DamnGaijin!

Oops, Daimajin.

I watched the Daimajin trilogy today and it is the same movie with much of the same cast and characters done three times in three different settings. #1 is the best, 2 is second best and 3 is third best. Funny how that works out. I wrote a little bit about this Golem last year and I've scammed two photos from that blog entry.

Here is their protectorate God in its statuesque form.

And here he is when he gets all vengeful and smashy.

One thing they're missing from this figure is the spike driven in its forehead.

That would be awesome.

Here, check out a preview for yourself.

In non-Kaiju news, I performed some nuptials today and an ex-student from Tokiwagi was the keyboardist and the singer is a current teacher at Tokiwagi. Sort of a reunion for me.

 

I often run into former Tokiwagi gals from time to time even though I was only there for two years from 2000-2002. I was at their rival school Seiwa for three years from 2005-2008 yet I rarely ever bump into former students  from that school. (Or maybe they ignore me. The Tokiwagi gals don't.)

In other news, here is a picture of a pub with a bunch of pigs in it. 

Furthermore, here is the latest offering from Mr. Donuts.

I need to investigate further as to whether you get a little figure or just the consumables.

Meanwhile, I have spent the evening playing Trivia, Cribbage and Scrabble and slowly getting drunk on those beers I bought the other day. I finished watching the 5th season of Lower Decks (to date). It is just getting wackier and that is a good thing.

This is what has just started on my Twitch channel: A Gamera marathon. #1 is really quite brutal before it got too kid-friendly. 

‘Gamera: The 59th Anniversary Monstrous Marathon’ – GIANT MONSTER GAMERA (1965) [9:00 am ET] • GAMERA VS. BARUGON (1966) [10:25 am] • GAMERA VS GYAOS (1967) [12:00 pm ET] • GAMERA VS. VIRAS (1968) [1:35 pm] • GAMERA VS. GUIRON (1969) [3:00 pm ET] • GAMERA VS JIGER (1970) [4:30 pm] • GAMERA VS. ZIGRA (1971) [5:55 pm] • GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER (1980) [7:30 pm] • GAMERA: A RETROSPECTIVE [9:00 pm] • GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE (1995) [9:30 pm] • GAMERA 2: ADVENT OF LEGION (1996) [11:15 pm] • GAMERA 3: AWAKENING OF IRIS (1999) [12:50 am ET] • GAMERA THE BRAVE (2006) [2:45 am ET]

Try this link and hook up with the Twitch feed.

 I'm going to continue quaffing brew and enjoy more Gamera goodness.

Spaced Out.

I enjoyed a few brew at home so never got around to blogging about Space-Godzilla. I watched it yesterday and made innumerable photos of figures, to be displayed anon. Here is the only Space Godzilla goodie I have on hand.

I think it was a pencil topper from back when the movie was released.

I also watched a dumb feral cat movie because I needed something that I didn't need to pay much attention to while I was Peter Parkering my figures.

I give you Strays!

I'll be back later, I'm off to go see Glad he ate her too.

Happy Ryu Year!

Just a quick hello to ring in the new year in THREE minutes!

These are the beers I had...

 

 

I watched this tonight. I cannot recommend it unless you like cheesy effects or are a Norman Fell or Phyllis Diller completist.

And the one I'm working on now. I'll use this for the toast.

Hey, maybe my blog will reach a million!

Happy New Year!!

Creaturenado.

Day 2 of Countdown to Xmas is not going well. I performed my perfunctory Santa duties this morning with due diligence, impressed some kiddies and parents with my Rudolph tune, and handed out presents with a smile. Afterwards, I went nerdy shopping and bought NOTHING! I did win this at UFO catcher after a dozen or so tries, so that's something.

I had a Subway sub and listened to Nao warble a few jazzy Christmas tunes at Rifu mall. Pretty darned good.

I watched a Christmas cartoon and was very unimpressed. "The Wish That Changed Christmas" LAME! (I'm not even going to link to it!) Even lamer was "The Ugly Duckling's Christmas Wish." I couldn't even finish it.

I watched the 4th episode of Monarch and didn't like it as much as the first three. Too trippy. The Titan is cool though. (Cool being the operative word here.) PLEEEEASE improve!

