If we were Bitch

The next question is:

If we were in Bitch Magazine's spot and put out an email, would we get the support? Will we get the great discussion with over 110 post responses and such? Can we accomplish raising the money in 3 days? Will our readers rally? I certainly hope so, but for some reason, I have my doubts.

Here's why

a) We get little feedback. We once had a vibrant and funny letters section. It usually gets cuts super short or it turns into a letter with a photo and a caption section. That's bold for a 1/2 page.

b) Maybe it's an Asian thing, to sit and be quiet and just read. I'd take that as a great compliment. Asian film festivals often have this problem. An audience of Asians who won't ask a question. If they read the mag and are so happy that they can't say a word, that's a great thing. I doubt that's true.

c) Recently we made a scavenger hunt in the letters section, but with no responses. The only ones were on the robot lounge, and it was more critical, than anything. It was jokey, but still, no response. Are our readers more apathetic than most? I see great letters sections in other magazines, even "bad" ones.

d) I often hear, "I'm behind a few issues." Or "I need to subscribe." I know it's a hassle, but those people don't get around to it.

e) Maybe because we have stores, do people think, "oh the magazine is fine." How do our stores affect the publishing industry? They don't.

f) I know my own blog actually has a bunch of readers daily. I appreciate it genuinely, but feedback even here is pretty sparse. It seems like the same 10 people make comments.

g) We have corporate ads? It's never enough. Even with folks like Scion who offer a lot of help, Thedirectorschairsite.com, Emotes, Uglydoll, and so on, it's still a grind, we don't have 30 pages in ads. The ratio for ad pages to content is usually fairly high, but ours isn't. We have great advertisers, but that's still limited. Did you know we rejected a cigarette company's advertisement? That's dollars "missing". It would suck if we have to regret that.

I'll end it at G for now. If we had to send something like this out. What do you think would happen? Maybe I'd get proved wrong.

Sunrise Icebat - Uglydoll / Giant Robot

Wake up!
This is the Sunrise Ice Bat. A Giant Robot exclusive. We'll have limited supplies and quantities only 50 pieces made, it's a nice yellow with blue legs, blue teeth, and orange eyes. Ice Bat is up in the morning. In store at 11:30am. I guess this means, GRNY has had em out already.

here's the link.

Giant Robot at Ball State University - Thursday November 6th 5-7pm

Come meet Myself and Martin Wong on the campus at Ball State University.
It's a campus lecture that's hopefully about Giant Robot, and it's work with popular culture - all kinds - from mainstream, to Asian, and Asian American. It's on:

Thursday November 6th 5-7pm.
Ball State University is 2000 W. University Ave. Ball State University. Muncie Indiana 47306.
L.A. Pittenger Student Center - FORUM ROOM

If you live in Indiana or any of the surrounding states. You should come by and say hello, it's not often that we're in Indiana.

Calling All Hands - check out Bitch magazine

I'm not a regular reader of Bitch magazine. Let me start off by stating that. That doesn't mean I don't like it, but what I have in common is the ongoing interest in indie publishing. Imagine, they've been around for a bit, much like Giant Robot, and they face exactly the same problems as we do, daily. Printing costs, shipping costs, bills, and so on never slows down. The difference between having the lights on and being off are always a slim margin. More than you may know.

We're part of an entity known as Small Press. Being an independent voice in publishing is rare these days, since most magazine no matter how small have either gone out of business or have been turned into corporate mouthpieces for larger publishing companies. It's actually a frightful position to be in the world of indie publishing currently. Internet boom 5.0, online ads, and a lot of attention has swung away from the venerable print publications. Especially the smaller ones.

Let's go macro. Substitute, "Asian" for Bitch's "feminist," in their subtitle, and you have us, we're actually in a similar boat as Bitch. Having had problems with distributors, being owed money, and scrambling to survive, indie publishing hasn't gotten any easier. They've resorted to being wide open in asking for help from their readers and supporters.

Here's a link to their post about saving Bitch magazine. Notice the amount of comments they've received. There's actually a great discussion between the readers, them, and some "experts" - who's names I recognize. That's really cool.
Here's their donation video pitch.



Here's their success post! Congrats, Bitch Magazine. It's great to see how your readers rally for you! They are even past the 75k mark. 

Giant Robot X China Bag shirt

Yes, we collaborated with China. Far off in the mountains away from the Special Economic Zone is a valley with a factory of loom like machine which produce those old bags that are nearly free. It's on the GR cap, and now it's going to be on a GR t-shirt. Capturing the spirit of the east and even the south (yes, these bags are in Mexico too), the shirt feels just right to me. Comes in a couple of colors, I'll wear this proudly, but hopefully not every day like I wear the GR X Know1edge cap. Get those before we run out.

The shirt will come in a few colors and will be out late next week at the GR stores. Keep posted.

