The fedora-wearing music extraordinaire has come through yet again with a freebie for his fans. This time, it's the second installment of his epic Dirty South Dance compilation. Featuring acapellas from the Top 40ist of Top 40 hip-hop (doesn't Soulja Boy have some high school classes to finish?) over funky electro jams, Dirty South Dance 2 deftly walks the line between cheesy mashup disc and bona fide remix compilation.
There are a few tracks that, on first glance, don't seem to belong here (a Craze remix of Fools Gold's newest MC export, Donnis, for example), but after a few listens, I think it's clear that electronic production and hip-hop have just become so fused together in pop music that "concept" mixtapes like this seem almost regular. In either event, this mix is a surefire party soundtrack for summer. And in ten years, when musicologists finally look back at this decade and wonder "what the f*** happened?" Dirty South Dance 2 might just be their Rosetta Stone.
Two weeks from today will be the end of the May sale on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan, the world's only Japan vacation travel guide focusing on Japanese science-fiction and fantasy locations.
Orders received with a May postmark will be able to get The Guide 20% off the $15.00 cover price.
With summer vacation season approaching, now's the time to take advantage of this offer. So don't just sit there...
...get The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan at $12.00 per copy (plus $2.00 shipping & handling) and then you can sit and read it!
This past week I was contacted by independent film maker, Andrew Stengele, about his plans to film a very Japanese Monster heavy documentary this upcoming summer.
According to Stengele, the film will center on monsters, both real and imaginary, and their transition from myth and folklore to movies and television.
"It (the documentary) will be a look at mankind's view of monsters from mythical creatures, cryptozoology, and horror/scifi movies, books, video games, and so on."
At this time, due to budget limitations, the film maker will be making the rounds of local Midwest conventions interviewing scholars, people in the movie biz and fans to get his content.
Stengele adds, "I am looking for anyone who might have something to say about monsters, basically. I am going to start by interviewing some people at the University of Illinois about monsters in folklore and literature, and probably some sort of psychology professors as well to get their perspective on why we are fascinated by them and why children always imagine there are monsters everywhere."
So far, Stengele has zeroed in on two Chicago area conventions, that being "G-Fest", the official gathering of Godzilla and Japanese sci fi movie fans, and the Famous Monsters of Filmland convention.
Though, the documentary will feature monsters of all types, the film maker admits that Godzilla and his Japanese monster cousins will steal the show.
"The project isn't limited to kaiju (Japanese movie monsters), but I will admit I know that sub-genre better than the others and will make it a bigger portion of the movie."
Luckily for Stengele, he already has all the equipment necessary to film his movie, but he still needs to raise the money to travel outside his area to do more interviews. Namely, to travel to California to talk to Hollywood monster movie makers, stars, and more fans.
In fact, if he can raise the money, yours truly will be included in that prestigious list.
Stengele has started a fundraiser through Kickstarter, a company that helps independent film makers raise money for their projects, to aid in gathering the funds necessary to produce a top-of-the-line documentary.
I urge all of you out the to give what you can to help get this one going. I have talked with Andrew Stengele in length about his movie, and it sounds like he has great plans for producing something that will be both educational, and very entertaining.
Once again, to donate to this film project, go to Kickstarter (project page here).
I'm late to the party I know, but if you're a quirky person who is looking for some style inspiration, check out the old posts from Zoetica's retired fashion column, What's Zo Wearing? (it ran from 2006-2008). That woman has bitchin' hair, and mad style.
Ewoks: Haters Gonna Hate is my new favourite post from Monster Girl Writes. FYI, I also love the Ewoks.
For anyone following the progress of the upcoming Legendary Pictures American made "Godzilla" film, one name should stand out above the rest in regards to the films list of producers, Yoshimitsu Banno, a man who was responsible for helming one of the most controversial G films of all-time, "Godzilla vs Hedorah."
For you see, Godzilla, and Banno, were way ahead of the curve when it came to ecology. A full two decades before Al Gore was causing politicians, and the general public, to loose sleep over pollution, 'the king of monsters' was already on the case.
Though many critics have looked unfavorably at Banno, and "Godzilla vs Hedorah", his film would follow a natural progression that began in 1954 with the release of the original "Gojira", though this time around the film maker would change the message of Japan's most famous movie series from anti-bomb to anti-pollution.
