Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
One of my favorite shows featuring Robin Williams was his humble beginnings as Mork from Ork in Mork and Mindy. I watched this show while in elementary school and remember how I wanted his goofy rainbow suspenders with the pins on them. They actually sold them and I remember a kid named Marco wore them almost everyday to 6th grade. His greeting of Nanoo Nanoo and his word for dammit, Shazbot, was uttered too often. Low-fives were replaced by his special handshake and the lessons he learned that he broadcast back to his leader, Orson, were our lessons too. I figuratively stood up on my desk and said “Captain Oh Captain” with Ethan Hawke in Dead Poet’s Society, even though I hated those private school kids. I said Good Morning Vietnam even though I knew nothing about the Vietnam War except what I’ve seen through movies. I like genius films and Goodwill Hunting captured it, launching mega careers of it’s two stars. Williams, obviously the mentor, both in the film and off the film. I remember fearing Popeye, and seeing that as a kid was actually frightening. Then there’s his doctor roles in Awakenings and Patch Adams. Two of his many feel good / bad films. When Williams hurt on screen, it hurt. Personally, I know he was an art fan. I recall him being at Giant Robot San Francisco. He quietly looked through an art exhibition during opening night, drawing no special attention to himself. He bought figures and art and was part of the local art culture. He even mentioned our shop in an American Airlines in flight magazine. I’m glad to have built something that he enjoyed.
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The boxing film genre is a time-honored staple of American cinema. There’s something about the agony and triumph in this particular sports genre that taps into the heart of the American spirit. Despite this, boxing films starring Asian or Pacific Islander Americans actors are virtually non-existent. Dir. Gerry Maravilla wants to change that. He’s commenced a crowd funding campaign for his upcoming short film, Cross, on the Seed and Spark platform. Cross portrays the life of a Filipino American (Jason S. Mordeno) as he struggles to pay his mother’s ever accumulating medical expenses. With his family and dreams of becoming a professional fighter on the line, he ventures into the lawless underbelly of San Fernando’s Valley’s backyard boxing. Maravilla is a San Fernando Valley native and Giant Robot previously featured his music videos on its website. He agrees with the long held grievance that Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are underrepresented in the media and hopes his short film will serve as stepping stone towards more progress on this frontier. Other cast and crew include B. Rich Adams as executive producer; Melanie DiPietro and Leo Oliva as producers; and Caitlin Kelly as the script supervisor. Although the script and production plans are already completed, its crowd funding is still far from finished. As of August 8th, its goal of $15,000 is still 40% complete. But there’s still time! You can donate here on the film’s Seed and Spark page. Television and radio personality Manny Streetz of 102.7 KISS-FM has thrown his support behind the project. More recently, Actress Bai Ling (The Crow, Crank: High Voltage) lent her support for Cross. Cross in this rendition is a short film being prepared to shown to financiers and investors. Upon its completion, its producers will submit to film festivals across the country before it reaches online distribution. Backers who support the film at a certain level will receive the added benefit of a digital copy and/or a private streaming video. Once its festival circuit has completed, it will be readily available for anyone and everyone on Seed and Spark’s webpage. The finished product will be used to pitch and acquire further financing towards a feature length film. Hurry up and donate to cinematic history in the making! For more information about Cross follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or visit their Seed and Spark page. You can follow Gerry Maravilla and Jason S. Mordeno on Twitter through @gerrymaravilla and @j_sm__. Their Seed and Spark crowdfunding campaign ends on August 17th, 2014. You can also meet Maravilla and Mordeno at a meeting for “#WeOwnThe8Th,” a communal gathering for Asian American Pacific Islander artists and entrepreneurs and other like-minded individuals. It’s open to all those who wish to attend. (It’s a potluck, so feel free to bring food or drinks to share with other attendees). The Address is: #WeOwnThe8th Meeting Friday, August 8th at 7:00 PM The Great Company 1917 Bay St., Los Angeles, CA
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Game Night 22 at Giant Robot 2 Game Night 22 – Crawl and Crypt of the NecroDancer Saturday, Aug 16, 2014, 7 – 10:00 p.m. Giant Robot 2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 In conjunction with Destructoid, Meat Bun Apparel, Angry Bananas, and Giant Robot, we are proud to host Game Night 22, an event that takes place at GR2 about every two months. This episode of Game Night will feature two indie games. Crawl Crawl is the local multiplayer dungeon crawler where your friends control the monsters! Battle through dungeons and power up your hero Crypt of the NecroDancer Crypt of the NecroDancer is a hardcore rhythm-based roguelike game. Can you survive this deadly dungeon of dance, slay the NecroDancer, and recapture your still beating heart? Game Night 22 will take place on Saturday, Aug 16th 2014, 7 – 10:00 p.m. For more information about Game Night, GR2, or Giant Robot please contact: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot eric@giantrobot.com (310) 445-9276
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Giant Robot 2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 310.445.9276 Friday, August 15 at 7:00pm – 9:00pm Giant Robot is stoked to host a night of readings from the best writers in America. The last time Ed Lin and traci kato-kiriyama read, it was a standing-room only crowd and every book for sale was snapped up. Now, joined with Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut, it’s sure to be another memorable night. Neelanjana Banerjee, managing editor of Kaya Press, will MC the event, which Kaya is co-sponsoring. traci kato-kiriyama is a nationally-touring writer/actor/multi-platform artist/educator/organizer. She is half of the award-winning PULLproject ensemble, whose show, PULL: Tales of Obsession, has toured from Los Angeles to Toronto and recently appeared in East West Player’s 2-person site-specific show, Our American Voice. She is the organizer of the Generations Of War oral history & peace education project and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project – which opened it’s 16th season of “Tuesday Night Cafe,” acknowledged in LA Weekly’s Best of L.A. 2013 list as “Best Free Downtown Performance Series.” traci has facilitated writing, performance and arts activism workshops & collaborations for over the last 15 years – including projects such as the Los Angeles Day Of Remembrance performance she directed which brought together Japanese American and American Muslim storytellers; and courses such as “Wellness & Expression in the Asian American Community” for the Claremont Colleges. traci’s written work has been published and presented through a wide variety of platforms (incl. Regent Press; The Undeniables; Rafu Shimpo; Angry Asian Man; Ford Amphitheatre’s Inside The Ford), and she looks forward to finding more time to finish her second book of poetry & writing, slated for publication in early 2015 by Writ Large Press. Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut is a poet, scholar and teacher who teaches creative writing and college composition in Los Angeles. As a Korean adoptee, her creative and scholarly work reflects an ongoing interest to explore the emotional and historical aspects of the Korean diaspora as well as transnational adoption. Previously, she has collaborated on avant garde music and art projects with composers and visual artists. She earned an MFA in poetry (2002) and a PhD in literature and creative writing (2012) from the University of Southern California. Her first book of poetry, Magnetic Refrain, was published in February 2013 by Kaya Press. She is currently completing a second book titled Until Qualified For Pearl, containing lyrical and narrative poems, and a non-fiction critical book about adoption narratives in literature and film. [From Poetry Foundation] Ed Lin, a native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards and is an all-around standup kinda guy. Waylaid and This Is a Bust were both published by Kaya Press in 2002 and 2007, respectively, and were widely praised. Both books also won Members’ Choice Awards in the Asian American Literary Awards. His third book, Snakes Can’t Run, was published by Minotaur Books in April 2010; it was loved by many and also...
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