…you can also see your friends graduate! Congrats out to the homey Lindsay Ross for graduating from Art Center Pasadena. His major, if you can’t tell, is transportation design, and last Friday I went out to the campus to check out his projects on display. I especially liked his BMW LMR (Le Mans Racer) concept, which was intended to be a fusion between F1 and the BMW M series.

While I’m not terribly familiar with Transportation design, the LMR concept he did was cool because it seemed realistic, rather than some comic book race car. Also, since he builds cars and races (real cars) in his free time, I think a lot of his motorsports background helps to give him a realistic, purpose driven approach to his work.

He also did a few other cars, including the Lotus project shown in the bottom right as well as another SUV concept. For some of these projects, I’d had seen them from time to time when he was building them (or in drawing phase), so to see it completed brings it full circle.

His Maserati project was stunning, which from my understanding mimics the fluidity of moving cloth, specifically in the way its displayed on marble statues.

I’d be trippin balls if I found myself following this on the 5 freeway. LOL.

The wheels were made from a 3D molding machine, which actually is able to form 3D objects in real time, layer by layer. I might be totally wrong, and I sure didn’t attend Art Center, so don’t quote me on it. Either way it’s cool and super concave!

Thanks to Amanda Lam for the pics / hosted by www.larrychendesign.com

Lost a handful of resumes..please resend!

Brand Endless International Corp. (exclusive North American importer for Endless/ZEAL, AME Wheels, and CraftSquare) is currently seeking to fill an internship position.

Requirements are as follows:

-Eagerness to take advantage of the unique environment and opportunities that a small company has to offer.
-Ability to absorb and utilize the various types of information related within this industry.
-An overall interest in building communication skills, offering great customer service and networking on all levels.
-An interest in volunteering and attending events, races, meets, trade shows, etc.
-A hard worker with initiative and a proactive, patient, future-building outlook on life.

Hours/Days are flexible. Currently we are seeking to fill a non-paid internship/experience position. Perks available. If you possess long-term interest with the freedom to grow within the high-end sector of the aftermarket and/or motorsports industry, this experience may be invaluable. If you are close to Huntington Beach and are interested, send resume to kent[at]brand-endless.com

Had to share these sweet delicacies from my last China trip. The last time I ate these I was still drunk and hung over at the same time.

Unfortunately, this time I was hungry and sober. Local favorite. Available at Ito Yokado supermarket in the area. Great. Bread fried in lard and filled with flaked donkey meat. Lovely.

On a brighter note, things are changing so much in China. They just passed a law that mandates workers to receive overtime pay (if working overtime). So alot of companies are going out of business since they made people work 7 days a week with no overtime pay. Workers are getting more rights. Companies can’t take advantage of them as much, but don’t get me wrong, it’s still totally exploited. So many chemicals in Chinese food. No more unagi (eel) can be imported to Japan from China due to the extreme amount of pesticides, growth hormones and vet grade medicines found in the food.

…this song might be a good reason to start.

First off, credit goes to Kent for finding this gem, as I was completely unknowing about Samurai Champloo, an anime series from Japan (circa 2004-05). Song is “Sincerely,” by Force of Nature & Tsutchie. I’m sure all the anime heads are gonna tell me W-T-L-W and call me a noob, but oh well. I’ve had the Samurai Champloo playlist on Imeem on heavy rotation at work, and just added the 7 disc series to my Netflix queue.

So bump this track, grab your favorite vice, and lounge out.

And while I’m on this laid back tip…

…you gotta know about old school Sade!

Track is “Kiss of Life,” and probably one of my favorites from all her stuff. Another reason why I love this track is also because I’m a fan of DJ Neil Armstrong’s stuff, especially off his “Bittersweeet” mixtape (shouts to the homey Opie for originally introducing me to his stuff).

If you haven’t heard it (or of him), he mixes both old school and new, and specifically on the “Kiss of Life” mix, he laces in some Pharrell (”Frontin). I can’t explain it, you gotta just peep it. On the same mixtape, his flip of Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” is ill (x Clipse “Grindin”).

Click here if you want to peep game. Isht gonna blow your mind.

Brian from 80s Purple and OC Shades stopped by to drop off a ton of sunglasses for us.. just in time for the time change. Thanks! I see some Kanye and Steve Aoki signature style sunglasses up in the mix..

Quality streetwear boutiques usually have a design concept making it an enjoyable visit. It adds to the consumer experience. More shops within our industry should adopt a similar mindset. I’ve recently visited a number of shops in Southern California. 2 of my favorites would probably be Status and Auto Fashion. Aesthetically appealing. A showroom should always look nice. Quality products in a quality setting. I know of a few shops that are beginning to takes steps in setting themselves apart from the rest. Anyhow, Freddie from A/F sent me this. Very VIP.

Brand Endless International Corp. (exclusive North American importer for Endless/ZEAL, AME Wheels, and CraftSquare) is currently seeking to fill an internship position.

