giant robot's topics - tribe.net

New limited Edition (of 25 only) Screen Prints available thru my online store ONLY 20 $MACKEROONIES EACH!!!!

tez — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:13:41 GMT

New limited edition screen prints....."KRILLING FOR SCIENTIFIC PORPOISES" & "BUNG EYE THE BLUE BUNNY WITH A PIGS NOSE" are now available to purchase thru my online store......Each are printed on archival quality 300gsm card stock, signed & numbered and limited to 25 units only......and the best part is they're only twenty $mackeroonies each!!!

click below to go to my store.....cheers. TEZ.

www.skullpussy.bigcartel.com/products

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YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS BLATANT UNAUTHORIZED ART THEFT......Show your support!!!

tez — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:53:44 GMT

You gotta click on this link and check this appalling and blatant art theft.....go to http://apefluff.com/colorful-illustrations-93c-please-do-not-buy-this-book/ .........You aint gonna believe the nerve of these arseholes!

Give Darren a yell and show your support to all the artists/illustrators involved and spread the word!

regards,
TEZ
www.skullpussy.com

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the art of TEZ featured on the BLACK BOOK!.....chek it out.........

tez — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:15:22 GMT

Chek the new feature on the art of TEZ @ the BLACK BOOK.......see fresh paintins & new skullpchas!!!

go to http://www.blackbookno1.com/tez.html
Enjoy!

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Audio Tapes Wanted

glasshopper — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:22:35 GMT

Hey everyone,
I'm working on a project that requires several hundred audio cassette tapes (yes, those clunky objects that held our music in the days before iPods, CDs and .mp3 players).

I know a lot of people have a stash of old tapes in a box in the basement that they've forgotten about. Why not get rid of the tapes and donate 'em to a good cause?! I will recycle the tapes (via true recycling, not downcycling) and use them as part of my upcoming album.

If you or anyone you know is interested, send me an e-mail or visit http://www.myspace.com/glasshopper for more info.

Thanks!
Jess

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10/14 - tokidoki designer in SF

pengrin — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:23:48 GMT

Saturday October 14 (1-5 PM)
Nordstrom San Francisco Shopping Centre
865 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 243-8500

http://tokidoki.it/

posted in giant robot - 1 reply

new artist to tribe

bretschger — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:56:12 GMT

just joined this morning, check out my artwork.
add me as your friend and i'll keep you up to date on shows and going ons:)

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Vinyl Toy Forum - Breaking the mold

Eric — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 07:03:45 GMT

Breaking the mold in the Vinyl Toy community http://www.vinyltoyforum.com

Become a registered member at Vinyl Toy Forum and you will be automatically entered into a raffle for $65 towards one day's admission fee to San Diego Comic-Con 2006.

Submit your custom to win a $75 Gift Certificate to the KidRobot store @ Vinyl Toy Forum.

[b]FIRST 25 MEMBERS TO REACH 50 POSTS WILL RECEIVE ONE UNOPENED SERIES 3 DUNNY WHEN THEY ARE RELEASED ON JULY 27TH.[/b]

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SF: Stolen Painting at CellSpace

thetopaz — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:08:38 GMT

Someone stole my painting from CellSpace
Gallery in San Francisco. The painting was already
sold which makes me feel really terrible. Please let
people know that it is not cool to steal art and if
you hear anything in the grapevine about a simlar
painting please contact me. I will be posting an
image of the stolen painting named' "Transitions"
on my profile shortly.

Shannon Badiee
jooojay@yahoo.com
http://www.coroflot.com/thetopaz
http://www.cellspace.org/

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check out - Bad MoFo Asians - Tribe

vjfader — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 01:59:39 GMT

Who can resiste those cute figues... Love Giant Robot for being in LA and all.

Check out Bad Mother Fuckin Asians Tribe for those bad ass asian brothers out there!

http://tribes.tribe.net/badmofoasians

peace,
fader

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Karen Mok...she was in Giant Robot, right? Does anyone know where I can get her photo album?

Peter — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:42:39 GMT

I posted this at the Karen Mok tribe too... does anybody know where you can still get a copy of the Karen Mok Photo Album? I know Karen was covered in Giant Robot magazine a couple of years ago. She put out a great sexy photo album last year & I got one when it first came out. I had tried YesAsia again 2 wks ago & again today but despite what it says on their website they are out of stock. Is anyone in this Tribe familiar with this book? It's a big (200+ pages) Art book with great big glossy & matte photos of Karen Mok in various states of dress and undress in different cities around the world. I bought one months ago but I would like to make some framed posters so I am looking for a 2nd copy to use for that. Any help would be appreciatated. Thanks y'all!

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GAMA-GO Holiday Sale - today

Spark_a_liscious — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 16:44:04 GMT

GAMA-GO Holiday Sale - Sat Nov 19th
12:00 PM
Whether you're looking for your sister's Christmas present, an expression of kuumba for your brother's Kwanzaa celebration, a gift for your cousin's festival of lights, or a heart-felt token to acknowledge your mother's earth-deity pagan ritual ceremony, you'll find something for everyone at the GAMA-GO Holiday sale.

Can anything say "yuletide joy" more than a t-shirt featuring the Deathbot army destroying a city? Unlikely.

Wallets, Bags, Clutches, Jackets, Pajamas, Sticker Packs - all men's and women's clothing will be 25-50% off. Limited-edition and one-of-a-kind samples will also be available.

This is a one-day only event & will be held at the GAMA-GO Warehouse in San Francisco. Saturday, November 19th from 12-6pm. 301 8th St. @ Folsom. Cash & Credit Card sales.

www.gama-go.com

posted in giant robot - 2 replies

Shonen Knife Drummer Nishiura Dies

east_bay_gray — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 17:38:33 GMT

It is with a lot of grief and weariness that I announce that tonite’s DMBQ and friends show @ Club Exit has been cancelled following a tragic car accident today.

