GR talk at UCLA

Eric and I given a lot of talks at a lot of campuses. Harvard GSD, Michigan State, Davidson, Bates, UIC, and even USC--the list goes on. But for some reason, we've taken part in panels or done classroom talks at our alma mater, but never had a speaking event. That changes tomorrow, April 30, at 3:00. Come see us at UCLA's Faculty Center. We always have a lot to say and never bore audiences with charts, figures, or narcissistic BS.

Well, perhaps you should be the judge regarding the latter...

Head and toes

We finally received our main shipment of GR53 this afternoon. It took forever. You'd think a shipper named Yellow would look out for a publication about Asian and Asian-American popular culture. Nope. This is the second time the company has let our magazines sit in a warehouse and collect dust when they should have been surfacing on the shelves of our shops and shipping from our online store.


I've really been anticipating the mag's arrival. When we received advance copies a few weeks ago, I was driving to Mammoth and all the issues seemed to have vanished when I got back home. So I haven't really had a chance to look it over yet.


One of the boxes had this scribble on it. Is it a doodling? a map? It reminds me of a Pinback tour EP cover or the landing strips of the gods. When we shared the cover at our presentation at UIC, someone asked what the artwork was all about. The simple answer is that it's a character by James Jarvis, an artist from the UK who has played a pioneering role in the fields of streetwear and designer toys. But there are some other interpretations. Doesn't the face resemble the Japanese army flag (sometimes confused with the Navy flag flown by kamikaze pilots, interviewed in this issue)? Reluctant Hong Kong Noodle Company mogul Merlin Lowe (also interviewed in GR53)? A drunk Asian (perhaps you)? Read it however you want.


But before I crack open and revisit the issue, I've got to move all the boxes into our shed. Looks like I chose the wrong day to wear floppies.

Vulture vs. Labs

The other week I got a package from Cardiff, UK with the new issue of Culture Vulture. Issues of this zine ran back-to-back articles with Eric and me not too long ago, so you know Nick, Samantha, and company have good taste. Interviews include cover artist James Ulmer, GR homie Adrian Tomine, and a spotlight on yarn crafters in Cardiff. Reviews of Eagle vs. Shark and Wes Anderson and a "Paris A to Z" (Eric did one, too!) confirm that we are brothers from different mothers.


My favorite article was the run-down on chips--those things you get with fish. Interestingly, many of the spots (including the top one) were Chinese food joints. There seems to be a lot of Chinese food/fish & chips places, perhaps a distant relative of the Chinese food/donuts shops that we wrote about a few issues ago. Interesting...


Here's something else I've been carrying around. Andrew Jeffrey Wright's "Labs with Abs" calendar arrived a few months into 2008, but luckily the one I was using sucked! I can't handle those week-to-week dealios, and need something that (1) shows a full month on a spread and (2) has enough space to write on.


Here's a sample spread. AJW's art is simple yet effective, pleasing yet disturbing. The art makes you feel a little dirty, but the artist himself is a really nice, humble guy that is easy to hang out with. Totally talented and unpretentious. If you cross-reference the scribblings on this page with my blog entries, you can confirm if do indeed pretty much share everything on my blog, and don't hold out on anything juicy.

Random trip pics

I didn't have time to go to Waiola's for shave ice, Longs for crack seed, Liliha Bakery for Cocoa Puffs, or a souvenir stand for a "Obama Ohana" T-shirt, but I did snap some pics to share.


When I got off the plane from Chicago, I was greeted by my mom, dad, and brother who were about to fly to Hawaii for the funeral as well. Because my flight to Hawaii was on United, I only had time for a quick hug and trading of reading material at the American terminal. If we had known that both of our flights would be delayed for 2+ hours, we could have had dinner together at Wolfgang Puck's or Chili's Too.


I gave my iPod a break and listened to the piped Led Zeppelin channel. It sounded like crap, but was a nice change. I watched a lot of TV shows, too, which I never make time to do at home. It turns out Ugly Betty and 30 Rock are pretty good shows.


When I got to Honolulu, my family picked me up in a rental Dodge Avenger and we ate at this 24-hour coffee shop near Waikiki. If you didn't want the Chinese omelet, you could get one with nippy cheese!


