May 8, 2008
Adobe Media Player
With the recent release of Adobe Media Player, its clear that the San Jose based company hopes to challenge Apple's seemingly unassailable hold on the new media marketplace.
AMP version 1.0 offers streaming video from established content producers such as CBS, MTV and Comedy Central. There are also shows from smaller internet based production companies like Revision3 and Wizzard Media. For geeky-types who can't get enough of Photoshop and Illustrator how-tos, there's a whole channel (Adobe TV) dedicated to tutorials.
In addition to streaming video, AMP's use of Adobe's new AIR software means that users can watch content both on and offline.
Why should you care?
For starters, having only one media player (iTunes) dominate the player market is bad for media consumers as well as content producers. Browsing podcasts in iTunes is akin to finding a summer movie that doesn't contain at least one exploding helicopter: possible, but highly unlikely.
Podcast producers have long complained about Apple's Billboard-like ranking system which has increasingly promoted high-budget/mainstream fare over low-budget shows of similar quality.
Similarly, podcasts which fail to be 'featured' on the front page of the iTunes store tend to vanish into obscurity, or can be downloaded exclusively from the producer's website (much the same thing).
Add to this AMPs AIR-driven fast loading times and aesthetic appeal, the benefits for both consumers and producers are obvious.
Conspicuous in their absence from this first release are features such as social networking (eg. the ability to embed content in a user's webpage), audio-only podcasts as well as the ability for podcasters to submit shows as they would with iTunes. These are slated for inclusion in subsequent versions.
You'll find the software here (free download).
Posted by Marcus at 3:23 PM
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Sunday in the park
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Daido Moriyama: two for one
In the coming weeks The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography will play host to a pair of exhibitions by Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama. From May 13th - June 29, a retrospective of Moriyama's work will take place on the third floor, whilst on the second floor visitors will be treated to a more recent collection of images, entitled 'Hawaii'.
Moriyama is one of the best known Japanese photographers of the post-war era. His grainy black and white images of mangy animals, outstretched limbs and faded street posters are voyeuristic and often confronting. While many will cite Warhol's influence, Moriyama's photographs remind me of Weegee (but intellectually superior – no hustler mixed in with that bravado).
The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography is located in Meguro-ku, not far from Ebisu station. You'll find directions to the museum here.
Posted by Marcus at 12:04 AM
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May 2, 2008
Natural Groove Inn
Posted by Marcus at 12:24 AM
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May 1, 2008
Jean Snow
I've been meaning to write something about Jean Snow's design and pop culture blog for a long time. Without doubt, Snow's site is one of the best places to go for what's happening in Tokyo's often chaotic art and design scene.
On the landing page to his site, he describes himself as someone who, "lives and breathes design and pop culture in Tokyo -- sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes." And this is exactly what you get - an eclectic mix of design news, pop culture, gallery reviews and J-POP.
In addition to his website, Snow contributes to a number of other websites and publications, such as Gizmodo, The Japan Times and the Superfuture Superguides.
Snow is also responsible for introducing me to the joys of buying t-shirts online. Since reading about Threadless on Snow's site a few years ago, I must have bought ten of their designs. Perhaps Snow should ask to be put on the payroll?
Posted by Marcus at 5:51 PM
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April 28, 2008
東京ハウリングレコード (Tokyo Howling Record)
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April 27, 2008
A Century of Pictures
Melbourne's The Age newspaper has put together an excellent multimedia presentation to celebrate 100 years of photography in the publication. Entitled "A Century of Pictures", the slideshow brings together some of the most memorable images captured by The Age's photographers.
The presentation is divided into seven sections: War, Daily Life, Sport, People, Breaking News, Football (it says something about Melbourne's love for the game that it gets its own category) and Fashion. There are some brilliant photographs - my favourites include Neville Bowler's picture of floods in central Melbourne and Julian Kingma's portrait of Dylan Lewis (above).
Some readers will be aware that my own grandfather was at one stage pictorial editor of the newspaper. Although he died before I was born, I had the good fortune to meet some of his colleagues and hear (often apocryphal) anecdotes about life in the newsroom. A story by journalist Alan Attwood, "Being There" describes what it was like for young reporters to travel to assignments with older, wiser photographers:
"Photographers drove; some much better (meaning slower) than others. In return, our job was later to supply such tiresome details as the correct spelling of the names of picture subjects. For young reporters, such drives represented opportunities to absorb the wisdom of tribal elders. We listened to lectures that invariably began with a denunciation of the job in hand ("Why are we bothering with crap like this?"), moved on to pungent character assassination of newspaper executives ("What would they *&%#ing know anyway?"), then progressed to an update on the photographer's love-life or marriage, which weren't always the same thing."
Overall, the presentation and accompanying article are well worth your time. I've just one criticism, though. The music that accompanies the presentation is downright annoying, especially the second time round. I strongly recommend that you switch it off before viewing the slideshow.
Posted by Marcus at 9:10 AM
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April 26, 2008
Zojoji
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April 25, 2008
Punk
Posted by Marcus at 11:57 AM
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April 23, 2008
Parasol
Posted by Marcus at 10:02 AM
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April 22, 2008
Station Close
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April 21, 2008
"Home, Driver."
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April 17, 2008
Spain
I've just returned from Spain, where I spent a fantastic 10 days sampling tapas, wandering Moorish palaces and (naturally enough) taking a few photographs. The itinerary took in Madrid and then two of the great cities of Andalusia - Seville and Granada. The highlight was undoubtedly Alhambra, the famous fortress and palace complex high above Granada.
If you are interested to see more, click on the photo above for a slideshow.
Posted by Marcus at 1:20 PM
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