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Changes to the Blog and Japanese Earthquake Relief

2011-03-18T02:58:00.010-04:00

NEW YORK, March 18 – I apologize to my readers about the infrequent blog posts in the last several months. I’ve been dealing with a lot of life changes. I’ve also decided to move the blog over to a private server due to the increasingly prohibitive restrictions of blogger and the personal desire to expand the content on the site. Over the next several months, I will be transitioning slowly over to my own domain name (www.raiwebs.com). Hopefully by July, the entire blog will be fully transferred over to the private hosting server.

Available on the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad

The blog is now available on the Amazon Kindle for a small fee ($1.99). Before you get upset, I am not responsible for the pricing. Amazon sets the price for blog distribution. If it were left to me, I would set the price at 99 cents (the lowest possible price point). This will also mean an increase in the number and length of posts. Expect more interviews, artist profiles, reviews, and music. It is also available through the Kindle App on the Apple iPad and Android. If you don’t have a portable reading device, the blog will continue to be free through any standard web browser.

Japanese Earthquake Relief

Most people know about the ongoing tragedy in Japan. A historic 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Japan causing a huge tsunami surge. It devastated large swaths of the country and left the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant on the brink of full meltdown.

However, you may not have heard that donations for Japanese Earthquake relief are severely lagging behind similar humanitarian crises like the Haitian Earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. Please donate to Japanese Earthquake Relief. Here are some creative ways to donate:

Shinjuku Outlaw: 13 From Takashi Miike

March 16 - March 21. Film Society, Lincoln Center – New York. The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema are partnering with The Japan Society to donate 10% of the ticket sales to all screenings in the Takashi Miike retrospective, Shinjuku Outlaw: 13 From Takashi Miike, to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, to support relief and recovery for the 2011 Tohoku - Pacific Ocean Earthquake.

For More Details about Shinjuku Outlaw

Giant Robot Presents: Water Works - Fundraiser for the Devastation in Japan

Saturday, March 19, 6:30 - 10:00 PM. Giant Robot 2, Los Angeles. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF) is raising funds to help children in Japan impacted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. This is an unusual decision, as Japan is a donor to UNICEF, not a recipient of its assistance. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the epic disaster and its impact on children, resources are going to be critical in helping provide for the very unique needs of children. These may include health, development, and protection and other needs that may have been compromised or disrupted in the wake of the catastrophe. Giant Robot is proud to join the effort, and have asked many of our talented friends to create water-themed art to raise funds to support the efforts of UNICEF.

For More Details about Water Works Fundraiser

Concert For Japan

Saturday, April 9, 11 AM — 11 PM. Japan Society - New York presents a 12 hour concert benefiting organizations that directly help people affected by the earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan. With dozens of music acts and performances throughout the day, confirmed performers for the gala blocks, organized by John Zorn, include Philip Glass & Hal Willner; Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Zorn; Ryuichi Sakamoto; and Bill Laswell and gigi band.

For More Details about Concert for Japan

Japan Earthquake Relief Fund

If you only want to donate money, Japan Society has created a disaster relief fund to aid victims of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Over the years, Japan Society has partnered with several Japanese and American non-profits working on the frontlines of disaster relief and recovery. 100% of your generous tax-deductible contributions will go to organization(s) that directly help victims recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.

For More Details about the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund

Vocaloid Autos in Akihabara

2011-02-17T01:07:00.019-05:00

TOKYO, January 3 – While hunting for manga in the Akihabara district (秋葉原), we walked down the block from Mandarake and ran right into an impromptu car show. A significant number of otaku parked their Itasha (痛車) (customized cars with anime themes) along one of the district’s side street. The anime car subculture has been around for a few years, but the current crop of vehicles reflects the Vocaloid craze. The trend seems to be six months behind the dōjinshi fandom. Maybe next year we will start to see more Touhou Project (東方) automobiles.

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku (初音ミク) drawn in chibi-like fashion decorating a passenger door.

On the hood of a Supra, Sheryl (blonde) and Ranka (green hair) from Macross Frontier (identification via Gerald and Clarissa).

On the passenger side door of the same Supra.

Vocaloid Neru Akita (亞北ネル) over the trunk covering an awesome sound system.

Another Vocaloid Hatsune Miku on the hood of a classic luxury car.

Yet another Vocaloid Hatsune Miku on the back door wearing an alternate outfit.

Some of the cars were also customized on the insides too. This vehicle was wired with seven LCD personal monitors.

Yet another Vocaloid Hatsune Miku on the passenger door.

One of the few non-Vocaloid cars. This one features the visual-book/anime Queen's Blade.

New Year's Festival Food in Asakusa

2011-01-30T19:52:00.007-05:00

New Year's Festival at Asakusa Shrine
TOKYO, January 1 – After tossing our coins into the shrine's collection box and saying our prayers, a small group of us headed over to the rows of vendor boothes (屋台) near the Asakusa Shrine (浅草神社). Many of the stalls were selling tradition Japanese festival food ranging from sweets to grilled fish. Here are some festival foods that we enjoyed on New Year's Day:

Grilled Skewered Foot-long Hotdogs (Kushiyaki style).

One of my favorite Japanese snacks is Takoyaki (たこ焼き) (Octopus Balls). They're usually coated with pancake batter and prepared either grilled or fried. I scarfed down almost a dozen of these.

Ayu (アユ) or Sweet Fish is one of Japan's most unique festival foods. It's salted, skewered, and grilled near an open flame.

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) or Japanese stuffed pancakes are massive culinary concoctions of batter, cabbage, pork, yakisoba, seafood, and other tasty ingredients. These are prepared Hiroshima style.

Jyaga Bata (じゃがバタ) are baked potatoes with butter soy sauce. They're balls of starch goodness.

Choco Banana are chocolate coated bananas with sprinkles. They're the perfect treat for any sweet tooth.

Welcome to the Future of Hong Kong

2010-12-27T10:21:00.003-05:00

HONG KONG, December 24 – Saw a trio of mannequins that freaked me out at the Hong Kong Museum of Science. They projected video face onto the lifeless humanoid forms and gave them voices in order to narrate the exhibit. It was very trippy.

Christmas Advertising in Hong Kong: Movie Stars, Pop Singers, and Clark Kent

2010-12-25T11:06:00.011-05:00

Large Billboard Ad for Gary Chaw’s (曹格) Tour. It’s sponsored by Johnnie Walker.
HONG KONG, December 24 – Marketing and advertisements say a lot about a people. They highlight the best values of a culture as well as its shallowness. In Hong Kong, the corporate graffiti is everywhere you look. Your eyes can’t escape a product pitch or a public service announcement. Most Hong Kong denizens do their best to ignore them. I, on the other hand, obsess over their meaning and over-analyze their subtext. I also document them on this blog.

Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武), often labeled as the sexiest man in Chinese Cinema, is the current face of the Giorgio Armani brand in Hong Kong. This massive street ad covers the side of the Armani outlet on Canton Road.

Subway Fair

Giant Robot writer Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) continues to push the Seiko watch line. I hear he’s in a few Hong Kong movies too.

Andy Lau (劉德華), the ageless Canto-pop star, is the pitchman for Osim’s massage chairs. Osim is a company that specializes in faddish health products like weight loss and massage devices.

Japan National Tourism Organization has resorted to using super pop idols groups like Arashi (嵐) to promote their country.

I couldn’t get a good picture, but the Chocoolate boutique clothier is using American comics in their designs. They’ve even created a line of preppie clothing patterned after the mild mannered reporter Clark Kent. Geek chic has made it’s way to Hong Kong at last!

>> The Clark Kent Look

New Adventures in Dim Sum

2010-12-24T15:06:00.004-05:00

Glutinous rice and Chinese sausage.

HONG KONG, December 23 – When I’m in Hong Kong, I always look for the most creative and tastiest dim sum dishes in town. The competition is extremely intense with the countless number of tea houses and restaurants lining every major thoroughfare. The financial survivals of these establishments are reliant on their ability to innovate, steal, and borrow. Unlike their Western counterparts, the chefs here don’t rely on the same classic favorites like a simple cheong fun (腸粉) or shaomai (燒賣). They keep redefining the notion of dim sum in an effort to constantly improve their menu. Here are some of my favorite little discoveries.

A carrot shaped deep fried dumpling filled with minced pork mixture from the Palace Restaurant. It’s located on the corner of Mong Kok Road and Cheung Wong Road, Mong Kok District.

Sweetened warm tofu cooked in a coconut. It’s served in several restaurants including the Palace Restaurant and Ho Choi Chain of Tea Houses.

Every time I go to King’s Lodge, I always get the steamed pork dumpling which is their signature dish. It’s a small dumpling stuffed with a delicious ground pork filling and soup. If you aren’t careful, your first bite might lead to the spillage of the wonderful soup inside the dim sum. The newly renovated King’s Lodge is located on G/F, Oriental Center, 67-71 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui District.

Water chestnut cakes. They aren’t really cakes but stiff jello molds with tasty bits suspended inside. I rarely see these cakes in the US, and they were never this good.

Deep fried cheong fun from Ho Choi. This one is located on UG Floor, Empire Centre, 68 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui District.

Deep fried dumpling filled with a ground beef meatball also from Ho Choi.

Hong Kong's Sidewalk Comics

2010-12-22T12:52:00.004-05:00

Hong Kong History Museum Exhibit of a Comic Book Lending Library
HONG KONG, December 22 – After the Second World War, Hong Kong children used to spend their free time at the local sidewalk comic book lending library. They paid 5-10 cents to burrow a single comic book. The vendors of the library would also set-up a row of tiny benches to accommodated their pint-sized clientele. These kids were hardcore.

Black Dub in Full Force

2010-12-07T05:31:00.009-05:00

Left to Right: Brian Blade, Daniel Lanois, Trixie Whitley, and Jim Wilson
NEW YORK, November 17 – I usually don’t post two similar pieces back-to-back on this blog, but I'm making an exception. After being blown away by Black Dub’s stripped down show at the CMJ Music Marathon, I decided to attend their full band performance at the Bowery Ballroom.

I was eager to see the complete band including Brian Blade and Daryl Johnson. They were a super group jam band therefore the live performance is supposed to be top notch. I was already somewhat familiar with Brian Blade’s solo work, and I always admired his skills behind a drum set. Also Daryl Johnson was pretty amazing on the Black Dub recording.

Click on the image for higher resolution.
After a long video montage, the band walked onto the stage with the noticeable absence of Johnson’s bass. He was replaced by Jim Wilson for this show. I’m didn’t know they were going to use a different touring bassist. Anyway, I settled in and watched them deliver a pretty soulful rock performance.

Some of the highlights of the performance were “Sing”, “I’d Rather Go Blind”, and “Silverado”.

The entire band added their own unique flavor to the musical gumbo of rock, blues, jazz, and R&B. Daniel Lanois’ guitar work was sharp and on point. His bluesy riffs were crisps and voice was appropriately gruff. Trixie Whitley brought her trademark soul influenced vocals for most of the numbers. She also displayed her multi-instrumental talents on various songs frequently switching between guitar, drums, and keyboards. However, the star of the night was definitely Brian Blade with his absolutely amazing work behind the drums. His drumming was powerful and jazzy with tasty morsels of beautiful accent fills. His playing seems to flows effortlessly from his body.

As part of their encore, Black Dub ended their memorable performance with a particularly soulful rendition of “Silverado”. The audience was ecstatic.

You can also find more videos of Black Dub's performance at the Blog's Youtube Channel.

Related Links:
Holland Tunnel: Black Dub Concert Review

HUSH is Found

2010-11-23T01:36:00.010-05:00

American Dreamer
NEW YORK, November 19 – The Angel Orensanz Foundation hosted a brief gallery exhibition for British street artist HUSH. The current series of paintings is titled “Found”. In the past, the artist has been known to combine elements of graffiti art, anime, manga, and Asian pop culture.

Found in the City
In his current exhibition show, he has moved noticeably away from the anime and manga figurative imagery while maintaining an Asian sensibility. The focus of many of his paintings is East Asian females wearing both traditional dresses and contemporary outfits. When I asked about him about his figurative thematic focus, HUSH discussed his desire to find the perfect sensual form arguing that his early manga influenced pieces were a part of the same goal. He mentioned drawing influences from more adult manga genres. However, he feared that the cartoonish look might be misinterpreted by the art establishment as cute and too child-like. This current show seems like a reaction to the impressions of his previous work. This series is all about feminine sensuality without any of the manga-esque visual language.

If I Was Today
Despite the sharp change in figurative visual language, the artist still maintains the same exciting elements in his past work. One of his trademarks is the use of visual density. His under-paintings are so detailed and intricate that they could probably serve a separate works in their own right. HUSH layers his primary painting directly over the highly finished under-painting with the same eye for detail thereby creating a very dense visual field. The artist said that he finds it difficult to paint on a blank canvas. Therefore he prefers to build the world around the painting before developing a central theme. The other key feature is the heavy Asian pop cultural influences. In addition to using the Asian female form, he also incorporates Japanese design elements like manga screen tones and traditional Japanese textile patterns. Furthermore, he frequently uses hiragana and kanji in his graffiti tags which directly connect his work to his primary influences.

Detail of If I Was Today
At the date of this blog post, the exhibition is scheduled to close. It was only planned for a short three day run.

Related Links:
ArtSlant - Hush Rackroom

Black Dub: Stripped Down and Devastating

2010-11-20T00:44:00.016-05:00

Left to Right: Daniel Lanois and Trixie Whitley
NEW YORK, October 23 – While I was attending the CMJ Music Marathon to see other indie acts, I checked their overall schedule of performances and noticed Black Dub was set to play on Saturday evening. Black Dub is the current incarnation of Daniel Lanois’ super group with a rotating roster of rock/jazz/blues virtuosos. If you don’t know Lanois’ name, he has produced some of the biggest landmark rock albums such as U2’s The Unforgettable Fire, U2’s Achtung Baby, Peter Gabriel’s So, and Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. He is also an absolutely brilliant musician.

The current roster of Black Dub consists of Daniel Lanois (guitar), Trixie Whitley (lead vocals), Brian Blade (drums), and Daryl Johnson (bass).

Click on the image for higher resolution.
Trixie Whitley, daughter of the late bluesman Chris Whitley, is the latest addition to the band. She is a multi-instrument talent with the voice of an old soul. Every time I hear her voice, I am so befuddled. I keep asking myself, “How can such a smoky soulful voice be bellowing from this slight twenty-three year old blonde?” Moreover, Whitley’s voice possesses an amazing depth of emotional resonance. It breaks and strains perfectly on the crescendo of her songs causing a heartbreaking sound.

When I walked into the Rockwood Music Hall, it was packed with folks including a number of press people. I squeezed my way to the front of the stage when everyone else was getting drinks from the bar. I was going to save my drinking for later and want to get front row with this super group.

I couldn’t believe the band was going to squeeze onto the small stage. Then I was surprised when only Lanois and Whitley took the stage. Instead of a full band, the duo was going to perform without any drums or bass.

Despite the rhythm section being absent, the duo performed a thirty minute stripped down set of devastating R&B. Lanois proved to be a highly polished guitarist with a razor sharp edge to his playing. He was absolutely awe-inspiring to witness. As for Whitley, her voice seemed a little harsher than the studio recordings. Lanois mentioned that the duo has been traveling non-stop and Whitley’s voice has been a little strained. I didn’t mind, and I loved hearing the subtle differences. Her performance was still pretty amazing.

Some of the highlights of the performance were “Surely”, “I Believe in You”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind”.

Overall, it was an awesome performance regardless of the lack of Brian Blade’s drums and Daryl Johnson’s bass.

Related Links:
Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub at Rockwood Music Hall | Death and Taxes

Family, Friends, and Grand Hallway at the CMJ Music Marathon

2010-11-17T01:43:00.028-05:00

NEW YORK, October 22 – Based on another recommendation, I went to check out the Seattle-based Grand Hallway at the CMJ Music Marathon. They’re a sizable band with quite a few players including violinists, woodwinds, piano, and others. Playing at the small Rockwood Music Hall, the band squeezed themselves into the corner stage.

Oddly the atmosphere was kind of warm like a family gathering. I was uneasy and felt like a stranger in someone’s house. Tomo Nakayama, the lead vocalist, said that many of the band members were originally from the north-east, and their friends and families were in attendance. I guess it was more of a family reunion than a piano bar concert. I overheard several people gushing over band members as if they were proud parents bragging about their children. Noting their drink orders of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, I have a strong feeling that they aren’t the hard drinking rock and roll types.

According to some of their press, the band has been classified and tagged as chamber pop. Their sound is very layered and multi-textured due to the various instruments interacting. At several points during the performance, there was a real pop orchestral sound. Moreover, Nakayama’s guitar playing had a twangy country folk feel, and the tone of his vocals were very soft. The drumming provided by David Ulrich was also very powerful. His playing style has an infectious rolling rhythm that created an awesome effect. Most of the other band members weaved in-and-out of the songs with graceful ease. They added layers of melody and harmony to very delicate pop compositions.

The highlights of their performance were "Blessed Be, Honey Bee", "Little Sister", and "Sirens".

You can also find more videos of Grand Hallway's performance at the Blog's Youtube Channel.

Paul Weller's Night in Harlem

2010-11-10T22:17:00.009-05:00

Crowd waiting to enter the Apollo Theater.
NEW YORK, November 6 – As I rolled up from the A train onto the Harlem streets, I eagerly made my way down the block to the see the amazing Paul Weller at the Apollo Theater. There was no wind that night, but the air was a bit chilly. I pulled up the collar on my coat and soldiered on. The brisk November couldn’t deter me from this potentially awesome performance.

When I reached the legendary venue, I noticed a massive line of people. I quickly asked the last man in line about the crowd. He responded with a nod and assured me that this is the line to get into the theater. I was astonished at the large number of concert goers for Weller’s show. I took my place in the back of the line and waited in the cold with my fellow music enthusiasts.

After I was seated and the opening act finished, Weller walked onto the stage and proceeded to assault the audience with two straight hours of soul and mod music. This included two extended encores. Armed with a set list of new songs and old classics, he unloaded the tunes with his special brand of attitude and passion.

The second song of Weller's set was a long rendition of “Into Tomorrow”. Instead of playing it straight, he jammed through the tune with long improvisational breaks. His playing straddled between psychedelic rock and pop jazz. It was completely groovy.

When Weller started playing the opening chords to “Shout to the Top”, the entire theater seemed to stand up all at once. I would venture to say that there were quite a number of Style Council fans in the audience. They were dancing in the aisles and singing along with Weller. Some fans were leaning over the balcony going nuts. Did all the Style Council fans have a pre-concert meeting and decided to freak out at the same exact time? I guess I missed that inter-office memo.

As part of the encore, Weller performed a stirring cover of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”. It was interesting to hear him sing a Motown classic at the Apollo. It seems appropriate for a musician who has a deep grounding in classic R&B. It was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Although there were plenty of amazing moments, the highlights of the performance were “Into Tomorrow”, “From the Floorboards Up”, and “Sea Spray”.

During the show, I noticed a middle-aged bald guy dancing in front of the stage. Wearing a white dress shirt and tie, he was rocking out like a manic and gyrating his hand like Ian Curtis. I don’t think he sat down once during the entire performance. I guess he was just feeding off of the band’s energy.

In conclusion, Paul Weller was amazing with seemingly limitless energy. He rocked out with several bizarre musical tangents throughout the night. I enjoyed each exploration and stayed for the entire two hour ride. I left the Apollo Theater in total exhaustion and excitement.

Related Links:
Paul Weller Honors Soul Heroes at New York's Apollo Theater - Spinner
James Franco’s Big Weekend; Paul Weller Jams Up the Apollo | Showbiz411
Paul Weller News: Paul Weller At The Apollo! By: James From The Freethinking Movement

Kaiju Heroes: Men in Rubber Suits

2010-11-09T12:42:00.026-05:00

Haruo Nakajima taking a break between takes.
NEW YORK, November 9 – In Japanese kaiju (怪獣) films, the faces of the most memorable players are never seen on the silver screen. They are the kaiju actors who breathe life into fantastic monsters like Godzilla (ゴジラ) and Gamera (ガメラ). Suffering underneath thick layers of latex rubber, they lumbered around complex miniature cityscapes in order to create movie magic. They are literally where “the rubber meets the road.”

