Time for D

A couple days ago, I alluded to a noteworthy dessert experience in San Diego. At the Hotel Del Coronado, there's MooTime Creamery, an ice cream joint with typical offerings like single and double scoops in handmade cones as well as hot fudge sundaes and banana splits. But on the corner of the menu is the Crown Jewel for 20 bucks. WTF?

On our second night, we walked by the ice cream shop's non-hotel location and asked about it. Most of the teenage helpers had no idea what was in the Crown Jewel since it's hardly ever ordered. Finally, someone figured it out: five scoops of ice cream, five toppings, whipped cream, and nuts. Sounds like a rip-off, but the scoops are huge--the size of a large grapefruit. In honor of Angelyn's birthday and the summer solstice, we went for it. They couldn't find the fancy bowl, so they used a metal mixing bowl instead.

Everything's a sugar- and dairy- induced blur, but the flavors (except cinnamon) were in the chocolate family and the toppings included an entire banana, two Skor bars, and almonds. The closest thing to it was the Zoo at Farrell's, which is long gone. To paraphrase NWA, damn that dish was dope. Eight of us (plus one toddler) finished it off just right.



Here's a picture of Ang (one year older) and me (about to become one pound heavier).

For those about to rock

Watch out for Mr. Poon!

Home

When Chi joined the GR softball team in its first season, I knew him as a family friend of Wendy who had interest in getting some exercise. Who knew that years later he'd be a GR softball fixture, good pal, and practically my cousin?

Tonight Wendy, her brother, their cousins, and I met Chi and his girlfriend to celebrate his birthday. We went to a place called There's No Place Like Home in Los Feliz. The food is off the grill and it's quite good, but people really go there because it's set in a courtyard among trees and a fountain. Perfect for a warm summer night. I ate a three-mushroom pizza which was really good, but looking back I should have ordered a three-cheese pizza in Chi's honor.

Afterwards, there was cake cutting and gift giving. Wendy and I gave him a T-shirt and a capsule toy version of .45 pistol. He asked me where I got them, and I said, "You have to ask?"

At the end of the night, everyone was talking about crap they had to do tomorrow. For example, Chi's girlfriend is a teacher. She has to grade papers and turn in grades by 7:30. "It must be nice to set your own schedule," she said to me.

When someone says something like that, I usually come up with an evasive answer that emphasizes how hard we work on GR or how our deadlines have wiped out my last three or four birthdays (even though I love every aspect of it). Tonight I was too tired from driving from West L.A. to dinner and too full from the dinner and dessert to come up with anything snappy. All I could do was tell the truth: "Yeah, it is."

Lunch with Manuel Ocampo

We interview a lot of people for Giant Robot, and the vast majority of them are really cool. I think it's because we favor DIY, indie, and punk rock sensibilities, and most of that ilk is for the people--and not selfish assholes with star complexes.

It's impossible to keep track or stay in touch with everyone, but one guy that we immediately connected with is Manuel Ocampo. He's incredibly talented and totally established in the world of art, yet is so humble, funny, and nice. It's actually not shocking at all that he split the dog-eat-dog art scene in U.S. to start a new one in Manila! (He still finds time to have shows in places like New York City and Madrid.)

Now and then Manuel comes back to L.A. for family or art purposes, and we always manage to hang out. A couple months ago, we had brunch at Millie's in Silver Lake. He used to live in the area, and it's also where Wendy and I live now. Yesterday, we had lunch at gr/eats! Wendy and Manuel had the sushi special. Me, the tofu meatball plate.

Manuel brought his new catalogue, a CD with art by his friend and future GR subject Louie Cordero, and some DVDs with art for us to check out. I gave him some back issues and J Church CDs! Lance from J Church is a big fan of the artist, so I figured I'd pass along some of his tunes.

Back at the magazine office, I offered Manuel some fruit from the GR trees. Avocados and lemons to take home. I started picking some, but he seemed to be into it, so I let him in on the fun.





After spending time with Manuel and hearing stories about the cool art, crazy malls, and bootleg culture, I want to visit him in Manila. One day we'll get out there. I hear once you get off the plane, it's pretty affordable.

Now it can be told

How I stole the thunder from Wendy's amazing dress, cool Dehara art on the cake, great live music, yummy ice cream cones, rad speeches, and HK celebrities a couple Sundays ago: the return of Korean man makeup from GR32!

