At the end of March I started moving my things in to the new studio. The term ‘studio’ has such a sexy appeal before you actually move into one. With that terse statement out of the way, I must say I really am enjoying my new place. The new …OK…armor clad knights?…it has only been 25 years since the virus broke out…GUH this movie sucks…*ahem*…the new space is much smaller, but then again, it is only for one person with very few belongings. So I find it very appropriate.

More photos can be seen here in the flickr set.

Staying in the north east quadrant of the city was an appeal for me as I’ve fallen in love with it. I am literally 3 blocks from Burnside and a minute walk from a great coffee shop called Spunky Monkey. They feature their own brewed coffee, weekend waffles, and free internet (a huge plus for yours truly). A very friendly staff is matched only by the awesome baked goods and sandwiches that you would kill your family for…I recommend the sandwich affectionately called Charlotte’s Lament.

Seven blocks north of my new place is a lethal combination of DaVinci Arts Middle School and Steccato Gelato. I am stoked about the middle school as it has a great field for flying kites and playing games. Gelato is gelato.

I am now also much closer to Laurelhurst Park which I discovered this weekend. Aside from the pond algae problem I read about, it is quite a beautiful place to read, eat, and relax on these wonderful days Portland is experiencing.

As far as the work commute, I am now back in bike riding season, so it is pretty easy to coast down Sandy, to the new Sandy/Couch coupling project (nice work by the way Sam Adams), and ease down Burnside to the office just a proud 3 blocks south from there. In September iDL Worldwide is moving to a great new building in the park blocks in the Pearl District. This will be great as then I will be able to practically spit on Powell’s Technical Bookstore. I won’t spit on it though; however, I will buy copious amounts of math/science/and technical books.

This is a good new place. I am pretty sure I will be here for a bit while I save for something a little more permanent.

-Gabe

So where was I? Ah, yes. Wednesday and Thursday. Let’s start with the play-list:

March 10:

• Tresspassers William_Different Stars
• Moby_Everything is Wrong
• James Brown_The Godfather
• Saul Williams_Amethyst Rockstar
• Yoav_Charmed & Strange
• Sage Francis_A Healthy Distrust
• Unkle_Never, Never Land
• Radiohead_Talk Show Host
• Serart_Self Titled

March 11 (The longest day of my life, literally):

• Andres Segovia_The Art of Segovia 1&2
• Radiohead_In Rainbows
• Mirror’s Edge_Original Score
• Me & You & Everyone We Know_Original Soundtrack
• DJ Shadow_The Outsider
• Sage Francis_The Human Death Dance
• Solar Fields_Randomized Tracks
• Sarah McLachlan_Surfacing
• M83_Before the Dawn Heals Us
• Dieselboy_The 6ixth Session
• Jose Gonzalez_Veneer

Alright. With that outta the way. Let’s talk the experience.

So Wednesday I got up in the morning. (a good time to do it). I walked over to wake up at Odaiba park some more. I was hoping to get into the science and tech museum but they opened a little later that I had time for. I wafted back to the conference hall to have lunch with my co-worker. I noticed a wonderful social etiquette behavior take place within the hall. Everyone eating on the benches faced away from each other.

Eat back to back

I was one of 2 a-holes that decided to not follow suit. It felt pretty punk rock.

So through lunch I could barely focus on the conversation I was having with Ed, the co-worker. My mind was filled with all of the places I wanted to go and see. The bento tasted a little gamey, but made for good walking fuel. I then bowed out of the conference and walked to the local mall to do a retail audit and begin an adventure of architecture and yumminess.  I can’t say much about the mall  experience (if you are super interested, some of the photos from that can be seen in the architecture folder here.)

After the walk to the mall, I was feeling a little beat. So I came to the hotel room to rest a bit and watch some TV.

Funny thing about television. It encapsulates and compresses culture in such a fantastically truncated way, that you can really see the boiled down stereotypes and cultural symbolism in its purest uncut form. The above was from a kids show explaining the turning of the seasons from winter to spring.

