FREE Screening of MONGOL starring Tadanobu Asano - June 4th in LA.

GIANT ROBOT invites you & a guest to a Special Screening of the new PICTUREHOUSE release

NO HE WON'T BE THERE!

Directed by Sergei Bordov and written by Sergei Bordov with Arif Aliyev
Starring Tadanobu Asano

Award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS) illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in his stunning historical epic, MONGOL. Based on leading scholarly accounts and written by Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, MONGOL delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. MONGOL shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.

Filmed in the very lands that gave birth to Genghis Khan, MONGOL transports us back to a distant and exotic period in world history; to a nomad’s landscape of endless space, climatic extremes and ever-present danger. In a performance of powerful stillness and subtlety, celebrated young Japanese actor Asano Tadanobu (ICHI THE KILLER, ZATOICHI, LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE) captures the inner fire that enabled a hunted boy to become a legendary conqueror. Asano’s achievement is matched by those of his co-stars, including the radiant newcomer Khulan Chuluun as Temudgin’s courageous, spirited wife Borte, and the Chinese actor Honglei Sun (THE ROAD HOME) as the Mongol chieftain Jamukha, Temudgin’s dearest friend and deadliest enemy. Masterfully blending action and emotion against some of the most arresting terrain on earth, Bodrov delivers an exciting and awe-inspiring tale of survival and triumph, and a love story for the ages.

MONGOL will be released in NY/LA on Friday, June 6th, 2008. 124 minutes. MPAA Rating – R.


Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 7:30PM
PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER
Silver Screen Theater (2nd Floor)
8687 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
*Please enter the PDC through the San Vicente Blvd entrance and park in the parking structure next to the green bldg where the theater is located.*

Seating is not guaranteed and will be first come, first serve.

1. Send RSVPs to filmmatters@giantrobot.com with “Mongol” in the subject line.
2. Please indicate if you will be bringing a guest.
3. You will receive an email confirming your RSVP.
4. Seating is not guaranteed and will be first come, first serve.

Tom Sach's Sanrio

Tom Sachs put a bunch of Sanrio characters at the Lever House in NYC. I can't tell you much about Sachs, but this was an interesting installation that presents the importance and "size" of Hello Kitty. I especially like his patchwork treatment of the characters and the fact that they're tearing water into a fountain is hilarious. I didn't know this would be there, and it was great to see just walking by. That's so NYC. You see shit done in a way that's meant to be seen if you're just walking by.

The talk

Look at this drawing by Jeaux Janovsky. Amazing. Bye bye David Choe, king of sketch artists... this dude is pretty good. I'm sure he did some coloring at home, right? Either way, impressive. I don't remember being drawn much or if at all except when it was needed for something.

Here's a photo from Mr Jimmy! who's blog is at www.asupremenewyorkthing.com


Then there's more here on Random Access Information, and Jeaux Janovsky's blog.

Meanwhile, what does all this say?

Choe in NYC

Mr Choe and well, that's also a Mr Choe in the background. In NYC now, I met up with "Davidu" (say in Korean accent), at TEHUITZINGO! A great spot to get tacos! You have to walk in and get to the back which has a counter where you can order, eat tacos, shoot the shit with whoever's there, and then leave. The tacos I'd have to say are amazing. Lengua tacos and the chorizo and potato taco are the winners. Those are a must have there. There's drinks like Jarritos, but if you ask the "locals" who are in there, they suggested a drink called BOING! They had a strawberry drink. It comes in a bottle, and yes that's a winner too. 695 10th Avenue.

Read some mixed reviews on YELP. I swear we enjoyed it.

Down the block there's a palm reader woman who wears a carnivale like silver mask. I don't know why.

Dave at his casa in Chinatown. It's a big ass pad with a TV screen projected on the wall, where we played Mario Kart on Wii. 

David and manager of GR store NY, Cheryl. Both have similar tastes in comics. Notice that bizarre toy Cheryl bought.

Korea Society NYC

Here's what we looked like right after. That's me and Joshua who's from CollectionDX. The talk was interesting. It started off with an introduction about toys. The Korea Society had an exhibition of toys from the 70s and 80s and such. First off, who would show robots in an established environment? This is stuff for nerd / geeks. Joshua, showed a powerpoint of tons of images of toys that he's aware of, and it's strange manifestations as they went from Japan to Korea and into the hands of the creative bootleggers. Tons of images and tons of explanation, and then it was my turn. What would I do? I came in and had to contextualize it so people could understand what the old robots and culture around that has brought forth today. read Collection dx.

Kalbi? No. The robots and such brought out a generation of creatives. Imagine a filmmaker like Joon Ho Bong, who made the Host. Did he watch monster films as a kid? Did he play with toys? Of course he must have. The geeks who collected toys are now in power at creative places, and look at what they've brought forward? A new world of creative minds. Check out Korea Society.

Korean food afterwards was the call. Of course. Imagine that Korea Society put all this on, it's odd, edgy, and who else would do this?

That's Jinyoung who worked on this show and talk. She rocks.

My Bodyguard

My Bodyguard was a film that's from the 80s, while, it's been pretty much forgotten, today in NYC, I few personal mysteries were solved. The pond depicted in the film, where was that? Today my friend Claudine told me that the pond in Central Park is the one from the film, and she was sure of it. I argued that I thought it was larger, and there was more to it. I didn't remember even banks all around, although I did remember it not being an oval, that it did have man made ins and outs. Today by the way, in NYC was perfect weather, people were out and about.