Requirements are as follows:

-Eagerness to take advantage of the unique environment and opportunities that a small company has to offer.
-Ability to absorb and utilize the various types of information related within this industry.
-An overall interest in building communication skills, offering great customer service and networking on all levels.
-An interest in volunteering and attending events, races, meets, trade shows, etc.
-A hard worker with initiative and a proactive, patient, future-building outlook on life.

Hours/Days are flexible. Currently we are seeking to fill a non-paid internship/experience position. Perks available. If you possess long-term interest with the freedom to grow within the high-end sector of the aftermarket and/or motorsports industry, this experience may be invaluable. If you are close to Huntington Beach and are interested, send resume to kent[at]brand-endless.com.

I was shown this and I just had to share it.. the new ish. Either that or I’ve been fooled by a prankster.

Although this may seem redundant to some, Thank You Geoff for sending me both Fatlace and JDM Theory gear. There was alot more than what is shown here..I’m just too greedy to share. I’ve always been a fan of simple and clean design. Less is more. Many people collect sneakers and things. For some strange reason, I sort of collect tees. I hope to have a collection of my favorite tees hung on a wall. In anycase, hopefully I’ll get a chance to roll up to the next J’s Gathering. Killin’ it in the show scene imo. You can just sense the quality.

With a big chunk of every weekend so far this year being dedicated to work, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and took a breather and headed out to J-Town by myself to absorb the Murakami exhibition at the Geffen (any relation to the record label?). Definitely worth it.

I was hoping to take pics, but as soon as I got inside, the first thing I was told was to not take pics. After seeing an old chinese man snapping away without a care in the world, I couldn’t resist. But out of respect, I didn’t shoot any of the works of art. Just this room full of stuff. If you haven’t peeped it yet, go see it. You won’t be disappointed. Less than a week and it’s gone!

My friend Jason Ng went to Japan the other week, and sent me this funny picture he took in an Up Garage. For those that aren’t aware, Up Garage is a shop in Japan that specializes in used parts. Looks like Pooh is puttin the mack down on Doraemon. Yowza.

On a side note, keep your sisters away from Jason. Last night, while at Ten Ren’s, the most giggly underage girl asked him for the digits. Tsk tsk. He didn’t even know about the show “To Catch a Predator.” Yeahhh….right.

Looks like my boy Yoshioka (aka “Toshiking”) ain’t driving an 86 for the new D1 season. Out with the old, in with the new hotness. Super duper luxury style, still a work in progress, but made its debut at Tokyo Auto Salon the other week. Hachi lovers don’t fret though, you know Yoshi is AE86 for life!

Although it wasn’t stellar, I can’t say 2007 was a bad year for myself..I should be grateful nothing really bad occurred. The last week of 2007 was actually nice. Pops usually spends one week out of the year during Christmas in the states. (He holds down the political fort in Taiwan all the while having dinner with the incumbent President, scuba diving in the Phillippines, learning the alto sax and resides as chairman for an electrical and mechanical engineering services company. Old school at its best.) And even though I ended up working through both NYE and New Year’s Day, I was able to work at my own stride which was relaxing in itself. During my sparetime, I had a chance to peep Helvetica via Mark’s recommendation and am glad I did. I also ordered Style Deficit Disorder due to a recomendation from the social consumer which is an interesting read (both the site and the book).

Since I haven’t been out to an NYE party for a few years and thanks to Ken, I decided to check out downtown Los Angeles’ The Standard rooftop party hosted by LosBPMS which was nice. The homey DJ Atomic Mike killed it with his set. Ken and wifey Hatsumi, Deki+Kiji (Spiked Ball) and myself had a pleasant time.

The rooftop view from The Standard downtown LA is actually quite pleasing to the eye. Some bad cell phone pix early on in the night..

Someone did the deed and jumped in at midnight..bare. Ended the year off with a few friends getting lost in the mix and having toshikoshi ramen at ShinSenGumi in Torrance. New Year’s Eve felt good. It renewed me.

Deki and Kiji are part of a band in Japan dubbed Spiked Ball. Even though I don’t really keep up with J-Pop, I was surprised that I liked it. If you’re into J-Pop, peep Track 3 on Mother Lake the definite favorite. Best of luck to them. On the flipside, I was also diggin’ The Upstarts CD (The Know How) that Ken had me peep. Didn’t know one of the MCs was originally from The Sound Providers which I’ve been digging as of late.
Anyways, things were learned in 2007 and I’m so far optimistic for 2008 as being a good year. I predict it will be the year of the journey for me, but one that I will welcome and may not want to end. I will probably be blogging less, but with more random content. This site will become more personal for me which will probably lose certain types of viewers. The more serious automotive-related blog posts will be spread throughout the product sites in the future such as AME. A few days or so late, but..stay positive and best wishes to everyone this year.