This is kind of late, but last-last Friday, Andy, Ryan, Mike, and I went to the Tokyo Creators Market at New People in Japantown, San Francisco, and it was AMAZING! We saw awesome toothpick dispensers, crocheted scarves in the form of pizzas and warm buttery toast, fine handmade jewelry, and some crazyyyyyy artwork (unfortunately none of which I can show you due to copyright laws, including Mikito Ozeki’s intricate paper cut outs—my personal favorites). But here is a youtube video showing him working on a piece. To see the finished product in the flesh is ridiculously mind blowing.

In addition to the bumping atmosphere and mingling with sophisticated artists and entrepreneurs, I also picked up the most bomb shoes EVER! New People is currently featuring Sou Sou, a unique footwear brand who’s inspiration blends traditional Japanese tabi—socks that separate the big toe from the others and are worn with traditional sandals—with a contemporary street shoe design. Each pair is hand cobbled right in their Kyoto-based shop with every single fabric specifically designed for their shoes. I personally love this Ninja Turtle-esque pair and really could not resist buying it… haha. I even had to buy special socks because of the detached big toe! But it was definitely sooo worth it!! And way comfortable, too. Now Ryan and I can match and piss off Sang who believes they are “the devil’s feet.”

All three floors of New People were filled with people browsing art, new products, and handmade jewelry, clothing, and accessories. Talent was everywhere you looked—even oozing out the walls! There was this one picture of a lonely looking boy painted on the wall. We said it was Mike in high school—he was lonely because he hadn’t met me yet.

Lonely Mike and me cheesing in the Superfrog Gallery.

I really enjoyed checking out this event and hanging with everyone! Thanks to Ryan and Andy for inviting us (and for the awesome pictures)! We should do things like this more often…!

<33

Chandeliers by Kim Songhe at NEW PEOPLE's Tokyo Creators Market (Photo by: Umi)

On November 20, Lydia and I attended a private party at San Francisco’s NEW PEOPLE complex to celebrate the opening of the Tokyo Creators Market exhibit in the art gallery. One of the artists featured in the gallery is Kim Songhe who transforms kitschy knicknacks into artistic chandeliers and other pieces of home decor. Our favorite piece was the chandelier at the forefront of the picture above which was decked out in flowers, tea cups and saucers, teddy bears, beads, crosses, skeleton keys and even a few skeleton charms. It would surely be a lovely addition to the home of any Lolita.

It reminded me of a do-it-yourself project I saw a while back on making a teacup chandelier. It also gave us one heck of an idea. Why not make our own chandeliers and personalize the designs to make it all our own. And thus, the challenge was born!

Lydia and I are crafty girls, but chandelier makers we are not, so it’s a fair competition. We’ve set a deadline for January 1st and we’ll have you guys be the judge via online poll. In case anyone is interested in participating as well – here’s an open call for your submissions. Email us with a description and photos by January 1st.

Hit the jump for additional photos of the chandelier by Kim Songhe from different angles.

New people are nearly always insufferable. I hate the way they come in and try and be a big personality so you’ll accept them quicker. If they came in and just shut up and did their work it’d be fine. Ask a few questions, whatever. But don’t come in and be needy and require constant re-assurance. It reminds me of the time there were two new girls at school, one of them fucked a teacher and he got the sack and put on whatever the sex offenders register was called at the time. The other new girl then made up that had slept with another teacher because she felt like the teacher fucker was getting all the attention. But then they found out that really the girl was lying and she got expelled, but her parents appealed so she was let back in. And then the first new girl smashed her face in with triple clamps in chemistry and mr errity went apeshit.

New people are wankers.

College is one the biggest times in our lives to meet new people and make friends that we’ll have for a long time. Although we tend to begin to really find what we’re good and become more independent, we are still very influenced by what people do around us. Take for instance, food. Our decisions on what to eat and what not to eat are greatly influence by what other people are or are not eating. There’s proof to this statement as there have been many articles and studies published on this very issue. To learn more about this and read the studies that prove it, click here.

