UCLA Talk Asia Institute

Asia Institute got us in to speak today. It started off with a Thai to go lunch and a bunch of questions from the many students who are part of the Asia Pacific Arts and Asia Media web publications out of UCLA. Many have titles, some are interns, but they asked a bunch of questions relating to magazine making. I was challenging myself to remember a whole room of people. That's William with the glasses, the woman on the right is Debbie, but the names started to fade away. Check out all of their links, including the Asia Institute.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/
http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/

This is what the talk looked like. Behind the project sat Tritia Toyota who's a newscaster in LA. I assume she's still active doing a lot of projects and she took a lot of notes during our talk. Why? I have no idea. She probably didn't realize it, but I'm a long time fan and I watched her broadcast often. I remember her best on NBC. Check out the video below, it's old, but her cadence is perfect and her hair amazing. A touch of blush and a more natural make up style made her better than the rest. In a way, I think she was the true prototype of the Asian American woman anchor. Connie Chung was a big name, but her style was over the top.

A fun fact is that punk band, The Dickies, recorded a song called, "I'm Stuck in a Pagoda with Tricia Toyota" They spelled her name different, who knows why. I wonder what she thinks of the song? Had I got to speak with her, that would have been my first question. 

The talk went well, and it was supposed to include a little about finding a job that's untraditional. I think we did a fair job in showing how it is. The weird thing is that the event took place in the faculty lounge, even as a student, I never got to go inside. Now, I get to see what it's all about. 

10 reasons why David Horvath is Babo

It's been said, that David Horvath looks like his characters. What do you think about Babo?

 

1) The eyes 

2) The teeth 

3) The hand gesture

4) The fact that he draws the Uglydolls. As pictured Babo draws Uglydolls 

5) David is a lefty, notice where the chopsticks are. Babo is a righty. Hmm. That's not helping my theory, is it? Sun-min is probably a righty though. Maybe it's to throw us off.

6) Babo has a little part in the head, David has a part in the hair.

7) Babo likes cookies. David likes cookies.

8) Babo means stupid or idiot in Korean. David is self deprecating, hence the name Uglydolls.

9) Babo is one of the earliest Uglydolls. I think it might have been the first. 

10) Uglycon and How to Draw Uglydolls as presented by Babo? Uh, David? 

Avocado thief makes it to the times blog

I wonder what people really think about this. Is it just stupid? Either way, a theft is a theft. Glad the Times are playing attention to this fairly trivial matter. Read their entry in the LA Now blog. It's not too much, but I'm amazed that they care. Maybe it's a Southern California thing. The weather is nice, we actually can grow produce in our yards (yes, we actually have yards with fruit)... If you drive in my area, you can see other trees, peaches, loquat, guava, other avocados, lemons, tangerines, persimmons and more. It's pretty cool to be in Southern Cali. My parents house has apple trees that are pretty good. They also do grapes which rock and blackberries.

Check it all out here.

Hook-ups Destroying America video with Ming Tran and Jeremy Klein

I forgot to add this one into the last post. So here it is. I couldn't find the video. It's from a Hook-ups a few years ago, called Destroying America. I think you were able to pick it up at Best Buy and it also featured Tony Hawk and many others including pro skater, Jeremy Klein and at the time, martial artist and student, Ming Tran. Check out the funny video part below. 


What do you think?

last bits chicago and ny

Walking around downtown Chicago, I couldn't help but notice this theater. I'm not offended or anything like that, if anything, I'm a bit nostalgic since I know this was created in an era when Oriental was a word, when Oriental could have been a rug, and if you look at the top of the sign, it looks like a genie's hat or a Taj Mahal. Ford makes it way at the bottom of the sign as well, which looks unfitting. I wonder, why does the McDonald's have a green "L"?

At the UIC men's bathroom, I saw this sign again. I've blogged it once before. But this one had some additional lines added in implying, put finger in butt, and you get bacon. It makes strange sense, but it's creative.

This was in NYC. I've seen this before, but it's funny to see a tag added to the "street art". I guess I like street art when it's neat like this. 

Remember Ming Tran? Vegan Supreme Marshmallows? The song by Gob, Hookups ads, or the video below?  She's in NY and might be piloting a plane you travel in. Yes, she flies now.

ConversAsian

Yvonne Lau, a professor at DePaul University invited me to appear on her show, ConversAsian that shows in Illinois. Before you mess with it's name, know that it's been around for years. It's fairly free form, it's Yvonne and a subject sitting across from each other in a simple room. It's what you've seen on cable access, but this one focuses on Asian Americans. Rare actually, isn't it? I made it through two segments easily, each being 28 minutes. There's no editing, so if you decide to melt down, you can't take it back.

This is what the control board looks like. I'm sure it's not brand new, but it works. We talked about the beginnings of GR, where it's been, where it's going, Asian America, and what I think about it all. It's fun to be able to air out your mind, especially when I've been thinking about things for a while. 

After the interview, Yvonne thanked me and said it was inspiring. If you see the broadcast, give me a shout.  

Hot Doug's hot dogs Part 2

Hot Doug Part 2 - it doesn't stop. The food in Chicago is pretty good. I've written about Hot Doug's before, which is perhaps the best dog place around. It's open only during the day, and it's right by the folks at Midway who makes the Chow Yun Fat video game. Eat dog seems be well crafted. The above two are the veggie dogs, and maybe some of the folks who read this blog can tell me what the heck the bottom one is. I forgot. I added the image above, and that's Hot Doug himself. I sneaked photos of him before, but this time I asked, and look at that smile. If you're in the business of making great food, and making people happy, I hope you can smile like this man can. He's always there working. When he's out, the spot might be closed. 

Rumor has it, that Hot Doug is a culinary student of sorts, and went through the rigors of being at high end restaurants, and now makes the best dogs he can. That's really cool.

