Back finally, and woke up at 6am on Saturday! Saw mastodon last night, and although people label them as metal, as they should, on album, they still seem to be the missing link between metal and the hardest rock possible. Maybe it's the riffs that occasionally sound like Rush or Van Halen, but harder, then there's the vocals that's just harsh. They're metal no doubt, but still, they're a little of old, mostly new, and bring on the power. Yesterday, aside from travelling all day, yes, I left at 6am England, and got to the US at around 4pm, after 10 hrs of flying, I realized that I like to sleep on plane rides. I slept through meals, some of the movies (I tried to see 3), and missing beverages. It sucks to wake up and see your neighbors drinking something while my mouth is parched from breathing in the recycled air.



The day before yesterday, I went to Edinbrough with kozyndan. It's a nice old town with a lot of goth crap going on since that's where they built over the plagued folk way back in the 1500s. A city over the city, that's how old shit is over there. How the heck is LA so new of a city?

Last night, went to watch bombing with OsGemeos and the THR folks (mr Twist and Amaze)

Carlo with drink in hand of course.

Groovisions ramp with breaking and later skating.

Almost everyone went home already, and of course it felt like people didn't want to go home. Meanwhile, I'm still here, thinking about making a jailbreak for London for the day.

Ms. Van.

Smash what?

faile

wish my truck looked like this

There's a lot more, everything I shot was a work in progress. Opening is tonite. The website here has no updates! It's low key, but there's 22 artists, including osgemeos, groovisions, yonehara, kozyndan, aya takano, chiho, murakami, so on and on and on. I'll put up more pics soon. What am I doing here again?

I forgot to say, i'm at the Baltic museum in newcastle now.

Woodsy on the nike's, look at the grain on the sole. This is the rare edition.

In prep for the Michael Lau X Nike show in HK.

Just some people I saw while in HK. So much more to show you, but wait for the fucking mag, maybe.

Brian Knowledge the man from 852

Raymond Choy Toy2r

Prodip the UFO researcher

Conroy the boy band man and Conan RVCA

Dan and Lisa and Chiquita - paparazzi eat your hearts out

Me and the HK legend Michael Lau

Must I say more? You can't find that in the US even if you paid for it. Tsukiji, fish market it is and I didn't even have to go there.



That said, I'm holding out on so much since well, some of the work here is for the mag and I can only show you glimpses of what you may or may not see in the near future. However, you can beat toro that looks like that. I've never seen anything like it. Imagine toro you've had before (I've had my share since my mother used to own a restaurant and my uncle fishes) and multiply it by at least 2.

Tomorrow, I go to HK, then all hell breaks loose. No, kidding, but it should be fine. I could use a few more days here, since I haven't even hit my regular spots I like to see, but maybe that's for next time quite soon.

Hanging out with this dude is always an honor. Who's done as much for art as this guy has recently? Too much to do, so I can't get into it, but he's a character, and his offices here and there, and so forth are just impressive. How does he do it? I guess people ask me that, but in the end, this dude is out of control.

For those of you who care, I got the Ricoh GR. Basically, I was torn between the GR and the Lumix LX2, but the problem with the lx2 is that the camera isn't really a 28mm wide angle. It is that wide only when you're 16.9, but in the end, if you use the camera in it's real proportions, then it's not 28mm. The GR's fold in lens is better without a doubt, and I think you'd be hard pressed to say anything bad. It costs more than the lx2 but I think it's quick use factor makes this worth getting. So far I'm trying to figure it out, but it seems like a winner. I'm convinced that the lx2 is probably good, but definitely a second place to the GR.

Went to Geisai today and did my duties of being a scout judge. Tons of folks there doing the art thing. It's like a convention for artists. I walked through the whole thing twice, then went back to some booths a third time, interviewed, got interviewed, made a speech, voted, tried hard to be fair, ate lunch, took pics, walked 10 miles, and so on. It was a long as day that began before 6am. Tomorrow, will be more walking and checking stuff out.

I really need to come to Japan more and see Mr Fujiwara. He's a nice dude.

I'm staying at Noriko Ashino's place. She designs, art directs, does graphics under the name of APOD. No site to see her works, but if you like toys, then you probably own something she's art directed. We were at yoshitomo nara cafe in Tokyo - A to Z. Full report in the future.

Koji Harmon from UCLA. He lives in Japan now, and I saw him today. We walked through Nakano Broadway, the mecca. He's sometimes super quiet, but he actually was in form today and talked up a storm. A few paragraphs! I guess even his homies in Japan know this too, and said that today was a upbeat talkative day! We were sitting and drinking some weird softdrinks outside of Thrash Out store. His shirt is ironic, btw.