Ridding a bike and taking photographs is a lot harder than it seems. Tonight I went out on a massive bike ride around town. I love that there is always one guy that has the need to mix it up and throw on a wig/costume.  The night was tons of fun, met a lot of new people and I can’t wait for the next outing.

this morning i woke up at about 6, which is utterly crazy because normally when my alarm goes off at 7.45 i put it on snooze about 6 or 7 times before i actually even start to make a move to get up.
lol. any way today i had a good time at school. the boys weren’t making that much fun of me like they normally do and instead of paying me out about the littliest things i do, they were asking me who i like (again and again). which i think by the way that they kept stealing my pencil case and asking for  my glue/white out/ruler etc. whenever i put i back in my pencil case. were very feeble attempts to flirt with me. now i know this sounds up myself and prbably soooooooooooo stupid but it seemed that the new guy in my english class kept on looking at me. but what does that even mean. and what do i even know about boys!!! argh im a teenager for crying out loud!!! i hate this. and because im never exactly in the ‘in’ crowd, im always hovering around the edges depending on who made the slpit decisoin of who wants to be nice to me that day. so if the girls in the in crowd decide to make fun of me in the moring.. the rest of the day my confidence decideds to go on holiday, so genrally tlaking to boys is out because i’ll say something really stupid and embarassing like oh i duuno. i’ll let you know. but today i was talking to the 4 guys in most of my classes when halfway through the girls from the in crowd started paying me out and i was totally fine!!!!! how good is that?!

any way my mother dearest is screaming at me to go to bed (happy days)

so……….. tata my chummies

I got a few books from the library on scrapbooking, and found out this scrapbooking thing is going to be a whole lot harder than I thought it would be. First of all there is special paper for everything so that the pictures don’t fade and the pages don’t yellow. The paper has to have a pH of 7 or above (yes, I said paper and pH in the same breath). There can be no acid–and acid transfers, so you can’t put any acid containing things in there, either. You can’t use regular office supply store page protectors, they also have to be a special brand. It is all so complicated. Acid free paper? Fa real?

Mr. Perfect texted me yesterday that one of his coworkers is planning a ladies night and has invited me. I said of course I want to go. This is exactly what I have been looking for, n’est-ce pas? A group of 24 and over women with jobs to talk about something other than Rhianna and Chris Brown or go over Biology notes with. (I will be talking about Rhianna’s interview in another entry though; I just don’t want that to be the extent of our shared conversation.)

But then it occurred to me that I don’t really know this woman or any of her friends. I am sure we all remember the last time I went to a gathering of mostly females where I didn’t know  anyone (sidenote: Don’t you hate it when people say “we all know”? If you don’t really know, you can’t say so now; you’d look like the idiot that should know this already!). No? Well, I went to this gathering, not knowing that the person who invited me wasn’t going to be there and hadn’t told anyone that I was going to be there. Since the gathering was for members only–invited members only, it would have been helpful if she had told someone that she had invited me. Immediately I was escorted outside and given the third degree: who told you about this, who invited you to come, what are your credentials, la di da. I felt like I was being interrogated. Did I murder somebody? What is the deal? Most of them spent the rest of the night giving me death glares and ignoring me. Thank God for men! Men can be lifesavers. They will gladly talk to you and try to include you, even when it’s clear the females are not in agreement.

But there won’t be any males in attendance; this is strictly females only. Hopefully this gathering will be as acid free as the paper I’m about to invest in for this scrapbook.