This is the Dave Kingman. I do remember Mr Kingman, who hit a ball in the Astrodome that went so high, it didn't come down. The Chicken sausage dog is the Dave Kingman. I got it Italian style, which has those special herbs that mama would put in the sauce. 

The technique of opening this dog is a bit freaky. If you hit Chicago, you should check this place out.

Here's my last post about Hot Doug's.

University Illinois Chicago

Talking at a the University of Illinois Chicago, which is a state school that's supposedly not among the better institutions, it was a a great chance to talk to the people-the regular kids-which is pretty much how I got my education. 

1) The school is 25% Asian, and even with that, there's no Asian American studies as a major. There's a student Asian American office, but it ends there. One office, and 25% of the campus who's Asian. It doesn't compute, does it? The majority is probably 1.5 generation, which is maybe why it's splintered. 

2) We talked for about 40 minutes to a decent amount of people, and then answered questions, then it became an impromptu signing session. Usually people just gather and take, but in Chicago, they lined up orderly.



3) The best part of talking to schools is that the kids who aren't forced to come, really listen as compared to talking at a class where people just don't care.

4) Another good part about doing it out of town is that these are all new folks who are just finding out about the magazine. Hopefully, they'll stick around.

5) The good thing is that we got to eat Greek food for dinner. The future of Asian America? I'm not sure, it's always cloudy, but today, I think we talked good game.

Jay Ryan The Bird Machine

Inspection time. This is a preview shot of the new poster for Shipping News. The artwork is always by Jay if he's printing it, and it features a multicolored, geometric abstraction image that's more fine art than ever. He's using gradients and they come out perfect with a nice transition of color. Jay's an amazing artist from Chicago and it was great to see his studio. 

Jay is sort of an eco dude. He's growing sprouts outside the studio door. That's Tim Hugh who runs the Asian film fest in Chicago. 

Jay in his front room where the magic begins.

Smoque in Chicago

Baby back Ribs. If you think of that Chili's song, that's a heartbreaker and maybe a dealbreaker. Refrain please. Instead, grab a pile of wetnaps, get your all you can handle Fanta Orange and get ready to rumble. These are the St Louis style, and the ribs break apart easily, and the flavor is both juicy and meaty with a bounty of taste. It's not heavy on the sauce when it shows up, and their BBQ sauce works great on everything including fries. See the forks? You don't need them for the main features.

 
Brisket sandwich. The bread alone works with the sauce. It's sort of like eating Unagi, you can put the sauce on anything, and it'll taste good. But the brisket is tender and breaks down in your mouth. This a soft sandwich, and the thick bread isn't too heavy, and compliments the meat. I found myself pouring a tiny bit more of the BBQ sauce in. Does that meat look amazing? Even you vegans and veggies have to admit, this is looking good, right?

The sides aren't a joke here. The beans are a winner and sports a great sweet and smokey flavor that blows a can of Bush's to Uranus. Tiny bits of meat, tell me that it's probably made with the "shake" from the ribs and brisket giving that extra jab to tell you it's homegrown. The cole slaw might actually be a vegan dish. It's void of the typical mayo, but instead is in a dressing, so it's more like a mini salad. Vinegar, spices, and the onions make this work. I could have ate a bowl, and today, the following day, that's what I'll probably need to eat all day in the wake of this devastating to the body type of meal.

Smoque
3800 N Pulaski
(between Avondale Ave & Grace St)
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 545-7427

Cai Guo-Qiang At the Guggenheim Museum I Want to Believe

Murakami might be in Brooklyn, but Cai Guo-Qiang is at the Guggenheim. Two of Asia's finest artists are doing insanely well in the world market. I don't need to say much about Murakami, who's going the Louis Vuitton thing in Brooklyn as well, and Cai Guo-Qiang did his exploding car thing as well, and showed his stuffed animals and boats with arrows. He also showed his explosion paintings as well. It's amazing that two artists from Asia can make an impact in perhaps the leading city for "high" art in America at once. If you're in NYC, I'd highly suggest you check out Cai Guo-Qiang. I last saw his work at MassMOCA, and it's great that he's also going to do the fireworks for the Beijing Olympics.

Comicon Day 2, Sunday and Over

You know you're in trouble when you see "URBAN VINYL" look like this. Recall, one year ago, I photographed Diamond comics with the box that said "URBAN VINYL" on it, and although they probably don't make these, I didn't like them at all. I'm not sure if a Urbanized Han Solo or Boba Fett is the way to go. When I see this, I think it's the end of the vinyl doll craze, but it's not. Have any opinions on this?

This morning, a funny thing was taking place. Look at this photo. You see the dog just looking at me as if he was skeptical old man. Not saying a word, but just watching away. But the dog owners were in back. It's overcast, a little cold, and in this empty playground are a couple who get their morning exercise by throwing a Frisbee at each other. I would agree that Frisbee throwing is a lot of fun, but for some reason, this didn't fit at all.

The top row of handmade crochet plush are amazing.

Plenty is said in hush hush about the above kaiju. What do you think?

GRNY.

Pillow fight with Uglies. It was a daydream for you some of you Uglyfans. 

Videos / the thief and the musician

The thief struck a Giant Robot art exhibition in SF. Know who this is? This person stole a piece by Susie Ghahremani. Notice the lack of fear or any kind of hesitation. This person is bad person. Could you do this without any hesitation? Would you even think about it? And would it eat you up later? It's sad to say, some people just don't care and won't hesitate to steal from a young artist. Sad times and a sad world we live in. Imagine that this is a stolen art piece, and not a murder, terrorism, war, or anything like that, and yet, this person still has to fuck up something that's fairly pure.




