Innbundet

I want to apologize to everyone I dismissed for trying to tell me that cold noodles were great. You were right, and I was wrong. They’re awesome.

After getting a cheesesteak from Nihombashi Philly, I walked home in the unbelievable heat, which took a little more than an hour. I was so sweaty and uncomfortable, but when I got back to my neighborhood, an overwhelming emotion came over me. I live here. And it’s the greatest thing.

Download wallpaper from LMNT One ring to rule them all,  one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all  and in the darkness bind them.

I grew up on Volpi. I thought I lost it forever when I moved away from St. Louis, but in that time, it became a national brand and I was able to buy it at grocery stores in Portland. I’ve said this before. They now export to Japan, and I can buy their prosciutto but—unfortunately—not salami. For some reason, I tell this to my girlfriend in an offhand comment when we had first met, I think. She texts me while at a...

I love bookmarklets. They are an incredibly useful way to add browser functionality without extensions. I have two I want to share with you. If you think the code for either of these is inefficient, just reply to me on Mastodon or send an email. I’m not an expert here. To make a bookmarklet, bookmark any page inside Favorites. Then, choose “Edit Address…” and paste the javascript. Rename the bookmarklet to...

Download wallpaper from LMNT When Cal Kestis needs a rest, this complex symbol in the style of a star chart gives him a place to meditate. Could it be that those from the High Republic era had these too? What about Nightsisters? The Sith?

This morning, I saw a popular Internet post remarking how the “install window” on macOS is not intuitive. The “install window”? A Finder window displaying contents of a disk image (DMG) from Slack. There was Slack.app on the left and a shortcut to the Applications folder on the right, with a sweeping blue arrow from the application to the folder. As you can imagine, the replies were filled with brutal,...

If you’re unfamiliar with Magic Passport, it’s my decade-long side project which I started at Pacific Helm. What was initially a simple app to keep track of everything you’ve done at a Disney park, Magic Passport has now grown significantly in both scope and assets. There were once only 24 or so custom icons in the app, but now there are over 500. That’s for another post. Today, I want to show you some of the...

Download icons from LMNT José, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz, your hosts to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, featuring over 100 audio-animatronics, including birds, plants and tikis. Art by Luka Grafera; adapted for macOS by Louie Mantia.

Unlike the railroads at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland, which circle the park, the Western River Railroad at Tokyo Disneyland takes a totally different route. Guests board at the station in Adventureland, which is a worldwide exclusive. The Western River Railroad is the only Disney Parks railroad in the world to have an Adventureland station. It’s also the only Disney Parks...

I don’t know if there are dedicated teams at Apple or other companies to deal with death, but there probably should be. Though I was happy to see the Legacy Contact feature introduced a couple years ago, it’s not everything we need. When I worked on iTunes, we briefly discussed inheriting purchased music, but we didn’t build anything for it. Product teams may never prioritize legacy-related features because...

I don’t like how comfortable humanity has become with calling a piece of artwork a “failure” if it doesn’t meet a certain financial expectation. This approach to evaluating art negatively impacts what we’ll create in the future. The prevalence of analytics has irreparably ruined our creativity as a species. Being able to see how well a TV show “performs” influences studios’ decisions of what to invest in by...

One thing I hear a lot when I post my artwork is, “That should be on a t-shirt!” So today, I am re-introducing my T-Shirts Shop. You’ll find shirts with my icons from Magic Passport, illustrations from my Sketchbook, playing cards from Junior, and even fonts like Womprat. This is a great way of supporting my work while also getting something fun in return. There are over 60 designs, including a few old...

From John Gruber today: It’s fair for public data to be excluded on an opt-out basis, rather than included on an opt-in one [...] No, no it’s not. This is a critical thing about ownership and copyright in the world. We own what we make the moment we make it. Publishing text or images on the web does not make it fair game to train AI on. The “public” in “public web” means free to access; it does not mean it's...

Remember when fatal errors were allowed to be cute? Get the t-shirt!

Download wallpaper from LMNT The overlooked sibling of the more-popular hallway carpet from The Shining. The green and purple design from Room 237 is remarkable in its own right.

