come in. go away.

mini gandhi.

how cool is the mini gandhi? he looks so happy. you can buy these "great thinkers" (darwin, gandhi, freud) pot bellied figures here.

tip calc.

tip calculator widget for your ipod. automatically calculates tip amount and grand total. and it can even split your check up 5 ways. yellow color indicates 15% and orange indicates 20%.

click here.

bedside light.

"At almost 9 inches high, this relatively small lamp has to be seen in context to be appreciated. The glass base allows the impression of hovering above the table surface which gives a very clean and modern look to a bedroom or living area." via bltd.

chocolate bunny.

"the perils of life as a chocolate bunny." via snorg tees.

vinyl.

some cool vinyl for your walls/floors/ceilings. for more, click here.

made of japan.

"Check out this clever promotion for shoe brand Onitsuka Tiger called Made Of Japan. The mosaic shoe shown above is dynamically created using hundreds of tiny images from web pages posted or updated in the past 24 hours relating to Japan. They’re then configured by color to recreate the classic Onitsuka shoe. As a user you can mouse over and view each little pixel for a preview of the site it came from or click to go to a random Japanese page."

via Josh Spear

lightsack.

loop.

nice to look at? yes. comfy? not so sure.

wash me, please.

swich.

came across an article about a sandwich shop in new york called swich. if you click on the above 2 links, you'll know why i'm writing about it. good sandwiches are hard to find and for someone like myself who loves sandwiches, swich sounds like an ideal place to eat. if only we had one here in LA. you can view their menu on their site, but i've listed a few that sound delicious below...

Sidney - Smoked country ham, dijon mustard, white cheddar, and crisp granny smith apple on 7-grain
Thanksgiving Every Day - Turkey and our homemade stuffing, on cranberry walnut bread
Karate Chicken - Roast chicken with sliced almonds, crunchy wontons and plum sauce dressing on French bread
Memphis - Peanut butter and sliced bananas, drizzled with honey on golden raisin semolina

leave your mark.

glasses that leave a cherry blossom water mark. click here.

ice cream trucks.

according to the coolhunter, it's the year of the ice cream truck. and smoothie truck. and whatever kind of truck that sells something cool. for more info, check out thecoolhunter.

nishimura.

for the last 6 years, i've wondered about the small, inconspicuous place on melrose, across the street from the pacific design center, with the address 8684. there's no sign, nothing to clue you in that there's a restaurant behind those walls. when i eventually found out the place was a sushi bar called nishimura, i knew that one day i would have to try it. i mean, why not? i passed by it virtually every day, it was super close to my place...after some research, i learned that nishimura was known for it's sushi and exquisite design -- the pottery dishes, the decor...i also learned that it was incredibly expensive. expensive enough to realize that i might not ever get the chance to go there. my parents had been once and they spent a crazy amount -- but they loved the food.

well, this past friday night, a few of us ventured out, coming to a consensus that we had to try this place at least once. i won't lie, when we drove up i was definitely excited. i was finally going to see what lay behind that front wall. walking in, i was surprised by the simplicity. very minimalist and small, but still inviting. one cool touch: what looked like art on the wall behind the sushi counter was actually dishes for the sushi to be served on. they literally take pieces from the wall. pretty cool.

anyway, we took our seats and set out to enjoy a meal that consisted of everything from the normal: yellowtail, toro, albacore, snapper -- to the more daring: eel with shishito pepers, sea urchin, oysters topped with caviar, sweet shrimp...etc. i must say, the sushi was amazing...like butter. i only had water (of course), but the others had sake. when the bill came we all took guesses. we were all way off. and not the good kind of way off. it was more expensive than we thought. the total came out to $360. despite the empty bank account, it was worth the trip. it will be a while before we go back, but if money isn't an issue for you, take the plunge.

below, a few pictures...the sushi master, nishimura...plates of mouth-watering sushi...dessert...me and elliott outside. (i would've taken more pictures of the decor and the food but it was quite dark and i felt a little funny having the camera out. so i took what i could...)

toyspotting.

keeping on the subject of toys, here's a rare peek into a small part of my "art" collection. a select few of my favorites:


simple and understated. one of the first additions to my collection.


made out of paper by artist shin tanaka. rare and extremely hard to find. love the nikes. click here.


mr. shoe nike collaboration by renowned artist michael lau. click here.


one of artist brendan monroe's "sours". click here.


neth creatures. click here.


speaker series by artist jason siu. click here.


new wave dave. part of the "punk is not dead" series by artist james jarvis. click here.


glass figure hand-blown just for me by artist izik levy (thanks to margaux... a truly original gift). click here.


nike miniatures. saw some at a store on sawtelle and had to have them. unfortunately they weren't for sale so i had to seek them out myself on the internet.


this guy was actually on top of a bottle of soda (he was part of the cap) that i got in japan.


billy bronze by san francisco artist sam flores. part of the get small san francisco set. click here.


a few others...

toys.

it's been a while since i've posted about (designer) toys. that's partly due to the fact that i needed to chill out with the toy obsession for a proper minute. it was getting slightly out of hand. but, i'm always scouring websites to find the latest and greatest. it seems more and more artists are getting into the industry, developing and designing vinyl/plastic/plush figures. one day, i'll have my own toy series. until then, i'll just keep admiring from afar. below, a few "toys" i thought were cool. (notice even bron bron - lebron james - is getting into the act).