TWO GIANT ROBOT events in Chicago.

Chicago next week. From Tuesday-Saturday. See the FAIIM

2 events while Martin and I are out there.

NUMBER ONE

Attack of the Giant Robot Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong discuss the impact that their Magazine has left on and Asia America's influence on Popular Culture and Art
Wed 4/04 5:00PM DePaul University Art Museum

FREE TO PUBLIC

NUMBER TWO

Giant Robots Everywhere! a Workshop with founders of Giant Robot Magazine, Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong
Thu 4/05 3:30PM 33 E. Congress

From its humble beginnings as a small, stapled digest out of Los Angeles, Giant Robot has become a critically acclaimed magazine with a diverse, global audience. Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong will share their insights on covering and creating culture from instant ramen packs to the Yellow Power Movement. Come join us for this unique opportunity to participate in a workshop and dialogue with the creators of Giant Robot! FREE TO PUBLIC

The truck in venice La Isla Bonita

I'll add more photos later when I go back. The eats are always amazing here.

twitter.com

The box you see on the right hand side of the blog page is from Twitter.com.

Here's my page there. Basically I can update this thru the twitter site, or via a text message!

It's pretty bloGeek, but that's maybe what I'm a part of. This has to be part of the web 2.0 thing going on.

R2 mail boxes

R2D2... When are you coming to LA? I saw them in SF already. But also upcoming are Star Wars Stamps. See the Star Wars site and check out what's coming on May 25th. Vote for your favorite stamp.

World's Tallest Man at it again

This guy's been having a great year. Saving a dolphin, and now getting hitched to a girl half his age.



I like this guy. If he were around, I swear I wouldn't ask him about basketball. I'd like him for saving the dolphin.

work force

What's more scary than this: Gen Y work force.

This article isn't new, but it explains some things. What's next? Z? Ready to give them everything so they can fuck it all up?

We're in for it...

Ruth Asawa

Saw this show at JANM.



Ruth Asawa has a nice body of work. The wire baskets are amazing. I'm not sure if she has enough sense of depth in her work, as in where does it come from, why does she do it, etc... it's as if, she just did it, people liked it, and that's the end of the story. Which then brings up another point. Whether my assessment is true or not, does it really matter? Does it need to have a message, does it need to have a special history rather than a boring one?

UFC bought Pride

I liked Pride more for sure. But the UFC bought them? Is this good?

read it here.

NY COMICON

Somewhere in here, I'm in this video on the Comicon.

MySpace at New York Comic Con 2007, part 2: Jim Lee and Chuck D


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Kobe

I don't do the sports too much here, but 4 games of 50 points or more. 2 games were over 60. What's going on here? Say something bad about the guy, but this is insane.

The award goes to...

The award presented tonite probably went something like this:

"Before announcing the Best Narrative award, on behalf of the jury, I wish to recognize the feature film, Tre, with a special jury prize. Tre is a sophisticated film; an eerily seductive accusation that's pinned on each audience member willing to be honest about who they are or have been in relationships. Eric Byler continues his uncompromising gaze with this, his third Rohmer-ic installation and we the jury salute him and his ongoing work.

And finally, and quite unanimously, we would like to offer the Best Narrative Feature award to a first time (feature) filmmaker. In the Owl and the Sparrow, we saw a powerful piece of cinema verite infused with a documentary's intention -- the visuals, performances and subject matter align effortlessly in this elegant and vital tale of a young girl's struggle to be free of poverty and an oppressive uncle's grasp. We the jury congratulate Stephen Gauger and his film, the Owl and the Sparrow with the SFIAAFF's 2007 Best Narrative Feature award."

Owl and the Sparrow trailer.

Also a special mention goes to actor Ken Leung who was in two films, Shanghai Kiss and Year of the Fish. He kicked butt in two films. If you don't know who he is, imagine, he's the Quill guy in Xmen, the one who's face turns into spikes!

