If you haven’t tried the latest craze, Kogi BBQ, then you are definitely missing out. Kogi BBQ is a Korean BBQ Taco Truck at your service. Why didn’t anyone think of this before!? They first did trial runs at UCLA on corner of Ophir and Landfair. Within a couple days, they were a HIT. Famous people like John Cho from Harold and Kumar and Elijah Woods from Lords of the Rings have also come out to the UCLA location to try Kogi BBQ.

It was after another crazy fun night at Cabana that we wanted to go eat at Hodori on Vermont and Olympic. A man on the sidewalk kept luring us to try out free Korean bbq tacos from their taco truck. I tried the Korean Short Rib Taco. MY GOD, they were sensational. The man who lured us turned out to be Mark, the co-founder of Kogi, and the hands that made the Korean Tacos belonged to Chef Roy (who worked with Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba and also cooked for then Senator Barack Obama!). I fell in love with Kogi BBQ instantly and I told Mark, “Hey, Mark, Bring the truck to UCLA. I’ll help you, seriously. You guys are going to be a hit.” So, I became the unofficial promoter for Kogi BBQ at UCLA. It became so popular that they got another truck, and even opened a bar/restaurant at the Alibi Room on Washington Blvd.

The food critics are raving about it. They were featured in the LA times, Korea Times, NY Times, and more. You’ve got to try it. People have made songs about it on Myspace music and designing shirts for Kogi. By the way Kogi has a contract with Sony to be their lunch caterers!

I’ve become good friends with the original Kogi staff and am still helping them out. Come check out the Alibi Room and/or try some these tasty snacks at locations listed on their website. The names for the two trucks are: Roja and Verde.  Check out Kogi BBQ online

From left to right: Tina, Allen, me, Mark, and Steve

Have you tried Kogi? Are you a fan? Have yet to try it? Let me know what you think (and I’ll personally relay the message to Mark and Roy). Until next thursday, this is Angela GoPro signing off.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Angela-GoPro/614665913

As you all may know from recent posts, Boa will be hosting a special listening party at Ritual Nightclub this Saturday, February 28th. I had no clue who Boa was until this past week. I had always heard about Boa through friends in the past but never really got into her music or who she was. When it comes down to Asian music I’m more into Chinese and boy singers such as Jay Chou, Wang Leehom and Wilber Pan.  I looked up Boa’s music videos to see what the hype was about. The first video that popped up was this one:

When I watched this video, I was impressed not only can Boa sing but she can dance! The choreography in this video was amazing and the song itself was pretty catchy. Even though she is a Korean Singer, the song was in English and she barely had an accent. I think she is really talented and I am definitely going to get her album when it comes out.

Here is an older song by Boa that I thought was good even though it was in Japanese and couldn’t understand it. I like slow songs and she has a really nice voice:

So get on the guestlist for Boa’s listening party at Ritual this Saturday!
my email address: Sandra@goproductionsla.com

I’ve had my fair share of dating Korean women. I see a “persistent attitude” being a common thread amongst their traits. For the most part is a good thing. After seeing this clip, it only further re-enforced the stereotype of Asians having the entrepreneurial spirit and Asian women being bad drivers. =) Also, note the nice fur coat she wears despite her humble abode.

There are many different reasons why boys and girls go to night clubs.  For guys in particular typically clubbing is a means to end, namely, to meet and hookup with hotties.  Of course there are other reasons, like going to get drunk, but normally that’s done to assist with the main objective just mentioned (to meet and hookup with hotties, I hope you are following carefully).  Outside of that objective I really don’t think there are ANY good reasons for guys to go clubbing (a few exceptions, you own, work, or promote for a club).  Most guys won’t admit this is why they go, but the guys who actually do score with the chicks have no shame in saying why they go (which is probably why they are successful).  It’s the less confident guys who come up with other reasons for going.  Some of these reason are lame, but others are much worse.  Without further ado, I present to you my Top 5 Bad Reasons for Guys to Go Clubbing:

5.  Clubbing to Enjoy the Music

If your only reason for going to a club is to enjoy the music then you have problems. Let’s face it, most clubs play the same Top 40’s music they play on the radio, though sometimes throwing in various remixes of these songs. How many more times do you need to listen to Britney Spears, Lady Ga Ga, Ne-Yo, Akon, etc…? The worst part is you are paying cover charge for this “honor.” If you really like this kind of music here’s a better alternative: next Friday night around 11PM, put some gel in your hair (spike it up nice and sexy), put on your best button down “clubbing” shirt, go out to your car, turn the car on (but leave it park), tune your radio to 102.7 KIIS FM, and then bump the tunes.

