Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – the Cinefamily and Giant Robot Present: Japanese Director Sion Sono in Person at Cinefamily
Four Sion Sono films showing at the Cinefamily. June 10 and June 11, 2011 611 N Fairfax Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90036 323 655 2510 cinefamily.org Giant Robot and the Cinefamily is proud to host four Sion Sono films, with director Sion Sono in person to do a Q and A after the first screening on each day. Sono is scheduled to introduce the second screenings if time permits. Sion Sono is among the hottest filmmakers from Japan and is a film festival favorite worldwide. June 10th Cold Fish 8pm *free, Hair Extensions 12 Midnight $10. June 11th Love Exposure 2:30pm $10, Noriko’s Dinner Table 8pm $10. the Cinefamily screenings are free for members. In addition: Giant Robot Friends will be showing their wares, art, and more, before and after the screenings. Pick up some zines, prints, and artwork. Friday: James Chong + Jesse Fillingham Saturday: Mari Inukai + Albert Reyes For your hunger, we’re bringing in some great GR approved food trucks. Friday: Lomo Arigato (Peruvian Japanese) Saturday 2nd screening: Mandoline Grill (Real Vietnamese) Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311
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Pain Mobiles in Odaiba “Proud itasha owners from all over Japan rode up to proudly display their wheeled wonders.” In case you were curious, those cars you may have seen on the internet with the amazing anime, manga and/or video game character paint jobs are called itasha, which literally means ‘pain mobile’. Typically the cars are decorated with a combination of actual paint, and stickers. And the typical itasha theme centers on cute female characters. The fad started back in the ‘80s, with only stickers and plush toys for decoration, but has evolved into the visually wonderful results you’ll see at the link, which features a big gallery of photos from the recent ItaG Fest in Odaiba, Tokyo. (Crunchyroll – Odaiba Itasha Fest) (For the odd origin of the term itasha, see Wikipedia.) Dazzling Gallery of Hand-colored Japan Images “Farsari’s photographic work was highly regarded, particularly his hand-colored portraits and landscapes, which he sold mostly to foreign residents and visitors.” In the 19th century, strange fate brought an Italian photographer to Yokohama, by way of the American Civil War. And now, over a century later, it is our good fortune Adolfo Farsari made his way to Japan. At the link, you will see many wonderful images which give us a visual insight into what life was like during the period in the late 1800s when Japan was just beginning to open itself to the world. Farsari shot his work in black and white, of course, but then made his stunning pictures all the more eye-catching by hand coloring them. We can only speculate that, try as he might, Farsari’s beautiful hand colors pale in comparison to the colors he actually saw in the images he photographed. (My Modern Metropolis – Farsari Colors Japan) For Malaysian Man, Apology is Such Tweet Sorrow “Whilst this is a fairly harmless outcome to the case for Fadzil, it does raise more questions as to the legal implications of what we say on public forums.” Fahmi Fadzil’s heart was probably in the right place last January when he used Twitter to criticize BluInc Media on behalf of a pregnant friend he thought the publishing company was treating badly. It still isn’t completely clear if the Malaysian social activist was entirely right, or entirely wrong. But a court in Malaysia found sufficient cause to rule that Fadzil’s comments on Twitter about BluInc were defamatory, and that he must take some kind of action to apologize. So, as part of an out-of-court settlement, Fadzil has agreed to post the following tweet 100 times: “I’ve DEFAMED Blu Inc Media & Female Magazine. My tweets on their HR Policies are untrue. I retract those words & hereby apologize.” Not a bad outcome for the guy, really, considering he could have had to pay a hefty fine, or been sued by the publishing company. (The Next Web – Malaysian Tweets 100 Apologies) Forget Disneyland, North Korea is the (Second) Happiest Place on Earth “North Koreans who are completely brainwashed, repeatedly...
