Oh fer Christ's sake, LJ! UGH!
Thanks for not saving my witty & wordy analysis of VIZ Media's rebranded Jpop Center, newly reborn as NEW PEOPLE.
It's too late now to retype (ok, so I'm lazy!) but long story short - Viz changed up game plans and basically decided that they wanted the following for their new retail venture in SF's Japantown:
LESS OF THIS (not that it doesn't make the OKANE $$$)
AND MORE OF THIS INSTEAD:
I don't blame Viz one bit - you can only sell so much Naruto and Bleach figures, right? ;)
And check it - if you've ever been to Tokyo, you'll recognize the format of the new multi-use retail space on Post Street.
(BTW, for old Jtown peeps, it used to be the Hokubei Mainichi building.) 
It's styled like a mini version of Parco or LaForet, malls with branches in Shibuya or Harajuku respectively. NP's floor plan includes an art gallery, mini movie theatre, depaato type food service, a gift shop full of kawaii and zakka. And smack dab in the middle, name brand Japanese street fashion boutiques right out off the pages of magazines like Cutie, Kera, or the Gothic Lolita Bible (linked/pictured above).
Come opening day on 8/15/09, if you've ever wanted to wanted to dress like the main character of Kamikaze Girls, replete in her all time favorite fashion of "Baby The Stars Shine Bright", you can walk into New People and try the shit on. Of course, you've gotta be in the SF Bay Area, though. And LJ friends, I think there are some of you who should check out the Store manager position they're still hiring for as well!
SOUSOU, one of my favorite shoe brands will be selling their tabi sneakers at NP too. Dammit.
My days as the lone Ninja Turtle in SF are numbered...
For more reading about Jtown's new addition, go here, here, and here.
But the real topic of interest, not even scratching the surface here, what does this mean for the Jtown community as a whole? Bueller? Anyone?
- Coming soon to San Francisco: Mall Culture - Nippon style.
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
pekochan- June 21st, 16:34
- Less Talk, more Rock.
-
- pekochan
- May 17th, 0:44
Honestly, I want a new job just so I can afford this:
Limited Edition EVA watch by SEIKO!
And this:
Yes, it's a 2 foot tall "Yoko" Dollfie Dream doll from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
She has THE RIFLE and everything!
As per head gaijin otaku Patrick Macias, I am crying the "Hot Tears of Shame" right about...now.
- listening to "First Breath After Coma - Explosions In The Sky" on Blip
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- pekochan
- May 12th, 21:21
This just feels apropos after the last blip...that and I have Friday Night Lights on the brain. If you're not watching FNL, well, you know. WATCH IT!
- listening to "Camera-shy - The Lucksmiths" on Blip
-
- pekochan
- May 12th, 21:04
RIP Lucksmiths, Long Live the Lucksmiths!
- Let's keep it classy, people...not ass-y.
-
- pekochan
- July 24th, 2008
Ok, I get it - thank you nerds for posting up pics from San Diego Comic-Con's Preview Night on Flickr already but enough of the pics of the Castle Greyskull booth, Clone Wars statues, and the lego Indiana Joneses, ok? Unless there are the male equivalent of booth bunnies cosplaying He-Man or Indy at said booth or the real Ewan McGregor buying a replica lightsaber in the pic, I don't need to see it ten times over. From here out, please only post pics of Daniel Craig if he shows up to sell the new Bond flick or yaoi style pics of non-costumed con-going dudes (or tomboys) that are unconventionally handsome with good hygiene. That and a pic of Doogie Howser and Captain Mal hugging each other all snuggly like.
I don't ask for too much, do I?
Yours,
Jing
PS. None of that insane "SNJ" Naruto cosplay B.S. too, ok?
It gives me the creeps - Just say no to Sexy No Jutsu!
- Otaku blasphemy
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- pekochan
- July 22nd, 2008
Fish girl with human face
equals
Fish girl with human face, ne?
Just saying...I likes the fishes anyway, being a Pisces and all.
New job has me staying put this week so no nerd prom for me again this year. However, it appears I will have the Imax theater all to myself when I go see The Dark Knight again this coming weekend - anyone having to do with comics in the Bay Area will be in San Diego. Or at least everyone I know is...
By the way, Maaku will be at the Gargamel booth again this year. Everyone going to the con should say hi to him and remind him he needs to buy me pressies cause I am stuck at work. I don't need more stuff but comics are always good to have and maybe a picture with Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer (Tightpants).
Is it sad that my two favorite movies so far this year were Iron Man and DK?
- Because I don't embarass myself enough on here
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- pekochan
- April 23rd, 2008
Click here to get your own player.