Granted, in the early 70s, Banno and Godzilla were not alone, recycling, conservation and other anti-pollution buzz words were on the lips of the younger generation who saw that man's folly and wastefulness would eventually lead to his demise.
A message that seemed to fit in perfectly with the times.
Banno's vision of a Godzilla film was very much different from any of the films that either proceeded, or followed it. The film maker added several elements to "Godzilla vs Hedorah", such as animation, abstract images and actual letters from Japanese school children, that seemed a bit out of place in a movie of this type.
The film maker would also include scenes that were obviously inspired by Toho's previous sci fi film "The H-Man" and the American 1958 cult horror, "The Blob."
Risky move s to say the least, and moves that would ultimately lead to Banno never getting a chance to direct a Godzilla movie again.
During the filming of "Godzilla vs Hedorah" producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was very ill in the hospital, so Banno was allowed to direct, 'without a net', so to speak. After his release, Tanaka became furious after viewing the finished film and told Banno that, "...he ruined the Godzilla series and that he would never direct at Toho again."
Tanaka's reaction came much to the surprise of the film maker, who believed that his film could have been the starting point for a new and different series of Godzilla films. In fact while filming "Godzilla vs Hedorah", Banno had began to develop two other G films, one a direct sequel and another where Godzilla would fight a giant mutant starfish. Again, the underlying message of both films would be anti-pollution.
Plot:
Hedorah, an alien lifeform, lands on Earth and begins feeding on pollution. Thanks to his toxic nature, as well as his acidic, poisonous body, Hedorah very nearly puts an end to Godzilla in their struggle. Godzilla finally destroys Hedorah by dehydrating him using electrical generators set up by the military and his own atomic ray. The film contains several strange impressionistic animated scenes portraying the smog monster at his evil work.
On a side note, this was the first (and only) time we see Godzilla fly under his own power. He uses his atomic ray as jet propulsion. Director Banno reportedly added the scene to provide a light moment in what is otherwise a fairly dark film compared to many of those which preceded it.
As a Godzilla film, "Godzilla vs Hedorah" is a bit boring a times. The monster action seems to drag and in the end, Godzilla needs a lot of help from the military to defeat Hedorah, constantly having to force the monster between two giant electrodes to shock it to death.
As is the case with almost all the Toho sci fi films, post Eji Tsuburaya (the father of Japanese special effects, who had passed away a year prior), the effects in "Godzilla vs Hedorah" are inconsistent, and not of prior quality. Though it should be noted that Teruyoshi Nakano (a top member of Tsuburaya's staff who took over for the master) didn't use either over-the-top pyrotechnics or stock footage, both of which became standard in the Godzilla movies of the 1970s, in this film.
On the plus side, the film is a little more hip, and artsy, than any other Godzilla film. Two points that are somewhat refreshing, though most monster movie fans would agree that better monster action would be preffered over the films more artistic qualities.
Though I do want to give props to Banno for his excellent use of visuals. If he wanted to convey just how ugly pollution can be, he did a perfect job.
However, the ecology issue really kinda gets old after it's been driven home over and over again.
After all is said and done, is "Godzilla vs Hedorah" a bad film? No, it's just different. It's enjoyable, entertaining and thought provoking, which depending on your mood, could be good or bad.
There are obviously other Godzilla films that I would pull out of my video library to watch before "Godzilla vs Hedorah", but as a change-up, it's definitely worth a the time.
As we all know, Yoshimitsu Banno tried in vein to continue on the legacy of his one and only Godzilla film with the never produced "Godzilla 3D to the Max." In that film, Godzilla would have fought against a more modern version of Hedorah, called "Deathla", in South America and here in North America.
Now that the film maker is attached to "Godzilla 2012" it is unknown just how much input he will have on the film, or if any of his unused film ideas will be included in the films story.
A Godzilla film that has an environmental message? In 2012? Seems to fit right in with current events doesn't it? We'll just have to wait and see.
