Travel Log – yusthaus

Tokyo Vinyl Bars

yusthaus — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:46:27 +0000

On a recent series of work trips to Tokyo, a Japanese colleague introduced me to the magical world of jazz vinyl listening bars in Tokyo. Its customary for patrons to subtly ask the bartender to play various records with minimal discussion that allows those present to focus on simply listening to the music while smoking and sipping coffee or whiskey.

Jazz vinyl bars in Tokyo proliferated after WWII where residents could listen to the latest records from the U.S. without having to purchase them. At the height of the phenomena areas like Shibuya and Shinjuku had dozens of the cafes and bars.

There are still likely over a hundred of these establishments left, down from a peak of 250 or so in the 1970s. They are places to experience vintage music in low-key social setting that contrasts with the more popular ways music is typically experienced through digital streaming.

The visits kicked off a new tradition in the frog SF studio called Timesheeto. On Friday afternoons the mezzanine of the studio was turned into a small version of one of these establishments as a way to wind up the week over drinks and jazz and one may be reminded to fill out their timesheet before heading home.

Vinyl jazz listening bars have been a Tokyo staple since the end of WWII.

What some of these vinyl bars look like on the inside.

A vinyl jazz establishment bartender serving drinks and taking requests.

My colleague Kaz inside Narcissus, a jazz bar in Shinjuku that has remained unchanged since the 1950s.

Another shot of Narcissus with Sonny Rollins playing.

Narcissus speakers and working payphone.

Vinyl jazz bars have begun to gain popularity in the US as well.

SXSW 2019 Day X Night

yusthaus — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 07:51:00 +0000

These are some highlights during the day and night from the absurdly expansive two-week SXSW conference, which as actually about 10 normalish-sized conferences mashed together into one. I presented within the AR/VR track of programming and was intrigued by some of the VR artists that were exhibiting their work. Re-animated was a high fidelity naturalistic VR narrative by Jakob Kudsk Steenson, centered around an extinct bird. The experience was impactful and caused heightened awareness to bird calls around Austin after being immersed in the experience. There was also care taken to make the installation itself relate to the virtual experience and begin the immersion before putting on the headset.

I enjoyed watching a talk by Bjarke Ingels after seeing lots of his recent architecture in Denmark during our trip there in December 2018. SXSW also lived up to the hype at night, though there were endless lines for many events. Seeing the band Boogarins from Brazil live was a highlight.

SXSWxDay

Bjarke Ingels, VR Pods, VR Art, Robot Puppy Pool

AR AR Art at frog 50th anniversary event at the Austin studio.

Volumetric display.

SXSW X Night

frog is 50, Boogarins from Brazil, British Hip Hop, DJ Party, Lanyard Mafia

Flaming Bar in Austin

Danish Design and Architecture

yusthaus — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 04:07:00 +0000

We visited Denmark for Christmas and had the opportunity to visit some of the recent and notable architecture and exhibits. At the new Danish Architecture Center building a video entitled The Danish Model (below) explained how and why design is integral to Danish culture and society.

Denmark’s view on design and architecture has made it a worldwide leader in these fields and the impact can be felt everywhere, from residential living rooms to transit systems and urban planning. Below is an example of their adaptable bus station signage and their subway system which has been fully automated since 2002, runs 24/7 and is 98.7% on time. They were one of the first cities to convert major thoroughfares to pedestrian traffic which has been mimicked all over the world including Times Square in NY. This resulted in a 35% increase in pedestrian volumes in first year, a 600% increase in pedestrian space, an 81% increase in outdoor cafe seating, a 400% increase in stopping and staying activities and increased revenue for businesses

Traveling North and West out of Copenhagen to the Maritime Museum in Helsingor, Louisiana Art Museum in Humlebaek, the Lego House in Billund, the Vadehavscentret near the Wadden Sea and the former Nazi bunker at Tirpitz.

Denmark and visited locations.

Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, exhibit at the Danish Architecture Center

Louisiana Museum, visiting Olafur Eliasson’s Riverbed project in 2014 and the Moon exhibit in 2018

Danish Maritime Museum by BIG. Built in the excavated subterranean space surrounding an ancient dry dock.

Lego House by BIG. Interactive exhibits encourage building participatory engagement.

The Vadehavscentret at the UNESCO World Heritage Wadden Sea wetlands in Western Denmark had one of the most thoughtfully designed museum exhibitions I’ve ever visited (JAC Studios) and is housed in a unique thatched structure designed by Copenhagen-based architect Dorte Mandrup.

NY to SF

yusthaus — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 07:09:13 +0000

I was hired by frog SF in the middle of 2014, after living in NYC for eight years and starting our family it was time to move. We took two weeks to drive across NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, CO, UT, NV and CA visiting friends and family along the way and going from the most dense zip codes in the country to the least.

We left NYC over the Verrazano Bridge and arrived in SF over the Golden Gate two weeks later.

Packing up our Park Slope apartment.

Emptied out.

The Badlands in South Dakota.

Mt. Rushmore.

The Salt Flats.

First morning in CA, at Lake Tahoe.

Johnson Space Center – Houston, TX

yusthaus — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:03:15 +0000

I visited Johnson Space Center in Houston TX during a research trip for the Shuttle Atlantis project to help interview astronaut instructors and test out the official NASA Shuttle training simulators. It was humbling to be among all the staff and astronauts that have kept NASA’s manned space flight program running since the 1960’s.

The Christopher Craft Mission Control Center building is where mission control is based. It is hurricane proof and as long as the flag on top of the building is raised it means there is an American Astronaut in orbit.

The original Apollo-era mission control room is still preserved exactly as it looked during the moon landing, Apollo 13 and early shuttle missions.

The newer mission control room is the base of operations for the International Space Station.

The astronaut training center in Houston contains a full-scale mockup of the ISS. They were training the next crew in what to do during a fire aboard the station.

The room also contained prototypes for Mars/Lunar rovers.

Engineers were working on a new concept called Robonaut, a robotic astronaut that could potentially take on the risk of spacewalks instead of human astronauts.

One of the simulator technicians agreed to boot up the software for training astronauts to fly the Shuttle. It was the first time he'd started it in almost three years but was necessary to get a feel for what it is like to fly the shuttle on approach and landing.

He also started up a more sophisticated simulator in a room with a two story projection that put an astronaut trainee in the cupula aboard the ISS. He loaded a mission that allowed the astronaut to control the robotic arm and capture the SpaceX Dragon capsule, the first commercial capsule to successfully dock with the station.

A Mercury program rocket on display at Johnson Space Center.