DMBQ’s van rolled from I-95 in Delaware en route from Baltimore to Brooklyn this afternoon. All members of the band have been hospitalized, as well as Michelle Cable from Panache Magazine and booking, who has been managing their tour.

Mana “China” Nishiura did not survive the accident. China was DMBQ’s drummer, as well as the drummer in Shonen Knife. China will be missed.

Michelle Cable is conscious following surgery for a head injury. The other members of DMBQ are stable but sedated and are expected to recover.

http://fuckedgaijin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13739&sid=868eeed3f4c3a59bfbb845d5729851b5

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ImaginAsian TV needs your support in SF

iaTV — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:47:40 GMT

On October 31, ImaginAsian TV, the first 24/7 Asian American TV network, is going off the air in San Francisco.

Since iaTV’s inception, we’ve provided Asians in the U.S. with a much-needed voice, and we hope to continue to do so in San Francisco, a city with one of the largest Asian populations.

Despite viewer demand, Comcast has declined to carry iaTV in San Francisco—even at no cost to them. The SF community has the power to change this. Asian Americans deserve a choice of media, but we need to take action.

Here's how we need you to help:

1. Call Comcast SF toll free at 1-800-945-2288 to request ImaginAsian TV as part of their channel lineup.

2. Write a letter of support for iaTV and send it to Comcast: http://www.comcast.com/ContactUs/CustomerService.asp. You can use our sample letter (http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/sample_letter.php) or write your own.

3. Send us a copy of your letter with our online form: http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/form_letter.php. We will present all amassed letters to Comcast.

4. Spread the word and pass this email on - http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/tellafriend.php

For more info about the campaign and how you can help, visit http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/inthebay.php.

Thanks!

iaTV

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Come to Austin!

ursonate — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 02:36:11 GMT

I think Giant Robot should open a store in Austin so I could work there. I'm totally bummed that they opened the one in NYC after I left.

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Katrina Relief Nurse Hand Painted Doll Auction

octobereffigies — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 20:42:46 GMT

Half of proceeds are donated to Red Cross

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5612672789

Thanks for looking!!
~Kerry Kate
October Effigies

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Asian dance/language/martial arts/cultural classes

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 23:13:04 GMT

Did your parents make you take these classes too? Mine wanted me to "stay Chinese," so I went to Chinese school every Sunday.

What were some of the classes or activities were you forced into?

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fans of SPUN

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 21:13:32 GMT

GALAXIE PICTURES is currently developing 'Unfiltered', the directorial debut for Creighton Vero, screenwriter of the indie cult hit 'Spun'.

For more information contact: pete@galaxie-pictures.com

SYNOPSIS:

Teenage Sherri, a new arrival to Lake Charles, Louisiana, gets a rude awakening as the locals give her a slice of real Southern hospitality, small town style. Included in her Lake Charles initiation are some hard lessons on friendship, family, and bigotry—not the kind made of ephemeral remarks and incidental ostracizing of outsiders, but real and vicious institutional racism, the kind that ends in murder.

Sherri arrives as the locals prepare for the funeral of Mary, the town’s Contraband Days Celebration Queen. With her death begins the shattering of the perfect picture of southern hospitality that she represents. Grieving is glossed over in favor of panic about the town’s quickly evaporating marijuana supply. What’s really died is the smiling welcoming south, and its warmth and hospitality are quickly replaced by a rapid growth of weeds.

Then the ensemble cast of Unfiltered gradually unwinds into a hard picture of gritty southern life as facades of tolerance gradually peel / crumble away. What’s revealed is the stuff that’s usually swept under the carpet.

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comic con 2005

pengrin — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:00:54 GMT

Anyone headed out to San Diego? Tell me how it is

http://www.comic-con.org/index.php

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AeonFlux movie

Johan — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 03:56:59 GMT

Remember the Animated short series "Aeon Flux" that was on MTV ?
(By Peter Chung).

http://www.aeonflux.com/

It looks like it will very cool.

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07.9 - yumfactory 11-4PM

pengrin — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:09:30 GMT

http://www.yumfactory.com/yart.html

Check it out.

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06/11 Saturday - Super7 Store

pengrin — Sun, 29 May 2005 03:29:11 GMT

Although, there's a cool Gama-7 party happening on June 11 from 7-10PM @ Super7.

Super7 Store | 1630 Post Street | San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: 415.409.4700 | Fax: 415.409.4703

www.super7store.com/index.htm

Just incase we forget.

;)

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Howl's Moving Castle tonight

Spark_a_liscious — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 15:45:12 GMT

Hey there, I have an extra ticket (part of a pass) for Miyazaki's newest American release tonight at the Kabuki in J-Town tonight. The show is at 7:30 and we will be in line by 6.
Obviously I will need to know who is coming before then. Please email me here and tell me why you might be great company for us to see this with and I will email the winner back! We are a male, 35, a female, 38 and my daughter, 17. (Disclaimer- ya don't have to sit with us, but I am making my version of Kettle Korn!)

