Evel RIP

Evel Knievel RIP. I've seen him to do the Snake River jump, seen him do some Las Vegas jumping over cars stunt where he wiped out at the end, he's a modern stunt man hero. Although in his later years he became a small figure and almost out of people's memories, in some ways, the BMX'ers put him in hero status. Somehow the crusty Neil Young got the godfather of grunge status and Evel got the OG X Games status. From Vintage BMX, here's an image of the bike. The site says something about 2007, but I think this bike came out in 1999.

Jeremy Klein

The man who's behind Hook-ups makes a video in Japan. He still skates like a mother, and does some funny stuff. "I'm tired." Remember that, it's the funniest part. I can't believe he pulls that off. Would he dare do that in the USA? That's the thing about a lot of things people do when they travel. It's sort of like graffiti, you wouldn't do it in your house or if a camera wasn't on you. But the skate parts are impressive, the man still can do it right when you think he couldn't. But that burly hair and glasses... he's awesome.

Issue 50: Banned in Prison

Prison friend, Wayne Lo wrote and said he hasn't received the latest GR. It never occurred to me that something could be wrong with the content until I got a GR back from a different prison in Oregon stating that there's some article that's possibly harmful.

I'd usually assume it's the mail carrier not doing their job, or a prison guard getting off on some photo, but instead, I think it's because of this issue's fight back article. Using what every prisoner probably already knows, we showed some easy ways to make weaponry out of typical items. More in fun and theory than reality, this article might stoke some prisoner's imagination at the wrong time. So yes, issue 50 is definitely not prison friendly. Sorry Wayne, issue 51 will be fine.

Farmer's Market

I decide at the last minute to run down to the farmer's market. First person I see is Jake Yasutomi, from Yasutomi farms. They own Momotaro tomatoes in Southern California. Persimmons.. I dig the smaller kind, not the one like looks like a boob. Lettuce is all good. Butter lettuce is supposed to taste better. I'll see. Winter doesn't have the kick ass good tasting fruit, like the summer.

Paso Almonds... I thought the guy who runs this shop died when the car came barreling through the farmer's market. He's very much alive and this stuff is good.

Into the Next Stage

Click the pic to see this big enough to read. You may have to click it twice to make it zoom in.

George Johnston was one of the first person to write about GR. He could have actually been the first. It's in the same outlet, the local LA Japanese American paper, The Rafu Shimpo. Quite a nice column, and it's rad how he started writing about GR, probably at our first issue, and his latest is one of the nicest articles to come out in a while. You won't get drama or intrigue, and it might not be sexy, but it's in a nice spirit. The Rafu has been good to us since day one, and George has been there too. We've grown up a bit, and I do see him at the local market sometimes, the last, he had a baby carriage. As he got off the phone from interviewing me for this column, he was picking up his kid from pre school.

Owl and the Sparrow Independent Spirit Awards

Stephane Gauger is rolling along with his first feature Owl and the Sparrow. The Spirit Award is for films under 20 million dollars, which hardly sound indie, but oh well. Gauger's film actually is in a special categories for features under $500,000 (how much did it cost in Vietnam?). A good natured guy, I'm sure he's being hit by projects left and right, and he deserves it, his film is amazing.

His nomination was reported in the Hollywood Reporter.



I first saw Gauger playing a character in Six String Samurai. He's come a long way since. He has a small role in The Rebel as well.

Glendora

Late night run to Glendora, which is many miles away. What's there? A meal? A snack? Breakfast? It's all of those things.

Posted an entry at Hypebeast.

Try or Do

Do, or do not. There is no try. Says Yoda and other people who love to quote the troll. I always say, "I tried" or "I'm trying." And people love to give out that Yoda quote. It might be easy when Yoda sits around all day, talks nonsense and has to teach a young Jedi some tricks. That's not hard. He doesn't even have to walk since Luke carried him around like a backpack. Today someone said, "you're a do'er." That's nice, but to do, I still have to try. And try sometimes, means a lot of things. It means, I'm trying to do more than most people in a day. I'm trying to accomplish a task list that's 50 items long in a day. I'm trying to work 3 times as fast as the next person. I'm trying to work with people who aren't on the same page. I'm trying to stay focused. I'm trying to be sane, calm, and cool, when there's pressure. I'm trying to have a life at the same time as I try to do these other things all at the same time. So fuck yeah, I try everyday. The question is for those who only "do" and do not try. What are you doing that's so easy?

