From Eel to Chinatown again

That's Nao below, he's been here and there on this blog. But he took me to a place that has perhaps the most celebrated eel dish ever. It's a small spot and they specialize in just eel. Nishimura... It's well known. It even comes in a lacquer box. It's amazing and not as sweet as what you'd get in the US, which makes it a lot more delicate and fresh. In the US, we get eel in a vacuum pack.

We're a temple close by

That's what the front looks like of Nishimura.

This is Kohei and he's got a car. We took a nice drive to Yokohama - Chukagai

We walked by Fukken Ro. The greatest street ever. It's name is to the point.

Then ate at a tiny Chinese place. I want to say tiny and dirty, but Chinatown in Japan is clean as can be.

I am food otaku

No really I'm doing more than that here. Tons of running around for meetings etc. The food stuff happens when it happens. But it happened yesterday. Cheaper yakiniku. Look at the mini grill. I want one of those at home. This spot was in Matsudo, near the Goodsmile offices. That's Junko and Aki, two of my favorite people in Japan. Although it is of universal consequence, depending on what you believe, my ride home was stalled by a suicide on the tracks. I fell asleep on the train like a local. Somehow I woke up and the train was at my stop. The ride home took well over an hour.

I see red. This place gets packed.

I am a nerd at Goodsmile. I accidentally am flashing a gang sign.

Ramen. Hakata style, yes, oil and tasty in Matsudo.

This is Chinese style Japanese made ramen. Also great. This is green onion but with tororo, which is a mountain yam. It was chopped, not grated, and super good.

GRSF - Vimby

From Vimby.com - Video in My Backyard is Luke from Giant Robot SF. Can you say all this like Luke? This video is a lot of fun, and they should do one in LA and NYC. After the first minute, I wondered what Luke would say, but he nailed it. Good job, Luke in handling that mic.

VIMBY - Giant Robot

Food porn

Ramen. In one moment, anyone would know that this one spot is better than what you can get in America. The noodles are thick for ramen, the soup isn't the typical USA thick and murky Tonkotsu that seems to fool everyone into thinking Tampopo woman made it, and everything in it, was done just right. It's at the spot photographed below in Jyugaoka area of Tokyo. One of many great spots.

I ordered the big one.
950 yen.

That's my friend Kohei who ordered a different one that had cabbage in it.

This is an interesting place. Indotei. It's owned by Goodsmile. Like Giant Robot has gr/eats, they have Indotei.

Yes, it's great. Aside from the food being great. Seriously great. They give you individual small bowls to keep the dishes from sharing their juices! Not enough Indian places do this for you, and it's just one more example of paying attention to detail.

That's Junko hiding in the shadow.
Check out that naan. I swear it's gigantic sized. Maybe the length from my elbow to finger tips.

Yes, this was one of the best meals.

That's Yukie Kito, she produces movies. We're at a spot called Butaya. Basically "pork shop" in Ebisu. Also at dinner was Ms Fujitani and Mr Mikami.

Noodles at the end. The meal starts off with vegetables and more, and with the leftover broth you can choose rice or noodles. We opted for noodles.

Black Rock Shooter in Matsudo

Had dinner with the creator and artist of Black Rock Shooter - Huke. He doesn't make himself available to the public, hence the mosaic. He went from a fan to a budding pro. We had dinner as part of a year end chill out celebration. It seems like everyone does this. He's getting ready for Komiket which is in a few days where he sells a ton of his new book. We ate at an awesome Chinese place in Matsudo which is outside of Tokyo center.





The almond jello might be the greatest thing ever. The food is excellent, but this is a crown jewel. Even that strawberry which doesn't look good, was good.
This is what his toy looks like. It's more of a statue and it's long sold out. You know how the kaiju figures, or any new indie toy sells 1000 at the most? This does Uglydoll type numbers.

That's his booklet, it's not a comic, but it's a compilation of images.

LA River and Mia Doi Todd

The LA River is filled with wildlife, graf, people walking, and an odd odor. It's the water, but overall, it's an interesting place, even if you explore 100 yards. It widens and then gets narrow in spots and the narrow parts are natural, but dirt run-off.

White Minority?

A tree grows out of nowhere.

Mia Doi Todd hanging out.

Deth P Sun install

That's Deth navigating his works. There are a lot of them. 261 to be exact. Various intensities, they're actually different prices. Imagine the work it took to decipher a price list for this, names, images, titles, all based on imagery. The Horror, but at the same time, the show. It looks great on the wall. Tons of works.

Rain at Giant Robot NY Nov 13, 8:30pm.

Bad weather jokes aside, the man the myth, the superstar will be at Giant Robot New York. He could have been at a Barnes and Noble, Target, or a Best Buy, but instead he chose Giant Robot New York. It's not often that superstars like him sign for the fans and we're the perfect place and it's a great honor he picked Giant Robot New York. It shows a lot of soul and or creative thinking. We hear from fansiders that the film is great. www.ninja-assassin-movie.com

Here's the FB page!
Here's the Facebook page.



But don't despair Westcoasters. We got a film for you too. On Tuesday John Woo's Red Cliff for free at the Montalban theater in Hollywood.

Here's the FB invite page.

http://www.facebook.com/ericnakamura?ref=name#/event.php?eid=171294642547&ref=mf

Daniel Dae Kim JANM

Daniel Dae Kim chillin' on a Honda. It's the special Mike Shinoda version. I'd say he should get this monster. I gave him a tour of the grounds of JANM and the Biennale while visiting the mainland from his day job on Lost. Check out the photo below... is he taller than me?
Read the Chiptunes blog post on the www.giantrobot.com/biennale.

Biennale - The Banner and last photos pre opening

James Jean stands in front of his banner art. It's 17 feet wide and nice. It looks great. This is a one second exposure! James Jean and David Choe's art looks great, it's on the second floor along with Souther Salazar's 25 foot painting, Stella Lai's 3 pieces and Jack Long's work. Keep an eye on www.giantrobot.com/biennale for every update I could do. Presentation tonite is at 7:30pm.

Figures and tons of them.

David and Le Merde are working on their wall art.

That's Le Merde and David before they took off. They did a fine job repping Dehara too.

Ako Castuera

Rob Sato getting flicked by Audrey Mag

David Horvath - Le Merde and Yukinori Dehara Trailer - Giant Robot Biennale 2

Here's Trailer number two. Yes it was actually raining that day in LA. Hope you like it. The trio of figures was conceived a while ago. What's the point of having a show without the collaboration of these artists. I think making something "site specific" is always cool and that's what I hope to do and show as much as I can.

Mari Inukai - The Human Eclectic

That's Mari Inukai! Guess which one? Quickly made it to The Human Eclectic: An Exhibition Curated by Kent Williams at Merry Karnowsky gallery. Included in the show is: Peter Liashkov, Barron Storey, Jon J Muth, Kent Williams, Aaron Smith, Dean Karr, Mari Inukai, Chris Anthony, Jennifer Poon, Jason Shawn Alexander, Kevin Llewellyn and Sara Escamilla. Here's the link. Mari will be in the Biennale starting this saturday.

Barron Storey the sensei

Ayako Fujitani and Kent Williams stand in front of the painting from the postcard image from the show.

That's a Mari Inukai painting.

Goh Nakamura playing at the Giant Robot Biennale

Goh Nakamura trailer. The other day, I was watching a webcast of a Goh show at GRNY. Pretty fun. So why not bring him to play LA? His music's good, he doesn't annoy, people can't complain that he's too loud, or not loud enough (he can wail too). So, enjoy!

The Giant Robot Biennale 2 James Jean trailer

The Giant Robot Biennale 2 James Jean trailer. 1 minute long. Here it is. A few more with some of the artists may get made, so watch for them. I hope you like this even just a little. Shot with Flipcam and edited with iMovie.

Barry McGee Motorcycle

Artists are doing everything these days. Maybe it's our economy talking. This is primer grey motorcycle. Primered by none other than Barry McGee. On the gas tank is one of his faces. Pretty large size, nearly that of a hand. Great detail and nice line work, it's a good piece. It's actually glossy and the rest of the bike is matte grey. The only other work he did to it was the trim work on the bottom of the bike. How very McGee! It's either total destruction, or a perfect classy blend of art and design. This bike was for charity, so don't get too on his case for painting a deathmobile.

IndieCade!

Indie games? Check out IndieCade! Although most of the games are really cutting edge, they're almost too cutting edge and bordering on fine art. Some are genius in game play, some in concept, and some utilize hardware better than others. It's a juried exhibition and there are panels and more. I saw it referred to as a Sundance festival for games. No. That's total crap. It's more like an art fair but with games, and much less product as compared to an art fair. Yet, it's really great work and fun to see.

This game, you design the levels that you jump on with paper, pen, and a camera than scans it all in while you sit there. Then you have to play it.

This isn't a videogame. Yet, it's actually quite deep. You wouldn't know it until you play it... It's about the holocaust.

Adam and Brandon.

Keita Takahashi from Katamari. He draws characters and shapes on the sidewalk.

This is just weird. I think he drank too much and fell down.

This dude created a fun iPhone game. I solved it and got the toughest result. Victory. He seemed somewhat surprised.

Twentieth Century Boy - The event.