The next video I shot while on Virgin America. Did you know they'll let a passenger play the sax in an aisle? I'd much rather see a gymnast do flips, or maybe a stripper doing her thing, or how about a skateboarder pushing mongo-style? Virgin America is a lot more open minded in letting people entertain themselves on a plane which is shocking since eventually it'll cause some kind of problem or complaint. I remember after 9/11 they didn't want people getting out of their seats. If you hung around near the bathrooms, it meant bad things. Maybe it's great that we're more lax, and security is improved to the point that we can fly with a smile and more comfort.

Ny Kaiju Toy Tokyo

Toy Tokyo does it weird sometimes, but overall, they're hustling and pushing the kaiju. It's streetwear mixed with toys, if that makes any sense. But it's working for them. I'm not sure kaiju fits, but if it's not, they're making it fit. So here's more pics from the exhibition. It's neat to see toys get front and center attention. It's not the first time, but maybe it needs to happen more.

The Lord!

She likes head.

Koji Harmon paints kaiju 

Kiyoka Ikeda sculpts and paints well himself.

Le Merde

I know some of you toy folks are saying you'd hit this.

This is a great collection of Real Head dolls. I wish I had a collection that looked like this.

Whoa, this is a diorama of strangeness

NY day one Comicon, Buff Monster GR2, Kaiju NY, and frites

The NY Comicon is improved from last year. That's the first thing worth talking about. Our booth is not among the toy people, which is how we do it in San Diego. I'm not quite sure why, but I think we're happy being near the indie comic book folks, more than the toy folks. I hope the toy folks don't mind. I flew in on the first flight and caught some of the action.

Anne and Michelle on west 32nd 

Buff Monster shows off his kaiju technique

Buff in style

Jimmy - the guy who comments a lot. He's a tall Asian guy. Notice the hipster 15 degree clockwise rotation of the designer cap.

Kiyoka Ikeda's Gargamel pieces at the Kaiju event.

Toy Tokyo's space AKA Lev's Apartment

Frites on 2nd. One of the sauces is a curry ketchup, the winner!

Night over.

DEHARAVATH GR2 - Saturday

Yukinori Dehara and David Horvath are like brothers from different mothers. That rhymes and it sounds funny, but in this case, it's true. David is Dehara's biggest fan, and it's great to have them together at GR2 in person. It's pretty much a super star exhibition, and sad to say, I have to leave to NYC. I'll miss the opening, but I did check out the hanging of the work. I'll put up from pics on flickr. 

We have a no line up rule and instead and planning to raffle off tickets to be able to purchase what we think will be the hot item... the handmade plushes. With a new baby, the handmades are at a slow point, they're hard to make, and hard to get. 

That's us in the early part of the day. If I did art, I'd be holding it. Instead I'm repping gr 53. David has a box of dried mentaiko powder, Dehara rocks the handmade two faced Wedgehead.

Japanese American National Museum Board of Governors

Norman Mineta... Read his wikipedia entry. He's had an amazing career, including an airport named after him. He's the first Asian American mayor in the US (San Jose). The San Jose International is actually in his name. And he was the only Democrat in George Bush's regime. That's out of control. Tonite I met him, Senator Daniel Inouye who I actually met before, and many others. Why? They're part of the Board of Governors. At first, I thought they'd be like Arnold Schwartzeneggar, but they're more like Asian Americans on a mission. But tonite, it was a special dinner to talk about the museum, it's possible future, the next GR Biennale that's in 2009, and how they fit in. The talk was maybe 30 minutes, and I went through a few slides. 

The Senator from Hawaii rolls without any secret service. Am I supposed to say that? Daniel Inouye has been a Senator since 1959. He must love his job. I can't see him ever losing another Senate election. I'll bet his punk rock son, Kenny could run in his father's place and win right off the bat. Daniel Inouye is like Ironman. Also in the house was George Takei, my main man. He's a cool guy, and is a part of the GR team, especially when it's museum or popular culture related. When 2009 rolls through, he's definitely going to be a part of this entire party. 

Read about Mineta
Read about Inouye

I heard some say that I did a fine job tonite. I tried to give a background of what GR is about, what we like to do, how we do things, and then I tried to show the museum and our exhibition, what it meant to people, and how diverse of an audience it attracted. In the end, we'll need their understanding and support to make a Biennale or other shows, work. I also told them that all of this wouldn't be worth doing if we didn't have their support. Why would I ever want to faction out a place that desperately needs to be cohesive? That said, I think we're all on the same page and on the same team. The last photo is all of us eating the leftovers. If I'm ever a "governor," I guess I'll eat with them. For now, I'm happy to hang out with these mofos.

Next stop Comicon NY. Be there later today or if not, I'll be there on Sunday for sure. Depends on how early I can get in. Then the talks in Chicago. The first at UIC, and then a special morning session. 

AVOCADO THIEF - My Gardener

We were wondering why does it look like the tree is bearing less fruit? Wondering and wondering. Then a neighbor gives us the heads up. Our gardener is stealing our avocados. He walked out with boxes (plural) is what we heard. On Tuesday, I wasn't in, Martin was out, and no one was around when Mr Nishi decided to rack avocados. Evidently he told our neighbor that we don't pick them, and they will fall on the roof and damage the roof, which would be a lie. When they fall on the roof, the slope places them on the backyard lawn. I go on the roof often and seldom are any sitting on the roof, as a matter of fact, hardly any fall at all, on the roof or not. 

I told him that we use the avocados at gr/eats and not to take them when I caught him about two years ago. He gets paid to do the cheap "BLOW MOW AND GO" as coined by the gardener I interviewed in a previous issue of Giant Robot magazine. Even with the many bald spots in my lawn, I never complain. And stealing fruit like this, especially when I told him not to, bad move. 

The avocado tree is a symbol of my own patience. My house and this tree are old timers, and avocados usually happen once every two years. It's a joy to have them for gr/eats, guests, friends, whoever, but for me to pay someone to steal them? That's pretty low and classless. If he asked, I'd have given him some, but for him to go onto my roof and steal boxes? That's a low blow. 

