Giant Robot News's Posts

“With coolness and precision, Specktor comes across as a West Coast Saul Bellow in this sweeping narrative, but his energetic, pop-infused prose is markedly his own.”
—Booklist

“Specktor’s book deserves a special space in the L.A. canon, somewhere looking up at Pynchon and Chandler. Even as the narrator searches through his past to uncover the truth about his family, the author is searching, too.”
—LA Weekly

“…Matthew Specktor’s American Dream Machine [is] a big and generous novel that functions both as elegy for a recent past and fictional anthropology . . . .it evokes a world with casual ease and unexpected tenderness, recalling and referencing lots of other fiction (both Hollywood and non) while contriving to establish its unique authority.”
—LA Review of Books

“Specktor’s great achievement is to make familiar territory original, the Hollywood novel born anew. It’s bold, weird, an d unforegetable, as startling as a poke in the eye.”
—The Sunday Telegraph Magazine

“Specktor does for L.A. what Hemingway did for Paris and what Hunter S. Thompson did for Las Vegas: create a character that lives and breathes a city. Like hotels in Vegas, we see characters rise, grow dusty, and collapse.” —Daily Beat, Hot Reads

“American Dream Machine takes readers into situations that might seem familiar: the drug-fueled party at a star’s house in the hills, tense meetings between executives, dimly-lit wood-paneled bars filled with players and movie stars. Yet Specktor’s lyrical writing and insights into human nature elevate the novel into fresh territory.”
—Kirkus

“[American Dream Machine] is a vivid evocation of the entertainment business from the 1960s to the near present, an L.A. bildungsroman and a murder mystery, all wrapped in one . . . entertaining package.”
—New York Daily News

“American Dream Machine is grand, complex, lush, intelligent and lively, funny as hell and generous in ways you don’t often find. It’s also a strikingly original portrait of Los Angeles. People speak of Chandler’s Los Angeles, or Didion’s, or Nathaniel West’s. Someday, they’ll speak of Specktor’s the same way.”
—Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine and The Devil in Silver

“American Dream Machine may be the first literature I’ve read in which Los Angeles is assumed as London is assumed by Dickens and Paris by Proust and New York by a host of twentieth-century American writers. There is nothing ironic, ambivalent, or apologetic about Specktor’s relationship to Los Angeles — as it is and was, as myth and as a thriving capitol city. Los Angeles provides an animate pulse under the lives of these men and boys, a source of permanence that lends their struggles gravity.”
—Mona Simpson, My Hollywood

“Matthew Specktor has created a great American character in Beau Rosenwald. He is full of contradictions, full of ambition, full of raw life, and yet he manages to seduce us. This riveting novel shows us the existential desperation that lurks in the dark hunger of Hollywood power mongers. Specktor gets every detail right, and American Dream Machine‘s sentences are suffused with an elegiac beauty.”
—Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia and Eat The Document

“American Dream Machine is the definitive new Hollywood novel. It’s almost
impossible to write now about the movie business without resorting to well-established
mythology. Somehow, here, Matthew Specktor has figured out a way to do so.”
—David Shields, author of Reality Hunger and The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead

“This is the novel about Los Angeles that I’ve been waiting for–a mythical LA full of longing and distances and illusion. Specktor has captured the LA I know, the one all around me and the one in my head, a city of invention and grit, surface and underbelly. Funny, poignant, and gorgeously written.”
—Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Sorry Please Thank You

“On the other side of paradise from Monroe Stahr and The Last Tycoon is Beau Rosenwald in American Dream Machine, the last agent who mattered as much to the movies as a studio boss. Against the backdrop of the possibility-plagued seventies, Matthew Specktor’s moving, witty, and irresistible epic captures as well as any novel in memory that time in LA when twilight could still be mistaken for sunrise.”
—Steve Erickson, author of Zeroville

GR: Welcome to Southern California. Tell me about your new place and your working studio set up situation?

Thank you very much. I currently live in the South Bay with some fellow artists including Aaron “Angry Woebots” Martin and Mathew Curran, a fellow North Carolinian that made the cross country move with me.  We have a converted loft in the back of our house where we can paint, cast resin and sculpt amongst other things, all to facilitate the different types of projects that each of us might be working on. It’s definitely a change from being in NC where I was essentially working in an artistic vacuum on my own – being amidst many artists that inspire me has definitely given me a new-found appreciation for being able to share techniques, offer and receive critiques and have constant constructive feedback.

GR: This exhibition features pieces that are fully sculpted and not customized. Is this a new direction? Will you still customize?

For this particular show I wanted to focus more on form, rather than the narrative or emotive qualities in many of my previous pieces. Although I am often recognized for being a part of the toy customizing scene, I prefer to create original sculptures for shows where I have the opportunity to showcase a larger body of work, work that is not contingent upon modifying or customizing existing base platforms.  That said, I will still participate in customizing shows depending on if I feel that I can create a piece that is fundamentally sound in theme and execution.

GR: Animals are an obvious theme this time out, yet it’s not limited by mammals, insects or reptiles, yet there’s a common bond between them. Can you talk about how you chose which animals to depict? 

