Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
What was once a normal Korean American girl named Jennifer Lee was transformed by a primordial soup of an upper-middle-class Torrance, Calif. upbringing, classical piano, R&B, hip-hop and Japanese anime into TokiMonsta, a wildly eclectic contemporary composer with a growing global following. Tapped by Ryuichi Sakamoto a couple of weeks ago to collaborate on his “Odakias” anti-nuclear project earlier this month along with Japanese avant-garde musician Otomo Yoshihide and rapper Shing02, Tokimonsta is blowin’ up! [youtube]zCnmmrYIXrw[/youtube] Yeah, “eclectic:” a truly overused term. But TokiMonsta owns it. Her sound has been described as “vast textural soundscapes by utilizing live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation, and dusty vinyl. ” Okay [youtube]-i5jP5DwrRw[/youtube] “I just like everything. I get bored easily, so having options, like, I can’t make this beat. You know what? On my Google Readers– on the bookmarks– I have pop culture blogs, I have fashion blogs, I have art blogs, I have advertising blogs because I think advertising is also really captivating– the mentality–’Wow! How did they think of that? That’s really clever.’” Get a taste of TokiMonsta’s Sa Mo Jung (2011) To this point in the arc of TokiMonsta, Christine Kakaire’s “monsta” 2,000-word essay-interview with Jennifer Lee is perhaps the mos in-depth verbiage on Tokimonsta evar inked. Or, maybe, the best inside look into Tokimonsta was the Dumbfounded-DJ Zo TokiMonsta podcast of September 2011 on knocksteady.com. Too bad: only a few telltale traces of it remain. [youtube]sn4kVtuEmMU[/youtube]
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DAVE KIERSH AFTERNOON SPECIAL GRAPHIC NOVEL + FREE PRINT SUNDAY, JULY 9, 3-5PM Giant Robot is proud to host Dave Kiersh, an indie comics hero. Kiersh has been working in the indie comics space for years and has slowly gained a loyal audience. His style is freely drawn and appears effortless and calming. It’s realistic and nostalgic. Afterschool Special is an illustrated romance concerning two teenage outsiders navigating a suburban landscape through nostalgia and personal dilemmas. This 132 page full color perfect bound book includes affectionate nods to abandoned parking lots, late night B-movies and trashy amusement parks. Fully written, illustrated and published by Dave Kiersh. First offset printing and limited to 700 copies. Dave Kiersh was born in 1979. He is also the creator of Dirtbags, Mallchicks and Motorbikes, his first full color book, which was published in 2009 with the assistance of a Xeric Grant. Afterschool Special went to print as the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. He has been self-publishing his own comics since 1999. >> LEGO MINIFIGURES SERIES 7 Awesome array of everyone’s favorite mini figures, Lego people! In this blind bag you may get a Nerd, Punk Girl, Bride, Warrior, Viking Woman, Space Pirate, Bagpipes Man, Aztec Warrior, Ape Man, Hippie, Bunny Suit Man, Swimmer, Black Knight, Red Riding Hood, Tennis Player, Sea King. MEAT BUN DAYTONABOT T-SHIRT From Meat Bun: “HORNET lives for speed, finding true happiness while trading paint in a crowded stock car race. Considers himself a “high-class” racer, but has no problem getting his tires dirty.” MEAT BUN PASSING BREEZE T-SHIRT From Meatbun: “Grab your girl, put the top down and crank up your favorite “Splash Wave” radio station and let the magical sound shower wash over you like a passing breeze…” TOTORO 150 PIECE MINI JIGSAW PUZZLE (SIT) Make Totoro appear piece by piece in this 150 piece mini jigsaw puzzle. Beautiful enough to display! TOTORO 300 PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE (GRASS) Make Totoro appear piece by piece in this 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. Beautiful enough to display! TOTORO 300 PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE (MOON) Make Totoro appear piece by piece in this 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. Beautiful enough to display! TOTORO 150 PIECE MINI JIGSAW PUZZLE (FLY) Make Totoro appear piece by piece in this 150 piece mini jigsaw puzzle. Beautiful enough to display! JUN KUNG, DANIEL WU, AND PRODIP LEUNG ON PLAYBACK IS A BITCH By MARTIN WONG Upon returning home from the Drummer’s Collective in New York City, ace musician Jun Kung began his career as a rock musician. Despite winning the 2000 Hong Kong Commercial Radio Music Award for New Artist, Jun was quickly disillusioned by Hong Kong’s music industry. Instead, he became the most demanded drummer in Canto-pop and went on to collaborate with the likes of Jacky Cheung, Eason Chan, and Faye Wong. It wasn’t until 2010 that he returned to making his own music with Jun K, released on his friend Daniel Wu’s Revolution label. Upon...