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Swatch vs. Kozyndan

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 17:16:33 GMT

Has anyone noticed the similarity of this Swatch watch

http://www.swatch.com/specials/bunny/bunnysutra1.php

to this Kozyndan print

http://www.kozyndan.com/2004portfolio/horny.html

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gr eats

pinguino — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 16:30:29 GMT

i went to gr eats yesterday, the new giant robot resteraunt in los angeles. it was yuuuummmyyy =)

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Little Boy - Japan Society, NYC

Mon, 23 May 2005 14:39:41 GMT

The 3rd and final installment of Takashi Murakami's SUPERFLAT exhibition/ideology is showing through July 24th:

http://www.japansociety.org/events/current.cfm

I'd highly recommend paying a visit as well as reading the accompanying catalog featuring not one but two excellent essays by TM as well as a great number of other tied-in features/commentary which serves as a cohesive element defining the development of Japanese yurui/kawaii/moe art phenomenon that is equally weaved into the Giant Robot fabric.

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gama-go

pengrin — Wed, 18 May 2005 14:17:52 GMT

I can't believe I missed gama-go sample sale. BAH!!!

Although, there's a cool Gama-7 party happening on June 11 from 7-10PM @ Super7.

Super7 Store | 1630 Post Street | San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: 415.409.4700 | Fax: 415.409.4703

http://www.super7store.com/index.htm

posted in giant robot - 7 replies

ysquare - art & design by Yuriko Miyamoto

jdempcy — Mon, 09 May 2005 03:43:01 GMT

thought this link might be of interest to some ...

http://www.ysquare.net

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GR Lounge

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:40:41 GMT

Who posts? Lurks? There's gotta be more than the couple I know of. I post as "'jim".

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GR in the SF Chronicle

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 23:26:41 GMT

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/06/LVGODB3CG91.DTL

posted in giant robot - 1 reply

Buyer contact info for GR stores in SF/NYC?

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:37:03 GMT

Anyone have current information {name and #} for the principal merchandise buyer for GR? Thanks

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#1 Album in the world this week is Japanese!

rhyslud — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:12:50 GMT

I have noticed lately an number of Japanese songs nearly making it to the top of the world singles chart.

But this may be a first.

http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

The Musiq album by Orange Range is #1 in the world.
But can you find it a Tower, Fye or any other major American store? Nope. Not even a single copy.

And Americans accuse the Japanese of being xenophobic. Shame on us.

I'll play it on www.popgoesasia.com as soon as I can.

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some new tribes

Mon, 16 Aug 2004 01:01:46 GMT

Kahime Karie
http://kkkkk.tribe.net

SeoTaiji and Boys
http://seotaiji.tribe.net

Shonen Knife
http://shonenknife.tribe.net

Steve Albini
http://albini.tribe.net

Unrest
http://bpm.tribe.net

MD 20/20
http://maddog2020.tribe.net

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Asian Pop Music

rhyslud — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 03:30:01 GMT

I wanted to share some music so I made a radio station:

Pop Goes Asia is a free internet radio station and website for English speakers.

http://www.popgoesasia.com

We play top hits & favorites from Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong & more. Artists that sell a million records in a day; artists that pack stadiums (even here in the USA); Artists that are popular across multiple countries and languages; Artists that have plans to burst on to the American music scene. You won't hear them on American radio because they don't (usually)sing in English. Come hear what you are missing!

Track info & artist profiles in English.

100% Free!

Especially fun if you are already studying Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, or Thai. Or if you ARE Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Thai (by ancestry or past-life experience).

Playlist is about 34 hours and is roughly 30% Chinese - Cpop(Cantonese & Mandarin), 25% Japanese - Jpop, 20% Thai - Tpop, 20% Korean - Kpop, & 5% Tagalog, Malay, Khmer and others. Changes weekly.

* Our host, Live 365 wants to sell "preferred listener" passes. It's a good deal, but you don't have to pay to listen. Just sign up with a user name and password (No personal info is required!!). Eventually you will come to a screen asking what media player to use. You can download theirs or use one you already have. Feel free to e-mail me if you have problems connecting for free.

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Yoshitomo Nara

joliewashere — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 06:39:46 GMT

Yoshitomo Nara's work is currently on exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art, until October 31st. (for those interested) more info at:

http://www.sjmusart.org/content/exhibitions/current/exhibition_info.phtml?itemID=147

More info on his work here:

http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=239B6278-C5CF-11D4-A93800D0B7069B40

I live in San Diego, but my sister lives in Frisco & I'm hoping to fly up there, stay with her, and see the show before it ends.

Jolie

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Just to Liven things up in here a bit....

Fri, 13 Aug 2004 03:02:00 GMT

This:

http://www.robo-t.com/top_e_robo-t.html

Plus this:

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

oh yeah…... who luvs ya

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SF events, August 18-24

Mandy — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 15:35:10 GMT

Hi kids and kittens, what's shakin'? I'll be in San Francisco August 18-24 and would like to know of any events going on during that time. My boyfriend and I have scoured the local papers' websites and all kinds of other boards, but I wanted to see if any of you know of any cool undergroud events, if you or your buds are playing anywhere, etc.

One cool event that you may want to check out if you live in/near SF is the Fruits Fashion Show at Mezzanine on the 20th. Do you guys know Fruits - the Japanese magazine of street fashion? Those kids and thier imaginative outfits are AWESOME!

Okay, thanks for any tips gang! If you're going to Fruits, let me know - maybe we can say hi to each other in person :)

Mandy in Tampa

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What was the first issue you started reading GR?

Aeronius — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 01:53:38 GMT

My first issue was #6 The Chow Yun Fat Issue!

posted in giant robot - 19 replies

hey

Ryan — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 17:35:23 GMT

just saying hi. Aimee directed me here. I usually peruse of the GR message board. but here i am now. the people who do know me..can u suggest any tribes i may like? DAAANKS

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wow....

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 08:53:59 GMT

an inactive tribe......Does anyone in this tribe actually read Giant Robot magazine? It has had some pretty interesting shit in it. Care to comment?

posted in giant robot - 10 replies

Gaint Robot 2

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:21:53 GMT

Has any one been to the new gallery?I think it's really cool that they branched out.Giant Robot has turned me on to alot of artist that other wise would have slipped past me.