Rolan Bolan and Masakatsu Sashie. Sashie drew a nice gift for Rolan. Imagine an event that was just an idea two years ago that finally came true. Here are the words on the intro wall:

Two years ago, Darren Romanelli posed the question to young contemporary Japanese artist Masakatsu Sashie, "What kind of music do you like?" Her answer "T-Rex!". This "Exhibition" spawned from that moment and worlds began to collide. Masakatsu Sashie has shown with Eric Nakamura and Giant Robot in America, and he resides in the Japanese Sea city of Kanazawa. Somehow, T-Rex has invaded his life as well.

If you're new to T-Rex, imagine the the late 60s and early 70s, when English rock pushed every boundary. T-Rex invented a style of glam and brought it to rock n roll sharing influences and impacting almost all of his contemporaries including Bowie, Bauhaus, the Damned, and many others. Led by Marc Bolan, songs such as Bang a Gong, has reached world household status today as it's appeared in nearly every medium.

Fusing a relationship with Marc Bolan's son Rolan, and Rolan's mother, Gloria Jones, this event featuring the art of Masakatsu Sashie, honors the late rock star in an event that's long overdue. Mark Bolan may have passed away on September 16, 1997, just shy of his 30th birthday, but his legacy is gaining momentum everyday. Sing a silent Happy Birthday, as you've actually stepped into his 62nd birthday party.

Darren Romanelli and Eric Nakamura would like to thank:
Light of Love
Marc Bolan School of Music and Film
For Your Art
Hysteric Glamour

That's me and Lupe Fiasco, the Superstar. He's taller than me! I thought he was short!

Wait, maybe he is.

Gloria Jones

Hysteric Glamour

Romanelli family

Joe and fans

Michael Lau September 29th in LA. This is the invite

You can try to bootleg this invite and I'm sure someone eventually will in China. But for now, this is what it looks like. We featured Michael Lau and actually were the first to sell his Crazy Children toys in 2000. Or was it 1999. It's a long forgotten fact, but we sold them as they came out, usually in pairs. It was soon after issue 18. Now you can celebrate the 10 years by checking out Barracuda store on Melrose. 7769 Melrose. LA, CA 90066. I don't know how many different kinds of figures there are, but I got the girl figure which is really nice. This show promises to be interesting. The day after, you have to come to see the Masakatsu Sashie show in Hollywood - 20th Century Boy.

Airholes on the box, 1) to probably pain bootleggers by adding an extra step. 2) the figure needs to breathe like a cabbage patch doll.

The text from the invite.

Albert Reyes at the Biennale

Albert Reyes checks out the Biennale space. Good job of having too much fun. You should have heard his speech. He promises an installation and art. Will it pass the tests of public safety? We'll see.

Lance Hahn 9/21/07

Sept 21, 2007 is when our friend Lance Hahn from J Church passed away. We won't forget him. Here's a blog post from Martin about Lance and the moment we found out. We were thankfully hanging out in Hawaii eating shave ice... Then the call came. It's been 2 years already. Time flies and all that.

Martin's blog.
lancehahn.org

Meena Horvath and the Datsun Bluebird Hotwheel

Children! Meena hams it up for the cameras every time. She knows what she's doing! Eyelashes galore. The Horvaths are back in town. It's great to have them here again. It's nice to see Sun-min who visits a little bit less often, but now I'll see them a lot.

David gave me a present. A Datsun 510!

Jay Ryan for Patagonia

Chicago's own Jay Ryan, The Bird Machine himself has a couple of shirts with Patagonia. I saw a tiny thumbnail and poof, it was so obvious who did these. It's a perfect match. I stopped by his studio a bit ago and I think his work and studio is quite great. I like the fact that his dad works there with him packing prints for orders.
Blog about Jay.
Mega Fauna (the group portrait)
Swimmy link (the polar bear)
The Bird Machine.

David Choe X Giant Robot City Girl

City Girl. What does that mean to you? It's David Choe's most popular print, but really... I'll fill you in. City Girl is the Kevin Shields song from Lost in Translation. At the time, David and I both was digging the movie (even with the racist type stuff in it), and the song was the perfect blend of shoegaze, indie, and everything. Naturally, David combines a cute girl, a city, and a print. Thankfully, a couple years later, we have the shirt. Get it here.

Giant Robot 15 - GRSF

It's thursday, and in two days, I'll be up at Giant Robot SF to celebrate the 15 year art show. It's not 15 years in SF, although sometimes it feels like it. The bay area has been the 2nd home for GR. It's amazing how many people think we started out in the bay, but actually no, it's been LA. So it's fitting that we're doing this show. The above image is in the show and it's from our long time friends, kozyndan.

Below is the show postcard. Lydia Fong aka Mr McGee is in it. That's pretty cool.

J. Otto Seibold

Jane's B-day party.

I forgot to get this one up. It's one of the pieced together photos, so I can show you my Photoshop skills... this was Jane's party at Mr Hahn's crib. Who's Jane? Wouldn't you like to know? 5) Bottom left, you might see her in there. 5) Hahn's books. Yes, he doesn't want people looking at his stuff, but oh well. I'm not the first, but that's a lot of books. 4) I'm sitting on his sofa, tired. Nearly the last one to leave. 3) Boba station. Dude had a boba station at his house. At the end of the night, it appeared that maybe the cup I drank was the only time it was touched. But having this is pretty deep. 2) Who uses their Nara ashtray? 1) Hahn flippin' burgers and rollin' weenies. Parties at houses are a tough one. One the one hand, if you have a nice big place, it can work, but on the other, you need to know everyone really well or else it's sort of a stress fest. Who knows who has a sketchy friend.

kozyndan x Puma

Whoa, kozyndan at Puma. Nice displays, nice gear, shirts, shoes, and more. I like how the folks there know who they are, just a bit, but are still finding out more. What a great gig for a great pair of artists. I suppose the artists doing products continues. I do like how the below image actually looks like you're looking out of a window onto a street in London rather than you looking into a Puma store.

I'm proud of kozyndan. From the early days of them coming to Giant Robot 1 as college students to giving them a show at GR1 (before GR2) then having them all over the place in assorted shows, and more, it's been a fun ride and it keeps on going.

That's Dan looking for a baguette.

Shiro's Head brother's Muna

Shiro's Head. The brothers Don and Kel on the left and right of me at the film festival. The coolest thing about film festivals, is that when they bring people in from out of town, you can see their excitement and energy. Don and Kel are from Guam. It's not like it's their first time to the US, but they did make a film out of Guam, that's sort of like a Menace to Society. It's not a wimpy movie about dudes in grass skirts, this is street level stuff. Here's a trailer.

Random leftover from the week.

Jessica Sanders. Had some ice-tea and found out that directors with films have something like 20TBs worth of external hard drives. She told me about her latest film projects, and they all sound good. Feature narratives here she comes.

The ahi sandwich at The Library Ale House.

This is myself being interviewed by Daniel Wu for the CAPE event. Drawing by James Jean. Notice he even drew by sparkling water bottle.

See the T-shirt the kid is wearing. Super 7, probably bought at Giant Robot.

Painting by Joe Hahn and Jeff McMillan. It's Smurfs doing nasty things to each other.

David Horvath's Turtle! Thanks David for the nice gift.

Asian Pacific Film Festival people

Interviewing filmmakers is a fun job actually. Even when you have to do 20 of them! That's my gig for the directorschairsite.com. I brushed up and memorized the films of each person and had to formulate questions pretty much on the fly. I'm not sure if this is second nature or not since in the end, I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job at it all without knowing that much about each film. I don't get to preview 20 films or anything like that... so, I do the best I can. I'd like to see others do this. I'll bet they'll flounder. Above is Anna Chi who did Dim Sum Funeral.

24 year old Mark Tran helmed All About Dad. A first film

Curtis Choy, a soundman, and over all rad dude has a film who's name is super long. Manillatown in the Art (Time Travel with Al Robles). His subject passed away yesterday according to many sources. I hope his family and Curtis Choy are doing alright.

Anderson Le and Stephane Gauger (Vietnam Overtures)

Anderson and Shinae Yoon the Executive Director

Denise Okamoto and Shinae Yoon

A Script: Are you Joe? Baseman art show

"Are you Joe?"
Joe stops to consider...
"Why, yes I am." He answers wisely.
"I thought so..." the brunette says. She follows up with, "can we take a photo with you?"

I occasionally get to take photos too, but with dudes.

This is what he normally looks like...

The Baseman art show... I know he'd like me to say the art was great, but the art show part was closed, and the idiots working at the gallery didn't think to tell people that. So the art, which is why you'd be there? Who knows. Maybe it's good, but maybe it blows. Rhyme Pays.

Check these two out. You can tell who was having fun.

There was a strange cult like display performance. Super scenester event. Douchebags galore. Maybe I'm one for being there.

The exclamation point. A projection...

May 1, 2009

The long march. I walked and walked yesterday, but at the end of the walk was the prize. Here it is... hope you like it even just a little. It's definitely not ideal Youtube length of 3 minutes... this is more like 6, but it does cover the entire song by Seam. Play it in the background... I didn't ask my friend, Sooyoung and company from the now defunct band Seam if I could use their song just for this, but I hope they don't mind.

3 Meals on Wheels.

The place called Torafuku is known for it's rice. It's cooked in an old fashioned manner in stone pots. They mix it for you, so it's not just like this. It ends up being a fried rice type of dish that's a must have when you come here. Eating rice still works.

