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city of darkness · city of darkness revisited · greg girard · ian lambot · kowloon walled city · MW · News · Reviews Publications ·

Kowloon Walled City/City of Darkness Revisited

Perhaps you remember the Q&A with photographer Greg Girard way back in Giant Robot 22. It delved into City of Darkness, the amazing coffee table book he made with fellow photographer Ian Lambot exposing the interconnected maze of adjacent buildings and connecting alleys that made up Kowloon Walled City. The ultra-dense city block was notorious among Hong Kongers for being separate from building codes and law enforcement alike, and was made famous in movies such as Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express and Johnny Mak’s Long Arm of the Law. So I was stoked when Greg recently informed me that a redesigned edition of the book is in the works. While locals didn’t seem to care much when when Kowloon Walled City was leveled in 1993 to make space for a shiny new airport, Greg says that he and Lambot have been impressed by “the unexpected ways in which it was turning up as an obvious inspiration in popular culture, and also being referenced in architecture, urban theory and other areas.” So on 20th anniversary of the demolition they decided to update and expand City of Darkness. The revised edition will be 50 percent bigger than the original one (which was already a brick) and include never-before-seen photos as well as extra text derived from interviews with ex-cops who patrolled the area in the ’60s and ’70s as well as a government survey from the period which lists the exact number of brothels, opium dens, strip clubs, pornography theatres, and dog meat restaurants. Sounds amazing, right? Find out how to support the book–and perhaps get signed copy as well as an archival quality print–at the City of Darkness Revisited Kickstarter page.
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bob forrest · don nguyen · hot lunch · lecherous gaze · Music · MW · News · Reviews Publications · running with monsters · the satellite · thelonious monster ·

Reviews: Lecherous Gaze and Hot Lunch at The Satellite, Bob Forrest’s Running With Monsters

Gotta love the free metal shows from Scion. Last week’s was right down the street from my house at The Satellite, and it was very much a Tee Pee records showcase with Lecherous Gaze (above) and Hot Lunch (below). Sweet!

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bob forrest · don nguyen · hot lunch · lecherous gaze · Music · MW · News · Reviews Publications · running with monsters · the satellite · thelonious monster ·

Reviews: Lecherous Gaze and Hot Lunch at The Satellite, Bob Forrest’s Running With Monsters

Gotta love the free metal shows from Scion. Last week’s was right down the street from my house at The Satellite, and it was very much a Tee Pee records showcase with Lecherous Gaze (above) and Hot Lunch (below). Sweet!

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brian ralph · drawn and quarterly · jordan crane · martin cendreda · MW · News · reggie-12 · Reviews Publications · sammy harkham · secret headquarters · steven weissman · trevor alixopulos · vanessa davis ·

Brian Ralph and Reggie 12 land in Los Angeles

How cool is it that Brian Ralph’s “Reggie 12″ comic strips have been collected from the back page of Giant Robot mag and compiled into a gorgeous oversize hardback with amazing spot UV on the cover? Even better, Brian Ralph has been on the road and doing signings. The SCAD Professor of Sequential Art concluded the West Coast leg of his journey at Secret Headquarters in Silver Lake yesterday, so I got to do some catching up with him.

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brian ralph · drawn and quarterly · jordan crane · martin cendreda · MW · News · reggie-12 · Reviews Publications · sammy harkham · secret headquarters · steven weissman · trevor alixopulos · vanessa davis ·

Brian Ralph and Reggie 12 land in Los Angeles

How cool is it that Brian Ralph’s “Reggie 12″ comic strips have been collected from the back page of Giant Robot mag and compiled into a gorgeous oversize hardback with amazing spot UV on the cover? Even better, Brian Ralph has been on the road and doing signings. The SCAD Professor of Sequential Art concluded the West Coast leg of his journey at Secret Headquarters in Silver Lake yesterday, so I got to do some catching up with him.

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