Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) recently decided to express her creativity through illustrated art. After taking a $40 online course for Illustrator, Keiko began putting together humorous drawings. She has now turned those drawings into a business - Mango Pop!

Keiko is creating a series of Mano Pop cards, crafted each with an inspiration from someone close to her. Each card celebrates an addiction too - from chocolate to napping!

You can check out some samples of Keiko’s work here, and it looks like they should soon be available for purchase. You can follow Keiko on Twitter here, where she’ll hopefully soon announce more details!

Last month I mentioned that Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) wrote a comic for an upcoming graphic novel anthology, Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. I have had a chance to interview Keiko about her story, Learn to Share, as well as interview the graphic artist, Ming Doyle, who helped bring her story to life.

Preview of Keiko Agena’s story, ‘Learn to Share’, with art by Ming Doyle

Learn to Share is just one of the comic book stories in the Secret Identities anthology, each story telling the tale of Asian American superheroes. Check out the SI site for more about the editors, artists and writers behind these great stories.

Keiko Agena was paired up with Ming Doyle for their story, ‘Learn to Share’. This was their first time working together, which Ming calls an “honor” and Keiko saying Ming was “amazing throughout this experience.”

GilmoreGirlsNews.com - How did you get involved with the ‘Secret Identities’ anthology?

Keiko Agena: I’m good friends with Parry Shen who is one of the editors of the book. He approached me a few months ago and asked me if I was interested in submitting anything.

GilmoreGirlsNews.com - What was your inspiration behind writing Learn to Share?

Keiko Agena: When I first heard about the project this image of a young girl isolated from the rest of the world came to mind. I was attracted to this sense of her lonliness and separation.

GilmoreGirlsNews.com - What is your story about?

Keiko Agena: Sera is a young Thai girl who, due to her traumatic childhood, loses her sight. She discovers she can momentarily regain her sense of sight by “stealing” someone else’s. In those moments she can see both from her point of view and theirs. She becomes aware of a young girl who has gone missing and uses this “power” to see through the eyes of everyone in the city to find the girl. By the end, she’s happy and can see, but only by permanently borrowing it from someone else… Read more

Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) is a part of the graphic novel anthology, ‘Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology‘.

‘Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology’, which is due out in April 2009, is a book that features 26 original stories centered around Asian American Superheroes. Jeff Yang, best-selling author, and comics creator Jerry Ma, along with Keith Chow and Parry Shen, teamed up to create this first-ever graphic novel collection of original stories told from the perspective of Asian Americans.

Keiko Agena is credited as contributing either story or art to the book. When I find out which, I’ll let you know!

‘Secret Identities’ Teaser Video

Images: PR Photos / Amazon.com

Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) and Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) have donated some personal mementos to a silent auction with proceeds to SupportStacie.net, a site set up for a woman battling cancer.

Lauren Graham Sweater from "Because I Said So" (as seen here) / Autographed ‘Gilmore Girls’ skateboard given to cast, signed by Keiko Agena

Lauren Graham donated an outfit (sweater, pants & shoes) she wore in Because I Said So and Keiko Agena parted with one of her few mementos from Gilmore Girls, a cast parting gift of a hand-painted Gilmore Girls skateboard. Keiko has autographed it for the auction.

The Silent Auction will take place on Friday, February 27th, beginning at 7:00pm, and will conclude on Saturday, February 28th at 8:00pm. All times are Central Standard. Please visit the FAQ for all the info about when and how to bid. Good luck!

They people behind the auction are also putting on a “Stars Hollow Meet & Greet” weekend for Gilmore Girls fans. You can check out info here.

Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) filmed the movie Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous (previously called Major Movie Star) in July of 2007, is now out on DVD!

The comedy, which stars Jessica Simpson in the title role of Megan Valentine, an actress who enlists in the Army when she’s down on her luck (someone steals all her money), was originally slated for a theatrical release. It was released to theaters outside the US (#1 in Russia), but went straight-to-DVD in North America on February 3rd.

Keiko Agena stars in the movie as Private Hailey (Lee) Hamamori, one of the girls who befriends Megan during training. There’s a cute scene of Keiko dancing with some of the other girls at about a minute into this preview (and keep watching for the Snickers scene!):

“Private Valentine” Photos

Read more

Hep Alien is the name of Lane Kim’s band in Gilmore Girls, though the name was hard to come by (if you recall from their first gig in Keg! Max!)! In obscure trivia, the name of the band came from an anagram for one of the Gilmore Girls producers, whose name is Helen Pai. Anyway, after writing that fun post about Keiko Agena playing bass yesterday, I thought we could talk about where the Hep Alien band members are now!

