character design, a lot of folks jump in make something and hop out and move on. Kohei sticks to his style and expands on his characters to realize an entire vision. I like the long term over the short term. But neither are necessarily better than the other.

Littered with Sushi.

This was the mochi dessert. It was really good. You actually pour a black sugar syrup on top and it turns out amazing.

Ai Yamaguchi and Madsaki

2008-05-10T14:00:00.001-07:00

Shingo and Ai's little dude Rei is a picky eater and didn't make it out. So this is the best I got. We ate at an izakaya place called Gomaya, which translates to something like sesame seed shop. You guessed it, that's the theme, sesame. Michelle may be vegan, but somehow she's getting through this trip unscathed, yet, it seems like it's all about veggies. Tomato, cucumber, fava beans, tofu, soba, and stuff like that. The occasional rice ball, and it seems to be working. I'm sort of glad, I'm able to explain what a vegan means in Japan. You can say, no fish, no eggs, no this or that, but until you say, no dashi (which is from bonito fish), then they trip out.

This is Shu, he does art and also helps Ai and Shingo. He's a quiet dude who I'll guess always takes that middle path.

That's Ai and Shingo. I haven't seen them in a year and a half. They're showing me pics.

That's Miss Premium Yuko who helps out Ai on the weekend. In front is a veggie medley, cooked simple and it was good. The egg behind it was amazing, my blood orange juice of course great, behind the OJ was the sesame tofu which was almost dessert like. Impressive. I've had it before, and don't remember it being as sweet. It was powdered with sesame. I'd suggest this to anyone who's into tofu. To the right is gobo, flattened and seasoned like a chip.

Rice ball. The piece of seaweed kept flopping over like a comb over hair cut. They often refer to it as a bar code, but I found out that it's sort of taboo to make fun of that.

Madsaki is a Japanese artist who lived in the states for years, but now rock in Tokyo. We met him for coffee. He seems like a good guy.

In case you don't know her work, this is what some of Ai Yamaguchi's work looks like below. Take a look at more pics where it came from: Edition Works.

Soba and Nine Courses

2008-05-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Soba Made by Hand. It sort of rhymes with Castles Made of Sand, a song by Jimmy Hendrix. This is the one I like best. Duck in the hot dipping sauce "tsuyu"... the soba was amazing. It's great when you can taste the freshness, and the green onion which are those huge chunks, were actually quite sweet. Ate this at a spot in Saitama. It's pointless to even guide you there. It's about an hour north of Tokyo in a tiny spot that I'd never be able to find. You can get this at most soba spots that have variety, but not with fresh noodles.

Dinner time was another story. Sumireya is an amazing spot. I didn't shoot another city scape but it's on floor 42. The elevator gets you up in 5 seconds, literally. This, above is sort of like an appetizer, but it ends up being, that the entire meal was like many appetizers. I think I liked the seasoned squid on the bottom left. The scallop in the cup was good and the tiny green vegetables were seasoned with ume. They were crispy. The shrimp was a sushi with I think potato under it, mashed.

This sashimi will mess with you. The tuna was chu toro. That alone was amazing. Name the other two.

Cold Chawanmushi, that had this super bony fish in it. I think it takes a special technique to cut it and rid the bones. That's uni on top. Great uni makes uni great. (how's that sentence?).

Tuna that's fried seared. Amazing, and it's not because it was fried.

This wasn't even mine, and it was good. Chicken. Cooked well.

With Mr Arai, we discussed pachinko futures and gangster business techniques.

Gelantinous seafood puck. This wasn't sweet, but every bite was a party in your mouth.

Sir Loin on fire. This was good. Perfect amount, if you got a 10 oz steak of this, you'd have passed out at 6 oz sporting a woodrow.

The rice is white but it had bits of fish. Was it Spanish Mackerel. Red dashi miso soup, the best kind, and pickles.

Dessert was a mousse cake, with fruit.

Shiodome City Center D4Tokyo 41F, 1-5-2 Higashishimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Here's a site for the four restaurants. I guess I'll have to try the other three. One's a bar. Here's the big site.

