31 July 2007

tonight.

You only have a couple of hours, but here you go.

Just Jack, 9.00pm @ Hiro Ballroom.

RSVP here.

30 July 2007

Chromeooo


Chromeo
Originally uploaded by tokyohanna.
I was only halfway through track 3 on Chromeo's latest release, Fancy Footwork, before I ran to the design station to upload this photo and write. I don't know why some things take me so long, but better late than never? Get this album, guys. You will never stop dancing. The Fader put it well with "Gold-plated basslines and rhinestone-studded synths." I am now heartbroken that I missed them at Hiro a couple of weeks ago.

The tiniest snippet of background: Chromeo is two guys - friends since childhood. One is in Montreal, the other is in NYC getting his PhD in French Literature @ Columbia. One is Jewish, the other Arab: Chromeo seems to serve as a great example of music uniting people.

28 July 2007

A Wild Sheep Chase


I just finished reading Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase (1982). I was going to say that it's a little creepier than the other stuff of his that I've read, but... come to think of it, all of his short stories and novels so far have had a little weird twist to them. Anyway, this book was lovely and chilling at the same time. It's about a former ad exec from Tokyo who gets sent on a literal sheep chase through the countryside /mountains of Northern Japan.

Here are my underlinings (no it doesn't give anything away, don't worry!):

There was a small coffee shop near the university where I hung out with friends. It wasn't much of anything, but it offered certain constants: hard rock and bad coffee (4).

The air was alive, even as everything seemed poised on the verge of collapse, waiting for a push (5).

"The sun climbs high in the sky, then starts down. People come, then go. The time breezes by. That's like a picnic, isn't it?" (7)

She tossed the twig to the ground and stood up, brushing the dry bits of grass from her coat (9).

whiskey fog (15)

A short ray of sunlight divided the table, me in light, her in shadow (17).

The tip of the cigarette crackled dryly as its lavender smoke formed a tracery in the morning light (19).

"I still love you. But I guess that's not the point now, is it? I know that well enough myself." (22)

"I do believe that my ears aren't dying properly," (40)

...letting go a trial balloon (49).

Russians have a way with aphorisms. They probably spend all winter thinking them up (112).

The rain had been preceded by four or five days of crisp, clear early summer skies, fooling people into thinking the rainy season was over (113).

In a sunken area in the middle of the coffee lounge, a woman wearing a bright pink dress sat at a cerulean blue grand piano playing quintessential hotel-coffee-lounge numbers filled with arpeggios and syncopation.

With my eyes closed, I could hear hundreds of elves sweeping out my head with their tiny brooms. They kept sweeping and sweeping. It never occurred to any of them to use a dustpan (151).

Strings of tiny yellow streetlamps threaded everywhere below (152).

I got orange juice out of the refrigerator and popped three-day-old bread into the toaster. I tasted like wall plaster (161).

Far off, someone was practicing piano. It sounded like tripping down an up escalator.

He gave me a blank-white-sheet-of-drawing-paper look (195).

The conductor was so totally without expression he could have pulled off a bank robbery without covering his face (249).

...if the roof caves in, you got yourself some flat sheep (260).

My girlfriend appeared with coffee, and we faced each other as we drank. Drops of rain tapped intermittently on the windows. The time passed slowly as chill infiltrated the room. The yellow glow of the light bulbs drifted about the room like pollen (285).

Birds of a kind I'd never seen before clung like Christmas ornaments to the pin oaks by the front door, chirping away. The world shone moistly in the morning light (290).

It's hot and stuffy. ...Someone opens a window. Shivering cold. Seagull cries, sharp piercing voices ripping at my flesh (341).

The sea was shining when I arrived at my destination (351).

27 July 2007

body as art

A couple of weeks ago, I found a clip of my absolute favorite part of Big Bang Love, Juvenile A. This happened within the first 20 minutes of the movie.


Does anybody know what this is? It made me think of capoeira, which is a Brazilian, dance-based martial art. I don't think this is capoeira, though. Something traditionally Japanese, I would imagine. Whatever it is, it's beautiful. Imagine the colors about 40% more saturated (think vermillion) and on a huge screen. It was stunning.

EDIT | Here is a capoeira montage. It's definitely not the same thing, but slightly similar.

25 July 2007

LVHRD PHTHRD

Last night was the LVHRD photo duel/battle/challenge (PHTHRD). The secret location ended up being Smack Mellon in DUMBO, which was fantastic and had a beautiful view. There were free copies of Surface Magazine, Dewar's and bottles of Fred water, and the music by Turntable Labs was perfect for the energy (the Deceptacon remix they were playing as I left was my favorite of the night). I finally got to meet Richie Rich after that failed photo opportunity two summers ago (he was a great host, mingling throughout the chaos of stylists, makeup artists and flashbulbs to give us periodic updates from his microphone). The constestants' photos will be posted tomorrow Monday (?), upon which everyone can vote for the winner.

literally DUMBO

Smack Mellon







makeup case




Photos from me, everyplace and ohyoucrazy.