Thats' a meat dish, sort of like a bulgoki, or something like that. It tasted great and was fatty.

That's Yaz Noya. Say what up to Yaz. I've known Yaz for ages when she was doing Sony related work at Tofu records.

Kampachi carpaccio.

Tuna salad

Chicken

A crazy smelt and shiso leaf "spring roll"

That's Chi-lan Lieu. Say what's up to Chi-lan at Yabu in West LA. I've known Chi-lan since her G4 days. She interviewed my on her show.

David Horvath at Nook which is in West LA. It's been fairly social of late, but it just so happens that people were in my area in a concentrated amount of days. I've known David since Uglydolls day 1.

Taking air pics.

Kid Koala and Kid Deer

Kid Koala does a victory lap during one of his songs. That's him with his hands almost covering him. I've never seen a DJ have so much fun while he's supposed to be playing a show. He's on stage completely into what he's doing, and always with a smile, that makes other people happier. His set was swift and deft. It being on a monday night and pretty late, he didn't have the huge crowd, but at the same time, it was a loyal one. He mixed up his music from hip hop classics, to classic rock, to the new classics, whatever that might be.



This is a section where Kid Koala played the most commercial sounds of the night, so I taped it.

His screen was tiny, but you can see his fingers, if you so care. Bigger screen please!

On the way home, coming down the hills of Brentwood, I finally saw a deer. It was 4am and that's when they come out. The deer didn't run at all, but just stood it's ground and kept picking at the ground.

CAPE - the talk

Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. They graciously invited me to be the subject of a talk. The weird thing is that Daniel Wu moderated, instead of being on the hot seat. This event would have probably worked better the other way around. I'm sure many thought that's how it was going to be. The only thing... I wish Martin could have been there. His household had girls night out, so his wife, Wendy came along with his sister, Angelyn. As Martin said, "that's the next best thing." Cool.

That's Laverne McKinnon, she's the President of CAPE and did a great job putting this event together.

I dressed a bit better than normal. Daniel said he was going to wear some nice threads, but came in street attire. Daniel was great as a moderator. I've known Daniel for 10 years perhaps, and usually we'd ask him questions, but not today. He actually refused interviews with Chinese press since he didn't want to take away from the event.

This is when we first sat down. A bit nervous... a bit excited... Daniel had trouble getting his mic off the stand.

Half the crowd. It was nice that over 130 came through. Double their normal attendance. I see some smiles, which is really nice.

Yet another pic. I think people laughed a little, and hopefully thought a little more. I heard the words "inspiring" a lot after... and it was nice to meet people who were from CAPE, and who were just interested in being there. Thanks Cate Park for helping set all this up and taking these pics.

Added: Daniel Wu is the question man... on wed April 22

Daniel Wu will ask the questions... He's in LA from Hong Kong and now, we're putting him to work. This might be interesting. I told him to go for it, and ask the hardest, embarrassing, and annoying questions possible.

Papershapers

That's Matt from Kansas City. He won the giantrobotshin.com contest. He came, he saw, he drank, and ate. The cool thing about Matt is that he actually fit in like an artist. He knew of most of the artist's work, and joined right in almost as a peer rather than a fan dude. I saw him being interviewed during the opening.

More of Mu Pan's Indians. This was the first time Mu's ever shown these pieces which he makes while watching TV.

That's myself and Brian. I said hi to more people while waiting for the toilet than anywhere else.
He wears Shaq like attire. It has an air of SAT test taking circa 1930.

The Wong Family Association. Childrens everywhere.

Scion recorded a record size crowd of 1155 people. If you came, thanks much. It was the first time a line up happened and we beat the previous attendance record by a bunch.

That's Myself and Martin. It was a fun night.

That's myself and Brian Dettmer who disappeared into the night earlier than everyone else.

That's Margaux in front who helped curate this mother... See Richard Sweeney's piece in the background? It's the next dimension.

Beau Sia is so deep. Catch him at his gig April 18, the same night as PCP at GR2.

Mr and Mrs Dettmer with some Richard Sweeney's pieces in the background.

Joseph Hahn shows the fingers he uses on his Geminis.

Okay, Ayako

Tables were put out so people could make Matt's winning design of Shin's robot! If you would have entered, you could have won. Shin picked the winner.

Lots of glue sticks and scissors, and some fool spilled beer!

People sat all night making things. It's the next level for shows-to make them interactive on different levels.

That's Matt and Richard talking to a youngster.

That's a new Prius. 50mpg and solar panels...

Mrs and Mr Hudlin. Director and comicbooker.

Ryohei Tanaka is in the middle, wearing the Scion hoody and making paper cut outs. He held a huge group all night.

Ken!

Richard Sweeney's piece. People interacted with his piece all night.

DJ Puffs who killed it. Her blend of music was smart and fit the genre.

Ana Serrano

Reggie Hudlin meets Puffs.

Shin gets Matt to sign his Papershapers booklet. Meanwhile Mr Hahn flips the bird.

Richard couldn't get enough and folded a dollar and signed it for me.

Mr Shin Tanaka... the night ends something like Oceans 11. As each person leaves the after show dinner, they say goodbye, leaving one at a time to go back and pack. As Shin leaves, the room erupts in applause. He waves and leaves out of the side door.

Inside Donutman's shop

Jim Nakano is the Donutman. I drove up at 8:30am on a saturday, and he sees me and I get a heroes welcome. "Come on in back," he says waving his arm, leading me to the right side of the building where I enter. Jim in back and all smiles like an uncle who you haven't seen in a year. He's busy since they're actually closing early since it's a day before Easter. A few people are lined up to buy his special brand of donuts, perhaps as a special holiday treat. I telephone ordered a fat 20 strawberry donuts, and they're just about complete when I get there. It gives us a chance to talk a bit, and he's a food guy, and drives all over to eat a meal. An older couple say hello from the outside front window, while I stand and talk. He waves them in, around the side and through the door, which signals that it's my turn to leave. It's a short visit, but I'm happy to say, I achieved the "pass" to be part of the inner circle (no donut pun intended).

Donutman



That's artist Ana Serrano. As you can see, strawberry donuts made it to the Scion space early in the day. The artists and friends from all over enjoyed the sweet treat.

Papershapers - Saturday April 11 Giant Robot x Scion Space Art Show

This is Shin Tanaka. He's a pretty quiet guy, but has a vision for his figures. He's sort of like the Michael Lau of paper figures, and now his work is front and center and really the inspiration for this entire art exhibition. It's all about works made with and on Paper hence the name Papershapers.

That's Polly Verity's hands. It's insane that she can sit there and fold this. She's from Edinburgh.

That's the work by the camera shy Hunter Stabler. He was probably on a walkabout.

Richard Sweeney. You might know his work from Flickr. He's quite good at getting his work out by using that site.

Ryohei Tanaka. Yes, he's in the show, and right now is giving off a lot of fun energy.

Ana Serrano's piece is a city. I wish I could live here.

That's my hood.

Lucky and Polly. Aw.... see you saturday. Yes, anyone is invited.

Scion Space.

Beau Sia

Sometimes, you meet interesting people. Beau Sia is one of them. At 32, he's quite young and kicks ass at whatever he does. Slam Poetry battles might be in his past, but performing etc, that's his future. He's as in tune or at least trying to find his tune in more than just work, but in how it weaves him with his life. That's artist shit. I sat down and had lunch and had a lot of fun. This guy's been around doing his work, and you'll see him soon. Also check out Rachel Getting Married, he's the wedding czar.

David Choe in China photos by Joseph To

I can't tell if his opening rocked, sold well, etc from the pics, but the ones I'm posting are different ones that what he posted. No I'm not in China, I was supposed to go, but stuff didn't line up, and too much chaos struck at the same time. Instead they're filming another episode of Thumbs Up. There's a decent crew in China backing up Dave including Harry, Joe To, and his own brother Paul. I hope you're all well loved as much as David always is. The man is never alone.
David's blog.

Slumdoglords Giant Robot SF

Chelsea Wong of Giant Robot SF is busted eating pizza on the job. She actually deserves the slice, since she helped the dog below which was left in a car on a hot day. The windows were cracked, but that dog was dehydrated sitting in there for an hour and a half or more. Chelsea dumped a half bottle of water in there, and the big dog never stopped drinking. She's smiling since she knows she's spilling a bunch in the car too. The Slumdoglords should get their dog ownership revoked.



This is amazing looking. It's from Rosamunde Sausage grill. This was the special lamb chili dog and was gamey and great. It's in the lower haight and this was delicious.

I saw this also in the lower haight. It's stencils of koi. I don't know what's more serene that koi swimming on pavement. It's one of the favorite examples of streetart that I've seen.

Hyphen Mag - Melissa Hung

Yes, that's Melissa Hung past editor in chief who did shit like a publisher of Hyphen Magazine, a non-profit Asian American magazine that's run by volunteers. It's fun some of the time meeting a fellow publisher. There are times when you have nothing to say because they're busy acting like they're blinging, too cool, or douchebags, this meeting wasn't like that. Instead we both have the same problems with our publications. Ad sales, distribution, an Asian American audience, and so forth and somehow we manage to smile in the photo. She's been through the same wars (that you can't win) as I, but she's smart enough to take herself out of it. She won't have the greys and she'll live a lot longer than me.

