The prison notebooks of Gento Matsumoto

[imomus]

I first saw Gento Matsumoto's CD-ROM PopUpComputer at a party given by designers M/M in Paris in 1996. Taking the form of an A-Z pop-up children's book, the disk is packed with eccentric wonders: an airship that catches fire and burns up Paris, the diary of a Robinson-Crusoe-like ape. I ordered my own copy, and spent hours in its odd parallel universe. CD-ROM is pretty much dead as a medium, but I still remember PopUpComputer as one of the most fun things you could do with a computer back in 1996. It was certainly an influence on my own ROM, created the same year, This Must Stop! In 2002 Matsumoto created Animal Leader (known in Japan as Dobutsu Bancho and in the US as Cubivore -- Survival of the Fittest) for the Nintendo GameCube. This weird game can only be described as Social Darwinism made cute and cubic:

[Error: unknown template video]

In the fifteen odd years since creating PopUpComputer, art director Gento Matsumoto has had a few ups and downs, including a six month spell in prison in late 1994, early 1995. "I committed every crime a driver can," he told Public-Image.org, "except running someone over." (Actually, his crime seems mostly to have been driving persistently without a license.)



The 48 year-old Matsumoto has returned with a new venture, a website called BCCKS, a platform for consumer-generated books (especially photo books) which can be put together on the web with a series of templates and tools. "Bccks is a service that will let you make your own magazine, novel, illustrated book, photo book or diary," explains the How to make bccks page. "By opening the "O" in BOOKS, we have opened the floodgates. The publication market is now available to everyone." Appropriately enough, one of the best digi-books on BCCKS is Matsumoto's own prison diaries, After Prison Uncut.



Japanese prison is fairly strict; Matsumoto wasn't allowed to use email, and even his notebooks were strictly controlled (only a certain kind of pen could be used, for instance). Today, he recommends a short spell in jail as a mind-focusing exercise, but also as a way to enhance the post-prison experience of daily life -- you certainly don't take anything for granted after a spell inside. Together with photographer Kutusita, Matsumoto has evoked the small pleasures of post-incarceration: a stroll to the temple, a cup of tea in front of the computer.



I find it interesting that Matsumoto and I were both making CD-ROMs a dozen or so years ago, and are now both making books (or digital approximations of books). But I suppose PopUpComputer was a "book" too -- the most intriguingly strange pop-up book a kid could imagine. Or an adult, for that matter.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Momus, what do you think of Junior Boys? Do you like their last album, Begone Dull Care?

[(Anonymous)]

Great album, albeit not as good as So This Is Goodbye. However, let my try and anticipate Momus's response, when he gets here:

"Not my cup of char, I'm afraid. Never much went for the Hall & Oates end of synthpop to begin with, let alone its revival."

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, it's quite interesting to compare Momus with an act like the Junior Boys. They both take an intellectual approach to music, both have an interest in the avant garde (Begone Dull Care is a reference to the experimental film of the same name by Norman McLaren), and yet they channel this in different ways. I'd say Momus is happy to stay firmly on the margins, whereas what the Junior Boys are trying to do is open up an interesting space within mainstream music. Their strategy is one route out of the dilemma of the effacement of the avant garde over the past 20 years.

[(Anonymous)]

One of the Junior Boys lives in Berlin. Perhaps Momus has bumped into him.

[(Anonymous)]

I guess we'll never know what Momus thinks of Junior Boys.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The sounds are good but the structures could be more interesting. I'd like them more if they stripped out every third bar using Echo Nest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFDA4eYf8wU).

[womanonfire.livejournal.com]

whoah, great site! i'm in love with the book navigation design.

[(Anonymous)]

momus you are the most sensitive man in the world; i wonder if i accosted you with my fists if you would fight back, you would just stamd there saying ' ardous cunt! loser! tosspot! and i wouild be beating your arse in front of your girlfriend.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm a pretty tough guy, as you can see from this photo, taken this afternoon:



Plus I have girls on my side, so you'd get scratched and bitten to within an inch of your life.

[robotmummies.livejournal.com]

furry arms

Avoiding Corrosive Oestrogen

[(Anonymous)]

Gentlemen - there's a reason you didn't play with girls as a child. There's a reason why, in general, you avoid reading female novelists as an adult. The corrosive effects of oestrogen.

Castrating, nullifying girl juice. Joyless, jealous and complaining. It only wants one thing - to bring your happiness down to its level. A plateau of dissatisfied misery and madness.

Tips for avoiding corrosive oestrogen:
1. Form a hard rock band.
2. A man needs his 'potting shed'.
3. Try domestic violence. Does it really have to be such a bogie man?!

[junsuikeiken.livejournal.com]

Did you get a chance to experience snuggies while you were in the states?

[ultrakurtzwelle.livejournal.com]

Cubivore is pretty much one of the best games ever. The BCCKS website is really interesting, thanks for the link.