BonChon Fried Chicken Korean Style

That looks good, doesn't it? That's Korean style fried chicken. You can say Korean style, but fried chicken is fried chicken no matter how you handle it. Yet, my friends were telling me while the chicken eating jams pumped out of the speakers, "Koreans eat the most fried chicken." Is that true? The photo above is of the sweet flavored version (Soy Garlic). There's also a spicy that's a killer. It's almost too hot and had everyone burning. I'd suggest opting for the sweet Soy Garlic which will make you smile. It's not over fried, and it's juicy, and made per order.

You can get different parts of the chicken, but they know what's tastiest and cheapest the dark meat. Keep in mind that it takes 25 minutes for the chicken to get made. You can order ahead even if you plan on eating there. We ate 4 baskets of chicken between 10 people. 

This version was boring. Simple fried chicken didn't have the zing compared to the flavored, but at the same time, it was good too. We also got fried gizzards, and they even have dishes like duk boki, salads, fries, and sandwiches. The duk boki is typical, the fries and onion rings are just okay. I'd stick with the chicken.

Notice alcohol bottles. They serve the soju and beer. The restaurant is actually quite small in size, with a few tables, so it seems like they're aiming for take outs.

The pickles are amazing. It's daikon, and this might be the most valuable thing MVT since it cuts the fried chicken flavor on your palate. It's also fun to eat because they're cubes.

This is the largest table. It's not that big, but this is about 1/3 of the place. I've heard many say that the competition, KyonChon isn't good, and BonChon is the place to go. There's plenty of locations on the east coast. I've tried one in Manhattan a while back. Meanwhile in LA, it's all about K-town. 6th and Catalina street. You can always hit Ice Kiss and get your dessert fix next door.

BonChon
3407 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA 90020
(213) 487-7878

This is what happens. The fried chicken crash. 

Whoa, it's K Town Shenanigans.

Jean and Harry Kim doing Endless Love or something like that. 

Hahn and Choe Jam session

The jam session happens. David Choe on the lefty drum set. Yes it looks weird like that, but sounded great as you'd expect. And Joseph Hahn scratching the Qbert battle record. A few quick cuts and beats and See the video below. The drums are loud, but if you're standing near the turntables in the music station area where Joseph usually sits to make beats, then it sounds nice and balanced.

Choe the drummer. So fast you can't see the sticks.

Cribs: Joseph Hahn Linkin Park's crib visit.

Joseph Hahn of Linkin Park and David Choe of David Choe. This is sort of like cribs for a seccond, it was dark out, and late, so there's no house photos, but Joseph lives in a great area in Brentwood, my old stomping grounds. I've met Joseph for just a second years ago, but it's great to see how he's thriving. Is that even the right word? Thriving? His house is amazing, he's a good guy with quite a toy collection.

His art collection is no joke either. It spans the three floors of his home. There's even an elevator but I wouldn't ride that.

Banksy, WK, Space Invader, tons of work by illustration style and graf artists. There's everything.

Bathrooms. This is nuts, two sides, and huge. The bathroom is bigger than most bedrooms.

Frozen Han Solo

Bobby Hundreds sits in the Eames Lounge. I told him Kiehl's stores have them.  

This is amazing. Even Joseph has a sneaker collection. It doesn't ever end. 

Blogger changes

i'm no expert in code, but recently Blogger changed the code when you post a photo. It's something I tried to scan on the internet, and found very little info. Maybe it doesn't affect anything, but in the end, it may affect some of you out there.

It looks like this. Why the heck did they decide to add this line of code in the last one week?

width: 306px; height: 400px;

Basically, it was fine without it, and now it's in there... it does cause a problem with us for sure.

Groovisions video

Remember Groovisions, who took helvetica bold to new heights? They were part of the Superflat Exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami that came through LA, and a few other cities. Groovisions designed Chappies, a character that's simple, cute, and also plain. They also were on the cover of Giant Robot 23.



They had a shop in Tokyo which was in the cool area of Nakameguro which is now closed. They've recently put together a cool video for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MAFF, which works in their style of being simple, stylish, and heavily graphic oriented. Watching this is nostalgic in a way since it brings me back to this visionary design group. But at the same time, it's totally new and cool. I wish I knew how to make stuff like this. Maybe one day, I'll do it.

The Banana Diet

Why are Bananas so cool? It looks like it's a health benefit. I've been wondering why all of a sudden there's been a surge in banana toys, mascots, keychains, and plushes? We've been carrying them at the GR stores. Here's why. Bananas are in. It's part of a big weight loss diet, and now the demand for bananas are having a hard time being met in Japan. The deal is you eat a banana and drink room temperature water in the morning, eat lunch and dinner and so on. It's definitely a fad, and we'll see how long it lasts. Meanwhile, bananas have always been our friends. Read more in Time.