We have a podcast - it's new and we're new to this nonsense.
It's rough around the edges but we're getting there, via trial and error.
We actually made it to the second episode and it's up today.
Feel free to request songs or yell at Thien, Scout and the dudes. I do.
- Lady Licca appears to be the Lay's Chips of vintage fashion dolls
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- pekochan
- April 21st, 2008
This past week, I have been watching a handful of Takara Lady Licca dolls pop up on Yahoo! Japan and all were snagged by one bidder. I'm not stalking the winner or anything but can you imagine what kind of collection they must have if they just snap up 4 of these dolls in one sitting? If my math is correct, by the current conversion rates, this person threw down USD$1103.94 for these dolls! And that's before individual bank fees to transfer payment AND shipping! BALLER, ne??
I know it doesn't compare to a lot of Vintage Kaiju / Monster pieces or hell, even Super Dollfie / BJD prices but a Grand (and a half, practically) in about a week's time still blows my mind...
http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e75853262
Closing bid: 50,000 yen =USD$484.82
http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e79898195
Closing bid: 26,100 yen =USD$253.09
http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h56445332
Closing bid: 19,750 yen =USD$191.33
http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k57072311
Closing bid: 18,000 yen =USD$174.70
So yeah, I really need to sell some comic/movie scripts now, don't I? *sigh*
- What I think about during my last 2 weeks at work...
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- pekochan
- April 21st, 2008
[11:59] pekochan: btw, my other favorite gay besides you
[11:59] pekochan: http://jezebel.com/378434/five-quirky-quips-from-wonderfully-wacky-simon-doonan
[12:02]![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
losdelroro: nice
[12:02] losdelroro: i wanna be friends with Donatella!
[12:03] pekochan: i imagine her being like an abusive boyfriend
[12:03] pekochan: she'll berate you
[12:03] pekochan: and then buy you fabulous things
[12:03] pekochan: i also imagine she smells like a Wilson's Leather Store[12:04] losdelroro: i love her already
- the interwebs = hellmouth, brought to you by Oscar
-
- pekochan
- April 10th, 2008
(pic from http://englishrussia.com/?p=1830 )
[16:18] oz: btw, if I could find this person and punch the shit out of them, I would:
http://www.soundflavor.com/track.php?trackId=1238162
[16:19] pekochan: what the fuck
[16:19] pekochan: it sounds like a shitty weakerthans and john mayer hybrid
[16:19] pekochan: why do you hate me?
[16:19] pekochan: you always send me these terrible links
[16:26] oz: Because I heard them and need to show others
[16:27] pekochan: you're like the evil spirit in The Ring
[16:28] oz: yes.
[16:28] oz: exactly like that.
- "All I want for Christmas is a MOGURUDON under the tree."
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- pekochan
- December 20th, 2007
IM conversation this afternoon:
[12:14] maaku: I want that!
[12:16] me: what the hell is that???
[12:18] maaku: It's a monster from Ultraman Cosmos. he's so cute.
[12:20] maaku: It has a cute face on his belly.
[12:21] me: weird
[12:22] maaku: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2YrmkDNZKQ
[12:22] maaku: So cute!
[12:22] maaku: Been trying to find this guy's name forever!
[12:23] maaku: The face on his belly looks like a Gary Baseman character!
[12:23] me: it looks more like Woodring's art
[12:23] me: i was about to say
[12:24] maaku: He's like a mole crossed with a tuna with some latin art on his belly.
[12:24] maaku: I love it!
- Duty Free Fashion!
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- pekochan
- December 4th, 2007
Maaku's got called to show up for Jury Duty selection this morning.
Not so much a big deal since his workplace actually pays him in full for the days out but we remembered that our friend Danni got called down for Jury Duty once, too. She came to the courthouse, dressed in all her usual Oakland Raiders gear and was told they didn't need her - no questions or anything, just right off the bat! I guess the Judicial system has got a thing against the nation of Silver and Black.
Not that I was trying to get Maaku to be in contempt of court or anything but because of that story, I was trying to get him to wear one of his kooky t-shirts he's so fond of. I was holding out for Le Merde's Hujili's Ghost T-shirt.
It's HOT PINK, y'all! A lot of folks kind of laugh when they see it. I guess cause it's makes them think of Heshers in a way, or maybe that's just me? Mullets always make me laugh. You can actually see Maaku wearing this shirt on La Merde's site. Oddly enough, he's also both in the Grass Hut ad in GIant Robot Magazine #50 and the current print issue of Kaizine, rocking this with the Gargamel crew, too.
