Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Does anyone like Suburbia by Richard Linklater as much as me? 1996, I think the word to describe a generation of kids coming of age was Slacker which was ironically, Richard Linklater’s break out film title. Usually rating a 6 or a 7, a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that’s about it. It’s a two hour film, which I keep hoping is going to come out on DVD, but it hasn’t. I found a torrent and got to rewatch this again and again. I think the work is genius. Imagine a group of kids from Burnfield, USA where ever that is, who hang out in front of 7-11. They drink, hang out, and goof around. There’s the ex military dude who was the local high school’s star quarterback now a drunk, the goof ball played by Steve Zahn, the cerebral over analyzer Giovanni Ribisi, his girlfriend the upbeat but crappy “artist” who plans to go to art school and move to the big city, the local girl who seems to have nothing special going for her, but a drinking problem, and the young South Asian couple who own the 7-11. The night is young and they’re waiting for their once friend from Burnfield now rock star, Pony to come visit them. He shows up with Parker Posey and that’s when the drama begins. He rides up in a limo, checks out Ribisi’s girlfriend, pisses off Ribisi, since he’s the big star artist and he’s not, meanwhile, almost everyone makes fun of the convenience store owner because he’s South Asian. Then as the film goes, you realize the South Asian guy has a point as he often gets pissed off at his peers who have it all and have nothing, while he has to struggle. Meanwhile, the kids point is that they’re being spoon fed everything, but can’t make anything with it. As the film continues you find how you value each person, and you don’t quite know who’s right or wrong if there is such a thing here. Each makes their points. Why isn’t it on DVD?Frontal nudity by Giovanni Ribisi? Supposedly it’s Warner Brothers and they don’t license their films to Criterion. Linklater wants the film to be a Criterion edition. However in an interview in 2007, he mentions that it’s coming out in september (2007). But it never came out… So I downloaded the torrent that’s formatted for TV. Better than nothing.
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The new iPhone applications are actually, pretty fun. I haven't paid for one yet, but the freebies work decent.
a) First I'm going to guess that the new iPhone software helps battery conservation. I swear the power is lasting longer now. I used to leave the wifi on and boof, the phone is dead. But now it seems to give me some more juice.
b) You can't help but check out the app store button every so...
The new iPhone applications are actually, pretty fun. I haven’t paid for one yet, but the freebies work decent. a) First I’m going to guess that the new iPhone software helps battery conservation. I swear the power is lasting longer now. I used to leave the wifi on and boof, the phone is dead. But now it seems to give me some more juice. b) You can’t help but check out the app store button every so often. I used to surf for web apps on computer, but now I don’t have to. Hit that button and see what you get for free or on the cheap. c) The GPS works great. I’ve already pulled over (yes, we have hands free law in California) many times to see where I’m at and to find where I’m going. It’s bailed me out a few times now. I still do it caveman style, I’ll map myself, then I’ll just look around for the streets I’m trying to find, I’m sure typing it is easier, but I always think I’m faster doing it my way. d) The new software update actually prolonged me needing to get the new 3G version. The old one seems fine. Here’s the 12 Apps Store items. 1) AIM, enough said, that’s going to work, and it’s probably better than meebo. It loads faster too. You still can’t get multiple chats going in one open window, and it would be nice if it could stay up while you check email since sometimes that’s what chatting is about. You chat, send an email, chat, send another email, etc. Links too for that matter. We all need to get Rickrolled on the iPhone.2) Remote control your iTunes if you’re on a network. Great if you’re into music and your laptop is going to be your jukebox.3) Jott, what was this for? It’s some kind of recording software for sound. I tried it and there has to be a better one.4) Facebook. Yes, this works great. It loads what you and your friends are doing. It optimized just right. 5) NY Times. Want the news? This loads quick and looks better than the LA Times optimized version. Get on it, my people! 6) Twitterific. Twitter of course, works great and better. Slowly the iPhone, Twitter, and Facebook are going to bring more people together just by those hourly updates. Will Twitter survive, now that Facebook’s little updater is becoming used so much?7) Ebay. Follow them auctions and again, it loads quick and easy to use. It’s no frills.8) Where – Whrrl – etc. Which one is going to win and become the “social networking” Yelp for Iphone. Or is one of the regulars like Yelp going to step up and take it all away.9) Aol Radio. When in need, you got radio and lots of it on the iphone. The thing is where can I tune into Jim Rome?10) Google. Duh.11) Shazam – haven’t tried it yet, but you’re supposed to be able to...
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I met with Mr Revelli of Upper Playground at a studio in downtown. It's not anything ordinary, it's the studio of artist / tattoo artist Mr Cartoon and photographer Estevan Oriol. Conventional wisdom says that it's dangerous there, but no, Estevan is the nicest guy around, and didn't hesitate to show me a cross section of his work including some folks who are no longer with us. He even...
I met with Mr Revelli of Upper Playground at a studio in downtown. It’s not anything ordinary, it’s the studio of artist / tattoo artist Mr Cartoon and photographer Estevan Oriol. Conventional wisdom says that it’s dangerous there, but no, Estevan is the nicest guy around, and didn’t hesitate to show me a cross section of his work including some folks who are no longer with us. He even photographed the portrait for the poster. I’m sure he freaked out the two big stars, since Estevan isn’t an ordinary photographer. Part of what you get is his raw style and eye. The weird thing is that a part of his youth was spent very close to my house. His day lived 4 or 5 blocks up, while he lived in Santa Monica. He said, the kids of the old school gangs are back. See his site and his works. Here, he shows me what camera he likes to use. It’s a simple Canon. He was showing me other cameras too. His first one that he liked using was an old Polaroid. That’s a Mr Cartoon thing. Yeah he hates being photographed. The more you hate it, the better it is. This is what a CEO looks like. The cars… a bunch of them. The studio is like a car shop. Evidently, Mr Cartoon was in their shop tattooing Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns. The high profile may happen in their new shop on Skid Row. There’s an Upper Playground there too.
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