Leonard's, Waiola, Shimazu, and Liliha are must-stops on any trip to Oahu. (Well, maybe not Liliha). I got the malasadas from the first place on the list. Upon discussing this list, a cousin suggested I check out a slushy shake at Rainbow Drive-In one of these days...


This flier was found among my uncle's documents and paperwork. It describes an item that one of his colleagues invented and got a bunch of co-workers to invest in. It's a like an ergonomic police baton/tonfa, but with a hook that you can use to grab people with/break limbs. Unfortunately, it never take off, but the propaganda was quite compelling--if not unlike something from Reno 911.

Happy Sad

Yesterday, I attended my Uncle Art's funeral in Honolulu. The bulk of the ceremony was comprised of stories from his three sons. You can see them in the photo above: Carey, Anthony, and Scott. My mom also shared her thoughts and memories. Everyone did a perfect job of conveying his unique and giving personality. My uncle's death is one of the most shocking and saddening experiences in memory, but the day was enlightening, inspiring, and hopefully a bit healing.


Afterwards, we went to the vegetarian side of Legends for an informal banquet. This is where Uncle Art and Auntie Lucille would take me and my friends during our last few visits, and it felt fitting to be there. My mom brought some old pictures of her brothers Art and Yen, and shared stories that I had never heard before.


After lunch, we took the Pali Highway to the cemetery. That side of the island is often rainy, and yesterday was no exception. It was very dramatic, and actually kind of fitting.


The day ended at Uncle Art and Auntie Lucille's house, where we tried to make a dent into the former's stash of ice cream (8 quarts?), had Gina's take-out and Leonard's malasadas for dinner, and then played a game on his Scrabble board. Uncle Art kicked my ass with those tiles many times, and it would have been poetic for his oldest son Anthony to beat me, but I wound up winning when I ended the game.


I flew back to L.A. at 7:00 a.m. this morning but it felt like yesterday lasted forever, not unlike the impression left by Uncle Art on his sons and family. In lieu of flowers, donations were taken for defibrillators to give to youth soccer teams--a perfectly practical yet softie move that perfectly matches his personality.

One day in Chicago

On Wednesday morning, I caught a 6:00 a.m. flight to Chicago for the 4:00 p.m. GR talk at UIC. I can sleep anywhere, but I think I got my best sleep ever on this flight. Having a baby at home will do that to you.


At the UIC campus, we saw friends. In the left is Wendy's old college friend Erika, who happened to be in town from NYC and just happened to see flyers for the talk. On the right is my sister's college roommate, Jane, who teaches in the Windy City. Eric is shooting the shit with Tim in the background.


The talk was a good one. Here's Eric talking to half of the room. I took the other side. No, just kidding. It wasn't divide and conquer or tag teaming the room--just a a lot of semi-organized talking with a responsive crowd. No pics of Sharpies or after-talk eating since Eric posted all that. Corinne and company did a great job setting up the program, and I hope we are invited back.


Here's another view of Tim, who's got to be one of the best hosts ever. Not only doe she put us up, but he makes time to take us around, too. I wish Tim could be cloned and placed in every city that I ever visit.


Here's Eric checking email at Tim, Sue Anne, and Chewie's place. (Unfortunately, the cat's name escapes me.) Andersonville isn't one of the trendier parts of town, but it's one of my favorite spots because of the hospitality.

Planes, no trains, automobiles

Yesterday's talk at UIC was solid. We saw a ton of familiar faces and made a load of new friends. (The presentation was strong, too.) Chicago's a great city and a good GR town, and I wish I could spend more time here. I'll post pics and give details when I have a stronger connection.

Eric is about to catch a lift to the set of ConversAsians, a local TV talk show and GR's Chicago correspondent/FAAIM's main man Tim H. is about to give me a ride to the airport. Pushing up the return flight to LAX on my $200 R/T ticket cost me $300. American Airlines is wack. It seems like every time I fly on that airlines, something wrong happens and I hear similar stories all the time. How do they stay in business when all those other companies are dropping like flies?

I land at LAX at 2:45, and then have to run to the United terminal for a 4:55 flight to Honolulu. I'm cashing in more than 10 years of miles to attend my uncle's funeral tomorrow morning, and it's a bargain.

You better look alive...