Maaku wasn't thinking pink today though, so he went with his Gargamel Zagoran monster shirt and his bright red RFSO (REAL FAN SHIT ONLY) hoodie. Can you say COP OUT? (I kid, I kid cause I love!)
OH? And yes, Zagoran is a one eyed monster but NOT THAT KIND OF MONSTER.
Get your mind out of the gutter!
UPDATE - 5:27pm - Maaku wasn't chosen for Jury Duty - I WONDER WHY?
- The Descent
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- pekochan
- November 5th, 2007
A few thoughts before I take off from the office:
I spent 15 minutes this morning staring at my alarm clock and then at the pile of clean clothes on the foot of my bed. I kept getting up, sifting through the pile of shirts but then deciding to go through my dresser one more time, JUST IN CASE. It's not like there were that many choices. I just felt paralyzed, though...I ended up choosing this navy blue thing that I wore yesterday. As soon as I grabbed it, it felt like I broke the spell. Yesterday's top was technically "still clean" and no one at work would be any wiser. Maybe I'm the only that keeps track of what everyone wears?
On the bus to work, I found a yucky seat (one of the MUNI seats that face you directly in front of the person across from you), closed my eyes and kept willing myself to, this time, really wake up. Right before I physically got up this morning, I dreamed of my coworker "Canadian Boyfriend." In my dream, he climbed in through my childhood home's bathroom skylight. I looked up at him, shielding my eyes from the morning sun. He was reciting Shakespeare, I think. And then I cried. I realized he was coming back from wooing the neighbor's daughters.
I saw Canadian Boyfriend this morning and told him about the dream, sans the me crying part. He looked like he just woke up too.
- DYING...from laughter! Or perhaps by accidental Bleach consumption?
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- pekochan
- September 27th, 2007
I can't be bothered to watch this show (exposure longer than a YouTube clip makes my womb curdle) but this play by play commentary, about the first two episodes of CBS' "Kid Nation", has all my coworkers and I cackling hysterically in our cubicles:
Episode 1 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-delahaye/liveblogging-kid-nation_b_65183.h tml
My favorite observation from Episode One:
8:10: There are no beds in this city, finally teaching kids what it is like to be in charge? They find a cookbook inside of an old wrought-iron stove and what does the Indian kid suggest they make? Rock candy. I predict scurvy and dysentery within three days. Oregon Trail!
Episode 2 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-delahaye/live-blogging-kid-nat_b_66141.htm l
My favorite observation about Episode Two:
8:16: Jared (11 years old - from Georgia), holds a dead chicken by its feet and says: "We sped up the natural cycle of life and death." Earlier he said something about Shakespeare and last week he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in reference to breakfast. Jared is quickly becoming one of my favorite kids on the show. He is seriously an alien sent from outer-space who was taught to mimic humans by watching old episodes of Family Matters, and memorizing a copy of Bartlett's Quotations that one of his fellow aliens just kind of made up.
For you wiki'ers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Nation
(Special note on the eff'd up tv contract for the kids: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0823071kidnation1.html)
- Kawaii Jenny VS. Nazi teddy bears! DOLLRAMA! (doll drama)
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- pekochan
- September 18th, 2007
I had heard about this show some months back through Patrick Macias's own blog but forgot to mention it until someone brought up the YouTube clip again - KAWAII JENNY!!It's a freakish (and somewhat funny) amalgamation of Robot Chicken, Thunderbirds, and sentai shows like Power Rangers. The show's main heroines and villianess are played out by Takara-Tomy's "JENNY" dolls (the actual Japanese market version of Barbie, until Mattel pulled the license in the late 80s).
Official site is here: http://www.toho-a-park.com/character/jenny/ Consider yourself warned....
- What have I done?? I've created a monster!
-
- pekochan
- September 14th, 2007
It's the notorious radioactive riceball, Oni-Mon!
He seethes with his glow-in-the-dark rage!
Oni-mon and his little army are currently part of the "Toy Karma" show, curated by Mark Nagata.
If you're so inclined, you can check them out at Rotofugi in Chicago, IL.
I sculpted these guys from phospherent polymer clay, with a little help from Maaku.
If the Toy Karma book happens this winter, I might get a small page in it with Oni-mon. ;)
(Pics courtesy of Rotofugi's webstore. Arrigatou!)
- BRING. IT. ON.
-
- pekochan
- September 9th, 2007
It's almost a tradition now.
For Lark's birthday last year, I made her one of her favorite cartoon characters, Cheburashka, out of Sculpey. I presented him on a little chocolate souffle, that matched his own coloring.