Haruo Nakajima

In addition to some bit roles in Akira Kurosawa’s (黒澤明) films, Haruo Nakajima has worn the honored mantle of Godzilla in several major Toho movies including the original Godzilla film (along with Katsumi Tezuka), King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and others. Nakajima is perhaps one of the most memorable kaiju actors in the history of Japanese cinema credited with over forty films. Beyond the Godzilla franchaise, some of his best roles feature other bizarre monsters like Baran, Gezora, and Gaira.

Working closely with special effects genius Eiji Tsuburaya (円谷英一), Nakajima helped to pioneer a new form of physical acting called suit acting. The broad physical miming gestures used by him came to define the entire genre.

Teruo Aragaki

Despite being uncredited on the original Gamera film, Teruo Aragaki (荒垣輝雄) would continue to portrayed the giant flying bipedal tortoise in three additional sequels. His role as Gamera was physically demanding with elaborate action sequences and intense fighting scenes. In addition to the Showa era Gamera films, Aragaki was also featured in several episodes of the Ultraman television show.

Akira Ohashi

In the more recent Heisei era, Akira Ohashi (大橋明) has several outstanding performances underneath the latex rubber. He played major roles in both Gamera and Godzilla franchises. His most notable role was Gamera in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion. He was also featured in the Godzilla franchise as the three headed space dragon named King Ghidorah (キングギドラ) in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. On the small screen, Ohashi is credited for a couple of seasons of the Kamen Rider television series.

Tsutomu Kitagawa

The current inheritor of the Godzilla title is Tsutomu Kitagawa (喜多川務). Kitagawa has played the role of the giant atomic dinosaur in the last five films including Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla: Final Wars. As a highly trained stuntman, he brings a new energetic physicality to the role. His suit acting has to match the intensity of the new computer generated visuals of the heisei era films.

For more kaiju cinema, check out August Ragone's The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla 続・夕陽の呉爾羅 and Toho Kingdom.

This blog post is a part of the Japanese Film Blogathon 2010.

Jane Lui Double Taps New York

2010-11-02T01:09:00.022-04:00

NEW YORK, October 22 – Based on a recommendation, I went to see Jane Lui’s performance at the Rockwood Music Hall. Lui, a recent internet phenom, has been known as one of the more notable independent musical acts in the San Francisco scene. Unlike past generations of musicians, her career was born out of the internet and takes full advantage of powerful marketing tools like youtube and social media networks. Through a spirited digital DIY campaign, she has carefully garnered a pretty loyal following making her internet famous.

Despite her Hong Kong upbringing, Lui’s sound is a very big departure from the highly produced Canto-pop songs that she used to admired as a child. Moreover, she has a very straight forward approach to melody and an honest tone in her lyrics. I especially enjoyed her percussive piano playing style and smokey vocals. It’s a particularly dangerous bluesy-folk musical mixture. Her sound is reminiscent of other singer-songwriters like Tori Amos or Joni Mitchell.

At Lui’s first New York gig, I arrived in the middle of her short set and only caught the last two songs. My tardiness was due to being unintentionally trapped in a subway car. It’s one of the problems living in a large metropolitan city that is heavily reliant on mass transportation. When I arrived at the tiny piano bar, the place was packed with an unusual grouping of people. I was having trouble finding a place to stand. In the strangeness of that Monday night, there was even one guy dressed in a Star Trek uniform. Jane Lui and trekkies? I didn’t get the connection between his cosplay and her indie music. Someone’s gotta fill me in…

Because I missed most of her first performance, I was lucky enough to catch Lui’s second performance as a part of the CMJ Music Marathon. It was held at the same venue on the following Friday. However, this time she had the opportunity to play on the larger second stage. The acoustics were definitely better in the larger setting. The crowd was a bit smaller for her mid afternoon performance, but this might be due to the short notice and the last minute nature of the booking.

Some of the highlights of the performance were “Firefly”, “Pigeon Woman”, and “Illusionist Boy”.

If you want to listen to Jane Lui’s latest recordings, check out her website for a free mp3 album download. You can also find more videos of Jane Lui's performance at the Blog's Youtube Channel.

Shonen Knife at Asia Society

2010-10-27T01:20:00.013-04:00

Emi Morimoto standing on her drums and Ritsuko Taneda rocking out.
New York, September 25 – As a part of their extravagant Yoshitomo Nara (奈良美智) exhibition, Asia Society hosted a concert by Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ). Nara is a big fan of the band and designed some of their album covers including Happy Hour. In a larger sense, he has also credited punk music as being a major influence in his artwork.

In addition to the art exhibit, the performance was part of a new American tour that served as a coming out party for Shonen Knife's new drummer Emi Morimoto. She seemed to fit the band extremely well. Her drumming was exciting and filled with gusto.

The highlights of the performance were: Banana Chips, Super Group, and It's a New Find.

Click on the image for higher resolution.
The theater is pretty spacious, but one thing bothered me. The acoustics were really weird. I'm used to seeing Shonen Knife in small clubs with the amps blazing. However, the sound was reverberating off the wooden auditorium in a strange way. I can't really describe it. It sounds kinda like a rock band playing a school auditorium. The wood-paneled venue was built specifically for speakers and oration, and I'm pretty sure j-rock music was not a consideration in its design.

Despite the strange acoustics, the band rocked pretty hard and entertained the audience with their special brand of punk-pop music.

Yoshitomo Nara watching the signing from the stairs.

After the performance, the band did a lengthy autograph session and met with the audience. They are always very gracious to their fans. I also noticed Nara watching the signing event with camera in hand. He was just another music fan at the rock show.

Related Links:
Youtube: Asia Society: Rocking Out with Shonen Knife
Shonen Knife Blog » September 25th New York, NY

AWA 2010: Shinji Aramaki and Friends

2010-10-25T01:23:00.010-04:00

Con Attendees
Atlanta, September 18 – Being sandwiched between the summer anime convention season and New York Comic Con, I was initially hesitant about attending Anime Weekend Atlanta 2010. The two big draws for me were hanging out with some friends and meeting anime director Shinji Aramaki (荒牧伸志).

Everyone is a Critic Panel (Left to Right): Paul Chapman (The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast), Gerald Rathkolb (AWO), and Daryl Surat (AWO)
The great majority of the convention was spent hang out with friends. Since AWA is more low key than other larger conventions, I actually got the chance to talk to people. I also had the opportunity to attend some interesting panels like Everyone is a Critic and the Podcaster's Roundtable.

Shinji Aramaki with a Deunan Knute cosplayer
The other major reason I went to AWA was Shinji Aramaki. I attended his panel and his signing event. After the signing, I had a great interview with the master mech designer and veteran anime director for Giant Robot Magazine. He is a fascinating storyteller with tons of industry experience.

NYCC 2010: Everyday is Like GR Sunday

2010-10-21T02:05:00.026-04:00

Giant Robot Invades
New York, October 10 – The last day at New York Comic Con was much calmer, and I saw more children in the crowd. My game plan for most of the day was booth duty. I spent most of the day answering questions and promoting Giant Robot Magazine.

Sho'nuff visits the Giant Robot Booth

The booth had many different visitors. Most of the visitors to our booth were young artists looking to get involved with Giant Robot. I had long running conversations about Superflat, street graffiti, and the current art scene. I even ran into a few David Choe fans. They were hoping that Dave was going to be at the booth. Unfortunately I had to give them the bad news. On the other hand, younger booth visitors were looking for recommendation about everything. I was dispensing recommendations for anime, manga, Asian cinema, J-rock, and other related topics.

I also provided some reassurance to Giant Robot fans and readers. Many were concerned about the closing of the Giant Robot New York Store. I was sincerely grateful at the strong loyalty of GR readers. They were awesome.

The Last Panels Standing

After I finished manning the booth, I hastily made my way to some the late panels on the NYAF side.

Evan Minto, Faces of Anime Panel
Evan Minto (Ani Gamers) conducted a interesting panel on character designs in Anime. His presentation had depth and insight on some of the significant characters designs from Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) to Moe (萌え). If you want to listen to the panel, check out NYAF 2010 Panel Audio – The Changing Faces of Anime « Eeeper's Choice Podcast.

Kate and Alain, Anime Recruitment
At roughly the same time, Alain and Kate from Reverse Thieves hosted a panel on the introduction of anime to non-fans. Their panel was packed with a huge crowd. The give-and-take between the crowd and the panelists was lively especially the Q&A portion.

NYCC 2010: Saturday Funnies

2010-10-18T03:43:00.006-04:00

Ultraman (ウルトラマン) Cosplayer
New York, October 9 – Saturday is probably the busiest day during the New York Comic Con. I arrived early for many of the interesting panels including the Spotlight on Harper Collins, Digital Comics & Distribution, and Sushi Typhoon.

Vampires, Witches, and Zombies. Oh my...

Spotlight on Harper Collins. Seated (Left to Right): Erika Tsang (editor), Margaret Ronald (author), Jeaniene Frost (author), and Pamela Palmer (author).
I popped into this panel to check out the announcements and support my cousin Erika Tsang. She is an Executive Editor at Avon Romance. The panel announced several supernatural romance fiction titles such as Majorie Liu's In the Dark of Dreams, Jeaniene Frost's Side of the Grave, and Kerrelyn Sparks' Vampire Mine. Despite the romance nature of the imprint, the line was filled with sexy vampires, powerful witches, and zombies invasions. The trend in romance fiction is leaning towards the supernatural with the popularity of book series like The Twilight Saga and The Southern Vampire Mysteries (True Blood).

The panel also addressed the re-branding of the EOS imprint to Harper Collins Voyager.

I crossed the walkway to the Digital Comics & Distribution panel. The panel was slow to start. Read the post here: Digital Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Sushi Typhoon: The Best in Japanese Gore Flicks

Marc Walkow (Overseas Marketing for Sushi Typhoon)
After the Digital Comics & Distribution panel, I raced down the convention center to the New York Anime Festival (NYAF) side. I didn't want to miss the Sushi Typhoon panel.

When I got to the panel room, I had a short chat with Marc Walkow from Sushi Typhoon and Subway Cinema. We talked about his involvement with Sushi Typhoon and the Tokyo Dolores (トーキョードロレス) pole dancing team. The sexy Cay Izumi (泉カイ), actress in Mutant Girls Squad and RoboGeisha (ロボゲイシャ), is a featured dancer on the team.

As the panel started, Marc had a few technical difficulties but recovered quickly. He showed trailers to upcoming Sushi Typhoon films such as Noboru Iguchi's (井口昇) Karate Robo Zaborgar, Tak Sakaguchi's (坂口拓) Yakuza Weapon, and Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Helldriver. He also talked about a possible Takashi Miike (三池崇史) film in the works and plans to make Yudai Yamaguchi's (山口雄大) Deadball.

Exhibition and Artist Alley

In the mid-afternoon, I had the chance to wander around the exhibition floor and enjoy some of the booths. After I got around the madness that was the Square Enix (株式会社スクウェア・エニックス・ホールディングス) booth, I ran into a familiar sight.

I was glad to see Uglydoll peeps who are good friends of Giant Robot Magazine. They were super busy selling their toys and promoting their brand.

As I made my way deeper into the fray, I found several glass display case filled with Special Master Grade Gunpla (ガンプラ). I must be in the Bandai (株式会社バンダイ) booth. The detailed modeling in the Gunpla was pretty sweet.

I crossed over into the Small Press section to find the folks at the Vertical Inc booth. Mister Ed Chavez, Market Director, was enjoying a delicious overpriced breakfast burrito from the food court. Ioannis Mentzas, Editorial Director/Executive Vice President, was fingering his Tec-9 in case someone wanted to start some static with Chi (チー).

On th opposite side of the same exhibition hall, they had the Artist Alley. NYCC always has an Artist Alley packed with professionals and quality amateurs. I walked directly over to Whilce Portacio's table. He was very influential to my drawing style in the early 90s. I was particularly fond of his magnificent run in X-Factor (#63-69). He seemed shy and didn't talk to any fans. I just hung out and watched him sketch some doodles.

Around the corner, I found another great comic book artist named Mark Texeira. Texeira, a New Yorker, made some brilliant runs in both the Wolverine and Ghost Rider series. He was busy with a commission.

Further down the aisle, I ran into Cliff Chiang. He's currently kicking ass on the Green Arrow and Black Canary series. He's a very cool illustrator.

I doubled back around and return to the main exhibition floor to visit the Giant Robot booth. I found a Space Pirate Captain Harlock cosplayer checking out the booth too. The booth was a joint promotional effort between Scion Motors and Giant Robot Magazine. Scion assigned a marketing person to run the booth, so I decided to give her hand. I spent the rest of the afternoon answering questions about Giant Robot Magazine and GR sponsored events like the Scion 6 Installation.

Towards the evening, I once again made my way over to the NYAF side for some late night panels.

Vertical Inc: Tezuka and Beyond

Left to Right: Ed Chavez (Market Director) and Ioannis Mentzas (Editorial Director/Executive Vice President)
Vertical began the panel with the highly successful Chi's Sweet Home (チーズスイートホーム) series. Chavez discuss various marketing and licensing opportunities including a US Chi Web Portal and Wall Posters. They also talked about other established titles like Twin Spica (ふたつのスピカ).

In addition, Vertical announced several new licenses. They acquired two new titles from the Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) collection. The first is Ayako (奇子) which is slated for release on November 30, 2010. The second Tezuka title is The Book of Human Insects (人間昆虫記) which is scheduled for a July 26, 2011 releaese. In an effort to stretch the scope of their catalog, Vertical has added several seinen and gekiga titles. They announced the acquisition of two works by Usamaru Furuya (古屋兎丸). The first Furuya license is the Lychee Light Club (ライチ☆光クラブ) that is currently scheduled for a spring release. The other one is No Longer Human (人間失格). In a recent press release, Vertical has stated that the NYAF announcement of the No Longer Human license was "pre-mature". For more details on the Vertical licenses, please check About.com: Manga: NYAF 2010: Vertical Adds New Tezuka, Furuya Manga to 2011 Line-up.

After the Vertical panel, I quickly headed over to the Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers panel. Read the transcript here: About.com: Manga: NYAF 2010: "Gay for You?" Yuri & Yaoi Manga for GBLT Readers

Unusual Manga

Left to Right: Erin Finnegan, Noah Fulmor, and Ed Chavez.
The very last panel of the day was hosted by Erin Finnegan (Otaku USA and ANN's Shelf Life). Erin was joined by Noah Fulmor (husband) and Vertical's Ed Chavez. They discussed the bizarre array of manga releassed in Japan including religious manga, salary man manga, curling manga, and others. For more information check out the Ninja Consultants Podcast.

Left to Right: Noah Fulmor and Ed Chavez.

NYCC 2010: Digital Revolution Will Not Be Televised... It Will Be Loaded into Your iPad

2010-10-14T13:34:00.011-04:00

Digital Comics & Distribution. Seated (Left to Right): Ira Rubenstein (Marvel), David Steinberger (Comixology), Jim Lee (DC), and Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly).
New York, October 9 – Lately much of the news from many comic book publishers are focused on their huge push into digital distribution. Due to the portability and high resolution of print, the publishing industry enjoyed a brief respite from the onslaught of digitization and piracy of their media. However, the proliferation of piracy on file sharing torrent networks and dropping revenues from unit sales have forced publishers to adopt a more aggressive approach towards digital distribution.

The panel included: Ira Rubenstein (Marvel's), David Steinberger (comiXology), Jim Lee (DC Comics), and Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly)

The Good, The Bad, and The Geeky

Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly)

The panel addressed the advantages and disadvantages involved with digital distribution of comics.

Micah Baldwin, Chief Community Caretaker at Graphic.ly, argues that the digital age of comics will enhance the comic book experience. He said that technology should not be limiting factor, and it should follow the imagination of the creators. He discussed enhancements like motion comics (animated panels) and hyperlink zooming features.

David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology, agreed with Baldwin's assessment on the storytelling potential of digital media. However, he argues that digital comics are still in its infancy. The technology is still experimental. Furthermore, the comic industry needs a standardized file format that works seamlessly across all platforms. There still isn't one.

Ira Rubenstein, Executive Vice President of Marvel's Global Digital Media Group, expressed a cautious optimism about digital comics. Rubenstein states that he supports advances in digital comic book storytelling, but projects like motion comics are not profitable ventures. In the context of overall revenue generated by comics publishers, Rubenstein states that digital content make up only a small percentage of the companies' income. Revenue is further hampered by the hefty 30% cut that the Apple iTunes store charges content providers. As a result, most comic book publishers see digital distribution as little more than a promotional tool for the hard copy sales.

Furthermore, Rubenstein talked about the protection of intellectual property (IP) and Digital Rights Management (DRM). He cites examples from Sony's multi-million dollar attempts to use software encryption to protect their IP. Most of the security software was quickly hacked and circumvented by hackers within a few months of implementation. He said that hackers "have more time than money" and are technologically capable. Rubenstein believes that IP and DRM issues need to be addressed before digital comics can be a viable business.

Left to Right: Ira Rubenstein (Marvel) and David Steinberger (Comixology).
As an artist, Jim Lee (Co-Publisher of DC Comics) was concerned about some of the image manipulation features of digital comics that might distort the work. For example, zooming into a small panel might create an undesirable moiré effect or blur fine lines. Lee expressed adamant opposition to any technological enhancements that weakens the creator's control of the visual experience.

In addition, Lee discussed the impact of digital comics on the storytelling aspects. He states that digital devices have shorten attention spans and created the demand for shorter stories. Using examples from his own life, Lee states that he has a short attention span in front of a computer because of e-mail and other programs. His attention span is even shorter on mobile devices like smart phones and tablets causing him to spend less time on content. This phenomenon will lead to shorter comics. Rather than the standard 22 page narrative, Lee argued that most digital comics will probably be shortened to around 18 pages.

Apple iTunes and Boobs

During the Question and Answer portion of the panel, the issue of censorship was raised by a con attendee. He cited several reported instances of Apple iTune's censorship efforts. One of the more infamous cases involved a comic showing nude female breasts.

In his reply, Baldwin expressed an openness regarding content. Except for grossly objectionable content like child pornography or blatant racism, Graphic.ly will work with any creator or comic book property. He believes that creating "community driven standards" from the ground-up is the better approach to managing content.

Left to Right: David Steinberger (Comixology) and Jim Lee (DC).
Steinberger added that the Apple iTunes store has been tweaking their censorship policies to accommodate the readers' taste. The overly aggressive censorship will be made more flexible and reasonable.

Interestingly Lee ended the discussion by saying, "We will get beyond 'boobs are bad'."

NYCC 2010: The Brave and The Geeky

2010-10-12T21:24:00.011-04:00

Cosplaying Couple posing as Superman and Wonder Woman.
New York, October 8 – Due to a late night pre-con party, I arrived to the New York Comic Con 2010 late on the Friday afternoon. There weren't too many interesting panels except the Aniplex one. I had a difficult time finding the press office to pick-up my badge, and the volunteers at registration had no clue. I wandered a bit and eventually got my badge. I headed over to the Aniplex panel.

Aniplex of America

Aniplex PR team. Hiroe Tsukamoto (right).
As I was waiting for the panel to begin, Anime News Network (ANN) Editor Chris Macdonald sat right in front of me. I've run into him at other conventions over the summer. I greeted him, and we were trading war stories about this year's anime con season.

Interestingly Aniplex is one of the few Japanese companies trying to approach the US market in a hybrid fashion. They are simultaneously licensing shows for local DVD distributors, forming partnership for streaming rights, and releasing titles on their own. It's an interestingly aggressive strategy directly addressing some of the issues with the downturn in the US anime market.

As the panel started, Aniplex announced a combination of streaming titles and DVD releases. Chris was in attendance to help promote their partnership with Aniplex. ANN is schedule to stream both Oreimo (俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない) and Bloody Curs (咎狗の血) for the upcoming anime season. They also announced their DVD boxset releases of Durarara!! (デュラララ!!) and Read or Die (リード・オア・ダイ).

The retail prices of their DVD releases gave me a little sticker shock. Nine episodes of Durarara!! was going for $49.95, therefore the entire season was going to cost approximately $150. They are definitely going for the small collector's market. I hope they are planning to release a full season thin-pak for the more casual anime consumer and general audience types. If Aniplex thinks people are going to spend $150 for one series, they are making the same mistake a lot of other Japanese companies did in the 90s.