Download wallpaper from LMNT Probably the most iconic carpet in all of cinema. The orange, brown, and red hexagon pattern has become synonymous with both the Overlook Hotel and The Shining. The carpet pattern from Room 237 is a perfect complement.

It’s crazy how Apple completely abandoned the iPod, its entire brand, and its name. It’s probably the strongest name they ever had for anything, maybe surpassing even Mac. In contrast, iPhone is such a boring and generic-sounding name. It was the temp name we all used before it was announced. We all laughed when Steve finally said it. An obvious name. iPod is a better name for what iPhone is today. iPhone is...

I love In-N-Out and everyone knows it, but the last time I had a Double-Double® was over a year ago, before I moved here. On Friday, a friend forwarded me a Facebook ad screenshot about an In-N-Out event in Shinagawa on Saturday. I expected a long line, but I underestimated how much this event would test my patience. I took a train and a monorail to arrive at the pop-up location at 8:30am. I was handed a...

Apple’s announcement of “dark mode” icons has me thinking about how I would approach adapting “light mode” icons for dark mode. I grabbed 12 icons we made at Parakeet for our clients to illustrate some ways of going about it. (If you need a beautiful app icon, you can hire us!) Before that though, let’s take some inventory. Of the 28 icons in Apple’s preview image of this feature, only nine have white...

Apple knows people want to change the appearance of their app icons. They have seen people go to great lengths for about 17 years to change app icons on their iPhones. On our computers, we’ve been doing it for much longer, but—for some reason—they make it harder every year. On iPhone, Apple has been making teeny tiny steps toward more customization, and I just don’t understand their hesitation. Yes, app...

Today I brought my MacBook to Café Tarot, a nearby spot that has cute little vegan sausage sandwiches and oat milk lattes. I think that—and perhaps a western, English-friendly vibe—attracts more foreigners than other places. But it’s really cute and I should go there more often than I do. They give you a little coaster as your tarot reading for today, with a little explanation leaflet too. That’s a very charming...

It seems like only yesterday Apple was crushed under the weight of criticism for its tasteless ad destroying creative instruments into a thin iPad. I thought that may have given Apple some insight into how artists use their products to supplement the creative process rather than replace it. But here we are, watching Apple unashamedly introduced “AI” features at WWDC that write bedtime stories for you and generate...

Yesterday, the owner of the around-the-corner coffee shop told me they’d be serving yakisoba this weekend during the matsuri. Switching to an apologetic tone, she said that I can’t eat it because it’s made with ika (squid). When I walked in today, the whole café was rearranged and …smelled like squid. I immediately noticed she wasn’t sporting her typical metal band / horror movie t-shirt vibe, and instead was...

It’s that time of year again. Seeing the neighborhood mikoshi reminded me of my first month here—a year ago now—when I was unexpectedly thrown into the side of a mikoshi lineup, carrying it down streets and into Torigoe-jinja. I didn’t yet feel this was my home, my neighborhood, or my community. But now, as I walk through my neighborhood, I see familiar faces, pass the same flowers in bloom as last year, and...

In earlier years of what we now call the “tech industry,” startups were smaller and scrappier. They had to prove to investors they could do a lot with just a little jumpstart. These days, however, startups begin at enormous scale under the assumption that it accelerates the process. But importantly, it robs startups of the chance to identify the most valuable pieces from their ideas before they run with any or...

I went into the park after 5pm with only three objectives: see Vacation Jamboree, eat the Grandma Sara’s Kitchen Special Set (omurice with demiglace sauce), and drink the limited-time Space Mountain Coca-Cola lemon jelly concoction. After getting all of that out of the way, with only 30 minutes before the park closed, I saw Space Mountain with an hour wait time, which is lower than usual. I jumped in and the cast...

It’s been one full year since I moved to Tokyo, and my life has changed in so many ways since. I thought I might reflect on the answers to questions people asked me over a year ago about why I decided to move here, to see how I feel now. § New Opportunities So far, my work life hasn’t changed too dramatically. I’ve worked with some people here, but most of my work still comes from the Western world. I’d...

When I look back at what the tech industry has spent its time on in the last 10 years, I am deeply disappointed. The entire industry has become dreadfully distracted. Business doesn’t really have a finish line, but tech founders approach it like speed-running a video game. These startups aggressively burn through investors’ cash, often without demonstrating successful business models or desirable products that...

