Year of the Dragon Preview Images

Giant Robot Time: 1.27.12 – Year of the Dragon art exhibition opens Saturday at the new GR2!

YEAR OF THE DRAGON JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 15 OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 6:30-10PM The Giant Robot 2 (GR2) presents: YEAR OF THE DRAGON – an art exhibition featuring Dragons! This is the official GR2 Grand Re-Opening as well as our beloved Michelle Borok’s Farewell… Michelle Borok who is coincidentally Year of the Dragon, began as a clerk at Giant Robot LA and quickly found herself managing all locations, curating exhibitions, building the brand, and needless to say, much much more. She will be moving to Mongolia. “While the Year of the Rabbit was characterized by calm and tranquility, the Year of the Dragon will be marked by excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration and intensity. The Rabbit imbues people with a sense of cautious optimism, but people respond to the spirit of the Dragon with energy, vitality and unbridled enthusiasm, often throwing all caution to the wind – which can be an unwise move: The Dragon is all about drama but if you take unnecessary risks, you may find yourself starring in your own personal tragedy.” The exhibition includes work by: Andrice Arp, Robert Bellm, Aaron Brown, Elliot  Brown, Stasia Burrington, Bjorn Calleja, Ako Castuera, Sean Chao, Louise Chen, Shawn Cheng, James Chong, Luke Chueh, Chris Cilla, Jesse Fillingham, Cam Floyd, Harrison Freeman, Renee French, Gabe  Gonzales, Kio Griffith, Joe Hahn, Nao Harada, Hiro Hayashi, David Horvath, Kerry Horvath, Martin Hsu, Mark Ingram, Mari Inukai, Elizabeth Ito, Marc Johns, Jeremiah LaTorre, Little Friends of Printmaking, Tessar Lo, Bradford Lynn, Miso, Gary Musgrave, Mark Nagata, Ming Ong, Martin Ontiveros, Sana Park, Sidney Pink, Jarrett Quon, Jesse Reklaw, Sara Saedi, Ryan Jacob Smith, Dave Stolte, Ken Taya, Edwin Ushiro, Christine Vincent, Steven Weissman, Heidi  Woan, Yoskay Yamamoto, Jeni Yang, Yejin Oh, Sashiko Yuen (more…)

Made Better in Japan

The obsession of some Japanese folks have been noted by many and this article in the WSJ explains just a few more examples in length. How far does authentic need to go? Does it need to match the roots of the product or project? Does it match a hybrid that’s current? In Japan, it seems to need to find the best time or era of the item, if not, it needs to be as obsessive as possible to satisfy the perfectionist. It ranges from clothing, food, and more. Made in Japan means something to many and that stamp is something that’s sought after. Even the toy companies like Gargamel proudly lives with that stamp on their figures. In the (WSJ- Made Better in Japan) read a bit more about how far people go for that perfect something.

The Eclipse Also Rises

Kei Fischer’s American father met her mother in Japan as an English language teacher. They married and sired her shortly thereafter. Years later, they immigrated to the United States. “I know it sounds clichéd,” Fischer said as she related her story. It may sound like every other story where an American visits Japan and returns with a wife. There’s just one thing. Kei Fischer’s mother isn’t Japanese. She’s Korean.

She didn’t discover this until after death of her grandfather. It was then that her mother finally came clean. She deliberately passed herself as Japanese to avoid the negative stigma associated with Koreans in Post-War Japan.

Kei Fischer constitutes a marginalized minority in Japan called Zainichi. The Zainichi consist of multigenerational Koreans who immigrated to Japan after the annexation of their homeland in 1910. Some of these minorities sought economic opportunities and scholarships abroad, while several others worked as slave laborers under Japanese Imperial Rule.

Koreans eventually lost their Japanese citizenship after the dissolution of Japan’s colonial reign. Many returned to their broken homeland while others decided to stay and resume their lives in Japan. Since then, they’ve faced fiscal and prejudicial hardships resulting from institutionally discriminatory practices in Japan.

