FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Book signing at GR2

Tim Hensley

Sunday, May 30, 2010, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276

Giant Robot is proud to host a reception and book signing with Tim Hensley to celebrate the release of his new graphic novel, Wally Gropius.

Superficially resembling 1960s teenage humor comics, Wally Gropius is actually an acute satire of power, celebrityhood, and modern culture that tells the story of the titular character, who bears a closer resemblance to a teenaged Richie Rich or a classmate of Archie Andrews at Riverdale High than he does the famous Bauhaus architect whose name he shares.

Wally is the human Dow Jones, the heir to a vast petrochemical conglomerate. When the elder Thaddeus Gropius confronts Wally with the boilerplate plot ultimatum that he must marry “the saddest girl in the world” or be disinherited, a yarn unravels that is part screwball comedy and part unhinged parable on the lucrativeness of changing your identity.

"One of my favorite 'graphic novels’' of all time. Hilarious and utterly unique, Wally Gropius is a work of unassuming genius that rewards on ever-deepening levels with each rereading." - Daniel Clowes

Originally serialized in Fantagraphics' house anthology Mome, the story is presented here in a larger format with additional, previously unseen material.

Tim Hensley was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1966. He has published comics sporadically over the past decade and Wally Gropius is his magnum opus. The 2009 Ignatz Award nominee for Outstanding Artist lives in Los Angeles.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

The reading and signing will take place on May 30 from 3:00 - 5:00. For more information about the event, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura

Giant Robot Owner/Publisher

eric@giantrobot.com

(310) 479-7311

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Book signing at GR2

Mark Meadows

Saturday, May 29, 2010, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

GR2

2062 Sawtelle Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90025

gr2.net

(310) 445-9276

Giant Robot is proud to host a presentation and book signing with Mark Meadows to celebrate the release of his new publication, Tea Time with Terrorists.

Tea Time with Terrorists details Meadows' motorcycle journey into Sri Lanka’s civil war, and interviews with terrorists there. Armed with a map, a motorcycle, an infectious sense of humor, and a dim understanding of Sri Lanka’s war, he arrives in the country intending to have, as it were, afternoon tea with terrorists. Figuring that the first step to solving a problem is understanding it, he journeys north into the war zone, interviewing terrorists, generals, and heroin dealers along the way.

Meadows is an author, artist, engineer, and inventor who lectures internationally on his work. He has written several books on culture, technology, terrorists, and robots, and designed digital humans, built virtual worlds, and engineered emotional interfaces. He and his wife live on their sailboat, The Blue Goose.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

The talk, video presentation, and signing will take place on May 29 8 from 6:00 - 8:00. For more information about the event, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura

Giant Robot Owner/Publisher

Eric@giantrobot.com

(310) 479-7311

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Giant Robot at the LA Times Festival of Books. Steven Weissman, James Jean, David Horvath, Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson, John Pham, Susie Gharemani signings. Photos in transmissions.

Ed Lin at GR2. More photos in transmissions.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Art show opening

Marc Johns and Steven Weissman at GR2

May 8 - June 2, 2010
Reception: Saturday, May 8, 6:30 -10:00

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

Giant Robot is proud to host Butter and Blood, an art show featuring new work by Marc Johns and Steven Weissman.

Marc Johns draws almost daily, and has been for as long as he can remember.
Once posted online, his humorous, witty, and thought-provoking drawings were quickly embraced, and earned him a fast-growing community of fans around the world as well as published works in Wired and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Whether it's a man with branches growing out of his head that need pruning, or a pipe that's trying to quit smoking, his characters are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes. For the show, the Victoria, Canada-based is preparing 30 ink-and-watercolor pieces that examine the public's conspicuous consumption of trend items and branded goods, and how we blindly participate in what is a bit of a charade.

Steven Weissman has written and drawn comics for Fantagraphics Books, Nickelodeon Magazine, Last Gasp, Marvel Entertainment (for whom he created the "Mini-Marvels" series), and numerous other publishers/publications. He won the Harvey Kurtzman Award for "Best New Talent" in 1998 with his acclaimed, ongoing indie-comic series, Yikes, which channels nonironic darkness of Chas Addams with the raw, youthful honesty of Charles Schulz and has been collected into several volumes. For the show, the Los Angeles artist is preparing a series of medium-sized pen, ink, and screen-tone pieces with themes such as baseball, proverbs, ghosts, and Barack Obama.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

An opening reception attended by Weissman will take place from 6:30 - 10:00 on Saturday, May 8. For more information about the artists, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

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For his first solo show at GR2, John Pham has broken the rectangular walls of indie comic panels to create new work infused with patel brightness, unrestrained geometry, and hopeful futurism. Check it the pieces here.

Matthew Specktor Richard Rushfield reading photos here!

On April 8 at 6:00 p.m., GR2 is proud to host a reception and book signing with comic book artist Jason Shiga in celebration of his newest publication, Meanwhile. In the pick-a-path graphic novel, it’s up to readers to decide the fate of the protagonist, Jimmy, when he finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab and is given the choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, time travel machine, or a Killitron 3000.

