Posts from — October 2007

Surely, these aren’t REAL? Do Japanese school girls really walk around with these transparent sailor uniforms on?

A sight for sore-stressed-out-salary-men’s eyes. I can’t decide which is better, this uniform, or the previously posted fashion innovation, the exposed thong jeans.

Via DannyChoo

Technorati Tags: Japanese school girls, see-through uniform

I love design that is a little different and recent RCA graduate Ikuko Iwamoto’s ceramics work does this with sculptural forms that depict microscopic structures.

Her collection of abstract objects and tabletop vessels come to life with spikes, tentacles, and spores, bringing visibility to an otherwise invisible world. Iwamoto takes direct inspiration from the microscopic universe - “a world of intricacy and detail, of mathematical pattern and organic chaos, of beauty and repulsion.”

From her website, she states:

“I make exquisite cups and other objects for a bizarre tea ceremony.
They suggest the everyday, the ordinary, but are in fact extra-ordinary .
They are the vehicle to make visible an invisible, microscopic world.
A world of intricacy and detail, of mathematical pattern and organic chaos, of beauty and repulsion.”

See more on Ikukoi.co.uk

Via Core77

Technorati Tags: art, ceramics, Ikuko Iwamoto, Japanese, microscopic structures, sculpture

FIVE TANKS is a new play written and directed by British Chinese writer Lab Ky Mo, which also features the classically trained British Chinese actor Daniel York. It will show at the Hackney Empire from Tuesday 23rd October until Saturday 10th November.

FIVE TANKS is set on the day a bomb nearly went off on the number 26 bus in Hackney Road, London.

I remember this day, as the complex that my studio was in at the time was right next to the stopped bus, and we later had to evacuate. Luckily, I’ve no dramatic tale to tell, but I’m interested nonetheless in this highly relevant play to Londoners.

More information including dates and venue below…

Technorati Tags: British Chinese, Five Tanks, Hackney Empire, Lab Ky Mo, Daniel York, theatre

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A great, unexpected combination - nuns who do karate! I can just imagine their charitable kindness backed up with a spinning back fist if they need to…

Were they inspired by the Shaolin monks? Who knows, you might not want to mess with them.

Technorati Tags: karate nuns, martial arts

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Following on from the hugely successful Award Winning Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers, inspired by Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, Kazuko & collaborator Andy Cox (The Beat, Fine Young Cannibals) are revisiting the same novel, to this time create a show exclusively for children.

A Borrowers Tale: the Great Escape is a charming, engaging and imaginative interactive performance for children aged 7 years and up.  Developed in partnership with BAC schools programme, scratch performances will be presented over the half term holidays as part of Wandsworth Arts Festival.

Performance and booking details are below.

Technorati Tags: A Borrowers Tale: the Great Escape, Andy Cox, Kazuko Hohki

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I’m considering ordering a new book I’ve just come across on CoolHunting, called “Shaolin : Temple of Zen“.

It’s a photographic tome rather than an instructional manual and seems to give a bit of insight into the real life behind the closed doors of the Shaolin Temple.

To me, this is welcome since I suspect that once the Western world is watching, the Shaolin marketing machine is usually put to work creating an image of what they’d like the rest of the world to see.

More photos and book synopsis below.

Technorati Tags: book, China, Justin Guariglia, martial arts, photography, Shaolin : Temple of Zen, Shaolin Temple

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Think twice before you assume that the fortune you’re about to find in your cookie is a vague, sugar-coated cliché.

Wonton Food, who produce about 4.5 million cookies a day have “enriched” their catalog of fortunes with some slightly more downbeat advice.

“Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” reads one fortune whilst another advises “It’s over your head now. Time to get some professional help”.

One blogger, who got the “professional help” fortune, wrote: “I shot the audacious baked item a dirty look and proceeded to eat it. And I hope it hurt.”

Bernard Chow, marketing coordinator at Wonton Food, says he had not set out to insult anybody when he asked his team of freelance writers to come up with some new messages.

“We wanted our fortune cookies to be a little bit more value-added,” Mr. Chow said. “We wanted to get some different perspective, to write something that is more contemporary.”

WOW - where can I get some!?

More on The New York Times

Via NotCot

Technorati Tags: fortune cookies, snacks, Wonton Food

I used up a couple of hours playing this online Flash game - I don’t normally spend more than a minute, but this one got me so addicted, I ended up completing the game (see screenshot below).

Sushi Go Round is basically a Flash game in which you’re the Sushi chef and you have to prepare sushi dishes according to your client’s orders.

You need to check the menu to see which ingredients you need for each dish, then click the required ingredients and roll them up to complete the order.

Yo also need to keep a watch on your supplies and “phone up” to place new orders when you run out. Have a go! Just make sure you haven’t left anything cooking in the oven (in real life).

Play Sushi Go Round

Technorati Tags: Flash, Flash game, Sushi Go Round