That's what his invoice looks like in my trash. My Japanese American Gardner, time to say sayonara, even if you're a childhood friend's dad. I'll show him face by not calling him out. But if he wants his money, it's going to take a conversation to make it happen. Until then, we're even.

In all three languages that we and they engage in any kind of communication.

See the tool? That's actually me picking avocados today. I picked 12. 

SF story

Matt Revelli is the main man behind Upper Playground. He hates photos, and I managed to get one. Went up to bay yesterday and took care of the interviews, but afterwards, ate a meal with Matt. I can't tell you about how inspiring this dude is. But you have imagine, he's made the nearly impossible work many times, and his business acumen is on point. It's hard to tell you about all of the things we talked about which is really fun, since he's in a similar position with a store, magazine, and making stuff. We find ourselves laughing at the funny things that's happened to the both of us, full knowing the second half of the story without even having to tell it. 

GR53 in SF

Guess where I am. Yes I'm in SF, but it's not fun and games or anything like that, I'm interviewing 9 people for the coveted position as GR manager. Francois is stepping down and going to school, and to probably work on his own publishing ventures, and that's him with the new GR which is available today just in the stores. James Jarvis art is on the cover and it pops out! Francois's head shape doesn't quite compare to the "Martin" head shape!

The SF store has a tight packed case of Lomo gear. look at the ring flash! I'll be around the SF shop today, in and out, and it's going to be an arduous day, but SF is always nice.

The Yard, My Playground

Digging through some old photos, I found this little sequence in a set. It's the trainyard in West LA about 2 blocks from where I grew up. It's still sort of there, but not, since trains no longer run on these tracks. It's behind the corner of Pico and Sepulveda. This was a playground for me when I was in later elementary and junior high school. This photo says a lot. The tracks, the wall, and businesses of some sort on the other side. Sometimes, we'd (my friend Anthony Lupton - son of actor John Lupton) be there in the early morning. 7am! Riding our BMX bikes over the tracks and around the area, as if we were on patrol. It was our yard and was adjacent to a parking lot for the warehouse for huge store called Zody's. The graf guys who came by, were mere welcomed visitors.

I saw gang members get arrested, a couple having sex in a car, a stray dog who had puppies, a dumpster which was always full of interesting treasure, and the rare homeless person who we'd befriend. I remember one asked if I was a pimp. I think I was 12 years old.

At some point, I don't remember when it was, but all of a sudden colorful graffiti started to show up. I don't think it was illegal, but I'm not sure who condoned it all. I remember when the walls were blank, but all of a sudden became a canvas. People would paint in the day and night.

I remember a few who'd come by. P-Jay, Brisk, Jay, and others. I forgot their monikers. I'm sure a lot were in it just for a minute. I'm embarrassed to continue to say more since it rhymes, but a lot "were in it to win it."

I think I shot these photos for the heck of it. I might have been 1983, but I'm not sure. Maybe it was 84 or even 85 or 86? It's a blur now. But I'm banking on it being in the mid 80s. Maybe one of the graf guys can tell me, they're still around, and enshrined in some places as being legends of the game.

See the Vespa sign? They fixed Vespas up on the other side of the wall. We used to play there too. Riding our BMXs around and bothering the mechanics was part of the fun. I remember mods would show up on their Vespas with the tons of mirrors and of course we'd be weak 100 lbs punks saying stuff like "ANTI MOD" under our breaths. Punks didn't like the mods back then, and vice versa. Only now can almost everyone who made it out of the 80s haze of figuring things out, be friends.

Miner was my favorite. I never met him, but when he'd paint, I'd always appreciate it. I'd show up in the morning and there it would be - a new Miner piece. Another awesome painter here was Risk. Another, named Wisk. I think Risk is quite a famous guy these days. It's ironic that if you were a train conductor passing through, you'd see this graf on the walls and not on the trains. It wasn't like that in LA yet.

If you put together all of the pieces, you actually get some type of assemblage of a wall sequence. Pieces are missing here and there. My best friend, Anthony from what I last heard became an addict and lived on the streets. The area now has more retail and the warehouse is an office building. These photos don't show the surroundings too well and are void of the local characters and flavor, but I end up filling those in myself when I see these photos.

Button collection - 1" pins

Button collection. I guess I have a lot. Like a t-shirt a lot of them tell a story of some sort. Where they came from, bands, clothing brands, events, and so on. I can't say I've kept every button I ever received, but I do have most of them. Some are affixed to a backpack or hoody, so they're not here. There are nice books about buttons as well. It's just another collectible that's been put into hardcover.

Jawbreaker, Eastern Youth, Melt Banana, Sleater Kinney, Asobi Seksu, and more. Damn the Past! is a reference to a film that showed at the SFIAAFF.

Tokidoki, Devil Robots, Rodney Greenblat, Super 7...

326, Murakami, Groovisions, Chiho, Nara, and to the right, the great times of Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow, when everyone was trying to get one of each person. If you put the last and this photo together, I'm proud to say, I have them all.

New Order

Strange to see this video and a Giant Robot 36 with Ryan McGinness's art on the cover displayed for a while in this record shop. I wonder if they still carry it, and I hope it's a real shop and not a set. This video is made in Paris in 2005, although the song is from 1982. It's a fun video, and a cool song. I'll guess it's made by fans, and they put a lot of effort into making something that's actually really good. Our mag is in it for a bunch of seconds, and it's proof that we're international, even in record stores. Thanks Anthony Lew for the heads up.

Sculpey Sunday

The Sculpey Kids are back. Working with Mr Salazar who's seated below, we were up to making critters, creatures, gangs, noses, snakes, dogs, mushrooms, and even faux fingers. It's been hot in LA, and getting to Souther's studio with the AC on was relaxing. It's odd how Sculpey body parts are so strange. It's also odd that Sculpey is spelled "Sculey" on the box and it hasn't been fixed.

