New project

I recently landed a novel job. The work includes: cover, end pages, all text layout, and some illustration (maybe). I haven't had a serious type heavy project for a while so I am really excited to play with type again. I have been playing around with cover idea, most the client probably won't go for, but I want to have as many different covers as possible. Hopefully, hopefully, the client will go for something with an all typographic cover. I'm going to upload some of the layouts I have now. They are very early in development, but enjoy them! Most of the covers are Avent Garde because I haven't used it for an actual project yet. The first one has the alternate glyphs that I had to build myself because I don't have the actual set that I want really bad!

As always, click for full view.

Some editorial design for you

I was short listed for a design position at The American School in Japan and they asked me to do a test layout. Well, I couldn't show many different styles with only one layout, so I made 4.
After I sent them they contacted me for an interview and now I am waiting to hear if I got the position of not. *crossing my fingers

Here are the 4 layouts. Click to see full view.

Filthy Fall

So I decided to make an electro mix after my last few mixes being more summer/latin/funky house.

Here is the play list!

1 Make It Last (Jeremy Word Remix) - Dave Aude Ft Jessica Sutta
2 Give Some Love (Tony Arzadon Remix) - Antoine Clamaran And Mario Ocho
3 BSOD (Original Mix) - BSOD
4 Grovemover (Fonik Mix) - Polyfonik
5 Make Your Move [dare Me] (Filty Rich Remix) - Dave Armstrong
6 Remind You (G.D.R Remix) - Recoup
7 Dr. Funkenstein - Original Mix - Deadmau5
8 Warped Bass (Filthy Rich Remix - Richard Grey
9 Indigenous People (Gabi Newman Remix) [128bpm edit] - Raul Rincon
10 Chick 1 (Swen Werber Remix) - Def Jaguar
11 Ritmo De La Noche 2007 (T.C.S. Electro Mix) - Chocolate
12 Electrophant (Madox Remix) - Mathematikal
13 Ride Like the Wind [klaas Remix] - Michael Mind
14 Blinded by the Light [electro Short Mix] - Michael Mind

Here is the link!

A bit of Vancouver

I always tell my friends here that one of the things I miss in Vancouver the most is the 24 hour Blenz downtown. Nothing beats sitting at Blenz chatting for hours never having to worry about getting kicked out at closing. Out of all the coffee shops in Vancouver and even here, Blenz is definitely my favorite. In Japan it is slowly a growing company. When I was here last year, they had about 3 locations. Since then they have grown to about 6 or 7, but they aren't 24 hours! Not many things here are 24 hours. The convenience stores and family restaurants (Denny's, Jonathan's, Saizaria, ect.) are all 24 hours, but the coffee shops are all around 11:oopm. Depending on location they close at different times, but the average is 11:00pm, which completely sucks a huge one.

Anyways! I finally made a trip to one of the better Blenz locations in Tokyo. It's in Yokohama (横浜) near the center area with the amusement park and main shopping centers. If you are reading this and have never been to Blenz, go now, quickly, and get something with chocolate. The chocolate drinks at Blenz are amazing because they actually use REAL chocolate (watch them as they make your drink and you will understand).

I have a new more posts coming real soon, so for now enjoy the pictures from Blenz.

Funktro?

Tokyo Sessions: Summer Funktro! What is funktro you ask? Well, I have no idea. It's what I got when I put funk and electro together. Which is what kind of house is in the new mix! So give it a download HERE

If the link expires, just comment I will upload again.

And the earth rumbles

Yupp, that's right, EARTHQUAKE! You are probably thinking, "So, what?! There are earthquakes all the time in Japan!" Yes you're right, but you can't always feel them due to the location. For example: since my time here there has been about 4 earthquakes and none of which I could feel, expect the one last night. I live in Tokyo (東京) and the quake happened somewhere on the coast of Chiba (千葉). To get an idea on how far away that is from my place... here is a quick map.
(click to make it bigger)
So as you can see, it was pretty close to my area. It was a level 3 in Tokyo and level 4 in Chiba. To give you a scale: at 6 the buildings start doing a serious belly dance. I was quite excited to finally feel an earthquake. Last night was the first time I have ever experienced it, so it was like the first time you do anything and you get that rush of the unknown. What a weird feeling! I thought it would be more shaky and rough, but it was like a smooth sway. It felt like when you drink way to much and try to stand in one place, but your body says "screw you I want to dance side to side!" Haha. If you have been in earthquakes before, then I think you know why I'm posting about it. It's just exciting the first time, as long as shit isn't breaking.