While walking down the street, you can't help but look at stuff all over, but don't forget the ground. There's friends down there. This black and orange dude, wiggled it's way across the sidewalk. Someday, this is going to be a rad looking moth.

Getting over jet lag, I get hit at around 11pm. If I fight through it, I'm fine, I can stay up until 1 or 2, but then I wake up at around 7am. I guess I'll be doomed if I don't sleep in. I'll see what happens later tonite. Right now, I'm filled with energy, it's 8:15 am, and today is an off day, where maybe I'll buy a new camera. I saw the ricoh GR which was looking good, but then there's the new lumix lx2. It's out here but not in the states yet. I'm definitely in the right place to do this. I'll check out quite a bunch of spots today and maybe eat more good meals. Watch for more here maybe later or tomorrow.

jeffstaple and mr kaws.

As Brad Pitt said so many times and in so many tones in SEVEN, "What's in the box?"

Reed Space Aoyama interior. Amazing store just like Reed Space in NYC, many of the same elements, and that makes you feel at home.

This's me and Kohei, you'll hear about him later on one day. He's an amazing designer. Between us, that's a sashimi salad from this little spot in Nakameguro. Can I find this little joint again? Maybe. It was amazing and actually low priced for sushi in Japan.

I'm gonna make you hungry. I just landed in Japan and went to this all you can eat, health food place. Think about that... eat as much as you can, and it's health stuff? This spot called Keke, gives you homestyle Japanese food. It's in the Komazawa park area in Tokyo. You'll never go there on your own.


Oden (how do you describe this? It's like a hot pot of vegetables and meat), Nimono (similar to oden), nikujaga (potato and meat), salad with different dressings including an okinawa citrus dressing, 4 types of rice (I rocked the black rice even though there was white, brown, and a mixed 10 types of rice), seaweed, many types of potatoes, burdock root, raw yam with miso, tomatoes, tons of small dishes that are like pickles and such, chicken, 3 types of soup including miso, boullibaise (yeah I spelled that wrong), and curry (that's not really soup but it was good), weird fruit drinks, expresso machine, and agar agar dessert. There's a lot more I'm not even covering, but imagine, it's like a salad bar. And like Souplantation, you can keep going back, but no shitty pasta or pizza.

Today's 9/11, and I feel strangely patriotic. Maybe not exactly, but I did get a call this morning at 5 something AM by UPS. Of course, they have their east coast hours, and that got me up early enough to watch the beginning of the rebroadcast of the 9/11 coverage from 5 years ago. I saw the 2nd plane hit the towers. Still a scary sight. I don't know why I felt compelled to watch this, I even watched it during parts of the day for really no reason. We were all glued to the TV five years ago, and maybe I felt the need to have that feeling again. Gladly, I didn't watch it all day, and my patriotism has nothing to do with flag waving, or anything like how you may think, but it's more about feeling like it's not my personal fault all this happened. And that, maybe I'm a decent American, like how a bunch of my friends are too.

I'm still heading out to Tokyo 13-21, HK 21-24, Brighton 24-28.

Mario Luna - he did the Post It. Total bust. Mario is a high school senior, and used to date an employee at GR. We could have found him via our security cameras in the shop.

Seafood Stew from gr/eats. Deadline time means food, and eating in. So if it's not gr/eats, then it's Talay Thai, if not, then it's Benitos, La Salsa, or La Flama. If it's Indian, then we're at Chutney's. Ramen-ya maybe, and that's about it. We need new places!

Today we discovered a Post It on the wall at GR2 that wasn't part of the Post It show. Of course we took it down, but in the end, it's a pretty good drawing. I'm sure in this version of wild style letters, it says straight up what his name is. Maybe it even tells us to fuck off for not inviting him / her in.



I'm guessing it's a guy from the art style... Either way whoever you are, good job on the drawing. Your Post It might be more appealing than some of the others and it now rests on my monitor. You're getting more milage than you ever thought for this one drawing, right? I bet we could have sold it. We'll investigate more tomorrow. Maybe we'll find some more that was uninvited. Wait, am I asking for it with this blog post?

Every time I see this clown...



Nadal seems totally gross to me, but they keep referring to him as having good looks. Wtf is up wtih that? He's got stinky looking hair, roid rage body, and what's up with the Spanish look of headband, capris, and friggin underarmor looking vest tops? The only thing I think about is Click Clack

I met The Donut Man. And normally, I'd rather keep my articles on the DL, till they come out, but in this case, since the peach season will end, before the mag will come out, I suggest you run down and get one of these. It's nearly a whole peach!