Towards the end of the panel, they discussed some of their current projects such as Mardock Scramble (マルドゥック・スクランブル) and Star Driver (STAR DRIVER 輝きのタクト).

Chance Encounters

Grady Hendrix introducing Mutant Girls Squad.
I left the Aniplex panel early and peeked into the Vocaloid panel. It was packed into a medium sized panel room. The event should have been scheduled for a bigger venue. There were con attendees sitting along the aisles and people lining the walls.

I turned around and ran directly into Grady Hendrix of Subway Cinema. He is one of the most knowledgeable film journalists working today. We talked a bit about movies and the film industry. I accompanied Grady to the screening of Mutant Girls Squad because he was doing the introduction.

After the introduction, we talked a bit. I turned in early and went home.

Best American Comics 2010 Book Launch with Neil Gaiman, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Gabrielle Bell

2010-10-09T01:34:00.003-04:00

Left to Right: Neil Gaiman, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Gabrielle Bell.
New York, October 7 – Barnes and Noble Union Square hosted a book launching event for the Best American Comics 2010. The new anthology is a collection of the year’s best comics from professional, indie, graphic novel, and the web. The event was cleverly scheduled to coincide with the start of the New York Comic Con and tapped into the comic geek audience. The large event space was packed with fans.

The panelists for the event included: Jessica Abel (editor), Matt Madden (editor), Neil Gaiman (guest editor), Gabrielle Bell (contributor), and Bryan Lee O'Malley (contributor).

Traveling Editor

The anthology is mainly edited by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. They added the contributions of Neil Gaiman as a guest editor.

Gaiman, a prolific comic book writer, said that he eagerly accepted the offer despite his busy schedule. He recounted stories of traveling across the world and receiving large boxes of comics from Madden. Gaiman tried to read as much as possible and send the used copies back. Sometimes he would accidently misplace a comic, and others would remind him of it.

I immediate think of the scene from Hansel and Gretel. Instead of a trail of breadcrumbs, Gaiman was leaving a trail of comic books and graphic novels. I wonder if there is an adventurous comic geek who can retrace Gaiman’s globetrotting through his lost comics.

Digital Publication

Left to Right: Neil Gaiman and Bryan Lee O'Malley
During the New York Comic Con, the hot topic is the transition to digital platforms. This event was not an exception. The anthology included contribution from web comics in addition to traditionally published work. Each of the panelists provided interesting points of view on the topic.

Bell has published a lot of web comics on her blog. She talked about the speed and quickness of the internet as a medium. She states that, “I have a lot of instant feedback and encouragement. It’s gets out there a little more. I actually still prefer to read books. [Digital comics] has its problems, but it has great advantages too.” She added, “It’s a lot more intensive especially because I do journalistic and autobiographically things. So I can have an experience on Monday. Do a comic about it on Tuesday. Post it on the internet on Wednesday. Get some feedback on Thursday and start all over again.” Despite her advocacy of the digital medium, she strongly believes that there is still a place for physical media in comics.

O’Malley discussed his early experiences with publishing web comics. He also talked about Bear Creek Apartments which was a joint project with Hope Larson (his wife). He expressed the positive qualities about web publishing. However, he was cautious about being overly enthusiastic about it. He argued that, “The thing about the web is everyone is on it. So, there are tons of comics. There are an unimaginable number of comics. Some of them are extremely terrible. It’s unavoidable. You just have to find someone to curate it for you.”

Left to Right: Neil Gaiman, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Gabrielle Bell and Jessica Abel.
Gaiman was initially against the whole concept of digital publication, but he had a change of heart. He told a story about his difficulty with reading comic books. He thought it was caused by boredom. In a strange twist, he decided to buy some reading glasses from a drug store and tried reading it again. This time he was really engaged in reading them. He believes that the image enhancement abilities of digital devices could improve the entertainment value of comics. Noting the ability to zoom in and out of a frame, Gaiman was impressed in the implementation of comic books on digital device like the iPad.

Overall, the panel expressed a cautious optimism about web comics and the future of digital distribution.

After the panel discussion, there was a signing with panelists. All of the panelists were gracious enough to sign thousands of books for their fans.

Click on the image for higher resolution.
Related Links:
Neighborhood Highlights: Union Square: The Best American Comics 2010 : Neighborhood NYC
Neil Gaiman Talks Comics in Union Square | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts

Accidently on 34th Street

2010-10-07T01:28:00.007-04:00

New York, October 2 – It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and the television weather forecast promised an idyllic day. I couldn’t waste it, so I head over to Bryant Park to do some manga shopping at the local Japanese bookstores.

As I walk up to Herald Square, I was overwhelmed by a sea of Koreans with flags and Hanbok dresses. I found myself in the middle of Korean American Association of Greater New York’s (KAAGNY) autumn parade. I totally forgot about this parade, but it was a pleasant surprise. This kind of thing that only happens in New York City. The rich multi-ethnic culture and the pedestrian nature of the city leads to some amazing experiences.

Click on the image for higher resolution.

Since it was the 30th anniversary, the parade seemed exceptionally grand with huge floats and tons of spectators. It stretched from Harold Square (Koreatown) to Bryant Park.

You Can Have Your Moon Cake and Eat It Too

2010-09-22T22:39:00.007-04:00

New York, September 22 – The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) (a.k.a. Moon Festival or Lantern Festival) is one of the most widely celebrated holidays across Asia. It marks the end of summer and honors the immortal moon goddess named Chang'e (嫦娥). The day is usually celebrated with building paper lanterns and eating moon cake. I didn't build too many lanterns as a child, but I did partake in the consumption of some cake. It's perhaps the only time I actually eat the sweet pastry.

While shopping in Chinatown, I couldn't find our traditional brand of moon cake in any of the stores or bakeries. So, I tried a new brand of moon cake imported from Hong Kong. The packaging was very beautiful. Each cake was individually packaged in a small painted tin box within a case. The bottom of the case was lined with a golden silky cloth.

Farewell to Giant Robot New York with Goh Nakamura

2010-09-15T13:15:00.016-04:00

Right to Left: Goh Nakamura and Gary Wang
New York, September 12 – Devoted Giant Robot fans braved the harsh rain to attend a farewell event at the Giant Robot New York store. The store is scheduled to close on September 23. The farewell event began with a signing by David Choe and ended with a set by Goh Nakamura.

I rushed over to the East Village to attend the double headliner event. The delayed subway trains and the heavy rain slowed my progress. So, I arrived pretty late. I walked into the small store front and encountered Goh’s acoustic guitar. Neither Dave nor Goh were present. I overheard people saying that they went to some barbecue joint down the block. I probably just missed them and decided to hang out.

Click on the image for higher resolution.

At around 5:45 PM, a wet Goh Nakamura made his appearance. As he was setting up his rig, he was joined by Gary Wang on electric bass. The San Francisco based singer-songwriter proceeded to create some bizarre acoustic guitar alchemy. He ran his ¾ acoustic axe through multiple effects pedals including chorus, reverb, phase shifters, and etc. The resulting sound was mixture of traditional acoustic folk guitar and experimental rock. On some of his songs, Goh would sing into the sound hole of his guitar and run his vocals through the various effects pedals. It was a pretty cool set.

Some of the highlights of his performance were “Somewhere”, “Surrogate Valentine”, and a cover of “Just like Heaven”.

At various times during Goh’s performance, David Choe would occasionally peek through the store window to watch. Goh was completely unaware of Dave’s haunting presence until someone mentioned it. Goh replied, “Awesome… sweet.”

He finished his set with a cover of The Invisible Cities' "Shooting Star". However, Goh didn’t know the lyrics except for the chorus. He improvised the rest with some funny lines like, “I will be your curly fries.”

You can find more videos of Goh Nakamura's performance at the Blog's Youtube Channel.

Related Links:
Played a set of rainy day music at GRNY with Gary...

Otakon 2010: 5 Pounds Per Second

2010-09-12T07:28:00.009-04:00

Press Conference with the creative team behind Welcome to the Space Show. (Right to Left) Masashi Ishihama, Koji Masunari, and Tomonori Ochikoshi
Baltimore, August 1 – The centerpiece for Otakon 2010 was the US premiere of Welcome to the Space Show (宇宙ショーへようこそ). It was an original animated feature film by A-1 Pictures Inc. I attended the movie screening with a bunch of friends including bloggers, podcasters, and press. I will probably write a full review of the movie for the next issue of Giant Robot Magazine.

At the screening, I sat a couple of seat away from Gerald Rathkolb (Anime World Order). He had recently purchased five pounds of fudge. I was befuddled by his culinary decision. I don't know what possesses a man to buy so much fudge. Was he trying break some competitive eating record? He repeatedly insisted that he got a great deal.

Gerald, who is incapable of ingesting so much sugar, proceeded to give away large chunks of the chocolate confection. Some people didn't want any part of his madness. They either refused outright or tried to hand their piece of fudge to me. I didn't want to be inhospitable, so I had a small piece.

1 Pound of Fudge
Cosplay

The convention also featured some very creative and elaborate cosplay outfits. Here are some of my favorites:

Bahamut from Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー)

Big Trouble in Little China cosplay group.

This is a complete guess: Vocaloid Cosplay?

Related Links:

Otakon 2010: Completing the Trifecta

2010-09-06T18:08:00.020-04:00

Baltimore, August 1 – This summer I went for the trifecta. After attending both the New York Asian Film Festival and the San Diego Comic-con, I crisscrossed the country again to attend Otakon 2010. I must admit I was a little burned out by the continuous travel and media circus. I was content on letting the event just happen and following the crowd like a lemming.

The Barcode Lines

The Line for the AMV Contest.
Speaking of lemmings, the early registration line situation was strange. The convention began using a barcode system in order to streamline the registration process. The con organizers started with two seperate line: one for barcode registration and one for non-barcode registration.

Initially this seemed like a good idea, but it quickly became a victim of its own success. The barcode line was slow and overwhelmed with attendees while the non-barcode line was short and quick. Eventually the con staffers got wise and combined the separate registration lines.

However, this remedy didn't apply to lines for popular panels and video rooms like the AMV Contest.

The Panels

Vertical Panel. Right to Left: Ed Chavez, Felipe Smith, and Ko Ransom
I attended several panels at the convention. It was a mixture of friend's fan panels and industry related ones.

At the Vertical Inc. panel, the company celebrated some of it's major releases including Peepo Choo, Chi's Sweet Home (チーズスイートホーム), and Twin Spica (ふたつのスピカ). Ed Chavez, Marketing Director, re-introduced Felipe Smith to American audiences with Peepo Choo. Smith, an American Manga-ka, moved to Japan and published his work in Kodansha's Morning 2 Magazine.

Mad House Panel with Masao Maruyama
I also attended the Madhouse panel with Masao Maruyama (丸山正雄). He seemed a bit quite and somber at the time. According to Satoshi Kon's (今敏) last message, Maruyama knew of Kon's losing battle with pancreatic cancer. Although he did not mention Kon's illness, I can only guess that the head of Madhouse was deeply affected by it.

History of Hentai by Gerald Rathkolb

In addition to industry panels, I attended many of my friend's panels. Some of the best ones were:

Riichi: Japanese Mahjong, Anime, and You (Carl Li and David Cabrera)
Portrait of a Fujoshi: The Psychology of Ogiue Chika (Carl Li)
History of Hentai Panel (Gerald Rathkolb)
10 Anime You’ve Never Heard of But Must See (Anime World Order (AWO): Daryl Surat, Gerald Rathkolb, and Clarissa Graffeo)
Anime Cult Classics (Mike Toole)

I was pleasantly surprised by the huge audiences at obscure panels. The mahjong panel was absolutely packed. When I got to the panel room, all of the seats were taken. I had to sit on the floor. At AWO's 10 Anime You’ve Never Heard of, there was a ridiculous line. I accompanied Gerald to the room, and we noticed the huge crowd.

He remarked that, "This can't be for our panel."

I politely asked one attendees about the line. He confirmed that it was for the AWO panel. It was pretty amazing.

Related Links:

You Can’t Stop the Paperdoll

2010-09-03T12:18:00.003-04:00

Right to Left: Steve Paelet, Chip Thomas, and Teresa Lee Chaisiri
New York, July 17 – After recently winning the Grand Prize at Kollaboration New York, the Paperdoll band played at the Crash Mansion.

According to their website, the band was planning an extensive tour of Shanghai (which has just concluded). They were scheduled to play one last performance before going to China. I heard about it at the very last minute and hastily rushed over to the venue. I wanted to see them before they embark on their overseas journey.

I was late. As I walked into the venue, Teresa Lee Chaisiri was already bouncing around the stage and hammering her keyboard. I probably missed the first few songs.

Right to Left: Teresa Lee Chaisiri and Patrick Moloney
The highlights of their performance included “If Nothing Happened”, “I Know”, and “You Can’t Stop It”.

The Paperdoll band really rocked out. Teresa’s vocals are the most noticeable part of their live performance. She belted out her lyrics at full force with a harsh musical texture. It’s very reminiscent of vocalists like Pat Benatar and Patty Smyth. In addition, Patrick Moloney’s interesting use of effects and progressions gave many of their songs an electric bluesy feel. He had several opportunities to really rip. The rhythm section was very fun and light with Steve Paelet on bass and Chip Thomas behind the drums.

Meeks! Meiko at the Living Room

2010-09-01T03:12:00.015-04:00

New York, August 29 – On a steamy warm summer night, Meiko took the stage at the Living Room. The Los Angeles based indie rockstar was a rare sight in the Big Apple, but she managed to pack the audience with fans.

Armed only with an acoustic guitar, she entertained the New York crowd with a combination of melodic songs and funny side stories. Between each song, Meiko would talk to the audience and sometimes carry on fully conversations. Filled with sass, she entertained the crowd with personal stories about love, her music career, and money. Meiko spoke as much as she sang. It kind of reminded me of the VH1 Storytellers show.

Members of the audience randomly shouted questions and remarks. Meiko was gracious enough to entertain them.

One audience member was particularly vocal during her performance. I don’t know if he was part of her Vinny Chase-esque entourage or a really drunk fan. He kept trying to identify her chord changes and shouting them from his seat. Most of his comments were like, “A minor, Yeah!” Jeez… I didn’t appreciate listening to the impromptu music commentary track while Meiko was playing. Balls…

He also kept calling her “Meeks”. I’ve never heard anyone address her by that nickname. In an odd way, I found it kind of interesting. Maybe I’m a sucker for single syllable nicknames, but it sounded cute. I think I’m going to start a calling her “Meeks” too.

Some of the highlights of Meiko’s set were “Boys with Girlfriends”, “Piano Song”, and “Real Real Sweet”.

Meiko’s performance was pretty entertaining with a very straight forward approach to both lyrics and melody. Her set was filled with plenty of love songs and break up tunes. However, I was more fascinated by her humorous tongue-and-cheek songs like “Real Real Sweet” and “You Gotta Fucking Tip”. They played directly on her snarky and sarcastic personality, which might be abrasive to a general audience. I thought it was cute in a tsundere (ツンデレ) sort of way.

You can find more videos of Meiko's performance at the Blog's Youtube Channel.

Related Links:
Next Music Online » Blog Archive » Coach Falls In Love
meiko on MySpace Music

Stealing Glimpses of Nara

2010-08-30T03:02:00.016-04:00

The Rule: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Nara.
New York, August 25 – Yoshitomo Nara (奈良美智) held a five day open studio for the reconstruction of his large-scale installation Home. It was a jointly sponsored event by the Park Avenue Armory and the Asia Society Museum. The reconstruction site was located at the Wade Thompson Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory.

The armory was being heavily renovated, and the guests had to have to follow strict rules. The first requirement was a dress code. Everyone had to wear closed toe shoes and sleeved shirts. The construction site also issued hard hats to guests, and they had to be worn. This is clearly a safety guideline. The second rule was no photography. No photography?

Guests with Hard Hats.
When I saw the “no photography” sign at the entrance of the drill hall, I asked one of the staffers about it. He said, “There is no photography inside.” For the sake of clarification, I also asked about the photography policy in the outer foyer area near the front door. He replied that, “It’s okay out here.”

Nara's Makeshift Studio. [Click for higher resolution]

Based on his answer, I began taking photographs of Nara’s studio from the foyer area. The makeshift studio was near the door but partial obscured by the position of the entrance. After taking several pictures, the head of building security rudely stepped into my line of sight and said, “No photography!” I tried to explain that I was following the instructions given by the staffer. He wasn’t listening. I decided to stop taking pictures because I’m not going to fight the security guards. I’m not paparazzi.

I walked into the hall and looked at some of Nara’s sketches. They were interesting with a lot of religious references. He also had an dismantled electric guitar on his work table. Interesting... The artist was noticeably missing from the open studio.

Then I walked over to a little area with the partially completed installation. It was pretty cool. What a shame... I could have created a time lapse of Nara’s progress and posted it as a photo essay. It would have been awesome.

At one point, I saw Nara walking into the hall. He briefly peered into his studio space and quickly walked out. I guess he wasn’t feeling it either.

Satoshi Kon: The Dreamer

2010-08-26T13:13:00.010-04:00

Paprika
New York, August 24 – On August 24, 2010, Japanese Animation Director Satoshi Kon (今敏) died of pancreatic cancer in Tokyo.

At the age of 46, Kon left behind an amazing body of work including five feature length films and a thirteen episode animated television series. His innovative storytelling and imaginative animation is unparalleled in complexity and creativity.

As evident in his films, Kon’s imagination and creativity operated on a completely different level from other contemporary animation directors. He constantly blurred the lines between memory, dreams, and reality. In his award winning Millennium Actress (千年女優), the narrative interweaves the colorful flashback segments with the movie’s seemingly mundane plot. The result is a multilayered film seamlessly transitioning back-and-forth between memory and the present reality.

Millennium Actress
Most anime fans of my generation were first introduced to Satoshi Kon through the home video release of Perfect Blue (パーフェクトブルー). The animated feature was about the deceptively innocuous topic of Japanese pop idols that evolved into a serious examination of identity. The film was an innovative work that really opened people’s eyes to the unlimited storytelling potential of 2D animation.

The success of Perfect Blue was followed by Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ).

Perfect Blue
When Paprika (パプリカ) was release, Kon was reaching the zenith of his powers as a director and animator. He began using his patented nonlinear storytelling to tackle increasingly challenging and complex narratives. Therefore, his untimely death seems like an even greater loss to the anime industry. I can’t even imagine how many more potential masterpieces he could have created.

Furthermore, Satoshi Kon is perhaps one of the few Japanese Anime directors to ever crossover into the American mainstream media market. His engrossing films attracted a broad general audience without giant robots, magical girls, or moé filled harems. Instead, he won people over with breath taking visuals and engaging storytelling. In the gimmicky and faddish world of Japanese pop culture, Kon’s films definitely stood out.

Paprika
I never met Satoshi Kon, but I was always connected to him in a strange two degrees of separation. I’ve had friends who knew him, interviewed him, and even hung out at his office. I also had several opportunities to meet him at events like the Satoshi Kon: Beyond Imagination Retrospective. Due to other obligations, I never connected with him and deeply regret it.

Satoshi Kon’s life can be summed up in a memorable quote from Paprika, the inventor Tokita innocently remarks, “Isn’t it wonderful? The ability to see a friend’s dream as if it were your own. To share the same dream.” Thank you for sharing your dreams with us. We’ll miss you Satoshi Kon.

Related Links:
Satoshi Kon, Anime Filmmaker, Dies at 46 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
Giant Robot Blogs / Martin Wong: Satoshi Kon RIP
Satoshi Kon: Memories | Otaku USA Anime Coverage
Satoshi Kon's last words | Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

Healthy Food & Green Festival: Japanese Street Fair

2010-08-23T22:50:00.011-04:00

New York, August 22 – The JapanTown festival organized a street fair to celebrate Japanese cuisine and the culinary arts. This late summer fair was named the Healthy Food & Green Festival, and it was located on Madison Avenue (between 43rd Street and 45th Street). I don’t know about the healthy and green elements of the street food, but there was a lot grilled red meat and seafood.

