Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
This is the Giant Robot booth. The event was pleasant thanks to the nice weather, decent booth set up, comfortable vibe, and location. I wasn’t there all day to hear what negatives there are. As each year passes, this event improves, and we’ll be there next year too. Carol Channing! This is a photo from the panel. Joe Escalante, Myself, and Martin. We talked about Asian pop culture and publishing. Joe makes stuff like this easy, and he’s quick and funny. This woman makes these trippy zipper tyes. Thomas Nakanishi Blinky Sasha and Cate That’s our friend Alexis. We haven’t seen him in a long, long time. Novelist Naomi Hirahara 2nd from left.
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Indie games? Check out IndieCade! Although most of the games are really cutting edge, they’re almost too cutting edge and bordering on fine art. Some are genius in game play, some in concept, and some utilize hardware better than others. It’s a juried exhibition and there are panels and more. I saw it referred to as a Sundance festival for games. No. That’s total crap. It’s more like an art fair but with games, and much less product as compared to an art fair. Yet, it’s really great work and fun to see. This game, you design the levels that you jump on with paper, pen, and a camera than scans it all in while you sit there. Then you have to play it. This isn’t a videogame. Yet, it’s actually quite deep. You wouldn’t know it until you play it… It’s about the holocaust. Adam and Brandon. Keita Takahashi from Katamari. He draws characters and shapes on the sidewalk. This is just weird. I think he drank too much and fell down. This dude created a fun iPhone game. I solved it and got the toughest result. Victory. He seemed somewhat surprised.
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We dared to re-shoot the 1997 photo. I think the prize goes to Michael on the upper right. Look at his face on both. Amazing. 1997-2009. 12 years have passed and honestly, I didn’t have enough time with everyone and it actually would have been nice to talk a little bit longer. It really was important, but honestly, at 20 minutes our panel was much too short. I left it all very unsatisfied. I think there were plenty of questions that could and would have been asked, and it would have been nice to hear from everyone about them. What little we did talk about was interesting, but just barely scratched the surface. In case you don’t know. That’s Chris Chan Lee, Justin Lin, Rea Tajiri, Myself, Quentin Lee, and Michael Aki. The rest of the photos are just some images from the green room, right before we went up there. Click here to hear the Podcast of the panel discussion.or link to iTunes more photos up at flickr.
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I felt that having a GR like big crazy group show during the Biennale captures something we do quite often. Here are the names in this unofficial Giant Robot press release. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 YearsOctober 24, 2009 – January 24, 2010Opening reception: Saturday, October 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Japanese American National Museum369 East First StreetLos Angeles, CA 90012janm.org (213) 625-0414 In 1994, Giant Robot was born with the purpose of documenting and promoting new, up-and-coming, underdog, overlooked, and hybrid Asian and Asian-American popular culture. Fifteen years later, the self-published magazine has not only evolved from a stapled-and-folded zine into a full-color, glossy publication with an international following, but also opened trend-setting shops and influential art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. To celebrate the magazine’s longevity, energy, and loyal readership, the second Giant Robot Biennale is being hosted by the Japanese American National Museum in Downtown Los Angeles from October 24, 2009 to January 24, 2010. The event will feature several exhibits, including the following: To provide a visual overview of the Giant Robot aesthetic, publisher Eric Nakamura is curating artwork by individuals who have contributed to shows at Giant Robot’s galleries, been featured in the pages of the magazine, or even contributed cover art. The main hall will include installations by David Choe, Theo Ellsworth, James Jean, kozyndan, Stella Lai, Jack Long, Albert Reyes, Souther Salazar, Rob Sato, Jeff Soto, and Deth P. Sun. A second hall will include the contributions of more than 50 others, including: Aaron BrownAiyana UdesenAko CastueraAllison ColeAndrew HolderAndrew Jeffrey WrightAndrice ArpAna SerranoApakBen KingBigfootBrian Rush Bwana SpoonsChristine CastroChristopher BettigDan-ah KimDaria TesslerEd TraskEdwin UshiroEleanor DavisEmilio SantoyoEsther Pearl WatsonHannah StoufferHellen JoJames KochalkaJay RyanJeffery BrownJen CoraceJeremy TinderJoe ToJon BurgermanKaori KasaiKatherine GuillenKelly Lynn JonesKerry HorvathLuke ChuehMarci WashingtonMari InukaiMark ToddMatt FurieMegan WhitmarshMike PerryMunkaoNikki McClurePCPPhil LumbangProdipRama HughesRenee FrenchRobert BellmScrappersSidney PinkSteven WeissmanYellena JamesKiyoshi NakazawaThomas Han The photography of longtime magazine contributor Ben Clark will also be featured in a retrospective. Clark’s powerful images from past issues will be displayed in a larger, more vibrant print format, accompanied by recollections, explanations, and other ramblings by editor Martin Wong. The roots of Asian popular culture—the kaiju scene introduced by Godzilla, Gamera, other giant monsters, and the toy industry they spawned—will be paid tribute to by a run of collaborative works made by Japanese indie sculptor and artist Yukinori Dehara, UglyDolls co-creator David Horvath, and Portland, OR-based underground toy legend LeMerde. In addition, five custom videogames have been developed by the Attract Mode collective in conjunction with some of Giant Robot’s favorite artists. Many games were made exclusively for the Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF (March-April, 2009), and they be available for play once more throughout the exhibition’s stint. The artist and developer pairings include Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong, and Derek Yu; Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy; Souther Salazar and Petri Purho; J. Otto Seibold and Kyle Pulver; and Deth P. Sun and Jonathan “Cactus” Soderstrom. An opening reception will take place from...
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Kicks Hawaii! These are nice. The leather has that perfect new school Louis Vuitton like texture. I like the lazy laces, just my style. The white is quite nice, and the subtle trim makes this cool. It’s not overdone. It has a great balance of style. These are quite classy. Of course a percentage goes to a disease fighting charity. I know these aren’t super new, but new to me is good enough.
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