Michael Sieben is one of my favourite artists, with a fantastic style and a great taste in films ! He recommended Wargames to me and it was a classic 80’s film about computers gone haywire, and I’ve probably watched it a dozen times now. I’m actually writing this to talk about his book, titled There’s Nothing Wrong With You (Hopefully).
Its a super awesome hardback with every page full of his work, from sketches to paintings and with a small foreword by Travis Millard. If you like Michael’s work then pick it up, and if you don’t like it, pick it up to realise you actually do like it. You can seriously spend hours just looking at all the pages of cute characters with knives in their backs and paintings of animals hugging mountains, and the sketch pages are awesome to see how his ideas can be so simple but creative.It’s my book recommendation of the month, it’s $25, and you can buy it here : http://shop.msieben.com/products/theres-nothing-wrong-with-you-hopefully
Coty over at cotygonzales.com did a review of Lowdtown shirt: Public Radio. Such kind words, can’t thank him enough. Watch the episode below and check out coty’s website!
So I noticed my lack of updates, so I decided to start posting some cool and inspiring finds on the internets. These are two cool things I found today.
I can’t really explain it, you just have to see (or hear) it for yourself. Just put on a good pair of headphones and be amazed. The audio is so real, it’s almost unbelievable. Especially the matchbox one; it sounds like it’s really there. The way it works is that they have some fancy microphones that they put on a dummy’s head right at the ears, so when they record it records as if the ears are recording the sound. This apparently creates an extremely lifelike effect. Amazing stuff, check it out!
So I’ve been thinking about making my mouthcan into a vinyl toy. And today I found something that resembles what I want in my toy. It’s so awesome! This character, called Screamy, is in collaboration with Patch Together which is an amazing site, and they revealed a prototype.
So I’ve been corresponding with the owner of Ashi Dashi, Ken Macy. The basic concept behind Ashi Dashi is that it sells really sweet socks, and that’s pretty much it. It’s a very focused brand, and the designs and styles on these socks are really cool. A lot of the designs play on the shape of the sock which makes it extra fun. For example, there is the pencil sock that makes your foot look like a pencil! Pretty amazing stuff!
The Trade
So anyway, Ken and I, we proposed a trade and I gladly received his “Kick the Habit” socks that look like cigarettes in trade for the Lowdtown Logo Tee.
The Cigarette Socks
I eagerly awaited my new pair of feet warmers, and I finally got them. Now, I’m no smoker, and I don’t advocate it by any means, but these socks look freakin sweet! If you look at the sock straight on, the tube part of the sock looks like the filter, your feet look like the white part, and the toes look like the ashes at the end of a ciggy. Genius!
And I really must say, the quality is impressive. Not only are they extremely soft, but the “print” or whatever you’d want to call it, is extremely professionally made. You can tell that Ken really thought about the production and that he really didn’t want these to be any ordinary socks. I would say that he definitely succeeded, I would definitely recommend a pair to anyone.
Great Packaging
Another thing I was very impressed by was the packaging. Coupling extremely well with his website, the packaging is minimal but well designed. You can really tell that Ken has an eye for detail.
Congrats
I really must tip my hat to Ken Macy of Ashi Dashi. I feel that he has made a mark in a very original market that we don’t see too much nowadays. Honestly, he gives me some inspiration, and perhaps I’ll make some sweet socks someday for Lowdtown, maybe even a collaboration with Ashi Dashi! We’ll definitely keep in touch.
Overall, I’m very satisfied with the trade. I’m going to be bragging to all my friends about these socks. I’ll probably be taking off my shoes a lot and be like “Oh, I see you’ve noticed my socks, let me show them to you.” Haha. Well I hope he likes my shirt too.
And to anyone who thinks they have some awesome products (not necessarily t-shirts; I love toys by the way, haha) I’m always willing to trade. So shoot me an email if you want to score some sweet Lowdtown swag.
Be sure to check out Ashi Dashi at ashidashi.com! This definitely looks like a hit in the making, so I wish Ken the best of luck.
For me, when it comes to eating out, I like three things: tasty food, cheap food, and a lot of food. I’m currently a freshman at Parsons School of Design, and since living in the city I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying a lot of good places to eat. Since I haven’t been in the city too long, I’m sure there are a lot more places to eat that are amazing, but I just haven’t gotten to them yet. This will be a growing list for sure, but here are three great places that I have enjoyed the most so far. If you’re a city slicker and know of some great places, be sure to comment below. If it sounds good (and it’s affordable enough) I’ll be sure to check it out in the future. By the way, I’m looking for some good and affordable Tex-Mex, so if you know of such a place, you get bonus points!