It’s technically a Japanese matsuri, so there are fun games for kids. But, we’re here for the street food. Lining the streets of Madison Avenue, there were at least twenty blazing grills and several steaming hot plates.

The best street food at the fair was the barbecued pork loins at the Hakata Tonton booth. It’s grilled and dipped in barbecue sauce. Ummm… dripping with grease and sauce.

Delicious Tanichico-Yaki (Udon Noodle Pancake) with “Hiroshima” sauce and bacon was another popular dish at the fair. It's a type of Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き).

Healthier fair food included a vegan steamed dumpling at the Ajinomoto booth. It's made of edamame.

Across the street there was one vendor selling fresh Japanese produce.

The Alfa Garcia Experience

2010-08-21T22:07:00.011-04:00

(Right to Left) Jon McElroy, Zach Jones, and Alfa
New York, August 18 – I’ve seen Alfa Garcia perform at several venues in New York City, and they were all solo efforts. However, her performance at the Living Room included a three piece band. Band? This was an interesting turn of events. I’ve never heard the entire band perform live before tonight.

What’s the name of the band? The name on the venue’s bill was “Alfa Garcia”. So, is the band named “Alfa Garcia” too? “The Alfa Garcia Band” sounds too plain. I was just brainstorming names for her band, and I came up with a few suggestions. Something classy like:

Eraserheads

Anyway, Alfa’s performance was pretty amazing. Most of the guitar driven songs included the entire band, and the delicate piano ballads were performed solo. She frequently switched between the piano and the band, which kept the arrangement and the live show kinetic.

The band did a brilliant job of providing Alfa with a rhythm section. Mister Zach Jones provided some spot-on drumming and background vocals. Mister Jon McElroy jammed on both an electric and an acoustic stand-up double bass.

Some of the highlights of the performance were “Second Skin”, “Home to Me”, and “Love as Tragedy”.

NYAFF 2010: Photographic Evidence

2010-08-19T01:48:00.013-04:00

New York, July 8 – During the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), I took hundreds digital photographs and several digital videos. I promised the Subway Cinema guys to post them, but my life got really busy. The images just sat on my hard drive for nearly a month until I could find the time to sort them. I compiled best ones for this photo essay post.

Except for the photographs attached to other blog posts, these are some of my favorite photos from NYAFF 2010: [Click Through Image for Higher Resolution]

Eastern Condors Q&A: (Right to Left) Sammo Hung (洪金寶) and Frank Djeng (translator)

8,000 Miles (Saitama no Rappa) Q&A: Yu Irie (入江悠)

8,000 Miles (Saitama no Rappa) Q&A: (Right to Left) Marc Walkow, Yu Irie, and Chisato Uno (translator)

8,000 Miles (Saitama no Rappa) Q&A: Yu Irie meeting fans

Maneki Neko welcoming people to the Kirin free beer party!

Annyong Yumika Q&A: (Right to Left) Tetsuaki Matsue and Chisato Uno (translator)

Pink Eiga Introduction: Marc Walkow explaining the finer points to the simulated sex scenes.

Pink Eiga Intermission: Asami (杉浦亜紗美) talks to fans

Alien vs. Ninja: Preparing to invade the theater at Japan Society. (Right to Left) Yoshihiro Nishimura (西村喜廣) , Masanori Mimoto (三元雅芸), Noboru Iguchi (井口昇), and Yoshinori Chiba.

Mutant Girls Squad Post Screening: Yoshihiro Nishimura pulling away Noboru Iguchi's mawashi (sumo loincloths). Asami and Cay Izumi (泉カイ) pointing and laughing hysterically.

Mutant Girls Squad Post Screening: (Right to Left) Cay Izumi, Asami, Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Noboru Iguchi.

Sushi Typhoon Party: Asami straightening out the collar for a school girl cosplay.

Sushi Typhoon Party: Your guess is as good as mine. (Right to Left) Yoshinori Chiba, Marc Walkow, Cay Izumi's butt, Chisato Uno (translator), Yoshihiro Nishimura's butt, and Noboru Iguchi.

Sushi Typhoon Party: We have a winner for the cosplay contest. (Right to Left) Yoshinori Chiba, Marc Walkow, Chisato Uno (translator), Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Noboru Iguchi.

Sushi Typhoon Party: Japan Society turned off the lights, but we continued to party. (Right to Left) Yoshinori Chiba, Marc Walkow, Chisato Uno (translator), Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Noboru Iguchi.

Castaway on the Moon Introduction: Finding a raffle prize winner. (Right to Left) Goran Topalovic and Lee Hey-Jun (이해준)

Castaway on the Moon Q&A: (Right to Left) Chae Yunsun (translator) and Lee Hey-Jun

Gallants Introduction by Grady Hendrix

Gallants Introduction: Grady Hendrix getting the crowd excited about old school kung-fu.

Gallants Q&A: (Right to Left) Bruce Leung (梁小龍) and MC Jin (歐陽靖)

Tze Chun's Children of Invention DVD Release Party

2010-08-16T15:09:00.010-04:00

New York, August 14 – Giant Robot New York held a DVD release party for Tze Chun’s Children of Invention. It attracted a decent crowd of indie film fans and New Yorkers.

The film is his first major full length feature garnering 17 film festival awards and an official selection for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of a single mother who is drawn into a Ponzi scheme. She is arrested, and her two young children are left to survive on the streets alone.

Regarding his future projects, Chun is set to direct a segment of the film adaptation of Will Eisner’s A Contract with God.

Tze Chun talking about James Jean's prints. Cindy Cheung, lower left.

Tze Chun discusses the finer points of editing and film making. Cindy Cheung and Crystal Chiu, center back.

Related Links:
Children of Invention DVD Signing - a set on Flickr
YouTube - Children of Invention - New Theatrical Trailer 2010
TZECHUN.COM

SDCC 2010: Last Minute Heroics

2010-08-15T01:50:00.018-04:00

Pink Hello Kitty Assault Rifle with folding Stock
San Diego, July 25 – After four days of convention madness, the weariness began to show on the faces of the exhibitors and guests. I could see it in their eyes. They had the thousand yard stare. We braced ourselves for the final day of total geekery. Some poor souls had to buy overpriced coffee from the Starbucks stand. Others just toughed it out without caffeine. Go forth, brave soldiers of love.

Comics and Piracy Panel

Right to Left: Jake T. Forbes, Deb Aoki, and David Steinberger
The Digital Piracy Panel was one of the few panels that I actually attended. They covered most of the major arguments concerning comic books and intellectual property rights. The discussion was very timely due to the recent anti-piracy efforts of many American manga publishers.

The panelists included Douglas Wolk (Critic for Techland), Jake T. Forbes (Manga Editor and Author of Return to Labryinth), David Steinberger (CEO of comiXology), and Deb Aoki (Manga Editor for About.com).

If you want to read a transcript of the panel, you can find it here.

Dueling Mangaka

Right to Left: Moto Hagio and Yoshitaka Amano
I don’t think it was intentional, but two famous manga-ka were holding signing events at the same time. Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) was signing copies of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, and Yoshitaka Amano (天野喜孝) was signing copies of Shinjuku. This effectively split the manga otaku into two separate groups. It was an interesting dilemma. I did the King Solomon thing and to split my time between the two events. I spend only thirty minutes at Hagio’s booth and thirty minutes at Amano’s booth.

Monster Lunch

Cate was nice enough to pick up our lunches. However, the sandwiches were friggin’ monstrous. I didn’t know whether to be frighten or hungry. The bun was literally bigger than an X-Box.

Breaking Down

The last day of San Diego Comic-Con was filled with ambiguous feelings of relief and sadness. I was pretty tired at this point and didn’t want to work another day. At the same time, I was going to miss hanging out and meeting some of the coolest people.

As the exhibitors were breaking down their booths, the convention administration began closing the lights. The entire exhibition hall quickly went from a colorful wonderland to a ghost town. The carpet was rolled up and stacks of cardboard boxes were awaiting transportation.

After Con Dinner

After breaking down the booth, the Giant Robot crew went to a local Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. It was a nice ending to an amazing week in San Diego. I enjoyed working alongside the awesome Giant Robot folks.

Related Links:
Comic Con booth behind the scenes - Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Blogs / Martin Wong: Comic-Con - Day 4
Giant Robot Blogs / Michelle Borok: Obligatory Comic Con Roundup
Giant Robot Blogs / Martin Wong: Comic-Con conclusion

SDCC 2010: Con Survival, Pop Candy Party, and Boris

2010-08-05T12:53:00.003-04:00

San Diego, July 24 – I always assumed that con survival guides were weak veiled attempts at comedy. Come on… Do you really need someone to remind you of basic human functions like hygiene, hydration, and eating? It’s basic common sense. Even mindless Sims sprites know when to use the bathroom.

Then, the unthinkable happened. There was geek-on-geek violence in Hall H of the San Diego Comic-con. Stationed at the plushy table of the Giant Robot booth, I watched two squads of local police quickly marching across the convention center.

I’ve read quite a few con survival how to’s, and I don’t recall any lessons on self-defense (the zombie apocalypse ones don’t count). I guess it’s time to add some basic self-defense tips to those guides.

There were many rumors circulating in the exhibitor’s hall. The initial story described a confrontation ending in an attendee stabbing another one with a replica light saber (the geek’s weapon of choice). It’s perhaps the geekiest personal assault in history. When I read the actual news coverage, the victim was stabbed by a pen near his eye. He went to the hospital with minor cuts.

Uglydolls Signing

Right to Left: Dave Horvath and Sun-Min Kim
As soon as the exhibition hall was opened to attendees, fans of the Uglydolls began circling our booth. They were eagerly anticipating the signing which was our last scheduled event of the convention. Around 10:30 AM, the free roaming Uglydolls fans began to form a line.

David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, creators of the Uglydolls, rushed over to the booth with great haste. They were carrying a box of exclusive vinyl toys. I’m surprised that rabid toy collectors didn’t mob them for it. The husband and wife team enjoyed meeting their many devoted fans and signing exclusive vinyl figures.

Filipino Rockers

Right to Left: Christine Balance and Gary Gabisan
I received a surprising visit from two Filipino-American indie rockers. Christine Balance and Gary Gabisan stopped by the booth and bought some GR gear. Christine is a vocalist for the Jack Lords Orchestra, and Gary is a member of P.I.C.

Sushi Typhoon

Right to Left: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Masanori Mimoto, and cosplayers
Cate Park (Giant Robot) and I had a chance to roam around the exhibition floor. We ran into familiar faces at the Funimation booth. The crew from Sushi Typhoon was doing a promotional event. We had a chance to hang out with Yoshihiro Nishimura (西村喜廣) (director/special effects), Marc Walkow (Subway Cinema/Sushi Typhoon Overseas Marketing), Yoshinori Chiba (producer), Masanori Mimoto (三元雅芸) (actor), and the alien from Alien Versus Ninja.

British Invasion

Sean Michael Wilson
I found out that Jonathan Ross, British talk show host, was at the convention and asked him to stop by the booth. It was pretty awesome to meet him in person. He was very cool cat. I also had the opportunity to meet Sean Michael Wilson who edited the Ax (Vol 1): A Collection of Alternative Manga. He’s currently living and working in Tokyo.

Right to Left: Matt Groening and Oscar
Other notable visitors to the Giant Robot booth: Matt Groening (Simpsons), Hope Larson (Gray Horses) and Brian Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Ed Chavez, and Brian Ralph (Reggie 12).

Pop Candy After-party

I skipped out of the convention early to attend Whitney Matheson’s Pop Candy party. Whitney is USA Today’s pop culture columnist and has appeared on various pop culture television shows on VH1, E!, and G4TV. I follow her blog religiously.

The party was a mixture of cheap drinks, board games, and 3-D posters. I also witnessed several pretty epic games of Jenga.

In addition, I had the pleasure of meeting other pop candy readers. One of the most interesting personalities at party was Raging Demons (RD) (obviously a screen name). He is a blogger at NoDQ.com website which focuses on professional wrestling. I also met a Batman cosplayer with a can of chili on his utility belt. He was pretty hilarious.

Batman cosplayer's utility belt
BORIS!!!

After the Pop Candy Party, I joined Martin Wong (Giant Robot Editor) to see the Japanese metal band Boris. They were rocking out at a legendary San Diego bar called the Casbah. Their thrashing guitars and rocking percussion filled the tiny venue with a strange sonic alchemy. The entire band was effing metal, and the highlights were Atsuo drumming and Wata guitar work.

Related Links:
Martin Wong Blog: Comic-Con - Day 3
Martin Wong Blog: Boris at the Casbah
Eric Nakamura Blog: Comic Con Day 4
Popcandy: Meetup recap: What happened at our Comic-Con celebration?

SDCC 2010: Friday Comes In Like a Lion and Goes Out Like a Munko

2010-07-29T08:15:00.001-04:00

Bill Poon
San Diego, July 23 – The morning started with a surprise visit from Bill Poon who is the All-Star slugger from the Giant Robot softball team. He briefly chatted with Eric Nakamura (Publisher, Giant Robot) and others.

Second David Choe Signing

Dave Choe
Just before noon, fans of David Choe began forming a line around the booth. Choe, a Los Angeles pop artist, arrived to sign merchandise including his new art book and Munko vinyl figures. His devoted fans were pretty excited to meeting him. One of them even showed me her Munko tattoo on her wrist. It was pretty awesome.

Vertical Inc

Ed Chavez and Felipe Smith
I took a few minutes to visit the Vertical Booth and found Mister Ed Chavez at the helm. Apparently both volumes of Chi’s Sweet Home were big sellers. Despite having two shipments delivered to the convention, he sold most of them with only four copies remaining. Chi is irresistible.

Moto Hagio Redux

As the day progressed, I received a text message on my cell phone. It was a twitter direct message from a friend in Florida. He read my tweets about yesterday’s Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) signing and wanted a signed copy of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories as well.

Moto Hagio
Again, I made the trek over to the Fantagraphics booth for Hagio’s second signing. I spotted a small line of people and queued up. For a brief moment, I was staring off into the distance and zoning out.

Suddenly, I noticed that I was surrounded by several people from the manga industry. Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga, was standing in front of me. Jonathan Tarbox, manga editor, was behind me. Other notable people were Mari Morimoto (manga translator) and Paul Tuttle Starr (prose translator). While I was waiting, I started conversations with both Morimoto and Tarbox. We briefly discussed the state of the manga industry and recent developments in publishing.

Hagio’s signings seem to attract a lot of anime and manga industry people. I hope this translates into big sales when the book hits the stores.

Mizuno Junko

Mizuno Junko, female mangaka and designer, was scheduled for four signings at the Last Gasp booth. She was pushing her latest book called Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu.

When I heard about her appearances, I wanted to stop by Mizuno’s booth and catch up with her. It’s been nearly three years since we last met. We had a lengthy discussion about changes in her life and her artistic career. She also talked about upcoming projects.

Jeffrey Brown

Martin Wong, Giant Robot Editor, introduced me to Jeffrey Brown. Brown is the genius behind many critically-acclaimed comic books like Clumsy and I am Going to be Small. We looked through some of Brown’s custom trading cards as he explained the inspiration for each one. They were pretty hilarious, and he was very chill.

Jeff Brown
Other notable visitors to the Giant Robot booth: Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Joe Hahn (Linkin Park), James Jean (artist), Saelee Oh (Multi-media Artist), Hope Larson (Gray Horses) and Brian Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim).

Related Links:
Martin Wong Blog: Comic-Con - Day 2
Eric Nakamura Blog: The David Choe Munko Signing and new Chronicle Book. SDCC
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Day 2: Manga Legends, Priest and Mameshiba! iPhone App! > MTV Iggy Blog > MTV Iggy - Global Pop Culture, Latest Trends and New Music

SDCC 2010: Crossroads and Connections

2010-07-28T01:31:00.001-04:00

Plushy Stand at the Giant Robot booth
San Diego, July 22 – The San Diego Convention Center opened its doors for the first full day of Comic-con International. Standing behind the plushy Totoro (トトロ) dolls at the Giant Robot booth, I was prepared for the onslaught of attendees.

First David Choe Signing

Our first major event was a signing by David Choe. Choe has been a major artist and painter in the Los Angeles art scene for the last several years. His pop sensibilities and graffiti style artwork has garnered a huge following among both art collectors and street artists. It’s a balancing act that keeps Choe's work on the cutting edge of the avant-garde.

Line for Dave Choe signing
Even before Choe’s arrival, his fans were lining up for the event. They were eager to chat with the artist and get their stuff signed.

We were selling two new items from Choe’s studio. One was an art book with his paintings, photos, and mixed-media collages. The book documents a small part of Choe’s life and reveals some of his creative process. The second was his vinyl toy series called Munko. Munko is whale-like character created by Choe. It is very kawaii.

Dave Choe
Kaiju Connections

Towards the end of the Choe’s signing, I snuck out of the booth for August Ragone’s Gamera panel.

Ragone, author of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, was a former writer for Giant Robot Magazine and an expert on tokusatsu (特撮) films. Despite having several mutual friends, we’ve never met.

August Ragone Telling Big Kaiju Stories
When I was writing a piece about Japanese kaiju (怪獣) films, I was facebooking with Paul Chapman (a.k.a the Gooberzilla). He suggested that I contact Ragone about my article. Even though I was already well versed in kaiju films, it would have been beneficial to get input from an expert like Ragone. However, my short deadline prevented this from happening. Regretfully I finished the piece without contacting him.

When I saw his panel on the schedule, I decided to finally meet the tokusatsu expert. Ragone presided over a packed room of con-goers. I was amazed. Gamera (ガメラ) is a very niche subject, so the huge turnout was a pleasant surprise.

After the panel ended, I joined Ragone and a couple of attendees in the hallway. We had a lengthy discussion about kaiju films, convention war stories, and Ragone’s various upcoming projects. I invited him to stop by our booth during the convention.

Manga Crossroads

As I made my way back to the exhibition hall, I spotted Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) signing books at the Fantagraphics booth. Her signing table was adjacent to our booth, and there wasn’t a line. I was lucky. I wanted to get a signed copy of Moto’s new manga for a friend.

Manga Crossroads at Section 1700 of the Exhibition Hall
Hagio is one of the founding mothers of modern shojo manga and a member of the Year 24 Group. She was promoting her new manga called A Drunken Dream and Other Stories.

After the Moto signing, I bumped right into Deb Aoki who is the Manga Editor of About.com. Aoki is one of the most knowledgeable manga journalists in North America. She continues to write and edit the highly popular Manga Section of About.com. I initially met her at a previous anime convention [NYAF 2009]. She’s super cool.

Aoki was flanked by Ryan Holmberg (curator for the Garo Exhibition) and Mari Morimoto (manga translator). I’ve met both Holmberg and Morimoto separately from other manga-related events [Kondoh Akino Q&A and Queer Manga at NYU]. I politely greeted each of them and headed back to the Giant Robot booth.

It’s pretty crazy to meet three people together from different parts of your past. It feels like time and space are collapsing at the San Diego Convention Center. Maybe, I shouldn’t be so surprised since they all work in the same field. Eh… go figure.

I quickly made my way back to the plushy stand and aggressively sold more fluffy toys.

In the afternoon, Ed Chavez of Vertical Inc and manga-ka Felipe Smith came by the Giant Robot booth. Ed, a good friend, introduced Felipe Smith to me. Felipe seemed like a very down to earth fellow. We talked about the US English release of his Peepo-Choo book and his upcoming manga projects.

Deb Aoki also stopped by the booth.

Other notable visitors to the Giant Robot booth: Hope Larson (Gray Horses) and Brian Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Yoshihiro Nishimura (director/special effects), Marc Walkow (Subway Cinema/Sushi Typhoon), Brian Ralph (Reggie 12), and Gary Gabisan (P.I.C).

Giant Robot crew gets to chill at the end of the day. Right to Left: Monique, Michelle, Joshua, Eric Nakamura, Brandon, Oscar, and Martin Wong
At the end of the day, I joined other anime and manga types at a karaoke bar in the Gaslamp district. The night consisted of bad pop songs, cheap booze, and intense discussions about manga.