You meet a lot of people...

but sometimes you are lucky enough to meet someone and just click. I don't mean sexually or emotionally. I mean just in your personalities and you just become buddies instantly. I was lucky enough to meet someone like that. It doesn't happen very often, even in your own country, so it's pretty crazy right now. Finally I have a friend here who I can sit down and just talk about useless and countless amounts of stuff with (as long as our bad backs hold out).

There is one pet peeve of mine that I hear and see all the time. I have done it myself, but after I would correct it and make sure the person understood what the real deal is. I really dislike when people say "I have a lot of good friends". I'm sorry, but most people only have a few friends you can call "true". Just because you know someone, or had a drink with them, doesn't make them your good friend, a buddy maybe, but are they going to hold it down for you when the times comes around... probably not. So next time you are talking about how many friends you have, just remember that they are probably acquaintances, or buddies, but not friends. This isn't a rant against any one person, I just felt I needed to share my opinion on this topic because saying you have a hundred friends, doesn't make you gain anymore respect with anyone else (unless your in high school).

Logotype + Layout

So I posted a logotype a while back and said I would update soon, but I'm finally getting around to it now. I finished it a while back, but haven't gotten around to revising and making it sexier. Soon though!

Also I am making a spread for a job interview / design test thing, so I got a little preview for that as well.

Cheers!
(like always, click to view full size)

A new location and the beach

I'm sure I should label this part 1, but I don't have any plans at the moment to go to the beach again... so for now this is good. So let's begin!

It's a little late, considering a went a week ago, but I have been a little busy this week because I moved locations at work. I was teaching in an area called Tameikesanno (溜池山王), but lucky for me I got moved to Ebisu (恵比寿). It took me about 25 mins to get to Tameikesanno (not including the walk to the station) and I had to transfer train lines once, but now it only takes me about 10 mins and one stop on my home train line (Tokyu Toyoko Line - 東急東横線). Ebisu is a great area. A lot of good places to eat, a lot of nice places to shop, not super busy, and a great atmosphere. The learning studio at Ebisu is still brand new, so it's still a little slow, but definitely getting busy quick. Anyways enough of that, let's get to the beach.

On the 4th of August a group of us went to a beach in Shizuoka (静岡) around the area Shirayama (しらはま). The weather was great except for the crazy wind. We couldn't put up an umbrella to sit under, so we had to bare with the sun all day (I usually burn, so this is not cool). Although I was in the sun all day it wasn't too bad. Surprisingly, only my calves got burnt to the point that it hurt. My neck and back were fine, just a little red and now they are peeling. Haha, nice to hear right?!

The beach in Japan is a little different from back home in Vancouver. Considering you can drink here in public, that already adds a whole other angle to it. On top of the drinking, there are big ass local restaurants (kind of look like big shacks) located all along the beach. The food is cheap and good, usual menu is Currey Rice, Ramen, Curry Katsu, and similar things you find in at smaller shops. The amount of people at the beach I went to wasn't that bad. I think every beach in Vancouver is packed on the good summer days, so it wasn't anything to worry about. Of course the beach we went to was a few hours from Tokyo, so I know if I went to a beach closer to Tokyo it would probably be crazy packed. You can rent boogie boards, inner-tubes, and tanning chairs at the beach for a few bucks. They also have little boats you can rent and take out.

Like I said before the wind was really strong that day so the waves were pretty big. Nothing to worry about if you can properly swim and aren't really short. The water was quite shallow for a long way out, which made it easier to have a lot of space in the water to play. The only downside of the wind as the bullet like sand that would slash at your legs and sometimes back. I have never been to a beach on a day with such strong wind, so this was the first time to have sand shot at me (thank you mother nature).