SFIAAFF Day 6 Photos

Back in LA now, but this was day 6, it started off with a fire alarm and evacuation of the hotel at 8:30am. I slept for just a few hours and I was still the first one out of my room at that moment. An elderly couple look troubled. I assured them, we were going to make it out of the inferno! I wouldn't be denied. About halfway down the stairs, there was a homeless dude sleeping in the stairwell. Then "false alarm" came over the loud speakers. It was amazing how clear the voice rang.



Met with Alvin Lu of Viz. Then saw the Gap ad with Prison Break dude and Lost dude.

The big deal was watching the last two films and deliberating for the prize of the competition. We talked for about less than a minute and had our winner. The next issue was to give a Special Jury Prize, and we actually did. I wasn't pretty ok with it, but I think I was the lone holdout in the beginning. We also have another special mention and I hope people appreciate that too. There's a pic of us deliberating in an office. Then the weird time... dinner with Hong Sang-Soo... this is story all of it's own. In the pics the director seems mellow, but he's much out of control. Drinks at an establishment at 3am? Buying a bottle for a few hundred? There's some incriminating shots. The last shot at 4am says it all.

deliberations

I saw a couple of more films. American Zombie and Ang Pamana. We deliberated soon after. We talked for a while, came up with a winner and then some. It's fun doing this and I can't announce anything here, sorry. But the experience of talking with Jacqueline and Chris Lee and seeing their opinions from their backgrounds is quite great. They definitely see things from different perspectives and they're smart about film. Sometimes, I think that's where you can actually learn something, from listening to people's opinions who you may never cross in your daily lives. In my case, this was one of those situations. A Hollywood producer who probably rolls hard and deep, and Jacqueline Kim who's acted in Brokedown Palace to many indies, to TV including Star Trek, and now is making her own.

Here we are in the office. We sat and talked maybe an hour. It brought great closure to the 12 films we watched. Eventually, maybe I'll do some capsule reviews on the films.

I'll upload some other photos and tomorrow night is SCRABBEL.

SFIAAFF Day 5 photos

Saw two films, American Pastime, a Japanese American concentration camp experience film centering around baseball. The showing was a special school showing, so there were tons of kids in the film. Then Baby, a film about gang life in Southern California. Then The Trouble With Romance which features the director who made a short film called Quest for Length featuring Roger Fan (from BLT). Sorry, I'm getting lazy with the links, but I'm not even sure if any of you care. Again, no opinions here. Yet. The first photo was a screening room. Not a pretty one, but it was one. That's Chris Lee on the right, he produced Superman. He's also a judge. What do producers do anyway?



If you flick thru the pics... you'll see. Again, Vietnamese food, this time I got to Bodega Bistro on Larkin and Eddy and ate kick ass lettuce wraps with pork, then went to Lee's - you know what that's all about. Sammiches... Saw Oreska and 50 Kaitenz, bands from Japan who were on tour from South x Southwest. Both gave up inspiring shows that got fans excited. The last photos are folks I sat with outside of a bar. Tomorrow is the deliberation day, but I have two films before that too.

SFIAAF day 4 done

Day 4. Only 2 movies, but ate good food from Pupusas to Vietnamese. Some random photos and that's all the day brought.

Day 4

Just saw 2 films. Owl and the Sparrow and Tie a Yellow Ribbon. That's it! Owl and the Sparrow was made in Vietnam by an Asian American. Tie a Yellow Ribbon was about Korean Adoptees and filmed in Brooklyn.

Here's some things about being a judge

1) I have to judge the films against each other, not against the history of cinema as I know it. Of course it can enter in, but it's a contest between 12 films. I'd think having that badge that says "winner" means something to the filmmaker. Conversely, Sunsets won the grand prize at the "giant robot film festival"

2) When people ask if I liked it, I say, "It's good." Good means a lot of things, right? "Good" condition in comics, means it's beat to shit. I've been saying this consistently.

3) The Q and A is not part of the film. Just because it got explained to me when I didn't understand something doesn't count.

4) Technical difficulties don't count. One film had bad problems and it wasn't the filmmakers fault, it was the projection.

