Japan
$60
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Courage! The paragon of Japanese craftsmanship, the pride of Best Made.
Hunger Games is unique from past remakes or adaptations of Asian stories in that its creator denies any knowledge of the classic 1999 Japanese book and movie Battle Royale, with which it shares extraordinary parallels.
Both movies feature a corrupt totalitarian government that places children on an isolated island to fight brutally to the death, until one last winner emerges. They implant tracking devices into the children and fill the island with cameras, which are observed by a control room that airs the competition to the general population. A female protagonist ultimately triumphs with the help of a boy with whom she develops a relationship.
Unbelievably Author Suzanne Collins claims she never heard of the Battle Royale book or movie prior to writing The Hunger Games in 2008, and claims that she came up with the ideas independently after watching late night television and clips of the Iraq War. Yeah Right! Collins has already profited handsomely from her Hunger Games trilogy of books, which have been US bestsellers for the past few years.
Most Americans Continue to be unaware of Battle Royale since it was blocked from US distribution until recently.
Suzanne Collins’s claims that Battle Royale had no influence on her books and its film adaptation is a major step back from recent remakes of Asian stories because, in those cases, at least there was a minor acknowledgement to the original characters or stories from which they were adapted. The film review community has also done a disservice by downplaying this issue.
Most mainstream reviews do not acknowledge any Battle Royale influence in The Hunger Games, and those who do mention the film deliberately bundle it with other movies like Running Man in order to gloss over the striking similarities to Battle Royale. Other reviews strain unconvincingly to explain how dissimilar the two films are.
Now, art and innovation do certainly build on top of other works, and influence of past works on future creations occurs all over the world. The reason the downplaying of any credit to past Asian creations matters, is because a stereotype and perception exists that Asian cultures (and Asians and Asian Americans) are not creative, and that Western civilizations have been the main drivers of innovation through history. Brilliant Asian and Asian Americans in the creative arts include a long list of notable icons like Haruki Marakami, Ang Lee, Mira Nair, Chan Wook Park, Zhang Yimou, artists such as IM Pei and Maya Lin, and hundreds of other creative Asian Americans.
The snub by The Hunger Games over Battle Royale shares a history that goes beyond film. Persistent lack of attribution should not be too surprising given the idealized Western civilizational narrative around historical creativity and innovation, we still celebrate the legend of a European for “discovering” a continent that was already inhabited by hundreds of millions of people, and visited my the Norse, Egyptians and Asians.
Seat Belt Chair by Thai designer Nuttapong Charoenkitivarakorn,
Thai designer, Nuttapong Charoenkitivarakorn, designed the Seatbelt Chair as a part of a larger collection of work, entitled, “The Sculpture.” The work was designed in 2005 and is hand-made in Thailand.
Nuttapong works with influences important to modern Thai culture. In this instance, the Seatbelt Chair is made using scrap material from a local manufacturer by people in a local Thai village. By combining the two worlds of modern manufacturing and Thai craftsmanship Nuttapong references historical Thai culture while at the same time using material from a manufacturer integral to Thailand’s modern economy.
Set Designer Designer Margaret Hungerford (seriously), working for Ludus Productions, based in Concord, N.C. Margaret Hungerford has also worked in various set and costume design positions on other movies including Minority Report, Leatherheads and Contagion.
The Hunger Games was filmed entirely in N.C.
Chambers Premium headphones by Producer RZA are not just fashion headsets like Dr. Dre Beats. The sound quality is on par with every headphone in the premium class I could find. However what sets these apart from other audiophile headphones are the following.
Only problem, Average Specs for the High Price, Plus they don’t fold or pivot like DJ headphones making it difficult to pack.
type: 40mm power drivers
active noise cancellation performance: nr up to 18 dB
impedance: 32 Ohms
frequency range: 20 – 20,000Hz
1kHz sensitivity: 110dB AT 1kHz 1mW
maximum output power: 34mW
Regardless your ears will be happy because I can’t find any better specs compatible with Iphone, noise cancelling and detachable cord.
First Place, 2010 AIA Young Architects Forum Cardboard Chair Competition. Team leader Gourab Kar. Team members Nibha Jain, Indu Thumsi and Chris Neoh.
The ECOLOGIC Chairs pictured here are made from triple or double walls of fluted cardboard that can hold at least 600 pounds. They sell for under $100.
