The third and final panel I participated in was the annual Art of Kaiju Writing, a Q&A with fellow writers Neil Riebe, John LeMay, and Skip Peel. We spent an hour answering all manner of writing questions, and not just ones related to kaiju. In other words, even if you’re not into monsters, there’s plenty you can learn from this video.
Poor Neil, though. He joked that the camera would break at seeing his face, and at first I thought it didn’t record. I discovered later that it had. đ
Iâm delighted to say that G-Fest XXVI was the best one Iâve attended yet. While Iâm still a bit of a noob to this convention (this was my third year), I was once again impressed with the con-goersâ friendliness and family-like atmosphere. The best part was the sheer amount of support and recognition I received. A few people recognized me from my time on Kaijuvision Radio (which, contrary to some reports, I am the co-creator of that show). I seem to have made an impression on this fan community. I never expected that to happen. I like a lot of things besides Godzilla and kaiju, but itâs here that Iâve made some of my biggest strides of late.
But you didnât come here to hear me gush. You want to know what happened that weekend.
My brother Jarod and I left early Thursday morning and drove three hours from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Rosemont, Illinois. We listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park (a long overdue read for both of us, and an appropriate one for this con) on YouTube as we went. Sadly, we were at a slight disadvantage because we had to stay in the Comfort Inn and not the Crowne Plaza (where the con was held), but there was a shuttle service to G-Fest, and we got a free breakfast every morning. Canât go wrong there.
Our first order of business after unpacking my 2003 Subaru Legacy (which I named Tatsumaki) was the film screenings at the Pickwick Theatre. It was there we met up with my friend/fellow writer/co-panelist Danny DiManna, author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project, and his entourage of family and friends and went to the first of two double features at 1pm: Godzillaâs Revenge and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster. We were a bit late to the first one, but our RiffTrax-style commentary entertained everyone around us. Ghidrah was fantastic on the big screen. Every time I see an older filmâeven those from as recent as the 1980sâI see how much better their old-fashioned special effects look because this was how they were meant to be seen. It was the dubbed version, but the print was gorgeous.
After that, Jarod and I partook of my G-Fest tradition: Thursday dinner at Giodanoâs, a chain of pizzerias that serves true Chicago-style pizza. We split a small deep-dish, which I finished first because Jarod was still learning how to attack such thick pizza.
This was followed by the second double-feature: The X from Outer Space and Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Iâd never seen the former, so I was unprepared for how (unintentionally?) hilarious it was. For one thing, it had the worst dub Iâve ever heard. Me and another guy riffed it the entire time. He had one joke that made me double over in my chair. In one of the worst hull breach in space scenes Iâve ever seen, a character gets sucked butt-first into the hole and gets stuck. In defiance of physics, his comrades pull him out and patch the hole. My fellow riffer said, ââYou saved the ship!â âYou bet your @$$!ââ GMK was, thankfully, subtitled, but the subtitles werenât entirely accurate.
Friday started bright and early. Jarod and I rode the shuttle there and collected our badges and programs. I met with Danny, and we wandered down to the Kennedy Room to prep for our panel, Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters, at noon. I took Jarod to the orientation at 11am and went back down at 11:30am. People kept pouring in, especially after the orientation. I donât know if it was because of it being one of the first panels of the con, the subject matter, or the pre-con hype leading up to it (it was mentioned by at least two podcasts beforehand), but the room was packed. Dannyâs girlfriend, Tori, had to be our usher to find seats for people. Iâve never seen that room get that full in all my time at G-Fest. It was thrilling. We werenât able to go through all of our material, and I wasnât able to play my podcast trailer for everyone, but it was a resounding success. We want to host another one next year.