Coronado

Last week my entire family went to spend three days and two nights at Hotel Del Coronado, a resort spot in San Diego. Reasons included Father's Day, my sister's birthday, and my mom retiring from teaching after 32 years. Maybe Wendy and me getting married a couple weeks ago and not going on a honeymoon, too.

Situated right on the beach, the location was great. The old building was awesome, too. Built in the late 1800s, it has been home to presidents, movie stars, and ghosts. That's what happens at old places...

There was a lot of nice-looking wood. Not the modern or Art Deco stuff we're used to seeing in L.A., but a more Victorian style. It's like the Winchester Mystery House or perhaps a Monopoly board come to life.

Like all the other guests, we spent a lot of time messing around on the beach. The water was warm, and after years of floundering on a surfboard, it was nice to screw around on a boogie boards, which Eric N. gave my brother and sister-in-law when they got married! Crap, I forgot the bones and Scrabble board for afterwards, but oh well.

There were a lot of restaurants around. We had homemade pasta at one place that was okay and a decent Chinese food somewhere else. The best meal of all was dessert, but that's a post unto itself.

In the end, this was probably as close to going on a cruise as I've ever been. After a day, it seemed like we'd been away for a week. And by the time we returned to L.A. on Thursday night (Carlos and I had a GR softball game that night), it was like we never left home.

The spot was beautiful and I'm glad I went, but mostly I'm thankful to have a family where everyone gets along great and enjoys spending time with each other.

We're a happy family

Happy Family is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant named after a Ramones song. Don't believe me? What band was famous for bowl haircuts? Played a song called "Chinese Rocks"? Recorded a couple albums at the Chungking House of Metal?

Okay, maybe not. But whenever J Church is in town, we usually wind up eating there. Today was no different. After the group paid respect to the resting place of D. Boon in San Pedro, I met them at the Monterey Park restaurant. It has moved from its original location on Atlantic just south of the 10 to the intersection of Atlantic and Garvey. The band was glad that there's still an all-you-can-eat deal and that the House Special chicken (mushrooms) is still great. Other dishes included sweet and sour pork (taro) ribs, veggie (soy) fish, and mustard greens with bean curd sheets (just that). It wasn't as cheap as other vegetarian Chinese joints, but it was totally good, and should really count as two meals. Why not? Their next meal will be in Las Cruces.



Pictured here are Lance (guitar and vocals), Stacy (merch), Chris (drums), and Ben (bass).



In this photo, I'm holding something that was given to Lance from a fan in Olympia to hand to me. Cool, but what is it? A Shrinky Dink?

Spirit of San Pedro

Where the heck is Harold's Place? That what I was trying to figure out last night since J Church was scheduled to play that San Pedro bar tonight. Turns out the place has been shut down. Instead, the band played a backyard party.



After I got the info from bass player and indie comic artist extraordinaire Ben Snakepit, I drove to the address in a residential part of the city and saw three people around J Church's black van. Lance and company just dropped off their stuff and were looking for some grub. I accompanied them to a pizza place called Filippo's. No slices were being served, so everyone got pasta. Not bad.



Back at the house, a bunch of local bands were playing. It was super young except for the presence of Mike Watt. Whoa, the godfather of San Pedro (and punk legend in general) was in the house! I struck up some small talk about my brother-in-law Carlos and sister Angelyn, since he recorded music at their house once, and he said, "Much respect." When I mentioned that our mutual friend Ray Barbee just played my wedding, the Minutemen/fIREHOUSE/Stooges/Dos/Secondmen bassist said, "He's bad..." Then he gave me a sticker.

Enough name dropping, and back to the music. We got back just in time to see Chinese Telephones. It's hard to give a full report on the Milwaukee band's songs because they played straight out of their amps, and vocals and nuances in riffs were impossible to discern, but there was a definite Screeching Weasel vibe, and the group even played a Naked Raygun cover.

Next up was J Church. I was sure the show would be busted by now, but that never happened. The band played seven songs, and the raw sound system was not a problem because I pretty much know the words. Any time I get to sing along to "My Favorite Place" is a good one. It's hard to explain why I think J Church is the greatest band in the world, but reasons include catchy riffs, smart lyrics, interesting cultural allusions, total DIY approach, great covers, maintaing the balance of everyday attitude and high-end chops, and Lance being one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.





After that, Chinese Telephones' touring mates Modern Machines played. Very tight, very catchy punk--nearly mod. Good stuff. I bought their latest CD to help the Wisconsin contingent pay for gas.

Lance said it was a quintessential California backyard punk show, since the music was played under plantain and orange trees. I've never been to a show like that out of California, but I was proud to hear that since it was a good one.

