They will be Giants. So if you are not aware of them yet, you should be. And if you are aware of them, you very much might be on either sides of the extreme of loving or hating their magazine. If you're one of those who loves their magazine, you'll take pride in the fact that you knew them when they were still an old school zine of stapled black and white photocopies. If you're one of those who hate the magazine, most likely they became repulsive to you after the sex issue since that is the one that generated most of their detractors. However, they have too much talent for so-called mainstream America to ignore them for too long. So get ready, The Giant Robots Are Coming!

What I'm speaking of here is Erik Nakamura's and Martin Wong's magazine, Giant Robot. Possibly hidden underneath the reams of glossies on your newsstand is a well-graphically-designed, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners magazine about everything in Asian pop culture. And I mean everything.

And this is part of why they may anger you. They bring out the dirty laundry of dog- and pondaegi (silkworm chrysalides)- eating, porn-producing/watching, and Vietnamese streetside ear-cleaning of subsets of Asian/Asian-American culture, regardless of how tiny these subsets are. They talk about stuff you'd rather they didn't. But for every article on Suzi Suzuki you might hate, they'll also have an article on Margaret Cho or Chow Yun-Fat you might love. They bring in the good and the bad and show you that each topic is way more complicated than the either/or-ing presents.

Case in point, the kogal article (GR, #11). For those of you who aren't familiar, a kogal is a Japanese schoolgirl, but here the image does include non-schoolgirls (up to the age of around 20) who simply dress like Japanese schoolgirls (i.e., at it's most extreme, brown-highlighted hair, blue eye-shadow, skin fake-tanned through the application of lotion, mini-skirts often hiked up beyond mini, and socks that are glued to one's skin just below the knee to stay up while still fitting loosely). Similar to the icon of the Catholic schoolgirl in America (check out that one Aerosmith video), there is a Lolita image surrounding the kogal in Japan. Thus, the topic right off disturbs many people. This article by Sky Whitehead was honest in regards to the concerns about this subculture of Japanese society, specifically around the too-early-heightened sexuality for the younger kogals as well as the consume at all costs ethos that is a part of most world youth cultures. But along with this, placed in tiny fonts above and below each page of the article were a list of all the contradictions the kogals represent, such as "They are everything that's wrong with Japan. They are the only other thing (along with the 13-year-old boys with the butterfly shivs) that's right on with Japan." Or, "They are setting the cause of women in Japan back 50 years. They are so far beyond the old school '70's women's lib movement that they simply are women's liberation." Giant Robot knows this subculture of Japan is a mass of contradictions that concern us because at one point they head down a dangerous road yet they also challenge much of what Japanese society says a young girl should be. As much as they are exploited, there is a sense of agency amongst them that frightens Japan. Many of these kogals don't care what you and I, (and for that matter, the staff of Giant Robot), think about them.

And here's the other reason why Nakamura and Wong have angered so many: They don't care what you or I think. I had huge problems with the two articles written by a Korean-American about his experience in the Congo. It was full of the worst stereotypes of Africa, racism that wouldn't have been tolerated were it an African-American making similar comments about, say, Korea. The narrator had a righteous anger that immediately set you off. And Nakamura's and Wong's responses to the letters criticizing the articles made you even angrier because they just yelled back at people who wrote letters, telling people they had no sense of humor and needed to lighten up. This is why you might hate them.

But when they're good, man, they're very good. Their food articles are absolutely wonderful, from canned coffee drinks to Bo ba nai cha (that milky/crushed ice drink with the HUGE tapioca balls at the bottom). The staff at Giant Robot have interesting factoids and comments to make about the foods non-Asians see and wonder about in their local Chinatowns, Little Manilas, or K-Towns. The recent "Eat My Ramen" article (GR #17) has an awesome layout of more ramen brands than you realized existed. Each bag is accompanied by fat content, slogans Giant Robot made up, thoughts on the packaging, the audience intended, and culinary comments. The slogans the writing staff made up are very funny, slogans like "Eat pojang in your pjs", "For those with loose bowels, we salute you!", or "Not just for Asians anymore." There movie and music articles are top notch, letting you in on trends before they happen, educating you to little known facts like the first ska import to England from Jamaica was headed by a Chinese-Jamaican (Byron Lee and The Dragonaires). I was introduced to the Invisibl Scratch Picklz and The Mountain Brothers through this magazine. If the Asian actor/actress just broke into the US market, they were in this magazine 3 years ago. If you want to know about the hottest anime and video games, regardless of the content, they'll let you know whether it's great or it sucks, straight up, no chaser. They hold no punches.

And this format also works well for their articles on the Yellow Power movement. Their Yellow Power issue (GR, #10) was probably their best received overall, upsetting only The Man. This issue is an important primer to the activists and movements in United States history that The Man doesn't want us to know about, or else we'll be asking for yet another holiday. Some Asian-American studies classes have added this issue to their syllabi in hopes of leading students to eventually pick up more in-depth histories by Ronald Takaki or collections of oral histories by Elaine Kim.

My favorite articles don't tend to be written by Nakamura or Wong, but are written by Claudine Ko. She contributes about two articles an issue since her day job is writing articles for the ultra-hip, bring-me-more-orgasms Jane magazine. Her article on the high percentage of lactose intolerance amongst Asians was well done (GR, #17). The article she did on an elusive gay Asian Top in a series of pornos included interesting reflections on the portrayal of Asian/Asian-American men in the media (GR, #14). And her article on The Moonies was a particular pleasure to read due to her honesty with her prejudices towards them and her humility when she asked a question that was obviously condescending, acknowledging this in the article (GR, #13).

Ko's sense of self in her articles and the humility that goes along with it is what's too often missing from Nakamura and Wong's articles. They make fun of everyone but themselves. They are da bomb and we're not. Sure, they say this quite creatively and humorously, but this gets annoying sometimes.

So if Giant Robot isn't your cup of tea, there are other underground Asian-American zines to check out. I'm partial to Dan Wu's Oriental Whatever since I've been published in it, but I bought the zine well before that ever happened. Wu provides a nice forum for Hapa [those of mixed Asian ancestry] issues. If the testosterone rants of Giant Robot irritate you, check out Bamboo Girl. Sabrina Margarita Sandata comes at you with such passion that you're willing to start the revolution before it gets televised. Each issue follows the chosen theme (e.g., Mental Health in the Asian/Asian-American community and Immigration Rights) with pages of community resources for said topic.

Each of these magazines I've mentioned challenge what the so-called mainstream media tell us are important topics to discuss. They push the boundaries of what's acceptable in the media and they force us to rethink what's American. Eating Ramen noodles IS American. Like Giant Robot jokes, it's not just for Asians anymore. If you went to college in America, you ate ramen while waiting for that check in the mail from your parents. Twelve packs for a dollar! Who cares about the sodium content? You need grub. This part of Asian culture is now a full-fledged aspect of American culture, straight up, no hyphen.

I haven't mentioned A Magazine or Yolk here because they're too much like People/Time for me. Their articles tend to simply place Asian faces on standard media fare. Giant Robot [by the way, they just released a zine of overflow articles from issue #17 called Robot Power] and the other zines I've mentioned here definitely make their own stories. They know what's not getting told and they are telling it themselves. It is up to ourselves to decide whether or not we agree with their perspectives, but the debate has to be put out there first. Regardless of what you may think about Giant Robot's attitude, at least their pushing needed topics into the arena for debate.




Recommended: Yes