New hardware startups are attempting to convince us to buy new products that purportedly reduce distractions in our digital lives. These new products aim to keep us either present or focused by simply doing less than what our current devices do. This style of marketing suggests the problem is solved through product design rather than personal responsibility. You can be focused without buying a new device. You can...

All I want from Apple at this point is nearly-live translation of iMessage chats (inline) and FaceTime calls (captioned) with people speaking different languages. I do not need a more efficient chip, bigger battery, better camera, or higher-capacity storage space. I just want Apple to take language translation seriously by integrating it into their already-popular products. This is literally the only feature I...

Download icons from LMNT The characters in Mario Kart 8 are categorized into three different weight classes, represented here as different pixel densities. Newer characters released with the DLC are included as well. Art by Luka Grafera; adapted for macOS by Louie Mantia.

Kim and I suspected that Monday would be another soft-opening day for DisneySea’s new Fantasy Springs area, so on a hunch, we took the train over to Maihama to see if we were right. We bought tickets and got in line for the main entrance. Then we heard the overhead announcement saying exactly what we hoped: Fantasy Springs would be open to all guests today. Perfect! I took a photo of this Sleeping Beauty...

I am always surprised how good Japan’s flower game is. Whenever I step outside, I feel like a new flower popped up along my daily walk. Like is everyone coordinating to make sure we get good flower diversity on every block?

Sometimes things really work out in the best way. I’ve been eagerly anticipating the new area at Tokyo DisneySea, and expected it experience it for the first time in absolute madness. So I was shocked when Cabel messaged me a link that Fantasy Springs was soft-opening as a test day. I quickly rearranged my day, called someone I knew would join me, and made my way over to the park. Having been waiting to visit...

Download icons from LMNT At the time that Guardians of the Galaxy was released in theaters, the characters were fairly obscure, but their film counterparts made them famous to a larger audience. Art by Luka Grafera; adapted for macOS by Louie Mantia.

For some reason Nobtaka suggested we paddle canoes at Disneyland on an extremely sunny day. There was no fight, all six of us got on the boat understanding manual labor was involved. Except Nikki and Daikichi, who I think weren’t prepared at all for this. One very common thing to see at the Tokyo parks which always surprises me is airplanes. Happens all the time. A strange sight above something like...

iPod and iPhone sold on practicality. But iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro were all sold on possibility. People found iPod and iPhone worth the price without an App Store. For the other form factors they’ve produced since then, Apple has asked customers to imagine what each of these could be used for, not necessarily what they already can do out of the box. That’s not a question for customers. That’s...

Hot take: We don’t need content moderation if we don’t have trending posts, universal search, and linked replies. The necessity around content moderation is based on the extended reach provided by platforms. Even the companies that claim to care about decentralization—for some reason—still make space for trending content, universal search, and unrestricted replies. These features do not support decentralization....

Went to the Apple Marunouchi store near Tokyo station with Nob and Nikki. It’s a really lovely store. While we were waiting on a repair, we played with a Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR. I was showing Nikki how it can rotate vertically, and an Apple store staff member promptly discouraged me from doing it (after I already rotated it) because it’s “dangerous.” First of all, I own this product and know how to use...

Spotted some roses on the way to Maple Pizza.

I drink C.C. Lemon a few times a week; it’s my favorite mass-market soda in Japan. Today, I did a double-take, walking backwards a few steps to see a variant in the vending machine. I bought it instantly and held it in my hand looking at the first two familiar kanji in the name.「南国フレーバーミックス」 I learned directional kanji at different times.「東」(east) was first, because it’s in 「東京」(Tōkyō). I probably...

There’s a couple baristas at a local café that I can’t really speak with because my Japanese level is「恥ずかしい」(embarrassing). Our near-daily method of communication is speaking in our own language while the other looks intently without understanding a thing. We’ll slip in some words we know in the others’ language, but we mostly never get there. I’m a regular at this café, and one of the perks is that I get to keep...

While Nobtaka and I are playing Pokémon remakes FireRed and LeafGreen, Nikki was more interested in playing a modern Pokémon game, so I lent her my copy of Let’s Go, Eevee! and my Poké Ball Plus, which I love that she’s using. “Louie! Help me!”