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Biskup, Baseman, Hong - Neo Kaiju unveiling in SF

wayanmaz — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:20:22 GMT

http://www.super7store.com/nkinvite.htm

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Design mag: d-territory

lilita-yaya — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 01:42:00 GMT

www.d-territory.com is the website of a new design mag from Malaysia. Just sharing this as a friend of mine is in Issue #1.

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85 members! go tribe!

Steph — Tue, 11 May 2004 07:23:39 GMT

at 85 members! go tribe!

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Kim — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:49:04 GMT

March 14, 2004
Mr. Invisible and the Secret Mission to Hollywood
By JOHN HODGMAN

Kerry Conran is not what you would call descript. He has very short, tan-colored hair, usually covered with a clean, logoless baseball cap. He is 37, somewhat baby-faced and often quiet, with a smile in the corner of his pale blue eyes that suggests he is observing you from a far-off world of his own. And while he can be genial and funny, his default setting seems to be self-deprecation to the point of self-erasure. The second thing of any note he ever said to me was ''I am basically an amorphous blob of nothing.'' The first thing was ''I'm shy.''

This was on the set of his movie ''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.'' You might expect a little more brio from a writer-director who is making a summer blockbuster with almost unlimited creative control. Set in 1939, the movie stars Jude Law as the daring flying ace Sky Captain, who teams up with his former flame, the intrepid reporter Polly Perkins, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, as they track down a mysterious mad scientist named Totenkopf. It is in part a nostalgic homage to the movies of the 30's and 40's: the hammy fisticuffs and golly-inspiring proto-technology of sci-fi cliffhangers like ''Flash Gordon'' alongside the snappy patter (and even snappier clothes) of the era's noir thrillers.

But like the old serials it emulates, ''Sky Captain'' is mainly preoccupied with the strange promises of the future. The astonishing things you will see in the world of tomorrow include: an immense, silvery zeppelin docking at the Empire State Building; an elephant that fits in the palm of your hand; a troop of giant robots marching down Sixth Avenue and the carpet at Radio City Music Hall. None of these things actually exist, though. Conran has not constructed a single set or miniature. Rather, they are computer images, built and animated in a virtual 3-D environment, or stitched together from photographs, which are then draped around the flesh-and-blood actors, who have been shot separately on an empty set in front of a blank ''blue-screen'' background, along with those few minimal props with which they actually interact (a ray gun, a robot blueprint, a bottle of milk of magnesia). The film, in other words, is one long special effect with Jude-Law-size holes in it.

''The goal was to make a live-action film, but to use conventions of traditional animation,'' Conran said. The reason? ''First and foremost, to do it cheaper.'' It's a model that would appeal to anyone who, like Conran, does not seem entirely comfortable spending other people's money; to anyone who might dream of shooting in Nepal or Paris (or in the 1930's) but doesn't have the means to get there; to anyone who is shy.

For Conran, the question, as he put it, was ''Could you be ambitious and make a film of some scope without ever leaving your room?'' And so 10 years ago, Kerry Conran went into a room in his apartment to make a movie. In some ways, he is just now beginning to come out of it.

At first, he was a mystery. Word of ''Sky Captain'' began to spread around the Internet only after Conran finished primary shooting in London last spring -- extraordinarily late for the Internet, which often seems invented specifically to track movies with giant robots in them. Even then, no one knew who Kerry Conran was. Google couldn't touch him. He was so undocumented in the world of Hollywood that I briefly wondered, when I began pursuing him, if perhaps he was just a front for his producer and partner and mentor Jon Avnet, who is well known for producing ''Risky Business'' and directing ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' but who is not so well known for retro-science-fiction summertime blockbusters, and who unlike Conran seems to have been photographed at least once in his life. I don't think Conran would mind that I doubted his existence. In fact, for a long time, that was the plan.

Conran grew up in Flint, Mich., in a pre-cable, pre-VCR period when the Sunday afternoon television crackled with old movies. Kerry and his older brother, Kevin, made capes out of towels and pretended to be superheroes. They steeped themselves in science fiction serials and film noir and the Universal monster movies. After high school, Conran moved to Los Angeles to attend the CalArts live-action filmmaking program, but he mainly hung around with the animators, because they were doing what he wanted to do: they were building worlds. Even as students, they could create anything, go anywhere. ''If you wanted something gigantic,'' he said, ''they could do it. Just draw it.''

He didn't want to be an animator, but he wanted their freedom from earthly concerns like budgets and reality. His student film tried to fuse traditional animation and live action in an interactive way he hadn't seen before. He does not like to discuss the film, called ''That Darn Bear,'' except to say that it involved a bear and that it remains, for him, a ''deep gaping wound.''

''I was, like, a year into it, if not a year and a half, and this film called 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' was announced,'' Conran recalled. ''And it was exactly what I was trying to do, but on a scale that, for me, was unimaginable. I filmed it for three years, and never ultimately finished it. It was just, at that point, demoralizing.''

After this, Kerry Conran went into his apartment in Sherman Oaks and pretty much stayed there. A self-trained computer ''nerd hobbyist,'' he supported himself with various custom-software and tech-support jobs. Then in 1993, ''Jurassic Park'' took photo-real computer-generated effects into the cinematic mainstream. At the same time, the first home computers powerful enough to emulate those effects were becoming available. Conran immediately began to experiment with ways to bring film into his Macintosh. He drove around with a camera, filming the sky with a purposefully shaky, home-movie hand, and then he went home and dropped a computer-animated U.F.O. into it -- a hoax.

