If you read Giant Robot, you're familiar with the photography of my friend Ben Clark. Besides contributing to GR, he's shot a lot of pics for various skate, clothing, and record companies, and also works on the set of Yo Gabba Gabba. (That's him with his wife Kim and their daughter Bella, above, with DJ Lance and friends.) Check out this video Ben shot behind the scenes of the upcoming season on his Canon G10...



Also look for him in NYC next weekend, when he accompanies the crew to shoot the live show. Buy him a coffee drink because he works hard!

This morning the Silver Lake Library opened on time and under budget, and there were speeches, balloons, news reporters, and a mob of local readers in attendance for the occasion. Apparently, a camera leash, too.


In addition to being a much-needed and much-appreciated resource for the community, the building is also a gold-standard green with energy cells, bamboo flooring, and a lot of recycled materials (45 percent, I think) going into it.


After the ribbon cutting, everyone was allowed in. Behind Wendy and Eloise are my friends Grace (Asian hot sauce taster from GR12), GR helper from the past Daniel (Robot Power, anyone?), and Christian (future proofreader).


The stairs. During the speeches, my Councilmember Eric Garcetti referenced the building's proximity to key Neutra houses and other architectural landmarks. The design is gorgeous and comfortable, and looks nice nearby our remodeled house.


Here's my family with our Councilmember. We told Garcetti--who actually attended a few neighborhood meetings on our street years ago and reads Giant Robot--that we love what's been happening with our neighborhood, from the walking path to the library.


The mayor does his thing. Somewhere in the crowd is Tom LaBonge, who is the Councilmember for the district across the street. If you ever hear him speak, he's like the Tommy Lasorda of local politics.


One window in the children's section actually faces our house, and you can see our highest windows framed by the clean white metal siding. Too bad we can't drop off Eloise and watch her from there.


We're returning to the library soon to get Eloise her own card and some new reading material. She can't wait to hang out there...

Friends came over to clean up articles for the next GR this afternoon. Left to right: Chocolate Cake, Janet (not to be confused with ja.net), and fmstlr. Two are GR Loungers and one is a returning intern. Guess which are which? Knowing my predisposition to cookies, CC brought the pig-shaped puerquitos from a panaderia near her house.


Afterward, Eloise took a stab at the pages. This is real, not posed. Can't comment on the quality of her edits, though.


Lefty?

It's deadline time but Wendy's all caught up with articles, so she was able to go up to Big Bear with a bunch of gal pals. So I've been balancing Eloise time with the mag these last two days--kind of like always. My mom and dad took her and her cousin to the zoo in the afternoon, so I worked until having dinner with them. Then I took Eloise to the Deth P. Sun opening at GR2. Deth is on the left.


I think she dug the art. She liked his depictions of cats, moons, owls, and ocean... She liked the strawberries on the snack table, and we had ice cream at gr/eats before heading back to the car.


Who knows if Eloise will be into things like indie art openings or rock shows later on? Gotta take her to as many of them as I can now and hope that I cultivate her tastes to jibe with mine--and not turn her against them!

If you're not at the Deth P. Sun show at GR2 or watching the Pacman/Cotto fight with friends, head over to Proper and say hi to Ray!