Here in (now sunny) Los Angeles, it’s easy to forget a bigger world is out there. But it is; and we’re still a part of it.

As Japan faces the tragedies of the tsunami and the nuclear crisis, even the paradise we call home is starting to feel the pinch. At first, there were fears of radiation traveling across the Pacific. Then, there were just reported shortages everywhere as Japanese manufacturing plants close down. In Hollywood? Simple things like film and tapestock are affecting the television and film world. It’s the little things we take for granted that remind us how much we all depend on each other.

Two weeks ago, we shared some great efforts by artists doing their part. This week, a short message came to our inbox from one of our cool fans, Scott Kitano, wanting to reach out.

An educator and music maker, Scott’s sharing a special album called “Heart Japan ep,” to anyone willing to donate to Japan’s cause. The album includes 3 songs sampled from Japanese vinyl and re-interpreted. Scott infused some chillwave/hiphop beats into the music; you’ll hear some of his Hawaiian DJ’ing experience seeping out of this sample.

“I have always thought that life works to a beat, to a rhythm and music has a very special part in my life. I cannot do anything without having a song shuffling in my memory,” says Scott. Perhaps that’s why he’s expressing his support through music now.

For more info, drop him a line at Esomusicart@gmail.com. Hear his music on the Hearios FB page.

Seeing the photos of the Korean Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo blew me away! The pavilion was designed by Korean architectural firm, Mass Studies with the theme of ‘convergence’ in mind. It’s an amalgamation of ‘sign’ (Korean written language) and ‘space’: signs become spaces, and spaces become signs.

The exterior of the building is made up of 3 dimensional sculptures of the Korean alphabets, Hangul. The positive and negative spaces created by the geometric shapes of the letters invite the audience to interact with the space of the pavilion as well as the system of signs, the language of Korea. What better way to introduce Korea than with the language of Korea itself?

Seeing this building reminded me of the Upcycled Street Banner Bags that we introduced from Korea. The overwhelming popularity of the bags surprised us at first but it’s easy to see the universal appeal and beauty one finds in language, the geometry of lines and spaces.

Gum is a great quasi-food that keeps our mouths salivated and satisfied. But elsewhere, gum litter poses a huge headache for urban sprawls. In Britain alone, the cost it takes to rid the streets of gum is $230 million dollars–3 times more than what is spent on gum itself. So 25-year-old design student, Anna Bullus spent four months in a laboratory testing different ways of creating plastic polymer made of recycled gum; thus spawned the Gumdrop Bin Project. Sprinkled around the streets of central London are bright and buoyant bins that encourage pedestrians to recycle their gum.

The gum collected from these bins are then mixed with secret additives to form a new plastic that Bullus is planning to transform into innovative products like memory foam-like seat cushions called the Chewy Pad:

Can’t wait to see these in Los Angeles!

PowerShovel, Ltd. and the super cool, New Museum in New York will be teaming up NEXT FRIDAY for an exhibition dedicated to the Digital Harinezumi camera! The name of the exhibition, “Imperfect As They Are” is far from the impressive pedigree of video artists they have lined up to showcase their unique take on their Harinezumi world. Unfortunately, this event is invite only, and for one night, but we are sure some these artists will be posting their videos online after the event, and maybe inspire a new generation of video artists around the world!

Some of the artists being exhibited at this event include:

Agnes B, So Yong Kim, Bruce La Bruce, Harmony Korine, Isabel Coixet, Patrice Leconte, Claire Denis, Albert Maysles, Christopher Doyle, Jonas Mekas, Mount Eerie, Erroll Morris, Charlotte Gainsbourg (!!), Chan-Wook Park (!!), Kim Gordon, Kelly Reichardt, Miranda July (!!) and more…

Here are some of the ethereal videos Vimeo users have captured with their Harinezumi’s:

Play all three at the same time and you have an instant video art installation!

We have only a few more in stock at Poketo.com, so get ‘em while they’re still hot!
Digital Harinezumi