So I cracked a beer and decided to watch a Monster movie. Not just any old Monster movie, Monsternado!

I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane levels of cinema, but apart from the horrible acting, crappy writing, terrible effects, stupid plot, and cliched characters, (Hold on. You killed off the nerdy science geek chick and kept the awful FBI gal! Booo!), I expect ONE thing from my monster movie. MONSTERS! Giant octopus, spiders, crabs and crocs are NOT Monsters! Call it Creaturenado if you must, NOT Monsternado!!! It took me three beers to almost get me through the movie and then I had to break out the strong stuff. No idea how long I've had this stuff hanging around, it was Not easy to open.

I'm still working on this liquid with ice and Lots of water. I cannot Not recommend this movie enough.

Oh well, as bedtime looms and I'm typing this, I'm watching Sayonara Jupiter (English title: Bye Bye Jupiter.) It is also Not very good but I did notice a scene with some redeeming qualities. Boobies!

Let's hope tomorrow is better or I may have to rethink my 25 days of Christmas.

I'll end with some Charles Addams that I scammed from a friend. It will bring some positivity to this post.

King Kong Dies and Lives!

 I did not expect Day 28 of GOvember to end up this way, but it did.

I had two extra lessons at my Airline School today, so I got home late. By the time I ate dinner, King Kong Lives was half over. To be followed by the 1976 King Kong. (Sentence fragment alert!) I settled down, finished watching the ending of KKL with a very kawaii Linda Hamilton and decided to crack a beer and watch Dino de Laurentis's King Kong. What follows are snippets of me spamming a friend as a running commentary throughout the movie.

My rankings of Kong movies varies as I watch each film. #1 is ALWAYS 1933 KK, #2 is Skull Island, #3 is 2005 KK. '76 just bumped Peter Jackson. (If I re-watch PJKK, my ranking may change again.)

Addendum: a pre-Alien & ET Carlo Rambaldi did the special effects.

Apologies for the WTC gag.

Then King Kong Lives starts again as the Twitch cycle repeats itself.

I left the comfort of my headphones and tv for I just got to the part of KKL that I'd already seen.

This screenshot of King Kong Lives is far superior to the actual movie.

At this point, I dozed off at my computer and woke up two hours or so later.

That's where I find myself now. So, lets just add a quick GOvember Godzilla entry as I'm running out of days in the month.

These are Godzilla Finger Puppets, Series 1.

Let's see if I can find series 2.

There we go. I don't have any work tomorrow (another reason for my weekday drinking binge), so I might just watch PJKK or KKSI tomorrow.

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!

Scream and Scream Again Again!

 Although I'd like to comment on the classic Price/Lee/Cushing movie...

(Aside: I just did a Mytwoyenworth check and I've used the "Scream and Scream Again" title twice already! Therefore this blogpost title has been altered. 

ps. This is one of the rare occasions in recent history whereupon I have been blogging under the influence. So base any incoherence accordingly.) 

...I am instead commenting on the latest movie in the SCREAM franchise. I am unable to ascertain when its Japanese release date is so therefore, I have been forced to succumb to less than legitimate sources to watch this classic.

I have been unable to ascertain what its release date here is. Maybe it was released weeks ago or maybe it will be released three months from now. 

Heh, no matter. Here's a trailer.

Regardless, I had a free evening and a few beers, so I decided to watch Scream VI even though I don't think I've seen a Scream since Part II, maybe III.

And this is the best song in the entire franchise.

What follows is me spamming my friends as I watch the movie. Consider it the equivalent of Twitter without a Twitter account.

At this point I had run out of brew (Only 4 in 1 hour. Cue many pee breaks.) Therefore I had to break out the big guns...I opened my GODZILLA SAKE!

Okay, my ability to copy screen caps of my conversations went awry. The next entry reads:

"I gotta say. This is a well done movie. The sake ain't very tasty though."
The next entry:

Damn, I meant to crop out my friends' names but I'm too pissed and lazy to go back and do it again.