As the digital-effects industry grew more sophisticated, so did he. He realized he could build whatever he wanted, and what's more, it could be gigantic. Rockets that dwarfed skyscrapers. Airplane hangars so large that you could not see someone on the other side. Because, he explained, ''what does it cost to hit the scale button and make something enormous? Nothing.''

And it didn't matter whether the actors were on a big expensive sound stage or in Conran's tiny apartment. By 1994, he had struck upon the idea of filming an entire movie by himself, at home, with a blue screen set up right in his apartment. He began to create what he was calling ''the World of Tomorrow.''

The title was borrowed from the 1939 World's Fair, along with that period's sleek aesthetic and brash optimism. Conran recalls how moved he was when he saw, in the 1933 ''King Kong,'' that the Empire State Building had at its top an actual zeppelin mooring mast. ''This is why you have to like these people in the 30's and 40's -- because they actually thought they could dock a zeppelin atop the Empire State Building,'' he said. ''And when the math wasn't quite up to snuff, they still said, 'Let's give it a whirl!' They just had these lunatic ideas and acted on them.''

From one of his jobs he had scored a Macintosh IIci, and its hard drive became his sound stage. By today's standards, it was mind-numbingly slow. Every limb of every giant robot had to be rendered separately in advance and reassembled later. Each leg took 12 hours. Each robot had two legs. There were 20 robots.

''I would wake up, and I wouldn't even go to the bathroom,'' he said. ''Frequently I'd sit there and suddenly say: 'Oh! I'm really thirsty!' It would be 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and I hadn't moved. I was a slave to this thing.''

He briefly played with the idea of another hoax: to present the film as the remnants of a never-completed adventure movie by a fictional protege of Frank Capra. ''But I was going to do it in such a way that a few of the shots would have been impossible to achieve,'' Conran explained. After people saw it, he said, ''they would be staggering. They wouldn't know how he did it.'' He decided he would be satisfied if he could create between 20 and 30 minutes of footage this way. After four years of working on it every day, he had six minutes.

But then, as typically occurs when things look darkest in the kind of movies Conran loves, a hero came along to save the day. A friend of his brother's wife came to dinner, a woman named Marsha Oglesby, who happened to be a movie producer. She had been hearing about the short for some time and was eager to see it. Conran protested: he wasn't ready. But she insisted. Six minutes later, she didn't know what to say. ''Can I see that again?'' she asked.

The next day she showed it to her boss, Jon Avnet, who was so impressed that he agreed to finance the movie himself until they could find a studio or investor. Avnet showed it to Jude Law, who then read the whole script and quickly agreed to star and be a co-producer. Avnet and Law then turned to Gwyneth Paltrow, and once she was on board, they decided why not get Angelina Jolie as well, to play the eye-patched rogue known as Frankie? And so they did. Now the film is a major summer release for Paramount, opening June 25.

Like most overnight success stories, this one took about a decade. But now Conran is here, directing movie stars, responsible for a staff of nearly 100, the scale button pushed to enormous. He is visibly amazed and happy to be here. And by all accounts (except his), he has handled the transition from recluse to Hollywood director gracefully. ''He was thrilled and touched that people were willing to realize his vision,'' Jude Law told me by phone. ''He's really a sweet-hearted man. But he's certainly no pushover. He knew exactly what he wanted.''

Still, it's hard not to sense a certain wistfulness, too, as Conran speaks about the old scheme: a phantom man directing a film that wasn't there. ''It would have been cool,'' he said.

In 1939, RKO gave a young radio writer from New York named Orson Welles a contract to write and direct anything he wanted. Jon Avnet wanted that kind of latitude for Conran, but he couldn't find a studio that would offer it. So Avnet built one. He spent nearly a quarter-million dollars to turn a former printing press in industrial Van Nuys into Sky Captain's headquarters, lining nearly every inch with computers and constructing a complete digital-effects house from scratch, with a small blue-screen stage in the back. ''At one point,'' Avnet told me, ''I spent way too much money.'' He estimates he spent about $1 million to develop the film, through his company, Brooklyn Films. Eventually, the Italian producer Aurelio De Laurentiis came in to complete financing, and then last June, Avnet sold the domestic rights to Paramount, for a reported $40 million.

He walked me through a series of three large, dim rooms full of terminals manned by computer modelers, animators, lighters, compositors. Some were touching up artificial clouds and fake skylines. Some were working on snowflakes. Another stared into the watery light of the monitor and slowly ate a leaf of lettuce.

They can do anything here. When one of Paltrow's arms was cut out from a shot, they copied the other one, flipped it and pasted it back in. Since all the lighting was being done on the computer, they could paint the frame with light and noirish shadows, erase it all and then start again.

Stephen Lawes is the compositing supervisor, in charge of combining the real photography, which is all shot on high-definition digital videotape, with the computer world. He showed me how they build a scene, first in black and white, dropping Paltrow into a photograph of an actual deco-period elevator in a municipal building across town. He demonstrated how he tweaked the color until it took on the lush, antique look of the period, and then married it to a virtual film stock to give the movie some of that classic graininess Conran was looking for. The final product was painterly, stately and somewhat uncanny. Avnet said that the approach has allowed the filmmakers to make digital video truly look like physical film, and it does -- but it's a curious kind of verisimilitude, one that imitates the technical limitations of the past, the artful phoniness of the old films it emulates, while adding massive underwater battles. ''We have the ultimate latitude to reframe, play and change,'' Lawes told me. ''It's pretty much like playing God.''