So after seeing the pics below. I'm pretty sure that the pond I saw isn't it. It's the pond where you can rent boats and eat lunch. It's larger and close by to the first pond. After sitting there believing that I was looking at the My Bodyguard pond, I pretty much discarded any other care about any other pond. So now I'm pretty sure I know which pond it is. Either way, I guess personal mystery solved. 

Meanwhile, rent My Bodyguard. I think it's a great film. If I had to show a movie in Central Park, perhaps this one would be the perfect one to show. 

Morning jfk

Talking at Toyota

The text didn't show up hours ago with the photo, so I'll have to type it in. Did a talk at Toyota today for Asian Heritage Month. Toyota is a huge campus, and like a school, there are groups and committees which are volunteer. They create events for people to enjoy, and I'm glad they do and did. Like anywhere though this has to be at a time when they're not busy, so during lunch, etc, employees might have some time to check something like this out. Glad they did and hope we made their lunch better. I'm still going to NYC tonight to talk tomorrow and then come back really quick!

James Jean

James Jean's pad is pretty cool especially when there's koi in a pond. What do you think of ponds? Are they relaxing, or are they a waste of time. I remember back in the day, ponds were more popular and these days there are less and less. The "too much trouble" line comes up a lot. If you don't know James Jean's work, then you should look him up, or wait a bit, and check him out later. His casa is interesting, once a product of an architect, who had a craftsman like home in the front and a big addition of a studio in the back, which actually uses a portion of the top of the garage as a studio, it's a well thought out place. The architect moved down the street, but the house remains and is now broken into two. I'd say, you can do a mini cribs at James Jean's place.

Illustrate Now!

GR helps people do things that will probably make them broke. I'm not sure if this is a good thing to do, but getting excited because you read one of our magazines? Cool. Unlike a lot of mags out there, we're low key. We don't do the most popular thing, and we highlight a lot of things which are unpopular. But overall, we're telling a story of a group of people who are trying to do things that are usually against the grain. Read this person's blog on positivecapitalism.com. I guess you can say, we helped him/her see something that he was missing out on. I'm not sure if wealth building is the way to look at illustrating, but check out his/her blog

Korea Society Talk This Wed May 28, 2008 New York City

I'll be in NYC for a day or so to talk to whoever shows up on this panel discussion. It's about stuff I like, Toys!

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, Eighth Floor

Please join us for a lively talk on Korean toys and their fascinating origins in the interplay between Korean, Japanese and American pop cultures. This panel is presented in conjunction with our current traveling exhibition, Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood.

Panelists:
Joshua Bernard, editor, CollectionDX.com
Eric Nakamura, publisher, Giant Robot Magazine
Joanne Rudis, design director, Fisher Price/Mattel
Seho Kim, creative director, The Korea Society

$10 (members) and $15 (non-members)
Buy tickets online or RSVP to (212)759-7525, ext. 355 email.

About the Panelists

Joshua Bernard, editor, CollectionDX.com
As a child of the '70s, Joshua Bernard was raised on Shogun Warriors, Speed Racer, Starblazers, Voltron and George Lucas. His obsession for Japanese toys and culture was the impetus behind CollectionDX.com, his popular Web site for toy collecting. Joshua collects Korean and Japanese toys, has written for Super7 magazine and co-authored the book Tokyo Underground: Toy Design and Culture in Tokyo.

Eric Nakamura, publisher, Giant Robot
After graduating from UCLA with a degree in East Asian Studies, Eric got his start in the magazine business at Larry Flynt Publications. He is currently the publisher of Giant Robot, a magazine and Web site dedicated to Asian American pop culture. Eric has also produced the independent film Sunsets, shot photos for punk rock bands and designed t-shirts.

Joanne Rudis, design director, Fisher Price/Mattel
A 1993 graduate of FIT's toy design program, Joanne Rudis began her career in Chicago at Strombecker (Tootsietoys). From 1993 to 1995, she designed Sesame Street wood toys, die-cast metal toys and Disney bubble toys for Strombecker. In 1995, she moved to Rhode Island to work for Playskool, the preschool division of Hasbro, where she focused on their Dollhouse line. Rudis joined Fisher Price in 1997. She is currently the design director for the Disney licenses at Fisher Price.

Seho Kim, Creative Director, The Korea Society
Kim received his BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA from Parsons School of Design/New School University, where he was the 2003 commencement speaker. He is the winner of the 2006 Spotlight Award, the 2006 American Design Award and the 2005/2006 Magellan Award for excellence in communications in design. He was worked on projects for W Hotels and The Store, and illustrated Go for Kids, a multi-paneled children's book published in 2001.

Deharavath video, yeah it's late sorry

Deharavath happened when I was out of town, but I did catch the install and talk to the artists, David Horvath of Uglydoll and Yukinori Dehara of Cakees! I shot this through my camera, and it ended up ok. I should have shot a lot more to make it more rounded, but in the end, I should be using a video camera, and doing it right. Maybe I can get some help on this eventually when I can find someone who wants to shoot stuff like this, or maybe I can have someone on staff shoot it. I think I need about 15 minutes of footage to pull something decent. I think I shot about 7 minutes total for this one. I used 5+ of it!

