Category Archive for Nightcrawling
FEB 13: HOSTING A PURIKURA STICKER PICTURES BOOTH & LUNAR NEW YEAR PARTY IN LA! SISEN & SELIA US CONCERT TOUR.
Save the date: I’m hosting a J-pop party on February 13, 2010 in Los Angeles! The infamous Yukiro and other familiar faces from this blog will be there… we hope to see you!
Celebrate the Lunar New Year on Saturday, February 13th at Kira Kira, a sparkling photo-sticker shop with all of the newest Purikura machines from Japan! Our special event will be hosted by Harajuku fashion and Cute Food blogger La Carmina. The DJs from Tune in Tokyo will also be there, spinning the best in J-Pop, J-Rock, and Global Dance Pop all night long.
There will also be prizes and giveaways sponsored by Hear Japan, Lime Crime, and Gloomth! (Photo of Carmina by Shichi; flyer by Greg.)
WHEN: Saturday, Feb 13th, 8PM – 12 AM. Free and all ages.
WHERE: Kira Kira is located at the Seasons Place shopping center in City of Industry (2nd floor, above Red Mango). There’s plenty of free parking.
RSVP on Facebook here.
Look forward to seeing you there!
The cauldron is bubbling, my friends… we have multiple magical adventures in the works for our time in LA and Vegas. Too bad we just missed GPKISM, Seileen and SiSeN’s stop in LA. Liz from LA Weekly wrote an awesome report on the concert (and kindly let me post a few photos, taken by Shannon Cottrell). “We’ve noticed that J-goth has developed its own devoted following in the U.S., one that’s separate from the domestic goth scene, but isn’t necessarily that different […] It’s this strange amalgamation of now-vintage musical elements with a contemporary flair that makes J-goth so appealing to a younger generation of fans.” Check out the rest of her review here. Were you at the event, or the recent X-Japan music video shoot? What did you think?
Young author/illustrator Realm Lovejoy interviewed me for her blog and drew a charming image of me in maid cafe cosplay! I love the little bento nibbles in the background, and my ever-present earless teddy bear cat. You can read the interview on her site and pasted below.
1) Thank you for joining us, La Carmina! What is CUTE YUMMY TIME about? And what are bentos?
Imagine opening up your lunch to find Hello Kitty or Pikachu made out of rice, eggs and ham! Cute Yummy Time is inspired by Japanese “charaben” bentos, or box lunches that are arranged to look like cute faces. I created my own characters — including one based on my Scottish Fold cat Basil Farrow — and made recipes that focus on healthy, Western ingredients. You can find out more and order Cute Yummy Time here.
2) I enjoy making bentos! I’ll have to try some of your recipes out. What are some examples of how you adjusted bento-making to suit the western palate?
My cookbook builds on the Japanese trend by “thinking outside the bento box.” There are 72 recipes for all occasions: breakfast, meals, desserts, holidays. You don’t need any special bento equipment to make the cute faces (almost everything can be decorated in under 10 minutes). And I focus on healthy ingredients that are easily found in all Western grocery stores; recipes include a baby chick egg salad wrap, cow-faced cheeseburgers and hobgoblin dark chocolate cupcakes. Cute Yummy Time is a whimsical new approach to cooking that all ages can enjoy.
3) You also have a book called CRAZY, WACKY THEME RESTAURANTS: TOKYO. It sounds like something I want to bring next time I visit Japan! Can you tell us about the book and some of your favorite wacky restaurants?
In Tokyo, a theme dining experience isn’t complete unless you’re molested by monsters, attacked by ninjas, or charmed by cross-dressing maids! I endured and photographed over 30 such cafes — and wrote about my ridiculous adventures in Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo. My favorites
are Christon Café (which features church relics and a “disco Jesus”) and Alice in Wonderland (you’ll see how my friends cosplayed as the characters). I also visited the haunted jail restaurant, Alcatraz ER, with Andrew Zimmern for an episode of Bizarre World (airing this May on Travel Channel!).
4) What aspects of the Harajuku culture inspired you and drew you in? And what exactly is the Harajuku scene like?
As a teen, I remember walking through Harajuku and feeling like I was on Mars. I love the neo-Rococo fashions, cute-meets-Gothic aesthetics, towering Visual Kei hair and theatrical makeup… there’s an exhilarating, experimental pulse heard all through this district. I post street snaps and store photos from Harajuku in this section of my blog.
5) You’ve got a popular blog and you have been on TV such as The Today Show and NHK, as well as writing articles for CNN. What’s your advice to other writers on building an effective platform to promote themselves?
My blog and YouTube channel are ongoing portfolios for my creative work. I often land writing and TV gigs when people find my site and dig the spooky-cute adventure palace I’ve built. Social networks and blogging are great ways to be in touch with readers and make connections. Be personal, reach out, write diligently about what excites you — and opportunities will naturally unfold.
CUTE YUMMY TIME can be ordered here. CRAZY, WACKY THEME RESTAURANTS can be ordered here.
We hope to see you at our Chinese New Year & Purikura party on Feb 13! Please mark your calendars, RSVP and tell your LA friends!
Song of the Day #299: Patti Smith Group – Free Money (Stockholm 1976)
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MY ALL-GIRL SPOOKY JAPANESE GOTH BAND! SCARY VISUAL KEI MAKEUP, BLACK LIPSTICK, GOTHIC GIRLS OUTSIDE TRASH & VAUDEVILLE NYC.
We formed a band! An all-girl J-Goth spooky band! From left to right:
Regi is the cross-dresser. La Carmina is the vocalist. Kanae is the Asian skinhead. Jenny is the Mana-like lurker who plays guitar and never speaks.
What should we call our band? Can you help us think of a name? Leave your suggestions in the comments, and we’ll choose our favorite! (Just click the Comments link in the bottom right corner; you don’t need to register.)
Shichi took these photos of us on St Marks Place in NYC. Quite a few alternative stores have closed down, but the street remains the hangout of Goths and punks. Passersby stopped and gawked at us while we made Candy Spooky faces for the camera.
Zombie alert! We took advantage of the red light from the store window of Trash and Vaudeville.
Three ways to wear black lipstick. Jenny drew slightly upturned lines at the edges of her mouth. Kanae smeared the stuff. I used Lime Crime Styletto to outline my lips, and filled the middle with dark blue.
How about some Japanese Goth eye makeup inspiration? Jenny bats her fake eyelashes with white beaded tips. Kanae drew arched brows and radiating lines under her eyes. I played around with glitter dots and put a spider on my third eye.
When Kanae reviewed these photos, she laughed, “That’s me with my Nazi wife!” Her armband, black trenchcoat and “baldness” got some interesting comments and glances. But it’s all aesthetic, folks. Remember that Gackt and his fans wear Nazi-like helmets and armbands.
Dangling the creaky Trash and Vaudeville platform… that’s how we kill time before eating delicious Japanese izakaya fare at Kenka once again. After your meal, don’t forget to go upstairs to the sex punk store Search and Destroy. You’ll probably find Kanae there — whenever she enters the shop, she is utterly incapable of leaving!
What do you think of our funereal outfits? What shall we name our scary Visual Kei girl band?
Song of the Day #296: Yuki Kajiura – Open Your Heart (Thanks to Ementhy for the suggestion!)
LA CARMINA