Angry Asian Men

I don't know if this article does it for me. I'm quoted in it, which is one of those things that I get to do. It's tough when you have no idea what direction an article is going to be go in, but here it is. Do I agree with it all? I guess, but at the same time, I don't really care. Do I agree with all Asian males are angry? No. But do I care? No. CBC published the article. And I don't think it really goes anywhere. It sort tells you that Asian males are angry, but really, it's the same situation that's been around for decades. Maybe it's different in Canada. Either way, by doing GR, and the many other projects, I hope I don't come off as being "angry". I figure, controlling our own form of media through paper and blog keeps me sane.

Iron GR Chef

Yeah, sometimes, I can do this too. On the left is simple. Brussels sprouts and carrots. I buy a bag of sprouts, but really, I don't like them in a big chunk. I grew up hating to eat these, so I slice them thin as if I were putting them on a pizza. I've seen it on a pizza before which gave me the idea to cook them thin, since I liked them that way. The carrots are just a bag of peeled small carrots which I eat raw, but also chop into veggie mixes. I have to go a bit well the sprouts to get rid of the bitterness. I cook them with salt and pepper and cooking sake. The Mahi Mahi filets, same thing, with salt and pepper and I actually have this crappy salad dressing that I can't stand. I drizzle that on the fish on both sides, and I let it rip on the grill. The larger piece was thicker, so I cooked it for a few minutes extra. Take them off early, since they seem to cook a bit more while they sit. Seems easy, and it is.

Slow News days

So it's for real. It's a cover image, the article is pretty short, and I think there's a couple of quotes in there. That's a huge image and big text. The article doesn't talk much about the mag, but it's our second cover there. Thanks AsianWeek.

The one below is the LA Times.

Views of the day

This is a sad ad. I'd never think that Charmin would do an advertisement like this, much less advertise much at all in a newspaper. But it's an ad for Dick Wilson, Mr. Whipple, the face of Charmin toilet paper. He made over 500 Charmin commercials and I guess an ad like this is his send off. Maybe they'll do some retro commercials. I'm not sure what a company can do to honor a guy who's been their main man for so long, but I hope it's more than this.

This is the inside of a switchblade. It's not working right, so we were playing with it for a couple of hours to try and figure it out. It turns out the problems are the pins that hold one of the springs in place. Tiny, but they keep coming loose, so I'll need to epoxy them to set em in a spot. My friend Shinya went to Mexico and I asked him to get me a bunch, so I think he picked up 20 pieces. As he walked to the border patrol, they were checking everyone. He was sure he was going to get pinched, but right when he got there, the border guard all of a sudden was busy doing something, so he waved him through.

Rambo, for Oscar consideration in 2008. The 2007 pictures are breathing a sigh of relief. Check out the spray paint graphics. You can have street cred with the aerosol and stencil look, the "crate" font makes it look military, and Stallone's age is hidden!

Turkey ala king

Turkey ala King is one of those things Asians do with leftovers. Basically, it's pieces of turkey, vegetables like peas, corn, and mushrooms, leftover gravy, and if you need, add some water to thin it out. It ends up being thick, and tasty. Let's say you don't want to use gravy, you can always use mushroom soup as well. Serve it over rice. It's a great treat. If you added curry, this easily becomes a curry dish. Turkey curry? Sure, why not?

Thanksgiving, Asian American style

The Buddhist altar. There's a mens and womens side to this. It's for the past generations of your family. Notice the Almond Joy as one of the "offerings." My aunt Kay liked Almond Joy candies, so without fail, my cousin Jon will put one in there. The dope thing is that Jon is a pretty different guy. He'll not care about most anything and everything. But when it comes to something about his late mother, he'll care in his own ways. I remember my mother once asking him, if he wanted to come to the temple for some reason or another. I remember him asking, "does it have anything to do with mom?" My mother answered, "no." He then said, "In that case, no."

The Almond Joy sits there as a funny reminder, not just about my aunt, but about Jon. When I see that candy sitting there, that puts a smile on my face and it makes me quickly paint a mental picture of good times past. That's half of her photo on the left.

My cousin Roger lives in San Diego with his wife Sai, they own Baiyook restaurant in the Hillcrest area. Before you think, "a Japanese family owns a Thai place?" No, Sai is Thai, and I hear she cooks there on sunday. These are their two kids, Shina and Iris. They have a lot of energy, and I think they outlasted Musashi.