Yosemite Studios

Yosemite Studios feature Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, Carlos, Souther, Seonna, and Martha Rich. That's Souther and Seonna who is striking the pose. Below, she is quite surprised! I should have taken more photos, but I did shoot some video which is at the bottom. That alone has to be worth something. Souther's doing magic, rubber arms revisited, pen tricks, Kid N Play, and more. Tons of people come to their studio party these days. In the past I remember when it was just a private handful. Now it's a raging kegger. See the videos below.

What the heck, that has to be one of the tallest lip raises ever. 

Un Clayton

Fascinated by Japan article

Articles happen all the time on GR, and we're thankful for all of them, but this one was one which didn't seem to be working right even after the interview. Facts weren't right, and when I pointed one wrong thing out, I didn't hear anything back about anything else. But maybe there was so little added to it, that it was all okay, who knows. The title already is way off base. "Fascinated by Japan -- If it's big in Japan, it could also hit big in the United States--and these entrepreneurs are betting on it." That's definitely not true. Right? It's definitely not something I'd think. I guess I'm betting on it to be true. Ouch.

Just the title is a horrible start. It's bordering on annoying. What do you think? Personally, I feels like the title from this article is from years ago. I remember articles like these that highlighted Japan and people's fascination with the place as being super cool, and so on. Either way, it's great press and it's been syndicated by papers everywhere. Read it here.

Gruyere Cheese Fart Smell

Friday, I ate at Sawtelle Kitchen. First time in years since their remodel. Sawtelle Kitchen is the restaurant that I would go to once in a while, since it's across the street from GR1. The issue I have is that the owner closed up and evicted my aunt's shop Get Wicked. The owner is known as a jerk, but I don't really know him. Maybe he's swell, who knows. The funny thing about the meal was that Gruyere cheese is served on the penne pasta. If you order it, you're in for a surprise. The entire restaurant will waft of wretched fart. Here's what went down.

I noticed the fart smell and ignored it. Martin the vegetarian and getting lactose intolerant was sitting on my right. I figured a tiny peep came out. Kidding, but I did whisper and ask him about the shit smell. He thought it was the cheese. Daniel sitting across said he was outside on the phone and smelled it shooting out of the door. Bad plumbing? No, he sat, and caught on to my private question to Martin, since who knew maybe it was Dan or better yet, Elaine sitting next to him. I do have some tact. We got vocal about it and talked about it for a bit. A kid at another table noticed it to and was sure it was fart.



Meanwhile, the waitress came by and I asked about the fart smell. She laughed and explained it all. Melted Gruyere. The fella sitting next to us peeked over, it was his penne and he knew what we were talking about. We figured maybe he didn't know that it was his own since he was shoveling the food into his pie hole. Then soon left.

Ten minutes later, another table 15 feet away got one too. The fart smell came back and we then watched to see what the reactions were from the guy who got the dish. He sat across from two ladies and was quick to blame the dish. I saw him lift the plate and let his female guests smell it close up. He could have sent it back leaving him with no food while the ladies had their dishes. Then it would get awkward. he looked around with a little bit or embarrassment. He knew that his dish reeked of smelly gas. He had to man up and eat it.

Rant about the news of the quake

The Quake in China. I remember when it happened, I was on a plane going to Beijing, I landed, got in front of a TV, there was a bit of news that it was a 7.8, but now days later, people still being found alive, the death toll is up to 55,000 with a another 20,000+ not found, and hundreds of thousands injured. The question is how the heck were so many new agencies so content in reporting 5,000 were killed fairly early on. It went up every day to being 10 times+ wrong. I understand the news needs to report what they know, but it's so far off, it's a wonder why they bother reporting anything at all? I'd guess news doesn't get out too well from the smaller and poorer towns who are completely cut off and devastated to the big agencies who then report what they feel fit. Yet imagine... "that car is $10,000. Oops, my "expert guess" was wrong it's $55,000." "Your sister had her baby. Oops, I was wrong, it's quintuplets." All so far off, and this is about deaths, not money or life. I don't think we've ever been that wrong at GR, and it seems hard to be that wrong. But in our need to know numbers about everything, as in How much is this? How many are there? etc etc, we're forcing the news to feed us crap as well. It goes both ways. No one is right, but I'm sitting shaking my head as to how it went from 5k to 55k in a week. That's my tiny rant and it helps nothing, except hopefully making people a little more thoughtful about figures.

Meanwhile, check out the wedding photos before and after the quake, it's a trip from one photo to the next. The buildings seem like they're made out of sand.

Hundreds

Hundreds Bobby posted a mammoth compared to my measly photo of him and his camera. I rock his clothes and such, but he published a book on GR in minutes I'm sure. That's why he carries that camera, his pics come out clean and good. He even watermarks his photos, which is a nice touch since everyone just takes each other's photos and puts them on their blogs. Check it out here.

Bowling for mail

Being gone for a bit means mail piles up. Mail is usually good, and tons of cool things come through. Books, zines, comics, cd's, art, gifts, snacks, PR, payments, and more. One of the boxes was heavy and larger. At first, even though the sides said it was bowling related, I didn't believe it. I figured it was catalogs or books or something. But it really was a bowling ball. This one is from our friend Tim Hugh in Chicago, who's a heck of a bowler. He let me play a couple of games, and I scored a 133 which is my record. I've bowled maybe 10 times in my life, and I tried it again recently and got a 115. Not great, but not bad considering. 

So now I have a ball with no holes in it. Tim said to start with your own ball so you won't use the crappy balls with the odd sized finger holes in them which will ultimately make you suck. I don't know about that, but now that I have one, I have no excuse. I'll tell you how it goes.

