Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
(Copyright, Harry Fellows 2012) Louis Ozawa Changchien is a man of many faces so it’s a good thing he’s a damn good actor and not a thief. You may know him for having the most memorable scene in Predators (2010) in which his yakuza character Hanzo fights through a kendo match with a Falconer Predator. Changchien, who is of Taiwanese and Japanese descent, will be seen next in The Bourne Legacy (Aug. 10), although action movies aren’t his only forte. New Yorkers have an opportunity see him on stage in Kenneth Lin’s “Warrior Class,” playing Asian American Assemblyman Julius Lee making a run at Congress. “There is nothing more terrifying,” Changchien says of his role in the play, which opens today. By the way, his name “Louis” is pronounced the French way. Giant Robot: Please explain how you can have major roles in action-oriented films such as Predators and The Bourne Legacy and yet still play a lead in a staged political drama such as ‘Warrior Class.” What’s more dangerous: going one-on-one with a Falconer Predator or running for public office? Louis Ozawa Changchien: Running for public office for sure. At least I knew who my enemy was in Predators! I’ll take my chances with a sword over just using my mouth any day. It’s a rare opportunity for an Asian American actor to play a politician in a contemporary play. No special effects, no explosions, no guns to hide behind. Just three actors on a stage speaking the unspeakable to each other. There is nothing more terrifying. I’m hoping that the audience will enter Julius’ journey into the backroom battle that is politics. In Hollywood, I’m asked to look tough and shut my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, these action movies can be physically demanding: tumbling down volcanic rock that is razor sharp in nothing but flesh-colored Vibram Five Fingers and a cashmere silk three-piece suit in the middle of a sweltering hot rainforest is pretty intense. Or fighting the Falconer Predator in 30-degree weather shirtless while being sprayed down with water for 12 hours in the dead of winter in Austin was pretty demanding, too. And let’s not forget the stomach bug that hammered me while shooting Bourne in Manila. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I was throwing up every 15 minutes on one of my most intense days of stunts. I had a bucket next to me that I would hurl into right before the cameras would start rolling. GR: You’re a graduate of Stuy, an extremely difficult high school to test into. Did your parents hit the roof when you told them you wanted to act? What advice would you give to young people who need to break the news to their parents that they don’t want to be doctors? Changchien: Actually, I was lucky. My folks have always been very supportive of my artistic endeavors. But then again, I think they knew that there was no stopping me. For young folks, especially...
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Twilight Fan dies at Comic Con. It’s not some kind of sacrifice, but an accident. A 53 year old woman falls, and gets hit by a car, passed away on Tuesday. She ran to get into the Twilight line. It’s a sad way to start Comic-Con. Hopefully, people will remember her. (Huffpo – Twilight)
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Japanese Americans and the US Constitution, a project to educate at the Smithsonian. (Smithsonian – JA Constitution)
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In just a few days, you’ll be reading comments about how the San Diego Comic-Con is too crowded, blown up, and sold out. How there are too many poseurs and how real fans can’t get in. That it wasn’t always like this. No, it wasn’t. When my brother, our friends, and I went for the first time in 1979 there were no star-studded movie previews, exclusive items for sale, or coverage by mainstream press. The vast majority of the floor at the El Cortez and even the old San Diego Convention Center was filled with folding tables covered with back issues and original art. Toys meant old Mego and Disney items, anime was fan-subbed “Japanimation,” and indie comics meant underground comix. As for swords & sandals and sci-fi fandom, they’ve always been around… It’s true that most of the movie stars that make their appearances have never read a comic in their lives and a lot of the exclusive merch will just get flipped on eBay (not by Giant Robot customers, of course, who are the raddest). And it does kind of suck for the hardcore nerds who get squeezed out because of the trendiness and money to be made. Since my brother and I stopped being on the GR booth crew, we have only been able to get in through luck/the kindness of good friends who were able to purchase passes for us. But if the Comic-Con never blew up it might be gone by now. As the cover prices of comics have risen and distro has gone more boutique–and kids’ allegiances have shifted to video games–the average age of readers has gone up and the number of readers has gone down. As mainstream comic titles were once published simply to sell Underoos, support Saturday morning cartoons, and hawk toys, they now pretty much exist to support movies and video games. These days, comics can use all the help and hype they can get. Likewise, Hollywood can use all the ideas it can get. That doesn’t mean that every single genre flick or campy TV show should be presented at Comic-Con. (Ahem, Glee?) But teen vampire movies, TV shows about spies and superheroes, and zombie shows on cable–why not? Seriously, I went for just one day last year and enjoyed the same sorts of panels and appearances that I enjoyed before Comic-Con ever sold out or “sold out”: Pee-Wee Herman, Los Bros Hernandez, Brian Ralph and friends from all over the place doing rad things… Everything is still there if you are willing to worm your way past the giveaway lines. And even if it’s not the best convention (let alone era) for collectors of comics, no one can argue that this isn’t the golden age of cosplay. Yikes! See you on Wednesday.
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What was once a normal Korean American girl named Jennifer Lee was transformed by a primordial soup of an upper-middle-class Torrance, Calif. upbringing, classical piano, R&B, hip-hop and Japanese anime into TokiMonsta, a wildly eclectic contemporary composer with a growing global following. Tapped by Ryuichi Sakamoto a couple of weeks ago to collaborate on his “Odakias” anti-nuclear project earlier this month along with Japanese avant-garde musician Otomo Yoshihide and rapper Shing02, Tokimonsta is blowin’ up! [youtube]zCnmmrYIXrw[/youtube] Yeah, “eclectic:” a truly overused term. But TokiMonsta owns it. Her sound has been described as “vast textural soundscapes by utilizing live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation, and dusty vinyl. ” Okay [youtube]-i5jP5DwrRw[/youtube] “I just like everything. I get bored easily, so having options, like, I can’t make this beat. You know what? On my Google Readers– on the bookmarks– I have pop culture blogs, I have fashion blogs, I have art blogs, I have advertising blogs because I think advertising is also really captivating– the mentality–’Wow! How did they think of that? That’s really clever.’” Get a taste of TokiMonsta’s Sa Mo Jung (2011) To this point in the arc of TokiMonsta, Christine Kakaire’s “monsta” 2,000-word essay-interview with Jennifer Lee is perhaps the mos in-depth verbiage on Tokimonsta evar inked. Or, maybe, the best inside look into Tokimonsta was the Dumbfounded-DJ Zo TokiMonsta podcast of September 2011 on knocksteady.com. Too bad: only a few telltale traces of it remain. [youtube]sn4kVtuEmMU[/youtube]
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