4.  Clubbing to Hook Up with the HOT Bartender

So T-Pain sings about hooking up with the hot bartender, but unless you are T-Pain, super good looking, or filthy rich, your chances of succeeding are very slim. Scoring with the hot bartender is like winning the lottery–everyone wants to win, but very few do. Think about it this way at most clubs there are more guys than girls. Most guys will buy a drink from the hot bartender. Therefore just by virtue of being the bartender she’ll be talking to practically every guy in the club. Those odds aren’t good my friend. There’s nothing wrong with going to a club to hit on the bartender, but you better be hitting on every other girl as well. It’s a numbers game.

3.  Clubbing as a First Date Activity

Taking a girl on a first date to a club is a bad idea on so many levels. Now I’m talking about if a guy has dinner with his date and then heads to a club. I’m talking about a guy who calls up a girl he just met and says “Hey Jennifer, this is Rick, I wanted to see if this Friday you wanted to be my date to Club Ritual. Ok? Great, pick you up at 11.” As a first date you should maybe try to get to know the girl like by talking to her (especially if you want to get in her pants…but that’s a topic for another time) and unfortunately at a club it is way too loud and a bunch of guys will be hitting on your girl. Unless you don’t like a girl and you want her to leave you alone would I recommend taking a girl to a club.

2.  Clubbing to Hang Out with the Guys

On the surface this doesn’t sound too bad, but you shouldn’t go clubbing to catch up with your guy friends. There’s nothing wrong with going to a club to see an old friend you haven’t seen a while if that’s the only place your friend hangs out at. However, just like going to a club to enjoy the music is a bad idea there are better places to get drunk and catch up with your guy friends (poker night, at a bar, etc…). In addition if your guy friends are single, most likely they’ll be there to meet girls so most likely you’d just be getting in their way anyway. Do them a favor and stay at home and watch Grey’s Anatomy.

1.  Clubbing to Dance

This is by far the worst reason to go clubbing. Just to clarify, this does not mean going to a club to dance with girls, this means going to a club just so you can get your groove on by yourself or your guy friends. Picture this scene, I’m sitting at home on a Saturday night and my friend Ed calls me up. Ed: Yo Ben, what you doing? Me: Nothing, just pumping some iron. Ed: Hey, I heard Go Productions is throwing a party at Ritual tonight. I’ve had a stressful week and I really need to unwind. I just need to dance! Me: Sweet! I wouldn’t mind finding some hotties to get my groove on with… Ed: No no no dude…no girls tonight, I JUST WANT TO DANCE! Me: Uh….. So fans of Dane Cook will know that I ripped this dancing bit off him, but he was so on the money. Don’t go to a club just to dance. Girls do that…not guys. That is of course if you are going as part of a hip hop crew to go “serve” some disprespecting punks who called you out. Otherwise, just go, but don’t tell anyone you are there really to dance.

About the author: Ben used to go out clubbing, but has since retired. He authors a blog with a bunch of random thoughts at benjitao.com.

If you haven’t heard already, we’re teaming up with Visionshock and Friction Entertainment to bring you the newest and hottest weekly Thursday venue in Hollywood, KRESS Thursdays!

We totally blew this spot up on MLK Weekend and there’s no doubt we’ll keep the momentum going for this Thursday for grand opening night.

Be sure to RESERVE your VIP tables or SUBMIT full names for the guestlist to:

Q@GoProductionsLA.com

Dance! Dance! If you haven’t noticed by now there is a revitalization of the LA social scene with the emergence of the LA LIVE in the heart of downtown LA.  With this re-birth comes THE CONGA ROOM. CONGA ROOM 2.0 version much different than its predecessor which was located in the Mid-Wilshire and Miracle Mile district. Think of it as a reinterpretation of venue only with a much sexier night club feel and in the heart of the aspiring Time Square of the West Coast. This venue strives to make a high-profile name for itself. The venue is located directly across from the Staples Center and neighboring the Nokia Theatre.