Collect your change, these are 2.50 each, and worth it. Fresh fruit donuts... Tell him we sent you, and you'll get absolutely nothing, but a nice smile. The DM himself is there early in the mornings, before 12 noon. By the way, that's Martin in the picture working on GR44, he's not the DM in case you were confused.

I'll be in Japan, HK, then England starting from mid next week. I'll try and update while I'm out there. Any suggestions?

Do not fuck with Spanto. Close to my house but on the other side of the tracks (literally, there were tracks by my house) there were small apartments in a little complex. The rooms were typical, and it was low budget. I never went by there, until somehow, we met Spanto. I can't remember exactly where or how we met him, but we were mesmerized by him. Being something like 12-14 years old, and meeting a hard gang member was odd. Maybe it was because he was nice and friendly, or maybe it was because he was bored, did we hang out with this guy. The we, by the way, was my childhood friend Tony Lupton who's another story.

Spanto was a member of Sotel13. It was evident in his tattoos that were on his biceps, neck, forarms, and fingers. Almost any piece of paper and even on his ghetto blaster, was filled with Sotel13 tags. Some were simple S13s, Spanto, and Loquitos. The latter had something to do with his age group of dudes within the gang. He was in and out of juvenile hall, although he'd call it jail, and he was probably 16 years old. Thin, lanky, and with that mellow but sage-like Chicano-English accent, he'd tell us stories.

There were a lot, including orgies he'd have. We were kids, and were unphased, but at the same time, sort of grossed out. Cholos in an orgy. Not a great thought.

He once said, it's a lot easier to shoot a bird as compared to a fly in an analogy of shooting from a car window into a large group of people rather than at one person. He said he shot a girl in her breast.

The most horrifying story, and he did this with great detail was when they captured and kidnapped a black gang member. They were rolling in a low rider with hydraulics and placed him under the car, and bounced on him to death.

I don't know if he was full of shit, but we hung out with him a few times. I have no idea if he's still alive.

While riding my bicycle on the way back from Sawtelle, I saw a dude on the sidewalk wearing black baggy pants, a white t shirt, shaved head, walking fairly brisk, with his head down on a cell phone. He had a swagger and looked to me like trouble. I got off the sidewalk, and rode on the street right next to it, thinking to give this guy his space. A few cars were oncoming, but no big deal, we're in a neighborhood. It's pretty quiet on a friday afternoon.

This image is from City Beat

As I got closer, it's no big deal until this SUV starts to get closer to the sidewalk, I'm not far away, and now have to figure out, 1) do I get back on the sidewalk and get in this dude's space. 2) do I veer right around the car that's now pulled up, but have to face more oncoming traffic. 3) do I stop. My bike only has front brakes that make a huge squeak noise.

I choose option 1. But right as I'm even closer, the guy leans out of the passenger seat. There's 4 dudes in the car, he's wearing a Dodger cap and says, "hey homie, where are you from?" He's a Latino dude in his 20s, and the dude on the sidewalk says, "SOTEL" in a grand and proud way. Although he's outnumbered, he's not backing down and walks towards the car window. Meanwhile, I'm going forward, it's too late to stop, and I end up riding in between the dude who's now on the city property grass, and the car, so we're talking 2 feet or less. This sounds dramatic, but in the end, their conversation was short. "What's your name?" and a reply with a regular Latino name, and that was really it. I kept looking back to see gun violence or a fight, but nothing. The SUV took off, making a left, and the guy just kept walking. I grew up in this area, and remember a lot of Sotel 13 kids. They lived in the area, went to my Junior high school, and were just locals. You see a lot less of them, but they're around and will throw up graffiti from time to time just so you know they're still around.

I'll write more about what little I know and remember about Sotel, maybe tomorrow.

This photo is from here.

Answers.com has a small entry that says they're allegedly defunct. I think they got their info from a Wikipedia entry on Venice13 that says Sotel is defunct. Just so you know, we don't use Wikipedia for any fact checking in Giant Robot.

Hispanic/Latino. Further south on Sawtelle, in the Mar Vista and Del Rey districts, is the traditional barrio of the allegedly defunct Sotel gang, which drew its members from descendants of the Latino farmhands who worked the orchards and bean fields that once covered the area. Today, much of the population immediately to the southwest of the 10-405 junction is now young white and Asian professionals and UCLA students drawn to the area's cheap rents and large UCLA housing complex, but enormous Latino communities are still found in Culver City and Palms...