Fernando mania

Bill invited me to last night's game at Chavez Ravine, and how could I say no? First of all, I love the Dodgers and it was the return of ex-skipper Jim Tracy. Second, it was Fernando Valenzuela bobblehead night. Finally, Bill Poon is famous. How often to I get to catch a game with a celebrity? (A good friend, too.)

Here's a pic of the giveaway. I like how its eyes are rolled back, just like the Bull used to do in his windup. Remember how there would always be kids wearing his jersey in the TV show AKA Pablo?

Vietnamese baby

Eric touched on this in his blog, but there's a new pin on GR's map. Bành Mì Chè Cali is a sandwich shop on Brookhurst in Orange County's Little Saigon. Baguette sandwiches are $1.50. Sandwiches on a roll are $1.75 (buy two get one free).

There are plenty of cheap sandwich shops all over Southern California, but Cali is extra great because it is vegetarian-friendly, open 24 hours, and really good. Each time I've dropped in, we've had four people eat well for less than 10 bucks total. (Thirdspace king Edward Said would trip out on the repurposed vintage Taco Bell as well.) There's no menu or business card, but I splurged on a $1.25 coffee and the cup lists some other locations that I want to visit, including Rosemead and Toronto. I've never been to Toronto.


Since discovering the spot with Eric and crew on the way back from the J Church show in Dana Point on Sunday night, I've gone two more times. We made pit stops on the way to and from San Diego on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't think I'll burn out since (1) it's so good and (2) it might be a while before get another fix.

My sister suggests veggie ham (number 12 on the menu).

Ears to you

The new Giant Robot is on the stands, and it has tons of record reviews in it. But we listened to those CDs months ago! I've already got new favorites, and these are some of the ones shaping up my summer soundtrack:

Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo to Anywhere. I haven't seen the movie this band is named after, but Lance Hahn says it's good. This group is pretty much the Libertines (the group that made Brit rock fun again?) without famous junkie/model dater Pete Doherty. The style isn't that much different than the old group's sound--sloppy rock 'n' roll with unexpected melodies and rhymes with clever lyrics that aren't afraid to touch on cussing ("You Fucking Love It") or show tunes ("Bang Bang You're Dead"). They don't seem to miss Doherty's songwriting at all. You don't need to be a fan of the Libertines, Babyshambles, etc., to get into this. I got an import with a live DVD, but I think Interscope has picked it up for a summer release in the U.S.

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped. I happened to be at Lou's Records in Encinitas the day this came out and bought it. Weird, since I didn't get any of the NYC trilogy. But this makes me want to go back and get them because it's so awesome. Not too much noodling, perhaps because the band has returned to its basic four-piece lineup? The songs are primal, somehow mixing the laid back artiness of Daydream Nation with the pop sensibilities of Goo. Those are my favorite SY albums, and this one is right up there. Yes, I believe in rapture, and here it is. The legendary band is currently on tour, which is great. Too bad they're playing in L.A. with Pearl Jam at the cavernous Forum.

Various Artists - 300 Percent Dynamite. This Jamaican music comp isn't new, but it's my first purchase in the series. I've been addicted to the Trojan boxsets as well as anything from Pressure Sounds, and haven't had money to start a new habit. But this one was used at Amoeba last time I went to S.F., and I couldn't help it. There are some classics that I knew but needed in non-mixtape format ("Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" and Althea & Donna's "Uptown Ranking) and tons of surprises, like Hopeton Lewis' amazing "Take It Easy." Some of the covers I don't need, but how could Randy's Allstars have known that the "Mission Impossible" theme would get blown out? I heard you can't go wrong with this series, and this CD does not disappoint with its choice selections of reggae, rocksteady, and funk.

Dehara again

So anyway, I was at Wendy's parents house. Kind of going through boxes of wedding stuff, etc. Lots of carnage in the living room.

I came across the empty Dehara box. Where's the figure? Holy crap! I thought it was gone since no one had any idea who grabbed it after the wedding. We were pretty much kicked out of the restaurant, you know.

We went to the freezer where the top layer of cake was stored and guess what? There it was, in a cryogenic state. Luckily it's not brittle or turned into an icicle or anything. Whew.

Just one or two more wedding-related blogs and everything's back to normal. I swear.

And twins!

When you kick me, he doesn't feel it. And I can't tell you what he's thinking. But if you put us on the same team playing Cranium or Pictionary, we'll probably kick your ass.