“My kids are growing up. I just turned 47. So if not now, when?” said club founder and principal owner Brad Gluckstein, explaining what inspired him and a co-owners group that includes a star-studded cast of Jimmy Smits, Jennifer Lopez and Clippers guard Baron Davis.

“This is a legacy project, not just for my family but for the city,” said Gluckstein, a native Angeleno, real-estate developer and self-described “inherently Jewish” guy “with a corazón Latino” (Latino heart). With this passion and goal in mind, it is evident no expenses were spared in resurrecting the old Conga Room concept.

The new club, with 15,000 square feet and a capacity of about 1,000, is nearly three times the size of the funky, elbow-bumping old club. Gluckstein said the concept for the Conga Room “outgrew” its old location, which was hampered by poor freeway access and the neighboring residential area. The new location is a destination spot for not only fellow local Angelenos but also tourist who would like to experience the culture and influence of the Latin community in Los Angeles.

The inspiration of the design of the space were derived from Latin American design motifs from various parts of Caribbean to Buenos Aires. Architect Hagy Belzberg said that the acoustically engineered ceiling, made up of two-paneled sections that resemble white footprints, is an abstraction of a triangular salsa dance-step diagram. The floral-looking wall pattern behind the club’s main bar is a stylized butterfly, repeated like a musical refrain. Once an individual steps into the space, one is immediately gravitates towards the main floor; if you’re a dancer you know exactly what the architect had in mind – no frills Latin Salsa dancing.  A combination of symmetrical lines meshed with the fluidity of the chandlier lights translates the concept of dancing Salsa…orderly dance steps but done flawlessly one would not even recognize there are calculated steps. 

However, even this venue is going the Hollywood route by trying to work with various promoters.  This is never a good sign especially for a new venue.  The question is: can this venue dance its way out of a recession or will the party be ending sooner than it would like?

The Conga Room; 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015

I usually don’t watch Taiwanese dramas, but since my good friend Denny Huang is in it, and also Michelle Chen, I had to check it out.

My girlfriend stayed over one night after a long night of drinking and partying at Cabana on a Friday. We were too lazy to get up and do anything so I just connected my laptop to my big screen TV and watched dramas. We couldn’t stop laughing at how goofy everyone is in this drama was. My friend, Denny, plays an assistant and there a scene where he punches a fat lady. Oh man that moment was golden! We had to rewind and repeat and look at the expression on his face. I am still laughing just thinking about it.

THE SYNOPSIS:
Xiao Hua is a bubbly Taiwanese girl with a very unique style. Xiao Hua initially has no intentions of changing the way she looks and dresses, but this changes after she meets her elementary school classmate, Jia Si Le, who has comes back from Japan. Jia Si Le has been deeply in love with Xiao Hua. His mom however has arranged him to marry Jiang Mi. Jia Si Le does whatever he can to get Xiao Hua to be his girlfriend.

One day, Xiao Hua meets Tang Men, the famous, harsh-tongued stylist when her motorcycle breaks down. The two share a taxi, only to argue over each other’s sense of style, and Tang Men angrily storms out of the taxi, accidentally leaving an expensive pair of scissors behind. Later, Jia Si Le holds an elementary school reunion party and invites both Tang Men and Xiao Hua. In a twisted fate, Tang Men is Jia Si Le’s best friend, but Xiao Hua doesn’t know this at first. Tang Men meets Jiang Mi, who tells him that she and Si Le gave each other one year to find their true loves before submitting to his parents’ will for them to be married. Also, after being pushed into a swimming pool and being told by her former classmates that she has no sense of style, Xiao Hua decides she will change her image so as not to embarass Si Le.

The next day, when Tang Men’s assistant (my friend Denny) comes to Xiao Hua’s shop to look for the lost pair of scissors, Xiao Hua decides to use them to blackmail Tang Men and get him to teach her how to be an upper-class woman. As Tang Men and Xiao Hua spend more time together, they slowly begin to realize their feelings for one another, though they initially deny them. Meanwhile, Jiang Mi, who is currently dating Tang Men, asks him to get close to Xiao Hua so that she can get Si Le back. Tang Men, who finds Xiao Hua annoying and loud, suddenly sees Xiao Hua’s inner beauty and falls in love with Xiao Hua without even realizing it.

