A few days ago I was making a joke about having to forge ford a river — referring the old-school video game Oregon Trail — and no one knew what I was talking about. How could you not know and love Oregon Trail? I have an emulator on my Mac for the sole purpose of playing the game once a year.

Everyone that grew up in the 80s loves the simplicity and nostalgia of the classic video games, but It wasn’t the game play alone that made these titles great, it was the all around visual simplicity. That simple design even extended to the packaging and cover designs. The website The Minus World had a cool take on classic Atari 2600 art direction and decided to redo some recent titles in that style and the results are fantastic. Press SPACE BAR to continue. (Found via Signal Noise)

No joke. I have a list in Delicious of things that I need to buy, and by need I mean want. A sampling of my wants and desires are pictured below. I like to have at least 10 — 100 material obsessions on my mind at all times. Keeps me from going insane I suppose.

Danner Light II Hiking Boots. Made in the USA. I can’t forget to get red shoelaces.

Steve McQueen: A Life in Pictures

AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D Autofocus Lens for my Nikon D300

Brooks England B17 Saddle

Patagonia Big Label Redux

Not with sex or drugs, but with pork buns from the Japanese ramen restaurant Ippudo. Its ridiculous I know, but these little buns are just so tasty. My friends and I have isolated the allure to either one of three factors, the pork, the oddly textured buns, or the mysterious sauce. We aren’t really narrowing it down, I know. Regardless, the little sandwiches are sent from heaven and the ramen ain’t too shabby either. Getting a seat without a long wait at Ippudo can be challenging —the restaurant does not take reservations— but the wait is always worth it for the great tasting Japanese comfort food.

Food styling by Randy Goldberg.

The folks at Urban Daddy had a little soiree sponsored by Don Julio last night at a gallery on Mulberry Street in NYC. The theme of the event was centered around New York based films that were projected onto the walls of the gallery while DJ Paul Sevigny did his thing. Showing while the tequila flowed was Wall Street, Ghost Busters, The Warriors, The Royal Tenenbaums and some others, but my memory is fuzzy for some reason?!? I would have liked to see King of New York mixed in there, but I can’t argue with UD’s picks. I also wouldn’t mind if Wall Street was playing at every party I go to for the next year. Awesome movie.

Bud confronts Gordon Gecko about his plans to chop Blue Star into pieces. The audio of the clip was added in post production as the sound from my camera was awful.

If you don’t know Christopher Hitchens, take a few minutes and acquaint yourself. The author and pronounced atheist could be the most entertaining speaker ever. I have been enjoying his commentary during this past election season.

The amount of people walking the streets of Tokyo was amazing to me. My friend and I stayed in Shibuya, one of the most densely populated locations in the city, and it was utterly shocking. I took a cool video from the 22nd floor of my hotel of the popular Shibuya crossing in action. Everyone patiently waits for the light to change and then madness ensues. Check it out.

The fine folks at Gothamist are reporting on a NYC DOT study that shows that New York City bicycle ridership is showing strong growth. This is good news for anyone who enjoys seeing the city government make New York more bicycle friendly.

New York’s PBS Channel Thirteen has put together an interesting three part series called Uncertain Industry on the state of New York City manufacturing. Per the website: “New York City was once the capital of American manufacturing. In 1950, the city boasted nearly one million manufacturing jobs. By 2007 that number had dwindled to one hundred thousand. Today’s manufacturers face stiff competition, space constraints, and high real estate prices.”

My travels have brought me to Tokyo for the next week or so. I’m traveling with my good friend Mark McNairy who works as the creative director for J. Press. Mark has spent significant time in Japan. So I’m not completely oblivious to the goings-on in this immense city. Some of my favorite finds thus far are below. A few more good store photos (if you are into that thing) can be seen on my site.

On the first day we stopped by Don Quijote and bought some Japanese coffee makers. Innovation really is everywhere here in Japan.

I couldn’t pass up the mini-brim hats. Perfect for riding my bike.

Everyone talks about the Tokyo vending machines for good reason, they are bonkers. The Uniqlo vending machine tee shirt store is cool too, if you are into that sort of thing.

Best store name I have seen so far. Bruce Pee.

The elevator ride in my hotel. Note the soccer field on the roof when I pan to the left.

I have always thought that a sure sign of aging was when one starts discussing commercials. As a kid I would constantly be subjected to my parents laughing with their friends about dumb commercials — saying things like “have you seen the one where…”

Just the other day, while I was watching my Cleveland Browns lay-the-smack-down on the defending Super Bowl champion New York football Giants, I found myself drooling over a Nike advert. I paused the game and sat down at my computer to get another look at the ad on YouTube. The Wieden + Kennedy produced commercial titled Fate: Leave Nothing, was directed by the respected filmmaker David Fincher (Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, etc.) for Nike Football. The attention grabbing spot (note the action on the ultrasound in the first scene) is one of the best I have seen in some time. I must be getting old.

Fate: Leave Nothing starring the San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu. The song is a remixed version of Jay-Z’s Blueprint 2.

Michael Mann’s Nike Commercial — in the same vein — starring San Diego’s Shawn Merriman and St. Louis’ Steven Jackson.

Not necessarily commercials, but short films with the product as the center piece, a few years back BMW (as well as Mr. David Fincher, again) tapped Clive Owen and several well respected directors to put together a two season series titled BMW Films: The Hire.

Ambush directed by John Frankenheimer.

Guy Ritchie’s Star.

Tony Scott’s Beat the Devil.