Today I stopped by the gallery to drop some things off and check out how it looks. The paintings are all hung handsomely. the above is a photo of the last few pages of the book.
Tomorrow's opening will start with a book signing from 7-8pm and then reception from 8-10pm. The show will run till July 9th.
They are even making little buttons with the skull from the books cover
Friday, June 10th, Lebasse Projects Chinatown in Los Angeles will hold an art show featuring the original work from my book Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups.
All pages of the book will be on display in their original form. There will also be a pre-release book signing, with preview copies of the new, soon to be released deluxe edition of the book. It's 32 pages, full color, printed on heavy art paper.
If you can't make it to the gallery, you can still get signed copies at my website. http://www.everybodydiesbook.com
This video shows some handsome Engrish i saw during my trip to Taiwan. I never noticed Engrish in Japan and Asia until I moved to the US, and went back home. I found a few funny things.
I also just uploaded this video with some footage of handsome temples in TAipei, and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
I also did a video a while ago about Engrish in Japan.
Book 2 of one of my favorite American comicss has come out this month. King of RPGS by Jason Thompson published by Del Rey books. Check out this review and preview.
It's a funny story about a role playing gamers in college.
Jason Thompson is a manga scholar and is the author of Manga the complete guide, so it makes sense that his handsome comic is very influenced by Japanese manga. It has the look and feel of a Japanese comic. Please take a look at the website http://www.kingofrpgs.com/
If you are in SEattle or San Francisco, you can meet the author at a book release party. See the Above link for more information.
My friend from YouTube, a Japanese woman living in Canada, made this video for her children. It's a touching and funny and very sweet video message to her kids about her Japanese identity and how they might not fully understand why she is different.
I don't have kids (except for RAideen and Great Mazinga) but I think I can understand how she feels.
My Book release and art gallery show in LA's Lebasse projects Chinatown I have been framing all of the original art and getting ready for the show.
I just got a shipment of 30 boxes of a fancy new four color press print of the book too. My first printing was a very limited run that was made digitally (There are still a few copies left if you'd like a 1st print). The new book is longer (32 pages), with a proper title page and some end pages, it is also much sturdier with very vibrant colors.
I found out today that "Mama J" from the very handsome website MOmtalkonline made a nice review and shout out to my book. Thanks Mama J. Momtallkonlin is a site of forums and posts about mom related topics. I am not a mom, but I am still able to look at the site.
I'm hoping to get some more reviews in blogs and papers and such to correspond with my June 10th release, so if you know anybody who might be interested please let me know :-) If you live in the California area, I hope to see you at the June 10th opening reception from 7-10pm (friday). I think we will also have a book signing on June 11th (7-10PM?) Http://www.everybodydiesbook.com
During my last trip to Taipei, Taiwan, I visited Fu Hang Dou Jiang, a famous spot for traditional Taiwanese breakfast foods like Shao ping (Sow Ping).
I first tried to go on a Sunday morning, but the line was so long that I got scared and ran away. I came back on a weekday and there was nobody waiting.
It's very fun to watch them put the little bread friends into the barrel oven and then pull them out with tongs and toss them into a pile. I'm pretty sure anything cooked in a barrel must be delicious like whiskey, cognac, wine and pulled porks.
Fu-Hang Dou Jiang Dian 阜杭豆漿 Near Shandao Temple MRT (Exit 5) Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec. 1, No. 108, 2F 台北市中正區忠孝東路一段108號2樓之28(華山市場二樓) (02) 2392-2175
I also had a super slime breakfast in Japan in this video. Natto(fermented soybean), shredded mountain potato (tororo), okra, raw egg, and tuna. If I could, I would have slime for breakfast every day.
My friend Hide is in the duo band called Layla Lane. The video above is of one of my favorite Layla Lane songs.
Hide is a Japanese guitarist and vocalist who came to America a few years ago to try to make a living as a musician.
Everybody told him that it was not possible, but a few years later his band signed with the major Japanese label Avex and his music is now in a Japanese Coca Cola commercial. His band has been playing in the US and Japan and has done many fundraisers for the tsunami like the one shown below where Takeo and I interview him.
Hide's goal is to inspire other Japanese youth to follow their dreams even if they might seem difficult to achieve. Hide is always setting goals. Sometimes he reaches them and sometimes he doesn't but he always keeps moving forward.
On his blog he recently told his readers that he wanted to go from 30,000 to 40,000 hits on the above music video by May 21st. If you like the song, I hope you will pass the video on and help Hide achieve his goal.
You can read the blog entry here (Japanese only) http://www.laylalanemusic.com/ja/news/246.html
Miss Hannah Minx from youtube and I visited the popular Daikokuya Ramen shop in Los Angeles. They do a tasty pork bone broth (tonkotsu) ramen. It's located on first street in little Tokyo.
I am a noodle lover and so is Miss Hannah Minx. You can also see us enjoy soba at Yabu.
This friday May 6th is the opening of my Phoenix art gallery show at Cade Gallery. You can see some of the paintings here.