...he's busy revving up the powerful Mach 5! Or is he? Someone was clearly out of the loop when painting this mural promoting the upcoming Speed Racer movie. This is just a block south of Amoeba, so it's pretty high visibility.


It could be worse than a Mach 6. The Wachowski brothers could have cast the Racer family as all white people. D'oh!

If you're in the neighborhood, check out the Indian Film Festival at the Arclight. My picks are Frozen and Amal, two bummers of movies that are nothing like the Bollywood spectacles that Apu watches on The Simpsons.

A little about me, a little about PRE

When I was a student at UCLA, I saw a ton of great shows on campus. Public Enemy, Rollins Band, Jane's Addiction, Bikini Kill, Chumbawamba, Snuff, Jawbreaker, Phleg Camp, ALL, Chemical People, Redd Kross, St. Vitus, fIREHOSE... Actually, a lot of them took place after I graduated and kept me coming back--thanks to booking by Craig, Lynn, and other friends in Campus Events. Eric was the photographer!


This is where we bands used to play: the corner of the Cooperage pizza parlor. Now the stage is leveled and the carpet is stripped. I was bummed about this for a second--this is where I told Q Tip how much I enjoyed the afternoon Jungle Brothers show when A Tribe Called Quest played later that night--but it turns out that the new concert space at Kerkhoff is actually a much better venue. With the vaulted ceiling, stained glass, and rust chandeliers, it's more like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland than Shakey's. Too bad non-students can't just walk in anymore.


This is the sort of audience that bands used to have to play in front of. People studying, eating, flirting, or whatever. In the Treehouse area, I saw a group of tables where students hang out and play poker with chips and everything. It was right in front of Panda Express! I can't remember if it was Peter Case or John Doe who worked the numbers of pizza customers into a folky acoustic song at the Cooperage.


But back to the rock. Tonight I returned to campus to see PRE. They are on the noise label Skin Graft Records, and play a choppy, arty style of hardcore that you don't usually associate with England. It's super heavy but really fun at the same time. More like Lightning Bolt than The Locust.


The double bass action was cool to hear live, and Akiko is nonstop energy onstage. (Offstage, too.) PRE puts on an action-packed show with plenty of dates left on the tour. They're cruising up and down the west coast before returning to their hometown of London, so check them out if you get a chance.


Afterwards, PRE's buddies Health played. I swear there's some taiko influence in their pretty but noisy style. More on this L.A.-based band in the future...


And more on PRE in GR54. Akiko gave some honest, awesome answers about shitty food in London, touring being her detox, and dealing with Yellow Fever. Also, Ben shot some great live shots that put my hack snapshots to shame.

Clash of the titans

Last night the Deharavath show opened at GR2. This was a dream lineup, not just because the contributed art was right up my alley ("zombie children" sculptures and indie plushes) or the artists have had cover stories in GR (Dehara in GR34, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim in GR42), but because they're awesome folks and personal friends.


Yukinori Dehara, shown here in front of zombie children and his wife Yoko, made custom figures of Wendy and me for our wedding cake. It's one of my prized possessions, but it's probably cheaper and easeir for you to skip the ceremony and banquet and just buy a piece of your own!


David is practically part of the GR family, and here he is with Wendy and our zombie child (making her first appearance on Sawtelle). The GR shop sold the first UglyDolls, hand sewn by Sun-Min based on David's drawings, and now he returns the favor by giving us first looks and exclusives.

Look for pics of the opening and close-ups of the pieces to go up on the GR2 site soon...

Uncle Art

This morning my cousin Anthony called with bad news. His dad, my Uncle Art, passed away last night. This was a total shock to everyone, since he was in totally good shape, playing soccer a couple times a week. He collapsed on the field.

You might remember my uncle from my Hawaii blogs. He's the one who took us to Wailoa for shave ice, Liliha Bakery for cocoa puffs, and the Aloha Bowl swap meet for crack seed and fresh fruit with li-hing sauce. He has also rescued Wendy and me numerous times in Honolulu with rides from the airport and a place to crash.

