Eric’s BLOG

iPhone images Water Works Benefit at Giant Robot 2

I'll give these photos more justice later! These are iPhone images I wanted to get out. This show is fantastic. Well hung, yes, thanks to the staff for this. Thanks to the artists. And there'll be more images up later. The raffle is amazing. Here's the link.

Surrogate Valentine Movie Review David Boyle Goh Nakamura Lynn Chen Chad Stoops

When I heard that Goh Nakamura was making a movie with David Boyle, I thought, “cool!” When I heard he was starring in it, I cringed.

The Tsunami and You (or Me)

People my age have only heard about the disasters that struck our parents. War time atrocities like mass killings happened almost everywhere or maybe it was the two Atomic bombs but we could only read

THE POWER OF PLAY: ART, SOCIAL ISSUES AND EDUCATION IN GAMES Game Panel - Game Evening

The panel I was involved in at the SFIAAFF was about video games. It's great to have an opportunity to talk about art and video games since it's something that's new and cutting edge. The games we've made in the past range from Return of the Quack which is more traditional to games that feel like a true hybrid of games and art. My part was to show Game Night, Game Over, and the Scion Famicom Car. The other panelists were truly impressive and their lives are soaked in making games. I was actually the loner who doesn't make games.

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Sat-Sun

That's Tim Hugh. GR contributor and friend. He can make great faces. This one had to be the best that I caught. He runs FAAIM, the Chicago version, and he does it nearly alone. I went there last year, and I wish I can go again. He's a great guy. But below is another good guy. That's Kevin Lim from Toronto and Hawaii. He's the dude I wrote about in Hawaii when I visited later last year. He has the pimp bicycle and is a very sociable person. Happiness follows him. It's great to be at the festival. I'm actually here for a panel discussion which I'll write about shortly. This festival is going through some changes, like all things thanks to the increase of social media, streaming TV and movies, and new media.

James Jean Rebus at Martha Otero Gallery - Preview night

James Jean Rebus. The Martha Otero Gallery isn't the largest space, so having just some of his invited guests come through makes it packed. It's not the size of the space, but how you use it and this was well done. I took some photos but in the end, it was hard to see the art. Gladly I came through earlier and posted photos of the hanging of the exhibition. The funniest thing is that the entire show was redone since I visited. A few things were in the same place, but overall, it looked different. I'm proud of James Jean and his accomplishment in doing this show. It's in him and it's great to see this happen. It'll only go up more from here. Amazing art by a great artist. I can't wait to see more.

Goodsmile(s). Aki flew in for a day only to have the Earthquake happen while he was gone. At this moment, we didn't know what would happen in just a couple of hours. It makes an art show seem insignificant, but this is what we did earlier in the day.

A figure on the horizon?! I think so.

13 Assassins Takashi Miike

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Esther Pearl Watson Art

That's Esther Pearl Watson! She's been attending Cal Arts in Valencia although she's plenty established as an artist. This is a show of her recent works that was up for just a few days on campus. You can tell that her work is coming in some new directions and I'll venture to guess school allows for this. I'd like to hear the criticism sessions she has to go through about her work. I'm sure some get it, and some don't, but that's is how you get better and grow. While some of us think we're doing it all just perfect, some of the others keep wanting to learn.

James Jean - Rebus - preview - Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles

This is James Jean's work for his upcoming exhibition at Martha Otero Gallery on Fairfax in Los Angeles. While hanging commences and just about finishes, his exhibition will run from March 12 – April 30, 2011. It's quite a long run and the works will surely impress you in person. The pages that look like drawings are actually prints from his sketchbook. Sketchbook drawings? Yes, mere sketches. Some of the grand painted works are actually borrowed from their respective owners and some are ready for the sale. I've seen some of these in progress but never saw the exact final. It's three rooms of space there's plenty of art. The wallpaper done by Trapeze Editions look great too. I thought James painted it by hand. One thing that's great about the development of James Jean which I'm sure a lot of you probably won't know, is that he's gone away from an illustrative style to more abstract works, but now, it's slowly coming back to being a mix of both. The layer upon layer of work make his works deeper in meaning and feeling. He's pushing the edges.