After my break, I did a freaking huge architecture walk from deep Ariake to deep Ginza. It was about a 6 mile walk in total, but because of my pacing, it felt to be around 10 miles. Too many photos to post here, but again the link to the architecture set is here.

One of my favorites though was the eternal chase I had trying to see the Eiffel Tower. It must have been huge. On the skyline it appears to be right across the bridge, but the closer I thought I was getting, the further it appeared. It played as my leader while I scouted other awesome buildings.

Lots of buildings seen. My favorite shot of the evening below:

I was outside of an athletic club. The sun had set and I was beat. Time to head to the hotel, pack and prepare for a long ass day of travel.

In the morning, I woke up and stumbled into the bathroom and spotted a wonderful little refraction of rainbow on the bathroom wall. A nice little morning goodbye from my neat little bathroom before I headed back.

Long story short as far as the ‘commute’ back to Portland, I traveled back to Narita airport and waited a good chunk of time for my flight before flying for -8 hours. I ate lots of noodles, shopped a little, and drew. Milk tea is great.  I took off at 5P and landed at 9A that same day. Such a strange and long day. I came home to a completely f’d circadian rhythm and a short fuse of a timeline to find a new place to live…(but I’ll leave that for a future blog).

To summarize, Japan was an amazing experience. I have a hunch I’ll be back there in the future for business or recreation and have another humbling experience in one of the most polite and ‘smart’ places I’ve ever been. Thanks for reading.

A woman and her child racing across the "Dream Bridge" in Ariake

I stumbled down the hallway to the vending machine and bought a coffee. 3 of them in fact as the typical coffee is served in about 6 ounce servings. My American gut craved MORE. ~7 dollars worth later and I was only partially satisfied as I milked the teat of the machine like a sinner at a prayer bench.

I washed up in the awesome shower and got myself into form before heading over to Tokyo Big Sight. I had arrived about an hour and a half early so I decided to sit and people watch. There was an “international lounge”, however I didn’t feeling like talking to anyone in broken “insert whatever native tongue they spoke here” with as little caffeine in my system as I had. It was turning into Fear and Loathing in Ariake real quick. Thankfully you don’t have to go very far before bumping into another vending machine where I downed another 6 ounces off brown-juice.

Finally, guest check-in started and I was able to get my pass and meander the show. I saw many awesome vendors and material samples.

I’d love to show you all the show pictures, but I’m considering them IDL Worldwide property, so unfortunately, I can’t…but here is a little montage of some of the booths with thier awesome construction.

After about 3 hours of the show, I also hit the Retail Tech show, LED Today, Security Show, and a couple others. It was massive. To walk the entire show and hit every vendor would’ve taken about a week. I was pretty hungry so I went to the bento cart and had some chicken and pickled radish. Very tasty. After that, I decided it was time to head back to the hotel and put on my walking shoes.

No, just kidding. I wore my Vibram Five Fingers. So good for walking Odaiba Park.

Why did I walk Odaiba Park you ask? Because I was desperately looking for this-

I must’ve walked 10 miles through the park and surrounding territories with zero success. It was quite maddening. However, there were some good things to see regardless. Lady Liberty was there, an immense amount of crains, beautiful architecture, and a bit of cultural informing. I learned all about the way pedestrians move in Japan is quite different from the US; they pass on the right and as such, make me look like a douche. It took a bit of getting used to veering in the new direction, but after awhile it made total sense (considering they also drive on the opposing side than Americans. Second to this, which I think is an unintended side effect, considering that 71.1%* percent of people are ‘right-eyed’ when you pass on the right, you are more likely to look up and see the person you are passing, thus making for more real organic interactions with the people you encounter on your way. JUST A THEORY…obviously.

Odaiba Park

As the day went on and my legs started to die, I eventually, around 6p, ventured back to the hotel for a much needed shower and change of clothes. I then snacked on a clif bar before watching a little television, and mentally preparing for walk-a-thon 2010. Wednesday I had planned on an intensive day of walking through retail environments, more park and community studies, and architecture photo-walks. I’m pretty sure I heard my legs weeping…or at least that is what I am calling the noise…hahaha.

