When I was in Toho Cinema the other day, I saw an ad for Chibi-Godzilla and wondered what it's all about.
It's for Chibi short videos that can be seen on the official Godzilla YouTube Channel.
Whoa, there sure are a lot of them!
Hey, Godzilla -1 in monochrome is back! I'm still waiting to find a version with English Subs.
What is very cool is the deck of cards they have on sale. (NO Trump does not mean Trump!)
If I didn't already have this set, I'd probably get a deck.
The Jokers are Oxygen Destroyers!
My Twitch channel showed a smattering of Monster Movies so I watched Meg, Monster Hunter, and Troll. Cheeesy yes, but that yummy kind of cheese.
I don't get into much sportball these days, yet Kudos to Toronto's own Argooooos!
I need to get around to watching this highlight reel.
My best memory of an Argos game was watching the Blues Brothers (With James Belushi) play at halftime back when John Candy co-owned the team. (Although I may be misremembering...)
I have never seen a Superbowl game and I have no desire to see one in the future. Once again the match-up is lopsided though this time the Seattle Seahawks came out triumphant. I don't disapprove. I have never seen the Puppy Bowl nor the Kitten Bowl either. The only thing that the Superbowel is good for is the inundation of multi-million $ ads.
For example, the new ad for Captain America, The Winter Soldier that is due in April premiered.
Pretty good stuff and it shows off a lot more than the mini-preview I got when I saw マイティ・ソー/ダーク・ワールド = Thorlast Saturday. Awesome movie, great effects and it didn't skimp on referencing Asgard and Norse Mythology's tongue-twisting Nine Worlds. More importantly, it maintains a sense of humour throughout, mostly provided by Darcy but everyone has a few giggles.
I also picked up a 3D Poster and clear file. Sweet.
Speaking of giggles, this has a few including lots of Spoilers so caveat emptor. And the pub in which they hang out totally stole the name of my bar (once I get around to owning one.)
Back to the ads, there is a HUGE amount of nerdy goodness in these ads. Spider-Man 2, Transformers, Noah, Muppets, Lego, British Villains, Matrix, and Goldiblox (whatever the heck that is.)
I'm rather impressed by the nerdiness in this Radio Shack ad as well.
If anyone knows of any other cool commercials from the SouperBowl, please let me know.
This rather poignant ad would never be shown during a football match due to the message given. Check out change the mascot to see a touching video.
Enough of the ToiletSuperbowl, here is an ad that you may not have seen outside of Japan. It's for Subaru and features my new found friends, the Titans.
I was certain that the Superbowl was going to be shown on tv here in Japan today but it's not on any channel that I get. Of course, I don't even know what teams are playing! The only reason to watch this would be for the Half-time show and the ads.
I watched Prima Donna Pre-Gaga Madonna and apart from a stumble, she really struts her stuff! This may prove to be the Year of the Madonna!
(Aside: I don't think I've ever told this story before. When I first arrived in Japan, I worked for NOVA in Tokyo and a fair portion of the employees for that firm were of the "Don't ask, Don't tell" persuasion. I was persuaded to go to a party with several co-workers and the host of the shindig was an incredibly weathy man. The mansion had a couple of floors and there was a surprisingly large amount of uncloseted gentlemen enjoying each others' company which is a side of Japan I hadn't witnessed before or since. My straight colleagues and myself pretty much stood by the sidelines and just relished in the surrounding glory, but after several drinks I decided to break away and make use of the karaoke microphone in centre stage. The audience was thoroughly enjoying my performance of "Like a Virgin" and I enjoyed vamping it as well. A few days later, I became privy to a couple of photos that were taken of my showcase. Much to my surprise, I discovered why everyone was applauding so profoundly. Throughout the tune, there was a young man with his nose sniffing my butt the entire time!!! I wonder if those pics will ever surface on the internet?
I found some video of my performance!
Back to the ads...
According to an official Superbowl Commercials site, here are their picks for the Top Ten:
#10 was an ad for a Samsung mobile. My impression: meh.
Their pick for #9 was pretty darned good. I saw a truncated version last week and I couldn't tell you what was added. I'd have rated it higher if only for the awesome cameos.
#8 is for Bridgestone and features some Basketballers silently dribbling. Big deal, I silently dribble all the time. Btw, did you know that Bridgestone is a Japanese company? I didn't until I got here. Bridgestone comes from a calque (word-for-word) translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning "stone bridge" in Japanese.
#7 is yet another car ad. Good thing we're cutting down on all those emissions! Done by a troupe of amateurs, it's fairly well done. Is that Richard Belzer's kid at the 30 sec. mark?
Wow, hard to believe, #6 is a car ad as well but you'd be hard pressed to realize it.
#5 is not all that different from #6, but at least it shows a car actually moving.
Apocalypse Chevy! #4 is cool, I wonder if Michael Bay had a hand in it.
I like #3 but had they used Newman instead of Leno, I'd have enjoyed it more.
WooHoo, Ferris Bueller is back! Obscure if you haven't seen the movie, but who hasn't?
@#1 is Clint yattering on about the US economy. It has already been pulled but I managed to watch it on my phone earlier in the day. It was okay but I wish I could have seen it on more than a 2-inch screen.
There are several more categories in the above website and I'll peruse them eventually. Personally, I would have added this spot for John Carter...it looks incredible!
But who are we kidding? The only reason I wanted to see any commercials at all was for the minute sneak preview of The Avengers! I do hope it'll come to Japan in a timely fashion, I had to wait several months for Cap and Thor!
We're all familiar with SCTV for who didn't watch them in their heyday in the late 70s? It's impossible to choose a favourite, so I'll just pick John Candy because, pound for pound, he is one funny guy.
(Tangent time:) Back in High School, one of my duties in the Nerd elite (Chess Club, Bridge Club, Classics Club) was as a Prefect. As our main responsibility, we'd patrol the Cafeteria during lunch. I was there during the great rainfall of frogs when our dissected buddies were liberated (though still dead) with frogs showing up in unsuspecting sandwiches, the Coke machine and being pelted back & forth across the room. I was not exactly authoritarian that day for I recall tossing a few amphibians myself. I also remember wearing less than traditional garb on a few occasions; at least twice I wore a toga while promoting the Classics Club's annual Roman orgy festival--remember this was in the early 70s long before Belushi made toga parties popular. And in '77, I paraded around in full pirate garb, stabbing apple cores with my sword and making a complete fool of myself when I became a lifesize billboard for my role as Squire Simon Cataract in The Secret of the Spyglass!
Why the trip down memory lane? Because in gratitude for all our hard work as Prefects, we all were treated to the big city of Toronto for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory and a show of Second City at the Firehall Theatre. At that time, among the cast were Peter & Dan Ackroyd, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin and the immortal John Candy. So years before he entertained the masses as Johnny LaRue I saw him on stage with the rest of the gang!
Apart from making people laugh and eating, John also had a passion for Football (not that super-bowl crap or soccer...CFL) and he even went so far as to buy a part of the Toronto Argonauts with Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky! Back in '91, I got to see Toronto kick Hamilton's collective ass and watch the Blues Brothers/Elwood Revue Show play at half-time!!
From the CFL archive page...
July 18, 1991 – The Argos open the season against Hamilton in front of more than 41,000 people. The day featured the debut of Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and a stellar halftime show featuring the famous Blues Brothers.
Those are my personal encounters with JC, if you click the SCTV or SNL label below, you can read about my further encounters with various members of those elite comedy teams.