5) Even though there's pretty females in it, that doesn't mean shit.

6) Funny one liners don't make a movie good. "Finga en asshholll"

7) Budget doesn't matter.

8) I don't talk about films with anyone which stinks. I do want to say, "this rocked, that didn't," but I can't. I just have my head down and think about what I just saw.

9) Leave personal opinions on the subjects of the film in the hotel room. Biases have to stay there too.

10) When people ask you what film to watch, you have to watch yourself there too and not say the wrong thing.

GRSF art show

Fearfully and Wonderfully a group art show featuring the work of Sean Cassidy, Katherine Guillen, Zachary Rossman, and Brian Rush. Nice work. Really great efforts. These kids rock.

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Day THREE

DAY THREE.

Aside from eating food with juror Jacqueline Kim, who you've seen in Brokedown Palace, I saw Jon Moritsugu and Gregg Araki at the reception for their panel which I missed since I saw Tre by Eric Byler. In Tre, is a small appearance by cousin Michael Idemoto and Pryor Praczukowski.


I took a bunch of photos of Jon on the roof of the reception. I shot some of Gregg Araki and Jon together in 1991 when I went to their panel while I interned at NAATA. Somewhere those photos are around, they were good ones. Now in 2007 they were on a panel again, and I took another photo (roddy b's flight didn't make it in due to snow).

Day 3

Just saw In Between Days, which is Asian American, but done in Korean, and about 2 kids in their later teens. Asobi Seksu has a few songs in this picture. Gotta see another film, calld Tre, and I'll report on that and the GRSF art show tonite.

SFIAAF day 2

Day 2. Saw Shanghai Kiss, Undoung, and Year of the Fish.

Shanghai Kiss features this dude... Ken Leung. I've seen this dude in a commercial, running years ago. I remember watching this with my cousin Mike, and we used to say stupid stuff like, man, Asian Americans from the East Coast look different. It was a joke, since Mike acts, and had no idea who this dude is/was. But then lo and behold, he's in at least two movies in this festival! Then I found out, he's in Xmen, the guy with the spikey face, and is in tons of films. He's big time. So I look him up on IMDB, he's wearing a rice picker hat! This film also features Kelly Hu.




Then later before Undoing, I see Undoing director, Chris Chan Lee who helmed Yellow. We're going up the escalator to his Undoing SF debut. We reminisce a bit about the 10 years that elapsed since we were filmmakers together in SF. He looks exactly the same. Me, hell no. He's a special guy, and it was nice to see him. LA's so bit, I've probably seen him 3 times in ten years just for instances. 10 years between feature films. That's tenacity. Again,his film also features Kelly Hu.

The last film was Year of the Fish done in Rotoscope just like Scanner Darkly! I guess there's lower budget ways to do that too. Ken Leung was in this one and it features massage parlors. I liked one line that went something like, (in a FOB Chinese HO voice) "yuu stik yo fingaaa in asss-hole all da tyyme."

I can't give opinions here at all, but the goal is to compare them to each other, and it'll be tough! (forgot to add the dude with the glasses is Sooyoung Park who was in Seam and ee.)

Pryor our man's birthday 45!

Super 7 folk

Saw a lot of the Super 7 folks today Brian and Dora and we were at the shop then at their studio. They're great folks, it's all you need to know... But in a few, it's movie time. I think I have three screenings tonite for the Film Fest. It's on now.

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Day One

As some of you know, I'm a juror at this event. Today is day one. I'm hanging out in the car ride from the airport when "ring" my phone goes off and poof it's cousin Dan Auto calling me for lunch. We go to a Yucatan spot on Valencia and 15th.



The film event was the opening film Finishing the Game by Justin Lin. It made it's SF premier and opened this film fest. It is one of the twelve films I need to watch. Since I'm a juror, I'll give no opinions of the film yet. Enjoy the photos. We also went to the after party at the Asian Museum, and then ate Sushi, then went to Jade Bar where there was yet another event. There, I see Justin, Sung Kang, Quinten Lee, Karin Anna Cheung, and many other great folks including festival organizers like Chi-hui Yang, and others. People are friendly when they get a little bit of liquids in them!