So you could gather that he was a nice guy, but I don't think I ever indicated what an interesting person he was. On one hand, he was totally straight. After taking him to a screening of Dan's movie The Banquet at HIFF, he said something like, "I don't know why anyone would want to see a movie like that, where there's not one happy moment." (His wife, our Auntie Lucille, countered, "It was gorgeous and beautiful!") This kind of "zero or one" comment sort of made sense since he was a hardcore computer guy who put together PCs back in the day and was a computer science professor at UH--an excellent, mathematical, and ruthless Scrabble player, as well.

But he was a softie, too. When my brother and I were young, he'd wait for my cousins to go to bed. Then he'd break out some Lappert's ice cream hidden in the back of the freezer for us--his secret stash that his kids weren't allowed to eat! Also, while he loved his alma mater, the USC Trojans, he really loved living in Hawaii. He was always up for sharing its best parts. When we were kids, he took my brother and me to Jelly's to buy comics and records, Arnie Coward's Torture Museum, and an trashy theater to see Megadeth. More recently, he'd find hikes that were suitable for Wendy and me and make sure he took her to the best shrimp truck, and not some poseur business. (And we are both UCLA grads!) After this year's Christmas holiday reception hosted by newlyweds Ant and Elaine, Uncle Art dragged the party to Waoila--where I wanted to go because I was working on the shave ice article for GR52.

I think my uncle had an ideal life, balancing a sweet position in academia and swinging sabbaticals to places like England (where he bought my brother and me 2000 A.D. comics that we asked for) and China (so Ant got to spend the bulk of a summer with us!). He not only played soccer in several pick-up and league nights, but he traveled the world to play with other senior league players. Most recently, Budapest.

I could go on an on about Uncle Art--not even getting into how cool my auntie is and how great their kids are--but mostly I've been thinking about is how fortunate I've been to see him so much over last few years. Starting with Wendy and me getting married, there were the last two Hawaii International Film Festivals and my cousin's wedding events in L.A. and Honololu--all allowing me to see him more often than usual. In times like this, people often wonder things like "Why didn't I visit more?" or "How did we lose touch?" but I have the opposite situation. Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone; I've actually been appreciating him more than ever.

His dry wit and gruff comments yet tender presence will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Cool runnings

A couple years ago, my dad became old enough to qualify for the senior rate for a season pass at Mammoth. We thought that was really cool, but he said that he'd give anything to have to pay the regular rates again. I'm pretty fortunate to have a dad who snowboards and goes to rock concerts, and doesn't do boring stuff like golf or fish. I hope my baby daughter thinks that I'm that cool in the future--and not just some old kook.

The shot of my dad above was taken this morning at Chair 5, where there is still plenty of snow. Surprisingly for such a sunny day this late in the season, it never got mushy and remained pretty hard and fast all day. Constant grooming probably had something to do with it. No lines, super consistent snow, and time spent with family made this short trip as great as any. Tomorrow, we drive back to L.A. to attend Saturday's Deharavath show at GR2.

Snow days

My brother and I started skiing in the early '80s. Our friend Brian Brown had a cabin in Big Bear right at the base of Snow Summit, and his family would invite us to go with them.

I was thinking about this today at the very top of Mammoth.


Our dad picked up skiing soon after, and pretty soon he was hooked, too. He bought us our first skis (150 cm rental K2s) and taught us how to file, P-tex, and wax (which we do to snowboards now). When we were in junior high and high school, he'd take us to Big Bear and Wrightwood about 10 times a season, with a couple trips to Mammoth. Now we only go to Mammoth, and he, Wendy, and I have season passes.

After I bought my first snowboard with my first "real" post-college paycheck in 1990, my brother and sister switched from skiing to snowboarding pretty quickly. My dad saw how much fun we were having, and switched, too. Today he skied in the morning when the snow was hard and then snowboarded in the afternoon when conditions softened up.

This picture was taken on the top of Chair 25.


My sister Angelyn is in the foreground. She became a pretty good skier and now snowboarder because it's in her blood. Also, she was a ballerina when she was a kid, so that might help. Check out her first-generation Giant Robot hoody. You might have seen her in some of the taste tests from early issues.

In the background is Wendy. The last time I was single, I had certain criteria for the next person I dated. She had to be older than Angelyn and be a decent snowboarder. (Her designing GR was a bonus.) I like to think I had something to do with her being able to go down any level slope in any condition with good form these days.