I am so done reading about scrapbooking. I am going to Beads & Scrapbooking with my clear scrapbook organizer and asking them how best to go about assembling all the crap therein. What type of paper do I need to put this on? How can I “de-acidize” these movie tickets and wristbands? What glue will make this plastic thingie stick? What about this napkin?…

2Blu2BTru

Here are some of my new life goals, to be mixed in with some of my existing life goals… complete list coming….

but in the mean time, here are my NEW life goal additions:

1. meet 1,000,000 people before i die – must:

2. become a ping pong champion (in north america) – becoming a world champion or even a champion in only china, is waaaay to hard, i don’t have those crazy asian reflexes

3. write a tv sitcom - don’t ask, i’ve been watching too much tv

Mid November I take up a new post with responsibility for Quality and Standards at an English FE College.  It is going to be interesting learning the English FE system again after being in the Scottish sector for the past thirteen years.  Follow my progress on this blog.

Ever gone to summer camp when you were a kid? Presumably, a lot of kids enjoyed that. Personally, I found it an absolutely miserable experience, packed full of insects, much bigger kids who didn’t want you around, slightly bigger kids who wanted to boss you around, awkward prepubescent encounters in dark corners, and all overseen by just-out-of-their-teens whose only interest was private moments alone. I’d find one or two guys that I could tolerate (I was obviously a snob back then, too, only I didn’t know it), and we’d do everything in our power to make sure that we didn’t have to do anything. Of course, by the end of camp, we’d be sick to death of each other. Dying for a new face, a fresh joke, or really just someone that smelled of something other than dirty socks and shame. All it took, though, was a couple of weeks back home without their company, and I was ready for all the inside jokes and jockeying for the biggest lie.

That’s kind of what working on an important project is like. Everyone wants to see it succeed, everyone’s trying to get their voice heard, and by the end of it all you’re really just ready for somebody new. After a couple of weeks, though, you realize that you miss the fart jokes and arguments about who’s got the larger genitalia. You’re ready to get back to work, and move on to the next one.

I suppose after you grow up, you’re able to see how you become bigger than yourself when you’re with those people that share your wavelength. How the people that drive you crazy can at the same time bring out the best in you. Ultimately, we’re still a pack animal, building groups to fight off predators. We still have our fights, there’s still the jockeying for position that goes on in all the nature documentaries, but ultimately, you can’t imagine working with anyone else.

I know that’s how it is with me, anyway.

Despues de semanas y semanas sin tener la inspiracion/ganas de escribir mi primer post, ahora encuentro el motivo para empezar con el blog que siempre he deseado tener.  Aqui es donde quiero compartir un poco de mis pensamientos/sentimientos, ideas (que creo yo son geniales), las cosas que hago, pero sobretodo expresarme libremente sin tener que aceptar o rechazar criticas.

Te has preguntado, ¿En qué usas tu tiempo? Fácil; es un circulo. Nacemos, crecemos, morimos. ¿Cuando vivimos? Me angustia la idea de que tenemos las horas contadas en este cuerpo y en este mundo. Aunque en mi caso muy particular, creo que existen otras vidas y las conexiones que tenemos con personas siempre se repiten en otros cuerpos. ¿Porque nos aferramos tanto a estar aqui? Pues aqui tenemos de T O D O! Comida exquisita, lugares sagrados, personitas que forman parte de nuestra familia y amistades, incluso y si lo encontramos; un/a compañero/a  de vida. Tecnologia del S. XXI. Contaminacion, violencia, caos, enfermedades y demas preocupaciones, que la ONU se encarga de conmunicarnoslas.

Mi respuesta a todo es: Fluir. Deja que te lleven tus pies hacia ese lugar donde tu mismo no te permites ir cuando estas demasiado influenciado humanamente por el mundo. A veces pienso que deberiamos tener un “switch” para poder apagar nuestros pensamientos y actuar de forma natural, un poco más animal. Cuando tienes esas ganas de quitarte los zapatos que compraste en rebaja para sentir el frio del piso debajo de ti, que sabes que es lo que te sostiene aqui, mas fuerte que tus músculos. Ni pensar, ni sentir. Solo respirar.