Next up: Arigato! Mr. Gaboto

March 9th Play-list:

• Telepopmusik_Breath
• Blade Runner Soundtrack
• Boards of Canada_A Campfire Headphase
• Sting & The Police_Roxanne
• Tycho_Coastal Brake

The mild lighting and Flaming Lips was a welcome shelter from the chilly outdoors. The smell of the smoke was still lightly permeated through the walls from when it was smoke friendly establishment. The modern prints of Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, and Bjork were a far cry from low hung chalk drawings and the Spanish temperament I had known before. Lesa and I sat in the back of the lounge against a pretty cushy bench and waited for our friends to arrive. After scanning the menu and ordering a drink, the friends sat down and we made our choices. I was reminded by, whom I assume was the owner, that this was NOT Colosso. This was prompted by my disappointed sighs while asking for clams…a guy has to try yeah?…8)

Bjork Print

Round the table we went. I ordered Herb Grilled Calamari with a side of fries and some kimchi. Rebecca had the Roast Chicken Breast. Constantine, the Smoked Tomato Strozzapreti. Adam, the Lomito. Last, but not least, Lesa ordered the Swift Burger. Meanwhile I had finished my Coke. I guess I was pretty thirsty last night as I had about 4 of them. Good mix. Lesa had ordered the Sweet Tea Vodka which was served with a clove infused slice of lemon; served hot.

Swift Lounge Menu

When the meals arrived, I took inventory of the plating almost immediately. Adam and Lesa’s sandwiches were almost immediately wetting the plate as the buns weren’t grilled. The Swift Burger was an intimidating monolith of bun and meat. The Memphis relish was, as Lesa put it, “very tangy”. It scored 6.5/10 based on taste and experience.

Swift Burger

Adam had similar issues with “juicing” on the plate for the Lomito. Ranked 5/10 based on taste and experience.

Lomito

Constantine was happy with the music, but stated that it was a little loud. His food was not to his satisfaction, however he scored it 6/10 based on taste and experience.

Smoked Tomato Strozzapreti

Rebecca was absolutely enthralled with the Roast Chicken Breast. Score of 9/10 based on taste and experience…apparently the skin is really tasty.

Roast Chicken Breast

I enjoyed marvelled at the flavor dance party that occurred in my mouth when I tried the Calamari. 8/10 based on dance party in mouth. The kimchi was close to what I imagine eating an aborted fetus might taste like cold. I can’t recommend it. I think it was a matter of eating cold with hot (Kimchi/Calamari) that made it taste so egregiously horrible. The fries were super tasty though.

Calamari, Fries, Kimchi

Overall, after everything is said and done, I’d recommend this place as an awesome place to at least try. It is a little hit or miss, but I can say with full confidence that the Calamari is spot on. Overall score 7/10 based on experience, cleanliness, tasty dance party, and cushy welcome cave out of the snow. I can’t wait to try the place in the summer–I bet the burger will go PERFECT with a nice calm evening of jazz. You can check out the complete menu on their website – http://www.swift-lounge.com/

~G

I’ve taken it upon myself to really assess what my temperature levels are on any given day as far as temperament and emotional symbiont balance. The other day I was on a conference call with a dozen or so people and wound up blowing up at a co-worker. I was able, at the same time , to watch my physical change as this was happening. My body got so tense, that I had to stand up and walk around the office while on the call. Normally, as far as being prompted to explode, I am like a grass reed that just flexes with the wind. It could be chemical, it could be intolerance for disrespect, or it could just be my own disability to put things into context. I’m not sure. I did feel bad though after all was said and done. I don’t like loosing my cool…especially when I do it and direct it at a fellow human being. We’re all just trying to live, yeah?

On a more positive note, I got the Sprint production photos back from the photographer – Michael Floyd. Super cool dude. We met up, along with the Sprint account manager at the store and I directed the shots. Some will be posted shortly on www.idlww.com. I’ll make a case study in the next few days for my website. Stay tuned for that.

