31 Mar 2020
Month: March 2020
31 Mar 2020
Japanese Chef Illustrates His Meals for the Last 32 Years
Whether I’m traveling or trying out a new restaurant in my hometown, I often find myself thinking back to previous meals. I’m lucky to have Instagram to capture all of these if not in a post, at least a story. One Japanese chef takes the cake though for his idea!
For the last 32 years, [Itsuo Kobayashi], has been painting his meals in great detail capturing them in notebooks and standalone works.
What stands out is that all of these drawings feature an overhead perspective so that all of the ingredients of the food Kobayashi depicts can be seen. Furthermore, in the blank spaces in his compositions, the artist writes the names and prices of, and his opinions about the food and the ingredients he portrays. He adds positive descriptive words about his subjects, such as “delicious,” so that he may provoke good memories when he later looks at the drawings.
Since starting this project at the age of 18, Kobayashi has created at least 1,000 illustrations.
[Source]
29 Mar 2020
Skateboarding In A Global Pandemic
It’s interesting to be living through this time right now. I rarely leave my house these days unless it’s to go to the local market or to grab a quick coffee and even then, I return right home. Someone that I follow on Instagram has been venturing around different neighborhoods in New York City to capture the emptiness. I think about this a lot too and in a way, want to be able to take these shots of the most quiet San Francisco has ever been. While I may be a bit, risk averse, I am glad to know that others are capturing these moments so that we can always look back on them.
This video, taken in Los Angeles, was actually made in 2014 and is not current.
29 Mar 2020
The Closet: March 2020
[H&M Paper-Bag Pants] – $29.99
Putting together “The Closet” this month hit a little bit differently than usual. With everything going on, the desire to shop or spend money on non-essential belongings just isn’t a priority. However, I don’t want things to stop entirely. The Closet has been a regular post since the very beginning. We can’t help that through this, we’ve now entered spring. What I decided was that it’s important to have choices and to allow all of us to make our own decisions. Me not spending money right now is a personal choice, but for all of you that maybe lean on shopping as a distraction or to have a little joy (like I’ve done before) by all means, go ahead!
Read more “The Closet: March 2020”
29 Mar 2020
5 New Albums We’re Listening To
As much as possible, I want to try and keep some kind of normalcy during this quarantine. Sundays are my days for unwinding so that usually means being in my lounge wear, running errands, getting ready for the week, catching up on new music and television shows. Aside from running errands, we can do almost all of that. I’m also aware that having more time now, I’m able to create new routines for myself. I can spend more time on making a Sunday dinner that will set me up for the week once we return to work. Hopefully that’s not too ambitious!
In the last week five new albums came out that I was anticipating. Technically The Weeknd was the week before, but whatever. Dua Lipa’s album was released a couple weeks early due to it being leaked. I saw that she was upset at the news, but on the upside, it’s truly a bop and one of my new favorites.
If you’re looking for some new music to fill your time, here is what I’m listening to:
- The Weeknd – After Hours
- Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
- PARTYNEXTDOOR – PARTYMOBILE
- Jessie Reyez – BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US
- Little Dragon – New Me, Same Us
28 Mar 2020
Sunday Words
[Source]
28 Mar 2020
#OscarsSoWhite: Asian Leads
During the award show circuit this year, there were constant conversations about how the Oscars continue to be so white. Two pieces of criticism involved both “The Farewell” and “Parasite.” Awkwafina and Lulu Wang didn’t deserve to be snubbed for their work in “The Farewell.” For Parasite, why could they only be recognized for Best Picture, Director or Ensemble and not for the work that the individual actors and actresses did in this film? It was a mystery.
Be Kind Rewind is a YouTube channel that focuses on Hollywood history. In this particular episode, they explore why Asian actors and actresses continue to struggle in 2020 with recognition, but that there has been a long history of it prior. In order for us to change and move forward, we have to understand how it started.
27 Mar 2020
Checking In: The End of Week Two
We made it through two full weeks of working from home with shelter-in-place. It also happens to be the amount of time I would’ve been in self-quarantine regardless after getting back from Thailand. There is still a long road ahead of us. Throughout the two weeks, friends have been checking in with me constantly. Because of my living situation, it was assumed that I’d be lonely or stir-crazy. In reality though, we’ve sort of been built for this.
In the days leading up to today, I noticed a change in myself. The jet lag has come and gone so I knew it wasn’t that. I found that my productivity was dropping. I could get through an hour-long meeting, but find that I needed a break right afterwards. In a normal work day at the office, I could have back-to-back meetings with almost no breaks from start to finish and move to my evening plans with ease. These days, I’m exhausted for no good reason. I should be getting the best sleep of my life at this point now, but I’m not. A few friends described it to me recently: you feel this overwhelming sensation of dread, confusion, sadness, exhaustion, but you don’t know where it comes from and it’s not impacting you directly. You read the news, but it changes constantly and your mind is consumed with information.
It’s unexplainable, but I know this to be true. These aren’t normal work from home days. We are working around a pandemic and yes, in some cases we are lucky… privileged to be able to work from home, have a job, have a home, etc. But our minds go elsewhere.
This morning, I woke up to my Twitter feed as I usually do and I caught this segment of Hoda Kotb on Today. I didn’t even catch the whole segment, just this clip. Upon watching it, I found myself in tears as well. What she expressed on the air is exactly how many of us feel inside. I haven’t cried in weeks, but I recognized that same feeling almost immediately.
There are many long days ahead of us. We are three months in, but already this is the longest year. I hope that all of you can be safe during this time, but to take care of your families and more importantly yourself.
27 Mar 2020
Blog Roundup
- The Women of Instagram [The Everygirl]
- Scotland is the first country to make pads and tampons free [Today]
- Netflix Introduces Daily Top 10 Lists [High Snobiety]
- Here’s What Happens When Guy Fieri Visits A Restaurant [Thrillist]
- Kanye, Out West [New York Times]
- Sound and Vision: Paid Family Rocking [KEXP]
- McDonald’s Introduces New Big Macs [Cool Material]
- I Think About This A Lot: Jack and Meg White Pretending to be Brother and Sister [The Cut]
- 7 Delicious, Creative Ways to Eat Eggs That Don’t Involve Scrambles [Well + Good]
- How Coronavirus is Destroying the Livelihood of Music’s Behind-the-Scenes Workforce [Rolling Stone]
- The 11 Rules Every Man Should Heed to Tidy Up His Closet [Inside Hook]
- Why We Can’t Stop Looking at Photos of Empty Cities [Fast Company]
- The No Equipment Home Workout [Valet Mag]
- You Can Now Download Free Coloring Pages From Over 100 Museums and Libraries [Hypebeast]
- These Famous Logos Have Been Remade for the Coronavirus Age [Ad Age]
- What It’s Like to Self-Quarantine With a Michelin-Starred Chef [Grub Street]
27 Mar 2020
A Spotlight on Upcoming Asian Films
With everything happening with Covid-19, there is no shortage of things to watch. Though movie releases are being pushed back, some television series like our favorite “Killing Eve” is releasing their 3rd season two weeks early. It’s nice to see some small upside in the gloomy times we’re living in. I caught wind of two new movie trailers yesterday though that feature Asian leads.
Sometimes if I share the synopsis, I feel like I’m giving too much away so for now I just want to plug the trailers. Something to look forward to! I think both films will be extremely relatable and I’m excited to watch both.