A lot of friends and acquaintances don't know that I have a twin brother. They might read the mag, see me at the store, or run into me at shows. So far, so good. Then they spot me with him and they're like, "Wow, you never told me!"

It's funny. When we were kids, everyone thought of us as "the twins." They never thought of us as individuals. Now it's the opposite.

Here's a pic that our friend Doug took last week. These days it's pretty easy to tell us apart. He has bigger shoulders and a darker tan than I do because he lives in San Diego and surfs a lot. He and his wife also have a beautiful daughter, Saoirse, who is often grabbing at his legs.

So we don't have magic twin powers and it's easy to tell us apart. But he and I still see eye to eye on just about everything. And when he and I are hanging out with Eric or other close friends of mine, Greg can slip right in and click so easily. Awesome.

It's been my experience that twins either totally love or hate each other. I'm glad we're the former. So is our mom, who says that she could just leave us alone as little kids.

Dehara pt. deux

Here's a better view of Dehara's piece, taken with Wendy and me at the banquet. That's a mentakun coming out of my head on the sculpture! The cake was made by Wendy's cousin Linda, the photo is by my pal Doug. (Both Linda and Dough are GR contributors.)

Dehara does cakes

There's so much going on in this picture. Where do I even start?

First of all, that's the famous Lisa S. sitting on the bleachers. She traveled all the way from Hong Kong with my friend Dan to attend my wedding. You don't even know how stoked Wendy and I were that those two made the effort to come out to see us get married.

Lisa is holding up the first installment of Yukinori Dehara's "Famous Couples" series of sculpted figurines. It depicts Wendy and me, and it's intended to go on our wedding cake! Much cooler than Precious Moments or Mickey and Minnie. And as we chose the bands that played our wedding, artistry was matched by admiration and friendship. Dehara is a cool guy.

Finally, the reason why Lisa is out there on the dirty field on a hot afternoon is because I reserved it for a bunch of friends, relatives, and softball dudes who were in town for the wedding or just around. Every batter I faced from the pitcher's mound was someone that mattered to me, and that was awesome. It was kind of like the Special Olympics where everyone won, but it wound up being me who took home the prize.

That would be Wendy. But, yes, we're putting the Dehara figure somewhere safe as well.

More pics

On Sunday I kept wishing I had a camera, but luckily every one else had one. My friend Zee just sent these pics!

The dramatic entrance to the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens (aka "the old Lawry's").

The Ray Barbee Band makes the mood just right. So perfect.

Eric speaks!

Some of the 48 tables eating dessert and watching the bands play. There were probably about 470 guests.

Cover Me Badd with crummy guest singer. Also, Richard from Whysall Lane and Versus in back.

The hitcher

Here's a pic my friend Wing took. It's sort of in the style of Charles Peterson!

As you might have gathered, Wendy and I got hitched during my lag in blogging. The event was super fun and actually went by really easily thanks to all the help we got.

There were way too many highlights to list in full, but here are some:

* Friends flying in from places like Hong Kong, Japan, New York, and Chicago to attend the wedding even though they knew I wouldn't be able to spend quality time with them. So awesome.

* A pre-wedding softball game with friends and family from all over the place. It was somewhat competitive, but no one even kept score!

* Fun yet serious speeches by Eric N., my brother Greg, Wendy's brother Eric, and my mom. I expected greatness from Eric N., who I hear talk all the time, but my mom got a lot of compliments on her delivery, too! Everyone did, and deservedly so.

* A post ceremony reception with ice cream and frozen ice (for non-dairy folks) and music provided by the Ray Barbee Band. I don't want them to become a wedding party band, but they really were perfect.

* Kids busting out the crayons for the zine-style coloring books I made with pictures of rock shows, snowboarding, GR softball, and other things related to Wendy and me. Some of the colored books I saw were amazing.

* Post-banquet sets by Cover Me Badd (pick-up band organized by Carlos that invited me to sing the Descendents' version of the Beach Boys song "Wendy" with my brother on backup vocals) and Whysall Lane, who came all the way from San Francisco to play a set that was shut down by the manager!

* Old people covering their ears during the above-mentioned set. Also, people frantically breaking into their wedding favors to get the earplugs out.

* Whysall's complete set at the Echo the next night. People from the wedding comprised at least a third of the audience.

* Custom cake decoration made by Dehara and hand-delivered by GR friend Nao. (I'll have to put up an image of this one...) The cakes? They were made by Wendy's cousin, pro pasty cook Linda.

* Finally getting married to Wendy.

I'll probably leak out stories now and then as I see pics and sort out my memories of the blurry weekend.