Cabazon Dinosaurs

In the Desert there are dinosaurs. It's in Cabazon... These stand monstrous and you can sort of see them from the freeway, but when you get there you find out a lot.

1) The T Rex is open only on the weekends. For $2 you can go inside to it's mouth.
2) The Bronto has a shop inside. The shop sells no original merchandise. BUT, inside there was religious TV playing and a nice woman watching it.
3) There's a free pamphlet. Grad that and read the parts that are about dinosaurs which is fine, but then read the parts that are anti evolution! No! We didn't come from apes! Man is NOT Ape!
4) Now you find out this is entirely a religious "theme park" and it's two dinosaurs in the middle of the desert. It's all bizarre.
5) Get some pennies smashed.

GRNY, here comes LA

Look how GRNY's signs influence GRLA!

was it my fault. test.

test, does it look better?

Questionaire for GR47

Question for GR47
While growing up, perhaps you've always wanted. Maybe it was a Barbie or Lego. But your parents messed up and got you something else similar. i.e. a Spice girl doll, or perhaps MegaBloks. It could be clothing. i.e. you wanted Levi's but got Wrangler. Please tell us your stories details are nice. They may get used in Giant Robot 47. Please including you name, age if you want, and your city.

More Cherry Blossoms on Sawtelle

I don't know if you give a shit like me, but I like these a lot. You can see these from far away. If you click through the photos, I like how one has a cherry blossom tree within their small front yard, I'll try and pay attention to what their lawn looks like when the leaves fall. I bet it'll look cool. Their yard gets a high rating for the tree in the there this week. After it dies off and the flowers fall and it's forgotten, we'll see how high the rating will be. Most of the images are from Stoner Park. If you go there, there's cherry blossom trees lining the entire park. The others are from random yards and one is from the Buddhist Temple. It's where we photographed Puffyamiyumi.

cherry Blossoms

Like an old friend, they come again, this time in early March. It's nice to see these for one week out of a year. I walked outside and there they were. I hope they're enjoying themselves in West LA. They're more than welcome to stay longer, but with a little tugging of gravity, the wind, and a short but bright life span, they fall...

I think it was in Blade Runner, the doctor told Rutger Hauer who wanted more life:

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long

If I don't get to say it later, it was really nice to see you this year.

Giant Robot distribution

It's at your service. Books galore from all over the world.

You can snake in between the boxes to get through.

Where you'll end up as at more boxes of books.

SFIAAF

Next week is the San Francisco International Asian American Film fest.

I'll be there as a judge. 12 films in a few days. I can handle it. Also there's an art show at Giant Robot SF. I'll be there too, I hope!

Here's an article about the film fest. Somewhere in there, I'm mentioned along with my cousin for a project I made in nearly a past life. Sunsets. Even thought this article is printed in Asian Week, I can tell they read through this one to make sure it was clean. Back to that controversy, I understand them firing the guy who wrote it, but what about the editor? That's the real culprit isn't it? I still don't understand this one.

Here's a rough heirarchy:

Publisher - This dude is out to lunch. He probably doesn't read a thing. He's busy checking up on his stores. Yeah, that's what he does.

Editor in Chief - This person reads every article, he or she reads the headlines too. "Why I hate Blacks" That's one to just let slip by. Sure. Why not? It'll be controversial. Yeah cool. No skin of my ass, I didn't write it.

Managing Editor - I missed the article. Where was it? Oh, it wasn't on my desk. What? It was uploaded on the server? I didn't see it? It's not my fault.

Associate Editor - What the fuck? I work 80 hours a week for peanuts. They should have listened to me.

Writer - I just wrote the shit. Fuck em all, I always say. You guys aren't getting it.

Who's to blame that the article went into print? Go up the chain folks. When it's a mistake, we take the blame. Think Mr. T "When there's a gun, I take the bullet, when there's a knife, I take the blade."