Also: on a side note, Blogger has been not allowing people to put images through ftp for two days. That's really awful and it's hard to believe it's still a problem. I'm sure a lot will suggest to use Wordpress, which is what we should be doing.

Inclined band, reunited

This is a band I was friends with through the end of high school and some of early college. I'm not sure if getting back together is a great thing, since sometimes, the memories are better, but this band was together from 1984 or earlier to 1996, which is a long reign for sure, and I guess why not play a few more gigs. Reunion shows are in, right? Miles Tackett is also known as The Kid Named Miles, who is a big part of The Breakestra. Eugene Perry, the nice guy, is the bass player who's now a web developer. The drummer prodigy, Steve Smart lives in Pittsburgh. Each are insane quality musicians. Each could have and probably worked as studio musicians, which means, they are great. They're getting back for a few shows, it's coming up this weekend. I miss them when it was about dirty Led Zep and Aerosmith rock n roll, before the hip hop and funk hit them.  Here's a link to an article in the Palisadian Post newspaper. I worked there as a photographer once I think in 1989. I was their chief photographer. See the Inclined myspace for info about their shows.

Bobby Hundreds

One of the Mr Hundreds stopped in for lunch at gr/eats. He still has that super wide lens that looks fit for skaters and has no fear of the large camera format. It's great to catch up with kids like him. His shop in SF is cruising along. If you haven't seen it, it looks nuts inside. I feel like I'm in an Iron Maiden album. That's pretty tough to accomplish in a retail shop. Check out some photos on their blog.

Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza is in GR53. I met him at the SFIAAFF. He's a great guy, totally nice and I made the screening of one of his films that I wanted to see even though I really had no time. I saw him a moment before the screening, he gave me a pound and went up and intro'd his film and said something like, he was happy that some of his new friends made it to the show. 

His latest film Serbis was part of the competition at Cannes. It got panned by the media, but it's the first film from the Philippines in 24 years. This film is probably harsh in some way showing the differences between the wealthy and poor in Manilla. The film is almost 5 hours long. Read more on ABS CBN.

Wieden Kennedy Shanghai

This is part of the W+K office in Shanghai. I did a talk there to a lot of the staff who sat around the grassy interior middle. I like it when offices make an open space. It either means, they planned it that way, or they have too much space. Most offices are crammed! People sat, listened, drank beer, asked questions, and it was all translated. I enjoyed listening to whatever I said turned into Chinese. At some points, I realized, the translations were a bit off, but that's ok, maybe it made GR sound cooler. Evidently I was test subject #1. The speakers series has begun. 

That's Nick Barham in the middle. He took care of business. Along with Mr John Jay who set it up. They also gave me a great looking Perk book.

This is a better view, you can see how their office is set up. It's three floors in a warehouse that has a lot of concrete. It's definitely a creative only atmosphere and they're tearing shit up in Shanghai and Beijing. Photos taken by the house photographer. I saw you taking pics. Thanks much. 

Ken Tanaka on Jade Cracked Seed

Ken Tanaka emailed me and said he saw the Jade Foods article in Giant Robot and then went to Hawaii and checked it out for himself. So check out the video and enjoy. If you have a bag of seed, you should bust it open and enjoy. Either way, glad to see GR is being used wisely for it's editorial prowess. Ken Tanaka is one of the funnier persons on YouTube, glad he went from searching for his parents to adding to culture.

The Fans

Hanging out with the Wu, causes firestorms of fans. It's great when they're so obvious. They'll follow him into a shop and pretend to be looking around, they'll snap photos in the most obvious way, they'll go nuts full knowing that it's annoying, yet, they're the true fans who'll be there day or night. The mid sentence thing is the best. I guess it happens so often, that Daniel will talk about something, break for a photo with someone, then come back and finish his sentence. 

XinJiang Uighur restaurant

Eating food from the Xinjiang region is interesting. It's far in middle north, it's Muslim, and the folks there look part everything all in one. Turkish, Chinese, you name it, they're mixed. The food is tasty. It's lamb time. On skewers, you can actually just pick some up on the street in front of the restaurant. It's done well, and it's tasty. The lamb that's minced with vegetables make for great burrito like bites. That's highly suggested. More than the food is the funny atmosphere. The folks working there break into song on the stage via karaoke type machine and keyboards. A few new friends from W+K in Shanghai joined up.

This is the eggplant. It's lightly breaded, and tastes amazing. I haven't had eggplant like this before, and it tastes light and good. 





Watch this video, I think it may make some of you trip out. I got more than I bargained for.

1 Shaanxi South Road, near Yan'an Zhong Road, Shanghai

Issimo Restaurant Shanghai

The restaurant within JIA hotel in Shanghai where I'm staying features a restaurant that's highly recommended. It's called Issimo. It's Italian, which is odd choice of food, considering, I'm far from home in Asia, but this place doesn't disappoint. First off, it was filled, and you're supposed to reserve ahead of time. Being a last second person, it was a "kitchen" seat which is basically a front row to the kitchen counter seat. 

The simple salad is actually really nice. You can crush salt and pepper and you can do your own dressing. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Bruschetta is always a winner. It's simple, bread, some tomatoes, but this one features the white part. The fat off of pork, which works almost like cheese. It's super thin, and I'd guess a lot wouldn't know it was fat, they'd think it's cheese.

Grilled vegetables on a skewer with cheese on top. I don't eat dairy products, so I opted to not have any on it. But in the end, cheese and pork fat, are just about the same, except the pork fat won't make me sick.