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Notorious MSG New album Jokester rap group, Notorious MSG is releasing a new album. Here’s some links, and even a video clip. In this time of Asian Americans actually making it in rap, this band might have that outsiders chance for a bit ala Fat Boys (Yes, we know that first Fat Boys album is a classic – so maybe not). Album streaming, Album download, Youtube. Starbucks Tightens Focus on China “The agreement gives Seattle-based Starbucks 100% ownership of the 250 stores it has run with Hong Kong-based Maxim’s in the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei, as well as the province-level municipality of Chongqing, Starbucks said. Maxim’s has owned a 30% stake in those operations since 2002.” Why do we care? I’ve heard that in Japan, Starbucks has 0% stake in the Starbucks in Japan. Oops. Asians don’t drink coffee, right? We remember hearing that 15-20 years ago… Asians only drink tea… (WSJ – Starbucks in China) French Open finalist Li is key to boom in China The title sounds intriguing but in the end, it doesn’t talk about tennis in China. However, Li Na might be the first Asian woman to win a Grand Slam Final. She goes up against last year’s champion, Francesca Schiavone, a scrappy Italian player and it should be a struggle. But in the end, in a country that big, yes, tennis can be a huge sport with her win. But ideally, it should be anyway regardless. (Seattlepi – Li Na) Boston’s Experiment with Daisuke Matsuzaka This article talks about Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox experiment and how they got stuck, but since he’s announced that he’s getting Tommy John surgery which may end his career, the Red Sox can now end his tenure. But it started because of money. “Dice-K knew it. He had the Sox where he wanted them: over a money barrel.” (Bleacher Report – Dice K) Balloon Boy Balloon for 1 Million The first sentence may say it all. “Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents behind 2009′s infamous “Balloon Boy” news story, have put the balloon on the auction block and are asking $1 million for it.” The part about it being an attraction? For 1 Million? Perhaps the Roswell Museum would be a great place. (abcnews – Balloon Boy)
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Coming Soon: The Smartest Town in the World “Imagine a city of the future, populated by wind-powered vehicles, with homes running on intelligent software that consume less power.” This is the plan for Fujisawa, Japan, a city about 31 miles to the west of Tokyo. A consortium of large Japanese companies, including Sumitomo Bank and Tokyo Gas, will build the Sustainable Smart Town (SST) on a vacant property where a Panasonic electronics factory used to stand. For the 3,000 residents who will live there, daily life will include electric cars, with charging stations throughout town, solar-powered homes, and a massive town-wide network to monitor energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions in the area by 70% from 1990s levels. And the whole thing should be fully populated and operational by 2018. This looks to be a very exciting and relevant project. (SST Overview at Tokyo Times, DVice and CEPro) Happiness different for Americans, ethnic Asians “Not everyone sees positive emotions such as joviality and self-assurance as unequivocally good.” If you are of European descent, you may sometimes wonder why your Asian friends seem more restrained and taciturn in situations where you would jump for joy. Likewise, you Asian folks may find it silly and odd that your Caucasian buddies smile and get giggly seemingly at the drop of a hat. Well, according to studies done at the Universities of Washington and Wisconsin-Madison, people of European and of Asian descent are to some extent culturally programmed to show emotions like happiness in different ways. Research suggests that Asian-Americans and Asian-born Asians, in particular, are often unsure or suspicious of expressing happy emotions unless they can determine how doing so will benefit the group rather than themselves. Interesting stuff which, unfortunately, may or may not reinforce certain clichés white and Asian ethnic groups have about each other. (Time Healthland – Asian vs. European Happy) Magic “Money Liquid” in China “Posing as Americans or Frenchmen, they promised to invest their $4 million funds into the victims’ business and even vowed to marry some of their victims.” There are a lot of benefits to the herbs and remedies found in traditional Chinese medicine, even though modern science cannot yet explain how they all work. However, we’re pretty sure there is no sound scientific way to use a magic elixir to convert counterfeit American dollars into real ones. But that did not stop a group of con men, who recently were able to cheat more than 50 victims in China out of more than US $300,000 with promises that such a money-conversion potion existed and actually worked. It seems amazing that anyone in any country would fall for such a scam, but they did. And Chinese police have had a hard time catching all the con artists because some victims had sex with the scammers and became too embarrassed to report them to police. (China Global Times – Money Liquid Con) Hong Kong iPad2 Sales Scam “Eager buyers waiting outside a Fortress outlet in Hong...
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