Related Links:
Martin Wong Blog: Comic-Con - Day 1
Eric Nakamura Blog: San Diego Comic Con x GR booth 1729
Fantagraphics Books - Comic-Con Day 1 Part 3: Moto Hagio (with video)

SDCC 2010: Prelude to the Madness

2010-07-26T23:38:00.001-04:00

Left to Right: Donut Man and Chi (his niece)
Los Angeles, July 20 – Since my last trip to California, I’ve been fiending for some sugary Donut Man confections. The tasty glazed and cream filled pastries have been haunting my foodie dreams, and I definitely needed to visit the Donut Man.

Martin Wong (Editor of Giant Robot Magazine) and I trekked out to a humble little shack in Glendora which is the home of the Donut Man. Hoping to see sweet Boston Creams and glazed Tiger Tails, we accidentally stumbled onto a greater sighting. We met the DONUT MAN! The elusive and talented genius behind the Donut Man confections came out from behind the shack and greeted us with a smile. We talked, and he introduced us to his niece Chi. She was very cool.

After we pumped pure sugar into our veins, we went to pick up some new vinyl toys from a warehouse. We quickly packed the van with boxes of Dave Choe’s new Munko vinyl figures and the Giant Robot action figures. Destined for our booth at the San Diego Comic-Con, we load the van and filled every inch of space. I was surprised at the number of boxes that we could shove into our van.

The next day was preview night at the San Diego Convention Center. After a two hour drive from Los Angeles, we joined the other members of the Giant Robot team for booth set-up. It was a slow process of hanging banners and folding t-shirts.

Just before the doors opened to the public, Brian Lee O’Malley (featured in Giant Robot Issue 66) came by the booth to greet us and bought some Giant Robot gear. He was very cool.

When the convention center opened to the public, a rush of attendees bombarded the exhibitor hall. Many of them were looking for the Comi-con exclusive items and free promotional give-aways. Some were collectors, and others were probably E-bay resellers looking to make a profit.

Posted at the plushy toy section of the Giant Robot booth, I spent most of the convention pushing ultra cute stuffed animals on girls with clueless boyfriends and children of unsuspecting parents.

Related Links:
Martin Wong Blog: Comic-Con - Preview night

NYAFF 2010: Calloused Fists of the Beast

2010-07-21T12:31:00.002-04:00

Right to Left: Bruce Leung and MC Jin
NEW YORK, July 8 -- On the closing day of the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), they featured a retro-kung-fu flick named Gallants. It was a return to the original Hong Kong Kung-fu feature with tonue-in-cheek references to the old school classics.

Executive produced by Andy Lau (劉德華), the film features several old school kung-fu stars such as Bruce Leung Siu-Lung (梁小龍) and Chen Kuan-tai (陳觀泰). They are joined by some younger cast members such as Wong Yue-nam(黄又南) and MC Jin (歐陽靖).

The plot is a simple revenge story with an interest twist. The film begins with a wimpy office worker named Cheung (Wong Yue-nam) who gets beat up by local thugs. Tiger (Bruce Leung) saves him from a brutal beat down, and the young Cheung begs the old man to teacher him kung-fu.

It’s a fun throwback to the kung-fu flicks of the 70s and 80s including numerous references to classic martial films like Enter the Dragon.

After the screening, the NYAFF hosted a quick Q&A with both Bruce Leung and MC Jin. The pair mostly talked about the impact of early martial arts films on the Hong Kong cinema.

Related Links:
Youtube: Gallants trailer
Love HK Film: Gallants (2010)
Subway Cinema // Gallants
Twitch Film: Reviews: NYAFF 2010: GALLANTS Review

NYAFF 2010: The Festival Spawned a Monster

2010-07-21T09:39:00.002-04:00

Right to Left: Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura
NEW YORK, July 3 – The Japan Society hosted a special international premiere of Mutant Girls Squad in conjunction with the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) and the Sushi Typhoon label. It’s one of the first films produced under the new movie label.

Directed by three insanely talented Japanese filmmakers, the movie is an extremely violent picture with gallons of fake bloody. Essentially parodying American superhero comic book movies, a team of teenage mutant gravure idols takes over a local street mall. They proceed to kill everything that moves. I mean everything. It’s mostly a non-stop action gore fest with several outrageously funny moments.

After the screening, the NYAFF held a special Sushi Typhoon party with Noboru Iguchi (井口昇), Yoshihiro Nishimura (西村喜廣), Asami (杉浦亜紗美), and Cay Izumi (泉カイ). They carried out an entertaining spectacle involving mawashi (sumo loincloths) and darts. It’s too bizarre for words.

Related Links:
Youtube: Mutant Girls Squad trailer
Mutant Girls Squad Premiere and Sushi Typhoon party @ Japan Society - WFMU's Beware of the Blog
Twitch Film Reviews: Fantasia 2010: MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD Review
Subway Cinema // Mutant Girls Squad

NYAFF 2010: The Saitama Rap Game

2010-07-20T04:12:00.001-04:00

Yu Irie (center)
NEW YORK, June 29 – At the Walter Reade Theater, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) screened a Japanese indie hit film called 8,000 Miles (Saitama no Rappa). The movie was shown twice drawing huge crowds.

8,000 miles is a musical comedy about a group of unknown rappers in the Saitama prefecture (a suburb of Tokyo). It tackles serious social issues in Japan including the Asian economic crisis, NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training), parasite singles, and unemployment. It might seem like a very didactic film, but it’s not. The narrative maintains a funny and light-hearted tone by couching the issues in several hilarious scenarios. The director does a wonderful job at balancing the social message with a great deal of humor.

After the screening, director Yu Irie (入江悠) participated in a lively Q&A with the audience. He talked about growing up Saitama, the Japanese indie movie circuit, and receiving The Grand Prix at the Yabari International Fantastic Film Festival.

Towards the end of the evening, the NYAFF invited the audience to a special reception with the director. Irie used the event as an opportunity to document some of the audience response. He encountered various people including a local American-Japanese rapper. The event was sponsored by Kirin Beer.

Related Links:
Yu Irie - AsianMediaWiki
Reviews: NYAFF 2010: Yu Irie talks about hip-hop Interview
Yu Irie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Subway Cinema // 8000 Miles
YouTube - 8000 Miles (2009) Trailer

NYAFF 2010: Marooned in Seoul

2010-07-12T22:34:00.000-04:00

Lee Hey-Jun (left)
NEW YORK, July 7 – I attended the second screening of “Castaway on the Moon” at the Walter Reade Theater. It was a part of the Korean portion of the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF).

The film is about Mr. Kim who is an unemployed office worker with a mountain of debt. He leaps off a bridge in an attempt to commit suicide. Instead of dying, he survives and is stranded on a deserted island located near Seoul. Despite being able to see the skyscrapers, he is completely cut-off from the rest of the world. Then Mr. Kim decides to go into survival mode and attempts to rebuild his life on the island. Ms. Kim, an agoraphobic blogger, spots the stranded office worker from her high-rise apartment, and she tries to communicate with him. It’s a hilarious romantic comedy about loneliness and modern love.

In the Q&A, filmmaker Lee Hey-Jun’s (이해준) discusses the movie’s themes such as urban alienation, technology, and the effects of the global recession in South Korea.

Related Links:
Subway Cinema // Castaway On The Moon
Castaway on the Moon (Korean Movie - 2009) - 김씨 표류기 @ HanCinema
Castaway on the Moon - AsianMediaWiki
YouTube - CASTAWAY ON THE MOON Trailer

NYAFF 2010: Pink Double Feature with Asami

2010-07-07T00:48:00.000-04:00

Schoolgirl Asami Q&A
NEW YORK, July 2 – The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) and Pink Eiga hosted a pink film (ピンク映画) double feature at the IFC Center. It was a midnight screening that attracted a colorful crowd. This year’s pink film screening featured Groper Train: School Uniform Hunter and Japanese Wife Next Door Part 2.

It’s difficult to describe Japanese pink films because it has no analogous genre in western culture. It’s roughly a cross between exploitation films and soft core porn. Moreover, the genre was mainly developed as a response to strict censorship laws in Japan. All of the sex is simulated, and no genitalia are shown on screen. Most of the simulated sex scenes are awkwardly shot and hilariously bad.

Introduction to Groper Train: School Uniform Hunter
I get the feeling that the ridiculous sex scenes are purposefully crafted for comedic effect. It’s kinda hard to be serious when the audio cuts to cheesy music and the sound effects are canned.

Between the two feature films, Asami Sugiura (杉浦亜紗美) (aka “Asami”) participated in a short Q&A with the folks at the NYAFF. Asami, who plays the female lead in Groper Train: School Uniform Hunter, discussed her career and the differences between pink films and Japanese Adult Video (AV).

Asami Q&A

USA Today: Japanese Monster Flicks Make Life Better

2010-07-02T16:26:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, July 2 – USA Today published my on-line article about daikaiju (big monster) movies. It's a guest writing piece for the Pop Candy column. Check it out!

USA Today: Japanese Monster Flicks Make Life Better

Special thanks to Whitney Matheson (the regular columnist) for letting me guest write for her. If you are a pop culture fiend, her daily Pop Candy column is a must read.

Enjoy your vacation, Whit!

NYAFF 2010: A Love Letter to Yumika

2010-07-02T01:14:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, June 30 – Yumika Hayashi (林由美香) was a prolific Japanese actress in the genre of pink films (ピンク映画) and pornographic videos. She has appeared in nearly 400 adult oriented movies and is probably best known for her work in the critically-acclaimed pink film called Lunchbox (熟女・発情　タマしゃぶり).

As a young filmmaker, Tetsuaki Matsue had a very memorable meeting with Yumika. During the encounter, she critiqued his work and said, “You have a long way to go.” Her words stayed with him, and the two became good friends.

When Yumika died suddenly at the age of 35, it was a complete shock to her friends and fans. Matsue was filled with grief and had difficulty talking about it. He decided to channel his feelings into a documentary film titled Annyong Yumika (あんにょん由美香).

Director Tetsuaki Matsue
The documentary begins with the discovery of an obscure Korean pornographic video starring Yumika called Junko: Story of a Tokyo Housewife. It was an unusually joint Korean and Japanese production filled with bad dialogue and awkward sex scenes. Using the video as a guide, Matsue retraces Yumika’s steps trying to understand her enigmatic life. (Note: He uses many excerpts from the video in his documentary. If you’re offended by pornography, you might not want to watch it.)

Through candid interviews with Yumika’s lovers, the director attempts to piece together her strange and colorful life. They passionately describe their experiences with the porn actress, and some admit to still harboring strong feelings for her. In many respects, the movie is less of a documentary and more of a love letter to Yumika.

When one of Yumika's directors tried to convince her to leave the adult film industry, she declined. He argued that she will have a better life doing a more respectable job. She replied, “I will cease to be me.”

Annyong Yumika, Q&A with Tetsuaki Matsue
Related Links:
Subway Cinema // Annyong Yumika
Reviews: NYAFF 2010: ANNYONG YUMIKA Review
Annyong Yumika | The House Next Door
Annyong Yumika - AsianMediaWiki
YouTube - Trailer for Annyong Yumika

NYAFF 2010: Saturday with Sammo

2010-06-29T00:30:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, June 26 – I missed the opening of the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), so my first impression of this year’s festival started with the screening of Eastern Condors (東方禿鷹).

Eastern Condors is a particularly special film to my generation of Hong Kong film fanatics. I was first exposed to the film in the early 90s. I was probably a ‘tween at the time. I remembered watching the film on a poor grainy VHS tape with bad tracking. So the prospects of seeing it on the big screen were very exciting to me.

After the film, Sammo Hung (洪金寶) participated in a short Q&A with the folk at the NYAFF. They discussed a variety of topics concerning the making of the film. Hung appeared visibly tired, but he heroically powered through the appearance. The kung-fu legend even acted out some of the behind the scenes stories. He seemed both warm and gracious to his fans.

A real treat for the audience was the surprise appearance of Joyce Godenzi (高麗虹), who is Hung’s wife. She was the lead actress in Eastern Condors and several other kung-fu flicks. Godenzi initially gained public attention as a former Miss Hong Kong and fashion model. She parlayed her successful modeling career into a decade long Hong Kong film career. She starred in some memorable martial arts films such as She Shoots Straight and License to Steal. Despite her age, Godenzi is still stunningly beautiful (minus the short 80s hairdo). I was hoping that she would participate in the Q&A, but sadly she didn’t.

After the Sammo Hung Q&A, I stuck around the theater until the screening of Kung-fu Chefs. It’s another Sammo Hung film of a more recent vintage. While waiting for the screening to start, I unexpectedly ran into a bunch of friends from other blogs, podcasts, and local anime clubs. They were pretty chill.

Related Links:
Teleport City » NY Asian Film Festival

Do You Know What Time It Is? It's Tuen Ng Time.

2010-06-17T13:07:00.000-04:00

zòng zi (粽子)
It's that time of year again! It's Tuen Ng Jit (端午節). The holiday is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar (Julian: June 16, 2010). It honors the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan (屈原) who committed ritual suicide by throwing himself in the Miluo River. The festival is primarily celebrated with dragon boat races and the consumption of zòng zi (or zòng).

I didn't do any dragon boat racing but ate my fair share of zòng.

A Different Shade of Red

2010-06-14T23:24:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, June 4 – The Chambers Fine Art held an impressive exhibition opening for a young Chinese artist named Ye Nan. The exhibit is named Red Phosphorous and had an interesting mix of abstraction, industrial grit, and political propaganda.

Who Conquered Theirs

Most of Ye Nan's work consisted of thin layers of paint and red liquid phosphorous. Phosphorous is an industry chemical used to make matches, pesticides, toothpaste, and detergents. The phosphorous, which is used in Nan's paintings, gives his work an industrial quality similar to Robert Rauschenberg's Combines in some respects.

Ideal Nation

In terms of content, Nan's use of overtly political titles and subversive imagery adds a philosophical element to his work. Although he is too young to remember the early Chinese Communist revolution, he masterfully incorporates its propaganda techniques into his art. For example, his monochromatic use of the color red and the frequent employment of flag motifs are directly referencing the visual vocabulary of early Chinese Communist propaganda.

We Still Have Many Virgin Islands

Despite his visual usage of Communism propaganda techniques, the spirit of Ye Nan's artwork is actually the product of contemporary Chinese attitudes and modes of thinking. According to the exhibition statement, his work is drawing inspiration from industrialization, science, politics, and rock music.

Ultimate Victory

Ultimate Victory (detail)

New R2 Unit

2010-06-11T14:21:00.000-04:00

I just bought a new R2 unit (a.k.a. portable air conditioner) from some filthy Jawas. I hope it doesn't have a bad motivator. Wait, I think it speaks Bocce!

SCION 6

2010-06-07T22:55:00.000-04:00

Breathing Underwater Short by Eric Nakamura and Saelee Oh
NEW YORK, June 4 – As a major promotional tour, Scion (division of Toyota Motor Corporation) sponsored a gallery installation consisting of avant-garde short films. Touring under the name of Scion Installation Six, the gallery show held an exhibition opening at the Eastern District in Brooklyn.

Surprisingly the gallery space was a small sliver of real estate that was probably someone's garage in a former life. In terms of set-up, the show consisted of three different projectors which played several short films simultaneously. Each projector was focused on different spots along the gallery's bare walls, and gallery visitors were constantly shifting their attention from one spot to another.

The gallery installation tour featured videos from many different artists including Eric Nakamura (Giant Robot Magazine), Saelee Oh, Dust La Rock, Funeral Fog, Ill-Studio, Josh Graham, Mark Mothersbaugh, Monihan Monihan, PMKFA, and Sage Vaughn.

There were a few notable film shorts.

Breathing Underwater. The first was an animation piece by Eric Nakamura and Saelee Oh. Their brightly colored animation was a cut-out stop-motion video similar to South Park. The short featured an underwater world of sea creatures, fish, and bizarre characters. It was very serene. Behind the Scenes of Breathing Underwater

Video Montage by Dust La Rock
Dust La Rock. Another amazing short film was created by Dust La Rock. It was a bizarre film collage of famous images including Roman busts, religious symbols, and Black Panther demonstrations. The whole film was framed by graphics similar to a film leader countdown. I enjoyed the bizarre mixture of symbolic and historical references.

Holographilia by Ill-Studio
Holographilia. It's probably one of the most psychedelic films of the entire traveling gallery show. Ill-Studio's creation featured mannequin hands floating across the screen and disembodied human hands playing piano keys superimposed over a marble wall. A sad creepy piano melody is played during the entire film. Very creepy. Behind the Scenes of Holographilia

The Scion Swag Bags
Some gallery visitors came for the amazing videos, and others came for the swag. The gallery was stuffed with tons of Scion swag bags.

Related Links:
YouTube - ScionART's Channel

The New Grand Tour

2010-06-04T01:31:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, June 3 – A group of notable artists traveled to the remote regions of China (including Tibet) to find artistic inspiration. Their travels resulted in an interesting group show at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery. The show was titled "The New Grand Tour" borrowing the name from a western cultural practice of sending young (aristocratic) adults to tour the great cities of Europe.

I had a few problem with the curating of the show. The gallery did not label any of the pieces in the show. Especially in a group show, identifying artists and their works is important. I asked someone working at the gallery for any gallery guides, lists of works, or a simple exhibition postcard. They had no clue, and I couldn't find any literature located in the exhibition area. Forget the website. It's a very beautifully designed flash menu system, but it's not functional.

Regardless of the curating problems, the art was pretty interesting. The incorporation of local religious and tradition folk art with a modern aesthetic was fascinating.

Artists featured in the show: Suitman & Young Kim, Deanne Cheuk, José Parlá, Rey Parlá, Rey, Rostarr A.K.A., Romon Kimin Yang, and Davi Russo.

Here are a few pieces from the show:

Artist: José Parlá

Artist: Suitman & Young Kim

Related Links:
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery Showcases a Wide-Ranging Body of Work

New Tablet

2010-05-30T18:00:00.000-04:00

After sitting in the box for 4 months, I finally installed my Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet. I originally bought it for inking and coloring images. Let's see... How do you use this gizmo?

Kondoh Akino: An Alternative Mangaka, Part 2

2010-05-27T22:28:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, April 21 – This is the second part of the transcript for the artist discussion with mangaka Kondah Akino (近藤聡乃).

TRANSCRIPT, PART 1 | PART 2

Ryan Holmberg: [Referring to Rainy Day Blues] This is one of the works appearing the English AX anthology. Sometimes your relationships between object and spaces are so horrific. Especially after 2003, they didn’t have this gothic or horror elements to them anymore. So often objects like umbrella and bracelets are lost and found again. It deals with memories. As your career develops, you still have this attachment to objects.

Kondah Akino: As I’ve said before, the beginnings of my stories are inspired by particular objects. In this case, it’s an umbrella. The depictions of horror and Gothic themes decreased in my work because my artistic tastes changed. Since I haven’t published frequently, there are a couple of years in between works. So, my work might appear to be very different between the current work and the preceding one.

RH: This is kind of annoying, now, forcing the amity towards Garo. Hayashi Seiichi, who is a very significant Garo (ガロ) artist, wrote the afterward to your first book. Hayashi is in the show and is most well known for his major Garo serial, Red Colored Elegy (赤色エレジー). More recently Red Colored Elegy was published by Montreal’s Drawn and Quarterly a couple of years ago. It’s on the reading table in the show. In addition to the afterward of your book, I believe he is always the judge for the AX amateur submissions. So, can you tell me about your relationship with Hayashi and his work?

KA: I first met Mr. Hayashi as an animation artist, not as a manga artist. I’ve been told by others that my artistic style resembles his, but I actually haven’t seen his work until that time.

RH: You know, I think the things that look a lot like Hayashi are those flowers in this negative space [referring to slides]. Even this book that this boy’s reading that drops into the gutter on the top. It looks like the cover to one of the edition to Sekishoku Erejii (Red Colored Elegy).

Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi
KA: You might be talking about the other cover he did for Emino Kusako (sp?). A small sized novella.

RH: Emino Kusako is a Gothic Fiction writer. You said it was a cover for one of his pocket sized books. So you are interested in Emino Kusako?

KA: I was really more interested in Emino Kusako rather than Edogawa Rampo - Tarō Hirai (平井太郎).

RH: I’ve brought some comparisons. Your work, Beautiful Town (美しい町)(2001), reminds me of Hayashi Seiichi’s Town of Falling Flowers (1968). Some of the pages have a very similar use of space. Also in some other scenes of a running child, there are certain sounds emanating outward.