Mei Melancon Jenny Shimizu Harry Kim

That's Mei Melancon, aka Psylocke from X-Men and model Jenny Shimizu comparing Blackberry notes in my kitchen. Jenny Shimizu is on the cover of GR10 and she's on Make Me a Supermodel on Bravo. A superhero and a supermodel in my house at the same time. A strange day.

Then there's Harry Kim, also a supermodel and a superhero. He actually sort of is. We did some filming of a Q and A that went super silly. I'll post that one which is for the Chicago Asian American Showcase. Dirty Hands will be opening that festival.

Detained in North Korea

I heard about this earlier in the week. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two journalists were detained in North Korea! I refrained from even talking about it, since it hasn't come out in media yet, but I guess it's official. Laura's older sister is Lisa Ling, a wild newswoman and GR supporter. It's obvious Laura's on the same path of journalism. I hope they get back soon.
link 1 cnn.com
link 2 kcra.com

Special Jury Prize : Dirty Hands SFIAAFF

That's Harry doing a hand stand in the filmmakers lounge at the SFIAAFF. Here's what was said about the film. Special Jury Prize does mean 2nd place, but it's still a great honor.

Although only one film can be designated the “best documentary,” another work presented in competition—through sheer audacity, energy and spectacular visual presence—demands to be recognized with the 2009 SFIAAFF Special Jury Award: DIRTY HANDS.




This is a film like no other about an individual that has no comparison. And it is what every artist working with film hopes to experience and achieve: a perfect, almost sublime, match between camera and subject. Stimulating, profane and sometimes uncomfortable, both move in step with each other, screaming and dragging the audience into an insanely energized and zig-zag narrative that is impossible to separate from the artist, or his wildly kinetic art. Entirely refreshing, beneath the intoxicating pace and intensity is a noteworthy choice to frame the individual first through his work, rather than through his Asian American identity.

Dirty Hands is the result of seven years devoted by a filmmaker to understanding and participating in the life of his subject, his friend. With this in mind, it’s easy to say the film required no discipline to create and discover, and that may be true. But because it does work against every grain of objectivity and distance that is often the hallmark of documentary film, it is true to the reckless and rebellious ‘life and times of David Choe.’ In its intimate understanding, its knowledge of knowing when to pull away and when to draw focus, it paints a true and truthful image of its subject, unfinished, undone and wild. And that truth is what every good work of art strives to achieve, and the backbone of any good documentary—Asian American or otherwise.

Me x White House x Barack Obama

That's a large pic of President Obama's face. I was next to say, "what's up?" It's amazing to see how a President's administration is reaching out just a little bit further to people in different kinds of fields. Would any previous administration do this? I don't think so. Most of the businesses / business people there are hard to figure out. Is what they do any of it of interest to me? I do love the fact that there was a restaurant owner of a pizzeria chain. There were also reps from small banks, and people in many fields that I've never heard of. Yet, Pat from RVCA and I were invited. I think we are examples of what many or most would call an edgy business, but it's still a business employing just as many employees as many of the other guests.
Here's a link to the words spoken.

Me and Abe. We were there to represent the kids.
Of all small businesses in the US, yes, "we" count even if it's just to be part of a small crowd, and I think this is just the start.

Pat and I. We turned around and click / flash.

Up close, he's a cool guy.

Hallway photos. I guess it's good to have family pics up.

Pretty nice view of the obelisk

This is where we sit. This is the movie theater of the White House. I guess me being of Japanese heritage, I bust out the peace sign. Pat with some tied to Hawaii goes native son with the Shaka and shell toes. Thanks much to Yosi. More coming in the magazine.

David Choe Dirty Hands Harry Kim SFIAAFF Poleng

The day started off cold. The weather was tough all around. I have no idea why I took this photo. It was in Japantown right across from the Hotel Tomo. Do they look alike? This was my last full day there.

Harry getting ready. Notice the dudes just hang out, and the ladies get pretty.

Just before we're out to get out. I think Harry was nervous.

The Q and A, Harry listens to the David Choe taped message.

Strange image, but this is post screening at the Dirty Hands merch table. Harry had fans talking to him, it was great.

At the Poleng. Ok. I forget the tallest Asian girl's name. It starts with an M. That's Jean Sun on the right.

Sheldon and Shilpi Gupta.

SFIAAFF - the Matrix interviews and Directions in Sound

Starting early in the day, I walked by this sculpture in the plaza in SF's Japantown. It's by Ruth Asawa. She's a great sculptor that not enough know about. These are made of solid metal, but I like her wire sculptures best. They're pretty insane.

Shilpi Gupta, Dan DeLorenzo, and Emily Chang
Humberville Poetry Slam
Our interview was at a table as if we were drinking coffee.

Tse Chun who's film is called Children of Invention. We did this one on the bridge. He's a cool guy and is only 28 years old.

Jeff Adachi, a public defender has a film called You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story. He's a great guy. Late in the game of film, Jeff Adachi said that being a public defender is like being a filmmaker.

Chicken

pork at Regalito Rosticeria

This place rocks, but it took an hour wait to get in. I usually wouldn't wait and hour, but it might have been worth it.

SFIAAFF - Directions in Sound - There was a lot going on and this group of MC's braved the cold and did their craft. This was at 111 Minna. See the Matrix in back?

SFIAAFF Day 2 Friday night

You wouldn't have believed it. A concert in a hotel room. Goh Nakamura and friends played music to over 20 something folks in a room. I can't believe it didn't cause problems. They played till 3am. There's a lot to say about a room concert like this and honestly, I could never give it it's due here.


That's Goh


I didn't catch their names but they sounded great. The latter part is Goh doing Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys. When I get the names of the folks in these pics... I'll update it. (Sadie and Han from The Invisible Cities)


She was great too, and in a room so tiny, I should have caught her name, but songs were going back to back. But she was a runner up at Kollaborration. She sounded great. (Jane Lui)

Anderson Le from HIFF gets in on it and sings Rush's Tom Sawyer, using his Blackberry to get the lyrics.

This is what the room looked like. I got there at 1am, and stayed until 3am.

Interviews of the folks at CAAM

I interviewed the staff of CAAM for who knows exactly what today. They're the folks that run the SFIAAFF. That's Steven Gong above, who's the executive director of CAAM, I also interviewed a few others including Chi-hui Yang, Michela Rivera Gravage, Vicci Ho, and Christine Kwon. Their names might not mean much to you, but they're part of a staff that run this festival. I realize after the interviews, that they're rather selfless in a lot of ways, and they put together a machine that's a lot bigger than themselves. Some of the other festivals are run by one or a few persons due to budgets, etc and those festivals have a completely different flavor. Either way, I'm saying nice stuff now, maybe it'll change later.

Myself X Kiyoshi Kurosawa Apple Store

I worried and worried about knowing enough about the guy for too long. If I didn't though, would I feel prepared? Would I do well? I'm not sure. I swear I did all I could in a short amount of time to be ready. Watched some of his movies, read about it, took notes, thought back to my days at UCLA as an East Asian Studies major (Japanese emphasis), GR work, and came up with a short list of questions. link to Tokyo Sonata site. Here's the release schedule.

This is what the back of the Apple store looks like. I was kidding that we were like thieves jammed up back here, but they really put thieves back here while they call the police. If you see this room, it means you did something bad. So I hope you never do. Yet being back here with the filmmaker made a bit of pressure mount more. I've come recommended by translator / filmmaker Linda Hoaglund as being good at this and they talked about it for a bit.

That's us with mics in our faces. Mr Kurosawa answers questions with a lot of care and he's quite gracious and genuine. That alone should tell you to see Tokyo Sonata when it makes it runs in theaters. That is Mr Taro Goto the translator on the left. He did a great job, and I had no idea he was adept at doing translations from Japanese to English. I know him as part of the film festival in SF, and as a producer of some indie films.

This is the sign. I guess it got on indieWire I don't know much about indieWire except it's film related. Either way, the event went well at the Apple store. It's pretty much an honor to do things there.

Giant Robot Tokyo! Screening at the Egyptian Michel Gondry and Ayako Fujitani

Giant Robot presented Tokyo! by Michel Gondry, Bong Joon-ho, and Leos Carax. The cool thing is that Michel Gondry and Ayako Fujitani (the lead actress) made a special appearance. It wasn't on the schedule, so it was a great surprise. He did a long Q and A afterwards, which was quite nice. He's an interesting dude for sure and won't hesitate to tell the truth. It's funny how he at some points cuts the moderator down a bit, with the funny quips, but that's his style. The Q and A went for at least 30 minutes, which is pretty long. Then it was free Sapporo. Before the screening I actually stood up at the press area, and was photographed with Michel and Henry for some press outlets. Check out Tokyo! It's opening soon and it's a cool film about my favorite city.

Henry Rollins was there. It was great to meet him. I said only stupid stuff. What can you say to Henry? He did say something to the effect of, "I'm cooler standing next to you." I don't think so, Henry. I forgot to mention, I intro'd the film, threw out shirts, and one of them made it to the upper level of the Egyptian. I challenge anyone to do that with a t shirt, size medium.

The Spences, who read GR since issue 3. They're still reading and complimented us on the Obama coverage. It was unique, and I'm glad they appreciated it.

I'm BEAU SIA! If you see him live, this is how he ends his shows.