If you’ve ever replied to me on social media, you might have also received a reply from me telling you to can it. I’ve got a bad attitude about this, I’m stubborn about it, and I’m not proud of it. I grew up under unique conditions, just like you did. We differ because of our personal experiences. I can point to a lot of my early life experiences and identify why I behave the way I do today. If you’re anywhere...

Pokémon is so communal. I love that we’re all playing lately; it’s been really fun to play, talk, trade, battle, and strategize together.

「おたんじょうびおめでとうルイ君」🥹 🎂 A birthday cake just like the emoji. 🍰 After I blew out the candles, it was pitch black. The lights switched on and— the whole fami had their own drawings of my face as little masks. I may have never laughed so hard in my life. These are all incredible. I’m so grateful to have these people in my life.

“Peaceful protest” is a term for what governments consider a reasonable reaction from people as a response to when a government breaks public trust. What is and isn’t “peaceful” is at the state’s sole discretion, and it’s very flexible. Police (especially in the United States) can and will allow themselves to use force, and they don’t need approval from anyone. Is there any honor in playing by their rules when...

It’s Golden Week in Japan, which is a string of national holidays that throws everything into unpredictable chaos. Is this shop open or closed? Who knows! Will this restaurant be crowded or empty? Who’s to say? For the rest of my life, my birthday will fall within Golden Week, so it’ll always be a weird time to go to the Tokyo parks. You don’t really know until about 30 minutes into the day whether the park is...

Download icons from LMNT It’s been 15 years since the original and 12 years since the sequel. Volume 3 contains a staggering 125 hard drive icons, comprising of 25 metal colors (most—if not all—of Apple’s modern product colors), with 5 varieties of each.

In almost every friendship I’ve had as an adult, there has been at least some wealth disparity one way or another. I used to think the fairest way to split a bill was by what we each of us ordered. I later began to split bills evenly. But I am not satisfied with either approach. In the absence of addressing wealth disparity on a larger scale, I think the best method on a smaller scale is to determine how much is...

My main method of building community is going to the same restaurants over and over. I understand people who want to eat at new places all the time, but I really love feeling at home more than just at home. It feels great to build relationships with restaurant staff. When my favorite Italian place in Portland learned I never managed to be there when they served lasagna, they made a huge thing out of it and...

Earlier this year during the Hakuho Cup, Aiki and I realized we both enjoy baseball games, so we made vague plans to go when the season started. I haven’t been to a baseball game in years, and I kinda miss it. I’m not a sports person per se, I’m there for the environment, snacks, and socializing. This week, we went to the Yomiuri Giants / Chunichi Dragons game at Tokyo Dome. I wanna tell you about all the things...

I started a sequel to Ive Drives last August, and a sequel to De Anza folders last month. I really should get around to cranking out all the variations and sizes, because I think these are pretty nice.

How to Recreate the Star Wars Logo About a year ago, I released Womprat, a Star Wars logo font. When I set out to make it with Ender, perhaps the most important goal was that if you type “Star Wars,” it has to look exactly as you expect it to. (It’s amazing how many fonts attempt to replicate this style without getting this right.) The thing is …there’s not just one logo. Horizontal Logo Star Wars...

Welcome to Palpalooza 2: Donald’s Quacky Duck City. Tokyo Disneyland has been doing these little 2ish-month events where they celebrate one character in particular. First it was Minnie Mouse, now it’s Donald Duck. Everything is yellow, white, and blue. Lots of people are dressed up affectionately as Donald. There’s lots of Donald Duck decoration. It’s very Quacky Duck City. I’m going to miss this part of...

The current focus of “AI” in the software industry is not on solving problems for current users, it’s to create solutions for potential future users. I find that super frustrating. It would be genuinely helpful to me if Adobe built an “AI” tool for Photoshop that notices when I’m doing a repetitive task and creates an action to automate it. That would save me time by doing the mundane tasks associated with my...

Almost every company has its own culture and vision that materialize as a perspective shared amongst its employees. A friend once told me that after you leave a job, you kinda have to take some time to detox from it. You have to take a breather and isolate some of the things you believe, why you believe them, where those beliefs came from. How many things that you accepted were part of your job? How much of your...