Knowledge x Giant Robot

That hat, it's out! Look for it on our website very soon. It's at GR2 right now. Brian from 852 shop and Know1edge is a great character, and I'm proud to be part of this project. It blends old world of the Chinese bag, and new but also old world technology of a cap!

teany nyc

The Lower East Side has it's ups and down. teany is the most welcome spot to visit every time I'm in NYC. Walking down the sidewalks with snow piles from the light snow, it's chilly. People are still walking up and down the streets, and on Rivington, it's part cool, and part nameless. Walking up to the plainish facade of teany, you walk in and are met with a parade of cakes. They're hefty, and are all vegan. teany was once owned by moby and his girlfriend (we heard they sold the place... are they still a couple?).



You sit down at one of the small tables, and around you are couples and friends and small tea candles. The menu comes and it's a thick book filled with about 100 teas, some black, green, and even white. They tell you about each of the teas, so you know exactly what you're getting. The folks working there are friendly and cool. We tried cakes. The lemon lime is a nice. A green cake! It's tasty, nice and different. There's just a hint of sourness, but overall it's a tasty cake. The strawberry shortcake is an old school winner. I usually hate frosting, but these are just right. Maybe it's the lack of dairy. They're decadent. My tea was a simple green tea, you can't go wrong with the nice pot of water and the baggie of tea.

Check out the bathroom, there's animal adoption photos on the wall. This place is cute and cool. It's all in the details.

teany
90 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

The best room in the house

Hotels are big, spread out and have so many places to eat and drink. But sometimes, the one room that beats all is this one, especially when no one else is there. If someone else was here, it would suck.

golf

If John Cusack had a different life in Say Anything, he might have been into golf instead of kick boxing, he might have said something about golf being the sport of the future. Imagine, me sitting in a hotel room looking at a golf course in Palm Springs... instead I'm remotely interested in kick boxing and I dig Pride (yes, he did predict the future, sorta...). Instead Tiger Woods made golf the sport of the future, and I'm staring at a green expanse. Miniature golf is the best I can do. Meanwhile the 3AF advertising conference is going to happen. Me, I'm gonna watch that too.

Santa Monica

Walking to eat breakfast, which I seldom do... I walked by this house. They probably spent tons of cash on these statues. I'm trying to figure out how it all ties together. A knight, a wizard, a pirate, croc, a girl in a bikini, a pig, cows, deer... anyone have an idea?

horvath launch!

A problem: move boxes from the Horvath's apartment into my van. I bought a big load of Uglydoll leftovers, samples, and more. Don't you wish you knew exactly what? Some were retired goods! Secret secret. The boxes were up there, and the van was down there. Seeing how he was right above, I figure why not, let em launch. Box after box were thrown onto a grass patch, some of the boxes got a little dirty, but the Uglies inside were fine. David launched about 10-15 boxes and only had to come down once! Next time you have to move, think about using the fastest way from pt A to B.

kio

I met up with Kio, a surfer dude who lives in West LA. People who surf get really excited about anything related to their sport, even laundry detergents. I guess there's a film where a bunch of dudes want to surf, they get to a spot that's flat. So one guy pours in Surf and the Waves!

That's Kio in his pad. He also does a clothing line and that's 70% of his apartment and that also explains the cutting board and pantone book!

Gobo

401 Avenue of the Americas, New York, 10014 - (212) 255-3242



(1-3) Walking into Gobo, which is named after the Japanese burdock root, you can tell it's a nice place in the West Village. The lighting is dim, the decor is upscale and cool. The front area has a place to sit that sticks you in an area that's neat the kitchen, and also near the juice and wheat grass area. The window behind shows a view of Avenue of the Americas, and the light snow coming down.

(4-5) They offer you bread, I picked the sweeter raisin bread that comes a sweet potato spread. This is really good and it's just the free part!

(6) Juices are a big part of Gobo and there's smoothies and a many selections of juices that come with a tiny flask. Walking around New York city which has issues with fresh produce, having a good, high end juice with organic fruit. Cleanse yourself with a nice juice concoction.