Today, in a bit, I’m going to run over to Goodwill to buy some shitty art. My airplane friend Rachel is holding a ShArty at her house. Shitty Art Party-You buy shitty art, and try by whatever means to make it worse. My good friend iLan lived at a house where they did this up in Seattle. I love the idea. It is probably the only kind of party that I could go to and not feel socially awkward. I will be sure to take photos by the end of the night…some before and after pictures for sure.

Reader Poll-Do you drink hot tea at home? If so, what do you dislike about your kettle design? What do you like? Do you drink tea for some sense of comfort, medicinal, nostalgic reason? Let me know!

~G

Tonight I had the best Reuben. Ever.

In fact, it was so good, that I had to order a second to take home, photograph, eat, and blog about. Don’t believe me?

Glutton

Riding my bike in search for a place to eat, I generally stay away from places that I feel I could get hepatitis from just looking at. Then again, these gems have some amazing food. I didn’t let the couple, that I am pretty sure were penetrating each other with swaths of affection, stop me from walking into “My Father’s Place” at 523 SE Grand Ave. The ceiling cladded with musical instruments, mining gear, and tin trucks, welcomes you with a playful dangle. I was greeting my the cook, Morris (I think that was his name). He proceeded to tell me this story about a panhandler, and in a whispery voice, “I was taking a shit and…” I tuned out, but nodded none the less. I was a little nervous.

I sat down, glanced over the menu of typical bar foods: breakfast all day, spaghetti, seafood platter, etc…Reuben…DING! It is one of the few surviving forms of epicurean gut-check for an establishment such as this. Fast forward to chills of happiness and misty eyes. I order a second to take home and start a clumsy bike ride home swinging my bag of magic back and forth as I try to signal my turns, brake, and stay on my bike all at once.

Home-

Bag of magic

Meatness is high.

The meat is so good. It breaks apart with the kraut and melts in your mouth. That is my biggest complaint with all other Reubens. The meat always sticks together with the fat. In this one though, the meat/fat ratio is perfect. Very little fat. Lots of butter, so a whole lot of fat. And I am pretty sure he put heroin in it because I am already getting the sweats/chills/shakes. I need another.

NEED.

If you ever pass the place (you’ll see two people practically having sex on the table outside*) go IN!

~Gabe

*By the time I left, he was showing her how to properly choke someone out. It was pretty amazingly random.

My morning started with a lovely little note on the inside of the bedroom door, letting me know that we had some sleeping guests downstairs and not to go down there in the buff. After silently getting out of the house, I rode my bike down town before the conference to get some breakfast. I stopped by my favorite Peet’s Coffee and Tea for coffee and then rode around brainstorming where to eat. I didn’t want my usual Bijou mushroom and Grafton cheddar omelet, so I thought I’d stop by Elephants Deli and grab a burrito…closed! Well, I rode around until finally surrendering to The Heathman’s restaurant next to the venue. I ordered the eggs/potatoes/toast plate. The food was mildly bland with a hint of ‘meh’. I met up with creative director Jeff Brummer, his wife, and graphic designer David Gurley.

After breakfast we headed into the venue, and took our seats front row right in front of the podium. After about 15 minutes after seating, the show started.

First up was “On Your Feet’, an awesome corporate improv group that really engages the audience and makes them interact in unique ways. This year was an informal card exchange between members of the audience. You were given two 5×7 cards at the beginning of the show. On the back of the cards, you were to write down something you did to get creatively unstuck. This reminded me of the last cre8camp I was at where we had a large round table discussion on getting unstuck. Cards were exchanged between audience members and also passed down to make a wall of ideas in the venue lobby. Mass idea generation is awesome.

Next up was Dan Wieden of Wieden & Kennedy. Humbling to say the least, but he had an intense assortment of insights as far as creative process and work ethics were concerned. To top the list-”Come to work stupid” every day and “Fail Harder” were the ones that resonated the most. This was all folded within emotional advertisement examples such as “The Girl Effect” as well as the most impactful Levi’s ad ever made(watch it with good, bass heavy, headphones. The audio is a wax recording from 1888 Walt Whitman. It really brought back the American appeal/culture to the denim. I might go get a pair of 501s today. Dan wrapped things up with some poetry and prose and spoke about his youth camp Caldera.