Gojira tai Hedorâ Aka: "Godzilla vs. Hedora" & "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster"
Akira Yamauchi as Dr. Yano Toshie Kimura as Toshie Yano Hiroyuki Kawase as Ken Yano Keiko Mari as Miki Fujiyama Toshio Shiba as Yukio Keuchi Yukihiko Gondô as Mean general Eisaburo Komatsu as Fisherman Tadashi Okabe as Scientist Wataru Ômae as Helpless police officer Susumu Okabe as Interviewer Haruo Nakajima as Gojira Kenpachiro Satsuma as Hedorah
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: /Film / Heat Vision / Avery Guerra
There have been many people in the entertainment biz that have questioned why film maker, Jules Urbach, would opt to make a live-action, 3D, film based on a Japanese giant robot cartoon from the 1970s that was rarely seen on American television?
Others are also wondering why Urbach would choose to release his film, "Gaiking", in the same year as "Godzilla 2012", "The Avengers", "Star Trek 2", "Batman 3", possibly "Cloverfield 2", "Iron Man 3", and the newly announced, "Monsterpocalypse"?
True, the "Transformers" movies have made bank, and similar films, such as "Robotech", "Voltron" and "Battletech" are also in development for release over the next few years, but making a film based on a property such as "Gaiking" looks, on the outset, like a major gamble.
I'm sure that there are a good amount of us generation x'ers out there that remember "Gaiking" from the popular Mattel toy line, "Shogun Warriors", which came out in the late 70s, but that's hardly enough of a fan base to warrant such an outing........or is it?
Recently the website, Heat Vision, caught up with Urbach and picked his brain for information about his film:
HV: "Transformers" is pretty huge. and there's a "Voltron" movie in the works. Is there room for something like "Gaiking" that isn't that well known here?
Urbach: "Voltron" really took off because of the great cartoon. "Gaiking" never had that and neither did "Shogun Warriors" as a whole. The only thing we had was "Four Spies" here in the U.S. And that was only shown on the East coast for a little bit. I can only imagine how this property would have been perceived if we had a normal cartoon.
In France or Italy, this is bigger than Spider-Man. Toei understands this will do very well in Europe, where the cartoon is well-known. They approached us because they wanted somebody outside Japan to take a crack at this.
Our goal was to figure out a way that would be appealing to an American audience. And while there's a lot of people who played with the toys, we are not counting on any of that. For most people, this will be completely new.
And I think we did a good job introducing it, even from that little teaser. It's just been exciting to be introducing it to a lot of people and seeing their reaction.
HV: Are you worried about the title being a little inaccessible? Why not go with "Shogun Warriors"?
Urbach: We wanted to introduce one robot and thought it should be the focus of the film. It's like you want to introduce Superman before you introduce the Justice League, right?
The title is something that we're still looking at. It's in the mix. We are very aware of the possible limitations. I can't speak for Toei, so I can't speak how it will be used in the marketing of that film. We just want to use it wisely.
HV: There was a time when there were a lot of giant robot cartoons. And now with special effects technology being where it is, we're poised for a movement in movies. What do you think is the appeal of giant robots?
Urbach: Gaiking and those kinds of robots, you're talking about giant robots that are piloted by humans. You're not talking about Transformers, where they are their own characters. These robots are the extension of the pilots; they are really like giant suits of armor. So it's really the people inside them that are the characters. That is a huge differentiator. Gaiking is one pilot. It's really the pilot expressing himself through this giant mecha.
Here is that mega-cool teaser trailer that is mentioned in the interview:
Though the film maker doesn't touch on it in the interview, there is already interest in adding more of the robots from the "Shogun Warriors" line in a planned sequel, tentatively titled.....you guessed it...."Shogun Warriors".
Just which of these classic Japanese giant robots will make it into that film is still up in the air, but reportedly Urbach has already secured the rights to many of them and in his own words, "(Shogun Warriors)...will feature more of the robots, than the Marvel Comics series did."
Now, I know exactly what you are thinking. The "Shogun Warriors" line of toys featured a few very prominent names from Japanese pop-culture, including, The Great Mazinger, Godzilla, and, unofficially, Rodan.
Was Urbach able to secure the rights to use any of these characters in his film? Will we see Mazinger (called Mazinga in the toy line) in the movie? Could the film maker have been able to cough up enough dough to get Toho to let him use two of their prize properties, namely Godzilla and Rodan?