(7) spinach wonton soup - this was decent. The wontons were really nice, but the broth was simple. This works, but didn't wow me.

(8) salt & pepper king oyster mushrooms - finger foods. This is the type of dish that makes you forget that you're eating mushrooms. It's almost like a beer snack. Imagine it to be like the fried squid that you'd have in Chinese cooking. You wouldn't eat it with rice, you just sort of pick at it.

(9) kale, seaweed, beet salad with toasted walnuts - An interesting combo, and I'm not a huge fan of beets, but the kale and seaweeds were nice. What the heck were the walnuts for? This worked leaving them in clumps. I wonder if people normally mix it all together?!

(10) natural seitan medallion in sizzling spicy citrus sauce - Orange chicken! Yes, that's what this was exactly, but they should just admit it. I ate bad orange chicken the day before, so this restored faith in this Asian American specialty.

(11) Vietnamese spicy stir-fry rice noodle with bean sprouts - it looked good.

(12) soy filet with coconut curry rice - This was a winner. Soy filet is supposed to be like fish. It's another Chinese style veggie dish and the coconut rice is excellent. Imagine brownish rice, and some coconut shavings in it. Alone, it's a tasty snack. Together with the food, it's right on.

I like Gobo, but just maybe, their menu of trying to admit what they're really serving actually does a disservice since I'm used to going to places that actually tell you what they are trying to mimic, i.e. "orange" chicken. Here, they'll tell you what's really in it, but won't give you a frame of reference. At the same time, I also don't like it when menus say "chicken" and it's mock chicken. So change has to start someplace, and it's here.

Red Bamboo

this is their site
140 W 4th St # 1
New York, NY 10012
(212) 260-7049




In the heart of the West Village, Red Bamboo is a vegetarian spot that's a mixed menu. At first you'd think it's Asian, but then it's not, it's southern too. We stopped in here after being at Comicon all day, and we were eager to eat. The menu is large, with entrees, sandwiches, and on an empty stomach, everything sounds great. I opted for fried everything - the "fish" and chips. It's simple, the Fish is a tofu stick that's somewhere in the middle of fish, but really goes towards the tofu. It's simple and there's tartar sauce, that's alright. The fries are tasty, it's as if they're double fried or something. The texture is harsh, but it's crunchy and good. The Eggplant parmesan is a tasty one. Just look at the pic and it's obvious this is a tasty dish. Enough said. Check out Red Bamboo if you're a veggie head and in NYC.

comedy newsflash.... Kikuo Johnson isn't my cousin, he's Martin's cousin! Congrats Martin. Now you have another person to buy gifts for!

Transmissions of giantrobot.com

Introducing TRANSMISSIONS 2

Photos, that's where they're going!

Austin English NY comicon

Austin on the left wearing a paperrad shirt

One of the best parts of Comicon is the fact that Austin English, one of the GRNY sign makers said to a press person. Who knows if Austin realized that the article this person would write would go to a few news outlets, including the NY Times (not sure if it was online only or what - can anyone confirm if it was in print on saturday the 25th?), but it did go to some other locations including ZDNet. Read their article.

Here's Austin's quote:

"I would define comics as just words and pictures together," said Austin English, an employee and artist at the pop-culture outlet Giant Robot, one of many exhibitors that strayed quite a bit from the comics-convention archetype.

Words and pictures, however, didn't really come close to describing it. Giant Robot, which was founded in 1994 as an Asian pop-culture zine, has since expanded to a full-out magazine, an online store, and art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Its NYC ComicCon booth was stocked with colorful toys, stuffed Uglydolls (a big hit), and back issues of Giant Robot magazine.

But English insisted that Giant Robot was by no means out of place at the convention.

"A lot of the artists that are in Giant Robot's galleries do underground comics, but they're also fine artists," he explained. The irreverent online comic strips featuring the Uglydolls might not bear much resemblance to the action serials of the Justice League, but the influence is certainly there.