I am also getting ready for my first Los Angeles solo art gallery show at Lebasse projects in Chinatown. It's the Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups book release and gallery show. It will have an opening reception the evening of Friday, June 10th and run for 3 or 4 weeks.
I have been framing all the paintings. Each one is about 15 x 19 inches. I will have every page of the book including a few of the alternative paintings that didn't make it.
I will also have a new printed version of the book on sale with 32 full color pages. There are still a few of the first printing left if you'd like to get one at http://www.everybodydiesbook.com
If you haven't seen the book, you can hear me read the first half of the book aloud in the video below.
Sometime in 1951, after a 6 day Snodgrass binge, Jacob the Muskrat wrote the poem he is best known for. The most famous passage is shown below
Muskrat Howl Part 1 by Jacob Muskrat
For Carl Muskrat
I saw the best muskrats of my generation destroyed by alligators, fleeing, hysterical, dragging their emaciated winter bodies through the Monte Negro wetlands at dawn, looking for an angry mix of reeds and grasses. Furry headed rodents, pining for the safe warmth of their ancestral lodges, in the celestial still of icy winter, who, shivering and bony sat on hindquarters nibbling on snodgrass in the alien calm of night, and climbed high atop snow whited hills sniffing frozen air and contemplating crickets, Who pushed teeth to twig and paw to mud and head to ground under quarter moon and saw the angelic form of the Great Muskrat dancing on the Earthen roofs from lodge to lodge by starlight, who pranced through Coyote Den and python nest wide eyed dreaming Siberia and Rodentine sonnets among the shadows of predator...
Polo and I visited Redondo Beach Pier just south of Los Angeles and played some neato vintage video games like Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Polo also shot some ghosts, but I kept trying to convince him that you can't shoot something that is dead.
After the games, we ate a few kinds of crab.
Nearby is also the tasty Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Bincho.
Here are some other videos with me and Polo for you to peruse.
Yes, Easter can be a difficult time for bunny rabbits, and it brings up all sorts of emotions. It is a time when rabbits come together with their extended families and nibble grasslets and flowers together in a banquet style.
But for rabbits with no family, Easter can be a time of great loneliness.
Jacob rabbit , pictured above in flowered grasslets, once had a family. A wife name Gerta and 7 dozen little rabbit pups.
Jacob first started chewing snodgrasses to relax after a hard day of parenting. At first it was just once in a while, then every week, and after a few months, Jacob couldn't go for an hour without a nibble at the snodgrass.
Soon Snodgrass was all he could think about. In the end, Jacob lost his wife, his puplets, and his burrow. Now, Jacob spends his first Easter at a halfway hole two miles south of his old burrow.
When you are having your supper tonight, please take a moment to think of Jacob and other rabbits like him.
For a story about a happier rabbit please watch these videos of Jacob the Happy rabbit. It's my first comic book (before http://www.everybodydiesbook.com) and I got help from James Jean, David Mack, and Paul Pope.
I found this demonic Nyaa Nyaa demon cat friend hiding in larger painting that I had done. I think I was just playing with some acrylic paints on a big piece of paper. Then I put the piece of paper in a large pile with other forgotten pieces of paper. I found him yesterday, and I noticed, hiding in that painting was this image of a Demonic Meow Meow Chan named にゃんにゃん魔王 (Nyan Nyan Maoo) .
Nyan Nyan Maoo is a felinic demon king and lives in the cavernous regions of Klithillip, which is a just outside of hell. Some people cal lit a suburb of hell, but don't let Nyan Nyan or any other residents of Klithillip hear you say that. They take great pride in their sector, and believe that they exist separately from Hell.
Nyan Nyan welcomes bad cats, rabbits, and small chicken friends from all over the 7 worlds, and 6 Congluplates (Including Penleponesia). If you qualify, you may be lucky enough to meet him someday.
One of my hobbies is going to the farmer's market and buying fruits, vegetables and other plant friends that I have never met before. A friendly Chinese man had this bunch of leaves for sale. I asked him what it was and he said it was called Me thi. I named this bunch of MEthi Jacob and I brought it home.
Online, I found out that Methi (also called Fenugreek) is popular in Indian food. I found a recipe for Methi Aloo ( a methi and potato curry) and so, I transformed a good portion of Jacob into this tasty curry.
I will be having a solo art show at Cade Gallery in Phoenix, AZ starting on May 6th (Friday). It will start with an opening reception on Friday May 6th from 7-10pm.
Today, the very nice men from the gallery came to Los Angeles to pick up my art work.
I made these two, very large size images of my robot friends Raidein and Great Mazinga. I'm not sure exactly how big these are, but their heads are about human head/Orangutan head sized sized.
Click here to see the work that will be in the show. http://cadegallery.com/
One week, all I could paint was blue mountains and suns, and skies, and prehistoric bird friends, or post-prehistoric metal bird friends.
These first tow are collages with mountains, sun, and Ptero-pal cut out and assembled with strips of sky.
These are all part of my 1.5 millions views of Mt. Fuji series. I have a lot more to do before I reach my target of 1.5 million views. ONce I finish, I will move on to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