KA: I heard that Mr. Hayashi was also told by someone else that his style resembles Ryoji, the painter. Mr. Hayashi was also telling me that he had rarely seen his work. [These common influences] comes from growing up in Japan and seeing similar things. We happen to share a common source of inspiration. We don’t really know …

RH: This is kind of an insider thing for people who know about Japanese pop culture, but your girl runs like Arale-chan (則巻アラレ) from Doctor Slump. (audience laughs)

KA: That’s possible.

RH: It’s possible? Another thing I want to discuss is your fascination with insects in your manga.

KA: I’ve always like insects since I was a child.

RH: What about them?

KA: The shapes and colors. I like to position them in between objects and humans.

RH: [Referring to Beautiful Town] There’s a lot of transformation and metamorphosis in your work. In this case, one girl is tricked by another into thinking that if she looks at ants closely they will turn into butterflies. It’s not really clear if this is actually true of not. Here you have her squatting down and focusing really closely at the ants. And all of a sudden they burst into butterflies. It seems like insects often times use the trope of metamorphosis.

KA: Maybe you’re right about that… [audience laughs]

“Ladybirds' Requiem” (てんとう虫のおとむらい) by Kondoh Akino
RH: [Referring to Lady Bug Funeral (てんとう虫のおとむらい)] I think this is one of your most famous scenes. I think a lot of people know this work. What is she wearing?

KA: It’s just a story about a girl who sews hundreds of buttons onto the back of her dress. When I realize that buttons resemble ladybugs, I decided to make this work. In this case, the buttons transform into ladybugs and bites the person.

RH: Have you made this dress?

KA: No.

RH: Is this completely fiction? Now, this is another work on your left [referring to Grave of the Butterflies]. You told me that you like Umezu Kazuo, the famous horror girl’s manga author from the 50s and 60s. Often times Kazuo has insects appearing in his work. The girl is usually inflicted by insects. In this case, the girl is traumatized by a butterfly shadow that she sees in her youth.

KA: I don’t know this particular work by him. Regarding Kazuo, I consider myself a fan, but I’m not really influenced by him. I don’t really see any of his influence in my art work.

RH: Your work has many different connections to horror fiction. Whether it is Umezu Kazuo, you do have different themes with it and backgrounds…

KA: When I was in Junior High School, I read novels by Kazuo almost every day. I know it had a tremendous influence on me…

RH: Here is another Umezo. You have a lot of pattern in your work, but you always hand draw it. Where traditionally a lot of manga artists use lattice patterns and screen tones. You always hand draw it.

KA: I just don’t like screen tones. That’s why I didn’t use them. I just don’t like cutting them and pasting them.

RH: So, now, shifting gears. You have also been active as a painter.

KA: Painting has not really been a major element in my body of work. I’ve only started oil painting recently. This particular work was done as a school assignment.

RH: While you were in art school, you were doing painting, illustration, and manga at the same time.

KA: When I was in university, I really didn’t do much painting. I did study design and practiced a lot of drawing.

RH: In the United States and some Japanese schools, there are more and more classes for making comics and sequential art. Were there any comic art programs when you attended Japanese art school?

KA: I believe Kyoto Seika University in Kyoto has a manga department, but the Tama Art University, where I received my BFA, doesn’t have any specific manga programs.

RH: Was it acceptable to draw manga while you were in art school?

KA: Manga was totally created on my own as any independent work.

RH: [Referring to Menstral Flowers] I’m just going to go through the paintings and make comments. So, I’ve already made comparisons which are already unacceptable. They will really annoy you. To me… Something about your paintings remind me of post-war manga and neo-traditional painting with the use of floral patterns derived from old nippas. The girl is positioned in a certain way that really makes me think of a notorious screen from 1980 by Kayama Matsuo. We’ll just keep going… Obviously there are other connections. Specifically art historical. You have been doing some that are slightly Japanese art history versions?

KA: If you say so…

RH: This is not a definite reworking of Japanese art history?

KA: Maybe so…

RH: [Referring to slides] This is your recent work from 2008. Your work seems to get more and more psychedelic and abstract. You also do some sculpture. You described one earlier. This seems related to your first comic about the girl who has a hand with tadpoles on it. This was supposed to be interactive sculpture.

KA: This work was about touch and texture. This was about the tactile feeling when you touch a slug.

RH: What are the slugs made of?

KA: Sequins.

RH: People are supposed to wear these?

KA: No. It’s very fragile so you can’t really wear it anymore.

RH: When was it made?

KA: 2002.

RH: Now, here are some sketches for your animation. You’ve made two finished [animated] works. You’re making a third now. We’re going to screen both of those.

[ANIMATION 1]

RH: When did you animate this?

KA: I did this in Junior Year [of art school].

RH: Was it a music video for a band?

KA: I first used the music without permission. A few years later, I officially obtained permission from the artists and remade the animation. Then, I became friend with the musician and writer, Tomohisa Hitoshi Ware.

RH: Is there anything you can say about the production process?

KA: I just drew so many drawings everyday in order to come up an image. Then I came up with a storyboard. Following the storyboard, I create large drawings and colored the animation.

RH: All hand drawn?

KA: Yes. The second animation required 15 drawing or images. Animation is a painstaking process. This work was also created while I was at university for my BFA exhibition. I didn’t like the finish, so I recreated it. The reworked version was finished in 2006.

RH: It received gallery distribution. Does the Asia Society owns the previous one or the next one?

KA: This one.

RH: This is not cell animation, right? You draw the figures and the backgrounds separately and put them together in the computer.

KA: It’s all done on paper. Then I sometimes cut them out and recompose them in Photoshop.

RH: So, I want to let people ask questions. Thank you very much. [applause]

Question 1: I was curious. Have you shown your work at any film festivals?

KA: I’ve never shown at any festivals. I’ve never been interested in that…

RH: Are you going to show your next animation at a film festival?

KA: No. I’m not finished with that one. So, it’s going to be a while. I’m actually wondering whether to show it in a festival setting or a gallery setting. Because if I show this in the gallery first, it would be difficult to go the other way. I still have to figure out how to sell and market it. The exhibition editions of my animations are priced very high. Regarding the animation that I’m working on now, I would like to mass produce it and make it more available. I would also like to make these available on the internet.

RH: You can see these on Youtube, right?

KA: [nods in agreement]

Question 2: When you start your films, do you have an outline? Because your work is multi-referential from a psychological stand-point, from an art historical stand-point, and in the sense of biology usage. I’m referring to insect imagery and mushroom imagery. Are you thinking about those issues and plot it out? All these reference and how you to put them in there?

KA: Regarding animation, I strictly follow my story board. I don’t really deviate from it.

Question 2: So it’s all structured out…

KA: The first work was made improvisationally. Are there any relationship between my storyboards and paintings? I actually became concerned myself that there is a gap in artistic style between my animation and storyboard. That’s because if the animation has too many details, it becomes too labor intensive. It would require you have to create thousands of frames. But I was shocked by the aesthetically low-quality of my animation, then I started doing paintings. I like to raise the artistic quality in my next animation.

Question 3: Growing up in Japan, have you read any shojo manga?

KA: Barely read any girl’s manga or comic books.

Question 3: Is it because you don’t like the style?

KA: It was mainly because it was not allowed in my household when I was growing up. That’s why I have brothers… [audience laughs]

RH: Is that how you read Garo when you were young through your brothers? It’s difficult to imagine you reading Garo when you were young.

KA: No. I actually never read Garo when I was young. I only start reading Garo in high school.

Question 4: Who is your primary audience for your animation?

KA: The first animation was shown on television in addition to the gallery. It had a wide audience. On the other hand, the second animation was only shown through galleries, so only people interested in contemporary art has seen it.

RH: You’ve shown your animation in shows in China, Singapore, and Europe.

KA: Yes, in Belgium and France.

RH: Museum shows?

KA: In the beginning, it was museums and festivals.

RH: Not film festivals.

KA: Not film festivals. The opportunities came about by themselves. I didn’t seek them. I was invited and went there to present my work.

[READ PART 1]

David Choe's Nothing

2010-05-24T23:14:00.000-04:00

As of the post date of this article, David Choe's Nothing to Declare has officially concluded it's run at the Lazarides Gallery. The exhibition had an amazing mix of figurative aesthetics, bio-morphic masses, and wild abstraction. Here are some of my photos from the Thursday opening:

LOS ANGELES, April 23

In the center of the gallery, Choe presented a huge squid-like bio-mass. It was a partially filled balloon-like structure. Extremely playful.

Choe has a gift for mixing amazing portraiture with other styles and themes. This one combines female portraiture with a wave similar to The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Another great portraiture amalgamation by Choe. He mixes female portraiture with energetic abstract expressionism.

Choe's opening attracted an interesting crowd featuring Rob Sato and Martin Wong.

Kondoh Akino: An Alternative Mangaka, Part 1

2010-05-12T22:23:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, April 21 — In conjunction with their recent Garo exhibition, the Center for Book Arts hosted an artist discussion with mangaka Kondoh Akino (近藤聡乃). She has been widely published in AX magazine, which is the spiritual successor of Garo. Kondah also produced two books. Currently she is focused on her painting and short animation. [Interpretation by Midori Yoshimoto]

TRANSCRIPT, PART 1 | PART 2

Ryan Holmberg: I’m happy to introduce Kondah Akino who is typically stationed in Tokyo. But, you spent last year in New York, and you are here for how many years?

Kondah Akino: One or two years.

RH: She only tangentially actually related to Garo. I thought more than she is… having read her work. She insists that the connections are thin, but I might push her on some of those [connections]. At any rate, we are lucky that she is in New York. She is a very active and well known alternative manga author who is in the trajectory of alternative manga that Garo(ガロ) founded.

So you made your debut in AX in 2000. Can tell me a little bit about your art practice before you started publishing manga professionally?

KA: When I debuted as a manga artist, I was a sophomore in university. But I originally started drawing manga as a senior student in high school. At the time, I was also going to prep school for university entrance exams. I was studying art there as well.

Actually when I was child I wasn’t really a big fan of manga. I wasn’t really reading a lot manga. I didn’t have any particular interest in it. I did hear about Garo as a child. I didn’t actually encounter it until high school.

RH: Your first work was self-published. Is that correct?

KA: Something like that.

RH: Can you explain it? When most people usually think about self-publishing manga in Japan, they think about amateur doujinshi, otaku culture, and ComiKet. Your first work takes a completely different trajectory in regards to self-publishing.

KA: I never participated in doujinshi or Comi-cons. I never participated in anything like MoCCA [Art Fest].

RH: What is the distribution of some of your early work? Self-published comics are fairly typical here, and there are a lot of outlets. In Japan, there are only a couple of outlets.

KA: For my graduation work, I made 500. I reprinted it for my school exhibition and made 100 copies. There was an assignment for a free style competition at my prep school, and I created my first manga with a stapler. I simply binded them together with staples.

RH: [Referring to slides: Girl's High School Life Bookmark(女子校生活のしおり)] Story is set in a Japanese girl’s high school. There are two main characters. One is always sleepy and a bad student. She’s always dreaming. The other one is a typical literary girl who is always spouting stories and making up stories… sometimes lies. There is a slightly erotic connection between them, and the art girl is an object of attraction for the sleepy girl.

KA: I didn’t particularly draw these erotic scenes or connotations. But there might be some depictions that might make you think that one is attracted to the other.

The Early Works by Saeki Toshio
RH: In this panel, she has tadpoles growing out of her hands, and she’s licking them. I’m interested in the stylistic influences. I mean I like the pattern in a lot of these.

We’ve talked about this. It reminds me of the work of Saeki Toshio (佐伯俊男). Saeki Toshio was a very popular illustrator who got big around 1969-1970. He started publishing erotic illustrations in Japanese magazines. [The illustrations] often times involved Japanese high school girls in sexual situations. They were molesting their toys or being molested by old men. There are rough thick lines.

What elements of Saeki Toshio’s work appealed to you?

KA: When I discovered his work, I was a high school girl. It wasn’t his erotic interests or erotic depictions that attracted me. Rather, it was the beauty of his line [work] and the formalistic aspects.

RH: We believe you completely, but... (audience laughs) Look at some [of her work], and there is an erotic element. The types of elements are very much Saeki based such as fluids dripping, licking, and some kind of biomorphic things.

KA: I was primarily attracted to his skills.

RH: Skills at what? (audience laughs) There is also the sexualization of Japanese high school girls. I mean his work is tied up with normative Japanese male sexual fantasies. Your work has a female subject. It was interesting that you appropriated Saeki and use it to talk about women’s issues.

Your first work published in AX for 2000 and won some prize for AX. It’s not the top prize…

KA: The Encouragement Prize. [AX Manga Newcomer's Award / Encouragement Award]

RH: [Referring to slides] It was published in 2000. It was called Kobayashi Kayoko (小林加代子) which is the name of the protagonist. It’s a little hard to summarize. There’s a girl name Kayoko who runs a slipper store. Running a slipper store is a pretty abysmal fate for a young girl. Then she gets a little excited because across the way there is boy. He’s running a light bulb store. Can you tell me a little bit about the story?

KA: This girl is running an unpopular slipper store. She can hardly sell anything, so she’s thinking of turning it into a candy store. Then a boy moves in across the street and begins a dialogue between them.

RH: So, it’s like a romance?

KA: No. It’s not a romance.

RH: I can’t remember the story exactly. She has various crises around her situation. Then later on, if remember right, the boy gives her a TV.

KA: The TV was hers. It was not a gift from the boy.

RH: So, she somehow gets electrified by the boy? What’s the course of the story?

KA: I can’t quite figure out why I came up with this strange story. I had a lot of things to worry about back then, and I just can’t figure out why. (audience laughs)

RH: If I remember right, at the end, she’s about to give up on the candy store. Then she finally decides to keep the slipper store. At the end, you see an expanded slipper outlet.

KA: She started selling the sandals that the boy made.

RH: If I remember right, he cuts out one of the slippers. It’s his invention. This is your first story. I noticed in a lot of your work, there is an interest in a certain retail space in Japan: shopping arcades (Shōtengai 商店街). There is a lot of signage, a lot of clutter, and a lot of specialized stores. What’s the appeal of these shopping arcades?

KA: It wasn’t just growing up seeing these old fashioned retail stores, rather I simply found enjoyment in drawing the details of old fashioned stores.

RH: It’s the detailed work of drawing so many objects packed in together? It’s a nice juxtaposition between the density of the arcade in the background and the simplicity of the figures.

The follow up story was not originally published. It only appeared in a book in 2004. It’s called “Around the Kotatsu” (こたつのまわりで). Kotatsu (炬燵) is a table with a quilt, and you put your feet underneath. Traditionally you put your feet down into a hole, and it’s heated. It keeps your feet warm. Modern kotatsu have a heat lamp on the bottom of the table to keep your feet warm. In Japanese households without central heating, typically this is where you congregate in the winter months. It’s kind of a social space. Tell me what happens around the kotatsu.

KA: This girl is similar to the girl who’s always sleeping. She’s always dreaming while sitting at the kotatsu everyday. The boy is simply emerging out of her imagination. It’s a similar story to Kobayashi Kayoko in that the girl is experiencing a bored life. She dreams of things that she can’t do in real life.

RH: In addition to your interest in dense shopping areas, I noticed in a lot of your work that you are interested in textures and patterns. You’re really interested in details. It’s also seems to be connected to an interest in objects. Objects have a real strong presence in your work in different ways. So much so that, [in one panel] the girl ends up merging with the object. It’s kind of a magical quality of objects.

KA: When I talk about story building, I’m referring to the Japanese expression: Kishōtenketsu (起承転結). It means beginning, development, twist, and the end. In the four part story telling system, usually my beginnings stem from my real life experiences. The beginnings are often inspired by specific things.

RH: One example is Box Garden (はこにわ). In one panel, the image is not a pen and ink drawing. It’s graphite, and it has a really strong independent presence which pushes everything out. In a work like this, you really pull out objects sometimes.

KA: I’ve always been interested in containers like boxes and dressers.

RH: What is the appeal of boxes, dressers, and cabinets?

KA: I don’t know why, but since I was a small child, I liked stuffing things into boxes or containers.

RH: [Referring to slides]In this case, your protagonist opens a drawing leading into a giant world. In the world, I think she sees herself in the past and decides to jumps into it. In a lot of your work, you have an Alice and Wonderland rabbit hole where an alienated woman finds a fantasy land.

KA: I think you are right, but I’m not totally conscious of it.

RH: Have you personally fell down a rabbit hole? (audience laughs) Do you think they exist? Seriously. Often times I see you. I always read the protagonist as you.

KA: My ideal girl is always the protagonist.

RH: The protagonist sometimes has her head in a box. In this case, little Maritians or little Moonlings crawl inside her head.

KA: Sometimes the head is a container as well.

RH: Sometimes the box is a scary place. Tell me a little bit about the story.

KA: In this story, this girl gets trapped in a dresser every night. In the beginning, those hands were snatching her from inside the drawers. They used to be a child’s hands, but they became an adult man’s hands in the end. The lower left panel depicts the moment when she tries to escape. She realizes that it’s not a child that is trying to keep her in the dresser. It’s an adult man.

RH: It’s obviously deals with female sexual aggression tied with these kinds of themes.

KA: It could be interpreted that way, but I’m not conscious of it either. (audience laughs)

RH: Sometime other types of spaces like under the bed sheets are filled with biomorphic and anemone type things. The protagonists are attacked by them. You’ll probably say that it’s not conscious either. The phalluses are coming from every direction. (audience laughs)

KA: It’s totally unconscious. (audience laughs)

RH: Where do these growths come from? Not in the story but the idea.

KA: One of my personal hobbies is researching catalogues of mushrooms and viewing them in botanical gardens. It might come from that hobby.

RH: It made me think of a number of things such as stories by Japanese pulp fiction author Edogawa Rampo - Tarō Hirai (平井太郎). In one of his stories, the male protagonist takes all of the stuffing out of a chair and crawls into it in order to molest people sitting on him. In the Garo show, there's one based on it called “Cockroach Boy”. It’s about a deformed kid who hides between the folds of the comforter and molests the woman through the sheets. There seems to be a theme about things between the sheets.

KA: I didn’t know about Edogawa Rampo's work in particular. I usually draw manga without the intention to express something. I think of things that are visually interesting and start drawing.

RH: [Referring to slides] This stuff also made me think of other similar things such as this prune head guy on the ceiling. I also thought of this [referring to slides]. Midori Yoshimoto wrote a book about female Japanese performance artists. There’s a chapter on Kusama Yayoi (草間彌生). What do you think of it?

KA: Do you want to know what I think of it?

RH: In Kusama’s case… Do you know Kusama Yayoi’s work? No? She had a very comfortable, even obsessive relationship with these phallic themes. You’re a girl who is obviously less content. (audience laughs)

KA: I have a different version of my first published manga, the Box Garden. It depicted actual sculptures that sit in your palm. I made hundreds of them containing mechanical motors. I put the toys inside a set of drawers and presented it as an installation. It won the Kusama Yayoi award. Kusama Yayoi actually chose my work.

RH: Are you interested in Fluxus? It sounds like a Fluxus type of object.

KA: No. Not in particular

[READ PART 2]

Getting a Sugar Rush from Strawberry Donuts

2010-04-24T01:56:00.000-04:00

LOS ANGELES, April 23 — I've been mainlining sugar for the last two days, and my current drug of choice is the strawberry donut from the local Donut Man. I have to thank Chi, my pusher, for the taste. Now, I'm hooked. I wonder how bad the withdrawal is going to be when I leave Los Angeles.

Most Dangerous Nachos (MD Nacho)

2010-04-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

LOS ANGELES, April 23 — Ordered a Flamante Beef Nacho from the local La Flama Restaurant. It's pretty huge. Despite encouragement from Martin, I don't think I can fit this whole meal in my gullet.

Garo: The First Decade (1964-1973)

2010-04-17T02:16:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, April 14 — The Center for Book Arts held a gallery opening for an advent-garde manga magazine called Garo (ガロ). Garo is famous for launching the careers of many famous mangaka such as Yoshihiro Tatsumi (辰巳ヨシヒロ), Sanpei Shirato (白土三平), and Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一). It also influenced modern storytelling in Japanese comics with titles that took a more mature approach to sequential art. Some manga readers claim that it paved the way for genres like Seinen manga (青年漫画) and Gekiga (劇画).

