Saturday, February 19, 2011

Now Playing: Saturday Grab Bag

Life has begun to settle down to the point that we can begin to report on some recent screenings. First, as pictured above, Andy and I have been getting into "The Secret Saturdays," formerly of Cartoon Network. Yes, I know we missed the party, but thanks to iTunes we are getting caught up fast. While there is only one daikaiju (that I know of) in the series, "The Secret Saturdays" dovetails perfectly with my son's burgeoning interest in real cryptids, and features a pretty cool story arc that we are only about a third of the way into. Strangely, we totally backed into this show, happening upon the Wii game for $5 at a local used video game shop and a SS toy at a thrift store. It is sort of old school, sort of new school, with the real draw for me being its reliance on "real" cryptozoological reports, such as Owlman and the Honey Island Swamp Monster.



We also just watched MST3K's skewering of "Mighty Jack." If I'm not mistaken, I spotted both Jerry Ito and Masanari Nihei who played another Ito on Ultraman. Although it was a reaction to what was popular at the time, Mighty Jack was crying out for a superhero who never arrived.



Finally, having joined the iPhone clone ranks, I am downloading podcasts like crazy. One that I am really excited about (and this should come as a surprise to no one) is "kaijucast." I was hooked from the opening bumper music, which combines snippets of Godzilla dialogue and sound effects with the music from "Godzilla Unleashed." It focuses on the fun elements of the fandom and is really worth a listen. Check it out at http://www.kaijucast.com/.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I Heart Godzilla


To make a long story short, we received G-FAN # 94 on Valentine's Day, strangely appropriate for Godzilla lovers like us. We were pleasantly surprised to be mentioned in J.D. Lees' editorial in reference to Andy's library displays! That was a special moment for us, especially since we've had to put some aspects of G-fandom on hold for a time during our recent move. It served as a reminder of the really great people with whom we've become acquainted thanks to Godzilla, G-FAN and G-FEST.
Scroll all the way to the bottom for a look at Andy's first library display, or explore the previous posts here at Monsterland Ohio.