tokyo police club.

the next great band? after finally listening (it's been neil's favorite band for a while now), i may have a new obsession. all their songs are under 3 minutes which i think is fantastic. and they're all gooood (love 'cheer it on')... just tasty bits of musical goodness. and they're playing at coachella this year. crazy.

http://www.myspace.com/tokyopoliceclub

park this.

if you encounter someone who has parked like an idiot (we have all seen the jackass that parks sideways and takes up 3 spots), just slap this baby on their car.

haverchuck for president.

freaks and geeks is quite possibly the best show of all time. i've just started watching it again (for the 3rd time) and i am continually amazed at how good it is. bill haverchuck is my hero. forget hillary. forget obama. haverchuck for president. if you haven't seen the show, do yourself a favor and go buy it. there's only one season (such a shame) and it's totally worth the money. fabulous characters, superb writing, amazing music. if anything, your introduction to the one and only bill haverchuck will be worth it all and more.

square one.

after months of saying i would go and try square one, after months of margaux begging to go, after months of neil saying how amazing it was...i finally went. with margaux. and neil. we set out on a clear saturday, early afternoon. on the way, we passed the scientology center which frightened me and sent chills up and down my spine. the "workers" were all dressed in blue, some repairing the street, others walking like robots along the sidewalk. i had never seen the center before, nor had i ever really seen a scientologist up close. if any of you who are this reading are scientologists, i don't mean to offend. it's just that it's all a bit creepy to me. ha. i guess that's kinda offensive. in any case, let's get back to square one.

square one, for those who don't know, is a place known for sensational breakfast food. virtually anyone in the know lists square one as one of LA's best breakfast spots. when we got there, i pretty much knew what i was going to order. it's no secret that i pretty much order french toast wherever i go for breakfast. fyi, the french toast at king's road is on the top of my list...until, that is, i tried the french toast at square one. perfectly browned bread, soft on the inside, topped with vanilla whipped cream, pineapple, banana and kiwi. you can also get it with their bourbon-pecan topping or their banana-citrus caramel. i opted for the cold fruit topping and was thorourghly impressed. margaux ordered the breakfast sandwich with sausage, egg, frisee and tomato. neil had the chorizo, gruyere cheese, tomato, onions, tortilla, roasted bell peppers and salsa roja baked egg dish. wow. i think all of us enjoyed our dishes and i would without hesitation recommend square one to any and everyone.

...square one was followed by a quick jaunt to larchmont village, followed by a spontaneous decision to see letters from iwo jima at the arclight, followed by a nice dinner at magnolia. just another day in our lovely city.

pic of the day.

the oscars.

who doesn't love bacon?

well, i know a few people who don't. but i certainly don't understand it. bacon, as neil will tell you, is what makes life worth living. and now, with wake 'n bacon, you get to wake up every morning to the smell of a mouth watering strip of delicious delightfulness. here, a description of this fantastical device:

WHAT: An alarm clock that wakes you up with the smell and sizzle of cooking bacon.

WHY: No one likes to wake up, especially by an alarm. This clock gently wakes you up with the mouthwatering aroma of bacon, just like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of Mom cooking breakfast. Unless you're Jewish.

HOW: A frozen strip of bacon is placed in Wake n' Bacon the night before. Because there is a 10 minute cooking time, the clock is set to go off 10 minutes before the desired waking time. Once the alarm goes off, the clock it sends a signal to a small speaker to generate the alarm sound. We hacked the clock so that the signal is re-routed by a microchip that in responds by sending a signal to a relay that throws the switch to power two halogen lamps that slow-cook the bacon in about 10 minutes.

breakfast pillows.

don't ever go to sleep hungry again.

ring ring.

some cool, nicely designed rings for women. can be bought here. around $150. i like the exclamation point.

stealth.

new mirrored chrome cases (from griffin, $24.99) for your ipod. apparently so reflective that the display almost entirely vanishes until the backlight is turned on.

click HERE.

camera stabilizer.

lose the tripod and travel light. interesting...

http://www.thedoghouse.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?Gift=TDH0886

so happy.

anamorphic cups.

kinda cool, no?

that's hot.

ja.

this one's for you shoko:

relax.

traffic light in new delhi:

if only...

"Having fun is one of the most important responsibilities when working at Wieden + Kennedy. In Portland, we are fortunate to have an indoor basketball court and workout gym with yoga classes during lunch time. Having fun is a way of finding new energy and inspiration for our client's work. Recently, we began a series of Lunch Box Concerts in the atrium of our building, featuring emerging new musicians, DJ's and bands as well as very established musical talents. The building literally rocks with sound for 30 minutes, making it virtually impossible to conduct any meetings in our headquarters for a short period of time. The "inconvenience" is offset by inspiration and experiencing something new. Being creative is what we do at Wieden + Kennedy, it cannot be achieved by sitting in a quiet office void of outside cultural influences. Inspiration is a fulltime job and we take it seriously."

-John C. Jay

(John C Jay is Executive Creative Director and Partner of Wieden + Kennedy and lives in Portland Oregon. Jay oversees with Dan Wieden, the global creative work from WK offices in Portland, NYC, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Shanghai. He opened the W+K offices in Tokyo (lived in Japan for 6 years) and Shanghai and works in those offices every month. Jay is also founder and Co-Creative Director for W+K Tokyo Lab, the independent music label.)

urban lamps.

lite brite.

cool lamp from an up and coming young designer:

picture this.

so here, finally, are the photographs i displayed at my show a couple weeks ago. instead of a contact sheet, i decided to post the pictures individually. they're all for sale, hand signed, printed on glossy heavyweight stock and can be blown up to just about any size. click each pic to enlarge.