I also took part in a game here called beach flags. It's a quite popular game here in Japan and actually quite fun and sometimes dangerous. Haha. Here's how it works. Basically there are about 6 people per heat with 3 flags a certain distance away. On ready you have to lay day on your stomach faces away from the flags. On set, you set your arms to help you pop up and on go you blast up and sprint to the flags. Since there are only 3 you have to battle for them during the run and dive for them most of the time. Super fun with a big group of people. There was about 30 something people in the group and I made it to the semifinals. I got beaten out my the winner so I don't feel so bad.

Anyways, enough rambling... enjoy the photos.

The longest roller slide in Japan

I took a little trip into Saitama to ride the longest roller slide in Japan. I'm not sure I have ever seen a roller slide in Vancouver before, so here is a picture:



It's basically that, but super long. It sits on top of a mountain over looking the city with a beautiful view. Usually during the daytime you pay ３００円 ($3) to drive up the mountain and ride it. But, because we didn't want to go on while it was crazy crowded we decided to ride at night time. Of course we had to break a few rules, but we had the entire place to ourselves! Despite the extremely long uphill walk to the top, it was definitely worth going at night time. The view was amazing and there weren't massive packs of scampering kids everywhere. The only bad part about these slides is the amount of friction that builds up on your butt. It seriously starts to burn after 5 seconds of flying down these things. The next day it doesn't get better either, usually your ass bone is really sore from getting the tiny bumps the entire way down. With that aside though, it was totally worth it! After riding the slide a few times, we went to the highest relaxing spot and just chatted and waited until it was too windy to stay any longer.

And they say food in Japan is small

One of the stereotypes of Japan is that they has ridiculously small food. This is complete bull shit (excuse the language). Actually, some of the biggest plates of food I have ever eaten have been in Japan. Sometimes they are really big servings of food, or a bunch of dishes that add up to one massive portion. I have never left a restaurant with an empty stomach in all my time here. The price isn't all that bad either. Actually, it is about the same as going to a restaurant in Vancouver. For example, there are a few burger places here that serve really big burgers with fries and a drink for anywhere from ９００円($9CDN) to １３００円($13CDN). If you think of your average restaurant (Cactus Club, Moxies, Earls, Red Robin, Boston Pizza) a meal is usually in the $11 - $15 dollar range, depending on where you go and what you eat.

I recently went to a place in Japan that is located right beside an American airbase. This is about 90mins driving from Shibuya (渋谷) and is in Fussa (福生市). The street is right beside the base so it's quite well knowen for having "american sized" food. Japanese people generally see "american sized" food as bigger than it actually is. So when you go to a restaurant here to eat american style... usually you get a massive serving for quite cheap.
The area is quite nice, really cool shops, everything from clothing to furniture. A lot of vintage clothing and second hand shops, with the odd hip-hop shop run by some completely non-American African guys (if you live in Japan, you know what I mean). I took some shots of the food, it was REALLY good, and I actually want to go back there soon to grab some more good eats. Check back later for a few more posts on turtle hot pot, the longest slide in Japan, and the first beach trip of summer.

It's been a few

I haven't been able to post recently because well, I was too lazy or when I got home I fell asleep right away. I finally got all the photos off the digicam and cell phone, so expect a whole wack of new stuff tonight. For now take a look at the coolest environmental art I have seen in Japan so far. This big light box is in Shinjuku (新宿) right near the station. The pattern displayed changes every 10 mintutes or so. Also, if you touch it, it reacts to the heat of your hand and depending on the pattern at the time, certain things come to your touch. For example, when I first got to the area, it was a whole bunch of fish in water. When I put my hand on, the fish gathered around the area I was touching. Very similar to those electricity balls that they have in science exhibitions.

Here is a photo

Poser

I was asked to be a model for a school project so why not! Here are most of the shots from the shoot. I don't have a scanner so I took them all with my cell phone. They are a bit dark, but the originals are black and white, so it was a little hard. The girl in the photos is my homegirl Mika, some of her shots are really nice. Enjoy!