Michel Gondry and Ayako Fujitani. A bunch asked if they are a couple. Ask Perez...

Giant Robot Screening Tonite of Tokyo!

Guess who's coming?
Director Michel Gondry & Actress Ayako Fujitani In Person at Private TOKYO! Sneak Preview at the Egyptian Theatre

Ryan McGinness strikes back again

Ryan McGinness has been drinking some special water. He's been in and in and in. This is his new book on the Rizzoli label. All this came via a Ryan package just yesterday. The book is amazing. That's all there is to it. He puts forth a lot of effort to make his books and this is a fine example. I think this is book number 13 or 14 by Ryan on my shelf. Did you know in Japan, in many circles of folks who he doesn't know, he is known as just "Ryan"?

He has an exhibition at Deitch it NYC called Works. It starts very soon. March 7th. I got a handful of posters. They're always huge!

And then there's this. A special book. It's filled with things that he's made. It's fun to look at. It's amazing how Ryan can resurface and raise a lot of havoc, then disappear, re group, re work his work, and then come back, over and over and over.

Here's another blog post on Ryan I did a while ago.

Here's Ryan's site.

David Jien

Met David Jien at Art Center of Pasadena while I was getting my vehicle worked on. Imagine, you drop off your car, and they give you a ride anywhere you want. I chose Art Center to see work. This dude draws like none other. Is pencil work in style right now? I think it is. His work rocks.

Yeah imagine these characters are being reincarnated...

The black one is a bronze and weighs a ton!

Super late Rob Sato Video from Dirty Paper Machines

This one was super late. It's the Rob Sato video from his show at GR2 a bit ago. This one was tougher to edit down because of the amount I shot. If I shoot too much then I'm making tons of extra work for myself, like this one.

See more of his works here in transmissions in case you missed out.

gr/eats - Rob Sato

A pensive Rob Sato stares at the gr/eats special. "It's in a box! How do I start eating this? Do I say a prayer?" The half filled glass is green tea lemonade, my favorite. Notice how this drink is getting popular? We use real green tea, that gritty, so it's really good. Also, notice the pen collection in his pocket?

Special 1 Salmon Teriyaki and Seared Tuna Sashimi Combination Seaweed salad, rice, soup, dessert almond jello 12.95

Special 2 Chicken Teriyaki and Shrimp Tempura Seaweed salad, rice, soup, dessert almond jello 10.95

The dessert was cute.

Ex-waitress Chika has a baby. She said she wanted a kid to be just like me. Is that really possible? She asked, "guess what his name is?" She named her boy, Rick. Do I believe this? She swears by it.

Deharavath Aftermath 2

Dehara's figures look cool. Any way you handle them and shoot them, they always look cool. This photo is post Deharavath 2. See Dehara and Yoko blur in the back ground? It's early still. They look a little bored. Things in this sequence of photos are out of order. This one is at the beginning of spot #2.

This one is really late in the night. Philly cheesesteak on Housten. Dehara was in fine form.

A sake bomb. I caught the bombs going in the beer. This took place at spot #2 in the Lower East Side called Satsko. Strange spelling for a Japanese name. The place is cool, and a Totoro video on!

Monstre Hero from Florida! They make great toys all by hand.

More Dehara shenanigans

Deharavath. David was tired, but you'd never know.

Carlo McCormick, his little man, and Horvath. The little man was in awe that he met David. David look a little tired here. That's what happens when you go across country and work like a dog, it catches up.

Deharavath 2 - the Horvath Uglydoll part

Check out this jacket. Booya. Leather like a Tom Cruise or Indiana Jones jacket and stitching of Uglydoll... Babo. There's no mistaking what you're into if you wear this. Imagine, it's no louder than a Fat Albert or Spongebob design. David Horvath can make his eyes bug out hard!

The new figures are amazing. Blind box, 6 designs, 2 colorways each, and a mysterious chase figure. Wedgehead with red teeth. These are amazing, and a surefire hit. We'll get these soon.

The message of the day. Open your toys. Then learn to let go of them.

Mr Horvath explains the round tape used on his new mini action figures. These toys are cool.

Home cooked Korean

Amazing. Home cooked Korean food. A seafood soup stew, sort of like a haemul jungol in the black container. Not too spicy, it was really good. The rice was purple and awesome. Chilis? Just eat those? I don't know about that. Beef, both bulgogi and kalbi. Upper middle on left, is kimchee! Thanks Jane Choe.

David and Harry again.

BJ Penn Vegas

The pics might be out of order, but maybe not in my mind. That's Dave taking a bite out of a gigantic rib. I didn't know they come out that large, but then again, it's a cow and those are big. We're in Las Vegas. I think by now, we're at the Palazzo Hotel which is near the Wynn, but I ended up calling it the Nguyen. I went to Vegas for less than a day to see BJ Penn fight in UFC 94. The event was grand and fun, even in the nosebleed seats which were going to be four digit money. Last time I was at the Wynn was Murakami's event and I had dinner on Steve Wynn. He said an arms length away, and I swear I thought he was made of wax. He was actually pretty cool.


Johnny Bravo, wait that's not his name... it's Mickey Avalon. That's Mylan on the right, peering out of the car. Yes, only limo rides, buffets, and so on. Vegas is a weird place. Some people have great access to everything. I had that for less than a day.

Lions at the Palazzo. Sucks to be them.

David and Pat from RVCA. If you're rolling in RVCA, then having the Toshiro Mifune hairdo is possible. If you're rolling like David, then wearing an Adidas sweatsuit jacket with a big Vietnam logo on back is possible too. David also walked around with a pillow case with a hand drawn $ sign on it everywhere.

Bets anyone? I lost on BJ Penn, but won on Karo Parisyan.

Part of a buffet at the Wynn. People say that it's the best buffet in vegas. I agree. But of course, you end up overeating and I was in pain for two days. That fat meat thing with pepper on it is bacon. It's very harsh to your system.

Mickey A and BJ Penn art. BJ lost in a harsh way. I wonder if he enjoyed the painting.

Ping Pong Playa DVD signing.

The DVD signing at GR2 went well. It's cool to support a funny film and have all of the main players come out to sign and meet some fans. Quite a few came through. See more pics at the GR Facebook or Flickr or Transmissions. That's Jessica Yu the director. She has an Oscar award for a previous film. That's huge. I was going to ask her to bring it, so she could let people check out her bling, but I forgot... Then it's Smith Cho. She's on Knight Rider. She came a bit late, but that's how the stars do it. Jimmy Tsai the star of the movie. I think it's his first acting role. He's usually behind the camera. Roger Fan, who you might have seen in Annapolis, and Jim Lau, who plays the dad!

We brought a table onto the street to let passers by and guests play ping pong. Thanks to Clement for bringing this out for us. It made it fun. People just picked up the paddles and started playing. We have to do this more.

That's a grandmother playing. She came out and showed her little grand kids how to do it. If she's the mom, then I'll say, damn, I got it all wrong.

Return Arthur Nakane's shit now.

There's no justice when you hear stuff like Arthur Nakane, the one man band dude getting his gear stolen. It's sort of like Sonic Youth getting their gear stolen that one time. Those one of a kind instruments and so on. Arthur might be able to replace it all, but someone stole his lively hood out of his truck. Pretty harsh. This dude though, is a survivor, you will see him again. But if you got the time, or energy, take a look at the video. I interviewed him back in issue number 5. During my record scouring days, I found his lp. It was a super limited vanity pressed lp, but I wrote to the po box (this was before mass use of internet), and poof he wrote back. Any contribution can go here. No, I doubt he has paypal.

Check his myspace as well. Yeah, even at this writing, he only has 5 friends.

Here's his arthurnakane.com site. It barely works.

Art Nakane
P.O. Box 50673
Pasadena, CA 91105

Leonardo Nam and Ramen

Yes, I made Leonardo Nam eat ramen. A cool guy, he's working a lot acting in a ton of pictures, most notably Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, he gets gigs in "chick flicks!" He's come a long way since I first met him at the SFIAAFF a couple years ago.

Heath Ceramics in Los Angeles

Heath Ceramics has been around since 1948. Part of the mid-century modern lifestyle, this brand has always been a mark of great design and high quality work. Friday was their grand opening at 7525 Beverly. Fairly anticipated, it's been written about in magazines and newspapers. The space is vast and clean, and is in the perfect area which matches home furnishings and people with hopefully a few extra dollars. For those of you who are on a budget, Heath wear might not be the most affordable, but at the same time, it's a standard by which a lot of other brands try to match. Heath

Smiling with Adam Silverman. I met Adam years ago when he was a co-founder of the X-Large store in Los Angeles. A graduate of RISD in architecture, which he did for a few years, he also worked on ceramics at the same time. He left the clothing industry, and decided to pursue his hobby of pottery. He'd probably classify himself as just starting since his pottery career began in 2002, but his work look masterful. One great fact about Adam's efforts is that he's branching the worlds of a generation of "kids" who are into clothing, art, and design with a venerable ceramics brand. We'll see how this next phase of his career and Heath's brand steps into a new future.

Here's a sample of Adam's personal work that's available at Heath. There's plenty of it throughout the shop. I like his glaze technique.

Who knew he made hanging lights!

Geoff Mcfetridge drawing of Adam.

Vintage Heath not for sale.

