Issue three of TOO MUCH is about migrant people, the things they carry, and the mirages calling them forth: about traveling to where your garments are made, about the migration of colours, and ideas; about immigrating to Tokyo, and about death — the final migration.

The launch will be accompanied by an exhibition titled “Romantic Geography Public Study – The Mirage and the Migrant,” featuring a collection of valuable foreign objects owned by contributors and a short series of documentary films. The launch party will take place on Saturday 9th of June from 6:00 to 8:00pm at the Center for Cosmic Wonder in conjunction with the launch of Yukinori Maeda’s first monograph, Echoes (2012), published by Taka Ishii Gallery.

You’ll find more details on the Facebook event page.

Who made it?
It was produced by NewspaperDirect, who appears to work exclusively on this app. 

Why would I want to get this?
Because you want to read a proper newspaper, and don’t have access to the print edition. Sure, we currently live in a world where most newspapers have a website that includes all of its articles, but this is an app that downloads the full edition of a ridiculous amount of newspapers, and the main view really does make you feel like you’re taking in that day’s paper, with full page views.

What am I going to find inside?
You’ll find a rather impressive number of newspapers from all over the world — its promotional website states 2100+, and I believe them. So for those of you — I refer to “us” expats around the world — who prefer to have access to a full print edition of a newspaper from back home instead of just accessing a website, this is really the best (and affordable) option you’ll find. I remember the days where you could find certain places (in Tokyo, it was at Tower Records) that would sell print-on-demand editions of papers from around the world, but now with tablets, PressReader makes that service feel unecessary — unless you really miss the sensation of having ink on your fingers (and I think those POD editions didn’t even give you that).

So how do you read this thing, anyway?
Once you’re in a particular edition of a paper, you can read each page by zooming in, or you can view it in a mode that lets you tap on an article title, which brings up that article in a new window, to make it easier to read. In a way, it’s not unlike what you experience when reading a magazine on Zinio.

What were they thinking?
For what it does, I can’t really find much fault. I certainly don’t think that it even comes close to competing with a dedicated tablet edition — like the stellar The Guardian app on iPad — but if you want access to a local newspaper that just doesn’t have the resources (or desire) to produce a proper app, this is the solution for you.

Bottom line, should I buy this?
You should buy it if you fall in the category described in the previous point. The pricing is good — about $1 for a single edition of a title, or a monthly $30 payment for access to everything — and there still is something satisfying about seeing a full newspaper page layout. 

The Creative Review app for iPad is a free download from the iTunes Store, with individual issues selling for $7, and an annual subscription at $60. Can’t say I’m very happy with this pricing though.

I’m launching a magazine called DAY JOB about contemporary working life. It is a biannual print magazine that explores modern work culture through the personal pursuits and values of people around the world. Issue #1 was edited by Julie Lasky from Design Observer who served as consultant on the project. It will feature over 20 interviews, essays, and profiles from people all over the world and features work by Jonathan Olivares, Rob Kulisek, Jungyeon Roh, Kelly Rakowski (Nothing-is-New), Johanna Wallin, and many more.

There’s just over a week left to the Kickstarter campaign, and you’ll of course find more info there on what to expect from the magazine. 

DAY JOB Magazine [Kickstarter]

The Magaziner has a rather big presence, as I have so far produced the live return of the Radio OK Fred podcast — which I co-host with Audrey Fondecave and Yoshi Tsujimura, founders of the now defunct OK FRED magazine, and the current TOO MUCH magazine. You can download the two live episodes we did last week here and here, and we’ll be doing one more session this coming Saturday (May 12, from around 17:00).

I’ll also be producing a special PechaKucha event this coming Friday (May 11, 19:00-21:00), with presentations that all relate to magazines and print — they will be recorded, and a lot of them should pop up on the PechaKucha website. And on the final day of the event (Sunday, May 13) I’ll be hosting a special edition of my monthly PauseTalk series — it will be Vol. 60, and mark the 6th anniversary of the series. It will kick off at 15:00.

So if you’re in Tokyo, I hope that you have a chance to drop by and check in on things. The flyers that you see in this post were designed by Luis Mendo, who has also participated by way of workshops — and he talks more about his involvement in the second episode of our Radio OK Fred show.

Here’s the text I submitted:

When I first moved to Japan over 10 years ago and started digging into the Japanese magosphere, Brutus was one of the first titles I latched on to, and it introduced me to the idea of entire issues that focus on a theme. Sure, this wasn’t a new notion, but it was interesting to me how so many of Japan’s culture magazines used this, and how these themes really ended up touching on sections beyond the feature well. Brutus continues to do this, and although I won’t check out every issue, I will pick it up if it’s a topic I’m interested in, like the current issue’s “Mellow Out” theme, which points us to some of Japan’s best spots to take in a coffee or drink, accompanied by a soothing soundtrack. It was also one of the first mainstream magazines I encountered that regularly included beautiful inserts using a different paper stock in the current issue, it acts as a pull-out guide to the featured spots.

You’ll find the issue on newsstands, or within the Newsweek iPad app ($5 for the issue, or less if you subscribe for a month or year).

The Vogue app is a free download from the iTunes App Store, and follows the regular Conde Nast pricing ($4 per issue, $2/month subscription, and $20/year subscription).

Time to dig into a few new releases courtesy of the brand new edition of Michael Bojkowski’s Linefeed Reading List.

Linefeed Reading List — March 2011 [Linefeed]

Today is March 11, which marks the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan both with its initial impact, and with the nuclear scare that followed, and that continues to worry us. Last year, about a month after that date, I helped organize a global PechaKucha event we called Inspire Japan, to help raise funds for reconstruction efforts in Tohoku, partnering up with Architecture for Humanity and ArchiAid. Today, we release a free iBook that commemorates that event. But more importantly, this is but the start of what we are calling a “living book,” with plans to update a few times a year with more content that helps highlight some of the work being done to rebuild.

Pictured above, the Inspire Japan event that was held in Kathmandu, on April 16, 2011. Below, one of the pages from the book. It includes event photos, posters that were produced for all of the city events, videos, 20×20 presentations, and more.