If you missed our panel or want to watch it again, hereâs the video:
I spent the rest of the day attending a few more panels, including G-pardy tryouts (didnât make it again), a paleontologist panel on Godzilla, and Kevin Derendorf presenting on kaiju fans in media. That evening we attended the opening ceremony, where the guests gave emotional, heartfelt speeches to the fans (especially Sonoe Nakajima, the daughter of Haruo Nakajima); Akira Takarada picked a kid from the audience to get an expensive Gigan toy; and the kidsâ costume parade was held. I then made a brief appearance at what I expect will be the final listener party for Kaijucast, the premiere Godzilla/kaiju podcast, where I collected my prize from their #MemeoftheMonsters contest and educated one fella on the politics of Shin Godzilla.
At 10:30pm, Jarod and I returned to the Pickwick to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters with a theatre full of fans. It was my third time seeing it and his first. G-Fest crowds are famously rowdy, but Iâve never heard them like this. It was glorious! I even squeezed in a joke that got a groan. When a bunch of dead fish floated up after the detonation of the Oxygen Destroyer, I yelled, âThatâs a lot of fish!â (My apologies to everyone who was present). The best part was when we all sang along with the new cover of Blue Oyster Cultâs âGodzillaâ during the credits. A video of that was shared on Twitter, and both director Michael Dougherty and composer Bear McCreary teared up, it seemed.
Saturday was a whirlwind. As usual, G-Fest is remarkably busy for a con of its size. I never feel like I partake in everything. Panels tend to eat up most of my time. A few highlights: the Akira Takarada interview, where he talked about growing up in China and being wounded by Soviet soldiers as a child; the Shusuke Kaneko interview; the Dawn of the Monsters video game panel (wherein I suggested they add Indianapolis as a location); the Heisei Gamera panel; and the panel on the unmade film Nessie.
I participated in two more panels that day. The first was the Godzilla: King of the Monsters panel with the guys from the YouTube channel DangerVille, among others. Hereâs the video of that:
After that was The Art of Kaiju Writing, which Iâve been on every year Iâve gone to G-Fest. (Whatâs crazy is I got on it in 2017 five minutes before it startedâbut thatâs a story for another day). It was four writers doing a Q&A on the craft of writing and the publishing process. I recorded that panel, too, but it hasnât been edited or posted yet. Stay tuned! It has a tremendous amount of info for beginning writers.
The traditional evening events followed: awards and the adult costume parade. A guy in an inflatable Godzilla costume, which are a dime a dozen usually, surprised everyone when he turned on some red lights inside the suit, making him Burning Godzilla from KOTM. Well-played, sir!
The Kaiju Crescendo concert was held that night. I wanted very much to go, but I ended up not attending because I wanted to save money (my budget has been tight this summer). I kinda regret it, honestly. But Jarod didnât want to go and wanted to see Monster Zero at the Pickwick, and since I didnât want to abandon him, so we went there. A good time was had by all. I heard, though, that attendance was split so much, it was somewhat low for all events that night.
I went to a few panels the next day, but I tried to hit up the places I didnât get to the rest of the con, like the Mecha-G Arcade, artist room, and dealer hall. I also got autographs from both Akira Takarada and Shusuke Kaneko. Much to my surprise, Takarada-san gave me two signatures! I gave him the booklet to my Criterion copy of Godzilla (1954), which he signed, and then he grabbed the box and signed that, too! What a wonderful man!
The day ended with Kaiju Confessions, a hilarious sing-along to kaiju film songs.
An illustration of FOMO. (Image taken from here). .
Iâm a self-admitted
âstory junkieâ who has a lot of hobbies. Those include reading books, playing
video games, and watching TV and movies, among others. Do you notice what all
of these have in common? Yep, stories. (I gotta get my fix, man!)
Unfortunately, because of
this and the other things that keep me busy (job, school, writing, etc.), itâs
difficult to keep up with these âstory hobbies.â I tend to go through phases
where I do one hobby more than the others. Lately, Iâve been reading a lot of
books and not playing many video games. The thing is, I canât keep up with
everything. While many of my fellow gamers are playing all the latest titles,
Iâm playing games that are at least two or three years old. Meanwhile, Iâve
fallen behind by at least a month on the current TV shows Iâm watching. While I
often go to the cinema once a week (especially during the summer and holiday seasons),
I donât always see a movie its opening weekend. Then I feel like Iâm falling
behind and wonât get all the in-jokes people make or be able to talk with them.