24 July 2007

Bat for Lashes


Astrid.
Originally uploaded by tokyohanna.
New Yorkers who will be in town tomorrow night (sadly, I will not) and are looking for something to do... check out Bat For Lashes at the Knitting Factory. I just found out about this band a week or two ago when they were nominated for the Mercury Prize. The music is haunting and beautiful. Here is the video for What's A Girl To Do:


I usually don't read interviews in blogs because they add up and take too much time from my day, but I read this one that Gothamist did with the band's Natasha Khan, and it was fascinating. I want to be friends with her. This observation of hers is very similar to parallels I sometimes draw between things:

You list "The Karate Kid" as one of your influences, explain.
This film is one of several that I call the "80s hoodie films" - along with ET, Donnie Darko, The Goonies - as they all contain seminal scenes in them where the kids get on their bikes, wearing the coolest hoodies and cycle out on an adventure in to the unknown. This moment symbolizes something so deep and important to me - an epiphany when you move out of your comfortable childhood microcosm into the big bad world, to communicate with something terrifying and beautiful and exciting - to find your own path! It’s frightening and can happen all through your life, but its those moments where you decide to go for it, take risks, fulfill your purpose! It’s what life is all about, I think....sorry, getting over excited! Ha!

She also talks about a truth re:piano that all pianists probably share:
But I'd have to say my oldest love is the piano, cause you can just get lost in it for hours. Playing it in the dark at night is great, or with a friend where you both share the stool and improvise and get lost in the music.

Anyway, check them out tomorrow night. lovely.

23 July 2007

subculture merging

I was antisocial and introverted all weekend. It all changed without warning when I went to the McCarren Pool party, though. I expected it to be relatively uneventful, but by the end of the day I had run into friends from four or five different subgroups. Three of the groups merged when a handful of us went to dinner afterwards, too. It was disorienting and wonderful.

pretty

typical pool party goer

Roxy

I didn't get too many great photos because I was running in a million directions the whole time. The pool, though (ha, ha), has some great ones.

17 July 2007

Remix Insanity


Remixes are going crazy lately. I know that musicians and DJs have been remixing songs for years and years and years, but they seem to be exploding lately more than ever. I have heard some of the best ones in the past few months alone. Two of my favorites come from Justice and The Teenagers.

I have heard Justice being called "the new Daft Punk" a couple of times, and I'm going to have to agree with everyone here. I first heard their remix of Simian's We Are Your Friends at parties not too long ago (even though it's nearly four years old), and it's one of the most catchy songs I've heard in a while. Their full length album - † - was just released and is 48 minutes of pure energy. You can cancel your gym membership if you get your hands on a copy of this thing. You won't be able to sit still, promise. Here is their video for D.A.N.C.E., which Heron posted on House of Naked and is being passed around like wild fire.

I really started writing this entry to talk about The Teenagers, though. They are three French guys who are in London right now, and their music falls into the dreamy, drugged out lo-fi slide pop genre (I made that up but if you listen to it you'll know what I mean). Guardian Unlimited wrote a fantastic piece on them, explained better than I ever could.


But what I'm really in love with is The Teenagers' remixes. One of my favorite songs for the past few months is their remix of Au Revoir Simone's Fallen Snow (fourth track on the MySpace player). I didn't realize this until recently, but if you listen to the original, it's completely different. It was then that I realized how brilliant these three guys are. While their own music sounds a little like the soundtrack to a sleepy Terry Richardson shoot (which is also fantastic and you should listen to that as well), it's their remixes that has me falling in love with them more and more with each listen.

15 July 2007

summer in Brooklyn

Heron once said that since we don't have backyards here, we go on the roof. I keep thinking about that, especially on weekends this summer. Thomas, Alex and Jess had some people over to their roof in South Williamsburg yesterday. Riding my bike there was glorious - Tony and I sped down Kent Avenue without a care in the world.

getting a taste for what we would see:

windows


Going up the stairs in the converted factory made me feel like I was in a gore movie like Hostel. Finally we looked up and saw light.

gore set 5


Climbing through the tornado-style doors (?) brought us to this:

what.


I couldn't stop spinning around uncontrollably, looking at this view from all angles. I couldn't believe it. I would take this over a backyard any day. There was delicious food (Chuck made spicy Thai chicken wings! my god), great friends (and some new ones), lots of French-speaking and the spiced smell of summer.

Austin, Satish, Paul


I thought I couldn't have been happier, but then the sun started setting.

color gel


The party continued well into the night, and Alex brought up string lights and watermelon.

nighttime

Arthur took this.


I hope every weekend is like this from now on.

wa wa wee wa.

12 July 2007

with a little good news thrown in.

Whoever wrote this article in Adweek pretty much gets what we're all about at Naked.

Traditional media planning is largely tactical and mainly focused on the weight that should be given to individual networks, stations, dayparts and publications. Communications planning is strategic and tries to develop overall marketing plans for brands, taking into consideration all channels, including but not limited to traditional and emerging media, public relations, viral marketing, sports and entertainment marketing and event planning.

pretty good pretty good.

03 July 2007

The City of Violence.

I saw City of Violence on Saturday night. It isn't the type of movie I would normally pay eleven dollars to see (not big on action films), but... come on. The trailer had break dance fighting in it.



It was amazing. It's about a group of childhood friends who grew apart as they grew up, and the one who got teased/picked on in the past is now basically a jerk. He is ruining the city and building casinos, killing people who owe him money for land, etc. It's a really fast paced movie with lots of fighting and (surprise) violence, and the break dance martial arts scene in the Korean city streets was my favorite part of the entire movie. I suspect this might be the case for other viewers, too. The woman sitting next to me was the type who got so shocked by violence and bloodiness that she would nervously laugh the whole time. That was a little annoying, but the movie was excellent enough to distract me.



Unfortunately, City of Violence isn't playing at NYAFF anymore, but you can probably rent it on Netflix or buy it here.
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