Add to the banana fad, and check out our

Banana capsules
Banana cell phone charms

This blog on iPhone

For your iphones... this is just a test, but maybe if you want, you can read my blog via your iphone. Check it out, it feeds optimized. Pretty cool. It updates every 15 minutes! Eventually it'll be done better or right, but for now, this seems pretty decent. Any feedback on this would be great.

Here's the link for your iphones.

Podcast delayed

We attempted to make a podcast by using Garage Band on a Mac. Figuring that the quality of recording would be decent even with the on board microphone, I was wrong. We recorded everything with a huge hiss in the background. I tried to mask it with music, but the weird thing is that the hiss goes away when we don't speak, but once we start talking the hiss starts - and stops again during a gap. It's more annoying than having a continuous hiss. 

I decided to order the Marantz 620 pictured above. In the past, I used an Ipod with a recording device for most of the past podcasts, but like all Ipods it seems, mine died. It wasn't mistreated, but just died.

With this Marantz, I'm hoping it'll bring better quality podcasts and recordings of events and we'll be able to share them with you. Keep tuned, I'm hoping to get this unit this week.

Sawtelle old stories November 1, 2008

At the so called "nut house" across from Giant Robot in LA. This is actually interesting, since I think it's one of the first "community events" in a while, and maybe the first at the psychoanalytic institute which has had a very closed door approach to the area. It was just a center that you know nothing about, but November 1, they'll open their doors to people to hear about the area from times back when. They even call it a Sawtelle Open House... 2:30-5pm 2014 Sawtelle Blvd, I have no idea what NCP means on the flyer. I had to redo the flyer a bit, since it was too small to read. Hope this works, and I'll be shocked if any of you show up. I'll be shocked if I show up too.

Lovefoxxx in Giant Robot 56

In the new Giant Robot 56. Lovefoxxx from CSS... Here's a few more pics that I shot live at their show in LA.  She sure has fun when she plays live. Her outfits are out of control and her charisma is on high. Tyra Banks was supposedly there checking them out. They have starpower, and fans all over the world. The short clip interview below isn't the best, but you can see where our interview took place. In their giant RAYBAN tour bus!


A little bit of Lovefoxxx who's featured in Giant Robot 56.

McGee zines pages

He's back... Had to start it that way. No, he's not back, he's still there and keeping busy. Here's some pages from his new zine. We'll hopefully get some of these in stock soon. The zines are nice of course, and part of his vast collection of publications. I love how they just keep coming at the oddest times. No matter what format, they always come out looking good.







This last one is Isaac Lin with some Twist tags next to it.

Most recent Los Angeles magazine

A little something on Sawtelle. It keeps going and going. Sawtelle is a fun area to be in and the media seems to like it. The cover makes me hungry, is that Japanese pasta? I'm good with that. The section on Sawtelle is a small one. I'll bet Sheperd Fairey will read the article about him. Huge photos, gigantic coverage, and he might flip to the Sawtelle part and see me standing there. I feel dumb, but oh well. The title caption is a bit embarrassing, I cut it off and won't share it unless you ask. I took the hit for the neighborhood. The KAWS Chompers BE@RBRICK looks cool though.

Raccoons

Raccoon invading the avocados. I used to think these little creatures were alright, but you know what? They're like all of the other wild animals. They just take, and give only to the eco system and food chain. But in a major city? What could people do? I actually let them do their thing, until they start making a huge mess. I know my neighbor puts poison out, which cats probably eat as well. That's not the way to go. Are you supposed to call animal control or something? Raccoons as far as I can tell are nocturnal, so at this time, I'm just letting them do their thing, until there's a safe and cool way to get rid of them.

This creature keeps showing up and eating anything in it's path. I scare it off, and it comes back. It even looks like he's flicking me off. It's time to research them better. I hear they can rip apart your house.

*I had to change the title of this post. I had no idea that the shortened version of raccoon "Coon" was such a racist word!

Kai Kai - Takashi Murakami's kids - mini video

Kaikai of Kaikai Kiki doing a performance. That's who I want to be for Halloween. This is the sh*t you don't get to see if you go to Geisai. I haven't a clue where they use these suits or where you get to see Kaikai or Kiki doing their thing, but at dinner, it happens. Ken Chu, the pop star was amused by it all too. He's laughing in the background. Kaikai looks funny as a 3d costume. Super huge!

Joe Son Do

The guy best known for being Random Task, and being in the UFC, yes I watched those live, is now being held for a previous gang rape from 1990. This dude is 5'4" 230 pounds. He's a little bowling ball (excuse any pun), and has a crappy MMA career, and almost had an acting career. Imagine he submitted to a DNA test for something minor, and is being dinged for something from 1990. The other gang raper is still on the loose. I bet he's scared.

See a link to a short article. I've been waiting for more news to come out. But I haven't seen anything since.
Guardian.

