This Counts towards the Countdown.

I've had an extremely busy week of which I'll elaborate in a separate post. For now, I need to get in my inaugural post for the annual Countdown to Halloween! Click that link to see all of my fellow Bloggers and/or Instagrammers who participate. (You'll have to go to the Tabs link at the top of the page. It's a tad inconvenient so I'll link to some of my favourites along the way. Such as...Wonderful Wonderblog.) As usual, my entry will be a hodgepodge of Halloweenish stuff that I find around Japan and the world at large. Starting off with a toast!

Kanpai everyone! I rarely drink at home, though I have taken this opportunity to break out my new Shawn of the Dead mug to quaff a beer while I type this.

Just an ordinary glass from Winchester Tavern.

Pour a beer and see what happens. (Oh, that's a lot of head.)

That's better, a nice blood-red glass of ale! Let the Halloween festivities ensue!

Next, let's take a look at some Halloween decorations I came across while shopping in a couple of Nerdy stores in Fukushima/Koriyama.

That was at the Mandaiesque store in Fukushima. Sadly, these Used goods stores have undergone an overhaul and are no longer called Mandai or Mansaido but have been bought up by some Corporation and all renamed U-Pura. Now it's mostly UFO Catcher and Gatcha machines. That sounds like a good thing, but a lot of the store space has been devoted to these coin-grabs and the chance of winning has NOT improved. Ah well.

Moving on to the Koriyama location, the decorations went up a notch...

I decided to see if I could score.

Most action I've had in months.

Movie review time. I watched Twice Told Tales AND The Fly before I went to bed last night. I had never seen TTT and I thoroughly enjoyed the first entry with Sebastian Cabot. 

Of course, Cronenberg's epic remake is the definitive version these days, yet the original does have its charms. (Click that link for a 7-year old Countdown link to that movie.)

The "Help me" line has been mimicked to death though it still creeps me out.

REVISION! I'm an idiot! Why didn't I have my first two beers in my Fly Tiki Mug?

I'm going to take a Wee break and grab another beer. The colour of my glass is beginning to fade.

What else am I hoping to do daily for the next month? Ah yes, a student gave me a small paperback book of Yokai so I'll feature one a day until I run out. BUT, there needs to be some explanation, so I'll elaborate forthwith.

Here's the cover.

and first page. 

The Table of Contents shows the categories dealt with within. 

 

Whoa. Google Lens Translate worked better than I expected. (You may need to click and embiggen.)

 

Here's the Index.

Let's screengrab that Translation.

Ah, the first section is 襲う=おそう=ATTACK!

So let's take a peek at our first Yokai.

I'm too busy (and lazy and getting drunk) to parse this translation, so click on this and learn for yourself.

We don't see enough flaming wheel monsters these days. (Maybe Ghost Rider?)

I hope to link to a UFO Catcher/ Gatcha Capsule daily. For now, this one caught my eye and was I ever disappointed in what I scored. I like Scar as much as the next guy, but I was hoping for a much bigger bag for my 400 yen. This is merely a coin pouch, which will now remain in my car door side pocket when I need coins for parking.

 

I have far more Venom paraphernalia than anyone is supposed to have. So I'll present a Venomized picture daily (until I run out.) Here's Iron Man under the influence.

 

Finally, here is yesterday's snack. I'm trying to cut down, so usually I'll just snap a photo at the supermarket. This particular bag, I did consume. Very orange. Very cheesy.

I have the day off tomorrow, so I think I'll continue drinking beer and catch up on the latest "Walking Dead" Spinoff with Darryl (Warning: a tad dull!), Murder in the Building, Jeopardy, Continental and whatever else is streaming of late. Oh yeah, Lower Decks!

Ciao for now! Welcome to the Countdown, future episodes should not be as long.

Night of the Triffids!

I should probably save this post until next month (for the Countdown to Halloween) but I just finished watching the BBC version of The Day of the Triffids and I'm inspired. (Admittedly a few beers has aided in my inspiration.) The Day of the Triffids has always been my favourite book and I'm surprised that I've never written here about it before. I'm pretty sure that this is the cover of the edition that I had as a teen and I read and reread it several times over the years.

I also recognize these two editions, so I suspect that I bought them in my post-secondary school years.

   

I have probably seen the 1962 version three or four times and I'll probably watch it again after I finish writing this.