My dad likes his smoke. His Giant Robot cap looks good to me.

Spicy tuna and Futomaki. California roll came later on. Those three are like the triplets of sushi rolls.

The mixture of the traditional American food, and the Japanese food make for one of the better Thanksgiving meals. Sashimi and sushi beat Turkey any day. One of the best things I heard repeated all day was, "where's the wasabi?"

After a Thanksgiving meal, the gambling begins. Poker chips and everyone sitting around watching sports highlights in between hands. I have no idea why I don't care about cards when everyone else does. My interest in football is social while theirs is quite serious. Most smoke or drink, I do neither. Hate to say it, but when the cards come out, I usually go home.

UCI in class

About 2/3 of the class came the evening before Thanksgiving at UCI. I was aiming at around 12 people, but it was a lot more. Maybe near 40. We talked about about an hour did some questions, watched a couple of people sleep. I think we can revamp our talk, and we'll do that soon. I don't know why the photo is out of focus, I swear I'm not that bad with a cam, but that's about how I remember it all. We didn't do as many talks this year, although we his 2 places in Chicago and the Walker Museum - and now UCI - we passed on another Chicago one because of deadline, and I missed the CCA one because they thought I lived in SF (it was publicized for months too). Any new questions? I guess one person asked, "what hinders us?" The quick answer is Time... is it Money? For the most part, no. Is it the lack of having 30 great staffers instead of just 15? Is it proscrastination? Is it being naturally shy and working around that?
So many possibles, but I don't feel too hindered as it is, so maybe it's a moot point.

Rafu Shimpo

Wow, this is a cool shot, one of Martin and I in a suit. It's rad how it's on the middle of the cover of the Rafu Shimpo. Ok, so when do I stop this nonsense of showing you the press we keep getting thanks to the 50 issues and the JANM exhibition? Hope you're not too tired of it, it's still just an honor.
The Column on the right, Sex Slaves. That's big news, to the left, a wartime documentary, more big news. But popular culture gets front and center. Sure, ok!



Also in a quote or something in a Daily Bruin article.

Issue 51 just went to the print shop. Proofs and all. That should shave days off the printing schedule. Now it's up to the wealthy Canadians to get it all done.

Hear Myself and Martin speak at UCI Tomorrow

It's that time where we speak at UCI. It's bolder, better, more exciting. See an exciting Powerpoint, or is it Keynote? Watch some students maybe sleep through it. See drool, tired eyes, people in pre-rage mode for Thanksgiving. You're not in this class? Who cares, just come, it's totally fine. Each time we speak there's always people from other classes sitting in. Ask questions, make us think.

Nov 21 - 4:30-6 pm, 110 Humanities
Instructional Bldg. (HIB)

full court press Giant Robot in Nylon

The Insider. This is a column type of article that runs in Nylon. It's new to me. Nylon is one of those larger mags that a lot of Giant Robot readers seem to read. We did a survey, and Nylon comes up a lot. That's pretty cool. If we had a sister magazine that was huge, I guess Nylon could be it... right? It's an honor to be in Nylon.

But you can check out the short interview here.

Hypebeast love

Wow, an interview on Hypebeast. Another honor. First I blog there, second, they interview me and take pics. Then it gets published. Hope people read it and

Here's a link to the interview.
Good job on words and pics Daniel Ahn, thanks Kevin Ma. Much appreciated.

Asian Week

Could it really be? This would be odd since I don't think I talked to anyone there about this. We did send them images of GR covers. But either way, it's pretty insane looking on the cover. I wondered if they do this for every article, but I don't think so. Masakatsu Sashie's art.

Asian Week

View from a Loft

Sociology time

This is what a bunch of dudes playing cards looks like. A sausage party of epic proportions. Some softball guys, some family, and their friends. I think this is the stuff that's missing these days with so much internet, so many glitzy casinos, and hipster bars. Imagine, substitute KFC with stir fried tofu and braised green beans, get rid of the candy and add tiramisu and maybe Scoops ice cream, and beer for fruit smoothies, then get rid of the cards altogether.



Substitute cards for board games like Scrabble or Risk, or better yet D&D, and that's how people used to do it way back in the day. It's all cool. Dude time counts too. There was also a UFC being aired earlier in the evening.

