Everything I Could Assemble on North Korea in Such Short Notice

June 12th, 2009Blog0 comments

So all the recent news on North Korea got me on a tear for NK information. Here’s all the great stuff I’ve dug up so far — all awesome, well-worth-your-time reading and viewing:

- The Axis of Evil Tour: North Korea is a highly informative journey into modern North Korea. Includes a yelling match. Start here for background information.

- Escapee gives glimpse of North prison camps — this guy was born in an NK prison camp. “Due diligence” requires that a political prisoner’s entire family is imprisoned alongside them, including their children for the next three generations. Thus, some people are born prisoners. Insane.

- Speaking of life in a North Korean prison, Aquariums of Pyongyang is an autobiography about a man who spent ten years in an NK prison and managed to escape. I’m picking this up today, and I know it will depress the hell out of me. But I can always play Fallout 3 to cheer myself up. People in North Korean prisons can’t.

- BRASS BALLS: Hipsters from Vice Magazine managed to hide cameras in their beards and sneak them into North Korea. The amazing documentary footage is a must-see. Includes a tour of the U.S.S. Pueblo (captured by North Korea in 1968), empty roads, villages w/o electricity, as well as the interior of a N. Korean hotel room — which looks very much like the “hotel” room in Old Boy. Coincidence???

That’s it folks. Eat a hamburger and be glad to be a citizen of the outside world.

A Proverbial Bag of Hamburgers

June 12th, 2009Blog1 comment

NEW IPHONE: It’s that time of the year again. I was one of the original suckers that ponied up for the 1st gen iPhone. Now that my little friend’s battery is getting weak and its reception is getting crotchety, it’s time for a replacement.

The iPhone 3GS now features a video camera, paving the way for the first shot-on-iPhone-only iPorn. What enterprising soul will take on this task? If no one bites, I may have to step up to the plate.

Best new feature? Compass. This will end my habit of coming out of a subway station and heading east when I think I’m going west. NO MORE!

ASIAN POSES: A good friend of ours sent me an email saying, “Here it is: Your new favorite website — asianposes.com.”

Little did she know that this has already been my new favorite website for the last two weeks.

She’s getting married soon and had asked me to say a few things to the crowd at the reception. She should know that instead of doing this, I will be doing Asian Poses for five solid minutes. No one can stop me.

DEATH METAL PARROT: My new favorite animal.

Check the rockin’ loading picture. He knows what he likes.

Things You Should Watch Right Now

June 2nd, 2009Blog0 comments

Yo, I highly recommend two items for your entertainment perusal. They are THE FOOD on Channel 101, and American Hwangap, now playing in NYC.

THE FOOD is the latest entry from our friend and master comedian Randall Park. It involves two of my favorite things: Food and cocaine. It’s kicking ass all over Channel 101 and is the funniest short film I’ve seen on the Internet in a long time. These guys got the touch!

Lloyd Suh’s American Hwangap is running for one more week in New York City. I saw this in San Francisco and then saw this New York production a couple of weeks ago, and I highly recommend this fun and funny story about reunification.

That is all. Golamco OUT.

More UP Stuff

June 1st, 2009Blog0 comments

Via one of my favorite sites, Daring Fireball, here are some great links to articles about the design work that went into UP:

LOU ROMANO: The Art of UP contains lots of awesome design studies that eventually made it into the movie. Color, form, shape, layout, placement, negative space — plenty of great stuff to see here. Especially note the color scripts that show how color is used sequentially and emotionally as we move forward through the story.

An article in the New York Times, Up, Inside and Out, goes into detail on the design of each of the characters — movement, color, form.

Both are highly recommended reading/listening.