Hey, Ray, It's Your Day.

It's Ray Harryhausen's birthday today and though he has left us physically, emotionally he lives on in his masterpieces.
I happen to have one of his final works in Movie Pamphlet form, Clash of the Titans.
Here is Ray getting a head up on things. Others get into the act as well.

The cast: Mortals, Immortals and Creatures:

Here is a preview of the movie for Japanese audiences.



No wait, that doesn't seem right. Try this:



Finally here is a profile and interview with Mr. Harryhausen and one of the most iconic scenes from the movie.

Happy Birthday, Ray!

Goodszilla.

The original Gojira is showing for a week all over the country and I caught the first show at 9:00 on Saturday morning at Nagamachi Movix. Since it's all in Japanese, it's a little tough to understand though it helps if you've already seen the movie several times before.

Some interesting observations: There were about 50 people in attendance and only one 8-year old lad who sat in front of me. There was a preview of the new Godzilla and the kid exclaimed, " 新しいアメリカのゴジラはいやだ! " (I hate the American Godzilla!)
I found it interesting that watching this post-Earthquake/tsunami, I have a different take on it than previously. Most of the evacuation and refugee procedures are still used today, 60 years later.
The first appearance of Gojira, peeking out from behind the hill and the last appearance when he becomes (Spoiler) fish-food, still gives me a chill.
Since it's only 1000 yen, I may give it another view before the week is through.

The bad news about the movie is that they've introduced a whole bunch of new Goods that were irresistible.

Since I'm wearing glasses more frequently, I decided I couldn't do without this めがねケース (megane-case) and cleaning cloth.

 I thought this pen, bottle cap and earphone jack were pretty cool looking until I got them home and discovered that it is the exact same figure reproduced thrice. (Regardless, still pretty cool looking!)

It wouldn't be a day at the movies for me if I didn't pick up a clear file and what I thought was one turned out to be two clear files. Woohoo!

The biggest surprise and thrill for me was the Movie Program. It was sealed and pricey but I took the chance and am I glad I did. Within another clear file, there was complete reproduction of the Original Program from 60 years ago!! Furthermore, a reproduction of a newspaper story and a cast list and synopsis.

An even bigger surprise, a half dozen large postcards showcasing the most iconic moments from the movie!

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself.

Give Me Some Space.

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching a double feature of Godzilla vs. Space-Godzilla and Gojira vs. Destroyah. I preferred the latter (details later) but the first one had its merits, especially the cameo by the Cosmos. I only have three manga of Godzilla and this just happens to be one of them. I've gone through and picked out some of the more exciting pages and here they are for you...

First the cover and a few pages in colour and then it changes to Black and White. It loses none of its appeal in monochrome.

At the end of the story was this little two page bit about the inner-workings of Godzilla. Intriguing.

What follows is a post I wrote for Facebook after I watched the two movies.

Okay, here's the ultimate irony. We had decades of badly dubbed Godzilla movies and that was our only way to view them growing up. Later, the dubbing improved and eventually one can see them subtitled.
I have just spent the last few hours watching Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla and G vs. Destroyah with NO English whatsoever.
The next movie in the series to be shown is the Emmerich monstrosity from America with Matthew Broderick. And it is being shown dubbed (badly) into Japanese with NO option to hear the original voice-track. So far, it's an improvement!

I gave up after a few minutes. I guess I never will watch that movie again (imho, not a terrible movie, just don't call it Godzilla!)

 Someday, I hope to track down this book:

That's it for the Heisei era. Next up is Millenium.