You order pasta for two. I guess you can get a single portion, at more than half the price of the normal portion which is priced for two. 

Simple and good. 

931 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai
Telephone: (86-21) 6287 9009

Nike building at the 798

What can't Nike do? Now they're in art areas. I had to shoot a bit of video to show you their gallery building or whatever you want to call it. It's pretty amazing. Imagine, the Olympics are sponsored by Adidas, but Nike sure has a large foot in the door. Upon talking to Colin at W+K, I guess they're sponsoring tons of athletes, so you'll see them wearing the gear, but on the podium, you won't see them with the gear. I figured their strategy was to do the cool stuff around the Olympics and be just as influential, but let Adidas have the sponsorship and be commercial, but I guess Nike is doing both, anyway. Amazing building.

art in china 798

Yes, art in China rocks. I'm not even talking about the Mao looking work that's all influenced by the Cultural Revolution, but I'm talking about just talent that's showing at the 798 which is an art area. It's easy to say, that art in China is hot, but it's also hot in Japan as well, and I'm sure it's hot in other spots, but walking around, I saw a lot of great work. So much all around, it's amazing. You'll see more later for sure. That's Daniel with an artist we met, Wang Fei.

Richard Mille

Want to know what a watch worth more than a house can look like? Richard Mille watches are high end, so high end, they often don't have any in their shops. They might have more employees sitting around than watches. This one's titanium with a lot of bling added. Tons of diamonds and a solid feel. It's actually quite thick and it's all hand made. Different version of their watches are for different people, and they are often customized.

See the balls of metal that roll around to help keep the time right? That's how a pendulum system should work. There's something like 20,000 parts that make this watch tick. Guess where this watch sells the most? I know the answer thanks to the rep, and I guessed it on my second try.

Geisai Museum 2

One of the best parts about Geisai is running into some of the folks who are older friends, and some who are new. Some are well known, and some unknown. People come out to Geisai. who are as great and influential as KAWS and Masamichi Katayama.

Sashie with his hair cut.

I won't even try. 

Mr Ohata

Earthquake Sichuan

Thanks for the well wishes from many of you. I'm in China, but the Earthquake is quite far away. I was in a plane, and the devastation looks terrible especially since it happened in a poorer province. The news here in China shows no information except weird graphics and two heads on TV. We also felt multiple quakes in Tokyo. 6.8 was the largest that was 100 miles off shore. Although China seems hunky dory, you don't get the news quickly.

For relaxing times, eat Sushi at Totoyamichi

Sushi in Japan is notoriously expensive. So the cut that cost you hit a conveyor belt spot. Totoyamichi is a smaller chain around Tokyo that I'd suggest. The pink plates are about $1 for two pieces. The green is $2.50. And the selection is enormous. You can just sit and order and not even touch the stuff that's revolving. It's not the greatest, but really, it's pretty good. For the price, if that's a factor, it's amazing. The one we went to wasn't in a touristy area, and we accessed it by car, so it might be tougher to get to. For 5 people and we were all full, it was under $70. This was a great last place to eat, since today, I'm going to Shanghai then Beijing. See you there.

That's a funny smile by Kohei Yamashita who is mountain mountain. He wears green which is his color. 

His work looks like this. In the world of character design, a lot of folks jump in make something and hop out and move on. Kohei sticks to his style and expands on his characters to realize an entire vision. I like the long term over the short term. But neither are necessarily better than the other. 

Littered with Sushi.

This was the mochi dessert. It was really good. You actually pour a black sugar syrup on top and it turns out amazing. 

Ai Yamaguchi and Madsaki

Shingo and Ai's little dude Rei is a picky eater and didn't make it out. So this is the best I got. We ate at an izakaya place called Gomaya, which translates to something like sesame seed shop. You guessed it, that's the theme, sesame. Michelle may be vegan, but somehow she's getting through this trip unscathed, yet, it seems like it's all about veggies. Tomato, cucumber, fava beans, tofu, soba, and stuff like that. The occasional rice ball, and it seems to be working. I'm sort of glad, I'm able to explain what a vegan means in Japan. You can say, no fish, no eggs, no this or that, but until you say, no dashi (which is from bonito fish), then they trip out. 

This is Shu, he does art and also helps Ai and Shingo. He's a quiet dude who I'll guess always takes that middle path.

That's Ai and Shingo. I haven't seen them in a year and a half. They're showing me pics.

That's Miss Premium Yuko who helps out Ai on the weekend. In front is a veggie medley, cooked simple and it was good. The egg behind it was amazing, my blood orange juice of course great, behind the OJ was the sesame tofu which was almost dessert like. Impressive. I've had it before, and don't remember it being as sweet. It was powdered with sesame. I'd suggest this to anyone who's into tofu. To the right is gobo, flattened and seasoned like a chip.

Rice ball. The piece of seaweed kept flopping over like a comb over hair cut. They often refer to it as a bar code, but I found out that it's sort of taboo to make fun of that.

Madsaki is a Japanese artist who lived in the states for years, but now rock in Tokyo. We met him for coffee. He seems like a good guy.

In case you don't know her work, this is what some of Ai Yamaguchi's work looks like below. Take a look at more pics where it came from: Edition Works.