1. Halal Brothers (aka Platters) – 53rd St. and 6th Ave.
If you’ve been to New York, you’ve probably noticed the excess of Middle Eastern food, and most commonly the whole chicken and lamb over rice thing. Most of them are very good and quite affordable, but when it comes to my Halal food needs, it has to be Platters. Though Platters is also just a normal-looking street stand, don’t get the wrong idea. It has some of the best chicken and lamb over rice, ever! At a very affordable $6, you get a whole “platter” of food that comes with lamb, chicken, or both over rice with some lettuce and pita bread. There is the white sauce and hot sauce you can also add to complete the ensemble. But be careful, the hot sauce is extremely hot, and I’m a man who knows my spices. The first time I went, I ruined the flavor of my platter because I put extra hot sauce. That thing is no joke. It’s really a full meal too. I often save some so I can eat it later, or if I do choose to eat the whole thing I have a food baby of satisfaction. The place opens at around 7:30pm but there is always a line. My friends and I literally go at 2 or 3 in the morning sometimes, and there is still a line. Expect to wait at least 15 mins. to get your food. Highly recommended!
2. Pommes Frites – 123 2nd Ave.
Pommes Frites is more of a snack place than a place to get dinner or anything, but if you like fries, this is the place to go. At Pommes Frites, you can order a single, large, or double size of fries, which are all respectively served in paper cones of various sizes. The fries come in thick wedges that are perfectly hot and crispy. The potatoes taste fresh and are really quite delicious. Normally, I don’t think that there is much of a comparison between French fries, but after eating at Pommes Frites and eating elsewhere, the Pommes Frites’ fries really did taste better. So the special thing about Pommes Frites isn’t really the fries, it’s really the sauces. They come in like some absurd amount of flavors like 20 or something, and they are obviously all very well thought out. My favorites are mango chutney and pomegranate teriyaki. Seriously, to die for! I wish I could literally get a tub of it and swim in it or something, and then lick myself afterwards. That sounds really perverted, but it’s really that good! The fries are priced at $4.00, $6.25, $7.75 respectively, but honestly, the regular is a very decent sized portion. I don’t usually like paying for sauces, but this place you have to forgive. The sauces are .75 cents each or three for $2.00. Great stuff!
3. Soy and Sake – 47 7th Ave. S
Soy and Sake is a vegan restaurant that’s located in the West Village. Mind you, I’ve never tried vegan food or imitation meat before, but I was pleasantly surprised. Soy and Sake is set in a really hip atmosphere, filled with blue lighting and a sweet little aquarium. I felt really sophisticated when I ate there. So I ordered the pork katsu curry bento set for my meal, and I was served a very nice portion for $12. It came with the vegan pork katsu curry, salad, soup, vegan sushi, and vegan dumplings. When I bit into the pork katsu, I literally could not believe that it wasn’t meat. If someone served it to me without telling me that it was vegan, I would’ve just enjoyed my meal altogether and thought nothing of it. Seriously, the texture was right, and it even looked like meat. Soy and Sake must have some seriously talented chefs or something, because to me, it was nothing like soy. Overall a really chill place to go if you want to eat some good vegan Japanese food and maybe enjoy some sake while you’re at it. I really recommend it!
Places I want to try:
(comment and I’ll add it to the list if it sounds good)
- Artichoke: 328 E 14th St
- Yoshinoya: 24 W 46th St
- Paul’s da Burger Joint: 131 2nd Avenue
- Red Bamboo: 140 W 4th St
I just watched Coraline, and it was awesome. I’ve done a little bit of stop-motion in the past with my animations, but this is just mind-bogglingly amazing. I mean, the animation is so smooth and fluent, and if they did have any digitally made elements, I could barely tell because everything was so believable.
So this was directed by Henry Selick, the dude who brought you Nightmare Before Christmas, and they worked with LAIKA which is pretty well-known animation company that focuses on stop-motion. Absolutely stunning work! The character designs were so beautiful, and the details were so tight, that you could watch this movie twenty times and find something new every time. I was watching the featurettes on the Coraline website, and I was blown away. It turns out that the clothes that the characters are wearing in the film were actually hand-knit. But that’s not all, considering the scale of the clothing, they were hand-knit with needles! NEEDLES! You know the things you use to hold the thread? The costume-director used needles to actually knit! I shat bricks!
On my visit, I had the pleasure in watching it in 3D. Though I usually think 3D is pretty gimmicky, this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn’t over the top, and they used the whole “poke something straight into your face” thing very sparingly. The 3D effects were very subtle, but added just enough depth to make the 3D-ness fun for everyone.
The soundtrack was also very wonderful. It had a whimsical tone, and there were lyrics at times but I think it was in another language, but it wasn’t distracting at all. It tied in nicely to the dream-like ambiance of the entire film. The story was cute, a little creepy at times, but I don’t want to go too much into detail for those of you who haven’t seen it.
Overall I had a great time, and for all of you who are “in-the-know”, I’m crossing my fingers for the Dunks, haha. I highly recommend the film, so if you haven’t gotten the chance, definitely go see it!
It’s my book recommendation of the month, it’s $25, and you can buy it here : http://shop.msieben.com/products/theres-nothing-wrong-with-you-hopefully
I just watched Coraline, and it was awesome. I’ve done a little bit of stop-motion in the past with my animations, but this is just mind-bogglingly amazing. I mean, the animation is so smooth and fluent, and if they did have any digitally made elements, I could barely tell because everything was so believable.