I chose to call this body of work “Biorgasmica”, a study of what it would be like to meld various elements of baroque stylings, the human face and the shape of various creatures together.  When determining what animals I wanted to involve, it mostly came down to animals where I could envision how those disparate elements could more easily coalesce into one cohesive creature.  The final roster of creatures tended to be those that were organically armored, whether with a carapace or scales, or those that had body shapes that would lend themselves to the incorporation of faces or detailing.

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Thanks much to Toysrevil for stringing together these images.

Some Q and A with Konrad Ng regarding his gig at the Smithsonian. “The Asian Guy on stage”. (Asia Society – Konrad Ng)

Reclusive novelist Haruki Murakami surprised and delighted the audience when he opened up about several topics during his recent speech at Kyoto University. Smiling and cracking jokes, the best-selling author and Nobel Prize contender was in high spirits from start to finish….

(Asahi Shimbun – Haruki Murakami)

It’s a fine saturday evening. Here’s the blunder of the week. This one uses LA City tax payer money to fund. It’s Yellow Face again. Somehow people think it’s ok to do Yellow Face and those same folks know it’s not ok to do Black Face. Dr. Greg Kimura from JANM and Guy Aoki from MANAA comment in the video. Sadly, they and many of you all paid for this.

Strange Symbiosis exhibition featured J*Ryu’s first exhibition as an LA resident. His work is entirely sculpted, ushering in a new look and thought process of his own career. He’s not abandoning customizing, but his ability to sculpt from “scratch” is demonstrated in this “black” themed animal kingdom. (Photos are currently up at the Gallery Store) Scott Tolleson brought is range of customized figures that include both his and other works all bearing his magical color palate and argyle style. His Bittacrittas resins are cute. He includes two painting works as well. Leecifer, from Oakland brought his spirited self and his wife down for a visit. Super jovial at all times, this man is a pleasure to have around. His line of works include his hand casted Gammy’s and his PickleBabies. It’s great to know that he uses traditional paints on the vinyl figures. It’s about preparation! Lastly, Aaron Brown in his first four person exhibition at GR2 brought his imagination to customizing Gargamel figures. He adds his succulent and natural look and mesmerized viewers.

Many photos were taken by friends, bloggers and fans, and we’ll hope to see them online.

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A great reception. These pics by DJ Tony Jr.

No it’s really not a Versus, but it is a tiny spat in the media between the two. Perhaps it’s all out of context, but perhaps not. Perhaps it’s even true that Annapolis wasn’t a brilliant film and perhaps it’s true the staff worked hard on it. In the end it’s a non-factor, but it’s great to see Lin getting to defend his side which is something Asian Americans don’t get to do, often. This one can. (Huffington Post – Lin)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Game Night 14

Featuring Retron 5 and Supaboy by Hyperkin

May 18 6:30-10pm

GR2 – 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 www.gr2.net 310 445 9276

Scheduled are two Retron 5 consoles which as of this date has not been released along with 10 Supaboy handheld consoles. We’ll also be giving away 2 Supaboys and customized buttons. We’ll also be an official LA Streetpass event so bring your DS!

Hyperkin

Since its inception Hyperkin® has rapidly established a reputation for developing innovative, reliable and cost-friendly video game peripherals. Hyperkin® designs, manufactures and distributes a wide variety of accessories for every major platform including; Nintendo® Wii™, Sony® PlayStation® 3, Microsoft® Xbox® 360, Nintendo® DSi®XL, Sony® PSP™ as well as an extensive catalog of peripherals for classic platforms like NES, SNES, GameBoy™, SEGA® Genesis™, Saturn™ and Dreamcast™.

For any information:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 445-9276

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art Exhibition at GR2

Waiting – Eishi Takaoka

May 25 – Jun 12, 2013
Opening reception Saturday May 25th 2012, 6:30-10pm

GR2 – 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 www.gr2.net 310 445 9276

Giant Robot 2 (GR2) presents: Waiting

Solo exhibition by Eishi Takaoka

We’re not changing a thing.

“Although the sculptures of Eishi Takaoka all portray the same serene expression, their outwardly calm façade belies a world of bottled-up emotions. With nowhere to go, these intense feelings manifest themselves in outlandish formations that sprout out of the top of each figure’s head. The uniquely sculpted heads of Takaoka are rooted in a personal fantasy world that is fueled by the emotional ups and downs of daily life in lower-middle class Japan. He instills his frustration with life in Kagoshima and feelings of isolation into each of the pieces, which are comprised of carved wood painted with raw mineral pigments placed atop empty glass medicine bottles.”

Takaoka’s pieces have been seen in group shows including the Giant Robot Biennale I and III, and on the cover of novelist Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore.

For this exhibition, Takaoka will create new sculptures at Giant Robot 2 in Los Angeles. He is currently attending school in his hometown of Kagoshima, Japan and will not be in Los Angeles for the opening.

For any information:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 445-9276

Tight capped bottles placed in a Coke machine in the very park where couples try to meet each other in Shanghai.

Thanks DJ Tony Jr!