Mr Salazar wearing his Dead Moon shirt

Beware.... The animal head gang...

Kobe Bryant jumps over Aston Martin

Kobe can leap high over a car, but can he do it like this guy? It's not an Aston Martin, but it's a pretty fast one too. Yes, Asians have leaps and this is the best response video so far. See the first one, if you haven't already, then see the second one. In the second one, the friend steals the show at the end. It's funny.

Japan Film Festival

The Imaginasian Center in downtown is on Main next to the Smell. An unassuming building, which was once the Linda Lea theater, it's now a great place to see films. It looks small actually from the outside, but inside you do get a nice theater that's clean except for the floors, which are sticky. The Japan Film Festival LA has put together a great program of shows. They still have a little to learn in terms of making a film festival, since I don't think they intro'd the film, but overall, they put together a ton of films in a tiny amount of time.

At 4:50pm on a friday, attendance is a tough one. I don't think you can pull off day time shows on a weekday. I think there were films earlier in the day as well. But there's plenty to see and it's worth seeing the movies in this festival. I saw Chanko, it was a sumo film, and even though they could have edited out 30 minutes of the film, and it had nutty romantic drama that was first grade, it was still funny.

Panayiotis Terzis and Ray Sohn

This came in the mail. Amazing work. The print above has a bunch of colors, it's designed with a lot of care, has that indie comic book, and a silkscreen style that feels like the Ft Thunder Paper Rad style. I'm not sure if it's all by a collective or not, but I do know the efforts of many are in the publications below. Critical Citadel is in a larger edition, it's nicely produced, and the cover text is a fun illusion that reminds me of something John Pham would do. Panayiotis and Ray.

This is by Panayiotis Terzis & Raymond Sohn. It's in edition of 100 and it's silkscreen printed in tons of colors, it's also black and white. This might be one of the nicer pieces to come through.

Doggie Blues (don't look at this one if you're eating)

After a lot of prodding, I feel like I've been forced to put up this post. But first, the Vietnamese food above was so amazing. That's bun, and the shrimp, meat, and eggroll. So good. It's a huge serving of food. I didn't think I can eat all of this, but as I kept putting a little onto my plate, it slowly disappeared and then went away.

But the gross part that I've been told to post, and I apologize ahead of time... but if you scroll down this gets gross. While I ate, the dog did doodies all over the place.

From one moment of enjoying food, talking, relaxing, to terror...
A walk to the bathroom, and a shriek of pain. Did an ankle twist? Is a "man" down? In this case NO. Soon the pain turned into laughs. A direct hit. The brightly tinted brown poo became stuck in the mits of her foot. Molded in between the toes, the agony of the upcoming clean up task began to loom. Toenail cutting, scrubbing, ruining a bar of soap, and then figuring out how it's going to go down the tub drain preceded the carpet cleaning. As the trip to the bathroom began, another turd appeared as if by magic. Then another under the desk, and a 1/4 sizer elsewhere, which may be a dingle leftover, then a 1 foot diameter pee circle.

Subverses panel discussion

Does that look sparse? Maybe. But as it went, more came in, and it didn't feel like as many seats were empty. It's a wide angle lens illusion. The talk itself was a lot more thoughtful that thought provoking at least to me than most panel discussions I am on. At this point in my life, being on a panel is about giving something to the people who attending to take with them, rather then dazzling them with useless "wow factor" facts and information. It's always a difficult situation since being on a panel is also being an entertainer. If you're not telling jokes and getting laughs which are good for a moment but are fleeting, then you have to care and hopefully have enough incite to offer some new thoughts about whatever topic you're on. Hopefully the audience will understand what you're talking about.

That's Phil, Angryasianman.com

The panel was about popular culture but crossed into many avenues of fairly thought provoking discussion at least from my end. What could have been tired stories about Asian pop culture heroes, turned into issues of politics, "community," Asian American representation, Asian vs Asian America. We were given a list of questions, which I didn't read, and maybe I should have. I was forced to think a lot which I don't have to do most of the times in panels or talks. We did get through all of their questions. It felt like a lot and usually time runs out quick, but we kept on going.

Jeff Liu from Visual Communications (yes go to the film fest in LA. May 1 - 8th) and Daniel Lee the professor at UCLA.

It was great to hear words from the other panelists. I learned about their perspectives, which differ from mine, but are backed up with their reasons and experiences. The audience questions were good too. They made me think, just to offer decent answers. If you missed it tonite, it might show up on video. The Subverses team did tape it. For maybe a few minutes, I felt in tune with where Asian America sits. It's not great yet, but it's moving, and that's good.

Is summer here? Paletas have come

One of the tell tale signs that it's getting warmer and summer is on it's way is that the Paleta man appears. It's annual and I think today was the first day that he came back on the job. These dudes operate a business that patrols through neighborhoods in sort of an ice cream man role. I'm sure they get hassled, but hearing those bells on the handle make us run out to catch him when we can. Eventually they'll get near our office and ring the bell hoping that we'll pop out of the door in a few seconds.

Yeah watermelon. The seeds inside tell me this is real. You can make out the black dots. Yes, this is an Adidas ad too. The one above is a subliminal Fed Ex ad.

7Under.net

I'm not exactly sure how this all happened, but I guess sometimes, things happen. I get an email from some folks, and they seem really nice, and I met up with them. It has nothing to do with 7-Under or Kiks, but it's all from friends of friends of friends, or maybe it's friends and acquaintances. But the world works in odd ways, we all know that, and some how I hooked up with these fine fellas. I wish I could read Japanese better. I can spend hours on it and see exactly what everything everywhere says, but for right now, I'll trust, I did at least okay... But then I look on the site under people. Whoa, there I am. And they had me write a little something about furniture, and that's what everyone did. I can't remember exactly what I wrote since I typed it and fired it off, but here it is online on my own spot. And yes, that's Yonehara in the upper left, one in, next to Topa. Check out 7Under.net

News bits.