But like I said, this is a lot of things all competing for my time and
attention. I donât have enough years left in my life to read every book or
watch every movie that everyone is supposed to consume.
The anxiety Iâm speaking
ofâwhich can also apply to attending events and social activitiesâis called the
âfear of missing outâ (or FOMO). In large part it involves knowing and having
all the latest things. People start worrying about being left out or left
behind. Why do you think film studios push as hard as they do for people to go see
a movie opening weekend? They play on this idea, which in turn makes them the
biggest chunk of their money. Gone are the days when a film would make consistent
money for weeks at a time (remember Titanicâs
months of dominance?). Now everyone is all but required to see a film as soon
as possible to avoid spoilers, but more importantly, to feel included.
The truth is, one canât
keep up with everything. Choices must be made and priorities kept. This means
one might have to wait until a movie hits home media before seeing it. It might
mean watching a (rare) rerun of a TV show seeing it online later (even if it
means waiting months for an entire season to drop on Netflix). And thatâs
assuming that what one is afraid of missing is some form of media. It might
also mean missing a social gathering when he has to focus on something else,
like writing a book. In other words, itâs okay to be a little behind, to a miss
a few things so one can prioritize whatâs important to him. Itâs a lesson Iâve
had to learn the hard way, and honestly, Iâm okay with it. I donât have to be
on the forefront of everything Iâm interested in. I can go through phases where
Iâm more up on some things than others. Iâd rather have the joy of going at my
own pace with everything than the stress of trying to keep up with everything
and everyone, even if Iâm mocked for it (people who do that are jerks, anyway).
Buck the trends, I say!
What about you? Do you struggle with
FOMO? How do you deal with it? Discuss it in the comments!
Guest Writer: Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel
This weekend Avengers:Endgame is re-releasing in theaters. I have teamed up with Scott Bayles and Nathan Marchand to provide content on each otherâs sites inspired by the great film. Spoilers!
When we first met Tony Stark (Iron Man), he was a businessman
who liked fast cars and lived for himself. Now as we enter the theater for one
last big hurrah, and a huge one it was, all we knew is that he is stuck on a
planet far away. We knew from trailers he seems to be stranded in space, and
that is how we find him at the beginning of Avengers:
Endgame. In deep space, he has no hope to give.
Captain Marvel finds Nebula and Tony on the last bit of
oxygen and food they had left. Stark has even passed out and could barely look
up to see her as she came to assist. His morale, like all of them, was so low,
it wasnât even reachable. They had lost and half the universe was disintegrated
by the Mad Titan.
He is essentially carried home to Earth and painfully steps
out of the ship dehydrated and barely able to stand. We soon learn how angry he
is about everything. This was the man who had risked a one-way trip during the
invasion in New York during The Avengers
to save the Big Apple and stop an invasion; who tried to build âa suit of armor
around the worldâ in Age of Ultron; who
implored Captain America to stay on his side during Civil War. Now, it was time for, âI told you so.â Captain America
had left him and wasnât there to fall with him, even though he did protect
Earth while Tony was away helping Dr. Strange. Tony is angry about the
separation, but heâs also beaten and almost out of health points. Tony doesnât
even go with the team to face Thanos when they find out where he is. Dr. Strange
had given up everything to save him, but when they first go to take the battle
to Thanos, he is passed out in a hospital bed.
After finding out that Thanos has destroyed the Infinity Stones, they all come back cope with defeat and loss. Each one in his own way. For Tony, it means starting a family. He and Pepper get a house on a lake and begin raising a little girl named Morgan. Their form of coping is through family and solitude.