Soba and Nine Courses

Soba Made by Hand. It sort of rhymes with Castles Made of Sand, a song by Jimmy Hendrix. This is the one I like best. Duck in the hot dipping sauce "tsuyu"... the soba was amazing. It's great when you can taste the freshness, and the green onion which are those huge chunks, were actually quite sweet. Ate this at a spot in Saitama. It's pointless to even guide you there. It's about an hour north of Tokyo in a tiny spot that I'd never be able to find. You can get this at most soba spots that have variety, but not with fresh noodles.

Dinner time was another story. Sumireya is an amazing spot. I didn't shoot another city scape but it's on floor 42. The elevator gets you up in 5 seconds, literally. This, above is sort of like an appetizer, but it ends up being, that the entire meal was like many appetizers. I think I liked the seasoned squid on the bottom left. The scallop in the cup was good and the tiny green vegetables were seasoned with ume. They were crispy. The shrimp was a sushi with I think potato under it, mashed. 

This sashimi will mess with you. The tuna was chu toro. That alone was amazing. Name the other two. 

Cold Chawanmushi, that had this super bony fish in it. I think it takes a special technique to cut it and rid the bones. That's uni on top. Great uni makes uni great. (how's that sentence?).

Tuna that's fried seared. Amazing, and it's not because it was fried.

This wasn't even mine, and it was good. Chicken. Cooked well.

With Mr Arai, we discussed pachinko futures and gangster business techniques.

Gelantinous seafood puck. This wasn't sweet, but every bite was a party in your mouth.

Sir Loin on fire. This was good. Perfect amount, if you got a 10 oz steak of this, you'd have passed out at 6 oz sporting a woodrow.

The rice is white but it had bits of fish. Was it Spanish Mackerel. Red dashi miso soup, the best kind, and pickles.

Dessert was a mousse cake, with fruit.

Shiodome City Center D4Tokyo 41F, 1-5-2 Higashishimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Here's a site for the four restaurants. I guess I'll have to try the other three. One's a bar. Here's the big site.

Seonna Hong Viscery Loves Company Kaikaikiki gallery

I made it to Tokyo in time to see Seonna Hong's art show at Kaikaikiki gallery called, Viscery Loves Company. Her paintings were large sized, much larger than anything I've seen from her before. I actually saw these pieces in the works at her studio, but seeing them up on a nice large wall was amazing. She's able to mix her old sharp 2d style that was heavily graphic oriented, to now using paint brush strokes and showing them off, while not abandoning her craft elements of using pre printed papers for her character's outfits. I have a feeling, these new works will be part of a great future in painting for her. 

mediarights.org short list

This came out today at mediarights.org. It's a life of documentaries that I suggest. I probably have seen 3 or 4 more that should be in it. I think the idea is this list should be a starting point of discussion. Maybe some of you disagree with some of these are being good ones, but it's what inspires me. Check out the list, and maybe comment and add other ones. Docs are fun, and it seems like people are giving them more notice lately.

Mediarights.org.

JAL and Tokyo and Dehara

Japan Airlines is a pretty good airline. Seafood curry works, and they even give you the fukujinzuke (red pickles) to eat with it. Seems like one that you shouldn't blow, and they didn't. The green salad is pedestrian, that was probably made in LA. The salmon was great as was the fish cake, and the burdock root. The dessert was fluffy and not too sweet. All this was an encouraging start to a long trip. I'm surprised at how decent this was. 

I got hungry and asked for snacks, here's what they brought. 1) I got a toothbrush, since I forgot mine. 2) the Coca Cola cup actually has their special Yuzu beverage, which is quite nice. It's not too sweet. One the left is their no frills rice cracker mix, which is great. Then it's a two piece fancier rice cracker bag, then a granola, and then potato sticks!

This meal didn't work for me, I don't dig the pasta cream sauce along with the chicken. But the small container of noodles were good. Potato salad and fish, and the fruit was all fine. 

Pryor takes it off with Dehara and Yoko. They all drink a lot.

Since Michelle is vegan, this is what she gets. Rabbit food.

At a bar in Golden street area... There's maybe 100 bars in the area, most are tiny, but this one was a cool one. Dehara is a good sport and if you haven't, check out his work at gr2.

Jacob Magraw art on Chuck Palahniuk Book Rant.

I'm at LAX looking at books for a second, then I see this one. It's Jacob Magraw art on the cover. I thought about buying it, but I'm already holding two. The name of the author makes me think he must be from that Nordic area of the Reindeer people. Congrats Jacob for the book, and his new baby along with Rachell Sumpter, Mica Ruth Mickelson. Next stop for me: Tokyo.

Flavor Flav Under One Roof

Flavor Flav. I can't believe I used to be a fan of this guy in 1988. Public Enemy was the best group around. It was hiphop with a message, and you couldn't not listen to them. They were fighting the man with music, and creating an effort to bring up people's education and consciousness of unjust issues around the world. The music threw down energy, but food for thought. Chuck D was the man, and he's gone on to who knows what, including a radio show which is now gone. That didn't impress, but he's still the man. But the sidekick, Flavor Flav was amazing. He was this clown like character who wore weird clocks and always had crazy glasses and hair. Basically, he was a weird crackhead type of guy back in the day, but he had talent. The entire time he was in the group, people wondered if he'd do a solo album where he'd go off in his weird style. He'd have a few songs that were solo, and they were always nutty and weird, but a solo album never happened.

Now he has this show, and even the funny intro rap is sort of like Fresh Prince type stuff. Is he another casualty of the industry? I know he's making his money which is great, he's probably needing it, and probably didn't keep what he had from his PE days. His edge is now gone. Any solo album now will probably be cheesy, but his Q rating is going up for sure. 