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YUKINORI DEHARA FIGURE EXHIBITION JUNE 30 – JULY 25, 2012 RECEPTION: SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 6:30-10PM + ARTIST TALK & CLAY MODELING WORKSHOP SUNDAY, JULY 1, 3-5PM The Salaryman in Japan, is an underpaid and understated workforce who work long hours and have forged a lifestyle that is strongly responsible for the economic miracle of post World War 2 Japan. Today they wander the streets after their long day, drinking and frolicking until they head home to their family, only to face the same thing the following day. Satoshi is this person but has a friend, a beast named Morlin. We’ll be sure to feature clay sculptures and more from Yukinori Dehara. We’ve featured Japanese artist, Yukinori Dehara annually and his exhibitions range from being touching to grotesque. Yet like most artists, he has a deep ideology behind his pieces although to the casual observer, they look like fun. >> TREESON PLUSH KEYCHAIN Treeson maybe the sweetest looking forest fellow in the world. Now he can clip to all bags and keychains to bring his charm. NIKKI MCCLURE BLANK GREETING CARD Nikki McClure creates complex, yet natural designs by cutting away from a single piece of black construction paper with an x-acto knife. MARSHALL ZIPPER CHARM Marshall the marshmallow boy in zipper form! Collect all 16 styles. Clasp on anything that needs a cute charm. TRAVIS LAMPE TEAR DRIPS VINYL FIGURE Make your life sadder with artist and illustrator Travis Lampe’s Teardrip vinly figures. These are blind boxed. SHIGERU MIZUKI NONNONBA NonNonBa is the definitive work by acclaimed Gekiga-ka Shigeru Mizuki, a poetic memoir detailing his interest in yokai (spirit monsters). VICE DO’S AND DON’TS: BOOK 2 With pictures sent in from thousands of contributors around the world and captions written by opinionated cranks around Vice’s offices. COLOR INK BOOK TO DIE FOR SPECIAL ED. Tattoo inspired artwork by To Die For artists: Deph, Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins, Adam Hathorn AKA Honkey Kong, Steven Daily, Dan smith, Annie Frenzel and many more! COLOR INK BOOK VOLUME 15 Features a cover by Amy Sol. This volume features works by Adam Isaac Jackson, Anjo Bolarda, Amy Sol, Brian Colin, Dabs Myla, David Lozeau, Jed Thomas, and more! DAVE KIERSH AFTERNOON SPECIAL GRAPHIC NOVEL SUNDAY, JULY 8, 3-5PM Giant Robot is proud to host Dave Kiersh, an indie comics hero. Kiersh has been working in the indie comics space for years and has slowly gained a loyal audience. His style is freely drawn and appears effortless and calming. It’s realistic and nostalgic. Afterschool Special is an illustrated romance concerning two teenage outsiders navigating a suburban landscape through nostalgia and personal dilemmas. This 132 page full color perfect bound book includes affectionate nods to abandoned parking lots, late night B-movies and trashy amusement parks. Fully written, illustrated and published by Dave Kiersh. First offset printing and limited to 700 copies. Dave Kiersh was born in 1979. He is also the creator of Dirtbags, Mallchicks and Motorbikes, his first full color book, which was...