Family is an important theme in Scripture right from the
beginning. Genesis tells us that Adam does not have a suitable âhelpmate,â and
so God creates a wife for him. God then tells them to âbe fruitful and
multiplyâ (Genesis 2). As we continue reading, we find that many Bible heroes
had families. Abraham had two sons, one of whom was born miraculously in Abrahamâs
old age. This same Abraham rescued his nephew Lot after he and many others were
captured. David had many children. Unfortunately, he did not always make good
choices, and so not all of them made good choices, either. Gideon had over 70
children and multiple wives.
We are not meant to live alone in isolation. Not all of us
need to have five kids, but we should all have family of some form. Family can
sit with us even without the words we need and still comfort us. They know what
food will calm us down and how to make us laugh. On the flip side, we can fill
those same voids for them on their rough days.
The other way Tony copes after all of this is solitude. In
Psalm 46:10, we are commanded to âbe still and know that I am God.â This means
ignoring the five thousand needs to step away and pray. Jesus Himself stepped
away and prayed in lonely places on many occasions. He sought a refueling from
His Father in isolation. Again, family and solitude together.
Finally, Tonyâs solitude is interrupted by Steve, Natasha,
and Scott with a wild idea. Tony blows it off at first, but it lingers. They go
back to experiment without him, but he does his own research. Now, in much
better health, he reluctantly rejoins the fight. They use Scottâs 12 percent of
a plan and, with some more input for the plan, they get the Stones. While Bruce
Banner is the one to bring everyone back, in the end Tony pays the high price
of his life and a snap to stop Thanos once and for all. The man who started
this journey 22 films and 10 years ago as a self-absorbed party animal gives
his life to save the world. All he needed was to see the great needs around him
and take a break from it with solitude and family before sacrificing himself to
save this planet. It didnât need âa suit of armor around the world,â but we did
need an armored knight to accept the winning blow for the world. Nothing is
more Christ-like than that.
(Pardon me, True
Believers, as I get back into the habit of blogging).
As I discussed a few weeks ago, the American kaiju fandom had a meltdown when the Rotten Tomatoes score was revealed for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It slowly dropped to 40% over the filmâs opening weekend. Meanwhile, the audience score remained high (it sits at 83% currently). Unfortunately, despite pushback from outspoken fans, the film has been underperforming at the box office, only making $49 million its opening weekend. Thereâs been a lot of talk as to why, but I donât think itâs just one thing but many working in tandem, and unlike he did in Godzilla: Final Wars, Big G couldnât defeat all of these opponents.
Highly Competitive Movie Season
As much as I love Avengers: Endgame, it sucked the air out of the proverbial room. Every major studio tried to give the Disney/Marvel juggernaut at least a two-week breadth. Heck, if I remember correctly, KOTMâs release was pushed back a week or two to give the superhero epic as much space as possible. Unfortunately, KOTM still opened amidst stiff competition from other big franchises: Detective Pikachu, John Wick 3: Parabellum, Aladdin, and Dark Phoenix (making this the second time an American Godzilla film opened the week before an X-Men film). Given that Endgame dominated filmgoersâ time and money, they were less likely to go see something else that soon.
2. Ads Revealed Too Much
KOTM had an ad campaign almost as aggressive as a certain other American G-film. So aggressive, in fact, that Legendary/Warner Bros. gave too much away. It revealed things that shouldâve been surprises, both in terms of plot and the kaiju fights. By contrast, the ad campaign for Godzilla in 2014 erred on the side of minimalism (much like the film itself). Warner Bros. couldâve learned something from that or the advertising for Endgame, which kept secrets from the audience. As it stands, some people probably felt like theyâd seen the whole movie just from the trailers.
3. Niche Audience
Like it or not, kaiju films arenât âmainstream.â The superhero genre managed to broaden its appeal, but kaiju have yet to do that. I donât know why since thereâs a lot of overlap with the two, but even in Japan, where the genre came into being, the same is true. Ultraman is more popular than Godzilla. Regardless, the kaiju fans turned out in droves to see KOTM, but their numbers donât compare to the likes of Marvel fans.