Okay, ultimately I didn't understand the ending. Or for that matter the entirety of the last few minutes. Then again, like I said I have missed a few movies. Hopefully aficionados of the Screamers will get it.

Was it worth watching? Yes. Will I watch it again when it shows up in theaters here? Maybe. IF I take the time to view Scream III,IV,&V. Perhaps. I had a lot of fun getting drunk and watching it and spamming my friends and drinking more and blogging about it!

Follow up...Here are a few more pictures of the Sake I consumed after the beers disappeared.

Inevitably I had munchies and the only snackable item I had available was this set of Onibaba Cookies I happened to have lying around.

It hit the spot. But alas, No one else will be able to sample them. They all got consumed.

Consensus. Scream VI Okay. Ending confusing. Worth watching? Yes. Wednesday Addams gal* cuteness factor? Off the charts.

*Jenna Ortega

Once in a Blue Moon!

I missed a post last night due to an emergency Karaoke engagement. It was the only opportunity to get together with Alex to celebrate his birthday. Details later.

Meanwhile, today is the first Halloween Full Moon since 1944 and because it's the second Full Moon this month, it's also a Blue Moon. My friend took an excellent photo of the satellite for me.

I snapped a photo from the Supermarket parking lot. Not quite as impressive.

I was about to type something profound but I got sidetracked by an episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond which is just a sort of a teeny-bopper version of the original. It just struck me that Elton is the same character as Columbus from Zombieland. I suppose the sisters (Hope & Iris) are Wichita and Little Rock, and Felix is Tallahassee. I suppose I could stretch the comparisons to include Silas as Bill Murray and Huck as Nevada (from Z-land Double Tap), but that would be a Reed Richards-length stretch. I'm enjoying it due to a lack of Zombie infused entertainment and it is a tad better that Fear of the WD. 

Okay, back to Karaoke. I haven't had an opportunity to laugh in several weeks (Alex brings out the best in me) and I haven't had an opportunity to sing in a couple of years. Though not intentionally at first, we tended to choose rather spooky tunes. Now, though Alex's choices don't show up on the console I was using, he did have a few choice ones such as Psycho Killer and Back in Black. (Note, we will never attempt Back in Black again). Here is the lineup for the most part.

Hmm, Somebody to Love and 99 Luftballons must have been sung while I was in the loo and we passed on Have You Ever Seen the Rain, substituting it later for Bad Moon Rising. 

Why did you choose this following song Michael? Well, apart from its eerie theme, it actually has ME dancing in the rain for I was an extra in this scene. I challenge you to find me! (If you do, you're more eagle-eyed than I.)

 

Birthday was sung so I could give Alex a birthday gift. The others should be self-explanatory. If we weren't on a time restraint to warble as much as we could while also consuming Lemon Sours and food, I would have videoed some of our performances. The videos used alternated between awesome and lame.

Whenever the masked waiter/waitresses entered, I donned this mask for their sake.

And at the end of the evening, I wore this which really freaked out one of the gals.

I need to finish up the last of my Yokai so I can enjoy another horror movie. (So far today, I've watched Night of the Demon (1957) which has an excellent Demon effect and la Nuit de Dracula (1970) or as Hammer called it, Count Dracula. Christopher Lee is fun as always though he died too easily and Herbert Lom was okay. Standout performance by Klaus Kinski as Renfield who would later be vampirized as Nosferatu. I also watched Return of the Living Dead on my phone while I cooked dinner and snippets of its documentary as well.

Oh, before you watch that, you should watch the entire movie cuz it spoils the ending. I suppose I should have mentioned that earlier.

On to the Yokai of Oceania.

Below is the カボ・マンダラット (Kabo Mandalat) which is sort of a giant Hermit Crab from New Caledonia.

I found an awesome depiction...

Next up from New Guinea is the ヌグ (Nugu) on the left and キンブーヤン (Kinbuyan) on the right.

OH NO! I just got hijacked to a party, so the rest of this entry will be cut short. Hopefully I can revise it later.

UPDATE: Above right is a チイ (Chii) from Polynesia and on the left is a ペナンガラン (Penangaran) from Malaysia. Below is a ランスグイル (Ransuguiru) also from Malaysia.