This is a very scary video below. Watch it at your own risk. I'm disturbed by it. His make up is disgusting, but check out his moves and his MC skills

RIP Dolemite

RIP Rudy Ray Moore, the man who made so much happen, from comedy and shit talk to Blaxploitation and more. I can't even be the one who can comment wisely on this man, but I got some LPs, we had a little something on him a long time ago in GR, and it was his time at 81 years of age.

RIP Dolemite

Domokun in Star Tribune

Domokun article in the Star Tribune with a quote by me in there. This sort of spawned from the Domokun blog post I did a bit ago about Target. Target is centered in Minneapolis, so this article isn't really that odd to be in this midwest paper. Instead, it's pretty solid. I wish it were more deep, but if it were, then it would be really strange in this context. They didn't write about the sub quality product that I pointed before and maybe that's better.

Star Tribune link

Here's my link to the blog post.

Dirty Hands at HIFF - a mini video

Here's a tiny clip from the Hawaii film fest of the Dirty Hands experience. It's not much and well, just watch it and get an idea of how it all works out. There's some Q and A and a radio station spot, and a clip from the film that I bootlegged from the wall. Sorry Harry. It's weird how Harry stands in the shadow even at his own Q and A section. That's how it works. 

TORASAN!

Way back, while my grandmother was ill with cancer, one thing made her happy. It was seeing Torasan. There were 48 movies in all, titled, Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo, starring the same dude over a long period of time - until the actor passed away. The films are retro and feel good. They came out twice a year. The still I shot is called "Torasan meets the Songstress, Again". It was number 15, and it showed at the Hawaii Film Fest. If you get a chance, I'd jump at seeing them and you're in luck since they're playing in NYC.

Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again
Friday, November 21 at 7:30 pm
Episode 15 / 1975

Tora-san Goes Religious?
Friday, December 5 at 7:30 pm
Episode 32 / 1983

Tora-san’s Love Call
Friday, January 23 at 7:30 pm
Episode 8 / 1971

Tora-san’s Dear Old Home
Friday, February 13 at 7:30 pm
Episode 9 / 1972

Tora-san’s Dream Come True
Friday, March 13 at 7:30 pm
Episode 10 / 1972

Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san
Friday, April 17 at 7:30 pm
Episode 29 / 1982

Tora-san, My Uncle
Friday, May 22 at 7:30 pm
Episode 42 / 1989

For trailers, and more details of the series, visit www.japansociety.org/film.

TICKETS
$11/ $7 Japan Society members, students & seniors.

LOCATION
Japan Society | 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017 (at First Avenue).

Surf Teacher

Surfing. It's not that tough to get started, but I guess it's a slippery slope when you do. That's the surf teacher. Are you going to slip off that board the first time you get on? No. Are you going to paddle harder so you don't look too lame. Yes. There's plenty of coral and rock right underneath where you paddle out. Why aren't people snorkeling there instead? Either way, I did catch a wave for the first time, and actually stood up and watched as the rock and coral flew by under my feet. The water is clear enough so you can see everything. I'm half excited and half worried that I'll fall in and hit one of the rocks which looks like it's just a foot or two below. But all that went away, I passed over it all until I went to slow and had to jump off. 

Jokes aside, kids in Hawaii are interesting. She's 24 maybe 23. The kid next to her is 15. They're best friends. For some reason, people have little homies friends in Hawaii, why is that? They hang out like bro and sister, and I hear that's common in Hawaii.

That's Phil. Hawaii and Phil are almost synonymous. He's part of the RVCA group in Hawaii and has his hands in setting up concerts for tons of bands who pass through. He belts out a good version of Photograph by Def Leppard, which David can air drum with one arm. 

HIFF lunch

Ok, not the best pics. My bad, especially to the folks who'll be bummed they're photographed. That's Conrad, he wrote a little something about the Obama campaign, he's the fella on the upper photo left. Arm extended. He's married to Mr Obama's sister. The dude with the menu out is Anderson, who's part of the Hawaii Int'l Film Fest. I can't begin to the remember the dude's name, but he's part of the UH, South East Asia studies department. The woman is a filmmaker from Indonesia. 

That's Jodi Long she has a crazy imdb list. She also has a film, "Long Story Short" about her family that's making some rounds. To her right is Risa Morimoto who's film Wings of Defeat was in GR.

Dirty Hands at HIFF

Dirty Hands - second screening at the HIFF. Yes, I got to intro the film. It's now the third time I've done this for the film, and each time, I try and do it different. I try and tell a story, or what the film means to me (which keeps changing), and so on. It's hard to capture the millions of things I think about the film. It all races through my head, and whatever comes out in the 1 minute I'm talking is the best I can do. Pretty cool to have the name of the film in simple digital lights at a theater. 

David signs shirts after the screening and the Q and A. The Question and Answer sessions are funny. They're brutally honest and most of the time, it's like listening to two old friends talk. If you're in, you'll understand it better, but people start laughing anyway. 

Desiring God. David reads no books. So we'll see what happens. Maybe he'll get something from it. 