Seonna Hong Viscery Loves Company Kaikaikiki gallery

2008-05-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

I made it to Tokyo in time to see Seonna Hong's art show at Kaikaikiki gallery called, Viscery Loves Company. Her paintings were large sized, much larger than anything I've seen from her before. I actually saw these pieces in the works at her studio, but seeing them up on a nice large wall was amazing. She's able to mix her old sharp 2d style that was heavily graphic oriented, to now using paint brush strokes and showing them off, while not abandoning her craft elements of using pre printed papers for her character's outfits. I have a feeling, these new works will be part of a great future in painting for her.

mediarights.org short list

2008-05-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

This came out today at mediarights.org. It's a life of documentaries that I suggest. I probably have seen 3 or 4 more that should be in it. I think the idea is this list should be a starting point of discussion. Maybe some of you disagree with some of these are being good ones, but it's what inspires me. Check out the list, and maybe comment and add other ones. Docs are fun, and it seems like people are giving them more notice lately.

Mediarights.org.

JAL and Tokyo and Dehara

2008-05-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Japan Airlines is a pretty good airline. Seafood curry works, and they even give you the fukujinzuke (red pickles) to eat with it. Seems like one that you shouldn't blow, and they didn't. The green salad is pedestrian, that was probably made in LA. The salmon was great as was the fish cake, and the burdock root. The dessert was fluffy and not too sweet. All this was an encouraging start to a long trip. I'm surprised at how decent this was.

I got hungry and asked for snacks, here's what they brought. 1) I got a toothbrush, since I forgot mine. 2) the Coca Cola cup actually has their special Yuzu beverage, which is quite nice. It's not too sweet. One the left is their no frills rice cracker mix, which is great. Then it's a two piece fancier rice cracker bag, then a granola, and then potato sticks!

This meal didn't work for me, I don't dig the pasta cream sauce along with the chicken. But the small container of noodles were good. Potato salad and fish, and the fruit was all fine.

Pryor takes it off with Dehara and Yoko. They all drink a lot.

Since Michelle is vegan, this is what she gets. Rabbit food.

At a bar in Golden street area... There's maybe 100 bars in the area, most are tiny, but this one was a cool one. Dehara is a good sport and if you haven't, check out his work at gr2.

Jacob Magraw art on Chuck Palahniuk Book Rant.

2008-05-06T12:02:00.001-07:00

I'm at LAX looking at books for a second, then I see this one. It's Jacob Magraw art on the cover. I thought about buying it, but I'm already holding two. The name of the author makes me think he must be from that Nordic area of the Reindeer people. Congrats Jacob for the book, and his new baby along with Rachell Sumpter, Mica Ruth Mickelson. Next stop for me: Tokyo.

Flavor Flav Under One Roof

2008-05-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

Flavor Flav. I can't believe I used to be a fan of this guy in 1988. Public Enemy was the best group around. It was hiphop with a message, and you couldn't not listen to them. They were fighting the man with music, and creating an effort to bring up people's education and consciousness of unjust issues around the world. The music threw down energy, but food for thought. Chuck D was the man, and he's gone on to who knows what, including a radio show which is now gone. That didn't impress, but he's still the man. But the sidekick, Flavor Flav was amazing. He was this clown like character who wore weird clocks and always had crazy glasses and hair. Basically, he was a weird crackhead type of guy back in the day, but he had talent. The entire time he was in the group, people wondered if he'd do a solo album where he'd go off in his weird style. He'd have a few songs that were solo, and they were always nutty and weird, but a solo album never happened.

Now he has this show, and even the funny intro rap is sort of like Fresh Prince type stuff. Is he another casualty of the industry? I know he's making his money which is great, he's probably needing it, and probably didn't keep what he had from his PE days. His edge is now gone. Any solo album now will probably be cheesy, but his Q rating is going up for sure.

Here's when he was a bad ass.

The Judge of short films speaks

2008-05-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

Short films judging for the VC film fest. It's due tomorrow, I've watched it all twice, again doing my duty to take this serious since in the end, it just helps. It's a tough one though. Imagine judging a doc against a narrative against a music video against an animation. How do you do it? It's sort of like picking your favorite fruit or your favorite doughnut. You just have one, sort of.

What about comparing the best type of food. Is it Vegetable, Beef, or Sweets? Vegetables are healthiest, you can eat it daily for the rest of your life. If you ate only beef, you'd shit badly all the time. Sweets only, you'd get diabetes, but it tastes good. Seems like veggies are the best for you, although good sweets sure are great. Great steak tastes good too. One is better for you in the long run, the others are definitely better in the short run. Tough pick in a way. I'm still deciding between the Vegetable and Dessert film. I can't pick.

