Though it's been stereotypically grey and wet English weather all this week, for a week or there was some nice autumnal weather. In one Japanese lesson, my Japanese teacher was talking about leaves changing, and asked the class whether the leaves went yellow or red on trees in England. Considering there was a massive bright red, autumnal tree outside the window one of my fellow students answered that they went red and also yellow. My teacher smiled and said, "No, in Japan they go red, but in England, they only go yellow". Very surreal. Anyway, here are a few shots from around SOAS this autumn.
Tag Archive for 'B&W'
I just picked up a copy of this new game for the PSP, 無限回廊. I think it roughly translates as Infinity Loop, although it is being released as Echochrome in the West for some reason. The game involves guiding a little character across Escher-esque pathways. These feature gaps, holes and trampolines which can be hidden by rotating the pathway to obscure the onstruction. If the obstruction is no longer visible, the character treats it as if it isn't there. The pathway can also be rotated so that the character can fall up to a higher leave or jump down to a lower one. It sounds (and is) pretty odd, and is very different from most games around at the moment, but that is definitely a point in its favour. The other notable feature of the game is the design. The whole game is black and white, with simple lines and elegant animation, and features classical music instead of the usual nonsense. It feels totally different from anything else and is beautifully presented. There is also a feature where you can build your own levels, which would be amazing, if it weren't so mind-numbingly complicated to comprehend the final result. The game is also incredibly difficult, and left me with a slightly aching brain after about 5 minutes playing. I'm not sure I would have got it had it been the usual 6000円ish, but for 3500 it was definitely worth buying. Click the picture below for a video...
I took a lot of photos with my Holga at my friend Pete's band's gigs. "The Grimace" were one of the most promising up-and-coming bands in Tokyo until the the malevolent influence of the Japanese wife of the band's artistic powerhouse and the banging-pots-and-pans-together musical influence of another member's vegetarian photographer wife put an end to their dreams. They have now parted ways. These shots are not especially clear, nor especially good, but I quite like the gritty atmosphere that the slightly distorted Holga plastic lens lends the shots. I think they work relatively well as shots from a (really) small venue. As ever, click the photo to see the whole gallery.