Merch sales. People dig the shirts, the pillow is another story. They sell slower, but they are really cool. The image on the pillow is "stacks" which is a design Dave did, that fits the film perfectly. It means a lot if you see the film. The pillow is surprisingly a perfect commemorative item.

I like the fact that Harry is also drawing and signing autographs. Yes, he's part of the game. 

Yea yea Yotteko Ya

Had to show you what my early mornings at 7am look like. Saw a sea hare. Maybe 1 foot long cruising along. This is the way to start your day before interviews, and stuff like that. If I could do this all the time, I'd never lose.

If you don't hit the beach in the morning... hit the ramen.

Yotteko Ya - This is a great spot for ramen. Part of a chain of 100 of these in Japan, this is another one of those ramen places that people have to check out. 

Tracy

That's what it looks like with the extra pork. It'll bring your heart rate way up. Soup broth will do the same.

Gyoza. 

Jeff Gaskell

Yotteko Ya 1960 Kapiolani Blvd #214 Honolulu, HI 96826

Richard Chou

Whoa, that's Richard Chou. Imagine, somewhere around 8-10 years ago, I did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Yes, me. Hard to believe, right? It was early in the UFC thing, and I wanted to learn about how everything related to submissions, joint manipulations, etc, worked. How does it? I went to Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu and it was crowded. Rickson was a star then. So I moved to 7am classes. Yes, I woke up and went to class that early. There, I met Richard Chou. Imagine, this is a kid on a volleyball scholarship to Pepperdine. He was from Guam and 6 foot 4 or something. A monster. In the photo above, he's ducking. I asked him to not make me look tiny. He's no working with Elite XC, he had a pro fight, and is now on the promoting end. He shouted my name and I saw him, and got scared. Who's this big dude? Richard! I haven't seen him since class. He's also working with BJ Penn and doing well. 

We Made the Wall

It's always nice to see articles on the walls of places that we visit. You'd have no idea it's a GR article, but there it is on the cork board next to the front door. A lot of things come to mind with this article. 1) Lance Hahn from J Church died in Austin, Texas, while we stood outside eating shaved ice in his home state of Hawaii. 2) Martin's uncle who drove us there, passed away earlier this year. 3) On to the happy: It's always great to see new people try the smoothness of the ice. 4) the small local business thrives. I hope. 5) The small things we do, like write articles about people, mean a lot more to others, than us. It might not be the excitement by our subject, but what about their family and friends. I forget about them. Maybe Waiola market cares more than us. It's on their wall.

Dirty Hands SDAFF - winner Harry Kim.

Dirty Hands wins, and here's the video from the speech and so on. You can also catch a trailer from the film and David Choe's message. How proud am I? After the event was over, there was a photo shoot on the stage. Harry's talking to a girl that Maxim put in their top 100. Harry "Horny" Kim. He's the man. I'll be seeing them in Hawaii maybe tomorrow.

SDAFF Day 3 Gala Awards Dinner

One thing that the San Diego Asian Film Festival does well is that they have their awards dinner on the saturday of the first weekend. It's when more people are in town, the filmmakers are around, the journalists, film programmers, and fans are still into the entire idea of a festival. By the end, they get burnt out, people are gone, and the sun and set already on the event. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Soon Tek Oh. You've seen him in everything, from Mash, Different Strokes, a James Bond movie, to Yellow. Yul Kwon, a Survivor millionaire stands next to him. I wonder if Soon Tek Oh knows much about Survivor. They're both Korean.

Susie Suh has a nice voice, and played some songs. She's Korean.

Soon Tek Oh talked about acting and was interesting although he'd admit it was boring. His career is stellar and amazing. On the right is John Cho who presented the award. He's Korean.

In the front row, that's Leonardo Nam and Aaron Yoo. They're Korean.

On the left is the big winner, Harry Kim, the director of Dirty Hands - the David Choe documentary. He won the jury prize which is great. I'm proud of Harry, and that's why we interviewed him in Giant Robot. Yes, he too is Korean.

In summation since I'm leaving tomorrow, back to LA. Thanks Toyota Matrix directorschairsite.com. It was a great experience once again. Imagine, we're there to document this great time when Asian American actors are actually getting regular dude roles in a variety of movies. Aaron Yoo, is in the current Nick and Norah's flick. And the movement is only going upwards. 

I thought I'd show you Lee Ann Kim. Yes, Korean too. I noticed at least in this festival, there were tons of Koreans involved. Random. 

Kazuyoshi Miura hangs self in LA jail

Alleged murderer, Kazuyoshi Miura hangs himself once he gets to an LA Jail. Does this mean he's guilty? It looks like he was going to defend hardcore, but now he's looking like he had involvement. Or, maybe not. But the above photo is a person police should question. The guy I circled in red was very emphatic that he was involved in this case and it's why he's homeless. He's part of the "don't film me, cuz I did something bad" dudes. But he was a freaky guy who sat in his area among bushes and tons of mosquitos. The mosquitos alone are a reason to stay far away.
What a strange outfit. Running shoes, denim all around, specs, shoulder pads, and a crazy hat. He had style.