Hand and foot job

This morning I had a manicure/pedicure and I have mixed feelings about it.

It was super relaxing and it's nice to have less scummy hands and feet. Plus I had no idea there would be a massage element to it--from my finger and toes all the way up to my forearms and calves. Neck and shoulders, too. Sweet!

But part of me feels crummy. Like many salons in Southern California, this business was run by Asian women who don't speak much English. I had a middle-aged woman working my hands and young lady on my feet. They worked dilligently, and were even sweating. They were just doing their job--and a good one at that--but I felt like a pig.

Maybe it's not exploitative because I'm Asian, too. (That doesn't make my little pinky toes being all tough from running or my split toenail from tight snowboard boots any more tolerable.) And I'm still just a dude having women clean up my mess and pleasure me.

What could I do? I can't presume they're unhappy, and they probably make at least as much dough as I do, anyway. In the end, I'm just happy that I don't have to handle some nasty person's ugly feet. I said thank you for a good job, gave them above-average tips, then wore flip-flops for as much of the day as possible.

Idolatry

The other night my brother-in-law/good friend asked if I'd sing one song for a cover band he had put together. Yikes. I like singing karaoke as much as the next guy, but being onstage with a band in front of hundreds of people? That's nuts.

It's also something I can't resist. I loaded the CD into my car stereo and have been singing along whenever it's dark or uncrowded on the streets. Maybe you've driven by and seen me--but I hope not.

Years ago, my friend told me, "Singing is easy." Just do it like Elvis. I don't know if that'll work for this particular song. I might have to fish for more ideas...

The Call Up

Lt. Ehren Watada is a conscientious objector from Hawaii, now based in Washington.

Pig out

On Sunday, my parents brought an entire roast pig to Wendy's family's house! Even gutted and flattened it was huge, more than three feet long. The eyes must have popped out and whatever sauce was used dripped from the nose like snot. Perhaps in an effort to make it more appetizing, a single red flower was placed on one ear.

By the time guests arrived, Wendy's dad cleaved it up into manageable sized squares. Not suprisingly, the ones with a layer of chicarron went first. Leftovers? My parents were given the head and ass on the way out. I have no idea what they are going to do with them. Make jook?

Of course the irony is that neither Wendy nor I even eat pork, but the whole day was really festive and celebratory anyway, with tons of relatives, friends, and food. I must have had four dan tats--the full-sized ones, not those mini egg custards served at dim sum.

Fill er up

After almost a month without a functioning iPod, I finally took it in to the genius bar where they told me what I already knew. The battery was thrashed. They offered to give me a new mini for about 60 bucks. I accepted. Sure, it's obsolete, but it's cheaper than buying a new MP3 player. Now I've been preoccupied with filling it up.

First off, reggae. I put in the Mod Reggae and Rocksteady box-sets from Trojan, as well as 300% Dynamite, An Even Harder Shade of Black, and Return of the Super Ape. Augustus Pablo and Herman Chin Loy, too. Yeah.

Next comes the rock. Clash on Broadway, Hey! Ho! Let's Go!, Jam at the BBC, and Bowie at the Beeb serve as the foundation. Then some newer stuff like the Libertines, Jets to Brazil, Fugazi, and Sleater-Kinney. The new Monsters are waiting made the cut, and so did Arctic Monkey demos. Still have to add my favorite band, J Church. So many cuts to choose from.

That was all on my old iPod, so I wanted some new stuff, too. I've found some Dag Nasty demos at Daghouse, tons of great stuff from Mick Jones and Tony James' new band, Carbon Silicon, and nice links from the Ted Leo site.

There's a lot of stuff I listen to that's not going in. The new Avail re-releases are amazing. I've been listening to Gorilla Biscuits a lot since I got tickets for their reunion show this summer. But I'll probably just listen to those CDs in their entirety.

Anything else? As you can tell, the songs are heavy on my own library of CDs that I own and light on downloading stuff... When I run around the reservoir this weekend, I'll let it shuffle, see how things pop up, and adjust accordingly.

My next challenge: finalizing a playlist for next week's event...

School's out

My mom and two other teachers at her school are calling it quits this month, so some of their co-workers reserved tables at an Italian restaurant and threw a party in their honor. My brother, his wife, and their little girl drove up from San Diego to OC. My sister, her husband, Wendy, and I made the the trip from Los Angeles as well, and of course our dad was there.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and it's easy to hang out with teachers because part of their description job is to be pleasant--at least in the primary grades. The best part was when three other K-3 instructors performed a song for mom. Her name is Sing Wong, so they based it on "Sing a Song" from Sesame Street. It was really sweet and funny, and it was prefaced by all sorts of gushing about how great it was for them to work for her.