Jennifer Jako showed true humility as anyone would following Dan Wieden. She is the owner of Fix Studio. As an interior designer she helps local businiesses realize the value of space by bringing in her expertise. After her speech, which felt formulaic and hibited, during the Q&A, a lady in the audience commented how she remembered meeting Mrs. Jako 18 years ago when she was still a receptionist and was so proud of her for making it this far. This is pretty profound as she has AIDS and has not deterred her from becoming successful and from what I could make out, happy. At this point the formulaic and hibited aura melted away and alas, a genuine person stood on stage before us. It was really beautiful to see that metamorphosis happen right before my eyes.

Flash Choir happened here…meh. (Thanks Joe for the input)

Lunch break-I was able to get back down to Elephant’s Deli and have a wonderful sandwich in the grass in the park blocks. So relaxing. I washed the sandwich down with a small San Pelligrino. I had a bit of a sweet tooth, so I trotted over to Cacao and had an awesome shot of cinnamon infused drinking chocolate before heading back for the second half of the show.

During the time I spend waiting for the next speaker, I met Shannon Henry (@spiralshannon) who designs and fabricates math based art artifacts such as jewelry and accessories. Buy them! She was super nice and came to sit with our group.

Finally to warm the crowd back up, On Your Feet came back on stage to sing the synopsis of The Artist’s Way. Well done.

Jerry Ketel was up next, opening his speech with a poem (The Quest by Richard Rogers) about the search for hip hop. Quite beautiful and an obvious metaphor for the search for creativity. He spoke about intersections of ideas and that there were the jewels of creativity. Metaphor. Layering. He called it cross , dressing thinking. Actually it was a damn brilliant way to pose his techniques for explaining how he gets into his creative space and how he looks at problems as well as solves them.

Now before I go on, I’d like to note that at this point Jerry had really stirred the pot when he left the stage after undressing and putting on a dress to nail down his point of ‘cross dresser thinking’. It really lit a fire and the energy in the room was great. A wave perfect for the next speaker to ride.

The next speaker really knocked the socks off of everyone. Emek. Holy crap. This man is phenomenal. Even though, to be honest, his speech struck me more as self promotion rather than a monologue on creativity and capturing how to get into the zone. I realize that this conference isn’t a how-to, but I think Ketel did a better job capturing theory. With that said, seeing the amazing amount of work, materials, and processes that this guy  puts into his work was really inspiring. Clients ranged from The Flaming Lips to Erykah Badu to The Decemberists. You can check out his work here.

Teresa Drilling came up next with a profound portfolio of stop motion animation from Coraline to Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Most of her inspiring words were about coming up in the industry and patience…lots of patience. I think the thing I took away most from her speech is the idea that you have to be obsessed with what you love for anything to happen at all with it. I really wish I had paid more attention to what she was saying but I was so distracted by her awesome limited edition Coraline Nikes that I couldn’t focus and could only think about asking her to raise them up so I could get a better view…and I did during the Q&A.

10 minute break.

Local product designer Scott Peterson took the stage next with a presentation on creative process. His attitude of wearing many hats depending on the situation waxed true. Especially since I relate on a day to day basis per my profession.

I should mention between every speaker Rick Emerson of KUFO came out as the MC and did a little monkey dance to keep the crowd smiling. Great charisma.

Now, when Larry Brooks came on stage I can honestly say I had some insecurities of some jock dude telling me how to be creative. I really need to apologize for those misguided thoughts. He was hilarious! Great guy, kind hearted, booming personality. I think he is the reason I woke up early to seize the day today. My favorite part was when he held up a Terry Brooks novel and admitted that he used to go to the bookstore and cover the “T” and “E” with his thumb just to see what his name might look like on the cover of a book. It showed real humility and honest humanity. I’d love to have a coffee with that guy. Also thumb wrestle.