I’ve heard more than few people attempt to deflect genuine concern and criticism about new technology products, everything from large language models to virtual reality headsets. The deflection always comes in the form of suggesting the concerned person just doesn’t like new things or that they’re closed-minded. Maybe they’re filled with doubt. They’re just a crusty curmudgeon. The “fun” part about this sentiment...

You ever just... block family members? 😬 I believe there was a time when my brother and I used to get along. When we were kids, we’d bond over video games. Sal had Pokémon Yellow, I had Pokémon Blue. We would race VW Beetles on the N64. We switched off playing 1-player games like God of War. I enjoyed this relationship with him. We became teenagers and both started to pick fights with each other. We had a...

If you’re going to have the audacity to name your company “Humane,” people are going to reasonably expect that you’ll be compassionate. If you call an indicator light the “trust light,” people are going to expect the device will be honest with them. If you’re going to set your own bar that high, you better know you can clear it. A team with this collective pedigree is smart enough to thoroughly test their...

I’m tired of proving to robots that I’m human when robots don’t have to prove that they’re robots to me.

I encourage making websites by hand for two reasons: To learn what a website—at its minimum—really is. To be independent from any system or service. Will you make mistakes? Sure. Will it be frustrating? Sure. But hand-writing my site is so rewarding. I’m able to post and edit so frequently because I enjoy the process. When people say I should do things differently, I think about how quickly and...

I have spent all today trying to get something to work, but I have nothing to show for it. I took a mid-day break with the hopes of clearing my head and easing my frustration. When I came back, I tried a bunch of new things, and I still couldn’t get it to work. I’ve given up, but I don’t want this to feel like a wasted day. I just don’t know what the lesson was supposed to be. Is it possible to sigh for 30...

Went for a walk today and watched the sakura petals fall onto the street. The leaves are already coming in. I felt a few drops from the sky, so I picked up the pace. Taking photos of sakura trees is difficult during the day, because the sky is bright and from under the tree, the flowers are in shadow. But if you find ones lower than your height like these, well, I think they’re just lovely.

My friend Josh is also Parakeet’s lawyer. For years, he’s helped us negotiate what we need from our clients. After reading my posts about making a damn website, he followed my instructions, learned a little HTML and CSS, and now he has a blog. (If he can do it, you can too!) He posted one of my favorite pieces of advice: So instead of compromising, I encourage my clients to think of negotiation as a series...

I used to instantly delete emails about a company’s policy changes, but now I’m taking a different approach. Before I delete the email, I delete the account. We give up a lot when we sign up for an online account with a company that retains data about us. It’s worse when the online company provides a minimal value increase compared to its offline counterpart. Often, the exchange isn’t worth it. We do it anyway...

Tonight, while at a party celebrating the 15th anniversary of a coffee company here in Tokyo, I was lightly pressured into entering a drunk latte art contest. Keep in mind: I had three alcoholic drinks. I’ve never poured a latte before. Instructions were given only in Japanese, which I only understand a little bit. The other contestants were: 9 baristas (who pour lattes every...

Every now and again, I rewatch these very specific moments from three people I deeply admire. I want to share them with you. Saul Bass [Download the video.] The American commerce that you deal with are companies that don’t deal with aesthetics, you see. What I’m saying is—I’m not dealing with money yet. I’m dealing with what a designer has to be concerned about. What I’m saying is that...

Before today, I had Affiliates and the Blogroll on my front page. But I was apprehensive to add more sites to the list, because it would become too long for that page. Last night, not trying very hard to fall asleep, I was thinking about a yellow stylesheet I had just made, wondering which pages to apply it to. I took a screenshot of the yellow pages Wikipedia page, muttered, “…yellow …pages,” and fell asleep....

I’ve been working quite a bit on my website, adding new sections and pages, so here’s everything new on LMNT. Blog My blog has two new sections, Photos and Sketchbook. The Photos section contains some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken recently, sorted by date. Each page has a little bit of writing on it too, like this one of a forbidden corridor at The Haunted Mansion. If the Photos section...