This photo was taken going from the top of Chair 23 to Cornice.


Here's Frank, who hitched a ride with my parents, Angelyn, and her daughter Lucia. Frank is my mom's cousin, and he has a cabin in Mammoth so we come up with him pretty often. (He's another season-ticket holder.) He likes to haul ass, and has a posse of buddies who have been hot-dogging since back in the day.

This is the top of Chair 5, and I don't know who the lady in yellow is!

First snow

Just drove up to Mammoth for our first road trip with baby. We have season passes and haven't used them all year! Luckily, my mom could come up here to babysit while my dad, sister, Wendy, and I go snowboarding.

Eloise was pretty constipated and uncomfortable during the drive up, but that doesn't seem to be a problem any more. (Good thing the condo has washing machines.) We were told that if she starts vomiting that she has altitude sickness and that we should get her back down to sea level.

Explosions in the T-shirt drawer

Last week I got a package from a hick town in the state of Washington... A new T-shirt design from Jon Moritsugu that commemorates his underground hit, Modfuckexplosion! The movie about mods vs. Japanese bikers is a real freakout, the soundtrack is kick ass (with cuts from Unrest and Karyo Tengoku), and this shirt is super comfy, too.


Thanks, Jon. Pull yourself away from daytime TV and finish your next movie!

(If you're new to his work, I suggest starting with the Fame Whore and Scumrock DVDs, and then going from there.)

Issue drop

Our printer has informed us that advance copies of GR53 will be arriving at all GR shops (except Silver Lake) tomorrow! What's in it?

* Cover art and interview with streetwear and urban vinyl pioneer James Jarvis
* Hong Kong's king of comedy Stephen Chow
* Flower power from post-feminist pop-idol photographer/filmmaker Mika Ninagawa
* Fourth-generation noodle maker flies the flag
* Manila guerrilla filmmaker Manuel Brillante
* Undercover art maker Kaz Oshiro
* ALIVE + LMF = 24 Herbs
* Low-rollers in Thailand
* Eric does England
* Kamikaze pilots who lived
* Reviews, rants, comics, and more...

No line-ups, please. Our deliveries don't always arrive in the morning.

Control

My hair's been out of control lately (see pic in previous post). Luckily, my friend Thy was able to make a house call this afternoon.


Eloise has been out of control, too...

Two shows

This weekend I attended two GR-related shows... On Saturday night, Katie (above, next to Eloise) curated an art show at JUNC, which is located behind the GR Silver Lake shop.


Chris made it, but where was Dave Mag?


Eloise and I checked out Dave's latest art, but didn't see the man. Interestingly, a lot of the other contributors to the show had similar style with crazy lettering and pop-infused illustration. Someone even drew the old dudes from The Muppet Show!


We also saw Wendy's Art Center classmate and JUNC man, Mike. Hey, Mike, let Katie do another one!


This morning we went to the GR shops' own Michelle, who gave a horse show at the L.A. Equestrian Center. It was kind of like a recital, but she says she didn't do hers to music. We just missed her turn, but got a tour. Great job, Michelle!

Space Child

Today I got a package from Prodip with copies of his Project After Dark UFO documentary DVD. Eric will have to wait until I get to the office on Monday for his, but I'm watching mine right now.


It's full of interviews with UFO club members, musicians, and regular people honestly recounting their encounters--most in Cantonese and some in English. Many have made pilgrimages to Area 51 and the Black Mailbox, and there's some pretty compelling original footage of flying saucers over HK, too. The Australian sighting--recounted in a state of hypnosis--is perhaps the most haunting.


Prodip doesn't pretend to be a UFO expert, and this is clearly a personal project and vision. Not only do you see many of his friends and some of his design aesthetic, but a lot of the interviews take place in his old flat, allowing you to see his bookshelves, skate deck collection, and toys! It's not sensational, glossy, or exploitative in any way, just honest and cool.

This is a test

Effective immediately, all Giant Robot volunteer proofreaders will be required to copy edit the following text:

"Bake The Craft Newly, Special Formulation, Make All Such Delicacy Of Each Piece of Biscuits Of Ganglian, On The Companion One Cup Coffee, Is Also To Enjoy in Retrospect The Endless……"


Exceptions will be made only for those who bring snacks other than the one pictured above. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Shave ice and sliced fingers

If you can't wait for the DVD, watch The Machine Girl on Sunday, April 20 at 9:00 p.m. as part of the Hawaii International Film Festival's spring programming. Other choice movies include Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers! and Mongol (which stars Asano Tadanobu as Genghis Khan!).

