Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
It’s a fine saturday evening. Here’s the blunder of the week. This one uses LA City tax payer money to fund. It’s Yellow Face again. Somehow people think it’s ok to do Yellow Face and those same folks know it’s not ok to do Black Face. Dr. Greg Kimura from JANM and Guy Aoki from MANAA comment in the video. Sadly, they and many of you all paid for this.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Author Signing – Matthew Specktor American Dream Machine Sunday May 19 2-3pm GR2 – 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 www.gr2.net 310 445 9276 Matthew Specktor is the author of the novels American Dream Machine, which is currently being developed into a series for Showtime, and That Summertime Sound, as well as a nonfiction book of film criticism. His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The Believer, Tin House, Salon, and numerous other anthologies and publications. He is a founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. For any information: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 445-9276
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Judging actually matters. The results went to the top part of the Hollywood Reporter article which carries some weight. Great work winners at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. Glad to have been part of the Narrative Jury. (Hollywood Reporter – Judged) Director Lee Isaac Chung took top honors at the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which handed out its awards at the closing ceremonies on Thursday night, May 9. Chung’s Abigail Harm, starring Tetsuo Kuramochi and Amanda Plummer, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature, and Chung also received the Outstanding Director Award. Additional narrative film awards given out included: Outstanding Screenplay, which went to writer Jeff Mizushimafor the script for Sake Bomb, and Outstanding First Feature Award, which went to Keo Wolford for The Haumana, his feature directorial debut. Acting awards were given for Breakout Performance by an Actress, Vera Miao in Best Friends Forever, and Breakout Performance by an Actor, Jason Tobin in Chink.
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giant robot time: 5.10.13 | print by: kozyndan GAME NIGHT 14 FEATURING: RETRON 5 AND SUPABOY BY HYPERKIN MAY 18, 6:30-10PM Scheduled are two Retron 5 consoles which as of this date has not been released along with 10 Supaboy handheld consoles. We’ll also be giving away 2 Supaboys and customized buttons. We’ll also be an official LA Streetpass event so bring your DS! Since its inception Hyperkin® has rapidly established a reputation for developing innovative, reliable and cost-friendly video game peripherals. Hyperkin® designs, manufactures and distributes a wide variety of accessories for every major platform including; Nintendo® Wii™, Sony® PlayStation® 3, Microsoft® Xbox® 360, Nintendo® DSi®XL, Sony® PSP™ as well as an extensive catalog of peripherals for classic platforms like NES, SNES, GameBoy™, SEGA® Genesis™, Saturn™ and Dreamcast™. MORE INFO | FACEBOOK EVENT WAITING — SOLO EXHIBITION BY EISHI TAKAOKA MAY 25 – JUNE 12, 2013 OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MAY 25, 6:30-10PM We’re not changing a thing. “Although the sculptures of Eishi Takaoka all portray the same serene expression, their outwardly calm façade belies a world of bottled-up emotions. With nowhere to go, these intense feelings manifest themselves in outlandish formations that sprout out of the top of each figure’s head. The uniquely sculpted heads of Takaoka are rooted in a personal fantasy world that is fueled by the emotional ups and downs of daily life in lower-middle class Japan. He instills his frustration with life in Kagoshima and feelings of isolation into each of the pieces, which are comprised of carved wood painted with raw mineral pigments placed atop empty glass medicine bottles.” Takaoka’s pieces have been seen in group shows including the Giant Robot Biennale I and III, and on the cover of novelist Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. For this exhibition, Takaoka will create new sculptures at Giant Robot 2 in Los Angeles. He is currently attending school in his hometown of Kagoshima, Japan and will not be in Los Angeles for the opening. MORE INFO | FACEBOOK EVENT AREAWARE MICRO CUBEBOT Wooden Cubebots! From a cube to a bot. KOZYNDAN A VISIT BY THE VISIONARIES TO VICTORIA PRINT Close-up view of the larger panoramic print. SOUTHER SALAZAR WE DON’T KNOW WHERE THIS RIVER GOES POSTCARD Let your loved ones know they are special with this new postcard by Souther Salazar. SOUTHER SALAZAR INTO A WORLD THAT NOBODY KNOWS TOTE BAG Cute new tote from artist Souther Salazar. LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL MAY 2 – MAY 12, 2013 Visual Communications (VC), the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, presents the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) on May 2- 12, 2013 at the Director’s Guild of America (DGA), CGV Cinemas located in Koreatown, the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at NCPD in Little Tokyo, and the historic Art Theatre of Long Beach. REVIEWS: THE SOUND OF CRICKETS AT NIGHT AT LAAPFF, THE THREE O’CLOCK, KING TUFF, JT HABERSAAT & THE ALTERCATION PUNK COMEDY TOUR...
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Another year, another Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. I’ve attended such fests in the past as a member of the press, as a presenter, as a judge, and as a contributor. This was my first time it was a committee member who helped select the movies that were shown, write synopses for the program, and then introduce movies and conduct post-screening interviews. Honestly, it was a little more work than I expected but how could I say no when I was recruited by my friend/Visual Communications Creative Director Anderson Le? And the festival duties have turned out to be a lot of fun. Last night I was assigned to The Sound of Crickets at Night. I chose to write the program’s essay about the movie because I Ioved its honesty, rawness, and creativity when I saw the screener. So it was a real treat to introduce the Marshall Islands indie flick, see it on a big screen, and then have a brief chat with co-producer/co-director/writer/gofer Jack Niedenthal. Jack is a really personable and outgoing guy with a fascinating story (visiting with the Peace Corps, staying and entering local politics, becoming a self-taught filmmaker to represent the culture after his young son asked him why there were no movies about the Marshallese) so, really, I just had to hand him the mic and get out of the way. Almost too easy, but more of him and less of me is what the audience came for. Tonight is the fest’s closing screening of the Japanese dark comedy Key of Life, which will be followed by encore presentations of some of the its most popular movies (none of my pics, oh well) over the weekend. Support indie film! Support film festivals! Who knows when you’ll get to see these films at the movies, meet the filmmakers again, or surround yourself with like-minded cultural connoisseurs and patrons of the arts again? AUDIO REVIEWS The Three O’Clock – Live at the Old Waldorf Sadly, I missed the Paisley Underground band’s reunion shows at Coachella, The Glass House, and The Troubadour. But I couldn’t pass up this limited-edition live album, which captures The Three O’Clock at their arguable peak in 1983 with all of the swirling, ripping songs off their perfect Baroque Hoedown EP (one of the first records I ever bought back in junior high) as well as selections from their more psychedelic Salvation Army era (Befour Three O’Clock) and previews of their yet-to-be-released pop opus, Sixteen Tambourines (alas no “Jet Fighter”). The fact that the wafer-thin audio sounds like a bootleg taped off a Walkman will alienate lesser fans and the merely curious–who should pre-order the 20-track anthology with outtakes and demos from Omnivore Records instead–but this is a real artifact and a must-have for fans and survivors of the mod revival like me. [Burger Records] King Tuff – King Tuff Was Dead While I don’t have one friend who isn’t addicted to King Tuff’s self-titled perfect garage pop album on Sub Pop,...
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