Today, we all went to the park for hanami「花見」(flower viewing). We sat under a few ~80%-bloom cherry trees, ate pizza, drank soda and tea. Daikichi juggled. Nikki played on the swings. Nob, Aiki, and I all played hanafuda. Nob won every time.

In order to make my website, I had to suppress this feeling that I had to make it the “correct” way. I had to stop pitting myself against what I know professionals are capable of. That wasn’t doing me any favors. I’m just a hobbyist. Sure, maybe I should compress these images more or load them differently. Maybe I should format my code this way instead of that way. But these “mistakes”—if you can call them...

I started sketching out a 32×32 pixel icon of the Worm from Labyrinth, but then thought— could I do Hoggle? What about Ludo? So now here I am, drawing the cast of characters from Labyrinth. Sir Didymus is next, but he’s a bit tricker than I thought. No word on Jareth yet.

The sakura are finally in bloom, and I’m pumped. I was taking a few photos after coffee and Nikki found it hard to resist a classic photobomb.

At some point during the history of Twitter and YouTube, hate discourse became normalized. People we’ve never heard of started hijacking public conversation to vent about something they think is bad, mainly to get attention. People gave them the attention. They still do. These individuals—who are completely disconnected from our lives—spend significant time and energy deliberately pissing people off by ranting...

Getting to the substance has increasingly become a chore. Years of browsing the web and using apps has trained me to skip, close, and ignore certain design characteristics that aim to steal my attention. I’m just here to read the article. We block ads and filter out attempts to capture our email addresses. We ignore the inline thumbnails directing us to other articles before we’ve finished this one. Even complex...

A lot of people want to make a website but don’t know where to start or they get stuck. That’s in part because our perception of what websites should be has changed so dramatically over the last 20 years. The “Hard” Way It’s easy to forget how simple a website can be. A website can be just one page. It doesn’t even need CSS. You don’t need a content management system like Wordpress. All you have to...

Luka is a very special person to me. We’ve known each other for ten years now. And I believe I’m a better designer and artist since having met them. For the past few weeks, Luka and I have been combing through every piece of art they’ve made, from illustrations of snacks, to digital landscapes, to oil-painted zoetropes. I’m proud to share a pretty big update to Luka’s website, GraferaZone, which I built by...

I grew up in a big Italian family in St. Louis, Missouri. Most of what I remember eating as a kid was various pastas, salsiccia, salami and cheese sandwiches, toasted ravioli, St. Louis-style pizza. Sometimes my grandma would make some beef stew or something like that. For Christmas, it was always Italian-American food. Beef ravioli, chicken spiedini. Lots of tomatoes, meat, and cheese. My dad’s house was in the...

Apps that deliver content are great up until the moment they start delivering content you don’t like. Then it becomes a game of whac-a-mole. This feels completely avoidable by making sure every piece of content that shows up in any meaningful way on your device is explicitly based on a choice you made to opt-in. But we still haven’t learned this lesson, since at least when email started. If we frame every new...

Sometimes, after writing a couple sentences in a Mastodon compose window, I realize: This should be a blog post. So I move the text over to a note. And then later, I’ll rewrite it and post it on my own blog. Shit, I’m doing it again. Cut, paste, post to LMNT.

We’ve truly lost sight of how to make good apps. There’s a serious lack of vision and taste in the industry. Everyone’s given in to the lowest common denominator in the design of apps, simply mimicking what others do without understanding if it’s even the right choice. After the death of Steve Jobs, no one with good taste rose to the position of the visionary at Apple. They still don’t have one. They have...

I take comfort in knowing that it will be impossible for “AI” tools—here on out—to differentiate between human-made and machine-generated content, thereby inevitably feeding on their own regurgitations. It’s already happening, of course. Over the next few years, while these “AI” companies try to sort that out (and fail), and search engines try to index only the sites that are what any reasonable person would...

Who we buy from is important, but who we sell to is equally important. For any transaction to work, both parties must agree. We agree to buy just as much as we agree to sell. When we buy from a company we don’t find ethical, we support that business. When we work for a company we don’t find ethical, we also support that business. Even if we set a price or salary so absurd to justify our moral ambiguity, if they...