SDAFF Day 2

Live silkscreening. I'll guess they're called Lifework, since I saw it written around. They screen shirts while you wait, and it looks like fun. You can pick your color combos and they turn em out. This took place right outside the festival. People love free stuff and free shirts especially. Yeah, I guess I'd get one, if I didn't have so many shirts already.

That's Dan the dinosaur with popcorn and soda. Burp! 

Whoa there's Dan on the car. I did one interview with Leonardo Nam in the car, we were pretending to drive. Yeah, but he can act. "Oh it looks like we just got here! Let's go in!" I think it's going to come out cute. He's a great sport for a pretty up and coming dude. 

This is Leonardo Nam. Seen him in The Perfect Score, Tokyo Drift, or Vantage Point? Or how about Half-Life or American Pasttime?

That's the line to get shirts. 

Harry Kim, readying himself for the interview. Lav mic up the shirt. Dirty Hands played last night and it plays again. It's amazing. I intro'd the film once again, that's LA and SD now. People who saw it are fortunate. 

That's Karin Anna Cheung. She shot still for Ping Pong Playa and has some art in the film festival area. Ok but the guy with the mic on the right...

Domino Mutha Fucka! They were doing the Ice Cube with the Matrix coasters.

Sheraton

That's the view from way up, or as far as you can be up in Southern California style. 14 floors, way up, and it's a view of a freeway, a Target, and tons of other shops. It looks so close, but how do you get around the freeway? A 100 yard distance ends up being a mile once you cross the bridge. San Diego is incredibly laid back, and meanwhile, the film fest continues this evening. I'll tell you how it all goes later.

Shot from Tokyo

Wrecks, by Nao. Yes, he helped on the film, that you'll read about in GR56. The film called, "The Dwelling". Here's a pic I forgot about. The film is pretty cool, one day soon, it'll appear online. I can't wait to see it on a larger screen. So far, it lives on my computer, and that's not bad. That's Sheldon on the left.

speksjapan.

Toyota Matrix SDAFF San Diego Asian Film Festival

The Matrix. That's the vehicle. I've shot this same car before, but here it is again. It's a different angle. Notice the rubber like matt it sits on? The folks who take care of this car really baby it. It seems like it drives from a covered trailer to a spot, then back. I wonder if it even has 100 miles on it. 

Directors Chair Site
SDAFF

Openings usually have food, and the San Diego Asian Film Festival SDAFF does it well. Lots of it, and an orderly line up of people to get what they can.

Sushi rolls, chicken, and a variety of noodles and salads. You could have gotten away with eating an entire meal.

The stars of the opening night in San Diego. That's Jessica Yu and Jimmy Tsai from PING PONG PLAYA.

That's Karin Anna Cheung from everywhere! Better Luck Tomorrow is a place you've commonly seen her, unless it was just at a film fest. She's always supporting the events.

The wall at the after party at the Airport Lounge was pretty cool. Imagine an open air room, and an inside room. The thing is, it's close to the airport, so they play up the fact that close above the room, airplanes pass over in a loud fashion. Whatever you're doing has to stop because it's loud and you can't help but look up and see this giant shadow pass overhead.

That's Lee Ann Kim sitting. I didn't get a good shot of her, but she's running the show. There's a lot going on in the pic.

This is interesting. We went to another spot after the Airport Lounge and this woman named Blanca came by to bum smokes. She ended up being a big fan of Asian film, so we convinced her to come to the screenings at the festival.

Ai Yamaguchi Show at Roberts and Tilton

As usual Ai Yamaguchi rocks it again. She's cool, simple, and has a ton of talent. She can paint insanely great, and comes up with concepts that mixes the new and old. This art show will be amazing. The works are large and powerful, each telling a story.
They moved so, see their site for their new address. The opening is on saturday, 6-8pm
Roberts and Tilton

You'll find out what this is, if you go see it live. Otherwise, I'll get back to you later. No, it's not a hot tub. 



This looks like a meeting of some sort. Is it gossip or a decision being made? I have no idea.

That's their kid Rei. He was watching a Youtube cartoon. I think it was that blue train character. Weird how you can now use a computer to capture a kid's attention. That's Yuko, she's there to help! 

Rei doesn't have a spoon, so Rei goes for the straw. His hair is insane. People would pay for his curls. But then again, people pay not to have the curls.

This is a funny picture. That's Shingo, Ai's husband. He has the curls too, when his hair is longer. If you get a chance,  you should definitely check out the exhibition. Yes, bummer, I'll be in SD, so I had to go today. 