Shiga is known for his deceptively-raw-looking-but-ingenious comic strips, many of which utilize a choose-your-own-adventure style of storytelling involving tabs and courses of action. Among other accolades, the Bay Area illustrator's innovative and often interactive work has earned an Eisner Award, Ignatz Award, and Xeric Grant.

In anticipation of the event, we'd like to share an excerpt of Eric's interview with the Bay Area artist that ran in our November-December 2007 issue.

GR: Why did you start drawing comics?
JS: I first started drawing comics in college. I was taking a class at Cal called Comics as Literature. Adrian Tomine was in that class and I remember thinking, “If this nerd can do it, why not me?â€� For the class final, I made my first comic book. It was actually an anthology I made with two other friends. I distinctly remember thinking that if we combined all of our comics into one book, we’d sell three times as many copies. But I guess we miscalculated, because we only sold one copy of our superhero/humor/porn anthology.

GR: Your comics seem to involve more than merely telling a story. They go one step further and get the reader involved.
JS: I always enjoyed Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a child. Actually, I have a theory: As a kid, you don’t really get to make a whole lot of decisions about your life. So the genre is appealing for obvious reasons. But as an adult, you have to make too many decisions. So when you consume media, you want to just lean back and let someone shovel food into your mouth. That’s boring! How can anybody look at a Choose Your Own Adventure book and not realize that it is the future of literature?

GR: Do indie comic guys have any luck finding girlfriends or mates these days? It used to be a badge of doom.
JS: I suspect that was just a combination of the industry being male dominated and comic guys being shy. I mean, if they weren’t shy they’d probably express themselves through dance, singing, or crap like that. Yeah, the comics scene used to be like some horrible Smurf Village where every dude was Bashful. Nowadays, there seems to be a healthier balance of men and women.

GR: And what about your rap music?
JS: Not many people know this, but I had a brief secret life as a hardcore gangsta rapper. When I began, my goal was to play the Stork Club in Oakland. And it almost never happened! My rap persona was so hardcore that my friends were begging me not to perform, fearing that I would be shot or killed by rival rappers. But now that I have achieved my goal, I have retired from the business.

GR: Why gangsta rap instead of something closer to your math or comics persona? Also, your “Shigacornâ€� song didn’t seem so gangsta. It was more like stroking your own member!
JS: Maybe gangsta rap isn’t the best description, but whatever! They say, “Write what you know.â€� And if you grow up with the gangsta lifestyle like me, then what else are you gonna rap about?

Read the complete interview in GR50.

Meet Kate Anderson (D) Running for Assembly at GR2. Wednesday April 21, 7pm. Press Release coming soon.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - China Invasion Tour In-Store

Tuesday, April 6, 2010
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

In conjunction with the Beijing-based Maybe Mars record label, Giant Robot is pleased to host the first West Coast in-store appearances by three top-shelf punk bands from China, who happen to have a night off between their long-awaited Los Angeles debut at The Echo and a follow-up gig at the Viper Room.

P.K 14 - Ask any of the younger bands about their influences and it is pretty obvious that P.K.14 has had the biggest impact of any local band on the growing Beijing scene. However, their artistic intensity and the care with which they write their songs do not keep them from completely rocking out, and their shows in China and abroad regularly receive critical acclaim. Often referred to as China's best underground band, P.K.14, more than any other band, set the stage for the Beijing musical explosion.

Carsick Cars - One of the most widely admired bands in Beijing's underground, Carsick Cars have played major festivals and concerts in China and abroad with the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Ex Models and These Are Powers. Employing the ferocious aural attack of one of China's most brilliant guitarists and composers, Shouwang, they tear through their beautifully crafted songs in a thrilling but almost religious orgy of violence. Carsick Cars, whose "Zhong nan hai" is considered the anthem of Chinese countercultural youth, just released their second CD last summer, which was produced by Wharton Tiers, who also produced CDs for Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, and Dinosaur Jr. (The band is also the subject of a four-page article in the current issue of Giant Robot.)

AV Okubo - Formed in 2006 in the dirty industrial megalopolis of Wuhan, AV Okubo has captured the eyes and ears of China. Hong Kong experimental cinema, 80's Kungfu movies, triad gangsters, Chinese and Japanese cartoons, Qian Xuesen and China's early space program all collide together in AV Okubo's sound to create a weird kaleidoscope of modern Chinese sensibilities. The combination of retro-amusements combined with deeper social critique, along with their ferocious dance rhythms, has quickly brought this young band to the attention of fellow musicians and audiences across China. Now armed with their heralded debut album recorded by acclaimed producer Martin Atkins the band is out to conquer the world.

This will be a great, rare chance for fans as well as the curious to meet members of three world-class bands in a casual environment, as well as a way to purchase excellent CDs (trust us) and cool T-shirts that are hard to find in the U.S. The event is all-ages and free to attend.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

For more information about the event, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

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