One of the speeches said something to the effect of how these teachers dedicated 30-plus years to helping others, and now they're going to enjoy themselves.

It's true. I have a high-school reunion coming up and I'm not sure that I'm going. It's super expensive, and last time I went no one had anything interesting to say. My brother and I tried to top each other's answers for an hour or two ("I live in a trailer in Modesto" and "I'm a oil-rig firefighter") and then left early to see the Peechees at Jabberjaw. We saw tons of friends there, and it was one of the best shows ever.

At the end of the night, we were glad our lives didn't peak out in high school. Nonetheless, we wondered if we wouldn't have been more affected by the reunion if our teachers had been there, too... You'd think they'd let them in free, but maybe they wouldn't want to attend anyway. They've served us plenty.

Sonny Chiba vs. Vin Diesel

The white guy’s going to show the Asian guys how to drive. He’s going to get a hot Asian girl. There will be gongs, kimonos, and giant Buddhas thrown in for no reason. Justin Lin would like to assure you that none of this is true in his new film, The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.

I got to visit Justin in his editing dock at Universal Studios on Wednesday afternoon. It was a lot nicer than sitting in a shoebox theater with a bunch of hacks, which is what I expected. It turned out that he was was going to show us a cut of the film, which he had just finished the day before, right off the Avid.

Justin said he cleared his schedule because he was stoked that we were interested in seeing the movie; it’s not exactly the indie, arty, or imported stuff that Giant Robot tends to favor. In fact, Tokyo Drift is already automatically hated by most Asian Americans and preconceived as yet another example of The Man’s appropriating Asian popular culture. Justin told me that the original script definitely came from an Orientalist angle, but when Universal said he could tool with the story (probably because 2 Fast 2 Furious was such a disappointment to fans of the first installment), he went for it.

First off, Justin argued that the lead character should be Asian American or hapa. The studio couldn’t handle an Asian, so it asked, “What’s hapa?” Unfortunately, none of the auditioning half-Asian actors memorized their lines so the lead wound up being a white guy after all. It turns out Lucas Black is a pretty good actor, so that was okay. But Justin made sure the love interest was not Asian, either. The studio people wondered why the white lead couldn’t fall in love with an exotic Japanese chick, and Justin’s answer was, “Just because.”

Since the lead wasn’t Asian American, he created Sung Kang’s character. Sung shines as a Yoda-like figure who gives the protagonist lessons in driving and surviving in Tokyo. The BLT vet has been cited as a favorite by test audiences, and may get some more gigs out of it.

Casting Sonny Chiba as the antagonist’s yakuza uncle was another good move. The Street Fighter from the '70s has experienced a minor Renaissance in the last decade, with Hong Kong’s Stormriders, Hollywood’s Kill Bill, and Japan’s Survive Style Five. Not bad company for a summer movie.

Hong Kong star Edison Chen didn't get the part of the main villain because he was too waify but Hawaii's talented and robust Konishiki has a nice cameo!

Other changes had nothing to do with ethnicity but everything to do with making the movie more interesting. The car races were made more dangerous, like something out of Bullitt. Scenes were shot guerrilla style to add more local action. There's a lot of darkness, like a hooker and extortion by both the villains and heroes. Guys like Pharrell and DJ Shadow contributed to the soundtrack, and Slash added strategically placed guitar riffs—kind of a modern take on how Morricone used theme music in Westerns.

Indeed, the movie as a whole works kind of like a Western: the plot, the structure, and even some of the dialogue. It’s not intended to be deep, groundbreaking, or profound, but it is a solid piece of genre work with characters that you care about and a story that unfolds in a way that’s a lot of fun and not insulting. Oh yeah, the drifting is pretty cool, too.

After the movie ended, Justin and I talked for a while about how different this experience was for him than Shopping for Fangs, Better Luck Tomorrow, or even his first studio flick, Annapolis. He says that everything really came together. He was able to take on a major project, work in the studio system, learn a lot about directing, and make the project his own.

When Justin signed onto the project, he told me that he received hate mail and threats from Asian-American activists who thought it would be a racist piece of crap. If these people can get over their assumptions and actually watch it, they’ll see that he deserves credit for busting typical cinematic stereotypes and providing kick-ass entertainment to boot.

The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift premieres on June 4 and opens on June 16.