San Francisco Chronicle

Here's an 11 things: Giant Robot I did recently. Thanks much SF Chronicle!

Meena Horvath and the Datsun Bluebird Hotwheel

Children! Meena hams it up for the cameras every time. She knows what she's doing! Eyelashes galore. The Horvaths are back in town. It's great to have them here again. It's nice to see Sun-min who visits a little bit less often, but now I'll see them a lot.

David gave me a present. A Datsun 510!

Takashi Murakami art in Asian Pop Porn

Whoa... mesmerizing. This is one of those times, when you look at the image, and then you don't realize there's a background. But this time, yes, there is a background, it's a Takashi Murakami painting. It's in the right form, three pieces and large, but what is it? Who made it? It's on thin sheets of wood which are bending, and it's quite an odd sight. There's really porn in the foreground? Who's apartment is this? Kanye West? Dan of art duo kozyndan sent me these pics today. Of course, I gave it the pixelization.

Dentist

I must enjoy pain or something. I'm sitting in my dentist chair, and my dentist is sharpening the tools that are going to tear up my gums. It feels bad, but it feels good too in a way, since I know the pieces of calcified crap is coming out of my mouth. I learned a lot from this dentist visit. It was odd and interesting.

1. Grinding teeth. I used to do it I guess and there's tons of evidence in my teeth. There's smooth spots everywhere. She was aghast.
2. In my case, the grinding came from my orthodontic work from when I was in elementary school. I had tons of teeth pulled for braces (14). Why didn't the other dentists fill me in?
3. Grinding teeth can lead to headaches and neck aches.
4. A lot of hygienists take it easy, since they don't handle giving out pain well. That means, a less good cleaning.
5. My teeth are strong. I can go years without a cleaning and I'll be fine.

On the way to the dentist office, I saw this. I used it too. It's a machine to pay for parking. It's so funny and dumb that they make it in the shape of a giant parking meter.

Alivenotdead Back to Back

If you don't, you should check out alivenotdead.com once in a while. They put two of my blog posts in the special artist updates. The Papershapers video and the Monterey Bay pics. They're not always up there, since it's random, but I logged in and poof, there they were back to back. alivenotdead.

Jay Ryan for Patagonia

Chicago's own Jay Ryan, The Bird Machine himself has a couple of shirts with Patagonia. I saw a tiny thumbnail and poof, it was so obvious who did these. It's a perfect match. I stopped by his studio a bit ago and I think his work and studio is quite great. I like the fact that his dad works there with him packing prints for orders.
Blog about Jay.
Mega Fauna (the group portrait)
Swimmy link (the polar bear)
The Bird Machine.

3x3 Boys and Girls

Boys who lunch. Bobby Kim, Joe Hahn, and James Jean. You probably know who they are and what they do. I don't know why, but I guess we all had time at the same time.

Girls who make magazines. Jens, Tomomi, and Kana. They make JPy and interviewed me today.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium. I've been there a bunch of times now and the place never ceases to amaze. It has to be the best in the world, right? I enjoy all of it. I'm pretty sure my favorite place within is the jellyfish. You don't get to see them often and the lighting helps a lot. I also enjoy the huge tank that has the Bluefin tunas which weight something like 400 pounds. When you see them swim fast, you know they could easily impale a human. Where was the mola mola? The sun fish might be my favorite fish of all. Maybe it's better that they stay in the wild.

This is great, it's like watching a movie. You can sit back and take it all in. I like schools of fish.

The stare down.

Dragonfish. I think that's what it's called. It's a seahorse in the end.

The crab master

I'm tucking this at the end:
Here's one idea. They sell memberships, and if you're rich, sure, why not? But if you're not, why don't they make the memberships sort of like a subscription. You pay up front and you can go in let's say three times which would cover the price of the membership (let's say it's $90 - an entry fee is $30) So basically you pay up front. Otherwise, you buy a membership, and if you don't go back, then that's cool, but these days, it would be nice to know that you can pay up front and just use it when you go back, whether it's in two or three years or even more. I'm guessing a huge percentage won't go back anytime soon, some will forget, some will even lose their membership card, so the aquarium is getting fronted money to operate with, and I'm sure people in the middle would totally do this.

GR 15 years at GRSF

That's Dan Ryan and his wife who took the photos of the homeless folks in Japan over twenty years ago. The work was in black and white, and you can imagine the timelessness of the imagery. I've never met Dan, but he sent in a portfolio unsolicited and we used the photos. He was stoked, and he said that because of the excitement and maybe creative juices that flowed from the spread, he's now pursuing graphic design! The art show itself was fun, the art looks great, Goh Nakamura did his thing, and it was nice to see friends.

See photos in transmissions.
The art will be up shortly here.

Furie and Aiyanna

Mai and Joe To

From Mario to Parappa

Some Ramen Text since I'm missing the talk in SF.

One of my main points about ramen is that, it's often judged by people with a Yelp like mentality. I enjoy Yelp, but imagine... you're a kid who eats a lot of ramen, including the packaged kind, but you've never tried Ramen in Japan. You write reviews like you know it, but the best ramen you've had might be at a shop somewhere in LA. Do you really know what you're talking about? It's a huge genre, and a frank Japanese person might say, everything in the US is bullshit. There's a few stellar places mostly in New York, Setagaya Ramen... Ippudo... But it's food. Everyone judges food, since everyone eats it daily, and the reviews still help most of the time since maybe the reviews will steer you to the best in that city. Yet what is great ramen?

