Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The holidays are already here, and it feels like January 1st, 2013 was only yesterday. The high points of the year are plenty for me and like in the past, my life is always tied into Giant Robot. 1 January first is always special. In 2013, it was another spectacular Japanese feast. It’s called Osechi ryori, which is another word for New Years food. They do mix into a blur, but it’s been great enough where I know that January 1 starts off special. Maybe that’s why it’s a big deal in Japan. 2 January at the shop featured Adam Pfahler from Jawbreaker who did a nostalgic talk about being in a legendary band that everyone loves. It was perhaps the best way to open up a year. He mixed his effervescent humbleness with storytelling. He said it was his first time doing any kind of public talk and it was much overdue. (Pfahler at GR , also some Video here) 3 The Los Angeles Times featured the Giant Robot Biennale on the front page of the Calendar section with a huge photo and an in depth article. That was amazing coverage for the exhibition and JANM. I almost forgot about this major piece of press. If it were only about press, then I’d be satisfied, but no! Here’s that article (LA Times) 4 Jessica Lum passed away this year. Imagine, a gnarly form of cancer, she undergoes experimental treatment, slowly gets better, then goes to grad school and achieves some of her dreams and tells her story. I’m glad to have known her and was part of her life. (Jessica Lum Obituary – GR) Also later in the year, Columbian Journalism Review wrote about her (CJR - here) and they reference GR a couple of times. 5 Artist Friends Video series for Ashton Kutcher’s Thrash Lab YouTube channel. I’m glad I was able to feature six more artists including Shizu Saldamando, Luke Chueh, David Horvath, Edwin Ushiro, Rob Sato and Sean Chao. It was a pleasure shooting and directing the videos which means I got to spend time with them. The series began as a “for fun” project where I directed, shot and edited six pieces including Ray Sato from Balconi, Ako Castuera, Goh Nakamura (who provides all the music), Jeni Yang, Hitotzuki, and Ito Jakuchu. Fun times with filmmaking. (Videos here) 6 White House visit for Asian American Heritage Month – and also helping get some artists to visit as well just a week later with Michelle Obama. It’s a grand opportunity to visit the POTUS in his house. The “once in a lifetime event” happened again and just a week later, a small crew of GR related artists had the chance to visit as well. It was fun giving tips on things to check out while they’re in there. (Story at GR)
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The holidays are already here, and it feels like January 1st, 2013 was only yesterday. The high points of the year are plenty for me and like in the past, my life is always tied into Giant Robot. 1 January first is always special. In 2013, it was another spectacular Japanese feast. It’s called Osechi ryori, which is another word for New Years food. They do mix into a blur, but it’s been great enough where I know that January 1 starts off special. Maybe that’s why it’s a big deal in Japan. 2 January at the shop featured Adam Pfahler from Jawbreaker who did a nostalgic talk about being in a legendary band that everyone loves. It was perhaps the best way to open up a year. He mixed his effervescent humbleness with storytelling. He said it was his first time doing any kind of public talk and it was much overdue. (Pfahler at GR , also some Video here) 3 The Los Angeles Times featured the Giant Robot Biennale on the front page of the Calendar section with a huge photo and an in depth article. That was amazing coverage for the exhibition and JANM. I almost forgot about this major piece of press. If it were only about press, then I’d be satisfied, but no! Here’s that article (LA Times) 4 Jessica Lum passed away this year. Imagine, a gnarly form of cancer, she undergoes experimental treatment, slowly gets better, then goes to grad school and achieves some of her dreams and tells her story. I’m glad to have known her and was part of her life. (Jessica Lum Obituary – GR) Also later in the year, Columbian Journalism Review wrote about her (CJR - here) and they reference GR a couple of times. 