In the blah world of iPhone’s and i-Everything, it’s always refreshing to see a renowned company like Amadana Japan to launch a slightly understated, under-publicized product that emphasizes not only on the aesthetics of things, but the core functionality of things . The new Amadana N-04A for Japan’s Telecom company NTT Docomo, manufactured by NEC, is a super slim slider cellphone that weighs only 112g, and just a little bit over half an inch in thickness.

If you’ve ever landed your hands on an Amadana product, you’d know why people pay “good” (but not outrageous) money for them – sleek, and so well made – alas, the reason why we buy and own things. We have yet gotten the privilege to play with the new N-04A, but from the specs along – music player with SRS Surround Sound output, the core functions of a cellphone – dialing/receiving calls, and the sexy brown Amadana buttons (yes, buttons can be sexy), do make us forget about iPhone and its apps, just a little. Check out NTT Docomo’s Amadana N-04A page.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m6FYMzGPek
Remember our entry that briefly mentioned Groovision Japan’s looping graphic movie with animated graphic people marching around the city chasing after a horse? Well, The DVD is now finally back in stock at AC Gears (but that’s besides the point). Looks like the movie has its own following in Japan. Project code named Nakasone OFF IN < a major Japanese city> features a bunch of Japanese teens tracking around cities in Japan following Groovision’s vision. Pretty amazing project in the sense that they really have nothing else better to do. The one you see above is Nakasone OFF IN Kyoto. There are also Nakasone in Tokyo, Gifu, and even on the offshore island of Okinawa.

According to their Bulletin board website (in Japanese), they seem to have tracked through all major cities in Japan groovision style. We wonder when they’ll come to do it here in New York.

We wait patiently every March/April and September/October for Japanese electronic companies to come out with new goodies that will make us go WOW. And we have a feeling that our AudioCubes.com and AC Gears customers will be just as excited when we bring in the newest series of Elecom Japan’s trendy earphones. Featuring 6 different designs from Japan’s super renowned graphic design companies – Power Graphixx (previous mentioned here at GEDDEM) and Rotterdam’s Doing (works include m-flo’s CD cases) – a total of 12 different designs. (Left 2 sample earphone images from Power Graphixx, and right 2 from Rotterdam’s Doing.) If you already know about Elecom’s fashionable earphones, then you should certainly applaud for their stepping up to support artists by incorporating design elements in electronic accessories. Now, these are some hot babies worth waiting for.

PS. Looks like the pricings should be very affordable too. Should make it states side no more than $29.99. Time to replace those cheapo iPod earphones.

[ via AV Watch Impress ]

Finally another iPod portable speaker worthy to appear in GEDDEM. The new Dice Speakers called OTOKORO from Buffalo Japan are due out in April with 5 fashionable colors (and different designs, too) for 2,814 Yen (about $32 USD). For 4/5th generation iPod Classic/Mini/Nano and 2nd generation iPod Touch. Takes direct power from iPod and with volume control.

[ via AV Watch Impress ]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0zEXdDO5JU

A nice little graphic video made by Jonathan Jarvis, although, not exactly our kind of article, we figured everybody should have a basic understanding of the current Credit Crisis that is creating the biggest economic downturn since World War II. We recommend visiting Crisis of Credit to watch this video. If you really like it, you can even buy Jarvis’ T-Shirt. This video has already received half a million views on YouTube.

Following Caleb’s recommendation, I watched Tokyo!, a 2008 film with three medium-lengthed shorts written by three non-Japanese directors – Michel Gondry (Director of The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Leos Carax (The Lovers on the Bridge), Bong Joon-ho (The Host).

The movie trailer showed strong signs of promise and I am glad to report that the films (finally, for once) are in fact better than expected. Without going too deep into the stories and thereby spoiling the plots, I will just say, Michel Gondry’s Interior Design was natural and almost real, with fast, coherent shots and precise editing throughout (some nice long takes in some scenes, too). The kafkaesque turning point was almost better than Metamorphosis itself, in that, it had some discernible meaning – quite an intuitive interpretation on Japanese woman’s current social status and condition in Japan.

Carax’s Merde took surrealism to a more abstract, Dali-like high plain, by throwing a hint of biblical reference on top of (slightly) disturbing imagery with Japan’s buried history, then blasted it through the benumbing mass media, and tried carelessly by both indifferent and zealous mobs. A lot of information there, so you know he worked really hard to cram things into that one.

Bong’s Shaking Tokyo shook us in its poetic rendering of the inner Tokyo (and cities all over the world) that we have yet to fully uncover, but have always known of its existence (if you don’t know what the hell I am talking about, the answer is hidden under the pizza girl’s left sleeve). A romantic connection that goes beyond love, and is kafkaesque in the modern sense. The portrayal of the OCD character reminded me of Right Place, directed by Kosai Sekine (this time a real Japanese), winner of Best Short Film at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Check out the film below.

New Yorkers can catch Tokyo! right now at Landmark Sunshine Theater in LES. And if you like artsy films that actually don’t put you to sleep, you really ought to watch it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBhjDgmGrXg

Sacrilegious indeed, but we couldn’t help but to publish Jon Andrew Davis new Spring 2009 Divine Comedy Show, featuring the interesting combination of established pop-culture icons and established mainstream religion – The Ghostbusters vs Jesus. The image was based on a photoshop image by an anonymous author, which is being circulated on the Internet.

Davis’ gallery also features some clever designs on “blind faith” – ie. A chart of randomly positioned faiths so you can randomly throw a dart and then live and die for it. There’s some sick truth in his designs … it really all depends what family we were born into, isn’t it? A family that’d worship Unicorns would be kind of nonconformist exotic, though.

So who ya gonna call?