It is the flexibility of the setless, all-digital, centralized production process that, according to Avnet, has allowed them to make the movie for about half what it would have cost to make it traditionally. Still, at a reported budget of $70 million, it's not cheap. And despite Conran's emphasis on the economy of the technique, it is also clear that it affords him other rewards too.

Among Conran's first official hires was his brother, Kevin, his longtime collaborator since the days they shared a bedroom and wore capes. He is a professional illustrator and was the film's production designer. Together, Kerry and Kevin filigreed the film with cathedral-like touches that only they and the angels will see: the ship that carried King Kong in the 1933 movie, lying on the ocean floor; a line of deactivated robots, leaning against a wall in the exact same positions the Fleischer brothers had them in their moody 1941 Superman cartoon, ''The Mechanical Monsters.'' You will not know unless I tell you that the smudges in the zeppelin cockpit are real actors, because even though you can barely see them, Kerry decided that he would not computer-generate a human being. But he was determined to computer-generate everything else. Even in the briefest close-ups, say, of Polly reaching to retrieve a blueprint from the floor, the carpet at Radio City is an effect, a computerized image based on a photograph of the actual carpet, which Kerry has never seen in person. (As much money as they have supposedly saved, I still wonder if perhaps it wouldn't have been cheaper, at least for this scene, to just buy a rug sample.)

These are the types of details, superfluities and in-jokes that make up the secret language that the Conrans have been speaking since Flint, and it is, in large part, Jon Avnet's to decode. ''I am a non-nerd channeler of Kerry's vision,'' Avnet said.

His pride and affection for Conran are apparent, and he expresses them restlessly, constantly -- though he also reminded me, and himself, that the movie must be more than what he calls ''boys with toys.'' ''After all this incredible technological breakthrough is said and done, how's the story?'' he asked. ''People may be impressed that it was made, but they're not going to substitute being impressed for being entertained.''

In some ways (especially with a deadline looming), the technique offers the director too much flexibility, too much opportunity to haggle over every anxious shadow. As Avnet put it, it is the ''world of pure choice.'' Conran admitted that he might have been working on the movie for 20 years had Avnet not pulled it out of him. ''We joked,'' Avnet said, ''that after the film goes in the theaters, he'll finish it again for DVD, and then five or six years later, he'll have one-quarter of the film finished the way he really likes.''

Conran walked into Avnet's office in a plain black T-shirt, looking a little apprehensive. He had agreed to watch the original six-minute short with me and Avnet, and it was clear he wasn't looking forward to it.

It opens with a black-and-white version of the film's signature shot, a zeppelin docking at the Empire State. I had seen this sequence in one form or another perhaps a dozen times in the last three days. I can't begin to guess how many times Conran has seen it: airship and skyscraper, two antique promises of progress meeting to announce our final liberation from earthly concerns. The short was rudimentary compared with what I'd seen, to be sure. And Conran grimaced throughout. But I was stunned when I considered the painstaking labor with no promise of reward, or even end, in sight. And I thought of all the computers in just this building, each one thousands of times as powerful as a Mac IIci, in the hands of eager, young, lettuce-munching dreamers, and I wondered what worlds they were constructing in their spare time between snowflakes. On the screen, Sky Captain flies to the rescue. I happen to know from Kevin that it's Kerry himself behind the goggles. Naturally, he's masked.

The short ended. Conran blinked a little and smiled. ''Wow,'' he said. ''That was embarrassing.''

Both Avnet and Conran are convinced that ''Sky Captain'' will usher in a new kind of filmmaking. And perhaps this will indeed change the economics of the summer blockbuster. In effect, it's an indie giant-robot movie, taking the digital-video revolution to people who, like Conran, like to push the scale button up to enormous. And you get the feeling that this is what Conran wants the movie to be judged on first -- even more than how much money it makes at the box office, or how real the robots look.

It may be a newfangled movie technique, but it is a very old-fashioned movie story: a fiercely protective producer offering an unheard-of chance to a kid out of nowhere. In the end, it seems to me that this movie is not so much about ushering in the world of tomorrow as it is about realizing ''the World of Tomorrow,'' the vision that has haunted Conran, and now Avnet, for so long.

When it is done, Kerry Conran may make a sequel or go on to other projects, or, as Avnet suggested, he may just want to keep working on this one. When I asked Conran what he would do on opening day, he shook his head. ''Almost my entire adult life has been leading up to this,'' he said. ''I just don't know. I only knew I wanted to do this for a long time.''

John Hodgman lives in New York. His last article for the magazine was a profile of a bridge champion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/magazine/14CONRAN.html

posted in giant robot - 2 replies

introduction

Jules — Sat, 13 Mar 2004 03:57:47 GMT

Dear All,

Here's an anecdote for you. It occured to me, as I was walking down the street one fine, sunny day, at the age of 6 or so, that I was, in reality, a robot (this was the word). Not only was I a robot, but specifically a robot sent to Earth to observe human-kind. The fact that I knew I was really a robot meant, of course, that I was malfunctioning, and I knew somehow as well that I had to forget I was a robot by the age of 13 or 14 or the damage would be permanent.

I eventually did forget, until the age of 14, when I remembered out of the blue my earlier robot-days.

I suppose I had, at that moment, to affirm my destiny as a stranded robot. . .

JdT

posted in giant robot - 1 reply

Are you Asian American?

