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...