The second to last speaker of the evening was one of the the executive producers of The Simpsons-Bill Oakley. Looking like he just rolled out of his flight from LA to Portland (Yes I am aware he lives here now) he talked about the 3 phases of writing through a project that he uses: 1. The Big Idea 2. The Broad Strokes and 3.The details. I actually thought what he said about faking yourself into believing that the brunt of your hard work is done just to keep momentum on a project was brilliant. Even though, I’m not sure how healthy it is to consistently lie to yourself. I should know, I’ve been doing it for years….oh snap!

Wrapping up the conference through improv comedy was, again, On Your Feet. With 3 performers acted out the conference in full a la Cliff Notes meets The Far Side. Great performance.

The final speaker was Mayor Sam Adams. He had a busy day of events. He spoke briefly on CAN a group that lobbies for money for arts education in k-12. He dismissed the conference to the after party in the street just north of the theater. Lots of elbow rubbing and that sort of jazz. Not really my speed, so I headed to the office for a minute before retreating back home.

To sum it all up, this is a great conference and I hope you attend it next year. The Portland creative community is HUGE and awesome. Get involved.

A special thanks to IDL Worldwide for making it possible for me to attend this as well as many other amazing events.

If you’d like to read more, head over to Phillip Kerman’s site for another great run down of the haps.

You can also see some awesome photography of the event at Scott Hubers Flickr page. I sat next to him through  this and he kept making all of these weird clicking noises. Hey buddy you wanna click? You click over there with your awesome fancy camera that I wanted to lick.

NOTE-I want to just mention sometime before lunch there was a Flash Choir that took place in the conference. But I don’t remember chronologically if it happened before Jennifer Jako or who? Let me know and I will update this. Thanks. Kudos to Joe for filling this blank above.

Enjoy your Sunday people!

~G

I saw horses, sheep, goats, lambs, and horse turds…lots of horse turds.

I was hoping to 100 miles this weekend, but I really think I am going to let my body rest up as this was quite more than I am used to riding.

Awesome stuff though. At one point on the trail you can see Mt. Hood really well. It was a gorgeous day out to ride. Eventually the sun got the best of me and I had to lay down a few times in the shade to recharge. I am what you call,  “anti-solar powered”.

Happy 4th of July everybody. Stay safe and have a blast!

~G

It was an unexpected bike and shoot, so all of my shots are via cell phone.

I think my favorite part of the ride was having to pause my order water and orange sherbet at Lovecup and run across the street to the Black Cat Pub for an surprise ATM need. When I came in, it was a hole in the wall joint with some awesome pinball machines and great B’art. Meanwhile Civil War by Guns N’ Roses is playing on the juke box. Freakin’ awesome.

aqua teen hunger force number 1 in the hood g

Pimp! Now it is time to get ready for our friends wedding reception. I can’t wait to eat and hang out with them!

So there has been a lot of metaphysical aggregation going on around me lately. It all started a couple weeks ago while chatting up about life and death. Mortality thoughts raging around. Kinda depressing, but that’s that. It then boiled down to creation of art/thoughts and ideas. This is all accompanied by my slugging through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Then I meet this awesome dude named Glyn from the other side of the pond and we get talking on astral projection, lucid dreams, all that gooey stuff.

Yesterday  I spent the better half of yesterday on some awesome Japanese modern art blogs looking for inspiration on a Starbucks project that I’m working on. As anything else at extended exposure, the creativity really embedded in my head. Now I am itching to do some cool photography/video art. I sometimes think to myself, “Why try? There is so much freaking cool stuff out there!” …I realise that this is sort of a glass half empty type of attitude. I am now thinking about that is exactly why a person should create. Brick and mortar baby. It’s all about damascus type evolution. Sure eventually your stuff may be obsolete, but you helped inspire the next. So special thanks to any one’s stuff I have seen as it is acting as a never ending always growing launch pad for me and everyone else to become inspired and higher. Like pulling a perfect game of Barrel of Monkeys!

Also thank you to Roy Tanck for his wp-cumulus tag cloud plug-in. I love it!

~Gabe