5 Artist Friends Video series for Ashton Kutcher’s Thrash Lab YouTube channel. I’m glad I was able to feature six more artists including Shizu Saldamando, Luke Chueh, David Horvath, Edwin Ushiro, Rob Sato and Sean Chao. It was a pleasure shooting and directing the videos which means I got to spend time with them. The series began as a “for fun” project where I directed, shot and edited six pieces including Ray Sato from Balconi, Ako Castuera, Goh Nakamura (who provides all the music), Jeni Yang, Hitotzuki, and Ito Jakuchu. Fun times with filmmaking. (Videos here) 6 White House visit for Asian American Heritage Month – and also helping get some artists to visit as well just a week later with Michelle Obama. It’s a grand opportunity to visit the POTUS in his house. The “once in a lifetime event” happened again and just a week later, a small crew of GR related artists had the chance to visit as well. It was fun giving tips on things to check out while they’re in there. (Story at GR)
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This exhibition is taking place quite soon and as much as I’d like to be there, I won’t make it. Once upon a time, I studied photography. It’s a longer more involved story, but I was decent and even participation in student exhibitions and even an alumni one. It’s nice to have a chance to show a piece of my work again. The exhibition begins tomorrow and there will be a reception on the 19th at ROPPONGI 605. My photo below is called Milky and it was shot during the Perseid meteor shower earlier this year. I used a Ricoh GR on a RAW setting. I actually forgot my tripod and had to figure out other means. The photo was near Pyramid Lake which is an hour and a half north of LA. When I look at the Milky Way Galaxy, I’m… “not expecting any return”. Gallery Lara Tokyo + Cafemode present HOMING PIGEON「伝書鳩」 Edition 2 : Tokyo group photo exhibit curated by Kio Griffith ARTISTS RECEPTION: OCTOBER 19, 2013 from 6 to 9pm EXHIBIT RUNS: OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 19, 2013 FREE ADMISSION ROPPONGI 605 7-5-11Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 106-0032. Casa Grande Miwa 6th Floor Wednesday through Saturday noon to 7pm and by appointment 〒106-0032 東京都港区六本木 7-5-11 カサグランデ･ミワ６階 605 水曜日から土曜日、12:00-19:00 http://gallerylara.com/ cafeartmusic.com featuring: Naoko Akiyama | Douglas Alvarez | Michael Arata | Yajuro Bando | Terri Berman | Nick Brown | Ako Castuera | Sean Chao | Sijia Chen | Sally Coates | Emily Counts | Ludmil Dimitrov | Veronica Duarte | Mark Dutcher | Shigenori Ebata | Aya Niibo Edamoto | Doug Eisenstark | Gabriel Escalante | Roni Feldman | Jon Flack | Shingo Francis | David French | Rema Ghuloum | Aaron Giesel | Allen D Glass II | Mat Gleason | Dean Gojobori | Kio Griffith | Michelle Carla Handel | Doug Harvey | Shisei Hashimura | Jun Hiraoka | Lusine Hovsepian | Bryan Ida | Mari Inukai | Aska Irie | Ichiro Irie | Yoko Irino | Tomoyuki Iwanami | William Kaminski | Virginia Katz | Phil Kim | Kohl King | Celia Ko | Minako Kumagai | Gil Kuno | Masumi Kuramochi | Michelle Lai | Jeremiah La Torre | Aleve Mei Loh | Leora Lutz | Yumiko Matsui | Douglas McNamee | Jon Measures | Adam D Miller | Shinnosuke Murakami | Masami Murao | Misato Nagare | Eric Nakamura | Clary Newell | Tony Ng | Emily Noguchi | Devon Oder | Shinichi Ono | Kazuyuki Ozonoe | Sara Pae | Kosta Potamianos | Max Presneill | Eron Rauch | Max Razdow | Christy Roberts | Satoshi Saegusa | Chigusa Saga | Samvel Saghatelian | Chiaki Saito | Ray Sato | Rob Sato | Tomoaki Sato | Nicolas Shake | Mika Soma | RIccardo Spinotti | Kenji Tajiri | Mayumi Tanaka | Ken Tatewaki | Ilan Terrell | Devon Tsuno | Mike Vegas | Minoru Yamaguchi | Fujio Yamazaki | Will T. Yang | Michiko Yao | Akihiro Yasugi | Kouichiro Yoshio and more…...