Imagine in Sulu Takei voice... Muzzeeeuuumm

His voice is so distinct that when he says a word, people listen... or trip out. When he said the word "ZINE", it was unlike any pronunciation ever attempted, and it sounded amazing. The museum asked me to go boldly where I've never gone before. To pick 1 item among their thousands of items that would address redress. Know what Redress is? I'll bet some of you are thinking, some kind of clothing related dressing room antic. But it basically means to set shit straight. $20,000 back for being imprisoned for three years. No, I wasn't there, and it's a very quiet issue, even to this day, but there's a handful who made some noise.



For some odd reason, people may think I'm a nut to have picked this image, but read my reason if you want. I makes sense to me, and it's on the wall at the MUSSEEEEUUUUMMMM. It's actually hanging next to the reconstructed barrack. JANM Since I wasn't there, I thought finding a bridge to the time was the way to go. Hope people get it.

Austin Asian American film festival?

It's happening everywhere! We're also a media sponsor of the SD Asian Film Fest, and the Louis Vuitton Hawaii Film Festival.

But this one too. Why Is the San Diego, Hawaii, and now this Austin film fest literally on the same dates? All three open on the same dates! In a world that's small enough, especially if you're a filmmaker, now you need to have three prints, if you think you can get into all three festivals!

Giant Robot is proud to sponsor The Austin Asian American Film Festival. AAAFF will be held on October 9-12th, 2008 at the Alamo Drafthouse. Over 40 films (all premieres) from all around the globe will be screened with a focus on Chinese and Chinese American cinema. Come join us at the Opening Night Party at Arthouse Museum, a multimedia concert at Club de Ville, and a discussion panel at the University of Texas. With over a dozen special guest appearances and lively events planned every night, this year’s festival is going to be the best yet. For ticket information and schedules, visit: http://www.aaaff.org/

San Diego Asian film fest and Hawaii film fest

I'm making my rounds. First, it's the San Diego Asian Film Festival, sponsored by Toyota Matrix, this is a fast riser. This festival features a lot of "celebrities", sorry it's in quotes because to a lot, they're not, but even to me, I'd say they are. Dirty Hands by Harry Kim will be showing. I'm supposed to intro the film, but we'll see if Harry ends up doing it himself. Dirty Hands screenings. Oct 10 and Oct 15

Also playing is Chocolate from Thailand. Do not fuck with Thai women. See this trailer.


After SD, I'm off to the Louis Vuitton Hawaii Film Festival for just a couple of days. I'll be there for a hot second. Dirty Hands will also be playing out there. Shenanigans in HI? Maybe so. 

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

It's no secret, that if I were stuck on an island and could pick one CD, it would be My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. I could easily pick a solid album from other bands, maybe even Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys since it would make me smile, but long term, it's Loveless. I've never seen them live, and I think the last time they came through was in 1992, or maybe it was 1993, I think they played at the Palace. Seeing them at the Santa Monica Civic was powerful.

The first four or five songs, blew through everyone. The lights flashing were blinding, the video screen behind looping... the first song started with the video I posted below. Imagine standing on the floor with world record loud sound blasting... It was near religious. Even if it's my favorite band, or single favorite album, it was almost too loud. 130 decibels, it would make the Guinness Book. Eventually, I left the front area and went back to the middle and pulled out my ear plugs for a while. I could hear everything clear. Their sound was much more balanced. It was still too loud to leave them out, but for that bit, it was totally clear. I'm not sure if the noise fest at the end is the way for them to go out, since it was their last show on their tour, but they did it.

One weird note, Only Shallow, their lead song on Loveless sounds bizarre live - nothing like on their album. What's up with that?

Giant Robot continues

It's now October, the stock market is scary and there's no fix in sight.
Many merchants worry about the holiday season coming up.
So what do you do in this time?

I'm not quite sure, but I'll shoot from the hip.

1) It seems like when times are tougher, you should actually work harder at any cost. Will it help? Maybe, but it can't hurt. Who will do this? My guess honestly, not many.

1a) Do you slow down because it's "slower"? No, again that can't be good. That means you're part of the herd, complaining and without an ounce of a solution and expecting the same things as you've always had. Or on the other hand, do you expect more?! That's not going to happen.

2) Do you find new ways to do things? New projects and more to move forward with? Yes. Again, you should do this anyway, but especially now is the time.

3) Is it time to be a dick and fuck with other people's business since yours isn't doing as well? Probably not. Yes, there is the notion of the strong surviving, but at the same time, that doesn't mean, fuck with your neighbors on purpose, does it?

I'd venture to say that during a tougher time, it's the innovative that'll be fine. I think the crime and incredible short sighted to expect everything to be the same as before. It won't be, for perhaps years. I'm still thinking long term, and I see a lot of short term minded folks around. That scares me more than the economy.