Ironically, years ago, I bought a couple of mugs that looked cool and were inexpensive, I had no idea what make or model they were. I looked at them the other day, and lo and behold, they're by Heath!

James Kochalka on youtube

I put it all together and get them all up. James Kochalka's interview with Martin as the host as part of his Little Paintings 3 art exhibition at GR2. He played music live, and that "concert" video that's in four parts because it's about 16 minutes total. Watch one, watch them all. He came all the way to LA from Burlington, Vermont!

Here's a link to his art!


James explains what he's painting, especially the new works that depicts the rich and wealthy people's cats.


The Dragon Puncher!


I swear this guy should MC.


This has a song that talks about underwear.


Beyonce acapella.

Reggie Hudlin

Had lunch today with none other than Reggie Hudlin, a long time reader of GR. Know him? House Party! Yes, he's the man behind this flick starring Kid N Play, but he was also in She's Gotta Have It! The classic Spike Lee joint. His career definitely gets more current, with the Boondocks project. He was the president of BET for a few years, and now he's making it back into the fold of regular life. He's also writing comics, and is going to dip back into to making stuff again. Isn't he handsome in this photo? Good job Sears! 

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.

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.

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.

CSS! Lovefoxx

Lovefoxx. Luisa Matsushita is a cool kid. Lead singer, crazy, and has the eyes and ears of many. Watch her take it to the top. Live she's amazing. She has energy that can last for days. Is this the same person? Yes she is.

Hut Dog! James Jean's and Wen's house

Hut Dog! The plush Wen is holding is a relic. Imagine, she was a customer at Giant Robot before there was a GR2, and many other things. This was about 6 or 7 years ago and we had a lo of Hut Dogs! The weird thing is that because this had a Japanese only name, we made up the name Hut Dog and it caught on. Huell Howser even took a fancy to the dog that has a house built on it's back. He said the word Hut Dog on an episode of his show.

That's James Jean on the left. There was a killer dinner party hosted by he and Wen. The food was amazing, many things were Wen's family recipes. I got a preview of many art pieces in progress. I could have eaten it all. Maybe. But for now, they have tons of left overs. Dinner parties... how often do you go to them, and how often do you host them? It's a ton of work and it seems like a dying and lost art. Small groups of people are the way to go. I think.

Thomas Campbell's website

Thomas Campbell's website is now up. I just got a notice. You should definitely check out this man's art. I guess the blog entry is perfect timing with the Beautiful Losers movie. Random! I met Thomas Campbell way back in the early 2000s. He was painting with Barry McGee in a building. I didn't know his work then, but he was living in San Diego at the time (I think). He was doing art, and sitting quietly. He's always been a nice guy and that's why we distribute his book Sing Ding a Ling. We've had it for a while, and got it into a bunch of shops. Aside from art, this dude makes films, and is sort of a jack of all trades and a master of a few of them.

See the book here.

Thomascampbell-art.com

Beautiful Losers the Film Starting Tonight at the Nuart

Beautiful Losers the film is opening at the Nuart, just down the street from Giant Robot store. Director Aaron Rose is a pretty good guy. I hung out with him for nearly a week in Madrid, for another art exhibition and have run into him a few times locally in LA. We had some good conversations about Beautiful Losers and at the same time, I'd like to think I brought a different view point to what the film and movement might be. I thought it was a jumping off point, while many were pissed off about what the "movement" was all about. It excluded a ton of artists, who were probably worthy of being part of the "in" crowd. But what then it did was create a small fire under people's asses to make their own movements and that might actually be the larger gift that came from the film. I remember in a press conference in Madrid, Aaron Rose mentioned that point about the film. Maybe it's an easy out in times of tough questions, but it's the truth.

Beautiful Losers.
CRIBS: Aaron Rose's crib in the LA Times. We talked about the African masks once, well there they are.

I am Susie Ghahremani

That's Susie Ghahremani, she goes back old school with Giant Robot. We've watched her in school, and she's now out of school and kicking ass. She's transforming the space unlike no other, except maybe Barry McGee did once upon a time. But this is a total different style and she's being much more meticulous. Every detail is all planned out. She's a hard worker and that's something to appreciate. As an owner and gallery guy, I do. 


That's one of the birds that are hanging from the ceiling. There's going to be a lot.


She's painting each bird and branch by hand. No two are the same, and each are balanced so there's not too many flying and pointing one way. 


It's a long wall, and she's covering it in the most amazing way. The light blue is soothing like a nice sky. Really, it does.


The shadows tell a story of it's own.


That's her favorite piece. Wait until you see it's face. It's a sleeping bird that can fly.


When Susie smiles it's golden.

Scion - Insiders, Outsiders, and the Middle - the opening

The planets aligned once again. What does the title mean? You figure it out. It became a topic of conversation. Are you inside, outside, or are you in the middle? Does being inside mean you paint inside, or does it mean you are an insider in the art scene? Either way, everyone got together for a great opening. Each artist had a name tag if they wanted, and each ended up talking to numerous art fans who showed up in decent numbers. We did group photos which got nutty.

You can see more photos at my flickr. Does anyone have problems with the organizer on Flickr?


That's me skating around the show and shooting some video.


That's Sakamoto. He's a little quirky, doesn't speak much English, but in the middle of the show, he got super emo, wanted to cry - he was having such a good time. He saw me, and said a few words in English, then rattled off some words in Japanese, and said, "SO HAPPY"...


The QR code works. In art, that's digital, it's amazing how things can link up. For Invader, this is a hot move.

That's Kami painting and having a good time. He even painted with some kids. It's cool when artists get involved with whatever's going on. Rolling with the flow.


Ed Trask made a paint by numbers box. People loved it and got into it.

The bunker. 6th and Berendo. What's this place really called? Shinya with the cap, showed the ladies at the table, how to open the bottle with chopsticks. Way back in issue 7 or so, we had a little something on the beer bottle opening champ of Japan. Shinya was his understudy, and knows every trick.


It was a scurry, since we were so hungry. The food was great, the place is nuts. It's our second time there with a group from Scion.

Cheers and bombs away. The night went on for a while, and the enigmatic Space Invader, where did he go? Did he Invade? He slipped away into the night.

Scion - Insiders Outsiders and the Middle - the artists

It's already just 2 days from opening night at the Scion space in Culver City. The artists are all now in town and installing. It's great to see them all. Noriko Ashino, Nao Harada, Space Invader, Adrian Johnson, Kami, Ed Trask, Shinya Yamamoto, Zariganiworks are all working harmoniously to get their art up and looking good. It's still early in the game but the cool thing is that everything looks great.

That's Noriko Ashino who designed the GR umbrellas, rooster, and the panda shirt. That's Lucky the dog who roams the grounds. I guess I was wearing IPaths that day.

In progress. Maybe I shouldn't show you this, but it's going to look good. Invader is tearing up LA right now. Keep your eyes open.

Trask to the task. This painting is huge.

Kami is in town. His work is great.

Nao looks like Shinya's work while painting his own.

Mr Trask. Think he can play drums? With arms like that, of course he can. Find him on the beach, he's been going surfing in the early AM. Let him on some waves, locals. He's a great guest.

Amy peeps over the shoulder of the Zariganiworks robot.

Dali Lama cubes

Ex Londonite, Adrian Johnson made it in last, but he got oohs and ahhs when he unrolled his work. He's the nicest guy.

Father's Office looked like a bunk place. Totally filled with people, loud, a bar, and then we ordered a burger for each. Some Yam fries, and regular fries. I'd say, all were skeptical. Yes, all. How can a place that looks like a typical yuppie bar (I guess you can say it is), serve good food? Ah, a Korean dude who's the maestro chef. After the first bite, people tripped out. I heard it in Japanese all over the place. Check out Sakamoto's (Zariganiworks - in red, blue, and white expression. Look at his eyes. Cameras started going up to shoot pics of their burger. 

10 Comic Con moments

Here's some Comic Con shots.

1) That's us in gear at the booth. Standing behind a counter most of the day, you get to take pics from the place where everyone is looking. The booth looked great.

2) Seth Rogen came by, and he reads GR! I tried to hand him a mag, and he said, sorry, already have it. See more pics on Flickr.

3) I remember when I said, I wanted to take their pics, she made sure her boobs were riding high. I guess that's better than low.

4) This is serious.

5) That's Seth. Total nice dude. Ever see a head slap to a stiff straight arm in football? That's what this is... I guess being one of the dudes, and then talking shit is how people have fun. In the end, although it was truncated, I had fun at the beach party. 

6) Details from the Party at the Beach. You had to appreciate the madness of the last 15 minutes. Uh 5-0 all over, yes. 

a) Manager Michelle hold her ground against the pigs. Good. 

b) Having 10 minutes according to 5-0 of fire pit time. Good. 

c) Blasting an entire bottle of lighter fluid, throwing in every piece of wood and log to make a gigantic fire. Good. 

d) Throwing in a towel in a fit of anarchy. Good. Cops coming back. Good. 

e) Argument for nearly 10 minutes, then including hippie Scrappers Morrison acting all weird and wet from the beach. Keeping the fire alive. Good. 

f) Cops waving the white flag and letting everyone go. Good. 

I guess all this isn't as good as a vinyl toy.

7) James Jean signing with a line doing a 360 around the booth.

