Haven’t had a whole lot of time for art lately…
…but my friend Ben inspired me with one of his photos recently, which I had to combine with @wildesunshine‘s beautiful shot as well 🙂 #doodlegram #instamashup
Haven’t had a whole lot of time for art lately…
…but my friend Ben inspired me with one of his photos recently, which I had to combine with @wildesunshine‘s beautiful shot as well 🙂 #doodlegram #instamashup
Recently I had a chance to interview the talented and prolific artist Steven Reddy about his new Kickstarter for his second book, This Is Then, That Was Now. I’ve been really enjoying illustrated memoirs recently, and of course I’m drawn to watercolors of any type. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the project, so I Continue reading
I recently noticed that an artist I love is doing a Kickstarter, so I decided to ask him a few questions about this exciting venture. The project is to fund an art book collecting illustrations from his recent travels across Europe. Who hasn’t dreamed of winding their way through the beautiful scenery, soaking it all in and pouring themselves creatively onto the page?
This project was lucky enough to be chosen as Continue reading
I’ve recently been on a kick of doing “doodlegrams.” Combining disparate ideas to make something new has been around about as long as people have been making art, but I was particularly inspired by the Instagram user Daily Doodle Gram for her creative combinations of other people’s Instagram shots.
Here is one that Continue reading
I’m running a photo contest for GAJET (the local JET group) and the current theme is “Light and dark.” I’m not entering it since I’m running the thing, but if I was, I’d enter this photo 🙂 By the way, the lantern second from the right on the bottom was sponsored by one of my Conversation club ladies! It cost about $200 and the money supports the annual Daruma festival in my city 🙂
Happy Coming of Age Day! Today is a national holiday in Japan. Everyone who turned twenty in the past year gets all dressed up and goes to a big ceremony to celebrate. There’s lots of partying after, since 20 is the legal drinking age here 😉
The longer I’m in Japan, the more I find myself doubting whether things are strange or if perhaps I’m just out if the loop. Upside-down Christmas trees, six-eyed snowmen…my sense of normal is changing with every passing year.
With these new Christmas tree Doritos, they just seemed so clever that it was hard to believe that they hadn’t been done before. I mean, they just make sense, right? The color is easy to change, and the shape is already pointy. What better for a Cheistmas party than a bowl full of corn cream stew Doritos?
Ok, that last part still sounds pretty Japanese. The flavor is pretty decent though. Corn soup and cream stew are winter mainstays here, and you can usually find the former in the hot section of the vending machine. By the way, it seems really strange to me that other places don’t have hot vending machines in winter–it just makes sense. I went to university in Montreal, and the quality of life there would be improved tenfold if hot vending machines were on every corner. Waiting for a bus in -40 degree weather would be way better with a can of hot corn soup in your pocket!
Anyway, these corn cream stew flavored chips are subtly flavored. The creaminess is nice, but very mild. The even provided help in a pinch when I ran out of plain chips for my chicken tortilla soup. Aren’t the just adorable? I think these should become a Christmastime staple around the world!
What do you think? Would you try these or are they too silly? Cream soup flavored chips: weird or awesome? Let me know!
A random bump on my lyrics translation of World Order’s Have a Nice Day reminded me that I still haven’t posted the lyrics to their most recent offering, Informal Empire. It came out Continue reading
Every now and then a Japanese company will come out with a new flavor that lights up the internet, especially in the West. Burger King’s Black Burger is a great example, as well as the recently rereleased Pepsi Pink.
Lots of new seasonal flavors just came out for Winter, and leading the charge is the new 飲むカントリーマウム, or Hot Drinkable Cookie from Country Ma’am.
Country Ma’am is Continue reading