I also saw Up the Yangtze a film about the river that's being dammed and is displacing 2 million people and maybe now 2 million more. It's an arty documentary. I'm on the fence if I liked it a lot. I think I was looking for it to be more informative, as in something I'd see on Discovery channel. This film is much more poetic and touching, something totally unexpected, and that's why it's getting some distribution, it has a viewpoint, tempo, art direction, and style.

Kissing Cousins

2008-05-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

Amazing sight at the DGA this evening. Tons of people packed the lobby and it felt like it was opening night one more time, but this time Sunday at 6:30pm, when then became 7pm and then maybe 7:20 by the time the film began. Kissing Cousins a film by Amyn Kaderali was the special feature film that's put in the middle. They call it a center piece film when it's not an opener or a closer to get that extra special showing in there. Did you know that? I've only recently learned about the centerpiece spot in a festival.

What did I think about the film? Honestly, it was a great first feature. Kaderali masterfully weaves a ton of characters to make a fun family comedy. I guess you can say romantic comedy featuring an Indian lead dude who's just a dude and not an Ethnic portrayal. It's funny, and he gets away with a lot of scenes that could have easily gone south. Impressive. I felt it wasn't lit right, might be my only criticism. Maybe it was the projection. Either way, it's worthy of support.

Kissing Cousins site. This has to be temporary since it's it's an ip address.

I ate one too many samosas beforehand, which were really good. I'm sure they were out there for Kaderali and his friends, but I munched as many as I could anyway. Having that festival badge helps.

Kaderali was still being interviewed. He's a tall dude picking his eye. The weird thing is, life's grand during the festivals, but if you don't have "big" (as in Hollywood) interest, it's a big up that crests at the festival and then turns back into regular life soon after. But I think the highs are fun for that minute.

Takashi Murakami Davy Jones' Tear Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

2008-05-04T01:18:00.001-07:00

Takashi Murakami's show Davy Jones' Tear opening took place at Blum and Poe. I'm sure everyone wants to know how much everything is. I never bothered to find out, but they weren't free or cheap. They probably hit the 7 figures+ and I heard they were all sold. From one of his past associates, I found out it's not uncommon for an artist to follow up a big ass show in the same city with another exhibition to make some sales, pretty much as I thought. The art continues to be great, in a sort of continuation from the latest works at MOCA. These really need to be seen in person to get the idea of what they're like. From an image alone, you don't get the idea.

These works follow up on the second floor of the MOCA exhibition.

I heard that these works were entirely silkscreened. Many colors no doubt and huge and meticulous. I think it's the first time he produced work in this manner.

These works are actually amazing and will continue his tradition of art. The piece above has a little bit of old school and new. The latest flower style which you see on his mugs, and his newest style of his backgrounds.

A lot of folks steamed up the rooms. I'm sure it's not so great for the works, but for a night, it's all cool.

Seonna Hong, who I'll be seeing in Tokyo next week. She'll be there tomorrow.

Takashi Murakami and Mark Ryden

Kurobuta and baby bok choy and tomato at Wilson Food and Wine.

Kobe style beef on an eggplant slice, asparagus, and flat bread and guacamole.

Tim Blum makes a quick speech. Tim Blum and Jeff Poe have done a lot for art in LA and maybe the US. Granted, it's mostly high art, and it definitely caters to the heavy hitters, their clientele, the work by Murakami has transcended to the masses. They also handle Yoshitomo Nara as well. It's work that's infiltrated popular culture and brought a style of Japanese art to the US and they were into it before it was cool or hot. I'm sure they're doing quite well as a result of their vision, and look at how many people they can host to a nice meal.

Tim Blum, a woman (I found out! It's Tim's wife), me and Chiho...

Judging shorts

2008-05-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm judging shorts this year at the VC film festival. I've been outspoken about how I dislike short films, so I seem like a terrible candidate, but in the end, it's not true. It's not that I dislike shorts, it's more about disliking bad shorts. I've seen my share of short programs that have 8 bad ones and 1 good one. I've also seen some which are 10 bad ones only. Then there's been some that are half and half. I'll admit from experience, it's difficult to tell a short in just a few minutes. Usually, it's a gag, or a quick "haha" type of project. That's how it is. You don't have time to develop a character, you don't have time to tell an entire life story, but what you can do is a quick vignette.

I've made a super 8 short, Sumo: the Wrestlers which screened a few times in festivals here and there. It actually showed in the post LA riot 1991 to just a few people. I made another years later as part of the Obits program, which went to a bunch of film fests, which I hope never sees the light of day again. There were others as well. I think I had screen dreams back then, like many today.

