6 posts tagged “purikura”

Shojo Beat celebrated their 2nd anniversary tonight with a swanky party at the Asian Art Museum. An invite-only shindig, I managed to win a spot by entering a contest on their site and brought the best bud along. The event coincided with a special exhibit of Osamu Tezuka's work in shaping manga to what it is today, so not only did I get to eat smoked salmon, roast beef and cream puffs (among other really tasty treats), but I also got a little bit of culture in too!

Novala Takemoto, Japanese author (Kamikaze Girls, among others) fashion designer (lolita brand Baby The Stars Shine Bright), model (Gothic & Lolita Bible) and Vivienne Westwood aficionado was the special guest of the night and brought the bling like it was going out of style! I think it's almost safe to say that he was decked out head-to-toe in Vivienne Westwood clothing, shoes and accessories.

He posed for pictures with anyone that asked and effectively used his rocking horse shoes to propel him upwards to try to get taller or the same height as the folks he was posing with. At one point he was en pointe ballerina-style. Too cute. I got a picture with him too, but that's on the best bud's camera so you'll have to wait for even more picture spam from me later!

Of course, any time you bring a guest from Japan affiliated with lolita fashion, the lolitas have to represent in full force. And represent they did!

I shouldn't have been surprised to see so many Baby'd out girls considering the guest, but it was cool to see such a devoted following for the fashion there. A few of them even flew in from out of state just for this event! Color coordinated, hair all "did" with headgear aplenty they offered a unique element of contrast to the museum setting.

I admit that I'm not familiar with Tezuka's work outside of the controversy surrounding The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion, but reading through parts of the exhibit I am much more inclined to seek out his work. Although I'm not a huge fan of his style, a lot of the themes he presented in his stories blew me away. Hopefully I'll get the chance to dig into some of his translated works soon.

Overall, the party was excellent with it's food, music, eye candy both from the attendees and the surroundings, schwag and raffle prizes. If this party was any indication of how Viz runs, I imagine that it must be a pretty awesome company to work for.

I originally won a learn Japanese book and CD compilation of indie bands from YesJapan/JapanFiles but ended up trading it with one of AJ & Judy's friends for a mini Lovely Complex totebag. I'm a dork, yes, but you guys don't realize how many learn Japanese books I already own. Besides, LoveCom may be the only series that will get me to cosplay in a short pleated skirt. Scary. In the giveaway bags we got at the end of the night we got everything from a Shojo Beat t-shirt, Ouran comb + mirror, random yaoi publisher keychain to a Vampire Knight pencil case. Sure, it's all stuff you could get for free if you bought Japanese manga magazines, but it was neat to have it all together in this pink Shojo Beat bag. What I'll do with all that stuff... well, I'll figure that out later. (Anyone want a white Gaia plush cat thing?)

And while we're at it, some purikura from tonight. Here you can see me and the best bud's latest acquisitions. (Yeah, we brought them to the party to floss it in front of people who'd recognize it, can you blame us? The flossy, flossy!)

I caught the SF Film Festival's showing of Paprika last night. From Apple's synopsis:

29 year old Dr. Atsuko Chiba is an attractive but modest Japanese research psychotherapist whose work is on the cutting edge of her field. Her alter-ego is a stunning and fearless 18 year old “dream detective,” code named PAPRIKA, who can enter into people’s dreams and synchronize with their unconscious to help uncover the source of their anxiety or neurosis.

Don't let the trailer fool you, this anime has some disturbing imagery (especially if you're one of those folks that gets creeped out by dolls and/or clowns), but the story and the art is pretty awesome. It's one of those movies where you'll be constantly questioning yourself on what's reality within the story, so pay attention (and don't fall asleep like my friend did, the punk). Unlike Miyazaki's stuff that got widespread theatrical releases, Paprika is definitely an adults' movie and definitely not something for everyone. I laughed out loud, mentally went "What the...?!" a lot and loved all the eye candy, so I hope it gets a good reception when it's released to a bigger audience.

We took this before heading to the theater and I always introduce James to my friends as my Senior Prom Date (hence the second picture). I can usually count on him to accompany me to stuff that he's totally unfamiliar with (like trippy anime movies about dreams) while still keeping a good sense of humor about it. He's also the punk that fell asleep during the movie. Good thing I whacked him before he started snoring in the theater.

Never fails. When in Japantown, take purikura!

It tooks us a while to get used to the machine at the relatively new photo store in Japantown (hence the not-prepared face I have in the far right one). Sucker was $7! Good lawd!

I love purikura, those photo booths that you usually see in Asian stores in the US (and all over the damn place in Japan) that produce sticker pictures. When they first hit the US back in the late 90s I remember piling a bunch of my friends into a booth. The result was a set of tiny photos with even tinier pictures of our heads trying to fit into the frame. When I was in Tokyo a few years back, my friend and I took at least one set every day we were there.

Purikura is way more intense nowadays, whereas before you could maybe pick a border and color (black and white, sepia, etc.) now most of the booths come with light pens to decorate and add all sorts of ridiculous nonsense. Granted, most of the booths in the US are Japanese based, so during most of the decoration stage you're actually just trying to figure out what menu leads to what, but good times ensue nonetheless.

As a graphic designer, I should probably be turned off by the riot of color, effects (check out those lens flares in the second set... I added those!), and random imagery associated with purikura, but it's a whole different aesthetic. In these tiny framed pictures more = better and usually the frames that remain undecorated (usually because you run out of time) are the ones you like the least.