4. Audience Doesnât Know What It Wants
On a related note, the kaiju fanbase, at least in the States, canât seem to agree on what a kaiju movie should be. From what I can tell, every Godzilla film from both sides of the Pacific has divided them since 2004. There were complaints that there was too much human story and not enough monsters in Godzilla (2014) and Shin Godzilla, but now the complaint with KOTM is thereâs too much monster action. The same was said about Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Yet if you ask a fan to name one of his favorite entries in the series, heâll likely pick a Japanese film that had little monster screen time like Monster Zero. This division not only makes the films and the fans look bad, it confuses filmmakers and undermines box office. Itâs possible those disappointed with Godzilla (2014) for those reasons stayed home even though the problem was rectified.
5. Long Gap between Films
While some moviegoers complain of superhero fatigue, one of the secrets to the Marvel Cinematic Universeâs success is it usually releases two or three films a year. This maintains narrative momentum and brand recognition. Even individual series within the MCU often only have a two-year gap between entries. Itâs been five years since Legendaryâs Godzilla reboot. Yes, Kong: Skull Island came out in 2017, but it wasnât marketed as part of the MonsterVerse. This stymied both recognition and momentum.
6. Criticsâ ReviewsâŚ
While I previously wrote that review aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes have been given too much power, the fact remains that a filmâs RT score can affect box office turnout. For better or worse, filmgoers will pay attention to the scores. It doesnât always affect it, but it more often than not does.
7. âŚand the Fan Backlash
That being said,
the fans attacking critics as hacks because of their negative reviews hasnât
boded well. While I canât say for sure, many of their attempts to fight against
the tide of bad reviews by saying, âItâs a Godzilla film! Itâs supposed to be
stupid!â isnât making anyone interested in seeing KOTM. If anything, they should try talking about what they liked
about the movie or try to explain how the critics are wrong. You can catch more
flies with honey than vinegar. Sadly, the internet is flooded with vinegar.
Because of all this, Warner
Bros. considered
delaying the release of Godzilla vs. Kong
so they could âmake an A+ movie.â There were several reasons why this mightâve
happened, but thatâs a topic for another blog (that I may or may not write).
In the end, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a good
film that faced an uphill battle, and the hill just kept getting steeper.
What do you think? Are there other
reasons KOTM underperformed? What are
they?
After nearly a year of escalating
hype, Godzilla: King of the Monsters
dropped in theatres this weekend. It was one of my most anticipated films of
2019. As a fan of nearly two decades, the co-creator of Kaijuvision Radio, and a
raging nerd, I went into it excited
but cautious. I remembered another American-made Godzilla movie from 20
years ago or so that had just as much, if not more, hype, and it failed to
deliver.
I walked out of my local
IMAX theatre with a huge smile on my face. Most fans did.
Critics didnât.
All this week the
Godzilla fan community (in America, anyway) has been in a tizzy. As the critics
score on Rotten Tomatoes dropped (it sits at 40% currently) and the
audience score remained high (it hovers around 90%), the fans got defensive.
They became the latest fandom to declare critics âhacksâ who didnât know what
they were talking about, who just didnât understand the genre or Godzilla.
While many fansâincluding myselfâsaid King
of the Monsters wasnât what critics claimed it was, others stamped their
feet, crossed their arms, and said, âI like because itâs bad like all the other
Godzilla films!â
Even Godzilla is shocked by his some of his fans’ behavior.
To be honest, Iâm not all
that surprised. These fans have spent years defending their enjoyment of giant
monstersâor perhaps even hid itâwhen many people relegated such fare to
schlock. Thatâd put a huge chip on anybodyâs shoulders. While other ânerdyâ
genres like superheroes have gone mainstream, the kaiju genre is still trying
to gain wide acceptance. I donât know if it ever will. Regardless, I think much
of this pushback from Godzilla fans stems from their defensiveness. Like many
nerds, theyâve made their fandom a huge part of their lives, and when they think
itâs being attacked, they see it as an attack upon themselves.
