So, this whole site is really paying off as I remembered to buy tickets to the showing of The Great Yokai War at the NYAFF. The movie was truly a treat… a trippy treat, but a real treat nonetheless. I hope I can remember the amazing visuals, the perfect timing of the humor, the odd sexual tension involved in young boys rubbing the inside of a woman’s wet upper thigh (again and again), the kickass sword fighting at the end, the bizarre premise of the whole “war”, and the totally bizarre asuka bean song that saved the day.

It’s funny how there are things you both want to remember to do and things you don’t want to forget having done. Last week Thursday I was lucky enough to catch The Pillows perform at the Knitting Factory and they were awesome. They had such an enormous amount of energy and just kept rocking throughout their entire set. (Although I did miss the first 30 minutes because I swore no band would actually start playing at exactly 7PM, I should remember to be on time to shows from now on.)

Anyway, they tore through some new songs off their My Foot album with such joyful grundgyness that I found myself wishing I had owned it already (and spoke Japanese) so I could sing along. Then when it seemed like they were going to leave the stage without playing what everyone had come to hear, they broke into the opening song from FLCL and the anime fanboys and rockers alike shoock the place with their cheers. Their set-ending performance of Hybrid Rainbow managed to get everyone signing along as best they could even with the language barrier.

Luckily the fans managed to get them out for two more encores of their FLCL tracks before being quickly booted out to make room for the next act. It’s really too bad more English speaking people don’t listen to music who’s lyrics are in another language. It takes a Buena Vista Social club like event to change that and it’s really just a shame.

Remember how The Pillows rocked playing Little Busters and Ride on Shooting Star! (Video from 2005)

Update: There’s a great edited video of the concert on YouTube now! What an awesome show!

It’s all very hazy because I’ve waited a while to post this, but the very next day after I came across those crazy balloon figure photos online, I walked into the Diesel Denim Gallery in Soho only to be greated by the oddly anemone-like balloon constructions captured in the photo above.

At the time, I was so amazed not only by the art, but also the coincidence, that I was determined to remember the artist’s name so I could look him up online. Unfortunately, I waited too long and forgot. I’ll give some googling detective work a try to see if I can come up with anything.

I shouldn’t forget to post things sooner…

Update: Luckily, my woman has a better memory than me and managed to point me towards CoolHuntings coverage of the installation “interpreting Hokusai’s famed erotic print called ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’” by New York artist Jason Hackenwerth.

Due to my forgetfullness, I’ve already managed to miss a few movies in this years New York Asian Film Festival. One that showed on the 17th was Takashi Miike’s take on a kid’s movie: The Great Yokai War. Now if you know anything about Takashi Miike, you know that his movies never, ever, can be summed up by their gengre. The description from the NYAFF site gives you an idea:

Takashi Miike has made dating movies about torture, shown a man slicing out his own tongue, covered his cast in showers of breast milk, and treated chihuahuas very, very badly. The last thing anyone expected from him was a kids’ movie, but with THE GREAT YOKAI WAR he gives us a LORD OF THE RINGS-sized epic kiddie flick that blows the competition out of the water and returns him to the front ranks of Japanese directors.

Anyway, there’s still one more show this Sunday. I hope I don’t forget to buy tickets or revisit some of his older movies like Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris (seen at the NYAFF a few years ago), Gozu, Izo and The Audition (which I own on DVD as the Unrated Special Edition, but can’t bring myself to endure again).

I can’t remember (surprise) exactly how it came up, but yesterday while waiting for a meeting with some other people, I found myself saying: “Hey, remember that cartoon in the 80’s where that kid could transform into a red corvette?” Of course, someone starting singing “Little Red Corvette” while another person said: “You mean Transformers?” Surprisingly, though, someone else blurted out “Oh yeah! Turbo Teen!” Yeah, Turbo Teen!

It started to come back to me. So, this morning I did a quick Googling only to find that a lot of people with better memories than me were still talking about this rediculous 80′ cartoon that only ran for one year. I distinctly remember that my older brother hated it and would do his best to get me to change the channel, but really there was nothing else on… just Turbo Teen.

The premise goes like this:

Brett Matthews was just an ordinary teenager with a hot sports car until one stormy night, an accident caused him to crash into a laboratory where scientists were testing a fusion ray. Brett and his car were hit by a beam and as a result, the two merged into one. Though Brett still appeared normal, whenever he was exposed to heat, he would change into car form as he has now become the revved-up Turbo Teen.

Don’t forget the opening to Turbo Teen.

Being that this site is all about memory (or the lack there of) and that I do interactive work for a living, I was bound to come across something from the design world not only directly tied to memory, but also something I wanted to remember… if that makes any sense.

All that convoluted mess aside, Getty Images “collaborated with five leading designers to create 10 ways: interactive experiences that explore what makes visual language so powerful.”

Some of the pieces are interesting (some maybe not so much) but obviously the one that caught my eye was Memory. Created by the Barbarian Group, it initially displays an image inviting the user to draw on top of it. While drawing, the image fades away. I really can’t decide whether I enjoy the concept or not, but the execution is engaging and thought provoking.

Don’t forget Memory or the other 10 Ways explorations.

One thing I really wish I had more of is time. I would love more time to drink rum, create that product that’s been bouncing around my brain, draw, paint, write, work out, soak in the Summer sun, etc… But it never seems like there’s enough time for everything. So, I’ve got to pick and choose, sometimes skipping over things in favor of others.

With that in mind, how does something like balloon sculptures become so central to a person’s life they can create motorcycles, toilets and suits of armor out of mere air-filled latex? It boggles my mind, but perhaps later on I’ll need some amazingly sculpted, fully-functional roller coaster constructed entirely of balloons… so I better try to remember that there are people out there capable of such feats.

Don’t forget the complete balloon sculpture gallery.

After being reminded by the trailer for this movie, I can distinctly remember (despite my bad memory) the announcement and hubbub surrounding the launch of the electric car in California around ten years ago. Of course, at the time, I was completely off the map, lost somewhere is North Carolina… but somehow, I can remember it.

This upcoming movie delves into the short and tragic life of the electric car project from GM calling its dismantling “one of the biggest blunders in the history of the automotive industry.” Judging by how cool the car looks in the trailer, I can see why.

If you’re not up on the subject, check out this article at the Washington Post discussing the sad fate of the National Museum of American History’s “rare surviving example of that car.”

Don’t forget the official site for the movie (which basically just has a low quality trailer up).

Although I’m not really into the whole art toys/mini-figures thing popularized in New York mainly by the Kidrobot store in Soho, I can’t help but be awed by the coolness of this Cardboy Sneakers character created by Mark James. I can’t really put my finger on what makes him so awesome (is it his shoe box for a head, his boxy construction, his gold chains, or that weird look in his eyes?) but if I ever do decide to start covering my desk in miniature coolness, this guy would definitely make the cut.

Don’t forget  to visit STRANGEco.

Via Urban Socialite

Although this pouch was designed by Sony to be used as a holder for their almost useless PSP, I imagine it could make for a great woman’s clutch. It’s pattern is from the highly anticipated LocoRoco game for the PSP (I might have to try this one out) which launches July 13th in Japan, however there is a downloadable demo available now if you’d like to check it out.

Don’t forget  to buy one here.

via Kotaku