Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
I like stupid videos like the next person but this is amazing. Real life Mario!
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Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. It’s literally a few blocks from the stores in West LA. It’s right there, but I haven’t gone back at all. I went the as a kid for about 10 years+. I hated it at the time. Recently an old classmate wrote me an email after seeing the Calendar Live article about Sawtelle which mentions Giant Robot, GR2, and gr/eats. It reminded me about going to school there and the taunts, the bullying, the fuckfaces all around, but at the same time, there was the good. I learned to play basketball from the single hoop that sat on the pavement. I’d show up early just to shoot some hoops. We’d play three on three, and I think sometimes five on five on a half court. We’d play football with a tennis ball which was basically a hike and mayhem of running deep and trying to catch the ball. Occasionally a fast kid would run one back and ditch every out stretched hand. Sometimes, I swear I remember each side had maybe 10 kids, some really little and young, some older, and it was a battle. We’d even play until it was dark, and the cheap flood lights would come on. I don’t want to make you think this was a football field sized place, this is something like the size of a tennis court! All that said, this post is only a really short memorable look at a place where I spent years and years of my youth. It was neither great nor terrible, and I did learn some Japanese to get myself out of trouble. Yet I wonder what that place is like these days. One day I’ll spend a lot of time and write down the things I remember in more detail about the place and maybe someone will read it and laugh since they’re going through the same shit. Maybe another old classmate will turn up out of it.
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Ray Fongs got pulled! I’m sure a bunch of Asian groups will be happy. The only thing that could have helped is if we got to release the shoe. Oh well. Sayonara to the Fongs. Adidas pulls back sneaker with caricatureControversy – The company reconsiders and stops sales of the shoe Asian American groups found offensiveFriday, April 28, 2006HELEN JUNG Adidas Group has reversed itself and agreed to immediately halt sales of a limited-edition sneaker that features a caricature some Asian American groups found offensive. The Y1-Huf sneaker, designed by Barry McGee, a San Francisco graffiti artist, featured an Asian face with slanted eyes, buck teeth and a bowl haircut. The caricature is a design that McGee, who is half Asian, has used before and was meant as a representation of himself, he said in a statement released by Adidas. The stereotypical image angered some who saw its use, divorced from the artist’s context, as offensive. Adidas initially refused to stop sales of the $250 sneaker, defending the artist’s work. But after hearing complaints from several groups since the shoe went on sale April 1, the company changed its mind and said on Thursday that it will pull any remaining pairs, said Abby Guyer, a spokeswoman with Portland-based Adidas America, the North American headquarters for the German company. “We’re an inclusive brand and we felt like we needed to respond to that,” she said. “We continue to stand by Barry’s vision and by his creativity and by his partnership with Huf (a retailer) in San Francisco.” Most of the 1,000 sneakers that were for sale have probably been bought, she said. The company is assessing how many remain with the 12 retailers around the world selling the shoe. She said Adidas’ “apology is for the offense that was caused and for the unfortunate misinterpretation of our intentions but we can’t apologize for the artwork that was created by an artist.” Portland-area groups representing Korean Americans, Japanese Americans, and Chinese Americans were preparing to send a joint letter to complain about the sneaker. But the news that Adidas would no longer sell the shoe satisfied their concerns, said Stephen Ying, president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance in Portland. Angie Chuang of The Oregonian contributed to this report. Helen Jung: 503-294-7621; helenjung@news.oregonian.com; www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/playbooksandprofits
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We launched the new front page last night. I original drew this on piece of paper while eating dinner in San Francisco. The food at Medicine Eat Station was something completely different, it was a vegan Japanese restaurant and they say it’s what monks at 500 years ago. I have a hard time believing that, but it sounds great. What did monks eat 500 years ago? I’m sure it was minimal everything, nothing tasted powerful, I’m sure the vegetables were plain and the sauces if any were simple. I remember eating the nigiri sushi place that was all raw vegetables and I thought it was either from a recipe by Middle Earth elves or from herbivore space aliens. The miso soup special was $6 and excellent. It was a tasty white miso and I think there was mochi in there. The almond milk drink was thick as white paint. That was a meal on it’s own, and I couldn’t finish it. The decor of the place was modern contemporary and huge. I won’t go on, since this was already a couple of months ago, but for some reason, sitting near a window overlooking Sutter street, I was insprired to start drawing our website. I took a photo of it, and emailed it to our webstore man, “Mike Mike.” Next thing you know, it was on it’s way. Was it the food? More than likely, it was because I was alone, it was late, and I had just attended a magazine conference which taught me very little, since all I did was sit there and think what we should be doing at GR, rather than listen to the panelists talk about magazine publishing 101. Back to the camera shy, “Mike Mike,” you won’t see a pic of him anytime soon, but he did made it happen.
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Last night might have been a game for the ages. Giant Robot softball wins it’s 7th game in a row continuing from last season. Down 11-2, the team looked defeated. The Union Missions squad just scored 9 and were looking strong. The GR team looked like one of the past blunderous teams, making errors, bad judgements, and were basically off the mark. But a few hits in a row, and the action got going. Next thing you know GR was down 11-9 after a few rallies. A few more innings, and GR took the lead 16-11. The other team made it’s comeback and cut it to 16-14, but it ended there. An incredible victory. It’s a great way to start the season, and I know the past squads sans the end of last seasons wouldn’t have come back from something like this. Instead there would have been a second meltdown and more sad faces. Maybe one day when my finger feels better I’ll play again, but I sort of doubt it. It’s getting easier and easier to sit and watch.
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