Downtown News

Latest Biennale News write up. I'll keep posting stuff until I can't handle it anymore. I guess! There's more coming, I'll be putting that up too when I get a chance. It's cool they quote JANM art director guy, Clement in it, and it's cool how we got on the same page first before doing any press type stuff. He called and casually asked me some questions first, then he got set and did some talking. That's smart prep.

The LA Downtown News.

Law and Order

So this comes up in the news. It's an old photo, and supposedly in the background is Lincoln riding into Gettysburg to make that speech. He's sporting that top hat, and looking good. But is it him? Well, let's just zoom in, of course, we'll be able to tell. Every time I watch a cop show, they can zoom into a corner of a shot and then they'll say, "ENHANCE". So with that, they can sharpen anything and make it tack sharp so you can see what's going on. It should be clear. Well, the technology blows... See the below. Is it Lincoln? He's as small as a pinhead in the above photo... and well, "ENHANCE, motherfucker, ENHANCE!" No dice, that's not Lincoln.

tour time

Led a tour today as a curator. That's something new. Glad I had something akin to a bullhorn to power my way. Thanks to the Intertrend crew who made it out. It was like 50? It's hard to know what to say about each artist. I know each fairly well, some really well. Do I give out a morsel of personal information? Do I embarass them since they're not around? I try and do a little of each but not enough to bum them out. Gary Baseman is the easiest target and I don't think you can ever say too much about the dude. Why is that? The photo above is a shot that I wanted to get before. All 50 mags in one place. It's neat that way.

Fecal thanks.

You know your show works when it's on fecalface. Biennale is up there. It's all of my stuff, they did a good job making me look good. But I'm excited for Uglycon and Hidden Habitats coming to GRSF and GR2. The postcards will be up real soon and these should amaze! See fecal here.









I'm scared of the video, since it's really hard to watch yourself, but maybe one of you will find humor in it. I promise I won't watch it, ever.

Article Toys R Art

Artillery magazine recently published an article on the toy show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. It's great to see toys getting some exposure. We've been covering toys for ages, and it's almost passed us by, it's up to everyone else to pick up the pieces these days.

The show is done by LATDA who are a new group who are celebrating toys! What can be better? It makes mention of our first foray into designer toys thanks to Michael Lau. But do check out the show if you can. It features a lot of our friends. If you want to read it, click on the image. I think it'll work.

Martin Ontiveros

Martin Ontiveros came through to GR2. His paintings are large and vibrant, and this patch is too cool. It's hard to describe how he gets to his final image. It's as if he's using simple geometric shapes and connecting them to create another. I'll post more images, but a simple patch in my hand, and I'm happy.

Paper Mag L.A. Project 24 Hour Department Store at 9am

Yes, Paper Magazine is here again. These pics are from this morning at 9am. I wanted to see what the hipsters looked like tired. I'm sure they look better by night. Juiced up, happy, and raving. A few booths were unpersoned. I suppose they crashed out. Undefeated had no one. Ooga Booga? No one. A couple of others, no one. This is all happening on La Brea, and after a long night, the 24 shop needs to roll on. This is the first thing you see when you walk in. I wonder if they wanted to be seen sleeping to be the perfect blogger fodder.

The place looked alright for a make shift shop. The scaffolding was a great idea. It's plastic wrap around it, so in the end, it looked like a nice structure at a low price. Pretty smart design.

Orange 20 was there and had a bike hung up. They people working there even wore their bike helmets. Bike geeks are cool. Scaffolding offers a lot of opportunities. It was quite clean though, unlike the scaffolding my dad owns that are pretty grimey.

Another cool thing about scaffolding is it's super strong, you can lay down planks and create a second floor.

One shop sold Tobias Wong's products. Matchbooks $3. Box cutter $95. He even has the $2000 iphone Citizen product (ed. 50) that doesn't seem to do much. But it's art. Tobias Wong is a trip.

Cybelle from Family. Ex-GR. We will never forgive her. She was the only chipper looking person at 9am. She deserves a prize.

Polaroid station. Do it framed.

Colette was doing their thing. The person working there was a kid from Paper magazine. He didn't quite know about prices on anything, but he had some NYC style. I think. How much was that KAWS collab deck anyway? I never found out.

Being near the synagogues brings out the kids. Think a shop called Cin-a-gog is a good idea? I just thought of that.

Geoff McFetrdige did some drawings on the plastic.

It was the coolest thing there.

I bet no one saw it or cared.

The plastic became worth more than the scaffolding.

A suited security guard stood his ground in the front. I didn't buy anything, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Should you?