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artwork by: kevin luong LUKE CHUEH ARTIST TALK | BOOK SIGNING | PRINT RELEASE SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 1-4PM The Art of Luke Chueh – Bearing the Unbearable is a monograph filled with the history of Luke Chueh’s art work. We’re proud to announce the appearance of Luke Chueh at Giant Robot 2 on Sunday June 24th. We’ve also added an artist talk. From about 1-2pm, Luke Chueh will discuss certain art pieces, his career and will field whatever questions you have. We’ll project images and we’ll try to stream it at ustream. Chueh will then be available to sign copies of his monograph (we’ll have copies) and to release his new print, “Swarm” which was on the cover of Giant Robot 68. MIMOBOT X BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RISES USB FLASH DRIVE Batman™ (The Dark Knight Rises Edition) X MIMOBOT®, featuring a brand-new a design inspired by the Christopher Nolan-helmed trilogy of movies. SOFT CANDY THE GIRLS OF DANNI SHINYA LUO Shanghai-born Danni Shinya Luo presents a collection of brand new drawings, paintings and illustrations. Luo has emerged as one of the most important female voices in contemporary symbolic art. MEAT BUN NINJA MAGIC T-SHIRT “Year three of most ninjutsu schools places a heavy emphasis on skateboarding. How else do you think Joe Musashi knew how to pull off all those sweet hoverboard moves in Return of the Ninja Master?” MEAT BUN PEELOUT T-SHIRT “A pissed-off ape with the skill to drive a car that’s capable of launching an explosive turtle shell would be a terrifying thing, don’t you fink?” UGLYDOLL CAST TOTE BAG Go green with the cast of your favorite Uglydolls! It’s recyclable and makes getting groceries or carrying goodies much cuter! UGLYDOLL SALT & PEPPER SHAKER Meal time will now be way more fun! The head detaches via magnet to use the pepper shaker. His head is the salt and body the pepper. YUKINORI DEHARA FIGURE EXHIBITION JUNE 30 – JULY 25, 2012 RECEPTION: SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 6:30-10PM + ARTIST TALK & CLAY MODELING WORKSHOP SUNDAY, JULY 1, 3-5PM The Salaryman in Japan, is an underpaid and understated workforce who work long hours and have forged a lifestyle that is strongly responsible for the economic miracle of post World War 2 Japan. Today they wander the streets after their long day, drinking and frolicking until they head home to their family, only to face the same thing the following day. Satoshi is this person but has a friend, a beast named Morlin. We’ll be sure to feature clay sculptures and more from Yukinori Dehara. We’ve featured Japanese artist, Yukinori Dehara annually and his exhibitions range from being touching to grotesque. Yet like most artists, he has a deep ideology behind his pieces although to the casual observer, they look like fun. GOOD NEWS: JANET LIANG UPDATE By ERIC NAKAMURA From Janet Liang: “With that said I’d like to announce that I have found a 9/10 donor match from a 29- year old...
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[Click to enlarge] SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. ~ This week there’s been talk of restarting the Edison International-operated nuclear reactors at San Onofre. Located between Los Angeles and San Diego, the two operational pressurized water reactors there ~ units #2 and #3 ~ have been shut down since January 2012, when an inspection found that new pipes that carry steam to and from the reactor’s generators showed unexpected corrosion less than two years ago after they were retrofitted. Any other time in the atomic age, the public might have just shrugged and accepted all the assurances of the giant utility. “Not to worry, folks.” But it’s only been 15 months since the triple meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, and three of the Japanese reactors there are still leaking radioactive becquerels and bucky balls of toxic isotopes and a tsunami-shattered fourth reactor building houses some 1,500 spent fuel rods that some say could create another nuclear disaster that will dwarf the one that the beleaguered Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese government will be battling for the unforeseen future. The movement against the restarting of San Onofre #2 and #3 is growing. Warnings by the Southern California power companies that the absence of cheap and clean nuclear energy might cause rolling blackouts and limited time for junior on the Xbox don’t seem to carry the same fuzzy feelings as they did BF ~ Before Fukushima. One month after Japan’s triple 3-11 disasters, our friends over at Gizmodo published a timely story entitled “How a Fukushima-Level Disaster Would Affect You in New York, L.A. or Chicago.” The story featured some maps that were chilling then and that are even more compelling today factoring in what we didn’t know about the on-going nuclear mishaps in Japan. Gizmodo notes that while Japan opted for a 30-kilometer or 18.6-mile radius long-term evacuation zone, U.S. scientists tipped their hand last March when they advised any American citizen inside an 80-kilometer ( 49.7 mile) radius of Fukushima Daiichi to leave. If that same policy were applied in the case of meltdowns at reactors near the three top urban populations centers of the U.S. ~ New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, this would be the scenario, according to Gizmodo: ♣In the worst case of an meltdown at Indian Point Nuclear Station in Buchanan, NY, more than 20 million people in the metro area would have to be evacuated, leaving the city deserted, from Long Island to the Bronx. ♣If a Fukushima-like accident were to hit San Onofre, Southern California, although the city of Los Angeles itself would fall outside the evacuation zone, some 15 million souls would be told to evacuate from most of Orange Counnty, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes to the north; greater San Diego to the south; Fontana, Whittier and Pomona to the east; and Catalina Island and Pacific Ocean to the west. ♣A disaster at either Dresden Nuclear Power Station in Dresden, IL or Braidwood NPP, Braidwood, IL outside Chicago...
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