This isnât to say that
the fans donât have valid points. Rotten Tomatoes has grown from a website that
helped moviegoers make an informed decision about what films to see to a cultural
force that studios think they must placate. âTomatometerâ scores can make or
break a film now. At least, thatâs what many movie executives fear. An
aggregate of bad reviews could destroy the millions of dollars they invested in
a film. Thatâs why they brag whenever one of their movies has a high RT rating.
The problem is people arenât engaging with the reviews; theyâre just looking at
the score and not reading what was said. They donât realize that RTâs
system a critic only has to answer a yes or no questionââIs it âfreshâ?ââbefore
posting a review on the site. A
rating of three out of five will count as âfresh,â so even a âB-â or âC+â
review will count. In other words, the 90% fresh rating could all be average reviews.
As one fan pointed out, it has ruined film criticism by reducing it to mere
numbers. But these are numbers given tremendous weight and power by lazy often readers
who succumb to some form of groupthink, either in agreement or disagreement.
This, in turn, has led to some borderline conspiracy theories about studios
bribing critics for good or bad reviews as well as theories that studios are
censoring bad reviews from users. Iâm not saying any of this is true, but it is
certainly possible.
The “fresh” and “rotten” logos for both critics (top) and audience (bottom) scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fans say critics are
prejudiced against the kaiju genre and donât appreciate it. Thereâs some truth
to that as Iâve pointed out. Their scores and criticisms often seem
inconsistent, to say the least. Godzilla (2014)
was criticized for allegedly not having enough screen time for Godzilla or the
monster fights while focusing on human characters. Now the common complaint
from critics is thereâs too much time given to the monsters (I disagree, but I
digress). Who wouldnât pull their hair out? It doesnât seem possible to please
them.
But do fans know what
makes a great kaiju film? Iâve often heard fans say that they want a film thatâs
nothing but kaiju fights. This has led to an image of the fandom that is, well,
less than flattering (one Twitter user said it made the fandom look like âknuckle
draggersâ). In some ways it seems hypocritical. They fight against non-fans
labeling the films âtrashâ while advocating for movies that are empty spectacle.
As one YouTuber put
it, fans like the âsocial commentaries of the Japanese films, but when it comes
to American films, they just want Godzilla to eat buildings and punch monsters.â
Iâll be the first person to argue that there is substanceâoften profound
substanceâin these films. Even the so-called âsilly ones.â Thatâs why it vexes
me to hear such talk from fans. Itâs especially annoying because theyâre
basically saying, âThis movie is nonstop action with human characters I donât
care about, so I love it for the reasons critics hate it! Boo-yah!â Itâs kinda
childish, honestly.
Ultimately, whether the reviews
come from critics or fans, they are simply opinions, and as a crude old saying
reminds us, everyone has opinions. Itâs just that, for whatever reasonâbe it
experience, education, position, or whatnotâwe have elevated the opinions of
critics. They are the dwellers in the ivory towers who know what true art is
while fans are the unwashed, ignorant masses. (Insert âsarcasm
signâ here). While fans have wanted to drop Oxygen Destroyers in
criticsâ laps this week, if their reviews had been positive, I have no doubt
they wouldâve celebrated and shared them as validation of themselves and their
fandom. But do these critics invalidate the opinions of fans? No. They are
allowed to like things other people donât. They enjoyed it based on their own criteria.
One manâs trash is another manâs masterpiece. Many people watch Godzilla vs. Gigan and see a silly low-budget
kaiju film. I
watch it and see a meta-commentary on pop culture and globalism. Opinions
often change with time. When Citizen Kane
was first released, it has rejected by critics as too unusual. Now itâs regaled
as the greatest film ever made. The
Empire Strikes Back, which is commonly considered the greatest Star Wars film, was dismissed by critics
upon release. I say all of this to remind people that while there are objective
criteria for what makes a good story, the evaluation of art is still largely
subjective.