Fischer learned about this as she set out to explore this forgotten part of her life. Her journey eventually led her to the Bay Area, where she met Miho Kim. Like Fischer, Kim was a Zainichi from Japan and together they formed an organization called Eclipse Rising with other Zainichi Korean Americans. As founders, Kim and Fischer have been a driving force behind the organization, which doubles as an activist group rather than merely a club of solidarity. “[We want to] develop a Zainichi community that’s physical and recognize a unique perspective that our experiences offer that really can’t be understood beneath a lens of nation states and internationalism since we’re essentially stateless,” Kim said.

Other parts of their mission statement include cultivating stronger relationships with other oppressed groups like the LGBT community, Burakumin (‘untouchables’ in Japan), Okinawans, and Ainu among others. In addition to this, they campaign for the peaceful reunification between North and South Korea. As wide reaching as this objective is, it maintains the consistent focus of supporting, empowering, and granting further rights to Japanese minority groups like them. “We’re really fighting the root cause of structural racism within Japan because that’s the only way we can really bring resolution to what has perpetrated this subjucation of Zainichi,” Kim said. She further related her experiences as a Zainichi to those of the Japanese Americans interned during World War II. “Being immortalized, criminalized, and banished, your entitlement taken from under your feet overnight.”

Some of their past activities included a recap of their 2010 U.S.-Japan Solidarity Tour. They hosted this as a joint holiday party at the School of Unity and Liberation Office in Oakland, California on December 16^th, 2010. The participants of this tour reported the findings of their 9-day long trip where they met the political prisoner Kazuo Ishikawa, The Burakumin Liberation League, Women’s Active Museum On War and Peace for Korea’s “comfort women,” The Funreai House community center for minorities living in Japan, and the Iju-ren solidarity network for migrant workers. In addition to this, Fischer and Kim had the opportunity to visit Pyong Yang, North Korea, in 2008. They rallied to stop the Korea US-Free Trade Agreement with other on January 14^th, 2011 in front of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office in San Francisco under the pretense that it would sacrifice jobs and further erode workers’ rights.

These combined activities have brought the members of Eclipse Rising a long way from where they once stood. The days of passing and living in shame are as foregone as their history in Japan. This isn’t to say that their historical and emotional scars are effaced, but no longer are they hiding in the shadows and as a result moved beyond their previous state of victimhood to taking a stand for others.

Motherfuckerland, Installment 2

(Art by spoon+fork.)

When my sentence was almost up, I chose the one-week job-placement course in food management.  Ben was right.  There weren’t any furniture-making jobs out there.

I was released in late June and got assigned to a restaurant run by these two brothers named Conti.  It was a small place, they told me, next to the boardwalk.  I was going to be paid through deposits into a monitored bank account, but the money was mine and it was even a little bit more than I was making at the Chatterbox.  I was excited, even though I had to sign an employment contract for the duration of my one-year probation.

I had figured out that after my probation was up I would go for the ultimate office job, which was the administrative office in the middle of the boardwalk.  There was always an “Office Job” sign in the door.

But I had to get through a year at the burger stand first. It was weird to leave prison on the same public bus the visitors took. I took two transfers and walked 15 blocks to the restaurant attached to the Seahorse Hotel. I was immediately disappointed because the owners, the Conti brothers, weren’t there to meet me and the restaurant was really a nameless burger stand.  Even worse, it was five blocks away from the boardwalk and the hotel was run by hindus.

As I approached the order window I could faintly hear the people on the log flume screaming on the final plunge.

The only guy who was at the burger stand was Howard Peppi.  He was in my class but I lost track of him when he got left back in fifth grade.  It kinda wasn’t his fault.  His mom had died and he needed counseling to deal with it.

I saw Howard a few times in the working world, but I never gave him much more than a nod.  Him, too.

Howard came out from around the side of the stand.  The skin on his face was peeling around his nose.  He shook my hand and I saw that his arms were hairy to the wrists.

(more…)

NBA’er (D) Jeremy Lin Update

Jeremy Lin article. Yes, he’s in the D League after being on the Knicks and getting no playing time. He did score a triple double in a recent game and is looking strong. What does it mean to do well in the D League if you don’t get playing time in the NBA? Sometimes nothing unfortunately. Hope it matters this time. (NBC - Jeremy Lin)

Adult Entertainment Expo 2012 Day 3 and 4 (set 2 of 2)

GR reporter Dean Gojobori reports on what he saw on days 3 and 4. Good job getting that camera working. This is the final set.

