Ain't No Crossing Like Shibuya Crossing

'Cause Shibuya Crossing don't stop. Seriously. The above pic is just one direction (of about five) that are waiting for the light to change at one of the world's most famous scramble crossings. And when the light does change, you're moving – into a mass of people coming the opposite direction. It's amazing it works at all.

So, I'm falling woefully behind on my bloggin on this trip. I think it may be because Tokyo – and by extension one's time spent here – is so densely packed. I may have to circle back and do a big recap (or a few) at the end of the trip.

Off to dinner at Ten-Ichi Deux. Number 7 on this list from the Guardian.

UPDATE: We can now unequivocally tell you that it is hard to find sh*t in Tokyo. Particularly smaller shops, restaurants, etc. Now that we've got the metro down, we were thinking we're cool and we'd ride back to Ginza tonight, hop off the metro and walk right to Ten-Ichi Deux. Well, between getting on the metro and getting off, we somehow realized we weren't really sure of a. which exit (of about 10) to take out of the Ginza metro stop or b. which way to walk once we got out. So, after consulting a couple of maps (we usually have at least two different maps on us), to no avail and I ready to give up and eat somewhere else and Hol ready to just give up walking and take a cab, Hol took charge and flagged us a cab. We got in. The cab driver did the Tokyo cab driver thing. Drove us in what amounted to about a six block semi-circle and dumped us roughly four blocks from where we'd been and told us to ask the cop on the corner (Either that or consult the large map. There was one of each on the corner.) So, we first consulted the large map. Again to no avail – almost every map of Tokyo is different enough from another that you've got to cross-reference at least two. But, still no luck in pin-pointing Ten-Ichi Deux. Okay, Hol asks the cop. He goes into the open-faced mini-station on the corner grabs us a map and basically tells us "good luck" (With a smile, of course. Everyone in Tokyo is unfailingly polite and smiling.) So, assuming we've got to be close, we walk up to the mini-mallish (Stores that are essentially a collection of boutiques are big in Tokyo) building on the corner right behind the police outpost and what do we see on the sign? Ten-Ichi Deux! On the ground floor! We're on the ground floor! This is great! So, we walk in and walk through the whole ground floor... No TI2 anywhere. We walk back to the door we came in, notice the mall map by the elevators and... the restaurant in on the other side of the mall with only an outside entrance. You know it's hard to find sh*t when the cab drivers and the cops (standing right in front of the building!) don't know where sh*t is. Dinner was great.
Police sub-station on left with peaked roof. Mall out of frame at left. Also worth noting, while it's not anything I'd call a trend, a relatively large number of people wear face masks (relative to "none" in the US). We're not sure if it's because they are sick or don't want to get sick.

Niki de St. Phalle

A couple of weekends ago, Hol and I went to the Niki show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I've been meaning to post a gallery of the photos we took. And, finally, here it is.

My previous exposure to Niki de St. Phalle's work had been Stravinsky Fountain at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the pieces at St. Louis' own Laumeier Sculpture Park (one acquired and another two on loan for a number of years that happened to be in the MoBoGa show). I've been thoroughly enamored of that work I'd been familiar with but none of it prepared me for how absolutely astonishing a collection of this magnitude was.

If you're in or near St. Louis before October 31, I highly recommend you go.

Image: La Poète et sa muse

"So good, so far?"

About midway through our CHI weekend our very friendly and attentive ESL waitress at Puck's in the MCA uttered the headline of this post. And indeed the weekend had been so good, so far. The Seed Conference was thought-provoking and inspirational. The Koons show we had just taken in was fantastic and extraordinary.

I'd only ramble if I started a post about Seed (the speakers provided sooo much to think about) , but I will give you this: if you're interested in wine and/or the power of self branding you need to check out Gary Vaynerchuk and his Wine Library TV. He was unexpected, impassioned and hilarious and possibly the high point of the conference.

Also of note, was the truly remarkable dinner we had at Japonais on Thursday night.

There was one clear highlight however. It was when our Puck's waitress asked us at toward the end of our lunch, "Did you make room for lunch dessert?" If you don't think that's hilarious – we did – I can't help you. [Of course, it would help if I told the story right. – Ed.]

The Chicago Two

We're headed to CHI today for a long weekend. Though I don't think we'll be inciting any riots.

I decided a month or two ago to attend the third annual Seed Conference – a "one day conference on design, entrepreneurship and inspiration" – featuring some speakers whose work I've been a fan of for quite some time – particularly Carlos Segura, founder of pioneering digital type foundry T.26 and Jim Coudal, founder of creatively inspiring Coudal Partners. I was sold when I read the following:

You should attend if you’re a designer (print, web or video) or a business-minded soul who is looking to take creative ideas and turn them into something SATISFYING & BANKABLE.

So, that's my Friday. Hol will be having a "spa day" at either exhale or the spa at our hotel, the James. She's been poring over the offerings of each for days.

Saturday, we're heading to the Jeff Koons show at the MCA. [Thx for the heads up dad!]

And, if I know us, we'll probably squeeze in a little shopping around all that. And, I may post updates during the weekend, but I can't say for sure.

Note: The image you may recognize as Bonnie and Clyde – who, as far as I can tell didn't operate much, if at all, in Chicago.

The "What'up Dog?" Days of Summer.

July has been a slow month for WTF. It may be because we've been having such phenomenal weather here in the STL – "This sh*t is like southern California!", I've remarked excitedly on more than one occasion – that we've been spending a lot of time outside before Global Warming f*cks everything up.

[When you need knowledge dropped who better than alterna-rapper Dr. Octagon to get the point across? The vid is like School House Rock in it's effective communication of the issue – "Trees are dying." Nuff said. – Ed.]

The Weekends Are Made For...

Not getting my sh*t together and blogging something of substance. Which is why you’re looking at picture of Loverboy – they recorded a song that had the word, 'weekend' in the title. It’s a simple as that.

[BTW: Their 1981 hit album, Get Lucky – which contained the song alluded to above, Working for the Weekend – was the only piece of music I ever purchased which I then later, when I’d moved wholeheartedly into my goth/punk phase, purposefully destroyed. And then much later, when my sense of post-modern, ironic appreciation had more fully developed, regretted having destroyed. – Ed.]

And, while I was thinking about the weekend and since I (sort of) have WednesdayThursdayFriday.com locked up. I thought I'd check out what’s happening with the weekend – Saturday.com and Sunday.com. Saturday is a real missed opportunity – someone should snap that up – if it really is free. And, Sunday’s just a bit of a weird surprise. This is the best we can do for the Saturday and Sunday domains? Unimpressed, I started the weekend early and checked Friday.com. Again, a real wasted opportunity. It looks like something might be going on – but it’s not.

It’s only when I looked at FridaySaturdaySunday.com – clearly named by someone with similar sensibilities with regard to day-based domain nomenclature – that somebody was finally doing something with the weekend.

Next Week: Monday and Tuesday.