Crazy little thing called astrophysics

I almost had a sheer heart attack when I was listening to NPR this morning. Queen member Brian May was at the Griffith Park Observatory this week for the dedication of a seat in his honor. It turns out the glam guitar god is an astrophysicist who just wrote a book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe. He is the champion!

Wharf speed

One of the best things about having feet somewhere between size 8.5 and 9 is that I can wear sample shoes. Sometimes, I get hooked up by friends in the business, like I did with these Fall 2008 Wharf shoes from IPATH. The company emphasizes sustainable materials, and I even have a couple pairs made of hemp.


Not this one, though. As in previous editions of the model, there are a ton of nice features like exposed stitching, inside-out seams, and tabs. But instead of looking tech, I think the look is classic. The snaps in the back remind me of old, nice luggage that you might find at an estate sale.


Of course, all that stuff means nothing if you can't skate in it. The soles are vulcanized. There isn't a ton of cushion and padding, but this probably isn't the shoe for gnar-gnar sessioning. It's more like the shoe that will allow you to skate to an event or allow you to mix some riding into a schedule where you want to dress up a little.



The image below is not my tribute to Georgia O'Keeffe but a close-up of the little stash pockets hidden under the tongue. All IPATH shoes and pants have this feature, which might be useful for those who partake in irie-promoting, concert-enhancing, hunger inducers.


Me? I've got the straight edge, but I definitely appreciate reggae. I matched the shoes with a T-shirt from Pressure Sounds--my favorite source of rare roots, rocksteady, and dub.


Fans might also check out this book from Roger Steffens, an old friend of GR and curator of the Bob Marley Museum. He's signing the book with co-author Peter Simons at Babylon Falling in S.F. on Sunday, May 10. Check out some amazing pics here.

Street seen

Some weird stuff I saw on the road today... A truck that couldn't make it under a bridge. This was in Century City, going west on Olympic. If I were the driver, I'd watch movies at the nearby theaters and surf the web at the Apple Store until traffic dies around 10:00 p.m. and then back up onto Avenue of the Stars.


On Wilshire in Beverly Hills. Not only are utility boxes off limits to sticker taggers and wheat pasters in this part of L.A., they're are also vacuumed! This is a two-person job; the guy probably has a feather duster or can of Pledge.

Came, Sawtelle, Conquered

I try to keep my trips to Sawtelle brief because I always end up folding T-shirts or buying things at the GR shops. But today I hung out for a while because Terence Yin was in town and wanted to check out the scene. He acts, sings, emcees, models, and does other stuff in Hong Kong, but these days he's concentrating on the Alivenotdead site. We talked about that, hung out, and also had lunch at gr/eats.


After lunch, I had to rush over to GR2 to be interviewed by the Reelz Channel website. With the Speed Racer flick coming out this weekend as well as star-filled Hollywood adaptations of Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Robotech, and Dragonball in the works, they wanted to put together a segment on manga and anime in the movies. I probably talked for 5 or 10 minutes and they started packing up. Fast! The crew gave me a thumbs-up, but you can be the judge. I'll put up a link when it goes live.


Afterwards I met up with Terence again. He's known for being a bad guy in the movies, but he's actually a softie who's into indie comics. He bought a bunch of stuff I recommended, including books by Gilbert Hernandez, Adrian Tomine, and Jeffrey Brown, as well as some T-shirts. Along the way, he might have picked up some digits, too. Effortless. The guy can't help it.


With my dad's birthday and Mother's Day coming up, I did some shopping, too. Need ideas for the latter? How about this or this? (I also bought some genmai cha from Safe & Save to go with the latter.)

Super food

I know how to make a decent dish or two, but I have to admit that often I'll just make a smoothie when I need a bite. It works for breakfast, after a run, or even dessert, and it's fairly healthy. It's also really easy to prepare.


I usually start off with frozen fruit. Trader Joe's is a great source, and Ralph's usually has a bunch on sale, too. Avoid the "mixed fruit" varieties because it usually costs more.


Sometime, I'll throw in some fresh fruit. I've been into oranges lately, but bananas work pretty well, too. Vanilla yogurt or soy milk works as well. If you want to be like Rocky, I guess you can put an egg in there. (Or was it Heaven Can Wait?)


Next, the juice. Usually, I have orange juice, but there were a bunch of other juices on sale last time I went to the market. I always make sure it's 100 percent juice, and not some phony fruit punch thing. This one is white grape-raspberry.


And this is where today's batch got interesting. Eloise didn't finish her bottle of mother's milk that I fed her this morning. I know how much effort Wendy puts into pumping it, and felt bad about dumping the remainder. So I poured it into the smoothie!


This is what it looked like before blending. (Thanks for the Magic Bullet, Dad!) You already saw what it looked like after. That was the first image, and you couldn't even tell there was a secret ingredient, could you? The taste? For such a small amount, it was really powerful--actually overpowering all that fruit. I can't even describe the flavor, but I could feel it waft through my nose after each sip. It's kind of flowery and kind of pungent, and not for everyone.

I doubt I'll put mother's milk in a smoothie again. Dan said that a friend of his used it as creamer in coffee, but I think it might be better suited for mixing into an omelet. Mabye brownies?

I wanna rock

Eric posted the Asia Society's "Why Asians rock" link the other day. It's funny because everyone else (from Sandra Oh to Steve Aoki to the dude from Survivor to Kumar) talks about politics, potential, and heritage, and I say something about being cheap. Oh well. Not sure how much I helped the cause--or GR, perhaps--but I was being honest.

After the montage, there are clips putting the spotlight on individuals, and people are encouraged to send their own videos. Here's what Eric said... Check him out wearing a suit in front of the American flag! Powerful stuff. He's standing in front of the famous wall of suitcases at JANM after a meeting.

5 for the price of 3

Stopped by Amoeba Music on Sunset this morning to use up some credit... Walked away with three new CDs... First of all, the domestic version of the new Boris album, Smile. I already bought the Japanese one, but this one has a different song order and completely different mixes. This self-produced version feels heavier and less pretty, but I'm only a couple tracks in. In the booklet, you'll find art by the band's biggest (but smallest) fan, Nene. I got one of the limited-edition of 3,000 that came with a bonus DVD featuring "three visually stunning Boris videos." This is only available from the Southern Lord label or Amoeba. If you buy it from Amoeba in Berkeley, you can get a wristband that will get you into a free after-hours show!


I finally get to hear The Night Marchers. I only need to say one word to sum it up: Speedo. Okay, maybe two more: John Reis. If you liked Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt, and Hot Snakes, you're already buying the songs on iTunes. (Honestly, the packaging on the band's debut is rather minimal.)


Finally, there's the latest collection of Greatest Hits from Morrissey. I probably wouldn't have bought this if it weren't the deluxe version with a bonus disc including solo (non-Smiths) songs from last summer's performance at the Hollywood Bowl. I was there, and it was great! If you are a vinyl purist or hardcore fan with money to burn, there's also a double vinyl version out there somewhere.


Despite the fact that the Dodgers played a morning game and the Lakers don't play until Sunday, my listening is now set for tonight's drive home. Bring on the traffic.

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.