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Akira: 30th Anniversary Jacket

It’s 2012 and no progress yet on the live-action adaptation of the Akira anime. Rest assured, Bandai is releasing a replica of Kaneda’s jacket in the mean time. The jacket is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Otomo Katsuhiro’s manga and it’s yours for the low, low price of 69,800 yen. You can purchase it here on Bandai’s Namco page or the official website for the anniversary.

Win 2 Tickets and Book to See Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso TONIGHT in Hollywood

Giant Robot would like to offer a pair of tickets to Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO – TONIGHT at the Egyptian in Hollywood, plus a hardcover copy of the book “The Art Of Porco Rosso,” to be picked up by the winner at the Box Office. It’s a fun animated film and this event will surely be a hit for Miyazaki fans. Your job? In the comments of this post, write why you’d like to see this film. We’ll pick a winner. Make sure we can find you!

Here’s info on the event!

In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists at LACMA

Kay Sage (United States, 1898-1963)

Yesterday, I was invited to attend a preview of In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States at LACMA. The show is the first of its kind, defying the traditional presentation of female surreal artists as merely wives and mistresses. It also conveys how the art movement was able to reach new heights in North America, where gender barriers were being broken more quickly than in Europe and additional inspiration and energy was coming from Central America. (more…)

GR2 – Sat Feb 4th 7-10pm Game Night 8 – Monaco

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Game Night 8 at Giant Robot 2

Game Night 8 – Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine
Saturday, February 4 2012, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Giant Robot 2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net (310) 445-9276

In conjunction with the Attract Mode, Meat Bun apparel, Angry Bananas, and LA Game Space, Giant Robot is proud to host Game Night 8, an event that takes place at GR2 about every two months. For this eighth installment, we are featuring Monaco.

Monaco is a 1 to 4-player cooperative crime caper inspired by classic French heist movies and set in modern day Monte Carlo. It can be summed up as ‘Pac-Man Meets Hitman.’ In 2010 Monaco won the Independent Game Festival Awards Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design. It is still in development, and this is a rare opportunity to play the in-progress title and interact with creator Andy Schatz and producer Andy Nguyen.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based publication about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles.

Game Night 8 will take place on Saturday, February 4th 2012, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

For more information about Game Night, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

Adult Entertainment Expo 2012 Day 3 and 4 (set 1 of 2)

GR reporter Dean Gojobori reports on what he saw on days 3 and 4. Another set will follow tomorrow.

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Dog Gone Meals in Vietnam Means Finding Dogs Elsewhere

Put away your dogs. 98% are domesticated in Thailand, but if you have a muscular and pudgy dog, it might become Tom Yum. Actually, no they go to Vietnam where it’s “warming” and good luck. It become a meal and popular enough where they have to get it elsewhere. Stop the illegal dog trade? Check out this site soidog.com

In CNN: “The trade is illegal in Thailand and while authorities have made a number of raids involving thousands of dogs, the Thai Veterinary Medical Association estimates as many 500,000 dogs are sold across the Mekong every year.” (CNN – Dogs)

Banana Diet Fad in Japan

Want a banana? Can’t find one. Supposedly bananas are harder to find by 12 noon in Japan. They get sold out. The morning diet is eat a banana with room temperature water and then eat a lunch and dinner or any size, no dessert and sleep by midnight. Yes, do you think it’s really going to work? Who’s behind these diets and how do they get started? It’s usually a “quack” who makes a statement of some sort, has very thin proof, and off to the races the idea goes. If they could do this often with paying scams, they’d be richer than they probably already are. How about “Banana Pills”? It’s a fad, and like many diets in Japan, it’ll pass. (Time – Banana Diet)

Bootleg Fast Food Places (11)

Funny list of 11 spots including the two above. It’s spots you might see in China, although now one is allegedly in Russia. Doesn’t matter, right? You can still blame China. Burger King is cleverly disguised as Cheese Burger. You’d never know! The 7-Apple-11 shop? “Slurpee and a Nachos with that Ipad?” (11points - Bootleg Fast Food Spots)