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This exhibition is taking place quite soon and as much as I’d like to be there, I won’t make it. Once upon a time, I studied photography. It’s a longer more involved story, but I was decent and even participation in student exhibitions and even an alumni one. It’s nice to have a chance to show a piece of my work again. The exhibition begins tomorrow and there will be a reception on the 19th at ROPPONGI 605. My photo below is called Milky and it was shot during the Perseid meteor shower earlier this year. I used a Ricoh GR on a RAW setting. I actually forgot my tripod and had to figure out other means. The photo was near Pyramid Lake which is an hour and a half north of LA. When I look at the Milky Way Galaxy, I’m… “not expecting any return”. Gallery Lara Tokyo + Cafemode present HOMING PIGEON「伝書鳩」 Edition 2 : Tokyo group photo exhibit curated by Kio Griffith ARTISTS RECEPTION: OCTOBER 19, 2013 from 6 to 9pm EXHIBIT RUNS: OCTOBER 9 – OCTOBER 19, 2013 FREE ADMISSION ROPPONGI 605 7-5-11Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 106-0032. Casa Grande Miwa 6th Floor Wednesday through Saturday noon to 7pm and by appointment 〒106-0032 東京都港区六本木 7-5-11 カサグランデ･ミワ６階 605 水曜日から土曜日、12:00-19:00 http://gallerylara.com/ cafeartmusic.com featuring: Naoko Akiyama | Douglas Alvarez | Michael Arata | Yajuro Bando | Terri Berman | Nick Brown | Ako Castuera | Sean Chao | Sijia Chen | Sally Coates | Emily Counts | Ludmil Dimitrov | Veronica Duarte | Mark Dutcher | Shigenori Ebata | Aya Niibo Edamoto | Doug Eisenstark | Gabriel Escalante | Roni Feldman | Jon Flack | Shingo Francis | David French | Rema Ghuloum | Aaron Giesel | Allen D Glass II | Mat Gleason | Dean Gojobori | Kio Griffith | Michelle Carla Handel | Doug Harvey | Shisei Hashimura | Jun Hiraoka | Lusine Hovsepian | Bryan Ida | Mari Inukai | Aska Irie | Ichiro Irie | Yoko Irino | Tomoyuki Iwanami | William Kaminski | Virginia Katz | Phil Kim | Kohl King | Celia Ko | Minako Kumagai | Gil Kuno | Masumi Kuramochi | Michelle Lai | Jeremiah La Torre | Aleve Mei Loh | Leora Lutz | Yumiko Matsui | Douglas McNamee | Jon Measures | Adam D Miller | Shinnosuke Murakami | Masami Murao | Misato Nagare | Eric Nakamura | Clary Newell | Tony Ng | Emily Noguchi | Devon Oder | Shinichi Ono | Kazuyuki Ozonoe | Sara Pae | Kosta Potamianos | Max Presneill | Eron Rauch | Max Razdow | Christy Roberts | Satoshi Saegusa | Chigusa Saga | Samvel Saghatelian | Chiaki Saito | Ray Sato | Rob Sato | Tomoaki Sato | Nicolas Shake | Mika Soma | RIccardo Spinotti | Kenji Tajiri | Mayumi Tanaka | Ken Tatewaki | Ilan Terrell | Devon Tsuno | Mike Vegas | Minoru Yamaguchi | Fujio Yamazaki | Will T. Yang | Michiko Yao | Akihiro Yasugi | Kouichiro Yoshio and more…...
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It’s always an honor to be interviewed by old faces from great places. Thanks Duane Fernandez. The intro paragraphs are much too complimentary. I hope you read it anyway. Here is an excerpt: “My first interaction with the Giant Robot brand was over 14 years ago in Tucson, Arizona, in the magazine section of a Border’s bookstore. There it was, just sitting there waiting to deconstruct every preconceived notion I had of what a magazine should be. That moment would impact my life forever; I’d never look at media the same way again.” What did you want to be when you were a kid? I wanted to be a world champion pro tennis player with the style of Bjorn Borg and the heart of John McEnroe. Much more at Left Field Project
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