Daily Bruin on the Subverses talk that's happening tonite. The flyer for the event is down a couple of posts. The article that came out today, gives an overview of the event. I didn't know who Daniel Lee is, and, I guess I know just a little bit now. The talk will feature us panelists, and someone will probably moderate us a bunch of questions. It's actually a long list that I'm going to refuse to read ahead of time. That usually blows it, and will turn it into a study fest. I'd rather go in raw, and that usually is more inspiring than researching someone else's work. Either way you slice it, a talk is a talk. Will it break down the barriers of pop culture understanding? No. Will it explain everything you need to know? I doubt it. These talks aren't going to change the world, but it might open up a few tired eyes, and might turn someone on to a new things or two, and that's more than what some classes will do at UCLA.

Read the Daily Bruin.


The good usually gets evened out by the bad. While one person is doing well in the world, another is taking a shit. In this case, we got two articles in a day. One good, that's the one above, and the bad, which is below. Read the hate and lack of knowledge by this human butt plug. Just the headline tells you where he's at.

GR's a mag for 14 years, we have other locations in SF and LA, we're a retail store, we helped pioneer the gallery in smaller shop concept, which spread like wild fire. We presented the Giant Robot Biennale at the Japanese American National Museum attracting 20,000 folks in 2 months. We helped launch many artist's careers who are now showing in some of Chelsea's galleries, and beyond.

He can say what he wants about the space and the clientele, but it's wrong when he messes with folks who have done so much for art like Jordin Isip and Melinda Beck. They (and the others) do not fit this type of quote:

"At the Giant Robot gallery there were crude drawings with lazy and forgettable paintings. I guess one could describe it as snarky wholesomeness. To be fair, this was a group show and some of the stuff was well done—in the “arts and crafts” sense—but everything exuded this trait and there was very little in the way of a genuine artistic aesthetic."

Our art might be 1/10 the price of the sometimes overpriced Chelsea gallery art. And to call our audience hipsters? Then what's the Lower Eastside? We're celebrating the sketchbook generation. The bedroom drawers. The art is a secret just starting to get out. And this teabaguette blames for faux bohemia? We don't bust out the bubbly and serve cheese, we do the Red Vines and Goldfish and serve soda. It's free, and you don't have to dress up, be rich, or act important.

Read the NYpress.

Giant Robot mags on ebay

It's not a big deal to see Giant Robot on eBay, but this one caught my eye. Read what the dude wrote! "I love Giant Robot... Basically, I want to find them a home." Whoever you are, and whatever's making you rid your possessions, hope it all works out well. When or if you want to come back and work on that next stack, we'll be here.

Look at that collection. I can see, Issue 6 on top with Chow Yun Fat, Issue 10 below that which is Jenny Shimizu cover, below that I can see a sliver of Issue 13 with a robot, and issue 5 below that I think it's Tony Leung! Pretty good run of issues.

Giant Robot three talks UCLA this thursday April 10, U of Illinois Chicago April 23, UCLA again April 30 - all different

CLICK on any of the flyers or articles TO MAKE LARGER!

April 10, thursday Eric Nakamura on a panel discussion about Asian and Asian American popular culture at UCLA. UCLA Asian American Studies Graduate Student Association presents "Asian American Popular Culture”

Support The 8th Annual SubVerses, a campus-wide event addressing Asian
American community issues and providing a forum of expression for a
collection of voices.

Please join us for a panel discussion featuring Daniel Lee (UCLA
Faculty), Jeff Liu (Visual Communications), Eric Nakamura (Giant
Robot), and Phil Yu (Angry Asian Man).

Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Time: 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
Place: UCLA-MOORE HALL Room 100
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095




April 23, 2008 Chicago
Eric and Martin speaking at University of Illinois Chicago. Here it is online.
Wednesday, April 23
4:00 p.m.
Student Center East, Room 302
Reception Following





April 30th Wednesday UCLA
WEDNESDAY April 30, 2008
Asian Pop Entrepreneurs: Giant Robot Returns to UCLA Careers in Asia talk with Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, Co-Editors of Giant Robot
Hacienda Room, UCLA Faculty Center
3:00 - 4:30 pm
Reception to Follow - so come and eat food.

in the mail - Junkyard Sam

Junkyard Sam comments on my blog once in a while, and today a package came in the mail that caught my eye. It could have been a special book, toy, cigars, money, or a stink bomb. It's so simple to have a box made of wood. Is this handmade? It's a nice package for sure, and things like this come in once in a while. First, here's Junkyard Sam's site. Here's what's in it.

A nice note for sure, and nice stationery, but then on the right, is that a CD of music? It's personalized with the GR robot silhouette that I designed and it even says Giant Robot, and it has my name on the bottom. Rad.

It's not a CD of music, it's tin can with a window or art. It's like a mini book type of thing, greatly made with a lot of care. Something like what Mark Ryden did once upon a time with a collection of prints in a tin.

Check out the art? This work is awesome.

It's like fantasy and the highly illustrative work tells a story. So I went to check out his site and saw this post. He had a GR day. He randomly met Deth P. Sun and Marci Washington at Macy's, two great artists who are a nice couple, then he went to GRSF where he met me. Oh yeah! Now that I see what he looks like. I did meet him. But I swear he didn't call himself Junkyard Sam. Like Jeana Sohn, Junkyard Sam got into art from Giant Robot. That's cool and I hope we, or he, are inspiring for others.

My Sunday, from softball to ordering.