I do know people spend as much money as it takes of make a feature film on a short. They probably take as long as some do to make a feature, and for some, this is their life's achievement, all in a matter of a few minutes. So with that mind, I'll give all of these film a fair viewing. Who knows, this may give some lift to an important director tomorrow.

Somehow I found the room of snacks. It's not pretty, but that's where people recharge.

Takashi Murakami New Paintings at Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

2008-05-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

It's going to happen. Takashi Murakami is doing another show. This time in the confines of a gallery. A funny and cool follow up to his huge MOCA and Brooklyn Museum show, which are retrospectives. The great thing about having this show for Murakami, is the fact that instead of reaching to another huge establishment, he's working with his old buds, Blum and Poe (who brought him out), and doing something quite the opposite - a small show. Who knows what the works will be like, but his momentum is rolling on. He's got bills still, right?

I'll follow up with more info on how this all is, and maybe at what price everything is. I'll bet it's all sold.

*forgot to mention, Murakami makes it to the Time magazine's 100 influential list!

I'll probably be seeing him there and at the post dinner. If not, I'll be seeing him in Japan when I'm out there next week. More info to come. I'll be hitting Shanghai and Beijing.

Asian Pacific Film Festival LA Ping Pong Playa by Jessica Yu

2008-05-02T01:27:00.001-07:00

Visual Communications presents the Asian Pacific Film Festival. It's on! Full house at the DGA with Ping Pong Playa as the opening night film. That's an auspicious title. What is Ping Pong Playa about? Imagine a pro Yellow Asian American who's as outspoken as Mars Blackmon and Charles Barkley. And instead of playing basketball, he takes it old school by playing ping pong. The flick is by Oscar winner Jessica Yu, that works with the idea of a tight Chinese American family, a Chinese sport, and model minority myths, but all done under the guise of a comedy. It's a perfect Asian American film fest feature.

That's an older photo of Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Yu I took in SF.

Patrick from alivenotdead.com and Monica who's a model and such around the globe.

That's Terence, who was the one who hooks up with a fan in Alivenotdead. He's also the one who sings well, but also acts. It's awesome that he's from South Pasadena and has made it in Asia. He doesn't visit much, so say hello when you can or if you see him.

He eats pretty quick as I saw at Jerry's Deli after the fest opening. You take it for granted that what I think is junky American food is everywhere, but it doesn't exist in Hong Kong. It was nice to catch up with these folks in LA since I missed em all when I was out there.

United Kranes

2008-05-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

The logo and design is excellent and I'd say perfectly describes the shoe as being for indoor sports like badminton. A crane sounds like the perfect analogy to use to describe a person soaring high to swat the birdy. The Fred Perry and Cannes style leaves always work to make something look important. I'm not sure if I'm an indoor sports player. I don't do the ping pong, squash, or badminton. Indoors can also mean, basketball, right? But somehow, I have a feeling this show is all about the traditionally Asian indoor sports. It's not about BMX, fixed gear, skating, or just trying to look hard. Check them out at United Kranes.

I'm not a fan of shiny on shoes. Especially the patent leather look. It's just not my style. The stripes are ok. I think it has a feeling of motion, both up and down.

I dig the logo on the tongue.

The sole is all about sticking to the gym floors. Cutting and turning when needed.

United Kranes. I dig the name.

Asian Heritage Month MAY! Cutting room floor

2008-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's Asian Heritage Month! What that means, is that you give all Asian Americans deals, discounts, pounds, and props. No, actually, it just means, it's a time when there's many events and celebrations.

They interviewed me for this, and they got hold of Martin as well. Strange quote from Martin about being cheap and Asian American, I guess? Almost doesn't fit with the rest and certainly makes odd sense in context of this video. I'm left on the cutting room floor or I guess somewhere on a harddrive, no worries. Check out the vid. It's not a handful, but it's something okay. This is Asian Heritage Month. MAY

It's done by the Asia Society.

Yukinori Dehara site badges

2008-05-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

I think the main point is that his show is going to be on at what looks like an odd hour, and I wish I could see it, but the badges that you can put on your blog which are basically ads, are cool. I'll have these on my blog for a little while. If you roll over them, they do neat things. But still, I can't watch the show. Bummer. But you can see these on Youtube.

There's all here on this dude's channel. Or until they get removed.

Get your site badge here: tv-tokyo.jp

Who's the Jerk Now?