Garo started in 1964 as a small indie manga magazine. Katsuichi Nagai, the founder of the magazine, wanted to create an advent-garde publication that focused on progressive and experimental modes of storytelling. Unlike other manga anthology magazines, Garo was never categorized under a particular genre. Rather the magazine went through many different periods as it grew and changed.

The exhibition was held in a very small gallery space which filled up pretty quickly. Moreover, I was surprised that parents brought their young children to the gallery opening, because some of Garo’s content is extremely violent and sexual in nature. I can only assume that the parents equated comics with kid safe. This is obviously not the case. There were some extremely violent and pornographic manga panels on display. For instance, one Garo spread featured a talking phallus. This is definitely not for toddlers.

Talking Phallus
Most of the magazines were behind glass or displayed as an installation piece. I had to fight the urge to grab one and flip through it. It’s an old tachiyomi (立ち読み) habit.

The first section of the exhibit was devoted to Sanpei Shirato’s The Legend of Kamui which is probably their most widely read manga title. The Legend of Kamui is about a ninja who discovers the class struggle and discrimination of Edo period Japan. The historically based manga became a platform for the Shirato’s leftist political ideology.

Ryoichi Ikegami display
Another interesting section was Ryoichi Ikegami section. It featured some of his early work before his amazing collaborations with Kazuo Koike (小池一夫). It’s interesting to see the early development of his hyper realistic art style.

Goseki Kojima (小島剛夕), another Koike collaborator, also had a small section in the exhibit. He is renowned for his artwork in Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼).

Towards the back of the gallery, I found a small section devoted to Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Credited as the father of the gekiga movement, Tatsumi’s section had some very racy material. Due to the amazing translation efforts at Drawn and Quarterly, I am very familiar with Tatsumi’s violent and socially dissociative storytelling. However, one of his Garo spreads had some hardcore incestuous gay sex scenes. I was unaware that he published LGBT material. The artwork was very similar to current Bara manga.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi display
The exhibition showcased Garo’s importance in the development of modern manga storytelling. Even though it was never as popular as other mainstream magazines, it managed to influence the entire industry and launched the careers of many notable mangaka.

Related Links:
The Center for Book Arts ~ Garo Manga, 1964-1973
Three Steps Over Japan: Garo

Who Am I, Jack Woltz?

2010-04-13T16:54:00.000-04:00

I found a headless Barbie Doll in my backyard. This is kinda like the reverse of the severed horse head scene in the Godfather. I felt like Jack Woltz waking up to a frightful scene.

Kanji Flash Cards and Listening to Ed

2010-04-07T21:46:00.000-04:00

Making kanji flash cards and listening to the Ninja Consultant's coverage of Ed Chavez's Anime Boston panel.

The Last Video Rental Store

2010-04-05T19:01:00.000-04:00

JERSEY CITY, April 5 — The last local video rental store in my neighborhood is finally closing its door after nearly twenty years. It’s the latest victim of digital media and high speed internet distribution. It’s quite sad really. I spent most of my formative years renting VHS cassettes.

As soon as my dad bought our first Panasonic VCR, I remember spending most of my childhood walking the narrow aisle of the video store looking for interesting VHS tapes. It was only a dollar to rent a single VHS for a day, and it was a bargain.

I frequently rented martial arts, horror, and crappy B-movies. It’s an informal film education that shaped my taste as moviegoer. I spent my younger days watching rented movies like Chinese Connection, Blood Sport, Dracula Versus Frankenstein, Swamp Thing, and Godzilla 1985 (ゴジラ). According to my Netflix queue, my taste in movies hasn’t really changed much… Jeez.

In the early 1990s, I rented some of the first anime titles legally released by Central Park Media, AnimEigo, U.S. Renditions and Streamline Pictures. Most of the releases were OVAs like M.D. Geist, Bubble Gum Crisis, Appleseed, and Gunbuster. I also remember the anime section being labeled "Japanimation". Along with a local tape trading circle, the video rental store became a good source for my voracious anime addiction.

As I walk past the last local video rental store, it was holding a huge "going out of business" clearance sale for all their DVDs. Regular feature film DVDs were priced at $8.29, and Anime DVDs were going for $2.88 each. I'm going to miss it.

Recession Hot Dogs

2010-03-13T15:26:00.000-05:00

Did we hit a new low in the recession or a great new high?

Gray's Papaya on the corner of 8th Street and the Avenues of America, New York City.

The Laughin Nose at The Loft [2009 Back Post]

2010-03-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

This post is the last “back post” from 2009. It basically encapsulates my impressions of the Japanese punk scene from my December 2009 Tokyo trip.

Laughin Noses at the Loft

TOKYO, December 27 — Before arriving in Tokyo, I heard a lot about the punk scene and the venue circuit called “Live Houses”. Live Houses are a group of venues that specifically cater to rock acts. For many punk and hardcore rockers, it’s probably the only suitable place to turn up the amps and shred some guitars.

Prior to this trip to Tokyo, I’ve never been to a Japanese Live House, so I had to visit one. After some online research, I discovered a place called the Loft. Located in the western side of the Shinjuku district, the Loft is supposedly the oldest and most well established venue for rock and punk music.

An Osaka punk band called the Laughin Noses was schedule to play. I knew very little about them but decided to go anyway.

I took the Chūō-Sōbu train (中央・総武緩行線) to Ōkubo Station (大久保駅) and walked to the Shinjuku district. It took some looking around to find the venue, and I got lost a couple of times. I finally found the building and a sign with the Lofts’ logo (see picture above). There was a “B2” above the sign which means it’s located in the subbasement (floor underneath the basement). This place is literally underground.

I paid my admission and walked into the subterranean venue. The Loft was grimy enough to remind me of some older New York venues.

The Tokyo punk scene was a trip. They were all dressed like 70s punk rockers. I felt like I step out of a time machine, and my natsukashii (懐かしい) was in full effect. I guess the 80s post-punk period and 90s grunge era skipped Japan entirely.

When I took a closer look at their 70s punk gear, the Japanese audience had pristine shiny leather clothing. They wore the nicest punk outfits that I’ve ever seen. At New York punk shows, I’m used to seeing people wear second hand clothes from the Salvation Army. This was a completely different mindset. I guess it’s kinda like cosplay where the fans have to “dress the part.” I also saw a lot of familiar black t-shirts featuring the Ramones, CBGBs, and New York City (à la John Lennon).

According to their Wikipedia entry, the Laughin Noses have been around the Japanese punk scene for near 30 years starting in 1981. Tonight their age didn’t seem to slow them down. They were completely metal on stage and thoroughly rocked the Tokyo crowd. Belley (山崎健) did some serious guitar work, and Charmy’s (小山祐) vocals were pretty awesome. His vocal stylings had hints of Johnny Rotten and Joey Ramone.

At several points in the performance, the audience got so rowdy that punches and kicks were flying in every direction. Even the lead vocalist got kicked in the face a few times from overly aggressive body surfers. He continued his performance despite receiving a few blows from the audience.

The Laughin Noses played an excellent punk show.

Related Links:
Laughin'Nose on MySpace Music
Japan Live: Japan Live TOKYO LIVE HOUSE GUIDE

Too Cute: American Style and the New Asian Cool (Day 1)

2010-03-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

PRINCETON, March 3 — Princeton University hosted an academic conference about Asian American pop culture aptly named "Too Cute: American Style and the New Asian Cool Conference". The panels and schedules were arranged by Professor Anne-Anlin Cheng.

Child Love

Anne Higonnet, an Art Historian from Columbia University, started the panel with a presentation on the connection between the cultural concept of cute and definitions of childhood. She frequently referenced Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) and his artwork. Higonnet also mentioned Murakami uncanny ability to co-opt commercial product such as his line of custom designed Louis Vuitton hand bags.

Murakami's Version of the Louis Vuitton Hand Bag
Higonnet was followed by Christine Bacareza Balance. Balance, a University California - Irvine professor and vocalists for the Jack Lords Orchestra, conducted a presentation about Filipina Child Pop Stars. Her lecture was mainly focused on the cultural and political undertones in Filipino Pop Music. In her discussion, Balance talked about the impact of YouTube, American R&B influences, karaoke, and Filipino “palabas” concept. She used Charice Pempengco’s rise to stardom as a case study for her presentation.

Gertrude Ederle

Joon Lee, an English professor from the Rhode Island School of Design, read passages from one of his novels.

Girls on Girls

After a short lunch break, the conference continued with a panel about “Asian cool” from the perspective of girls.

Karen Tongson, a professor of English and Gender Studies at the University of Southern California, discussed the internet pop phenomenon known as “Rin on the Rox”. Tongson began her discussion by outlining the cultural factors that lead to the emergence of the two Filipino American internet pop idols. She also talked about the deeper cultural trends surrounding the duo. Tongson emphasized topics such as sexual undertones, homophobic reactions, and the modern perception of womanhood in the media.

The next presentation was conducted by Laura Miller, Anthropology professor from Loyola University. Miller’s lecture was primarily concerned with the Japanese concept of “kawaii”. As an anthropologist, she approached the topic by categorizing the different types of “kawaii” found in Japan. She made a clear distinction between regular “kawaii” (cute) and “kimo kawaii” (grotesque cute). At this point, Miller started to couch her argument in a resistance framework. She characterized “kimo kawaii” as a rebellious act by Japanese girls against the commercial exploitation of the “kawaii” paradigm.

The Keynote Address: Eating Rice with a Fork

The day ended with an amazing keynote address by Eric Nakamura, co-founder of Giant Robot Magazine. Nakamura conducted a quick history of Asian American pop culture including personal stories about his own identity as a Japanese American. He described growing up as a product of two cultures that were intermingled. In an attempt to illustrate this “mashup” of identities, he humorously remarked that, “I eat rice with a fork.” The Ivy League audience enjoyed his wit and entertaining slide presentation. Towards the latter half of his address, he talked about the early days of Giant Robot Magazine and the evolution of the brand.

Tibetan Punk New Year Celebration

2010-03-01T15:11:00.000-05:00

Patti Smith
NEW YORK, February 26 — On a chilly winter night, I attended the 20th Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall (West 57th Street and 7th Avenues). The concert supports Tibet House's on-going efforts to preserve the living culture of Tibet. Also a portion of the proceeds benefit The Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey and Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières).

This year's concert was packed with tons of great punk acts. The audience seemed electrified as they rushed the stage several times. They were promptly restrained by the Carnegie Hall security detail. It's was one of the livelier benefit concerts in recent memory.

The performers included: Philip Glass, Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew, Gogol Bordello, Tenzin Kunsel, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Regina Spektor, Jesse Smith, Michael Campbell, Drepung Gomang Monks, and others.

Philip Glass
The concert started with very somber openers. The Drepung Gomang Monks began with their traditional throaty chant. They were followed by a minimalist musical segment by Philip Glass and a passionate set of soft jazzy folk music by Regina Spektor. The only exception to the subdued tone was the colorful Reggae style beats performed by Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew.

In a sudden change of pace, the atmosphere suddenly exploded when Gogol Bordello took the stage. Eugene Hütz, the lead singer of the band, performed an acoustic set of three Gypsy inspired punk tunes that excited the crowd. Younger audience members rushed the stage blissfully unaware of Carnegie Hall’s reserved decorum. The venue’s staffer and security detail quickly held them back.

Gogol Bordello was soon followed by the amazing Patti Smith. Smith started her set with the R&B classic “Love Train”. The increased volume of her performance resulted in a lot of unintended audio feedback. She was visibly annoyed with the audio problems but powered through her set. During Smith’s set, the audience again rushed the stage to the dismay of the venue’s security personnel. She finished her set with a powerful rendition of “Gloria”. The audio feedback problems resurfaced in her final song, and she tossed the microphone stand across the stage. Smith sang the rest of the song with microphone in hand.

Iggy Pop

The closer was the legendary Iggy Pop. Pop walked onto the stage with a black long sleeved shirt which he promptly discarded. He began his set with “The Passenger”. The audience went wild, and the crowd in front of the stage grew. The security could barely keep order. At the start of “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, Pop even jumped into the audience in an attempt to crowd surf. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, “nobody caught him.”

During his set, Pop also had the same feedback problem that Smith experienced. Frustrated he stuffed the microphone in his jeans. Then he proceeded to pick up the microphone stand and repeatedly hammered the pristine hardwood floors of the Carnegie Hall stage. You could see the worried expression on some of the Carnegie Hall staffers.

Related Links:
Iggy Pop Brings Punk Carnage to Carnegie Hall at Tibet Benefit : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily
Music Review - Tibet House Benefit - Iggy Pop, Regina Spektor and Patti Smith at Carnegie Hall - NYTimes.com
Tibet House Benefit 2010 in pictures (Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Regina Spektor, Gogol Bordello & more) - BrooklynVegan
Tibet House Benefit Show Enthralls Carnegie Hall

Buy Mi: Hong Kong Billboards and Advertisements [2009 Back Post]

2010-02-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, February 25 – While hang out in Hong Kong (December 2009), I paid close attention to local advertisements and billboards. It's always fascinating to observe local marketing campaigns. Here are a few interesting Hong Kong advertisements:

Love Mi, Sammi!

Sammi Cheng (郑秀文), the hugely popular Canto Pop singer, had a giant billboard covering the entire side of a building in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. It was so big that I had trouble fitting the entire poster in the viewfinder of my camera. The object in the foreground is a street light which should give you a sense of scale. The billboard was promoting Cheng's Love Mi tour which was being sponsored by Johnnie Walker.

The Tomino-esque Thing

Mass Transit Railway (MTR), Hong Kong's subway system, is the lifeline of the city. It's also my preferred method of travel. On several subway cars, I found Gundam posters. It was a cross promotional effort between the Gundam franchise and the MTR.

Learn to Shot -> John Woo Style

During my visit to Hong Kong, the city was hosting the 2009 East Asian Games which is kinda like a mini-Olympics for Asia. The city was covered with banners promoting the event. They made a unique banner for each sport, but this one caught my eye. The locals nicknamed this event "The John Woo Challenge".

Danny Wears a Seiko

On my way to breakfast, I unintentionally ran into posters of Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) at a Kowloon watch store. Wu, a fellow Giant Robot Magazine writer, was endorsing Seiko's line of Criteria watches. In addition to being a writer, I hear he does some acting on the side...

The First Circle of Hello Kitty

Cool Japan comes to the Hong Kong subway. Hello Kitty, the official ambassador of the color pink, enticed Hong Kong commuters to spend their holiday in Japan. The Japanese tourism posters were displayed throughout the MTR subway system, and Admiralty Station was completely transformed into the Hello Kitty Station. I'm sure that this is a sign of the Apocalypse.

Journey to Mong Kok

Here is another interesting subway poster. The Monkey King doesn't want you to monkey around on the escalators. Public transportation is serious business.

Doraemon Pulled This Out of His... Pouch?

In a lift leading to a pedestrian overpass, I found these instructional safety stickers with Doraemon(ドラえもん). Yes, trust the imaginary flying blue marsupial.

Let Them Eat Idol Christmas Cake

The Maxim cake company is notorious for using very attractive girls and female pop idols in their advertisements. The white fluffy concoction on the left is the "Angel Christmas Cake", and the sugary chocolate guilt trip on the right is the "Devil Christmas Cake".

The Polysics at The Blender: Technicolor Pogo Punk Explosion

2010-02-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, February 13 – On chilly Saturday night, I walked into a techno-rock explosion. The Polysics, a "technicolor pogo punk" band from Tokyo, played a one night engagement at the Blender Theater (Irving Plaza).

The Polysics are primarily known for their distinctive Devoesque sound and innovative music videos. Their music is a mix of classic techno-pop with a hard edge punk guitar. Having been raised on British New Wave, I was quiet partial to their synth-pop sensibilities.

I also enjoyed the geeky punk flavor of their stage show. Hiroyuki Hayashi, the lead vocalist, was very animated and charismatic. He was bouncing off the walls like bunny on speed and performed some comedically awkward hip thrusting. In several instances, Hayashi had the entire audience mimic some of his bizarre hand gestures and motions. The crowd loved the interaction.

At one point in the performance, Hayashi proclaimed that “Polysics will be your Valentine!”

The highlights of their performance were “Rocket”, “I My Me Mine”, and “Electric Surfing Go Go”.

The band played to a bizarre mix of fans. In the audience, there were hard core techno fans wearing Devo hats rocking out next to Japanese Goth kids. It was a pretty lively crowd.

Related Links:
Polysics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
allmusic ((( Polysics > Overview )))
Polysics Celebrates Kayo's "Graduation" from the Band with a Tour - Los Angeles Music - West Coast Sound
Interview with Polysics: Each Era Each End | The Aquarian Weekly

Alfa at Best Buy: Hurry While Supplies Last!

2010-02-17T02:33:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, February 11 – I’ve seen plenty of indie music acts in bizarre locations. Some of the more notable ones were a shopping plaza in Kowloon, the tiny back room in a New York City bar, and the subbasement of a parking deck in Shinjuku. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a concert at Best Buy (60 West 23rd Street). So, when I read that Alfa Garcia was going to perform there I was a bit curious.

I decided to go to the Best Buy to check out the performance. As I walked past the large display windows, I found Alfa in the store front. She was standing on a small elevated platform that looked strangely like a pedestal. I immediately thought she looked like a product on display. Alfa’s gone commercial! She’s sold out! (Just kidding…)

Alfa performed eight songs including “Supergirl”, “Second Skin”, and “Don’t Write Your Goodbyes”.

Regarding the venue, Best Buy didn’t seem like the best place for a musical performance. The high drop ceilings and the warehouse nature of the space didn’t seem to provide good acoustics. The noisy shoppers also didn’t help matters, but Alfa still played brilliantly.

Overall, the event had an interesting schizophrenic atmosphere between Alfa’s singing and the customers haggling over the price of HD television sets.

Related Links:
Alfa: Second Skin « Born In Chinese (Album Review)
Alfa's MySpace Page
Alfa's Facebook Fan Page
Alfa's Twitter

Snow Equals Winter. Winter Equals Hot Pot! [2009 Back Post]

2010-02-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

Little Sheep in Hong Kong
NEW YORK, February 11 – Yesterday’s snowpocalypse event makes me think of relatively warmer climates like my recent trip to Hong Kong. Hong Kong denizens consider 50 degrees Fahrenheit to be “cold”. Jeez... I would take a mild Hong Kong winter day over a mid-Atlantic snow storm any day.

As I watched the snow blanket my entire street, I could only think about one thing: Hot Pot (火鍋)! It’s a delicious Chinese winter tradition similar to Japanese Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ).

During my visit to Hong Kong, I had the opportunity to dine at a local chain restaurant called the Little Sheep (小肥羊). I know the American image of “a chain restaurant” is the stereotypical fast food burger joint like McDonald’s, but the Little Sheep is not your ordinary franchise. Because of the nature of hot pot dining the raw food has to be fresh, and the Little Sheep doesn’t disappoint. Marinated beef, skewered shrimp, fish balls, and… omg… the mutton!

I'm getting hungry just blogging about it. I need to find some hot pot to warm up my buddha belly.

Related Links:
10 hot pot restaurants in Hong Kong: At 9 degrees celsius, hot pot is legit again | CNNGo.com

Lowboy and Black Blizzard

2010-02-10T00:11:00.001-05:00

Lowboy Cover Art by Adrian Tomine
NEW YORK, February 4 – In a promotional event for his new novel, John Wray conducted a book reading and discussion at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn.

Lowboy, Wray’s latest novel, is centered on a paranoid schizophrenic teenager who’s recently escaped from a mental institution. Interestingly the narrative of the novel is told through the eyes of a boy suffering with mental illness, and the story frequently blurs the line between reality and fantasy.

After a brief reading, Wray was joined by Adrian Tomine. Tomine, a popular cartoonist, did the illustrations for the cover of Lowboy. Using a set of prepared questions as a jumping off point they discussed a variety of topics including possible movie adaptations, the creative writing process, and their collaboration on the novel’s cover art.

