Year Archive for 2008
LA CARMINA CANADIAN PRESS CLIPPINGS: YOUNG AUTHOR BOOK DEAL, BLOG ARTICLE.
A quick press round-up before we continue our journey into Harajuku. I’m Canadian (and quite proudly so in this political/economic climate) – so the news about my upcoming books got some hits in my country’s newspapers. The Winnipeg Free Press ran a small blurb in the Books column, which you can read above and here.
I also discovered that the Edmonton Journal re-printed my Vancouver Sun feature interview with a different headline: Cute Food: Blogger’s eye for precious & bizarre nets book deal. You can see a scan of the original front-page article here; I posed with my ridiculous Gothic Rococo veiled hat!
My truncated “tips for starting your own blog” were picked up by World News (click to read). My original pointers about blogging were more substantial… I’ll post the uncut version at some point – or feel free to ask me questions in the comments.
Last but not least, Jimi did a live report on Laverite’s recent performance and our theme restaurant adventures. He posted many more of the photos I took of his band… click to view and comment.
Off to shoot another surreal Tokyo theme bar!
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ALAMODE NIGHT WITH DJ CHIHIRO: GOTH LOLITA COSPLAY, TOKYO EBM CLUB EVENT.
I was supposed to attend the Tokyo Game Show last Sunday, but due to a series of episodes involving rosewater and synaesthesia, I didn’t end up making it. I did, however, roll out to Studio Cube 326 for Alamode Night, a regular “Gothic and Lolita Culture Fashion & Club Event” presided by D’s Valentine and DJ Chihiro.
The party started ridiculously early and ended at 10pm; Tokyo Goth nights either run until midnight (when the trains stop running) or dawn (when they start up again). I Goth-ed up my Banana Fish dress with a black lace choker and armbands from Refuse to be Usual. Jim – sensei and manga artist extraordinaire – brought out his spiked leather dog collar and Joker makeup.
My cute ghost and decapitated bunny seem to be enjoying themselves, tearing up the platform with their fellow cyber / Goth / cosplay minions.
Nightcrawling isn’t for everyone, but for some, it’s their oxygen; a font of inspiration, a channel for self-expression… do you know what I mean?
I brought my Cybershot so the photos aren’t pro-quality – but on the upside, the camera produced some ghostly effects. On the right, DJ Chihiro turns translucent.
The Gothic and Sweet Lolitas mostly stood in the back with hands daintily clasped, leaving the cyber and cosplay Goths to battle it out on stage.
DJ Chihiro spun “Japanese occult EBM” and scream-sang several songs. He ended, as always, with his “world on fire” track. Whenever he screeched “fii-AHHHH,” everyone did the same arm movement. It was eerily similar to the “Y” from the Village People’s “YMCA”…
It was Chihiro’s birthday (his MySpace page says he is 100 years old) so his ghoul-friend brought out a cake with his face on it (upper left). A vampiric feeding frenzy ensued; even the Sweet Lolitas took part in pulverizing his flesh and forking it into our mouths!
On my nightlife calendar: Tokyo Dark Castle, Tokyo Decadance, Midnight Mess, Heaven’s Door, Club Cemetery…
LA CARMINA