This is what the softball picnic throw the ball around and meet each other day looked like. My cousin Mike and Eugenia came later on. The field was taken, but we only had three people, so it became a sit and watch people play tennis, talk about the final four, and eat... That's Bill (he looks like he ate something sour) and Big J. We had pizza, supermarket chimichangas, and diet soda. I had to peel the cheese off of the Frankie and Johnnie's pizza, which is quite great.

Later on in the day, I drove by this... What's up with the tea pots? A lot of them. I had no idea, but this is one of those trippy people's homes where they just go off on one quirky thing to the max.


So the final stop and thought of the day is that, I'm doing the product ordering part of my last of things I want to do. It's sunday night, sort of late, nearly 2am, the best time since bad movies with one star get shown. Wimbledon with Kirsten. Dunst (which their tennis form blows by the way) and The Perfect Score with Leonardo Nam, Darius Miles, and Scarlett Johansson. I'm going through pages of catalogs, and then poof. I see "chef" (that's what's on his ching chong hat in Japanese)... What do the three symbols mean? Crossing Chingchongchingman Flower. I think I get it. I wonder, am I offended? Is this fucked up? Is it stupid?

The actual set is the dude, a bowl of rice, soup, and the last thing
I have no idea what it is. Do you?

I'm not offended, since it's too stupid and fucked up and too damn small of an object. I know there's a ton of folks who would be, and maybe are... but it's a tiny magnet, right? Some might see it probably as yet another tiny chipping away at the general Asian image. Should I sell them? No. Do I work with these folks? Yes, now with a hiss... Imagine if it were a blackface character, some caricature with a bone in a nose, what would be going on? Yeah, maybe I'm guilty of not getting riled up enough.

If you want to fight the man on this one. It's easy. Contact Decor Craft Inc. DCI. 877-947-1577.

Golden Triangle Burmese in Whittier

Burmese food. The next frontier. Know any Burmese people? I'm sure you can't say you do. Recently watching Rambo 4, and seeing Stallone decimate an entire pack of Burmese soldiers in crude horrific form, made my hungry. What sounds like a messed up country if you do any reading, especially with the victor of an election, Aung San Suu Kyi, who should have been prime minister but instead the military stuck around in power. Pretty much sucks eh? Read the link on her name. This is pretty screwed up, and that makes it no wonder why Stallone chose to fuck with Burma. It's a country no one seems to care about, the military in power seem like dicks, and will they ever fight back? Will anyone stick up for them that you'll hear about? No. So with all this in mind, I made a trek to Whittier to try the Golden Triangle. I used to think that a Golden Triangle was a somosa or a won-ton, but no, it's pretty important. It's where opium is grown! Read the wiki. Also if you haven't seen the flick, see Protege, the film that our friend and fellow blogger Daniel Wu stars in.

So a restaurant name based on the region of opium production. Had to try it since I've heard nothing but good things about it.

That's fishcake, onion, and tomato curry. If you aren't sure what's Burmese vs Thai on this menu, many say (Burmese) next to it. *hint hint. The rice on the right looks like white rice, but it's not that simple, it's coconut white rice. It tastes great alone. The curry is great too, and has a juicy vibe.

This is a soup stew like item. It's Catfish "chowder." You put the noodles, egg, and assorted "stuff" into a bowl, and you ladle the soup like stew over it. The proprietor walked by and noticed my bowl and said that I should put more on top. I might try something different next time instead of this dish. It wasn't bad at all, but this one is the weakest of the three.

The winner. Ginger salad. Everyone says this is great, and yes it is. It's potent in smell. I think it's fish sauce that gives it a kicker. You might not want to get near people after, it'll make your breathe rock. But this is a must. Most dishes are in the $8 range.

Read about them in Yelp and it's a place that my homey with a palate, LA Weekly writer, Jonathan Gold likes to frequent. One last thing, I notice that Stallone didn't stop and eat once in the film, and if he tried the Burmese food, I'm sure he would have slowed down the hate, ate a little, and had a better time liberating people.

Isn't that right, Ms Lieu?

7011 Greenleaf Ave
Whittier, CA 90602
(562) 945-6778

Remember Vincent Chin - Vincent Who?

Today, I was filmed for a documentary on Vincent Chin. You might be thinking, (if you know about Vincent Chin) that there already was a documentary years ago by the duo of Renee Tajima Pena and Christine Choy called, Who Killed Vincent Chin?

It's a strange title come to think of it, since you do know who killed him literally, but figuratively, who killed him? Was it an uneducated society? Was it a bunch of out of work Detroiters who reflect a huge amount of people around them? Or is it even larger than that? I didn't think I knew a lot about Vincent Chin, until I was asked questions today about what he meant, who should be done, what could have been done, where we are at, and where we're going. Surprisingly, I had an overflow of ideas behind almost each question.

Vincent Chin is long forgotten by many, and maybe shouldn't be. People will say, "that was in 1982!" or "But I was 4 years old!" At least read up on him with some links below. More than likely, you've somehow been touched or affected by his death, and you just don't know how.

When this film comes out, take a look, it's not going to reinvent the wheel, it should open your eyes a bit as to where we're at today as a result of the Vincent Chin issue. Good luck to Curtis Chin and Tony Lam, who'll hopefully use this project to ignite some energy and learning. It's awesome how DV cameras can make all this happen without losing your shirt.

Vincent Chin on wiki.
Read the NY Times review on the film.

the talk at UCLA link in case you thought it was fake.

Here's a link to that talk at UCLA...

Wow, a career in Asia!? We'll do our best.

Careers in Asia talk with Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, Co-editors of Giant Robot. Sponsored by the Asia Institute.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
UCLA Faculty Center, Hacienda Room
Los Angeles, CA 90095

link.