8) Meeting Usugrow, itokin park, 

9) Saw a Devil Robots T, of the Giant Robot cover, and the art is exactly the same which includes me at the controls. I want one of those.

10) Catching shoplifter on sunday, and seeing him cry, tantrum, and run away into a crowd.

Simone Legno at GR2 Tomorrow, Wed, the 30th.

He's signing soccerballs, and perhaps other ephemera. The artist behind Tokidoki will be in the house from 6-8pm following his Comic Con insane signing endeavors. Good with the fans and friends, Simone is a very giving and nice guy. Meet him if you have the time.

Estevan Oriol and studio

I met with Mr Revelli of Upper Playground at a studio in downtown. It's not anything ordinary, it's the studio of artist / tattoo artist Mr Cartoon and photographer Estevan Oriol. Conventional wisdom says that it's dangerous there, but no, Estevan is the nicest guy around, and didn't hesitate to show me a cross section of his work including some folks who are no longer with us. He even photographed the portrait for the poster. I'm sure he freaked out the two big stars, since Estevan isn't an ordinary photographer. Part of what you get is his raw style and eye. The weird thing is that a part of his youth was spent very close to my house. His day lived 4 or 5 blocks up, while he lived in Santa Monica. He said, the kids of the old school gangs are back.

See his site and his works.

Here, he shows me what camera he likes to use. It's a simple Canon. He was showing me other cameras too. His first one that he liked using was an old Polaroid. 

That's a Mr Cartoon thing.

Yeah he hates being photographed. The more you hate it, the better it is. This is what a CEO looks like.

The cars... a bunch of them. The studio is like a car shop.

Evidently, Mr Cartoon was in their shop tattooing Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns. The high profile may happen in their new shop on Skid Row. There's an Upper Playground there too.

Money Mark back from the Jack Johnson tour now at Goodwill

Money Mark at the Goodwill. Yeah, that's not the best sounding thing ever, meeting at a Goodwill. Me looking for weird crap, Mark looking at an old piano he wants for a special sound. He took a seat and caught up on what was going on amidst junk. Mark was funny showing me how cool this piano was with ivory keys (yeah, that's bad), and ebony keys. Does ivory sound better? 

The piano shuts down like a box. Mark's been on tour with Jack Johnson. He just got back and is now going to produce some music - for which this piano will work well. If you don't know mark use Google. He keyboarded for the Beastie Boys, wrote many of their best songs with them too, has solo albums, and some cool music videos.

This is neat, he's recording the sound with his cell phone to find out if the tuning is okay. He also said that if you punch in 123456789 - it's a C scale. Is that true?

Yeah, it's his now. After seeing him, we vowed to keep in better touch. 

GR54 James Jean outtake photos

James Jean outtakes from Giant Robot 54. I took the pics while at his house. I forgot his cat's name. I think it had something to do with it's color... I think. The house is a great spot in Santa Monica. I took photos the day after the interview. It's strange to take pics right after an interview for some reason. It feels a lot better to come back the next day, but usually, it doesn't work that way.

Take a look at the photo set.

Jack Long video Convolvere

Got the Jack Long video done. Took a lot longer and I put more effort into this, but part of the problem is that there was over 25 minutes of footage to be cut into 4 minutes! It's hard to capture Jack, there's so much more to say, but nonetheless, hacking down footage is almost like editing an article. Below: that's Lisa Ling and her husband. That dude is tall.

Lisa made a comment that Jack's art looks Russian. He was puzzled and was sort of surprised to hear that. Then a couple minutes later, he realized that one of his pieces has a building that he copied from a Russian church!

Jack Long video below

Dirty Hands World Premier Q and A video - Harry Kim and David Choe Los Angeles Film Festival - The Crest

Of course it's on our Youtube page if you care to see the other videos that have recently gone up. I shot this from my seat, and after the Q and A, there's a little extra with David Choe's parents. Hear what mom has to say about her son. Man, I'm evil, but her answer was telling. They were proud. The dad was all smiles, and he also went to each of the three screenings. That's a proud dad. Check out our Youtube page here. There's some art exhibition video to see as well. Thanks much and Happy 4th.

Shepard Fairey

When Shepard Fairey met Obama, he showed him the now infamous design that you see on the poster. Obama said something to the effect of, "I like that image, how did you spread it so fast?" That's a great first question back. He could have said, can I have a poster? But instead I'd like to think Obama understood that the image was powerful and out there en masse much like an Obey sticker, and realized the power behind "street art", youth, and a true indie/punk rock grassroots movement using the power of blogs. Think Obama's competition knows this?

Meeting up with Shepard always bums me out since he makes me feel dwarfed. What did I do to deserve that today? 

We're the same age, and I remember his work from the day we started out. We've been through some of the same lumps, and he's at year 19! For some reason, he reminds me of Yoshitomo Nara. It's their face, their laugh, and musical tastes.

Shep's always complimentary about GR since it's a mag he reads. He even said a big part of his world ends with GR and Juxtapoz. It's great to see him rock at his own studio/gallery/meeting place in Echo Park. 

Guess what he likes to drink?

Miya Ando Stanoff art Exhibition Bandini Gallery

That's sort of what we looked like at the Miya Ando Stanoff art exhibition. Her back story is amazing. She's the descendant of a sword maker. That's cousin Mike Idemoto and Eugenia Yuan. That's Miya above my cousin's left shoulder. This all took place at the Bandini gallery on Fairfax. The art is minimal style, sort of Rothko in a way, but it's all made out of metal, and with industrial finishing techniques, the work has tones and textures. I'm a little more into pop culture, so this type of work is something I'm not used to seeing.

Evidently, she's from Watsonville, a small town in California, where my mother's side has some roots. Miya now lives in Brooklyn and has art exhibitions all over. See her site here.

I liked this piece the most.

gr/eats lunch with Monkmus

That's Monkmus, a director, drawer, animator, who joined up at lunch time today at gr/eats. It's a nice warm day today, and a friday which makes a lot of people happy, but in the end, it's like another day for me at GR. Saturday is almost like a monday or a tuesday. A Sunday... well, that's like a wed or a friday. Monday is just like a tuesday, which is like a wednesday and thursday and a Saturday. I'm not making much sense, but you get the idea. Like in a Debby Deb lyric (or the opposite): Weekends are not made for fun.

Meanwhile gr/eats keeps rockin' serious. That's the okra rolls above. 

Tofu meat balls.

Tofu meal ball "oyako" donburi. Of course oyako means parent and kid, which is like chicken and an egg, but this is tofu ball and egg. Hmm, can they be related?

1/2 paella. Yes, this was good.

That's the middle of the tofu ball.

Angry Asian Man

I had lunch with Phil Yu, aka, Angry Asian Man. He's been doing this blog for years, before the word blog existed - maybe. It's cool to hear about how he started, his view points, how he does his stuff, and his overall humbleness. This photo is probably the goofier side of him, and he's not really angry, and you'll see him smile just like this. angryasianman.com

Dirty Hands World Premier - Harry Kim and David Choe Los Angeles Film Festival - The Crest

I like Photos of Harry Kim and David Choe. This one says it all, doesn't it? It was before the film, Dirty Hands was to start. Harry holds a bouquet of flowers. Harry with flowers! He's holding up a ticket to get in and he's wearing a tie-dye t shirt that says, Arizona on it. David stands next to him, with a Sharpie and film festival badge in hand, arm around his great friend. Both not knowing how other directors might handle a beginning of a film festival film, often with red carpet bravado and pompousness. This was the opposite. It was as if they handed the keys to the prison to the inmates. Everything was turned on it's head. Yet, a huge staff of support was there for the film, even if it was just from friends. Meanwhile, a line spanned down the block. It was long. 

Dirty Hands website.
Meet the parents. Harry Kim's parents on the left, David Choe's parents on the right. None had seen the film yet. They were proud to wear the Dirty Hands T shirt by Upper Playground. That alone was a great sight. They had no idea what was upcoming and what adventures their kids went on together over the last 8 years. Seeing each other was a great start. Here's a little back story. Evidently, Harry got into trouble perhaps at the hands of David's older brother. The Kim's were apprehensive of the Choe clan, they haven't spoken in years and years. The film brought them out and together last night. It was a sight at the after film party at Asuka restaurant next door. The elder Koreans sat at a table, talked, and were often seen pointing fingers happily at their kids. Something was brewing and only they know what that is, but being proud was definitely part of it.  The crowd was energetic, they laughed, clapped, and I only heard great things about the film.

Here's that long, long line. Some got turned away. The theater was packed for this film. If you got in, it was a special night. David Choe hid out and didn't want to be in the awkward scene of having his parents see him say and do the nuttiest things. I introduced the film, and that was actually tough, since, it's easy to talk about David Choe, but this time, it was about Harry, and he got a huge cheer when I mentioned his name. The film went off without a hitch. I video taped the Q and A, and I'll see if I can get that up soon.

My friend Bobby Hundreds. We stood next to each other after the film, taking it in. A nice dude walked by and said, "whoa, my two favorite bloggers next to each other." I figured that was Bobby's friend and I got to ride his coat tail for a second.

That's David before the film.

David and James Jean, the cover artist of Giant Robot 54. We sponsored the after party at Asuka. See the banner that's sagging? Dave put it up. He doesn't know tape as well as paint.

Dave signs Converse. He's featured in an ad for Converse, wish we got that ad in the mag. 