Linkin Park photos analyzed

These are more Linkin Park photos, but this time I had the advantage. Even though my gear isn't what it used to be when I shot concert photos with a still camera, especially when you really need to have a lens that opens up with a wide aperture of at least a 2.8, which I don't have, I did alright. I lose out on the action shots which become less sharp with the slowed down shutter speed, but I did make up with access. In a normal large concert, I guess the limit is three songs in the front area which is in front of the crowd and in front of the security staff as well. One thing I didn't know is when a person crowd surfs, the security guards who recognize it, raise their arm like in a “Heil” type of position. Perhaps it's the alert the guard next to him that someone is on their way and could end up in their zone.

Linkin Park Staples Center

I'll admit the largest concert I've ever attended was my first. Rush played to a sold out arena at the Fabulous Forum in the 80s. I went along without a parent supervisor in a scene that resembled the kid from Almost Famous except I went with three other geeks and met no girls. Since then, it's been a series of smaller shows from a living room to the Hollywood Bowl and even a “smaller” festival or two.

Music Review - Terence Bernardo Modern Life Ep

Terence Bernardo -

The Piano painted by Jeff McMillan

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Uglydoll Ceramic Signing at Giant Robot David Horvath and Sun-min Kim

Uglydoll Ceramics! They are here. I've made the comment so many times. Who buys cookie jars? Grandmas? I grew up with one sort of, but do you really put cookies in them? Maybe in a ziplock bag. Right? How did people stuff cookies in them? There was a time when households had these proudly displayed and always filled. In 2011, I can only ask questions about a concept as simple as a cookie jar. There's a generation of people younger than me who aren't familiar, but now they are. The same goes with banks. We might have had one, but did we really? I use a fish bowl for my change, but maybe I'll shift it to one of these. I'd think it's a risk to make these items in particular, but on sunday, we hosted a signing and people looked happy with the new wares. Can you buy more than one cookie jar? Sure, why not! Banks, for sure. One for each special fund. How about a bank for that trip to Japan, one bank for the special piece of art you want, or anything you can think of! It all works, and it's great that it's all housewares. Guess what? We'll get more cookie jars, and more housewares! Yes, really. Another great thanks to Uglydoll and their fans for their support and love. Here's some more pics too.

Cherry Blossoms here again

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Graphic Novel reviews: Level Up - Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham and Children of the Sea

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Coffee Bean Counting

Coffee Bean checking! Who knew that Coffee Beans aren't ok when you get them. They come green before they're roasted, but to make it all tasty, they need to be checked out one bean at a time! See the beans in the picture? Here's some examples of common flaws. In a sack of beans that might be 50 lbs on the minimum, the quality of each bean is key, and who's going to be check that as diligent as you may? It's on the roaster to do it. Here's Ray from Balconi shows me a quick demo of things that can go wrong. In a minute he picked out a bunch that were flawed from a tiny sample on that plate. You might think, who cares if a few beans are messed up? But Ray states, “one bad bean can ruin a whole pot.”

The Bearclaw Daikon - Yasutomi Farms

The Mutant Lemon brought on a competitor, The Bear Claw Daikon. My friend Jake Yasutomi of Yasutomi Farms (featured in GR) dug this one out. It's impressive and surprisingly symmetrical as well.

The Mutant Lemon

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Empire State - Graphic novel by Jason Shiga and Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (ps3) 2 reviews

Empire State A Love Story (or not)

When does a graphic novel beat out a video game that's as anticipated at Marvel vs Capcom 3? Maybe this time? Empire State is an impressive hard cover mini epic that's unlike many of the Shiga books in the past. Not filled with brain teasing math, or Choose Your Own Adventure page turning fun, this is a straight story about a guy named Jimmy who works at a library and has a Jewish female friend, Sara. There are some rewind flash back scenes that explain what's going on, but overall, this is a conventional work, that does have a love story element. Will there be that sappy ending, will it be open ended? Drawn cleanly with great color work, by our friend John Pham, this is a fun story that captures a bit of the Shiga mind (what do some of those vocab words mean, anyway?) and a lot of his heart.