There’s a lot we took for granted with the web. It enables us to do so much, and then we promptly forget it whenever “easier” ways come along: Apps, web apps, web services. I’ve talked about this before. I don’t have a LinkedIn account. I don’t like the idea that we both need an account. I need one to post my résumé, and you need one to view it. How does that benefit me to have my résumé behind a login wall?...

Download icons from LMNT Twenty years ago today, I made and released icons of the new iPod mini, in all five colors. They were posted to my DeviantArt gallery and to a couple forums. The download link no longer works. I was sixteen. Twenty years later, I’m still making icons. And what better way to commemorate the occasion than hard drive icons of the iPod mini, in all five colors?

I know a lot of people hate anti-ad-block popups, but to me they are perfect. In presenting those popups, those websites demonstrate that they realize the lack of control they have. They show us so plainly that they are unable to make money from us, which leaves them no option but to grovel and beg us to turn off ad-blocking. It makes me feel good to have that be acknowledged. When we use web browsers, we...

Download icons from LMNT Growing up in America, I’m familiar with segmented LCD displays, as 14-segment displays can be used for the Latin alphabet. But living in Tokyo, I see 16×16 LED matrices a lot as Japanese kanji are much more complicated.

I created a Wikipedia account when I was 19. I was undoubtedly using it before then, but in 2005, that’s when I first felt compelled to edit it. Before this, my high school teachers were worried about students relying on it as a primary source (because it isn’t). Instead of teaching students how to follow the information to its source and use it properly, they discouraged its use altogether, because “anyone can...

Download wallpaper from LMNT The Muppets Haunted Mansion is a delightful play on one of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions. There are several charming adaptations in the halloween special, one of which is a Muppet-themed hallway wallpaper featuring Gonzo, Pepe, Uncle Deadly, and Beaker.

A few days ago, I wrote an answer to a question I am frequently asked: Why do you like Disneyland? An old friend of mine, Jeff Dlouhy, told me that it reminded him of “Disneyland Is Good For You,” a 1978 piece from the now-retired New West magazine. John Hench gets pretty philosophical in it, which is great. Of course, it was only ever available in print. (I read it via some scanned images.) But after I fell...

Download icons from LMNT I have over 50 NES titles in my retro video game collection, but the one I’ve wanted for a while was the original Bullet-Proof Software version of Tetris for Famicom. I could never find it in Akihabara, but when I went down to Osaka for a few days, there was an almost-pristine box waiting for me.

I get this question a lot. The more I visit, the more I get asked. And every time, I give an abbreviated answer. Not this time. This time I want to answer it for real. As an artist, I am excited about a place that is designed and engineered for people. I like how it has been created to encompass every aspect of life: food, drink, atmosphere, architecture, transportation, fashion, theatre, dance, music, sound,...

I love The West Wing. It’s one of my favorite TV shows. If you’ve never seen it, let me provide a little context for this post. The show follows the presidency of Josiah (Jed) Bartlet and his staff. In the final season, his former Chief of Staff (Leo) becomes the VP candidate for the next election, run by his former Deputy Chief of Staff (Josh). There’s a scene where Bram (campaign staff) asks Josh and...

Download wallpaper from LMNT Tokyo Disneyland has an incredibly beautiful entrance to Tomorrowland, with a teal-blue-violet geometric design on a sloping waterfall surface that stuns me every time.

Download icons from LMNT I’m really going to miss the current incarnation of Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland. One of my favorite things is how unapologetically 80s it is. Well— I guess when they tear it down, it will be a little apologetic. In any case, there’s an incredible “Escape Pod” symbol that’s just a chicken exit for anyone who’s scared. I hope they keep it for the next version. Get the...

Download icons from LMNT The cast surrounding Mickey and Minnie Mouse grew fairly quickly to include Goofy and Donald Duck, but newer additions came even in the 1990s, with characters like Max Goof.

Download icons from LMNT Tokyo has two major subway networks: Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. They are fairly interoperable, complete with complementing line indicators. On overhead signs, they’re often presented in a rounded square not too dissimilar from modern app icons.

Download wallpaper from LMNT For the 40th anniversary, the Tokyo Disney Resort is decorated with rainbow “dream garland,” which is—I think—just a flowery term for bunting. ~na na na na na na iro~