GR68 - The preview

GR68 - The preview

(Cue horns from The Alarm's “68 Guns”)

Giant Robot 68 is at the GR shops in LA and SF, and on the way to better newsstands, bookstores, indie boutiques, and mailboxes. Here's what's in it, and I hope you don't mind me talking about myself in third person.

* Eric's long interview with cover artist Luke Chueh. You know his painterly art with gory bunnies and bears, but do you know how to pronounce his name?
* Martin has a spirited conversation with Hausu's Nobu Obayashi. The man's answers are as wild as his legendary movie is.
* Eric talks to Joe Hahn about what it's like to balance business and creativity as part of Linkin Park, Inc.
* The art, photography, and design of K Punk/Kicking Giant Tae Won Yu. His personal layouts weave a story about how his aesthetics were formed by Japanese robot toys, U.K. punk, and the indie spirit of Olympia, WA.
* Actress and writer Ayako Fujitani chats with Iwai Shunji, genius filmmaker behind All About Lily Chou-Chou, Swallowtail Butterfly, and the upcoming Vampire.
* Hong Kong film icon Daniel Wu digs into his hard drive to share behind-the-scenes, personal photography shot in Thailand, Taiwan, Shanghai…
* Martin and photographer Ben Clark visit the Metal Mulisha compound to breath dirt with Taka Higashino, freestyle motocross upstart from Japan.
* Original Beijing punk Anna Sophie Loewenberg shares a day in the life making her online show, Sexy Beijing.
* Martin meets Sandra Vu, the only “real” Asian in Dum Dum Girls and force behind SISU.
* James Leung corners Shinji Aramaki, the mecha visionary behind Bubblegum Crisis, Mospeada, Appleseed: Ex Machina, and Halo Legends: The Package, at Anime Weekend in Atlanta.
* GR designer Wendy Lau shares her Perfect Day in Venice, Italy, with Stanley Kubrick, Peggy Guggenheim, and a Bollywood film crew.
* Plus: Massive post hardcore band Envy from Japan, Chinese video art pioneers Zhang Peili and Zhu Jia, Takashi Murakami in France, and a load of new movies, videogames, anime, music, and other goods previewed and reviewed so you don't get ripped off.