Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
My good friend and GR contributor Ben Clark came by GRHQ to have some lunch and set me up with some prints. He's been addicted to the darkroom lately, shooting on film and using fiber paper while he can. (Will it be discontinued?) One of the images was shot at the same P.K. 14 show that's seen in GR65. Similar angle and actions, but richer and deeper with more punk rock energy. Luckily, Yang jumped twice and Ben caught it both times.Ben actually wanted us to run the layouts in B&W, but we went with color… He also brought over a bonus print of Fugazi at the Palace in 1999 (below, left). I didn't know Ben yet, but it's another show I attended. I know because I never missed a Fugazi show in L.A.–except for that first one at the Anti-Club and maybe that one in the desert… Damn, Fugazi was a great live band, never to be missed, and Ben captured the energy well. Other pics in the stack included Unwound, RFTC, too many to count. Go to his site and check out some of his band pics. If you like one, ask him to print it. He's putting a lot of love into his printmaking, and you'll be stoked.
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Scott Pilgrim is going to be excellent and there's a chance that The Expendables will be fun, but this week's movie that might resonate the deepest and longest is Peepli Live. The directorial debut by screenwriter Anusha Rizvi has a powerfully simple premise that escalates out of control: slow-witted and debt-ridden Natha is convinced by his brother to take part in a government program which issues money to the families of farmers who commit suicide. While his decision spirals into a political hot potato and media circus, the unironic, honest storytelling never stoops to cinematic gimmickry or cartoonish parody. A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with producer Aamir Khan (an award-winning director and actor himself) about Peepli Live that will run in GR67. Here's an unedited excerpt that will hopefully serve as a teaser to the magazine and the movie… GR: How do you feel about branding Peepli LIve as an Aamir Khan production? Although you’re not in the movie, your name is pretty big on the poster. AK: The entire purpose of a poster is to try and get people to see the film, and so the design and the title are important elements in getting people attracted to your film. In this case, the name of my production house is the only name that would interest people outside of India. It’s the film company that made Lagaan, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Within India, of course, people have a better understanding of the work I’ve done, so we tried to emphasize that, too. I’m trying to support the film as much as I can, and I feel that in the case of Peepli Live, while we’re trying to reach out to the traditional audiences for Indian cinema, we’re also trying to reach out to audiences of all cinema and foreign language films. I believe this film has the potential to engage all audiences. GR: Did anyone try to tempt you to go on set for just a few seconds? You know, like how Alfred Hitchcock should show up… AK: No, I don’t think Anusha or I would’ve ever done that. It would be very distracting. GR: I’m sure you were probably on another set somewhere else while a lot of the filming was going on. AK: When this was being shot I was shooting for Three Idiots. GR: Is it hard to compartmentalize your life like that? AK: It is. I’m usually the kind of person who just sinks into one thing and it’s very difficult for me to multitask. When they were shooting Peepli, I was actually entirely into Three Idiots and left it all on Anusha to do Peepli Live. And it was only after Three Idiots released that I turned my entire attention to Peepli. GR: And then she said, “Oh no, he’s back!” AK: Ha ha. “Here he comes. We were happy without him.” GR: Well, she was working with her husband, so she had someone on her side at...
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Can I write this without seeming like a HK paparazzi? I hope so, because this is just like I'd write about any other wedding or trip… It just happened to include two of my better-known friends (Daniel Wu and Lisa Selesner) and take place in a world-class hotel/casino. Above, Dehara's renditions of the newlyweds in front of the resort, out of bubble wrap and about to be gifted. The event took place in a secluded part of Caesar's that just happened to have full-on sound system for a Las Vegas-style show. Above, Caesar's showman Matt Goss does his thing for new groom. This photo does a good job of conveying the room's decor and feeling, including the massive photo installations. As you might imagine, the montages that showed on the video screens were very cool–equal parts clips and campaigns, awkward pictures of the couple as children, and amazing imagery from their wedding ceremony in South Africa. The photo doesn't show the showgirl dancers, who taught the kids a new dance move or two… After the band played, there was some impromptu Hava Nagila action, which went with the undercurrent of mixed Chinese/Jewish traditions. For example, an early dish mixed hand-pulled noodles with matzoh ball soup. Later on, there was noodles kugel (explained to us by table sharer Automator) and then there was Peking Duck. Everything was excellent… But back to the traditions, Hava Nagila served as a counterpoint to the Chinese wedding games, one of which entailed a line of women kisssing the blind-folded groom, who had to figure out which one was his wife. Dan failed. Later on, Lisa had to figure out her husband's butt by Braille. I was one of the lucky guys to get felt up by her. So was Andrew Lin (center of line). Of course, Lisa prevailed. As always Dan was a good sport about it, only disappointed that he couldn't squeeze out a fart when it was his turn. The cake was an amazing reproduction of Lisa's poo-poo hut, which served as the headquarters for their recent marriage. The cake was gigantic. Not sure if it was to scale with the Dehara figures or if they are going to put it in their refrigerator to break out during their first anniversary. Of course, Lisa looked great and was as funny as ever. It was cool to see her in one of her hometowns with her family, since I've been with Dan in the Bay Area a bunch and met many of his relatives as well. In fact, the entire event was put together by Lisa's mom and her dad's crew. Did I mention the crazy ice sculpture? The Hong Kong skyline served as the facade of a bar as well as a functional vessel for vodka or other drinks meant to be served extra cold… Another cool piece of the wedding was a cardboard cutout of the couple in their wedding gear. Since the celebration in South Africa had a very limited guest...
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This weekend, the San Francisco-based Zum record label, website, and zine is celebrating its 12th anniversary with shows in the Bay Area and SoCal. We've been friends with co-founders and siblings George and Yvonne Chen since the first issue and maybe even before, since my cousin was a classmate of theirs at Cal. The publication's early issues had interviews with the likes of Fugazi, J Church, and Devo, but later ones went on to document the early twee scene (Boyracer, Aislers Set) before taking a left turn and releasing more experimental and noisy music (including George's own bands, such as KIT). I hit up George with a few questions and he typed back with lightning speed. GR: You made the transition to online a while ago. Was that a tough choice, philosophically? GC: Transitioning to online made sense at the time we did it, since we had many other projects and wanted to maintain a quality level of our magazine. What I probably should have done, and this was brought up as early as 2000, was turned Zum the website into a blog. The frequency of updates that people do now would not have been sustainable with two people working on a volunteer basis, and I didn't really catch on to the importance of daily updates. I channeled a lot of my writing energy into doing freelance music writing for a while, so now if I post something for free it's just to do it. But I still love print magazines and zines. I might want to try doing a one-off
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This weekend I went to Gourmet Vegetarian, a new-ish eatery in San Gabriel Square. It's at the old Go-Go Caf
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