Japan’s Namba Park
Situated amongst the urban bustle of Osaka, Namba Park is a welcome relief from the walls of gray concrete that swathes the city. This green oasis — with its cliffs and waterfalls — stands where the local baseball stadium used to be, and is made up of a thirty-floor skyscraper and a shopping mall with eight floors of terraced gardens.
Tagged: Japan, Japan architecture, Namba Park, Osaka
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Based in Osaka, Japan, Shige Tomo is a graphic designer and illustrator who lends his formidable talents to creating deceivingly sweet looking, doll-like creatures, whose malicious stares are quite at odds with their sugary features. Aside from conjuring up an impressive portfolio filled to the brim with these effortless evils, Tomo also has a wonderful collection of dolls and other products available, which bring his saccharine creations to life. Lovely in their simplicity, yet malevolent in their intent, you have to wonder if Tomo had nightmares about dolls when he was a child.
The first publication of the book 101 Unuseless Japenese Inventions, at the end of the 90s, was centered around Chindogu art. Created by author Kenji Kawakami, this art of unusual and useless inventions, displayed different ways of solving the everyday problems. One of the Chindogus is the Baby Mop, a pair of trousers and a sweatshirt for babies with strips that clean the floor while the baby crawls. Read more
From the depths of functional creativity comes this invention out of Japan: the back scratching t shirt, the fastest and most illogical solution to fight an itch.
Also by CASPER JOHANSSON
Yigal Ozeri’s photorealistic paintings
Israeli-artist Yigal Ozeri’s provocative photo-realistic paintings of young women in nature look like a large format photographs, but are actually the work of minute brushstrokes laced together. Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, the paintings are exotic portraits of woman enraptured by nature, caught in the lens of the artist’s eye. Ozeri’s inspiration lies in Carl Jung’s concept of the Anima, the psychology of the female’s true inner self. Read more
Tired of having your food stolen by sticky-fingered coworkers or roommates? Bullies taking your kid’s lunch? Well, worry no more. Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides, making your freshly prepared lunch look spoiled. So don’t suffer the injustice of having your sandwich stolen again!
Creative advertising packaging
Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more
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Canadian artist Brandon Jan Blommeart’s trash monsters lumber across beautiful landscapes, happily playing with each other as if they had inherited the earth from their human creators. Read more
Sydney is not as well known for its great bars as other Australian cities. The city centre is dominated by over-priced style bars, while the suburbs are ruled by beer barns overflowing with terrible music, pokies, and sports. Nestled in the back streets of Surry Hills, surprisingly close to the city, The Cricketer’s Arms bucks the trend, with an open fire-place, great contemporary music selection, comfortable couches, a cosy outdoor area, decent food, free board games, and the laidback vibe that’s now all too rare in Sydney. [pic via Time Out Sydney]
It’s hard not to sigh at another vector face or skull and diamond combo. I’m guilty of skull overindulgence myself. But Six Letter Word — aka illustrator, Diogo Potes — balances skulls with other macabre themes to create art that actually looks fresh and interesting. Read more
Very few band reunions get me excited, but I’ve consistently loved Faith No More since I was 13. I loved their pre-Mike Patton era, I loved King for a Day, and I even loved their track with Boo Yah Tribe on the Judgment Night soundtrack. Kerrang recently hinted that a FNM reformation is in the works for ‘09, and though bassist Billy Gould has emphatically denied the rumors, the general consensus is that the reunion is on.
Why is it that perusing the creative projects at ReadyMade always makes you wish you had more time? Read more
Seldom has black humour been done so well. On the surface, this film about the everyday lives of some unusually mundane characters, sounds extraordinarily boring. But it is instead a cutting comment on the absurdity and drudgery of everyday life. The characters try to break out or change their lives without success, and the results are bleak and hilarious. Read more
Have you ever felt engulfed by a strange mix of emotions, ones which make you feel all giddy? Well, that’s what this track — Not For All The Love In the World — does to me. French pop-folk extraordinaire Sebastian Tellier remixes Irish pop band The Thrills. Totally luscious and dreamy, especially the glockenspiel sound. Beautiful stuff.
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I live the upbeat, feel good tempo of the new single — A Hundred Hearts — from Philly group, The Swimmers. Off their latest album, People Are Soft, this song is a strangely fitting anthem for the blustery day outside.
Charlie Immer’s pastel-pallete sometimes obfuscates the gory violence in his surreal images. At other times, it heightens the gut-wrenching and visceral effect of his work. Read more
T-post: the world’s first wearable magazine
So here’s the scoop. Every six weeks, T-post subscribers get a new t shirt issue in the mail, with a news story on the inside and an artist interpretation of that story on the front. Yes, we agree. It’s clever, clever. Read more
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Designed by Andrea Corson, the Caviars Round Top Ring, is made from sterling silver. The Caviars sparkle like diamonds, sitting upon an organic band. We have it for sale in the Lost At E Minor online store. Read more
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BMZ said | 2 July, 2009
I wish other cities could develop park architecture as exciting and innovative – why are we stuck in the old paradigm of parks? This park looks like a sanctuary and lets your mind think more creatively about space…what good architecture should do.