Subverses next week Here's the flyer

Hope the others are okay that there's a robot in the flyer. We've been on panels in the past, and sometimes, GR becomes the bad guy, for a bunch of reasons like this flyer which may be leaning our way. But sharing is caring, right? The robot is all about shared love. A bit hard to read, since it's a little small. Maybe we'll unlock the mystery of what is Asian American pop culture since it's a question people ask over and over for some reason.

Rain like the sound of trains

The new king of pop? I interviewed Rain this morning. It's always tough with interpreters, especially ones in Korean. Why is that? I think we've had issues with translators in Korean since day one. Either way, Rain seems like a good guy, on a good track, and we'll see in which direction he's going rather quickly.

Top Ten List pt 2

Top Ten that's not in GR. The first one will be in GR 53 which is at the print shop.
What will I be doing? Will I be able to cross any of these off? Maybe so, maybe not.

1. Top secret video projects. One long term and one short term. Can either be done? I'll tell you more about it.
2. Multiple print projects, both large and small. Not art prints by the way.
3. Sculpey. Yes it was fun while I was doing it. It's time to get that back in order, even just a few times.
4. Prepare for the talks. There's a few coming up and even more that I didn't even mention before, including one in front of the Board of Governors. wtf?!
5. Catch up and forge strong on the graphics that are being worked on.
6. Web projects that have been lingering.
7. Store orders! We have a lot, but there's always more.
8. Mid 2008 and later 2009 art related projects.
9. Try gocco printing again.
10. Strategize. Measure twice cut once.

The caveat is that I gotta work on all this if the mag is at the print shop or not. The sun never sets.

Damien Hirst $ Warhol $ Levi's

At Fred Segal in Santa Monica is the debuting of the Damien Hirst $ Warhol $ Levi's collab gear. I wouldn't normally jump at seeing this, but I get a different perspective riding with Dr Romanelli, since he's involved in apparel, sometimes hardcore designer style and sometimes artistic. See that box on the left, when you buy some denim, it comes in the box.

These are the special jeans, one of two. $80k. The other one is below. DR is about get one.

Yosi Evolutionary eating dessert that looked good.

A whole line of gear.

The Levi's jacket in gloss, and the denim to the right. See the Warhol tag on the jacket?

T shirts. Two of them, they are stitched together, thankfully.

"Extra..." say it like the prime time celebrity TV half hour show...

Here's some of Hirst's art. You can see how it was used with the Warhol and the Levi's.

Dirty Hands David Choe Documentary

Got my hands on the David Choe documentary, Dirty Hands, and yes, it's worth the five year wait. Five years?! At least. That's how much footage, and editing time that's gone into this work. I think there's been a producer or two, and from the earlier trailers until now, this has a very different feel. It went from what seemed like an MTV project perfect for the Real World to now being a lot more fun and real.

Harry Kim puts it together with tons of footage from all over the world. He's been following David for years. It covers his story from the days before I met him which was in maybe 1997. It's been a while, and somehow there's photos and footage from that period of time.

What does this mean for Harry? His technique, choices of edits, how things are arranged, and the bits of filmmaking technique puts him on the map. Yes, you'd think Harry is Dave's sidekick, but with this you gotta look at him as being a guy who can put together a production, and do a good job with it.

It has drama that goes up and down in different parts of the doc, from going to Africa, to prison, and much more. It contains a ton of interviews and imagery that keeps this pic moving. It's going to be a hot one and people are going to love this. The thing is, I know David, and what you don't see and won't get to know, is fodder for the next doc or story when you talk to him. I won't give away too much, since you need to get somewhere and see this when it comes out. This is an early sneak peek.

There's funny parts, and this is one of them.

That's David's dad, he's proud of him.

kikstyo

What do I know about kikstyo? They're a crew of sneaker heads, who do a lot more than that, since they're running the collab thing well. For a recent project they worked with Aki Hoshino, a bikini model, who's nickname is "Angel of Japan" which is a vast improvement of Angel of Harlem, who I believe is Billie Holiday. The book is collection of imagery of a fine poised Hoshino, some are with her with sneakers. So you get a fine young lady, new rare sneaks, and now a figure by Medicom Toy Corporation. There's T shirts and more. I know Topa and of course have met Yone from this fine crew of dudes, and no, I haven't met Ms Hoshino, but I have her spirit in these figures.

Mark your Calendars - GR talks.

We're doing more talks.

First I'm on a panel discussion at UCLA. THURSDAY April 10, 2008 Moore Hall, Room 100 7-9:30 for SubVerses at UCLA.

Second, there's one where Martin and I will be in Chicago on WEDNESDAY April 23, 2008 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Asian American Resource and Cultural Center (MC 203).

Then WEDNESDAY April 30, 2008
Asian Pop Entrepreneurs: Giant Robot Returns to UCLA Careers in Asia talk with Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, Co-Editors of Giant Robot
Hacienda Room, UCLA Faculty Center
3:00 - 4:30pm
Reception to Follow - so come and eat food.

the drawing above looks like a dude talking... art by Jordan Fu

Dolphins killed

In the Japan Times, one of the gnarliest articles got published on sunday. Imagine, the killing of 2500 dolphins captured on film and put into a documentary. It's going to happen. Or, better yet, it's happening. A crew literally hid cameras in fake rocks, placed underwater mics, and hid for hours at a time in camo gear to film the killing of dolphins to the point that the sea turns red. The article will explain how it got done and what's happening there. It's like reading about the slaughter of humans. It's insane and might ruin your day. Check it out in the Japan Times.

Heroes and Villains photos of artists

Saw this on slamxhype. I remember when they were just starting this series of photos. Roman Cho and Tatiana Wills. Look at them pics. I don't know the first fella, but the second, is that Bigfoot? Then there's kozyndan in a fun setting, Baseman in a familiar position showing off that sketchbook, Saelee Oh in a photo that I don't know if she will like, and Biskup CEO. Here's a bit more info.