Ashes and Snow.

My flatmate and I went to see a photography/video media exhibition in Odaiba called Ashes and Snow, by a Canadian called Gregory Colbert. The photographs were absolutely stunning and incredible! He took pics of humans and animals together but in very intimate and evocative ways - and sometimes it's almost surreal! We have been assured however that the images are all real and have not been superimposed or collaged.

The housing for this travelling exhibition was specially designed by a Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban. It's basically constructed of cargo containers stacked in a chequerboard pattern. Kinda clever actually. Most of the containers are rented on location but others are used to transport the exhibition as it travels from place to place. I really hope they will make it to Australia!

Took us a while getting there...we keep getting on the wrong train. We also had difficulty locating the museum in the beginning because it was hidden behind some metal archway (I was so sure there would be banners advertising the exhibtion...) - It was like, right next to where we were! If we ducked a little we would be able to see the elephant and the boy banner. Slow start but it was worth it all!

I really loved the elephant series Gregory did. There was this one shot from the front of an enormous elephant lying down with two little boy monks leaning on either side of its ears, covering each of their own ear.

The photos are printed on some type of paper but it makes it look like charcoal drawings because it is so grainy. They are about an arm's span wide, suspended from the ceiling at eye level. These are all my other favs:
You can check out more of his stuff on his site.

Well, since we were in Odaiba, I could'nt resist visiting Fuji Television again and took a pic with the smurf dog. Yah! We meet again! Obviously, he didn't forget me :) That's why he gave me a ride on his log.Oh this is a guy! Freaky, isn't it? I think its some sort of new show Fuji TV is panning. The kawaii kulture is really overwhelming sometimes! I had this student in her 40's come into class with two pigtails and ribbons in her hair.

I took Melody to that cool 50's-in-Japan level. Things have changed I'm afraid to say. It's not so 50's anymore but they still have cool stores. Clumsy old me almost broke a Jap version of a Matryoshka doll! I was like, 'Look at that ugly thing, Mel!' I placed it back on the shelf but it tipped off and the insides and the insides of the insides popped out and scattered all over the floor with a tremendous clatter. I was shocked I didn't move for 2 secs before I scooped down to retrieve the half bodies but Melody was so shocked she didn't move for about 3 secs before bending down to help me. Lucky it was made from wood so no broken bones so to speak. Phew. There was this one store where all they sold were those machines where you slot in money and twist dial and a plastic ball with a goodie inside falls out. I was in heaven overload!!! I was surprised I came out of my reverie without buying anything.

On the upper levels were the food. Check this display out! Holy moley! It's like sushi fondue!
This too! It's ice cream but they made it look like a clam with a 'pearl' (I think it's a marshmallow) 500 yen, which equates to about $5 - two scoops of ice cream in a cone from New Zealand Icecream. Borrrring!

We had dinner at an Indian restaurant back in Ebisu and had a huge giggle over the Bollywood music dvds they had showing. It's so fascinating! (Reminds me of the time we went out to that hilarious Indian restaurant at Surry Hills with Fiona.) That chick from Who Dares Win was in it!! Tania somebody or other! She really looked like one of those exotic Indians herself, with the fake orange tan and skunk hair. We were musing why all the main girls are all pretty but all the main guys are butt ugly. One appeared with a 5 o'clock shadow on his face and it got darker and darker as the clip progressed. They all had 4 outfit changes in the space of 30 secs, and their heads bobbled like those bobbly headed dolls. Muffin-tops scenes were inevitable unfortunately. The Indian waiter also had a thing for my flatmate and he kept coming over and asking if the food was ok and general daijoubu des ka. After inquiring he would laugh this high-pitched chipmunk sounding machine-gun-fire laugh. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Well it killed us alright. He also noticed that we were engrossed with the Indian music videos and he turn the volume right up. The other Jap customers don't even notice the TV's! God they are missing some good comedies! We left the restaurant with aching sides and sore jaws.