Here's when he was a bad ass.

The Judge of short films speaks

Short films judging for the VC film fest. It's due tomorrow, I've watched it all twice, again doing my duty to take this serious since in the end, it just helps. It's a tough one though. Imagine judging a doc against a narrative against a music video against an animation. How do you do it? It's sort of like picking your favorite fruit or your favorite doughnut. You just have one, sort of. 

What about comparing the best type of food. Is it Vegetable, Beef, or Sweets? Vegetables are healthiest, you can eat it daily for the rest of your life. If you ate only beef, you'd shit badly all the time. Sweets only, you'd get diabetes, but it tastes good. Seems like veggies are the best for you, although good sweets sure are great. Great steak tastes good too. One is better for you in the long run, the others are definitely better in the short run. Tough pick in a way. I'm still deciding between the Vegetable and Dessert film. I can't pick. 

I also saw Up the Yangtze a film about the river that's being dammed and is displacing 2 million people and maybe now 2 million more. It's an arty documentary. I'm on the fence if I liked it a lot. I think I was looking for it to be more informative, as in something I'd see on Discovery channel. This film is much more poetic and touching, something totally unexpected, and that's why it's getting some distribution, it has a viewpoint, tempo, art direction, and style. 

Kissing Cousins

Amazing sight at the DGA this evening. Tons of people packed the lobby and it felt like it was opening night one more time, but this time Sunday at 6:30pm, when then became 7pm and then maybe 7:20 by the time the film began. Kissing Cousins a film by Amyn Kaderali was the special feature film that's put in the middle. They call it a center piece film when it's not an opener or a closer to get that extra special showing in there. Did you know that? I've only recently learned about the centerpiece spot in a festival. 

What did I think about the film? Honestly, it was a great first feature. Kaderali masterfully weaves a ton of characters to make a fun family comedy. I guess you can say romantic comedy featuring an Indian lead dude who's just a dude and not an Ethnic portrayal. It's funny, and he gets away with a lot of scenes that could have easily gone south. Impressive. I felt it wasn't lit right, might be my only criticism. Maybe it was the projection. Either way, it's worthy of support. 

Kissing Cousins site. This has to be temporary since it's it's an ip address. 

I ate one too many samosas beforehand, which were really good. I'm sure they were out there for Kaderali and his friends, but I munched as many as I could anyway.  Having that festival badge helps.

Kaderali was still being interviewed. He's a tall dude picking his eye. The weird thing is, life's grand during the festivals, but if you don't have "big" (as in Hollywood) interest, it's a big up that crests at the festival and then turns back into regular life soon after. But I think the highs are fun for that minute. 

Takashi Murakami Davy Jones' Tear Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

Takashi Murakami's show Davy Jones' Tear opening took place at Blum and Poe. I'm sure everyone wants to know how much everything is. I never bothered to find out, but they weren't free or cheap. They probably hit the 7 figures+ and I heard they were all sold. From one of his past associates, I found out it's not uncommon for an artist to follow up a big ass show in the same city with another exhibition to make some sales, pretty much as I thought. The art continues to be great, in a sort of continuation from the latest works at MOCA. These really need to be seen in person to get the idea of what they're like. From an image alone, you don't get the idea. 

These works follow up on the second floor of the MOCA exhibition.

I heard that these works were entirely silkscreened. Many colors no doubt and huge and meticulous. I think it's the first time he produced work in this manner. 

These works are actually amazing and will continue his tradition of art. The piece above has a little bit of old school and new. The latest flower style which you see on his mugs, and his newest style of his backgrounds.

A lot of folks steamed up the rooms. I'm sure it's not so great for the works, but for a night, it's all cool.

Seonna Hong, who I'll be seeing in Tokyo next week. She'll be there tomorrow.

Takashi Murakami and Mark Ryden

Kurobuta and baby bok choy and tomato at Wilson Food and Wine. 

Kobe style beef on an eggplant slice, asparagus, and flat bread and guacamole.

Tim Blum makes a quick speech. Tim Blum and Jeff Poe have done a lot for art in LA and maybe the US. Granted, it's mostly high art, and it definitely caters to the heavy hitters, their clientele, the work by Murakami has transcended to the masses. They also handle Yoshitomo Nara as well. It's work that's infiltrated popular culture and brought a style of Japanese art to the US and they were into it before it was cool or hot. I'm sure they're doing quite well as a result of their vision, and look at how many people they can host to a nice meal.

Tim Blum, a woman (I found out! It's Tim's wife), me and Chiho...

Judging shorts

I'm judging shorts this year at the VC film festival. I've been outspoken about how I dislike short films, so I seem like a terrible candidate, but in the end, it's not true. It's not that I dislike shorts, it's more about disliking bad shorts. I've seen my share of short programs that have 8 bad ones and 1 good one. I've also seen some which are 10 bad ones only. Then there's been some that are half and half. I'll admit from experience, it's difficult to tell a short in just a few minutes. Usually, it's a gag, or a quick "haha" type of project. That's how it is. You don't have time to develop a character, you don't have time to tell an entire life story, but what you can do is a quick vignette. 

I've made a super 8 short, Sumo: the Wrestlers which screened a few times in festivals here and there. It actually showed in the post LA riot 1991 to just a few people. I made another years later as part of the Obits program, which went to a bunch of film fests, which I hope never sees the light of day again. There were others as well. I think I had screen dreams back then, like many today. 