Lark's been getting into the anime "Naruto" as well and is quite fond of one of the characters, "the beautiful Green Beast of Konoha," Rock Lee. He is one of the funnier ninjas on the show, in his green jumpsuit and trademark bowl cut. So this year, Mark and I had stayed in on Friday night and made a poseable felt doll of him from scratch. Mark was assigned with pattern making and cutting out the pieces, while I assembled, sewed, and made things like little felt strips for Rock's bandages. We started out pretty late in the evening, around 10pm and only found ourselves halfway finished at 3AM!
To make Rock all flexible, I had to make him a teeny wire skeleton. I didn't have anything lighter on hand, so I ended up using some heavy gauge covered flower wire, a pain in the ass to manipulate into smaller configurations. I also just got a manicure earlier in the day, so I was being a bit too careful with working with my hands. Yes, I am prissy sometimes! Anyhow, I finished the doll on Saturday afternoon, while I was in the office, covering for a co-worker on vacation. Rock's mouth and rosy cheeks are filled in with colored pencil, a technique I read about in a japanese doll mook (magazine/book) about vintage pose dolls.
All in all, I think Rock turned out pretty ok for our first time out making a doll like this - maybe we'll try making Kakashi next but with flexible fingers to form hand seals!
Did I just say that last bit OUT LOUD??? Jeebus.
- "I want to tell you it'll be better, but that's just me talking."
-
- pekochan
- September 4th, 2007
Tired but not tired enough to fall asleep. EH.
I'm making a list of random things till my vision gets all bleary...
in and around my nightstand:
-Gamachan coin purse from Naoya, younger brother of Kiyoka (Gargamel toys)
-rolled up Paul Pope prints from SD Comic Con
-rolled up Jay Ryan print, Cicada 17 for Maaku
-Licca doll in Momolita
-small watercolor by Catia Chen
- earrings, glasses, drugs, lotion, pins
-Japanese craft books, a copy of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The illustrated "Jane Eyre" by Dame Darcy
-Ikea, CB2, West Elm catalogs
-Artbin, Moleskine sketchbooks
-Jeffrey Fulmavari tenugui
Around Maaku's desk:
burned dvds of
-Shippuden
-Seirei no Moribito
-Tekkonkinkreet
- an inconvenient truth (borrowed)
- Grandma's Boy (recently purchased, impulse buy from Target checkout line)
-Matsumoto Taiyou's PING PONG, mini figures from Sony's old Time Capsule line
-wind-up Parappa the Rapper
-glow in the dark mini toys from Gargamel
-mini prints from Bwana
-Carson Ellis print in frame, needs mat
-Charlie Harper print in mat, needs frame
-"A Step by Step Book About Dwarf Hamsters"
-CDR of images from Comic-Con, Maaku wrestling with the Garg guys, and Tim Biskup's house (?)
CDs I actually bought
-The Cribs - Men's Needs,Women's Needs, Whatever
-The Frames - The Cost
-Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Living with the Living
still in mailing tube, Darjeeling Limited movie poster
early reviews seem pretty negative.
by the tv, games on current play rotation:
-Rimococoran AKA "Remote Control Colony" / PS2 Japan
-Mario Strikers Charged / Nintendo Wii
-Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2 / PS2 Japan
-Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 押忍！闘え！応援団 / Nintendo DS
Resting on top of the TV:
-RealXHead Maneki Neko, red colorway
-Little Tykes pink piggy bank AKA Pancho Villa, used only for State and 1976 Drummer Boy Quarters
-Fisher Price Bossy Bell pull toy
NOTE TO SELF: Clean your gotdang room!
- The Surreal Life
-
- pekochan
- June 21st, 2007
Walking down 3rd Street, on my way to work, I spot a dude coming out of the Peet's Coffee on the corner of Mission. He's got shades on, so my eyes focus in on his familiar mouth and cheek bones. He's walking towards me with a slow deliberate gait, a skate deck in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
As we start to pass each other, I nod and decide to greet him. As my mouth begins to form the words, I realize that my voice might be a little too cheery and loud for that hour of the morning. I regret speaking for a second when I realize that he might be hungover in some way but it's too late now.
"What up, Dave!" I say a little excitedly.
He stands up straight for a moment, a little taken aback for the recognition but shoots back a greeting in return.
He drawls out a "Yo, What's up, girl?" and raises his paper cup to me.
I smile and nod again, trying not to trip on my own feet as we walk past each other. I feel him turn the street corner behind me.
And I just keep walking. Staring straight ahead towards my office, desperately fighting the urge to turn around and yell something stupid like
"Oh shit, it's Wayne Brady!"