Hep Alien Band Members

• Dave Rygalski (Adam Brody) on guitar
  • Upcoming movies: Jennifer’s Body, Justice League: Mortal (rumored)
• Brian Fuller (John Cabrera) on bass
  • Working on web series H+ and a comedy series for cracked.com, signed on for The Fifth Mafia
  • Check out my interview with John!
  • John’s website & twitter
• Zack Van Gerbig (Todd Lowe) on guitar
  • Now a regular on the HBO vampire series True Blood
• Lane Kim (Keiko Agena) on drums
  • Recently on ER, in film Major Movie Star
  • Jamming in a band playing the bass!
  • Signed on for a movie with Scott Patterson, Elements of a Pink Ribbon
  • Keiko’s website & twitter
• Gil (Sebastian Bach) took over for Dave on guitar when Dave left for college
  • Took part in an episode of Robot Chicken
  • Winner of CMT’s Gone Country 2
  • Sebastian’s website & twitter

One of my favorite episodes with Hep Alien is from ‘Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too‘ in Season 5 when the band is asked to play for Jackson’s campaign for Town Selectman. John Cabrera (Brian Fuller) recently told me how triumphant this episode was, with people in the crew, actors and producers all dancing in front of the stage during rehearsal. I think it’s that kind of energy that really shines through when the band performs in this episode.

Watch the ‘Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too’ Episode:

Read more

Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) is best known to us as a drummer. After all, she spent 7 years drumming on Gilmore Girls. When the series ended, Keiko admitted that she had gotten “really lazy” with her drumming. However, that doesn’t mean that Keiko has dropped all musical pursuits!

Keiko Agena also plays the bass and can be seen as part of the ensemble Boo Boo Kitty. According to the band’s MySpace, we should now call Keiko “K-BOO”
Check out Boo Boo Kitty (including Keiko) performing in December:

Great to see Keiko still pursuing her music!!

Image: PR Photos

Keiko Agena (Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls) made a guest appearance last night on the NBC drama ER, currently in its 15th, and final, season.

The episode, ‘Dream Runner’, one of the storylines follows a patient named Nick Vasquez who has fallen out of a window during a dream walking incident. Due to incorrect brain chemistry, he acts out his dreams while asleep. Keiko Agena plays his wife, as you can see about 8 minutes into the episode below. That storyline pops in and out through the rest of the episode since this episode is all about ‘do-overs’ - about what could happen if you made different decisions. So we see three possible outcomes / endings.

Watch “ER” episode ‘Dream Runner’:

Read more

Scott Patterson (Luke on Gilmore Girls) and Keiko Agena (Lane on Gilmore Girls) will be working together again!

As announced on MySpace, Scott Patterson has joined the independent movie Elements of a Pink Ribbon as both actor and producer, with some of his original compositions also appearing in the film. This will be Scott’s first foray into producing a film.

Scott Patterson will be taking on the role of Bruce Schnable in the comedy. Keiko Agena will take on a supporting role as Ellie Dee. Also starring is Sheila Traister as Ronnie Schnable.

Here’s the synopsis of the film:

This is a contemporary comedic story of finding oneself under bizarre circumstances. 25-yr-old Leslie has always seen herself as a lesbian. Billy, a young man living in his van, has only had relationships with other guys. But the two of them discover a unique bond and develop romantic feelings for each other.

When Billy moves into Leslie’s house, which she shares with her alcoholic mother and two oddball, wannabe musician brothers, Leslie realizes that caring for her messed-up family has caused her to stagnate. She then sees that something has to change if she is ever going to have a real life.

Elements of a Pink Ribbon was written by Leslie Newquist and Shaun Snyder. Since this is an independent film, there is not yet an imdb page about it.

Hat tip to SPA ; Images: Newscom

Keiko Agena was interviewed by myfanbase.de, where you can visit to catch the full interview. In the interview, Keiko talks about wanting to become an actress at age 10, about her early roles and successes, and about Lane Kim & Gilmore Girls (of course).

Keiko says she’s been lazy with her drumming, and is unhappy about that. Speaking of ‘unhappy’, they do touch on the end of Gilmore Girls. Not knowing if it would end, Keiko made sure to really appreciate the last days, and she did keep some Gilmore mementos: her red shoes from all seven years, the sweater she wore at Luke’s Diner, a Hep Alien shirt, and a few other things.

Check out the rest of the interview here. You can also read more about Keiko on her own official website.

Image of Keiko Agena & her new husband on January 16, 2006 (Keiko married Shin Kawasaki in a helicopter over Las Vegas on December 19, 2005) ; Used with permission by Newscom

Tags: keiko agena, gilmore girls, lane kim, interview, keiko agena photos