That's Jessica Sanders, filmmaker - a true paparazzi shot.

This guy got everything.

The scene at Asuka. You can actually make out the parents in the background in the black t shirts!

After after party at Barcade in Korea town. You can actually play games inside. We were there until near 4am.

It was Harry's night, and maybe year. I can't tell you how proud I am of this dude. People discount Harry a lot. Imagine, Dave's a world famous type of artist, there's been this dude tagging along shooting footage. No one has seen much, and it's been dragging so long, it seems like it would never ever come out. But lo and behold, this man has major talent along with his staff. Great editing job as well.

That's big brother, Jimmy Choe on the left.

Even though Harry had a great time, David sat on his face, sweaty nuts to the chin. In this way, these dudes haven't grown up at all. 

That's Yoshi Obayashi, he's a comedian, his brother is a pro skater with the same name.

The night obviously ends in Korean food. The weird thing was that at almost 5am, there was a soccer game on, and I'm sure it was Korea playing, and there were people actually there to watch.

Gabe Ritter X Jen Pak

There's that X... for collaborations. Does it apply to marriage? I suppose so. That's Gabe Ritter and Jen Pak. Gabe's written a bunch of articles for Giant Robot beginning with Ai Yamaguchi cover and interview. They've been dating since high school, and it's a very rare occurrence that they're going strong nearly a decade later. We were at Koehler winery in Los Olivos, CA. It's a nice looking place, and if you look at the next photos in the upper left, you can see an expanse of grape vines, almost as far as you can see. 

That's Ai Yamaguchi and Shingo Hayashi and Rei. He's 2 1/2 years old and like to take arty photos. Look at those curls!

Cupcakes taken to a new level.

That's Gabe. We knew him when he was a kid, but he's grown up now.

Can't stop taking pics of food, sorry. The beef which was grilled onsite (you could see them grilling) was good. Potatoes rocked, chicken got a bit firm, and the beans were smokin'! Definitely a good meal and a pleasant wedding, especially when it began to cool down. Weddings are tough, I guess I can't say I'm into them, but seeing people happy in their maybe once in a lifetime day is alright.

Jack Long GR2 opens tonight Convolvere

Jack Long changed his color schemes and if anything, the work has more detail than ever. There's a range of sizes, and the show overall looks great. Jack's friend asked me from where I met Jack. I told the story. I was eating at Julian's in Providence. It's a great spot, if you ever get a chance. Jack's art was hanging on the wall. It was his first show, and he was just finishing school at RISD. The work was amazing. I couldn't tell if the work was by a kid, or an older man who's into fantasy. It had maturity with a youthful spirit. As soon as I tracked him down, I found out he just finished college!

I put him in art shows. Artist Susie Ghahremani knew him from classes at school, so it made everything easier. Since then, we've shown Jack many times. He's one of the nicest guys around, and he's now lived in LA for three years. I'm glad that I was able to help him out. He even worked at GR stores in LA. Tonight's his "next GR" art show. Convolvere. 

I took this photo off of a site called artbusiness.com

I've taken many photos like this and I think this is a photo from our space. That's a shadow around his neck, not sweat, but I'm sure he works that hard when he paints.

Esurance Pwrfl Power

We've featured him in GR before, and the next thing we know, he's in a commercial and animated. I like the end when he says in his crooning voice... "it feeeeeellls gooood..." I haven't seen this dude on tour yet, but at some point, I'd like to see this dude.

David Choe and Harry Kim - Dirty Hands - World Premiere

This is my favorite pic of David Choe and Harry Kim. Harry is often referred to as David's sidekick, and in many ways, maybe he is. For nearly the last decade, where David's been, Harry's been right there behind him - with a video camera. This picture was from London, on our way to the Tate Modern. Look at the image... Harry's hands out explaining something, perhaps that he did wrong and David looking like Sid Vicious. The film was done shooting at this point, and it's now show time - saturday June 21, 2008. Dirty Hands website.

I'm proud to say we're sponsoring the film screening along with Upper Playground and RVCA. We've been there from day one of David Choe's career and it's great to see it keep rolling along.

That's Steve Lazarides and David Choe

A still from Dirty Hands.

That's Dave and his brother Paul in NYC.

Takashi Murakami Monogramouflage Louis Vuitton line, at Steve Wynn Las Vegas

I get a call inviting me to Takashi Murakami's unveiling of his new line of Louis Vuitton bags, Monogramouflage. It's made appearances at the Brooklyn Museum, and yesterday June 16th, it made a one day appearance at the Louis Vuitton in the Wynn Hotel. A line formed outside, of course, they were checking credentials, and at the same, I saw a Wynn K-9 unit probably there to sniff out bombs. It was 6pm, and the scene inside was mellow. A DJ, bags, people, drinks, snacks, and people buying bags.

Some of the designs are on denim, like the above.

I preferred the more solid, leather looking pieces. I did hear them say it was coated canvas.

Sort of like a retro aviation jacket.

Alexander got a roller bag

The scarf looks nice. That little thing is an iphone or ipod holder.

Yes, it's limited. Look for it more widespread on July 1st.

This is the Speedy 35. If I were getting a bag, this would be it. 

It was strange, no one recognized Takashi for a while. We were hanging out talking for a while, then once one autograph happened, a quick line formed. Sayonara bro! He got mobbed. That too is the Speedy 35

Steve Wynn, Takashi Murakami, and Dennis Hopper! That's why the K9 was there first. That's Steve Wynn's wife in the dots.

At SW - a restaurant in the Wynn. Guess who's place this is? The chopped salad was quite great. 

Takashi's film showed on the white screen/waterfall. It lights up, there's a lake in front of it, and it has a crazy Hollywood Bowl feeling. It was only a 12 minute piece, but it was quite grand. Two screenings and a short opening speech. Takashi's been to Vegas years before, he told me it was 8 or 9 and liked the crazy theatrics at the hotels.

Keep in mind, the footage is only 10 seconds, just to show what it looks like, but keep tuned in and watch the rest of the weird stuff they projected afterwards. I hope people didn't think it was work by Takashi...

20oz bone in rib eye. Steve Wynn was a few arm's lengths away. I almost hit him up for suggestions on what to get, but didn't need to. Thanks for dinner Mr Wynn, or was it Takashi... I didn't know who to thank.

The party at The Palms starring Bijou Philips - Cinevegas

This is what the nighttime pool party looks like at The Palms. The lights in the pool revolve colors. I think the blue is the best. It was a fundraiser for New Orleans through a film called Dark Streets. A band played, and Bijou Philips who stars in the film came up and sang two songs. Overall, it's party as part of the film festival, and I'm not sure how many people there actually see the films, but it's culture in the desert.

Yep I shot video.

Viva Hanako

I almost feel like it's not right to post photos of Hanako this way, so I found one from a few months ago. She's old, but it wasn't just a month ago that she would run around in the backyard for just a bit with me. She acted like a pup, messing around and posturing in a ready to play stance. Of course at 17 years old, she's slowing down quite a lot. Today, her body's giving out and her mannerisms and sounds she's making are different. Shiba's are known to sometimes run away at the end of their lives. Some say, to die dignified and in private. Hanako seemed intent on walking around this morning and we couldn't get her to sit still. 

After We put on her collar and leash, it made her relax. She loved to go outside and the leash would make her happy. My mom pet her until she went to sleep. I hope Hanako is ok with this. Her days, if that, are quite limited. I stopped in, on the way to this trip I'm on, and said goodbye. This is the scene I left. 

Now I'm sitting in a hotel, trying to think of the many, many moments of Hanako. She's been around for a while - practically half my life and through the life of Giant Robot magazine. She was the first Shiba in a succession of them in our family, each family member getting a Shiba probably hoping theirs could match up to Hanako. People talk about their best dogs, and without a doubt, Hanako's the smartest, cleverest, and perhaps most human. Through past friends, family members, trips, events, and work, I can easily remember moments where she somehow interacted with them. A lot of things have come and gone, and Hanako's been around for it all. If she wasn't sitting at the dinner table being part of the action, then she was somewhere nearby taking it in. She's had a great life and ours have been alright too. 

Saelee Oh cooking dinner

Artist Saelee Oh offered to come over and cook on my 1950s O'keefe and Merritt. I wondered if it was out of guilt because she was super late on some editorial writing for Giant Robot. She says it's neighborly. Either way, I was hungry, and she cooks well. I hope the guilt comes over her more. I'll eat well that way. She even did dishes! 

She made seitan and kale, and salad with salsa and beans and no dressing. The brown rice, she bought. She did a great job very quickly. She knows nutrition well, so this must be a very balanced meal.

Tristan Proper shoe store

Tristan from Proper and his new specs. He's a nice guy and runs a nice shop in Long Beach. I've purchased a few pairs of shoes here. I enjoy his style in working hard, not being a bruiser type, and running a nice shop. He keeps prices fair and in the long run, it's a good thing. Visit his site that has a pretty skyline of LBC. Proper.

spencer hansen Blamo

One of the nicer guys around, is Spencer Hansen. He's from Idaho, lives in Oakland, and does a fashion line and makes these toys. I'm not sure if toys are the right word for it. But they're super nice, exclusive, and hand crafted. His items are sort of the line between art, craft, and designer vinyl figures. 

They look great together, as if they're part of a family.