Necesito escuhar a mi cuerpo,
en el centro de mi ser,
mi corazón que nunca me abandona.

Debí de haber seguido mi intuición. Al camino único de la verdad. Dónde algún día te encontraré.

sofiairene
A ti, querido.

I was interviewed this weekend by Alejandro Paz for Anygüey and it was just posted today. I do intend to keep my word and design a tattoo for Alejandro. More on that story as it develops.

Yesterday Mariela and I ventured to Japantown, our first trip there in years. Rene and I go to the Kabuki theater all the time but we rarely go into any of the shops these days. I had been dying to check out New People, a brand new shopping center that recently opened. New People was launched by Viz Media; for those of you that don’t know, I actually used to work for Viz and their publication Animerica way back when. It’s crazy to think that the small company of about 20 that I started working with is now an expanding media empire.

The most fascinating shop at New People was BABY, the Stars Shine Bright the first flagship store of the Japanese Lolita Fashion brand. I had only seen Lolita fashion through magazines & computer screens and seeing a store full of these clothes was like being in a surreal movie set. What really caught my eye was a $38.00 tote bag from the store’s Alice and the Pirates line that featured the image below.

An image of the Virgin surrounded by a bleeding heart, roses, and a skull. This was very clearly not a Catholic motif but a reference to Chicano pop sensibilities. Is this a sign of things to come in Lolita fashion?

Mariela and I then walked over to the Kinokuniya building and quickly discovered pikapika. pikapika is a store with nothing but Japanese Purikura photobooths (about 10 in total I think). The place was closing soon and Mariela and I had just enough time to hop into a Love Joker booth and take a set of photos. I used to love Purikura booths as a teenager but DAMN, the technology has improved since then. The ring of diffused strobes that surround the touchscreen menu of the booth were impressive. After our shoot we were led to another section of the booth where we could decorate and draw on our photos using wacom-like pens. All the text of the machine was in Japanese but pikapika has helpful translation charts posted on the machine. The end result of our picture taking and decorating was printed out on a 4×6 sheet of sticker paper.

Making the photos was a fun experience and at $10.00 a pop, it wasn’t cheap but it was well worth it. My mind is now spinning with thoughts of curating an art exhibit of artists who create portraits of themselves with purikura booths. With all the machines at pikapika, there are endless possibilities for artists to create amazing images using them. If anyone is interested in participating in or hosting such an exhibit please let me know.

Peace,

Rio

San Francisco’s BABY, The Stars Shine Bright has only been open a month, but it’s already featured two sets of Lucky Packs and now has its incentives program well under way. The store has just announced its first free gift with purchase – a plush tissue box cover of Milky-chan the bunny. The damage? Spend over $180 in the store before tax & excluding Lucky Pack sales.

Free gifts with purchase are hard to resist. Are you planning on making a trip to SF BABY to grab your own Milky-chan tissue box cover?

Milky-chan bunny tissue box cover in pink (Source: BABY, The Stars Shine Bright)

The time has finally come for 6% DOKIDOKI to leave its temporary home at Viz’ San Francisco NEW PEOPLE centerc and return to Harajuku. The store officially closes on Tuesday, September 15th, however they will be going out with a bang by holding a store closing sale starting on Sunday, September 13th. The “THANK YOU” sale promises discounts with some items being marked down to as much as 50% off the original price.

Right next door, the San Francisco BABY, The Stars Shine Bright will offer plenty of things to buy as well. The store will be offering Lucky Packs starting Sunday, September 13th for US $140 in medium and large sizes. According to the San Francisco BABY shop blog, these Lucky Packs offer a different selection from those recently offered on BABY’s Japanese Web site.

I just want to welcome everyone and everybody to the illest blog site EVER! I’m letting you inside my life, showing you the hottest fashions, cars, music, and shit like that.

Keep your ears and eyes open because i’m just getting started.

Ya boy,

DaBree S.O.T.S