Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Video of the three armed baby. I now think the outer arm is better.
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This is a question from a journalist and my response. It stems from the Ray Fong thing, but goes beyond it. It made me recall a t-shirt company in the later 70s and early 80s. I don’t know much about them, who they were, where they went, etc, but I remember the designs. It’s pretty nostalgic for me. I have no pics of it, I wish I did, but read on. How can images featuring Asians with slanted eyes, buck teeth, etc. – that some would say historically portray Asians in a negative light – be “pro-Asian?” Here’s one way I can explain it. When I was in sixth and maybe seventh grade in West Los Angeles, I remember a t-shirt company who made pro Japanese American t-shirts. The company’s logo was a rising sun, not like the Japanese war flag, but more of a sun with rays coming out 360 degrees, and in the middle was a smiling buck toothed Asian character. One of their designs was “Kamikaze Taxi Need a Cab?” printed in chopstick font, with an image of a bucktoothed Japanese guy wearing a Japanese war flag, driving a hot rodded taxi. The image of the driver was definitely drawn sort of in the propaganda imagery of WWII Japanese soldiers, and this also couples the notion of Asians being shitty drivers. Yet, this shirt was empowering and pro Asian at the same time as it was self mocking. This shirt brand which was run by Asian Americans was sold around LA and definitely in Little Tokyo. I have no idea where else it was sold, whether it was in other cities or states, but I wish I knew more about them. There were many other designs, and I saw many Asian Americans wearing them. We also drew similar images on our notebooks throughout junior high and it was in a positive light. We weren’t Charlies fucking ourselves. We were pro Japanese American and Asian American.
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This is a question from a journalist and my response. It stems from the Ray Fong thing, but goes beyond it. It made me recall a t-shirt company in the later 70s and early 80s. I don't know much about them, who they were, where they went, etc, but I remember the designs. It's pretty nostalgic for me. I have no pics of it, I wish I did, but read on.
How can images featuring Asians with slanted eyes,...
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How can images featuring Asians with slanted eyes,...
Strengths and Weaknesses. Giant Robot, the issue 42 is hitting the stands soon! We got our advance copies, and we hope you like it. My strength is writing a simple sentence like this. It says what it needs to without too much flair. It’s fairly to the point, although I’m trying to tell people at the same time, “don’t expect your subscription copies today, because these are the Fed Ex copies we got overnight.” If I tried to get too fancy with my words, I end up even confusing myself. Basically, I’m trying to explain that I’m better at some things than others, and I think that’s how we all are. Utilizing strengths is something that a publisher has to be able to do. It’s a tough one, since in the end, if you’re a multitasking, economizing, tenacious motherfucker then that means you’re pushing your bandwidth past T1 speed. Gladly I’m not that nutty, am I? But if you are, can you expect people to keep up? No way, so don’t think about it. Some people have different goals, they work for different reasons, including because they have to and not because they want to. Work is a tough thing, and a lot wait until 5pm hits, so they can run out and begin their real day. There’s something good to be said about that too. One mistake is expecting everyone to be like how you want them to be. That’s ridiculous, and I’ve been guilty of that like the next person. One part of my job these days is to try and work with people’s strengths and keep them somewhat free of their weaknesses. I think it makes people happy. I’m not 100% sure if this is a publishing tip, but in the end, it’s just a suggestion for how to get something done with the best quality and in the best amount of time. Now let’s translate this to basketball. The Pistons are a well balanced team. It’s all about teamwork, which is ideal since everyone works with their strengths efficiently. It’s a neat thing to see even if they get beat by the Heat. Each person does their thing, and there’s no superstars. Whereas, the Lakers, “my team” has a guy who can score 81, but lost to a better balanced team, The Suns. I suppose and believe that the law of averages and longevity will be on your side if you’re steady with a solid teamwork based team. Ideally you can be part of something like this too. Even though I talk about teamwork, I hope The Heat win. Now, the sad part. Once all the fun parts get distributed and only the crappy parts are left, guess what? The publisher has to fill in at that point and figure it out. Before this turns into a downer, enjoy GR42!
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Strengths and Weaknesses. Giant Robot, the issue 42 is hitting the stands soon! We got our advance copies, and we hope you like it. My strength is writing a simple sentence like this. It says what it needs to without too much flair. It's fairly to the point, although I'm trying to tell people at the same time, "don't expect your subscription copies today, because these are the Fed Ex copies we got...
Continue reading