Here is the 1st of 14 episodes:

I HIGH RECOMMEND this drama if you like slapstick/hilarious stuff. The story may be very predictable but the comedy scene are not. Tell me what you think once you have watched a few episodes.

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My visit to see them in Taiwan – Summer 2007. How I miss Taiwan…. and if you haven’t guessed what nationality I am yet, I am not Taiwanese…. ^_^

Michelle Chen, Godfrey Gao (not in this drama), Me, and Denny Huang

Isn’t my friend a hottie? Make sure to watch his other dramas. I will be posting a review of his other dramas in the future.

Share with me your opinions on here or be more interactive with me on my FB page (link below).

Hi All,

I thought it would be great to display some of BoA’s video, just in case you aren’t familiar with the Queen of POP or you simply need a refresher course, who will be hosting a very special listening party @ Ritual Supperclub in Hollywood this coming Saturday 28th.  It’s not often us Asian transplant get to see our own version of Britney Spears here in the states.  So take advantage of this opportunity.  Each day leading to the event we will countdown by showing some of her famous video clips.

Again, if you want to attend this event make sure you email me your name for the guest list to Scott@GoproductionsLA.com ; Doors OPEN at 9:30 PM and guest list closes at 10:00 PM.  This is a 21 and over event.  Sorry kiddies!

Let me kick it off with her FIRST US SINGLE – “Eat You Up!” directed by Joseph Khan (he’s a heavy hitter directing various videos from N’SYNC to 50 CENT) – The girl’s got moves….so she’s definitely a possible triple threat! ENJOY! BTW, I like the half-heartedly hip-hop hug at the end of the video plus she’s so tiny but definitely a cutie….LOL!

FROM BoA OFFICIAL YOUTUBE SITE:

http://www.youtube.com/user/boamusicusa?blend=1

Here is the remix with FLO RIDA:

I’m sure most of you have seen this by now– the only thing I can say is WOW. This satirical cartoon ran in the New York Post this week showing two police officers – one of them shooting dead a chimpanzee and the other commenting: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

It references an incident in Connecticut where police were forced to shoot and kill a chimpanzee named Travis after it mauled a woman.  And who wrote the stimulus bill? OBAMA. This had to have been a marketing ploy by the NY Post to get more hits to their website.  I would expect this out of an Alabama newspaper or some other redneck state but NEW YORK?

Today the NY Post defended the comic, saying it was “a clear parody of a current news event” and accused some critics of exploiting the image for revenge against the publication. This is a WEAK excuse and heads should be rolling over there at the Post.  There is no excuse for this kind of blatant racism.  I admit that I am not the most PC person, however, the NY Post as a news publication has a responsibility to the public.  A responsibility to not publish thinly veiled racist content for everybody to see.  What kind of lessons are we teaching our kids when this sort of thing is accepted?

You might be thinking “he’s black so what? This doesn’t affect us.” It does affect you because the next thing you know you’re going to have stuff like this floating around:

This was circa 1942 in a newspaper. Not so funny anymore is it?  Chop Suey ain’t even a Japanese dish!  I know there is free speech in this country but that doesn’t mean we can’t protest something if we don’t like it. Keep your media outlets responsible, people!

Being in the club industry, I get a lot of DJ’s, artist representatives, managers and artists showcasing their latest singles or album releases to me. I know the song needs to be a club banger before it hits the airwaves, hence, why promoters and club DJs have to really push artists. I thought it would be cool to share with some of you songs that I think will gain some traction at the clubs. Hopefully, you can say I heard it first at Go Pro BLOG!

Warning: the lyrics are explicit, crude and NSFW. However, it’s definitely a GOOD LAUGH and you will be hearing it at a Go Pro party near you! Cabana Club Fridays and Saturday Ritual!

SLIM THUG – “I RUN”

Chris Rock Remixed By LMFAO – “Smack Her Wit a Dick”

“This Guy has the F*** HER in the Eye LOOK!”

Whatcha think?!