Urbach isn't saying, yet, which robots are going to be in his movie, except Gaiking....and that's kinda a given. Though, he does plan to reveal all at this years Comic Con, which I will be attending.
Of course, since Legendary Pictures is already making a "Godzilla" movie here in The States, so any chance of seeing the monster go toe-to-toe with Japan's greatest giant robots is all but an absolute 'no chance in hell'.
Though, that may make for the greatest movie ever!
I don't see that happening, and without Godzilla, there certainly won't be a Rodan in the mix either.
Mazinger, however, could be in the film, and that alone would be amazing.
Wonder why Urbach didn't go with Mazinger anyway? I mean, the Japanese animated show was released here in America under the name, "Tranzor Z".
Oh, well. Here is some history on "Gaiking" and the "Shogun Warriors" from Wikipeadia:
Demon Dragon of the Heavens Gaiking (大空魔竜ガイキング, Daikū Maryū Gaikingu) was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was of Go Nagai. Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid the payment of royalties. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and stopped further collaborations with Toei for a long time. The legal battle lasted more than 10 years. Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking in the Comicon 2007 in Naples, Italy.
It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. Gaiking was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the chief robots. In the USA, Gaiking was part of Mattel's popular Shogun Warriors import toy line of the late 1970's and Jim Terry's Force Five anthology series. In 2005, a sequel titled "Gaiking Legend of Daiku-Maryu" was produced. On March 28, 2010, a Live-Action Movie based on the series, simply entitled, Gaiking, was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Animation Fair. In international production will be helmed by American filmmakers, Jules Urbach and Matthew Gratzner. Gaiking is being prepped for a 2012 world-wide release.
Shogun Warriors were a line of toys, licensed by Mattel during the late 1970s that consisted of a series of imported Japanese robots all based on then-popular giant robot anime shows. They were originally manufactured in three sizes, the 24-inch (610 mm) plastic versions, the 3.5-inch (89 mm) diecast metal versions and the slightly taller but much more detailed and articulated 5" diecast versions. There were also several vehicles offered and a set that could be put together to form Combattra (Combattler V).
The most attractive features on these toys were the spring loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, star shuriken, and battleaxes. Some robots were able to launch their fists. The later diecast versions of these toys were also attractive for the ability to transform into different shapes. Raydeen, for instance, was changeable into a birdlike spaceship. These "convertible" editions were the precursors to the "Transformers" line of toy robots but unlike the later toyline it was not unusual for minor dissasembly to be required to achieve the secondary form. There was even a robot named Megatron in issue #18 of the comic, then the name was used multipe times for the leader of the evil Decepticons from Transformers. Also, the second form was not always an apparently useful one, a "giant skull" for instance.
Like certain other toylines of the 70s, the Shogun Warriors came under pressure due to safety concerns regarding their spring loaded weapons features. Children would launch the weapons and hit other children or pets in the eye, or else they would swallow the plastic missiles. Toy manufacturers were facing new regulations due to reported child injuries as a result of playing with these toys. Consequently, many toy companies were forced to remodel existing toylines with child safe variations (such as spring loaded "action" missiles that would remain attached to the toy). For this reason, as well as decreasing sales, the Shogun Warriors toyline disappeared by 1980.
Several of the anime from this toyline were seen in the 80s as part of Jim Terry's Force Five series.
Shogun Warriors was licensed in 1979–1980 for a 20-issue series by Marvel Comics, which was written by Doug Moench and featured art by Herb Trimpe. In the comic, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light. Human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil.
The series is firmly rooted in the Marvel Universe, as evidenced by their interactions with Doctor Demonicus in issues #12-14 and the Fantastic Four in the last two issues of the series. Issue #15 was a fill-in issue written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg. The series took a dramatic turn with issue #16, as the Shogun Warriors' mentors were destroyed by the Primal One and his followers. This alien force decided that Earth's technology had outpaced its morality, and so it was their duty to destroy the Shogun Warriors as well as other powerful humans, including Reed Richards and Tony Stark.
Though he never appeared in the comic series, Red Ronin (a robot created for Marvel's Godzilla comic) was mentioned occasionally and was frequently talked about in the letters pages.