Ben — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 07:45:06 GMT

I'm sorry, this post has nothing to do with the theme of this tribe, but I was wondering if any Asian-Americans could help me out by taking two minutes to complete a survey. You can take it if you're not Asian as well, as long as you have some interest in Asia.

http://www.journeyintoasia.org /survey.php

The purpose of the survey is to better understand what Asian Americans are interested in and concerned with.
thnx.
I really appreciate it!

posted in giant robot - 0 replies

Robot Stories

Kim — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 21:22:55 GMT

Greg Pak, a filmmaker I know who has helped us with our Rooftop Film Festival, is releasing his latest film "Robot Stories" tomorrow (see info below). There's also an after-party:

ROBOT STORIES OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE PARTY
February 13th
10:30PM - 4:00AM

The Gallery
Gershwin Hotel Lobby
7 East 27th Street between 5th and Madison Ave

- Bombay Sapphire Open Bar 10:30 PM - 12:00 AM
- Free Passed Hors d'oeuvres 10:30 PM - 11:30 PM
- Free autographed Robot Stories memorabilia

Cover: $10, or FREE w/ ticket stub from Robot Stories
Attire: Dress to impress
Music: Resident Gallery DJ spinning house and hip hop

-----Original Message-----
From: "Susie Lee" <susienewyork@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 11:16:48 +0000

As many people are out there bringing grassroots audiences to Robot
Stories, an independent film with a predominantly Asian American cast, I felt it was imperative to do the same especially since Greg is my boyfriend.

Please forward this message widely and come out and support the film. It opens in NY on Feb. 13th at Cinema Village on 12th Street between
University and 5th Ave. and in Silver Springs, Maryland, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Boston, and Chicago in the next few weeks/months. See below for details and website information.

Thanks very much!

Susie Lee, Cornell

----------
From: "Michelle Chen" <michelle@fluidmotiontheaterfilm.org
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 20:29:34 -0500

Dear friends,

I just wanted to put out a plug for a wonderful new film by the
Incredibly talented Asian American filmmaker Greg Pak (who is a really good guy, to boot). The film is called ROBOT STORIES and it's a really smart, well-written, excellently acted film with lots of heart and humor (and robots!), and features much of the Asian American filmmaking community
here in NYC (both cast and crew.)

Because this a small independent film that doesn't have a huge
distributor behind it, they are relying heavily on word-of-mouth to help spread the word. So please, mark your calendars for the weekend of February 13th and come out to support this film! And, by the way, it's crucial that
everyone come out that first weekend because without a strong box office showing, there won't be a second weekend!

Hope to see you at Robot Stories...
Michelle

******************************
Just two weeks until New York City theatrical release! Please help
spread the word!
The weekend of Friday, February 13 may be the most important few days in the entire life of "Robot Stories" -- it's the theatrical premiere of
the film in New York City at the Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th Street. Please, please, please come see the film and spread the word to your friends and family in New York City. To get a second week in New York, we need to
do great business our first weekend -- the theater will decide Monday
morning which films to keep for the next week. And a number of other theaters are waiting to see how we do in New York before they book us in their towns. This is the big one, folks! Whether you're a supporter of truly independent media, Asian American film, smart genre storytelling, emotionally honest cinema, or just plain fun moviemaking, please
consider helping us get folks in that theater during the opening weekend!

Convinced? Visit www.robotstories.net for downloadable flyers and a cut-and-pastable blurb you can send all your friends. Or just cut and paste the following blurb into a new email and send it to your friends, along with a personal note with your own take
on the film:

"Robot Stories"
Over 23 film festival awards
85 minutes, 35mm color
Everything is changing... except the human heart
www.robotstories.net

Opening February 13 in New York City
Cinema Village
22 E. 12th St., New York, NY
www.cinemavillage.com

Opening February 20 in the DC area
AFI Silver
8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
silver.afi.com
March 12 in Los Angeles
April 2 in St. Louis
April 16 in San Francisco and Berkeley

Winner of over 23 film festival awards, "Robot Stories" is science fiction from the heart, four stories in which utterly human characters struggle to connect in a world of robot babies and android office
workers.

The stories include: My Robot Baby, in which a couple (Tamlyn Tomita and James Saito) must care for a robot baby before adopting a human child;
The Robot Fixer, in which a mother (Wai Ching Ho, Best Actress, St. Louis
Int'l Film Festival and Puchon Int'l Fantastic Film Festival) tries to connect with her dying son by completing his toy robot collection; Machine Love, in which an office worker android (Greg Pak) learns that he, too, needs love; and Clay, in which an old sculptor (Sab Shimono) must choose between natural death and digital immortality.

John Petrakis of the Chicago Tribune calls the film "one of the
most moving pieces I've seen all year" while Entertainment Insiders calls it "the kind of science fiction sophisticated audiences crave and deserve."

Awards include the Special Jury Award from Emotional Truth from the Florida Film Festival; Best Feature Film honors from the Rhode Island
Int'l Film Festival, the Sci Fi London Film Festival, the DC APA Film
Festival, and the SF Korean American Media Arts Festival; and Audience Awards from the Fantastisk Film Festival in Sweden, the Boston Fantastic Film Festival, and the Michigan Independent Film Festival.

Writer and Director: Greg Pak
Producers: Kim Ima and Karin Chien
Starring: Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono, Wai Ching Ho, Greg Pak, Cindy Cheung, John Cariani, Bill Coelius, Eisa Davis, Ron Domingo, Tim Kang, Julienne Hanzelka Kim, James Saito
Distributor: Pak Film and Shotwell Media
Genre: Science Fiction, Independent, Asian American

Official Website: www.robotstories.net
Reviews: www.robotstories.net
Trailer: www.robotstories.net
MP3s: www.robotstories.net
Blog: www.robotstories.net

posted in giant robot - 0 replies

book reviews for Giant Robot

Shin Yu — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 03:47:34 GMT

Hi Folks,
I am an emerging Asian American poet and I would love to get my new book of poems, Equivalence, (www.lalamedapress.com/books/equivalence.html) reviewed by Giant Robot if anyone is interested. La Alameda has forwarded a complimentary review copy to the editors. Please contact me if you would like to receive an excerpt of the manuscript, or a PDF file.
Thanks!
Shin Yu Pai

posted in giant robot - 2 replies

Faye Wong Appreciation Society

east_bay_gray — Fri, 26 Dec 2003 01:18:52 GMT

http://wongfaye.tribe.net/

If you've watched Chungking Express more than 3 times, ever listened to "Hypnotize" on repeat, or simply dig import Pepsi ads... this might be a tribe for you.