Little Tokyo

Quoted at the end in this Forbes story about Little Tokyo. Stuff's happening, and some like it and some don't. It's all perfect timing the happening of Imprint which brought an extra 200+ people who would probably rarely hit Little Tokyo. I'm sure some vendors and shop owners actually get annoyed when big groups come through. We were once in Little Tokyo and took off after a couple of years. The changes that were promised then, might be just happening now. We're talking 10 years later... There's to be a new train stop, and more, so it's still a work in progress. Will it attract more Japanese and Japanese Americans, probably not. Will more Japanese Americans or Japanese open businesses here. Maybe a little. But should we expect it to completely be different from what was once there. Most definitely - and that has to be embraced. "They" could all go elsewhere.

Forbes.

MBV coming up

Video link to the email story.

Ok here's that video. Sorry, I'm definitely not okay in this one. But I do get a lot of email. On slow news days, it's been showing all over the country. I heard Maine, in Santa Cruz area, and more. Either way, a lot of those 60k emails are junk, but whenever I put a filter on, I lose something important. There's no way to win.

here's the link to the video.

Imprint 3.0

Imprint Culture Lab 3.0 - One year ago, this happened, two years ago, it happened, yesterday, it happened. What a crappy intro, but I told myself I wouldn't do any editing, since we're on mag deadline. Imprint Culture Lab is back, and this year it featured guests from around the world, in mixed discipline. Cult is the name of the game, this year. 

A cult leader. Kenya Hara from Muji - gave the opening talk. Muji is still relatively unknown. Ask some random people, they'll say, "no, what's that?" Eventually, you'll know. It's creative and well designed products that are "empty" not simple. Kenya might slap you around if you say, they are "simple" but I have a tip. Say, "super normal" instead, you'll come off as smarter than the rest.

Not part of the exhibitions in the hall, or were they? I saw games like Flower and Spore, but then I saw a few of these trendy units locked up. Sculptural and sleek, these look as cool as the hipsters who ride them. 

More Cult devotees. They look happy drinking that clear Kool-Aid. Shutter snap! I'm now a member.

Michael Kuhle from Lomo shows me The Paul Smith Lomo collaboration. This can't be inexpensive.

That's the view from the nose bleeds. Really, it's not that large. Every seat is a good one.

That's my shadow. She followed me, help my bag, even held my water. I moderated a panel on crafts. Jill Bliss, Matt Stinchcomb from etsy.com, and Jamie Chan from Bazaar Bizarre. It went smooth like silk. Why is it that everything slows way down when I moderate a panel? I thought it and you were supposed to speed up.

Jeff Staple and Hiroshi Fujiwara: 1 on 1. A life story, from the womb to the seat he's in. His one word "no" answers were more plenty than I expected. 

People were interviewed and photographed. They asked me to jump, I didn't do it. I'd jump from Philippe Halzman, but he's no longer with us.

There were cars there at front of JANM. Cult of Transportation. These are drifters and they're real wheel drive. That Scion behind is rear wheel too. Weird eh?

I want one of these! You better have an ass crack made of steel. The handmade motorcycle by Shinya Kimura of Chabott Engineering.

That's me and Wan Lee, the guy who travelled across country on his Ruckus. He was in GR55. I'm sure his ass crack is made of steel too.

Ice sculptures with shrimp shooters. That's intense and part of the after event.

Hiroshi Fujiwara and Jeff Staple imprint

Fire kills 15 - at an overnight video shop

This sounds weird, but it's not, it's basically a cafe that rents videos. I had it pegged as some porno video shop. People sleep over in these, by renting a small room when has a tv, and a vcr or dvd player. Basically an overnight rate, is quite cheap. They have lay back chairs. You're supposedly watching dvds, but you basically use it to sleep over.

But imagine... a fire breaks out. This is what I'm afraid of in many of these narrow and tall buildings in Japan and have business. How do you get out of them? The elevators are tiny, you can't find the staircase half the time, and if you do they're also tiny. Everything is single file. In a room filled with people, you're doomed. There's different safety laws in Japan as compared to what you have in places like LA which is quite strict.

bbc news link.

MediaRights.org Shortlist

I forgot all about this. Did I ever show it to you? Someone wrote me an email saying thanks. It was Risa Morimoto who did Wings of Defeat... I made a list of docs that I thought were important. It was a fun one to make. It took a lot of thought to think of which films really mattered to me. I'm sure I'm missing something, but these are good ones. Check it out and tell me what I missed. This is pretty fun to do. 

Mediarights.org

E-mail Overload Is Our Generation’s New Anxiety Order

NBC NEWS CHANNEL
Published: September 29, 2008

Is the goal of your day to kill as much e-mail as possible?
If so, join the club.
Fortunately there are steps that can help you reign things in.
Eric Nakamura is the owner of the “Giant Robot” Asian pop culture franchise.
His inbox has 60,000 unread e-mails.
Michelle Boehle doesn’t have quite as much, but just mention the word “e-mail,” and the sales rep gets stressed...

Whoa, it came out. Here's a link to the text.

Yes I have a lot of emails. I get spam, and that sits around... Anyways, I haven't seen the video if you find a link, please tell me.