The cover of “Kong Unmade,” the newest book by film historian and kaiju fan John LeMay. It is available in paperback and KIndle on Amazon.
Tokusatsu film historian John LeMay has done it again! After indexing every kaiju (giant monster) movie from the 1950s to today with The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies, Vol. 1-2, his newest is essentially the third entry in what could be called his Lost Films trilogy. Previously he discovered unused scripts and story treatments for famous Japanese monsters like Godzilla and Gamera with the copiously-researched The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films and more down-to-size Japanese science fiction and fantasy films with Terror of the Lost Tokusatsu Films. Now he brings readers the âlost filmsâ of the granddaddy of all kaiju, King Kong, with Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island.
While Kongâs impact on
pop culture is humungous, his filmography is surprisingly short. In all, he has
only ten official films (plus one upcoming movie) in over eight-and-a-half
decades. Itâs not from a lack of trying, though, as LeMay details.
Director/producer Merrian C. Cooper tried for years to make another sequel to
the 1933 classic after the hastily-made Son
of Kong. The New Adventures of King
Kong wouldâve been a âmidquelâ that took place while Kong was being transported
from Skull Island to New York, where he escaped into the jungles of Africa. A
similar and even more outlandish idea was Tarzan
vs. King Kong, where the big ape wouldâve met the famous ape man. On the
other side of the Pacific, Toho Studios attempted to create Frankenstein vs. King Kong, which
eventually became King Kong vs. Godzilla.
After its massive success, a script for a rematchâcleverly titled Continuation: King Kong vs. GodzillaÂÂâwas
written that wouldâve had Kong become a surrogate father to a lost infant. And
thatâs just a few examples!
Essays on these lost films arenât all thatâs in this new volume. There are âbonus reviewsâ and âdevelopment ofâ chapters on the Kong films that did get made. They detail many concepts that were abandoned or changed during the filmmaking process. For example, the script Peter Jackson wrote for his 2005 remake was originally quite different (Ann Darrow was British, for one thing). There are also essays on lost or obscure Kong media such as Don Glutâs Tor films and what wouldâve been an animated sequel to King Kong Lives featuring Kongâs son (who wouldâve had the ability to change his size) by producer/artist Robert Lamb. Several of these essays are written by excellent guest contributors. LeMay also writes on obscure and lost films that were inspired by King Kong, such as The Mighty Gorga and the infamous A*P*E*. If they donât get a full-length chapter, theyâre included in one of the bookâs several appendices.
One improvement over
LeMayâs previous books is the inclusion of many images. These are photographs,
movie posters, and concept art. The aforementioned chapter on the proposed Kong
animated series includes concept art from Lamb, which gave me flashbacks to the
Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood. A downside of the images is some of
them are placed on right-hand pages opposite from the previous essay, and since
these donât have captions, it isnât apparent that theyâre meant to signal the
next essay.
As usual, the design of
the book is creative. The spine is designed to look like it has a library index
code taped onto it. The title pages have a few ink splotches to simulate age
and a half-faded stamp that says, âThis book has been discarded by the Skull
Island Public Library.â Theyâre wonderful touches, and the sort of clever
design choices I wish I saw more often in books.
If I may mention a fairly
significant nitpick, there are points I think the book couldâve been edited and
proofread a bit better, but this is coming from someone who spends a lot of
time editing in his work, so itâs hard for me to miss.
For fans of Kong, kaiju,
film history, and/or LeMay, this is a must-read!
Last weekend I saw the
trailer for the upcoming film Yesterday,
which spins the yarn of a down-on-his-luck musician who wakes up in world that
doesnât remember the Beatles, so he takes credit for their songs to get rich
and famous. In other words, heâs an imposter.
While he is an
intentional deceiver, I discovered at the end of my first year as a graduate
student that I, too, am an imposter. Or at the very least I feel like one.
