Denver Nuggets VS Boston Celtics

My first NBA game: embracing the culture, visiting a big sport event, enjoying crafted beer and popcorn, cheering for the home team, observing the fans, celebrating victory.

Oh, the Places You'll Go

Burning Man, one day I'll be there.

Lucky Panda – Refined drinking in Tokyo

Tokyo is a paradise of many sorts – retail, fashion, cuteness and craziness – beside all this fabulousness it also excels in presenting a very cultivated drinking cultures in thousands of bars, probably the best ones in the whole world. But these bars are small, hosting only up to 6 or 8 people at a time. A cozy atmosphere that transforms strangers into friends easily. The good places are hard to find, don't go looking for them on a main street, unless there's one located on the 37th floor between two buildings. The darker the alley the better the bar.

The beauty about japanese bars is their sense of refinement, every single glass is carefully chosen and ice cubes are individually carved by hand into flawless round balls. There's even no need for conversations as your jaw usually is busy dropping every few minutes at yet another fine detail in a japanese drinking establishment.

My dearest bar in Tokyo is the Lucky Panda. It's hidden in a backstreet that served me for cutting my walk to work short and I passed this gem of a place countless times before I dared to enter. A lucky encounter indeed and on my first visit it felt more home than home. The man running this place is fully devoted to the cause of fine drinking. Besides caribbean women, this bar is his sole passion. Prices for drinks remain a mystery and the owner rather estimates each visit freely, probably taking into account how much fun the patrons had. A few hours in the Lucky Panda will open every pair of eyes to the beauty of Japans drinking culture. On a visit to Tokyo my multitalented friend Nico Nuzzaci agreed and took the fantastic shots below. "Sumimasen, Hibiki on the rocks please."
 

Creativity in Japan

Two years ago I didn't know a thing about creativity in Japan. Asian advertising was something I'd watch on YouTube to be left wondering what randomness I just witnessed. This all changed on a Sunday afternoon in Stockholm when I stumbled across an online lecture from Naoki Ito in November 2009.

At that time I was studying at Hyper Island and considered myself up to date with all things interactive online. Yet I realized that I never saw the work from this video before and it struck me that there's much more to Japan than I thought. This lecture planted a seed in my head to explore Japan to get a perspective of creative advertising beyond the western part of the world. Months later Naoki Ito became the Executive Creative Director of Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo and I was lucky enough to be invited to their Tokyo office for an internship with my creative partner. During this internship and the following employment I had the chance to work daily with Naoki and learned a great deal from him. Communication wasn't always easy but he helped shaping a perspective on what makes Japanese creativity different from the rest of the world:

While Japans culture has a big desire for the always new and quirky their art in all forms is very conceptual and has many layers of meaning. Their everyday is cluttered with commercial messages and it's the toughest place on earth to stand out. That's why communication has to be as different as possible from usual advertising and at the same time it has to be meaningful and be able to become part of culture and influence it. This makes Japan a country where the bar for great creative work is higher than anywhere else.

I imagine that's one of the reasons why five of the most talented Japanese creatives joined forces to start up PARTY, a creative lab. The lineup: Naoki Ito, Morihiro Harano, Qanta Shimizu, Hiroki Nakamura and Masashi Kawamura. In just a few months they created work like the Toyota Backseat Driver and two music videos for androp: Bright Siren and Bell. It's an impressive indication for the things to come and I believe their approach to technology, collaboration and storytelling will lead to a new breed of creative work that will show the world the true potential of Japanese creativity.

Tokyo Rising

Pharrell stars in this urban documentary film which is part of Palladium’s exploration series. He takes a trip to Tokyo to see how people deal with the recent earthquake & nuclear disaster. In particular he looks into the thriving music, art and fashion scene of one the most influential cities in the world. It's undeniable how much pain the 3-11 disaster brought upon Japan but this film also shows the new-won spirit of the japanese that will help them overcome the event and learn from it. The pictures are breathtaking and if you've ever been to Tokyo this will give you itchy feet to return there. A friend once said that living in Tokyo is like living in Bladerunner, but it's cleaner and the people are nice.

You can find the trailer below and see the five part full length documentary on the Palladium website.