What I look for in Ramen
1 Soup. It obviously has to be right. It's not just soy sauce and water. Some places make a strong broth that smells of instant packets. Good ramen shouldn't be Oriental flavor. Ideally, it's Salt, Soysauce, or Tonkotsu and done right. The "just right" is near impossible to describe, it's a somewhat of a schooled taste. You have to try the best and the worst in shops in both the USA and Japan.
2 Noodles. It has to fit the ramen. Is it straight, curly, overcooked, undercooked. Most ramen noodles in the US is typical, and they're probably all using the same brand. It's hard to judge based on the US parameters.
3 Size. A lot of people judge ramen based on a huge bowl that they can't finish. I'd rather have a small bowl done right.
4 Toppings. A great way to judge a place is it's simplicity. Try the first thing on the menu.
5 Who eats there. If it's a ton of Japanese folks from Japan, you're on the right track. Busy doesn't mean great.

Behavior
1 Fast ordering. Be ready and order quick. Most places will expect you to order the second you sit down.
2 Leave nothing, leave fast. If it's awesome, eat it all. Most don't do this in this day of health and quantity of ramen served. Don't sit around and talk about Japanese movies. Leave, there's people waiting. Ramen is a fast food.
3 Manga Reading. This is okay in Japan since it's sort of part of the culture. People don't pay attention to each other in ramen shops. Even if it's a guy and a girl.
4 Condiments. If you add a lot of condiments you're doomed. I see people adding soysauce to their ramen. That can't be good.
5 Order Ramen. Some people go to a ramen place and order everything but the ramen. Does that tell you anything about the shop?

Weird Ramens
1 Tenshinmen. It's a egg omelet with a gravy served over noodles. It's massive. Ramenya in West LA has this. I don't see this often, and I dare not eat it anymore.
2 Mabo Ramen. Heavy since it's ground pork and tofu, it's also served on ramen. This is more common and a great throwback in a way to China, where ramen is from. But at the same time, it's junky.
3 Green Grocer Ramen. Green veggies like broccoli and carrots, often it's vegan or "vegetarian" stock. This is bad and a ramen that you might need to add soysauce.
4 Wagamama ramen. It's in London. At near $15-20, it's original and a strange ramen.
5 Ramen in a can. It was tested in Akihabara from a vending machine. Dorks who can't be social enough to order in a small shop can go to a machine.

Transformers 2

That's the lot where I saw Transformers last night. Friends and Family related to the music element. One thing I didn't know was that the music in the film is orchestrated from the Linkin Park song. So I heard bits and pieces of the New Divide songs in cover form. The movie doesn't need any more help. It'll sell a billions worth in a matter of weeks. It's hard to say you hate it, when the special effects, story, and grandeur are over the top. That's my review and that's all I need to give. You should eventually see this. Of course the Paramount screening room is amazing. The sound and picture are crisp and tight. That helps too.

Papershapers Video 8 minutes

It feels like it's been months since Papershapers took place, and the video documentary is finally done. It's cool that they do this, but I'm not quite sure why they do this months later. Here's my original blog post link to the show. Check it out if you haven't, and this video is pretty cool too.
link to post.

No Love of Ramen for me tomorrow in SF

It looks like I'm missing the panel, For the Love of Ramen tomorrow. It's unfortunate, but a plane ticket snafu is causing this. Ever use a travel voucher instead of an e-ticket? What the heck? No travel voucher in hand means, no plane flight for me. For each panel I've been on which take place in other places, I've never had to book my own ticket using a voucher. Usually accomodations are taken care of by the folks who want you there.

However, the panel should still be great. I might post what I was working on for this panel for you to peruse. Ramen is a fun food and I've eaten it on three continents. Asianculinaryforum.

Transformers 2 opening - Linkin Park in Westwood

Transformers 2. That's the red carpet... It was a huge red carpet in Westwood Village for what might end up being one of the biggest movies ever. They blocked off the streets and it was a huge event. Linkin Park played at 10pm after the movie premiere to a packed crowd. They're calling this a secret show, but it was hardly secret since it seemed like everyone knew what was up. Kroq gave away wrist bands, and one dude got in because he said he was with me. Gladly we got to meet up with Mr Hahn afterwards to say, great job. I've known Joe for a bit, and when I met him, I couldn't say I knew one song by his band, and now I know a bunch.



I even shot some video for those of you who couldn't get in. Check it out at our Youtube channel.

Jayne and Noel.

David Choe X Giant Robot City Girl

City Girl. What does that mean to you? It's David Choe's most popular print, but really... I'll fill you in. City Girl is the Kevin Shields song from Lost in Translation. At the time, David and I both was digging the movie (even with the racist type stuff in it), and the song was the perfect blend of shoegaze, indie, and everything. Naturally, David combines a cute girl, a city, and a print. Thankfully, a couple years later, we have the shirt. Get it here.