Cardboard, manila, and die-cast

Our architect came over last night to show us the latest developments in our home renovation. After dinner and catching up, he asked his assistant Michelle to come over with the new, improved cardboard model. (The addition is in manila.)


I felt a little bad about having Michelle come over so late at night, but it turns out she's a GR reader. It was also nice to finally meet the person who's been lurking around our yard, taking photos and measurements.


Michelle was introduced to our architect when he was buying a bunch of cardboard at an art store. The person who was helping him said that he had to meet her because that's her expertise. Now she's making a cardboard neighborhood to surround the model of our home.


This model will be helpful to see the work in context and also to figure out landscaping. See that tree? Michelle is making those, too.


Only one thing was missing, but I forgive our guy because it's something that isn't covered in most architecture courses. Luckily, I had some die-casts on hand to complete the picture. UFO Dai Apolon to the rescue!


I can hardly wait for the future.

Thomas Campbell x Danny Hess

Fans of Thomas Campbell need to check out this surfboard made by the artist with San Francisco shaper Danny Hess. Like all of Hess's boards, it is made of sustainable and recyclable materials, and contains half the fiberglass that conventional boards have. Check out this board and other interesting and functional designs at the beautiful Hess Surfboards site.

If I were a much better surfer, I'd totally get this to match my Burton Malolo snowboard--also with T. Moe's graphics.

San Diego Comic Con 2008

So Eric and Michelle are getting ready to go to the New York Comic Con next week, and that made me nostalgic about San Diego. I've been going since I was a kid who collected Fantastic Four, Marvel Premiere, and The Invaders. The total uncoolness of especially the latter two titles should indicate what a dork I was. This is before John Byrne resuscitated mutants (sorry, Cockrum) or Frank Miller's redefining Daredevil made comics hip in any way.

I've been to the San Diego Comic Con at the El Cortez and the old convention center, back when half of the floor was occupied by shops selling back issues with a smattering of original art, some big little books, "good girl" art, bootleg VHS tapes, fanboy T-shirt vendors, Star Trek and sci-fi accessories vendors, swords & sandals hawkers... You'd see Jack Kirby and Will Eisner walking around the hotel pool. Anime was still called Japanimation, but it was way easier (and more affordable) to buy old die-cast and vinyl Japanese toys. Indie comics? That meant Elfquest, Nexus, Cerebus, Captain Victory, and Love & Rockets.

It's different now. Of course, now every Hollywood blockbuster has its sneak preview in San Diego, and the movie companies have huge pavilions showing trailers for anything related to action, fantasy, or horror. Teams of industry parasites roam the floor on "inspiration trips" or looking for something to license... E! Channel, Access Hollywood, and everyone else sets up camp. You know the newscasters were the popular kids at school, and now they're suddenly assigned to visit their classmates with the "L" on their foreheads. That sucks.

But Comic Con is still cool. I think I say it every year: Where else do Klingons, jedis, mutants, goths, toy dorks and anime otaku get along? I don't even mind the girls dressed like Harry Potter. To walk through the Gaslamp District and see teams of geeks playing Magic The Gathering while waiting to get into the Spaghetti Factory is an awesome sight.

I was checking out the Con's site to mark down the dates on my calendar--Giant Robot always has a booth there--and noticed that this year all memberships must be purchased online. None will be sold on site!

Will there be a bum rush of Stormtroopers? Probably not--those guys all get full memberships for the next near before they leave--but if you haven't already, save the dates and get tickets before they sell out.

PREVIEW NIGHT
WED, JULY 23
6PM - 9PM
Open only to pre-registered 4-day attendees and professionals

THU, JULY 24 -
SAT, JULY 26
9:30AM - 7PM
With additional late-night hours for programming, anime, games, film showings, etc.

SUN, JULY 27
9:30AM - 5PM

Baby vs. Baby Ruth

I've sworn that this wasn't going to become a baby blog, but there's no one else in the office at the moment and I've got to share this with someone--anyone.