Adrian Tomine and John Wray
Towards the end of the night, I had an opportunity to talk with Tomine, and we got into a discussion about manga. He mentioned that he had just finished editing Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s (辰巳ヨシヒロ) Black Blizzard (黒い吹雪). It’s a follow up to Tatsumi’s critically acclaimed graphic novel A Drifting Life. He described it as Tatsumi’s attempt to incorporate elements of film noir into his manga. As an avid reader of Tatsumi’s work, the news of a new graphic novel was very exciting.

Related Links:
Book Review - 'Lowboy,' by John Wray - Review - NYTimes.com
The Tunnel : In “Lowboy,” a schizophrenic rides the subway. : The New Yorker
A Delusional Odyssey Through New York's Tunnels : NPR
Tatsumi's Black Blizzard Listed by Drawn & Quarterly - Anime News Network
SAME HAT!: EARLY TATSUMI GRAPHIC NOVEL COMING OUT IN 2010

Yumi Kori's Wind and Lightning Installation

2010-02-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, February 4 – Yumi Kori, an artist and architect, held a small gallery exhibition at The Robert Lehman Gallery (Urban Glass) in Brooklyn. The exhibition is titled Matsukaze (Wind Passing Through the Pine Trees), and it consisted of six handcrafted glass vessels. Each vessel had filaments attached to both ends which effectively turned each glass sculpture into light bulb.

In Kori’s glass pieces, the electricity arced across the entire glass vessel creating an interesting electrical display. The variation in brightness and pattern were controlled by switches that regulated the voltage. Each piece had a unique pattern of dancing electrical current, and the variations were subtle. The artist admits that her control over the electrical patterns were very limited.

In order to enhance the light installation, the exhibition space was pitch black except for a soft powder blue glow that emanated from Kori's glass work. After my eyes adjusted to the low light levels, the lighted glass sculptures seemed brighter and more transformative of the dark space.

As an architect, Kori had worked with glass as a building material for larger structures. However, the current exhibition had allowed her work with the glass on a more intimate level.

Yumi Kori said that she was always interest in the qualities of glass as a material, but this was the first time that she has played with the medium directly.

Please Help Support Giant Robot Magazine

2010-02-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

Times are tough for print in general. In order to maintain a high quality and independent magazine, Giant Robot needs your help. They have done the math, and an infusion of $60,000 (hopefully more) will ensure another year of full, unfettered operation with no strings attached to a shifting media paradigm, advertising climate, sketchy distributors, and the economy. If you have been affected or inspired by Giant Robot, help however you can. All support, both through finances and spreading the word, will be appreciated and make a difference.

For More Details: Giant Robot Magazine Needs You

REVIEW: Bodyguards and Assassins

2010-01-30T22:51:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, January 30 – Is it me or is Donnie Yen bucking to be the next national hero of Hong Kong? Maybe he’s starting with Hong Kong and shifting to be a national hero of China. It sure seems like it.

Yen’s recent acting filmography includes Ip Man (葉問), The Founding of a Republic (建國大業), and Bodyguards and Assassins (十月圍城). He is also set to release Ip Man 2 (葉問2) later this year. Interestingly these films have all been historically based fictions with an emphasis on individual heroism and valor.

Some film critics argue that Yen is treading dangerously close to Chinese Communist propaganda in his recent pictures. I wouldn’t go so far as to label his films as propaganda, but they are very careful in their handling of modern Chinese history. It’s a soft touch that is not characteristic of the fast paced Hong Kong film industry.

Yen’s current film, Bodyguards and Assassins, tries to carefully reshape Chinese history with varying degrees of success.

The film is mainly centered on the arrival of Sun Yat-sen in 1905 Hong Kong. Sun plans to unite the various rebellious Chinese factions in order to overthrow the troubled Qing dynasty, and the royal court responds with a group of highly trained assassins (ninja?).

Donnie Yen plays a crooked police officer in the burgeoning Hong Kong police department. As a gambling addict, he constantly finds himself broke and desperately looking for side jobs to cover his addictive habit. As a thug for hire, he sometimes takes jobs that are morally questionable. Over the course of the film, Yen’s character has a change of heart and decides to protect Sun Yat-sen with a heroic band of outcasts, homeless, and destitute individuals.

The film can easily be bifurcated into two halves. The first half is the introduction segment which provides the various background stories for each hero and villain. The second half of the film is dedicated to the action packed chase and fighting sequences between the various characters.

The first half is pretty long (almost an hour) and suffers from a lot of pacing issues. It jumps from one character background segment to another character segment without any sense of order or rhythm.

However, Sun’s arrival to Hong Kong changes everything. The tempo picks up and the rest of the film is a high paced sequence of chase and fight scenes. The frenetic nonstop movement is the hallmark of Hong Kong cinema, and the kung-fu is pretty top notch with Yen showing off his amazing skills.

Some of the best acting performances in the film were delivered by Tony Leung Ka-Fai (梁家輝). He brought serious acting chops to the role, but some of his counterparts lacked the same skill. It was like watching a tennis pro play with a teenage amateur.

Eric Tsang (曾志偉) also had a small side role as the police chief. His limited on screen time was funny and delightful. He lightened the mood during some of the most depressing moments of the story.

On a negative note, the film attempts to hand jam a nationalist allegorical message throughout the narrative which I found a little distracting. It wasn’t a subtle nudging… more like a slap in the face. Jeez… I get it: patriotism and equality. I felt like a customer being subjected to some hard selling by a used car salesman.

If you could bear with the long introductory exposition, Bodyguards and Assassin will take you through an amazing journey of unlikely heroes and fascinating villains.

Related Links:
YouTube - Bodyguards & Assassins - Official Trailer
Bodyguards and Assassins - Hollywood Reporter
Reviews: BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS - Twitch
Bodyguards and Assassins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IMDb: Shi yue wei cheng (2009)
Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) - LOVEHKFILM.COM
Bodyguards And Assassins (Shi Yue Wei Cheng) - Screen International
'Bodyguards and Assassins' helps Chinese cinema enter the big leagues The Independent

Wade Explores Commercial Materialism and Japanese Pop Culture

2010-01-14T08:16:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, January 11 – Jeremy Wade performed a mixed dance piece that incorporated interpretive dance and manga artwork called There Is No End to More. The performance was commissioned and performed at the Japan Society.

In his one man show, Wade’s performance playfully straddled the line between cute and horrifying. He focused thematically on the excesses of commercialism and pop culture in modern life. He included many references to Japanese pop culture including robots, ninja, large soul stealing moe eyes, Super Sentai teams, and Tokusatsu.

Wade especially emphasized the Japanese commercial concept called "kawaii". Kawaii is a label used to describe a commercial product that exudes an irresistible cuteness. It has been used to market and promote everything from toys to airlines.

In addition, Wade's performance was integrated with manga style artwork by Hiroki Otsuka. Otsuka, a veteran mangaka, provided the backgrounds for the dance. His works were projected on the back wall of the stage in stark black and white, and Wade danced in front of them. Some of the Otsuka's works were still images, and others were animated clips such as scenes incorporating rain and snow. His work was pretty amazing. Otsuka managed to create very imaginative environments for Wade to explore. His artwork was definitely one of the highlights of the show.

Related Links:
YouTube - Jeremy Wade - there is no end to more - Dec. 3-5
The New York Times: Twitches and Paroxysms, in Shades of Grotesque
Sunday Arts Blog » Archive » Too Cute | THIRTEEN
BLACK LACQUER DISPARITY | bmacmedia.net
Jeremy Wade “there is no end to more” at Japan Society « Culturebot

Curry Hotspots in Hong Kong

2010-01-12T08:03:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, January 12 – CNNgo published my first official foodie article about my favorite curry spots in Hong Kong. Check it out!

CNNgo: 3 places to sate cravings for curry in Hong Kong

Shingo Katori Talks Somewhat Like Singing [2009 Back Post]

2010-01-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, January 3 – I know it’s the New Year, and I should be posting new material. But, I had a back log of blog articles from the end of 2009 that I never got the chance to post. They were neglected mostly because of time. This is the first article in a series of “back posts” that I will try to fit into the month of January.

On November 21, 2009, I attended a showing of the live Japanese musical named TALK LIKE SINGING at New York University. The production was the brain child of comedic playwright Kōki Mitani (三谷幸喜). Mitani who is known primarily for his Japanese plays penned a playful bilingual musical (Japanese/English) about language.

The story is about a boy who is unable to speak but has the capacity to communicate through singing. The child draws national attention, and a group of scientists try to help the child learn proper speech and pronunciation. In the end, the whole group realizes that the boy’s singing is not a disability but a gift.

Besides Mitani, the big draw of this play is Shingo Katori (香取慎吾) who plays the leading role. Katori is a huge pop idol in Japan. Having first entered the public eye with his role in SMAP, Katori remains a hugely popular figure in Japanese culture. According to many in the audience, his role in the production seems to be the primary reason for most of the show’s hype.

Katori’s performance was pretty decent, but he seemed to struggle in the English parts. On the other hand, his co-stars were very entertaining, and their comedic timing was amazing. I especially enjoyed Shinya Niiro’s (新納慎也) parts. He played the comedic relief who commented on the scene from the outside breaking the fourth wall. Niiro delivered every comedic remark with a touch of sarcasm and played it beautifully.

Mitani has plans to take the production to Tokyo in 2010.

Related Links:
Japanese Musical TALK LIKE SINGING Comes To NYC 11/13 At NYU's Skirball Center 2009/07/16
Katori Shingo’s “Talk Like Singing” Musical « 見ないで! ひとり言
PlaybillArts: Features: Konishi's Talk Like Singing Receives World Premiere in NY Nov. 13-22
Koki Mitani's "Talk Like Singing" – Musical Theater Review
Japan Zone - Entertainment News from Japan: Talk Like Singing an Off-Broadway Hit

Random Year in Review - 2009

2009-12-30T23:54:00.000-05:00

Akihabara from my hotel room at Remm Akihabara.
NEW YORK, December 30 – 2009 has been a crazy and bizarre year in the life of this blog and Asian-American pop culture. There were great moments and scary ones, but I made it without too many scars. I've flown nearly 30,000 miles and visited five different countries. I've eaten amazing food and met some very interest people in my travels.

I know a lot of people are doing year end lists of the “Best and Worst”. These are some of the most interesting moments of Random Access Information Blog in 2009.

Surviving the Deployment
June 16 -- I can’t really discuss the details, but I’m glad that it’s over. It was one of the most bizarre cultural experiences in my life. I was living in the desert with fully loaded weapons and some survival Arabic. Somehow we all made it back. I will never forget playing spades early in the morning and the sandstorms that turned days into nights. I will not miss the desert, but I will miss the people that I served with… I will never forget them.
POST: Part I: Otaku War Journal: Did you find any Xilians today?

Giant Robot Family
June 21 -- Living in New York tends to harden people, but my visits to Los Angeles seem to provide a little balance. I always try to visit my extended Los Angeles family at least once a year. They are amazingly chill. I enjoy hang out with the entire crew. I love all of my friends and family on the west side.
POST: Giant Robot Magazine Headquarters: Pilgrimage or Loitering?

New York Asian Film Festival
June 25 -- I absolutely loved the New York Asian Film Festival. They played some of the best films from Korea, China, and Japan. I met some great directors and film makers as they promoted their latest movies. I can’t wait until next year’s festival.
POST: NYAFF09: Crushing and Blushing with Kong Hyo-Jin

Anime Week Atlanta
September 18 -- I don’t go to many southern anime conventions, so I decided to head south. I flew down to Georgia to attend Anime Week Atlanta (AWA). It was quite a bizarre experience with crazy cosplayers, curtains falling on people, and Carl Gustav Horn holding court. It was quite a different experience than a northeastern anime convention, but still very cool.
POST: Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) 2009: Part 1: Anime Hell

New York Anime Festival
September 27 -- New York Anime Festival (NYAF), one of the biggest industry conventions for anime and manga, held its last stand-alone event. Reed Exhibitions plans to merge the NYAF with the New York Comic Con creating one large convention. This year’s NYAF is the last time a major anime only convention will be held in New York City. I’ve loved hanging out with industry guests, fellow anime/manga reviewers, and friends.
POST: New York Anime Festival 2009: Pictures and Words

John Woo – Red Cliff Interview
October 15 -- During the New York premiere of Red Cliff, I had the opportunity to interview John Woo. I have been a huge fan of his movies like the Killer and A Better Tomorrow 2. He was extremely gracious and entertained all sorts of questions.
POST: John Woo's Battle of Red Cliff

P.K. 14 and Carsick Cars
November 20 -- The best of Chinese punk hits the streets of New York. I was complete blown away by the post-punk sounds of both bands, and the crowd was lit. I also ran into Giant Robot photographer Ben Clark. He was completely chill.
POST: Raw Chinese Punk at the Ding Dong

Pixies Thanksgiving
November 26 -- I didn’t post about this, but it was completely awesome anyway. The Pixies played a 1 A.M. Thanksgiving show for their New York fans. It was completely awesome to hear the entire Doolittle album being played with some B-side tracks. As a long time Pixies fan, I was completely thrilled.

Hong Kong Cavalier
December 10 -- I spent nearly two weeks eating my way through the streets of Hong Kong and Macau. I was able to gorge on every type of Southern Chinese Cuisine with the help of my Hong Kong family. It was a nonstop buffet of dim sum, noodles, hot pots, buns, grilled meats, and street food.
POST: Dim Sum Delight

Tokyo Raider
December 22 -- This was my first opportunity to visit Japan. It was a very education affair because I didn’t know the language or the city. It’s was a stumbling expedition of districts, shops, and eateries. After three days, I began to truly know the city, the train system, the restaurants, and I even picked up some basic Japanese. I’m already making plans to visit next year during Winter Comiket.
POST: Akihabara@MIDNITE

Happy New Year! I hope next year will be just as exciting and bizarre as 2009.

Akihabara@MIDNITE

2009-12-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

Akihabara at midnight. Drunken salarymen rush home from nearby bars.
TOKYO, December 23 – Many fans of anime and manga have heard about the Japanese nerd mecca called Akihabara ("Akiba"). Supposedly a safe haven for nerdy persuits, it's streets are lined with bright lights, crowded sidewalks, and young Japanese women cosplaying as loli-maids. As it gets closer to midnight, the vibrant store fronts close and the people rush home. The streets become desolate.

The maids have gone home. Only the darken cafes and maid dresses remain.

Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are imprisoned behind the storefront shutters of a closed pachinko parlor.

Sofmap. Nicknamed "Electric Town" Akihabara didn't seem too "electric". On another note, Final Fantasy 13 is currently getting the most aggressive marketing push in the district.

Taito Station was still open, but there were no players.

Some stoic teddy bears watch the empty sidewalks at Taito Station.

Idle anime and manga themed vending machines near the entrance of Comic Toranoana.

Octopus Grill and Crepes stands were still open for business.

Yummy, plastic display food. It's just like the real thing.

MaiDreamin Maid Cafe. Where have all the loli-maids gone?

The Best Hong Kong Street Food

2009-12-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

The Best Mini Egg Puff Vendor in the Tsim Sha Tsui district
HONG KONG, December 22 – Busy Hong Kong pedestrians are known for their love of street food, and thousands of tiny street vendors are ready to serve them quick and tasty treats. Here are some of my favorite Hong Kong street foods:

	Bok Choy Cookie The Bok Choy Cookie is a light waffle cookie that is wrapped in a thin sheet of rice paper. It’s a very sweet candy-like treat and is extremely light. If you have a sweet tooth, you must try one. They are sold along the boardwalk in the Stanley District of the city.
	Stinky Tofu The most infamous Asian street food is probably one of the most delicious in Hong Kong. Known for its disguising smell, Stinky Tofu is simply a fried fermented piece of tofu. The smell is the result of the tofu’s fermentation process but don’t let that discourage you. It’s a delicious little snack and taste better than it smells. Stinky Tofu is sold in many locations, but I prefer the Stinky Tofu vendors in the Mong Kok district.
	Mini Egg Puffs Mini Egg Puffs are the most popular street food in all of Hong Kong and are enjoyed by millions of people. The puffs are made from sweet pancake batter and are cooked in a griddle iron much like a waffle. The tasty little puffs can be found on every major Hong Kong thoroughfare, but the best are sold by the vendor located on the corner of Hillwood Road and Nathan Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. You can’t miss it because there is always a crowd of hungry people waiting to order.

REVIEW: Storm Warriors 2

2009-12-20T09:47:00.001-05:00

HONG KONG, December 19 – I know that the blog has been taken over by food posts recently, and I have not really blogged about pop culture. Fear not! In addition to eating my way through the streets of Southern China, I also watched a good deal of Hong Kong cinema.

As a pop-culture addict, I closely monitor local advertising in particular the giant billboards and posters. There were two movie posters that were plastered on every street corner in Hong Kong. The first one was James Cameron’s Avatar 3D movie, and the other was Storm Warriors 2.

Based on a Hong Kong manwha, Storm Warriors 2 is a highly styled film that uses a lot of CGI to enhance the elaborate action sequences. Some of the larger scale battles blatantly rip-off the 300 movie with high contrast cartoonish CGI-enhancements. The Pang Brothers, the directors, reportedly admitted to cribbing off of the Zack Synder film.

The story follows the basic Shonen Fighting format with the bad guy being nearly invincible and the good guys training to defeat him. It’s simple enough that you can sit back and enjoy the CGI-enhanced visuals without worrying about all of the plot holes. The pacing seems pretty decent and the dialogue is very simple. Overall, it’s a high energy PG-13 popcorn movie.

Having never read the manwha, the relationship between the two swordsmen, Wind and Cloud, seems eerily reminiscent of the relationship between Griffith and Guts from the Berserk manga series.

Related Links:
The Storm Warriors - Wikipedia
IMDb: Fung wan II (2009)

The Invicible Four Brothers

2009-12-19T03:50:00.000-05:00

MACAU, December 16 – One of the main reasons I took a short trip to the Portuguese-Chinese outpost of Macau was to look for Four Brothers. I wasn’t looking for actual relatives or a 2005 Marky Mark flick. Motivated by my taste buds I was looking for a tiny restaurant named Four Brothers. They are quite renowned for a couple of very unique signature dishes.

Fish Skins

Fish Skins, a local delicacy in Macao, is one of the most distinctive dishes in southern China. It is simply the skin of a fish that is stir fried with hot pepper, garlic, and local seasonings. The skin has a squishy texture similar to squid sashimi, and it is not slimy at all. However, the taste is quite different from squid and has a spicy and herbal flavor. The dish's spiciness makes beer the prefect compliment. The waiter will inquire your preference for the dish to be served hot or cold. Trust me... it’s a dish best served cold (just like revenge).

Cow Bones

Do you ever wonder about the fate of cow bones after the cow is butchered? Probably not. At the Four Brothers restaurant, they marinate and grill the beef laden cow bones as a dish. When the waiter serves the cow bones, they are literally dripping with fat and Chinese barbecue sauce. Like barbecue ribs, the cow bones are meant to be eaten with your hands. The waiter will provide plastic disposable gloves if you don’t want to use your bare hands. It’s absolutely amazing food.

The Four Brothers restaurant has spawned two other restaurants aptly named Four Brothers Two and Four Brothers Three with similar menus. It’s definitely the best place to eat in Macau. The food is simple, honest, and delicious.

Eat Macau For Free

2009-12-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

Chinese Almond Cookies
MACAU, December 15 – If you can get away from the fancy resorts and mega casinos, you can find a lot of great local food in the old sections of the city. The best part: it’s free.

In Taipa Village, there are literally thousands of tiny shops, eateries, restaurants, and bakeries. Most of these establishments entice customers by offering free samples. There is no commitment to buy, and you can try everything in the store. Just politely point at the food that you want to try, and the clerk will give you a piece.

On the streets of Macau, you can find some of the following tasty foods:

Portuguese Egg Custards, Koi Kei Bakery

Variety of Sweet Barbecue Jerky, Koi Kei Bakery

Phoenix Egg Roll with Dry Roasted Seaweed, Choi Heong Yuen Bakery
During the busy afternoon rush hour, Macau shop clerks will literally be shoving food into the mouths of pedestrians. If you circle around these generous shops several times and graze, you can fill up on some good local food without spending a single penny. There are plenty of shops and millions of pedestrians.