Extended exposure for Japan

Hai, hai, hai. I'm super late on pics for my japan trip. They are coming. Good thing I was stuck at Logan airport for five hours on Sunday. Got most of my pics finished.

Here's a pic taken in a tokyo subway platform as the train arrives...

More to come...

Gorillaz goes Monkey

Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl and Gorillaz) and Damon Albarn (Blur and Gorillaz) are at it again. This time, they've collaborated to bring one of my favorite childhood stories to life.

The ad is inspired the Ming Dynasty book Journey to the West (西遊記), which one of the Four Great Classic Novels (四大名著). As a kid, I was fascinated with mythology and lore. Beyond reading all I could about the Greek mythology, my dad went Chinese on me and bought vividly colored books about Monkey King's escapades to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras. In fact, I built a tiny diorama based on the Monkey King's escapades. If only we had digital cameras back then. Oh, the craft I could expose you to.

Through time, I've seen permuations of the character crop up all over the place:

• Cartoon
  
• Musical
  
• TV Miniseries
  
• 2006 National Book Awards Winner: American Born Chinese
  

OK, enough talk, check out the clip via BBC's Olympic site here.

In Boston, three times a charm

View Larger Map

It's Sunday and I'm back in Massachusetts. This will be K and my third trip back to Boston since we've started dated. We came to visit when we first started dating, returned to attend my friend's wedding, and now we are planning our own wedding.

We've secured the venue, a manor just outside of Connecticut, so it's finally time to check out what we've purchased.

I spent the day with K's familly exploring Boston. It was an eating tour of key boston places:

• Coffee from Dunkin Donuts (It tastes better when you're in Massachusetts),
• Dim Sum from China Pearl
• Cannoli's from Mike's Pastries
• Clam Chowder from Joe's
• Oysters and Lobsters from Union Oyster House

I think we hit all the bases. There were definitely digs from my old Jumbos that we didn't get a chance to check out.

• Quesadeilla from Anna's Taqueria
• Ramen at Porter Exchange
• Dac Biet Large from Pho Pasteur (Allston location)

Radiohead's Laser Light Show Video

Whoah...Radiohead's latest music video, House of Cards, uses 64 lasers instead of a camera.



Read Creativity's has a Q&A with director James Frost.

The Art of Cleaning

Speaking of corporations and their PR marketing campaigns. Green Works, a Clorox Company and maker of "natural cleaners," worked with Paul "Moose" Curtis on a graffiti art project.

Using Green Works products, created "reverse graffiti" by cleaning dirt off walls.



Like my last post, I'm on the fence. Conceptually, I like what the idea of "reverse graffiti," and its ephemeral qualities, and I'm a big fan of the director, Doug Pray (Scratch, and Infamy).

It's just...

I'm just not sure how to feel when street art goes corporate.

Source: Blogthousand!

This Ad is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

In an Colombian advertising campaign, Toyota is printing its ads on recycled banana leafs. The ties are pretty obvious. I feel that I should be excited about the idea, but for some reason, I'm still on the fence on whether I like the idea or not.

With the entire world buzzing about being green, I'm starting to become a bit skeptical of all the PR. I really don't want to be jaded, but there seems to be a discrepancy between lip service and action. Sometimes I feel I'm stuck in a middle of a green marketing cacophony as companies increasingly try to outdo and outscream their competitors.

However, in this case, the banana plant only produces fruit once in its life and the leaves are typically thrown away. I guess I can give them kudos for that.



Ok, Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of my bed today...

Reed Flute Cave

Reed Flute Cave
Originally uploaded by VinceHuang

This is a test.

Stats from my trip back from Japan

I got back to Japan last night. Here are some stats:

Total time spent on a plane: ~25 hours
Number of really bad movies I watched on the plane: 5 (Jumper, Vantage Point, The other B girl, to name a few)
Number of good movies I watched on the plane: 1

Times I ate sushi: 7
Pieces of Uni: 11
Times I ate Yakitori: 1
Times I ate at an western establishment: 1, a KFC eggs benedict breakfast sandwich
Times I wanted to stop by McDonalds and try the "latin flava" burger: 2

Number of Drinks purchased from a vending machine: 21
Number of beers purchased from a vending machine: 1

Times I said, "Hai hai hai": 105
Times I said, "This Sh*t is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S" while in Harajuku: 5

Number of pictures taken: 648
Pictures I'm actually going to upload: 2

A different side of Tokyo

View Larger Map
I am about to get on a jetplane to go visit the land of the rising sun: Japan. K will be meeting me at O'Hare to head to Tokyo!

I'll be going for family, friends, and food. The last time I visited Tokyo, it was the world cup and Korea was duking it out with Turkey for fourth place. After the game, Wayne and I ended up on a random night out in some small club listening to the producers of Pizzicato Five spin. We made the obligatory visit to a convenience store at 5 just as the sun crept up before we got back to the hotel.

I've learned that when you're traveling, make sure you have a place to sleep. The rest of the time, play it by ear. However, those who know me, know that I'm a researcher at heart.

I present to you, my tokyo notes. These are points of interest beyond the normal touristy spots that I'm eager to check out.

I'll report back what I ended up doing...

Breathing life into Che

How che appears from simple text...

The Anatomy of a Nap

Everybody has a routine that they follow when they get home. Mr. Rogers would change his shoes and put on a nice sweater and then proceed to talk to a trolley. More often than not, I'll get a glass of water and head to the couch, flip on MSNBC and fall into a quick 20 minute nap. Every once in a while, I wake up two- to three- hours later. I kinda look like this:
In "How to Nap," the Boston Globe tells us everything we've always wanted to know about napping. It notes that midday napping can boost alertness, creativity, and mood. In fact, a British study found that knowing a nap is coming was enough to lower blood pressure.

The graphic helps us define the optimal time to have a siesta (around 3 for me), how long your siesta should be, and what you need to do to prepare.

The only fact I don't completely buy is the ability for a nap to improve my mood. I am the grumpiest person alive when someone wakes me up mid-nap.