Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
It’s just games… but you can’t miss it. Q: “Hey Chang, What’s your booth called?” A: “We are From China” Q: I mean, what do I look for? A: “We are From China” Q: Are you games real? A: “We are From China” Enough said. (love to Ed Lin) C’mon!
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“Fans will also be able to view video clips of their idols’ departure and arrival at airports, as well as behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage.” South Korean pop music continues to grow in global popularity and exposure. The French in particular seem to love the stuff. In May, hundreds of fans rallied in front of the Louvre in Paris to demand an extra show for the upcoming K-pop SM Town Live World Tour presented by SM Entertainment of Seoul. This same tour has visited Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Shanghai. In fact, the tour returns to Tokyo this September. In the meantime, K-pop fans will be able to view concert highlights from the June 10th and 11th Paris shows on the SM Entertainment YouTube channel and Facebook page. Apparently, K-pop fans from the U.S., Mexico, Australia and Italy are using the Facebook page to lobby for SM Town Live shows in their countries. Hey, it’s only K-pop, but we like it! (Korea Herald – K-pop Paris Tour)
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“The animations and St. Amand’s statements served as probable cause to find the aforementioned images, which were photographs of real children.” We freely admit this isn’t the most pleasant story Giant Robot news has brought you in the last couple of weeks. But it does touch on important issues about the gray areas in which animated or virtual pornography exists, and how some people give legal adult entertainment a bad name. Seems the wife of a 24-year-old man in Slidell, Louisiana caught him looking at anime porn, which is legal in that state, on a shared family computer. After the wife alerted local police, who were able to use the anime porn as probable cause for a prosecutable crime, authorities found a damning compilation of pornographic images of real female children between the ages of four and five. The man was immediately arrested, and may be prosecuted further on actual child molestation charges. Clearly, the Slidell man’s possession of anime porn is peripheral to his actual sick interests, but we can’t help being concerned that legal adult anime entertainment will continue to have negative associations because of stories like this. (Anime News Network – Louisiana Anime Porn)
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Lost Weekend Video and Giant Robot Presents Meet Bonnie Burton, author of Star Wars Craft Book at Lost Weekend Video Saturday, June 18th 2011, 5-7pm. Lost Weekend Video (Giant Robot Pop Up) 1034 Valencia at 21st Mission District San Francisco, CA 415-643-3373 Author Bonnie Burton, a Star Wars fanatic is the brains behind Grrl.com and produces tremendous amounts of posts, tweets, and pop culture knowledge via multiple social networks. She’ll be at Lost Weekend Video as part of the Giant Robot Pop Up shop signing books and providing crafting knowledge. If you purchase a book, she’ll grant you a craft package that you can assemble on the spot! Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with a shop and gallery in Los Angeles, and a website at giantrobot.com
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“Another player, from the Pohang Steelers, is accused of allegedly betting on the match after finding out the outcome would be rigged.” It looks like some major sports in Asia have fallen on hard times, ethically speaking. You may remember the huge sumo scandal in Japan last February, when it was discovered that 25 wrestlers and coaches were implicated in fixing matches and forced to retire. The scandal also forced the cancellation of all the regular sumo tournaments until this coming July. Well, in South Korea it looks like match fixing is at the center of a breaking scandal in that country’s professional soccer league. At least 10 players from three teams, the Daejeon Citizens, the Pohang Steelers, and Gwangju FC, have been accused of taking huge bribes to throw games or manipulate the outcomes. Needless to say, the South Korean sports ministry is furious, and intends to impose fines, jail terms and lifetime banishment on any soccer player found guilty in the match-fixing scheme. (BBC News Asia-Pacific – South Korean Soccer Bribes)
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