2008-05-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's me. I still haven't been able to talk to the gardener who stole my avocados. He comes for just a pinch of time on tuesday, a day when I'm often out running around. I don't have his phone number, he just comes and bills me. Easy deal. This time, he left a letter. Imagine a man, probably near 70, maybe mid 60s, penning a letter of apology for stealing avocados... to a punk kid like me. That sucks. He swallowed his pride, shame, and whatever dignity he had to write this all out and tell me sorry more than once. Yes, kiss me, I'm a jerk.

But... let's break this all down again.

1) Dude, waited for a day when no one was around, and hopped up on the roof, probably used my picking tool and stole multiple boxes of avocados.

2) Neighbor caught him and he said that I wouldn't notice since he picks from the middle and high up. That's exactly where we pick them for the restaurant gr/eats.

3) He said they damage the roof from falling. We stand on the roof to pick them. I'm heavier than an avocado. I question if he really said this to the neighbor.

4) I caught him 2 years ago, and told him, not to steal them since I need them. He did it again.

The response by me was blog it, and post signs. The LA Times blog picked it up, and maybe a few gardeners will think about stealing their boss's property. He broke the law, stole private property, and I think I'm going to let him off with this apology.

UCLA Talk Asia Institute

2008-04-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Asia Institute got us in to speak today. It started off with a Thai to go lunch and a bunch of questions from the many students who are part of the Asia Pacific Arts and Asia Media web publications out of UCLA. Many have titles, some are interns, but they asked a bunch of questions relating to magazine making. I was challenging myself to remember a whole room of people. That's William with the glasses, the woman on the right is Debbie, but the names started to fade away. Check out all of their links, including the Asia Institute.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/
http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/

This is what the talk looked like. Behind the project sat Tritia Toyota who's a newscaster in LA. I assume she's still active doing a lot of projects and she took a lot of notes during our talk. Why? I have no idea. She probably didn't realize it, but I'm a long time fan and I watched her broadcast often. I remember her best on NBC. Check out the video below, it's old, but her cadence is perfect and her hair amazing. A touch of blush and a more natural make up style made her better than the rest. In a way, I think she was the true prototype of the Asian American woman anchor. Connie Chung was a big name, but her style was over the top.

A fun fact is that punk band, The Dickies, recorded a song called, "I'm Stuck in a Pagoda with Tricia Toyota" They spelled her name different, who knows why. I wonder what she thinks of the song? Had I got to speak with her, that would have been my first question.

The talk went well, and it was supposed to include a little about finding a job that's untraditional. I think we did a fair job in showing how it is. The weird thing is that the event took place in the faculty lounge, even as a student, I never got to go inside. Now, I get to see what it's all about.

10 reasons why David Horvath is Babo

2008-04-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

It's been said, that David Horvath looks like his characters. What do you think about Babo?

1) The eyes

2) The teeth

3) The hand gesture

4) The fact that he draws the Uglydolls. As pictured Babo draws Uglydolls

5) David is a lefty, notice where the chopsticks are. Babo is a righty. Hmm. That's not helping my theory, is it? Sun-min is probably a righty though. Maybe it's to throw us off.

6) Babo has a little part in the head, David has a part in the hair.

7) Babo likes cookies. David likes cookies.

8) Babo means stupid or idiot in Korean. David is self deprecating, hence the name Uglydolls.

9) Babo is one of the earliest Uglydolls. I think it might have been the first.

10) Uglycon and How to Draw Uglydolls as presented by Babo? Uh, David?

Avocado thief makes it to the times blog

2008-04-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

I wonder what people really think about this. Is it just stupid? Either way, a theft is a theft. Glad the Times are playing attention to this fairly trivial matter. Read their entry in the LA Now blog. It's not too much, but I'm amazed that they care. Maybe it's a Southern California thing. The weather is nice, we actually can grow produce in our yards (yes, we actually have yards with fruit)... If you drive in my area, you can see other trees, peaches, loquat, guava, other avocados, lemons, tangerines, persimmons and more. It's pretty cool to be in Southern Cali. My parents house has apple trees that are pretty good. They also do grapes which rock and blackberries.

Check it all out here.

Hook-ups Destroying America video with Ming Tran and Jeremy Klein

2008-04-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add this one into the last post. So here it is. I couldn't find the video. It's from a Hook-ups a few years ago, called Destroying America. I think you were able to pick it up at Best Buy and it also featured Tony Hawk and many others including pro skater, Jeremy Klein and at the time, martial artist and student, Ming Tran. Check out the funny video part below.

What do you think?