It was announced this week that the Combine cafe in Nakameguro will be closing for good later this month (on February 25). Although I didn’t really go that often, I did enjoy the times that I did, and it does feel like a revered (or much appreciated) part of Tokyo is dying off — I don’t know when it opened, but it feels like it’s been there for most of the decade I’ve been here.

Should we be surprised? It is after all one of the aspects of this city that we tend to like: the endless flux. Tokyo is constantly being reimagined, and new spaces go up, just as they go down. Combine already played a part in this growth/contraction: the Daikanyama spinoff closed down last year after a nearby studio complained about the noise.

And like I said, I didn’t really go to Combine much — to be fair, I don’t get to Nakameguro that often these days — yet I feel sad about its closing.

Maybe it’s because a lot of people I know liked to go there too.

Maybe I’m hit by a sudden regret for not going more often — it’s not like there are that many spots in Tokyo that offer a nice open view of the river during the spring/summer months.

Maybe I shouldn’t care, and just take this as an excuse to find the next great spot to hang out with friends in. I certainly find myself not exploring this city as much as I used to, and although there are many factors that contribute to this (busy with work, location where I live, being married, having a dog), I do often feel a bit guilty that I don’t take the time still properly take in this city of mine.

So goodbye Combine, thanks for the memories. And hello, Tokyo.

That photo at the top is taken from this blog — there are more here.

Below, a partial list of the partipants (those who signed the attendance sheet). Please note that PauseTalk Vol. 58 will be held on March 5.

• Anna-Maria Montonen (Product Designer)
• Asa Ekstrom (Illustrator/Manga Artist)
• David Steinberg (Game Developer/Musician)
• Ellen Chou (Photographer)
• Genevieve Sawtelle (Photographer)
• Greg Mullinax (Businessman)
• Gueorgui Tcherednitchenko (Photowalker)
• Jean Snow (PauseTalker)
• JM Ken Niimura (Comic Artist/Illustrator)
• Martin Roberts (Media Professor)
• Peter Blake (Photographer)
• Said Karlsson (Journalist/Photographer/Game Producer)

A round-up of game recommendations — in other words, games I’m playing these days.

• Little Racers STREET (XBLIG) — A really fun little racer that sort of plays like Reckless Racers on iOS, and it’s only a buck. Surprisingly addictive.
• Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (XBLA) — Yes, I’m so very late on this game, but better late than never. Terrific art direction (pictured above), and I’m really enjoying the Metrovania-like (exploration) gameplay so far.
• Sonic Generations (PS3/360) — I’ve hated pretty much every Sonic game of the past few console generations, and was cautiously excited when the demo for this came out. I finally picked it up, and I’m having an absolute blast with it. If you’ve enjoyed a Sonic game in your life, then give this a try.
• The Hacker (iPhone) — Great aesthetic, love the feel of the interface (old school computing).

If you regularly check the participants list of PauseTalk events, then you’ve probably spotted the name Niko Lanzuisi quite a few times. A regular at the events, he’s a very talented filmmaker, and he’s been working on a few different video projects over the past year, and the latest is called TOKYO X CREATIVES. The idea is to create a series of shorts, with each focusing on one Tokyo creative — I’ll humbly add that I will be one of the initial six interviewees. Included in this post are the two first video teasers, and there are four more to come. Niko is actually trying to shop these around, to get some funding to continue doing them, so if you like what you see help spread the word (or if you’re a production company or publisher, get in touch with Niko).

The trailer above is for the interview with UAMOU creator Ayako Takagi, and the one below features chiptune artist OMODAKA performing at last month’s FAMIMODE event — you’ll find more details on each of the video’s Vimeo pages.

Here’s a new 1-minute video for Vimeo’s “1 Minute” group, this time recorded after last night’s main session of PauseTalk Vol. 57 was over. I’ll have the participant’s list up later today.

Just a reminder that tonight (Monday, February 6) is indeed PauseTalk Vol. 57, the first edition following a 2-month break (because of the holidays). I’ve been sick for a week, and still have a bit of a cough, but still quite looking forward to tonight’s event, to get my chat on. It all happens at Cafe Pause with an official start time of 20:00 (although feel free to come earlier). The photo above was taken at December’s Vol. 56 by Michael Holmes.

Here’s a fun pic that Michael Holmes took of me and Yuki at the recent PechaKucha Night Vol. 88 — there’s an entire gallery on Facebook.

I tweeted it the other day, but I wanted to point out again that The Guardian has launched a rather nice guide to Tokyo. I should also mention that a few of my friends have contributed to this (Ashley Rawlings, Brian Ashcraft, Patrick Macias), and these are people that I would absolutely trust when it comes to recommendations in their particular fields (arts, gaming spots, otaku spots).

I forgot to post it last week when it was published — blame the nasty flu virus that has gotten me down for the past week — but the January edition of my “On Design” column was published on the 31st in The Japan Times, and you can read it online here. Pictured above, Postalco‘s fantastic new Snap Pad (and until February 16, you can catch Postalco’s “Wheel Printer” exhibition at the Creation Gallery G8 in Ginza).

I’ve produced a second video for Vimeo’s “1 Minute” group. This one, “Sound Board,” was recorded at last week’s PechaKucha Night Vol. 88 at SuperDeluxe. The first video was the one with my dog.

I tweeted an Instagram photo the other day, but here’s what my new skateboard looks like, the “Girl” deck from Lesque. Will try and get some wheels on it this weekend to go for a spin. Again, huge thanks to my homie Ian for hooking me up!

A new episode of the Codex is up (47), featuring another eclectic mix of tracks. Please enjoy.

I mentioned the upcoming PechaKucha Global Cities Week event last week, and now we have some banners ads to share (also designed by Ian), in a variety of colors and sizes. If you’d like help spread the word on the event, you can download them here — and you can point to the front page of the PechaKucha website, which will get updated later today with more info.

And don’t forget that PechaKucha Night Vol. 88 happens this Wednesday at SuperDeluxe from 20:20 (doors open at 19:00).

I recently got an Apple TV — mostly to easily stream videos to the TV, but me and my wife have also discovered the joys of streaming music through it, which for us is the first time we have a “stereo” in our home (the speakers on our Sharp Aquos sound quite nice). One of my favorite things to do with it though as been to watch videos from Vimeo. It’s such a great experience, considering that most of them are in HD, and it truly feels like I’m having my own little film fests at home every day. I used to really miss the Resfest, since back in the day it was one of the only places where you could really see interesting short films, but not anymore.

Anothing thing is that watching all these shorts has really been inspiring me to try and do some little video projects. I remember being excited when I got my iPhone 4 in part because of the HD video it could record, but I never ended up using it. I’ve decided to start by doing little clips, based on this post I found on Vimeo, that suggests little projects you can do. First up, and the easiest, is to do clips for the “1 Minute” group (no editing, no camera movements, natural sounds). My first video, “Sleeping Dog,” is of course of my dog being pretty much oblivious to anything around him (it’s on YouTube too).