Since 8/8/69, the world is a better place, thanks to our gal Shirley.

posted in giant robot - 0 replies

Jan. RANDOM THOUGHTS COLUMN (Will return to Meanstreet in Feb.)

Devun — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 02:32:13 GMT

You know sometimes a debut album can make or break you (first impressions effect the way people perceive you most of the time) and if this holds true THE PROCUSSIONS have a bright future ahead of them. Their debut album “…As Iron Sharpens Iron” is perfect in every way, how you may ask? Well the lyrics are beyond tight, but lyrics that’ll touch the soul and will take you to a higher plateau. The beats and scratches will crush you like the hammer of Thor and what’s a beat with out pianos, drums, trumpets and guitar played by the MC’s bringing that beautiful jazz/funky feel. STRO THE 89TH KEY, MR. J MEDEIROS AND RESONANT are true Colorado b-boys (as of 2002 they live in Pasadena) representing Hiphop, positive thinking and God all rapped in one. If you feel Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, Mars Ill, Saturdaynight Freestyle and Crown City Rockers than the Procussions are right up your alley. Check out theprocussions.com to find out more.
ZEV LUV X of KMD first transformed himself into the legendary underground MC: MF DOOM well he’s at it again transforming into VIKTOR VAUGHN dropping the concept album “Vaudeville Villain”. What a villain he is, his time machine broke down and he’s stuck in the early 90’s. As he’s trying to get home check out his dope lyrics taking out MCs, dropping names and some cool ass stories. KING HONEY, HEAT SENSOR and MAX BILL take on the roll of beat masters bringing on unique futuristic dark beats (RJD2 does track 10. Saliva). This album listens like milk and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, in other words emm, emm good. Check out sound-ink.com to help Vik get home.
Ubiquity Records has most definitely become my favorite label, always bringing releases that are classics from Hiphop, Jazz, Soul, Latin, Dance and Fusion, basically the finest eclectic music on this side of the equator. January brings 2 to special albums. First we have “REWIND!3” (Original classics, reworked, remixed, re-edited and rewound), this compilation has 15 artist doing their favorite old classics and some favorite underground cult favorites (Oh take me back). My all time favorite was DAMON AARON’s take on Gil Scott-Heron’s “Willing”, it sounded powerful and innovated as it did over 2 decades ago. L.A.’s own DJ NOBODY held his own with The Monkees beautiful “Porpoise Song” taking me on a magical journey. LOUIE VEGA’S take on Chakachas “Jungle Fever” made me want to hit the dance floor (Or the bedroom it’s such a sexy song).
2nd we have a very extraordinary album from the legendary Cuban percussionist FRANCISCO AGUABELLA. Those of you who love Latin jazz and Afro Cuban music this is a must to add to your collection just for Francisco’s name alone (he has influenced Latin drummers and percussionist way over the last quarter of century [late 50’s]). His latest album expresses one thing passion, passion for a music and style that will never die. This album mixes old school rumba with modern Latin jazz. Astounding beats that’ll move the mind, body and soul. Thank you Ubiquity for bringing us quality music. Both albums hit stores Jan. 20th.
As of last month Guerilla*Union is bringing Hiphop heads the most important Friday night spot called ROCK THE BELLS (at Club Q-Topia 6021 Hollywood Blvd 9pm-2am/ $20). The first had headliners GZA/GENIUS (WU-TANG), SOUL ASSASSSINS, THE STRONG ARM STEADY CREW (XZIBIT+PHIL THA AGONY+KRONDON+MITCHY SLICK) and MC SUPER NATURAL W/SKRATCH (THE ROOTS). A nice way to start things off, but January gets better, check out these dates. Jan. 2nd DEAD PREZ, VISIONARIES and PIGEON JOHN, Jan 9th RAEKWON, ACEYALONE and PLANET ASIA, Jan 16 the entire LIVING LEGENDS crew and Jan. 23 bring you the entire HIEROGLYPHICS crew. Resident DJs are MARK LUV (UNIVERSAL ZULU NATION), ICY ICE (WORLD FAMOUS BEAT JUNKIES) and DJ ROCKY ROCK (DMC CHAMPION). Don’t miss out, I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on.
Cynthia Hassey, DJ Brooklyn and I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year.
You can reach me devunhunter@netzero.com

posted in giant robot - 0 replies

hmmm, shopping expedition?

Steph — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 07:35:21 GMT

if we had enough members, we could get permission slips, a short bus, and do a GR store field trip. but few of you are local, huh? so what's the deal, guys? how'd you first hear of giant robot?

my ex-manager, a sea-faring, international computing geek (one of the funniest guys i've ever met), brought out an issue with maggie cheung stories in it and got me hooked.

posted in giant robot - 3 replies

damn this weather

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:29:03 GMT

do I brave the rain to check out the new GR-SF store? It's all nasty looking, and I know the upper haight will be jammed today with people being stupid. yet, I am compelled.

what would brian boitano do?

posted in giant robot - 0 replies

one more...

Steph — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 07:31:56 GMT

one more and we hit twenty members.

make martin proud, guys. find another giant robot fan, twist their arm, make him/her join.

posted in giant robot - 0 replies