 

Wal & Banksy in Bristol

On Saturday the national train took me to Bristol so I could have a look at the new Banksy exhibition (watch this video). It was one of the best museum visits I've been to. After queueing for almost two hours we saw the entrance area, fully taken over by Banksy. Inside there was another queue to see the 'Banksy Room' with lots of his stuff and tools. The next room was full of cages with the best animated sculptures I've seen. But that's only where the fun began, the rest of the museum looked normal but if you'd be very observant you could discover the details he changed, sometimes more prominent, sometime less – like a dildo in between different stones and minerals. Because of those hidden goodies you would doubt many things in the old museum. Is this real? Is this Banksy? Very very amusing. Go have a look if you don't mind a ride to Bristol. A train journey makes for a nice place to think about ideas.

I'm writing this from Stockholm. I arrived in my Hotel a bit ago and will go to sleep now, as the Hyper Island fun will start tomorrow rather early. I'm excited. Don't know what to expect.

Festival of Lights

Today is Diwali, a Hindu festive holiday. I know very little of this culture and noticed posters on the tube talking about Diwali. So this morning I received a message from a friend, congratulating me with the new year. I asked him to shed light over this occasion. his email

«Time for a brief Religious Studies lesson:

One of our gods was exiled from his kingdom for 14 years. Nearing the end of his exile he defeated a bad guy, freed a nation, which is now Sri Lanka and rescused his wife. On his return home to show him the way, people from his kingdom lined the path with 'Divas' indian candles. This was to light his path home. And his return was today, so we call it Divali. Its the most religious day of the year for us. So on these days Hindus all over the world light divas in their homes, give gifts, charity, visit loved ones, light fireworks and pretty much party hard in celebration of good over evil, light over dark. It's very special.

Tomorrow is new year for us. So we visit the mandir (temple) and all our elders and ask for their blessings for the coming year.

I want to go to India one day to experience this. I bet its amazing. There's more but that's for a proper conversation.»

They are celebrating Light and good over evil, a wonderful and spiritual thought missing in the western culture. Thanks Jai, I'm looking forward to this conversation.

Black Cat White Cat

What a wonderful day for no reason. Maybe it's Thursday approaching me unexpectedly with the feeling of the weekend in a hidden pocket. The delicious cappuccino coffee I usually miss out on in the morning? More likely the music I listened to during the battle of commute. I will share some of that on a distant day.

I have never written about a movie, I never intended to – there are enough movie review resources on the net. Yet there is Emir Kusturica, a director of sheer brilliance who made my single favorite movie picture – Black Cat White Cat. There is nothing else playing in a rectangular shape that can lift my mood into such joyous heights.

Every scene is packed with vitality and music, a purely beautiful combination that is, for me, Kusturica's trademark. The characters are escorted by a gypsy orchestra during all possible situations – old school portable music I say. A spectacle of absurd but amusing characters that has to be experienced with a Hollywoodless open mind. There was never a movie I thought about countless times and dreamt of watching it again and again. See for yourself, to get yourself in the right mood listen to Bubamara, the musical theme of this masterpiece that offers unequaled opportunities. You won't forget this melody after watching Black Cat White Cat.

I do not want to link to a trailer, as I don't like these short summaries of film in general, mostly they are unworthy – especially of this movie. I would not doubt that after this on screen performance you feel the urge to go o a journey and explore more of Kusturica's work, as there is way more to discover about this artist.

'This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'.

Zoom Festival & Billy

While chillin' in Hamburg I was lucky to enjoy the Zoom St. Petersburg Festival. The finest contemporary music from Russia. My favourite concert was the one from Billy's Band. Three intelligent underdogs from St.Petersburg able to excite with the finest Ghettojazz, the most drunk street chanson and the most danceable Accordion solo's of all times. Comparable to the Tiger Lillies and sometimes a Russian version of Tom Waits. They call their music 'Funeral Dixiland With Endless Happyend'. Worth tuning into their myspace page on www.myspace.com/billysbigband

My favourite song is Оторвемся по-питерски.



The festival was accompanied with film showings of the new Russian cinema. Unlike every Hollywood film, Russian movies have almost always have a UN–happy end. Inspiring. Some impressions from the concert. The band was followed by an Art Trio from Petersburg, cunning!