Every other night, Wendy and I give Eloise a bath. Yes, there's a ton of dried-up spit to remove from her chin(s) and various other stuff to wash off, but it's also really calming for the baby. You can actually feel her go from tense to limp as she's placed on the hammock that's suspended in warm water. So the other night, we were laughing at her farting in the water, blowing bubbles. Ha ha, cute right? Yeah, until unchie started coming out--at first in slow motion like a floating tentacle of ectoplasm. We were stupefied and shocked, but luckily Wendy came to her senses and fished it out with a cup. The second one looked more like an overcooked Cheeto (regular, not puffed). Crazy!


I was telling a friend about this, and he didn't get my Caddyshack allusion. For those of you too young to understand, here's the clip for your edification.

p.s. If who visit and are wondering which cups we used... you'll never know. Not until it's too late.

Meet the Machine Girl

Remember the Minase Yashiro interview from GR52? Today I received a review copy of her cinematic debut, The Machine Girl. All I can say is, "Holy crap!" It delivers everything the trailer promises, and more...

Dehara returns!

If you're not amped up for Dehara returning to GR2 next week, maybe this video will do the trick. Is that Guitar Wolf??

REDCAT closing day

Attended the artists' talk at REDCAT with Geoff McFetridge and Ed Fella this afternoon. They two took turns showing slides and then did a Q&A together. Their cumulative experience really illustrates the commingling of art and design, as well as the emergence of graphic design as an art--and not just a trade.


Our friend Bret was there, not only to carry Kiki around but to say hi to his old Cal Arts instructor, Ed Fella.


Geoff complemented Eloise on making it through the talk, saying this his child couldn't have done it. Good thing he didn't quiz her on it!



That's our pal, Clara from REDCAT. She described a slew of interesting shows coming up, so stay tuned...

Three scores

This afternoon, I got a call from Nelson at gr/eats to pick some avocados. There's a tree right on top of the GR mag office, and it's exploding with fruit now. If you order a salad or tacos at the GR restaurant, this is where the avocado comes from. I probably even picked it.


Later on, we received a package from our friend at Puma. New kicks for Eloise!


"Fresh!"


Finally, Wendy's cousin Linda brought back some truffles from Jean Philippe Patisserie in Las Vegas. He's an award-winning pastry chef who's been featured in magazines for his chocolate centerpieces. Linda is a pastry instructor, so she doesn't mess around when it comes to desserts.


I've been eating a lot of half-off Easter candy lately, but now that stuff just makes me feel dirty.

Back to normalcy--whatever that is

Today I got home before it was dark. I almost forgot what it was like to arrive in time to have dinner with Wendy or bathe Eloise. For once, I held her while Wendy and her parents were eating.

These last few weeks, I've been pretty rough on the household. The nighttime feedings have been the same, but after the 9:00 a.m. (or so), I would watch the baby while Wendy showered, etc. Then I'd make her breakfast and stuff before leaving for the office. Otherwise, Wendy would have tough time showering or eating.

During the day, Wendy's mom would show up to watch the baby while she worked on the GR layout which I'd email to her or bring home on a flash drive. I hear it got pretty hectic during the afternoon, especially the ones where Eloise was fussy.

Wendy's dad would show up around dusk with dinner of everyone and they'd hang out until I got home. Over the last weeks that's been roughly from 8:00 to 10:00.

Whenever a deadline ends, I'm usually left with a void in my schedule and wondering what to do--concerts, art shows, Dodgers games, Mammoth trips. Catch up on sleep. Not so much this time--I have a lot of making up to do at home because I feel like a deadbeat dad.

If you want to drop by and say hi, this is a good time...

Bootleg this

In the spirit of Radiohead, Redd Blood Cells, Carbon/Silicon, and ALIVE, I'm giving away our new shit away for free--even before it's bound. See those green boxes with check marks? That means the pages are on the printer's server, approved, and ready to run.


On these three screens are all 88 pages, 4 cover sides, and spine. If they're too fuzzy, I'm sure one of you smut collectors has a mosaic-fixing lens that can be used to reveal the good stuff.

If I don't see bootlegs in Chinatown by this weekend, I'm going to be totally disappointed!