Ive been listening to Joji for a while now, but this video came across my youtube the other week and I must have watched it at leat 33 times.

Its a video by Colours, they do these paired back videos for all sorts of songs, just on a colour field background with a floor plate. I had never heard of them before, but now I’m a huge fan.

This track is the opener for Ballads 1, the Joji’s latest album, which is a whole lot of chill music. Excellent to listen to while illustrating. When I first put on the vinyl for the album, I totally passed over this song waiting for Yeah Right to come on, but I’m glad this was brought to my attention again.

Thanks Colors.

Listen for more Joji when I tear apart my monthly playlist, MARCHbangers, at the end of the month…

Im a bit slow to the game these days. I have been laying low in the Australian creative sphere after spending almost a decade hosting art exhibitions and publishing books filled to the brim with local talent.

But today, when I had some extra time to go around and see what other Australian creative websites have been up to, I found that 2 of my favourite, longest living design blogs have closed down.

Design is Kinky shut up shop back in 2018, and Australian Infront has just closed in the last month or so.

Admittedly, since living in Japan I haven’t really participated in the local creative sphere (I am working on that again, and thats why you are reading this now), but this is super sad for me. Having worked personally with the founders of both of these sites, its hard to think of a time where I can’t just log in and see whats been happening.

Best of luck to all.

(this reminds me that I might have an archive of WATIM around somewhere… I will see if I can dig it out)

The Pictograms for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been officially released, and they are some of the most dynamic and interesting pictograms of recent times.

Its a nice full circle as the Pictograms to represent different sports were most broadly used first at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

It is generally agreed that Olympic Games pictograms were really first introduced in 1964, in Tokyo. But Osterwalder explains: “Creating symbols which are not letters but graphic illustrations that everyone can understand goes back much further than that. I’ve found small pictograms that were at the Games in Stockholm in 1912, Paris in 1924, and other Games after that; but they did not yet offer that very simple and clear view that we know today. They were complicated illustrations, but not verbal elements, describing sports, art competitions or other things. For example, for the art competitions in Paris in 1924, there was a symbol, an illustration, which may be considered a pictogram.”

MARKUS OSTERWALDER – THE OLYMPIC PICTOGRAMS, A LONG AND FASCINATING STORY

Created by Japanese designer Masaaki Hiromura, the pictograms embody the uniqueness and athleticism of each sport, and highlight the dynamism of athletes.

They were designed in line with Tokyo 2020’s theme, “Innovation from Harmony”, while drawing inspiration from the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964, when pictograms were first introduced at the Olympics.

TOKYO 2020 UNVEILS GAMES PICTOGRAMS

Its cool to see more sports being added to the Olympics that will broaden the events appeal. I know I was stoked when snowboarding was added to the Winter Olympics, and though I haven’t snowboarded in years, I still watch every snowboarding event I can manage (as well as the curling).

The pictograms for Surfing and Skateboarding, two other board sports, are being added to the Olympic Games this year, and it is so rad to see their pictograms amongst some of the most dynamic and exciting in the line up.

Im excited for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It will open up Tokyo and broader Japan to a whole host of tourists from all over the world. When I was living in Japan a couple of years ago, you could already see the changes happening for the Olympics. Stations were getting upgraded, signage was getting English additions, airports and tourist centres were becoming even more tourist friendly. Its going to be great to be able to share my love of Japan with so many more people.

You can see more work from Hiromura at the website www.hiromuradesign.com

I’ve been a huge fan of Mark Hoppus for a long time. blink-182 has been my favourite band for over 20 years now.

There was a time where someone could tell me a single line from a song, and I could name the song, album and year it was released. Knowing all the lyrics by heart saved me many times in my schooling when I needed sources for English essays, and had to pull something out of my ass. Thanks Blink.

So I was stoked to hear some new music from Mark Hoppus, together with Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low (also a big fan). They have an EP coming out in May, so as an early birthday present, I preordered the vinyl…

There are 2 tracks out already floating around the inter webs, but here is the Lyric Video for Strange Love. I’m in (strange) love. Personally I prefer their other song Drug, and it seems like Spotify does too with more then double the plays.

Check them out at www.simplecreaturesmusic.com

10 random images from my stolen images folder with as much context as I can remember… (and I will try to find the source at some stage as well)

I can’t read much of any language other than English, so I relied on the shelf ticket for this item at my local konbini (aka Australian chain of generic asian supermarkets with a Chinese focus), and I was sad when it read “Pikachu Churro”.

Excuse me. Pikachu… Churro… Surely they meant Pikachurro

Anyway, the Pikachurro (as I am calling it) was pretty delicious. It is basically a dried biscuit version of a churro, with a choice-custard cream type filling. Having such a moist and delicious filling was great, as the biscuit churro was super dry.

First Impressions

When I first opened the Pikachurro, I couldn’t help but laugh. It looked like a sad straight poop, with some crumbs falling off from the ends that were surely meant to be nice and squared off when it was originally cut and packaged. But having traveled to the literal ends of the earth (Australia) I’m sure it was rounded off as it was uncerimoniously bounced from port to port.

The aroma was amazing, it smelt like a fresh churro, coated in cinnamon and sugar, with a hint of that choco-custard cream centre wafting through the air.

First Bites

Eating the Pikachurro was an interesting affair. It was crazy dry. If it weren’t for the choco-custard cream filling I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to finish the snack. It weighed next to nothing, and was a very wafery but crunchy biscuit outside. The filling was delicious and flavourful, and the cinnamon sugar dusting on the outside of the biscuit helped my salivary glands power through.

This is how I feel a lot of American candy cereals feel, even though I have only tried Apple Jacks. They smell like they are amazingly flavourful, but when you actually eat it, you are left wanting more. And if you dive straight in and it the cereal pieces out of the box, they are too dry to enjoy thoroughly.

That being said, I did go back for a different variant, the Doraemon Churro. Churraemon??? It was very similar to the Pikachurro, except the filling was a vanilla-custard cream. I came prepared this time with a milkshake, and it was an absolute treat.

Verdict

10/10 would eat again… but with milk at the ready.

All images apart from the illustration via – www.airfrov.com

10 random images from my stolen images folder with as much context as I can remember… (and I will try to find the source at some stage as well)

10 random images from my stolen images folder with as much context as I can remember… (and I will try to find the source at some stage as well)

Its been over a year since I was in an art show. The last show I had was a bit shit from a management point of view, so I took an extended break.

I was still drawing, but just now looking to show it anywhere more then in my Instagram feed.

Finally an opportunity has presented where I get to show an illustration in TOKYO!!

With thanks to Super Meteor, an awesome gallery and shop in the Nakano area of Tokyo, I am now part of their 2019 Famicase Exhibition, where artists make a custom game label for a Famicom Cartridge. I can’t show the finished artwork yet, but its an extension of a drawing I did while living in Osaka in 2017.

I can’t show my artwork until the show launches at the end of April, but here is a bit of a teaser for you…

I have been planning a show like this for a few years, having collected a bunch of fun coloured carts to use myself, but when I was living in Japan I came across the Famicase show. It was awesome. I believe there was over 150 artists contributing to the show I saw, with a wall filled with Famicom cartridges.

I will still do a famicart (thats what I’m calling it) show at some stage, so keen an eye out for the info sometime this year…

For now though, if you are in Tokyo at the end of April, head along to Super Meteor and have a look at this amazing exhibition.

There is also a comprehensive archive of previous exhibitions on their website – www.famicase.com