 

(Btw, I should probably put in a *Drunken Blogging Alert* now. This will protect me from typos and misinformation.)

Aside: I just found a copy of it in Japanese, I should probably try and track it down.

Oh, I just found a preview of the '62 version トリフィドの日 with Japanese subtitles...

Okay, back to the version that I just watched. 

Dang, standout performance by Eddie Izzard as the most evil dude when he wants to be! ( Please forgive the usage of the term Dude. I know he/him goes by she/her = Suzie these days. Regardless EVIL!!)

Dougray Scott: He never did get to play Wolverine, though he was a rogue agent in Mission Impossibler (MI2). I also remember him as both Jekyll & Hyde and as a bit part in Fear the Walking Dead. He was great as the protagonist in TDotT.

His dad is played by none other than Brian Cox. Apart from being the original Hannibal, he has a few Red movies as well. Red Eye, Red (2008), Red (2010)and Red II.

Joely Richardson: terrific job as the newscaster/voice of Britain. Wracking my brain trying to remember her famous parental units.

Holy Crap! Her mom is Vanessa Redgrave! (I had to look it up.) VR plays the sinister Mother Superior!

The rest of the cast is pretty good as well, but no names to speak of. Oh wait...Jason Priestly too!

Here is a preview. Try and find a good copy of it online. The first chapter I streamed and it was choppy. I had to resort to a poor YouTube copy for part 2.

There's also a mini-series from 1982. I think I saw it once. I don't remember it well. Here is an online copy, I'll probably watch it tomorrow.

Triffids hooked me on John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris and I spent a lot of time in High School scouring the used bookstores for any and all of his works. This was back before the days of Google, where you had to look at the index of his works, including a few trips to the Spaced Out Library. He also wrote under different pseudonyms of his very long name (such as John Beynon). Apart from TDotT, I also enjoyed The Crysalids (Rebirth), The Trouble with Lichen, Chocky and The Midwich Cuckoos. These are off the top of my head and I didn't need to Google them!

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed with my headphones on and watch the 1962 version as I drift off to sleep. 

UPDATE: I finished watching the 1962 version and it still holds up well. One quibble: It totally rips off the ending of the M. Night Shamalamadingdong's movie Signs!

UPDATE: I remember now the comic adaptation in Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. I loved that mag!

Batman's Shark Repellent.

I just finished watching Jurassic Shark 3: Seavenge and it's movies like this that make me wish I had some of Batman's Shark Repellent*.

Here are some positives and negatives for this cinematic messterpiece.

Plus: Runtime is only 74 minutes. 

Minus: Some of that runtime rehashes previous scenes in a dream sequence.

Plus: I kind of liked the score.

Minus: Everything else. Acting was atrocious. "Special" Effects were laughable. Sound Effects were equally dismal, the noise the shark makes is similar to what a growling dog utters when pulling on a squeaky toy.

Plus: That's a kick-ass poster!

Minus: The writing and plot were mind-numbingly bad. But...
Plus: There is a twist ending that is also bad but unexpected. Click here if you're brave enough to spoil the twist.

Did I waste 74 minutes watching this? Yes. Do I regret doing so? No.

Scroll up a bit and you'll see an * beside Batman's Shark Repellent. Today just happens to be Batman Day and it's my way of segueing into that. According to this article, the Shark Repellent from the 1966 movie has been made canon into the DC Universe!

The Effects in that movie are almost 60 years old and are still superior to those of Jurassic Shark.

So, speaking of Batman. What with it being the 100th Anniversary of Warner Bros., they've been mashing their properties together for a while now. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for some examples. (Okay, I'll save you the trouble of a click and show you one of the Clear Files.)

What "Bugs" me is that I paid over 3 bucks for a Clear File and now the supermarket is giving them away for free (with the purchase of 4 drinks).

Here are two Super-Files:

I may show these off again next month during the annual Countdown to Halloween 2023.

Yesterday, I just happened to drop into a UFO Catcher location and landed a couple of Eggs. 

These contain Jelly Beans and I'll save them to give to my students next month. I always preferred Tom over Jerry so it's good to see him as Batman and his nemesis the Jeroker. (Jerry-Joker)

In conclusion, HAPPY BATMAN DAY! Celebrate with Jerry Jelly Beans or go spray a Shark or something!