2003年03月13日 木曜日
Giant Robot
by Justin Hall
Biculturalism
Giant Robot magazine has been dispensing hip Asian culture to American audiences since 1994, considering Japan as part of the Asian-American urban culture mix. Kevin Kelly was recently turned on to GR by William Gibson, and he responds with this brief review:
This festive, juvenile, over-the-top magazine is your one-stop shop for Asia Pop Culture. Asia as in India, China and California -- you know, the future. Pop culture as in Filipino urban superstitions, Japanese vending machine food, Chinese tattoos, Korean dating booths, Thai Scrabble champions, thumb tribes, Viet rock and roll, and all things anime. It's so fast-forward that it is outrunning Wired by a decade.Giant Robot was bred and spread in Los Angeles, they have a store there on Sawtelle. GR has a web site, which sells back-issues of the magazine as well as Asia-related goodies including t-shirts, media and snacks.
Posted by Justin Hall at 2003年03月13日 05:28
Comments
If you're into GR, but also electronics, you may like my friend Alan's site (http://tabiwallah.com), particularly http://tabiwallah.com/radiowallah/ which all about the first Sony transister radios. Alan's got one of the world's best collections. I saw them stacked up when I visted him in Tokyo last month.
Cool post! When I was living and working in LA, I visited Eric (one of the founders and editors of GR) at their offices to share with them some photos I took of an outdoor concert they were promoting that included "Money Mark" Nishida. They were just scraping by then (1998?) and I wished them the best. Out of all the magazines that cover Asian-American culture, they really do get it in a way that "A" never did. Is "Yolk" still around? That one was mildly interesting. These Asian-American culture magazines seemed much more relevant in CA than here in NYC.
I remember a few years ago when I first happed upon GR. I opened it up and immediately felt pegged-- like, somehow a magazine had found my number, found my style. Every page had something that I felt akin to...especially their canned coffee ratings. But after a while I stopped reading it. I guess it just lost any buzz to me?--like I just outgrew the refreshingness of it for anything heavier and more serious. But as it was, I remember eagerly awaiting the issues and loitering about to read them for free.
Fantastic Site! I love the background stars!