I do know people spend as much money as it takes of make a feature film on a short. They probably take as long as some do to make a feature, and for some, this is their life's achievement, all in a matter of a few minutes. So with that mind, I'll give all of these film a fair viewing. Who knows, this may give some lift to an important director tomorrow.

Somehow I found the room of snacks. It's not pretty, but that's where people recharge.

Takashi Murakami New Paintings at Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

It's going to happen. Takashi Murakami is doing another show. This time in the confines of a gallery. A funny and cool follow up to his huge MOCA and Brooklyn Museum show, which are retrospectives. The great thing about having this show for Murakami, is the fact that instead of reaching to another huge establishment, he's working with his old buds, Blum and Poe (who brought him out), and doing something quite the opposite - a small show. Who knows what the works will be like, but his momentum is rolling on. He's got bills still, right?

I'll follow up with more info on how this all is, and maybe at what price everything is. I'll bet it's all sold. 

*forgot to mention, Murakami makes it to the Time magazine's 100 influential list!

I'll probably be seeing him there and at the post dinner. If not, I'll be seeing him in Japan when I'm out there next week. More info to come. I'll be hitting Shanghai and Beijing.

Asian Pacific Film Festival LA Ping Pong Playa by Jessica Yu

Visual Communications presents the Asian Pacific Film Festival. It's on! Full house at the DGA with Ping Pong Playa as the opening night film. That's an auspicious title. What is Ping Pong Playa about? Imagine a pro Yellow Asian American who's as outspoken as Mars Blackmon and Charles Barkley. And instead of playing basketball, he takes it old school by playing ping pong. The flick is by Oscar winner Jessica Yu, that works with the idea of a tight Chinese American family, a Chinese sport, and model minority myths, but all done under the guise of a comedy. It's a perfect Asian American film fest feature.

That's an older photo of Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Yu I took in SF.

Patrick from alivenotdead.com and Monica who's a model and such around the globe.

That's Terence, who was the one who hooks up with a fan in Alivenotdead. He's also the one who sings well, but also acts. It's awesome that he's from South Pasadena and has made it in Asia. He doesn't visit much, so say hello when you can or if you see him. 

He eats pretty quick as I saw at Jerry's Deli after the fest opening. You take it for granted that what I think is junky American food is everywhere, but it doesn't exist in Hong Kong. It was nice to catch up with these folks in LA since I missed em all when I was out there.

United Kranes

The logo and design is excellent and I'd say perfectly describes the shoe as being for indoor sports like badminton. A crane sounds like the perfect analogy to use to describe a person soaring high to swat the birdy. The Fred Perry and Cannes style leaves always work to make something look important. I'm not sure if I'm an indoor sports player. I don't do the ping pong, squash, or badminton. Indoors can also mean, basketball, right? But somehow, I have a feeling this show is all about the traditionally Asian indoor sports. It's not about BMX, fixed gear, skating, or just trying to look hard. Check them out at United Kranes.

I'm not a fan of shiny on shoes. Especially the patent leather look. It's just not my style. The stripes are ok. I think it has a feeling of motion, both up and down.

I dig the logo on the tongue.

The sole is all about sticking to the gym floors. Cutting and turning when needed.

United Kranes. I dig the name.

Asian Heritage Month MAY! Cutting room floor

It's Asian Heritage Month! What that means, is that you give all Asian Americans deals, discounts, pounds, and props. No, actually, it just means, it's a time when there's many events and celebrations.

They interviewed me for this, and they got hold of Martin as well. Strange quote from Martin about being cheap and Asian American, I guess? Almost doesn't fit with the rest and certainly makes odd sense in context of this video. I'm left on the cutting room floor or I guess somewhere on a harddrive, no worries. Check out the vid. It's not a handful, but it's something okay. This is Asian Heritage Month. MAY

It's done by the Asia Society.

Yukinori Dehara site badges

I think the main point is that his show is going to be on at what looks like an odd hour, and I wish I could see it, but the badges that you can put on your blog which are basically ads, are cool. I'll have these on my blog for a little while. If you roll over them, they do neat things. But still, I can't watch the show. Bummer. But you can see these on Youtube.

There's all here on this dude's channel. Or until they get removed.

Get your site badge here: tv-tokyo.jp

Who's the Jerk Now?

Yes, it's me. I still haven't been able to talk to the gardener who stole my avocados. He comes for just a pinch of time on tuesday, a day when I'm often out running around. I don't have his phone number, he just comes and bills me. Easy deal. This time, he left a letter. Imagine a man, probably near 70, maybe mid 60s, penning a letter of apology for stealing avocados... to a punk kid like me. That sucks. He swallowed his pride, shame, and whatever dignity he had to write this all out and tell me sorry more than once. Yes, kiss me, I'm a jerk.

But... let's break this all down again. 

1) Dude, waited for a day when no one was around, and hopped up on the roof, probably used my picking tool and stole multiple boxes of avocados. 

2) Neighbor caught him and he said that I wouldn't notice since he picks from the middle and high up. That's exactly where we pick them for the restaurant gr/eats.

3) He said they damage the roof from falling. We stand on the roof to pick them. I'm heavier than an avocado. I question if he really said this to the neighbor.

4) I caught him 2 years ago, and told him, not to steal them since I need them. He did it again.

The response by me was blog it, and post signs. The LA Times blog picked it up, and maybe a few gardeners will think about stealing their boss's property. He broke the law, stole private property, and I think I'm going to let him off with this apology.