This is called Imposter Syndrome. In a nutshell, itâs the fear that one doesnât deserve their accolades and accomplishments and will exposed as a âfraud.â Thatâs how I felt after getting Aâs on both of my final papers this past semesterâwhich were about kaiju and superheroesâbecause I thought they either werenât written well or that their ideas were faulty. Along with that, I maintained a 4.0 GPA (something I hesitate to say for fear of jinxing myself), which is better than what I had as an undergrad. Not only that, but several professors have been advocating for me to get either a PhD. or an MFA. Apparently, I make connections in my schoolwork only PhD. caliber students make. Some of the same professors have said Iâm an âexcellent teacherâ given my success as a graduate teaching assistant.
Youâd think Iâd read/hear
all of this and say, âI must be good at this school thing,â but instead I make
excuses for why itâs not that impressive. Those include 1) my aforementioned
inferior grades in undergrad, 2) people saying the university Iâm attending isnât
that hard (there was once a joke that said its acronym stood for âI Paid For
What?!â), and 3) feeling like Iâm not as well-read as others and have to hide
the fact that I havenât read/seen/played certain media that supposedly everyone
has. This is true of me not only as a grad student, but as a writer, a dancer,
a son, a friend, a (potential) boyfriend, and everything else.
The truth isâif I may
take the risk of being a little vulnerableâIâve struggled with self-confidence
most of my life. Even if my performance and/or ability was exceptional, I felt
like it didnât measure up to peopleâs expectations. I could and would still be
rejected, and I frequently was. As I grew older, I started playing the âcomparison
game,â and since I tended to befriend really intelligent people, I felt like I
was the âdumb oneâ in the âsmart groupâ (not realizing that this still made me
smarter than most people). I mean, when you hang out with Nick Hayden, who Iâve described as an
intellectual One-Punch
Man (he got a nearly perfect score in two years of Greek classesâand he
took it for fun!), itâs hard to think your knowledge and writing is up to
snuff. (Whatâs crazy is Nick is too humble to admit any of this).
Paradoxically, whenever I would, for example, get a bad assessment or a
rejection letter, I would say I deserved it but still get angry and think nobody recognized my talent. I, like all
human beings, am full of contradictions.
Sadly, imposter syndrome
isnât recognized as a mental illness, although many of its symptoms, like
depression, are seen as such. Those can be treated, but that wonât cure it. A pill
canât magic this away. In order to do that, I have to dig deep within myself,
identify my anxieties, face them, and surround myself with supportive and
truthful people. Ultimately, though, itâs up to me accept the fact as imperfect
as I am, I am worthy of their praise.
Do you struggle with imposter
syndrome? How do you deal with it? Why do you suffer from it?
Itâs been a while, hasnât
it, True Believers? I know I say this a lot, but please accept my apologies. I
was hard at work finishing my first year as a graduate student. If youâve been following
me on social media, though, you know that Iâve picked up on writing Hopeâs War and editing my novella for Children
of the Wells. That and a secret project will be my primary works this
summer. Stay tuned for more!
Speaking of summerâŚ.
A few months ago I wrote
that I would be going to G-Fest XXVI but as a panelist and not a vendor. Iâll
once again be part of âThe Art of Kaiju Writingâ panel and joining the panel
discussion of the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
More importantly, thoughâŚ
Promotional image for G-Fest XXVI. (Courtesy of www.G-Fan.com).
IâM HOSTING MY OWN PANEL!
I and my friend/fellow
writer Danny DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization
Project will be presenting on Toho screenwriters Shinichi Sekizawa and
Takeshi Kimura, who wrote many of the studioâs tokusatsu films from the 1950s-1970s.
(You probably heard me talking about them a lot on Kaijuvision
Radio). The fandom talks a lot about directors, actors, and composers, and
rightfully so, but almost never about screenwriters, which is a shame. Danny
and I hope to fill in that gap.
Hereâs the description of
the panel youâll see in the convention program:
Most of Tohoâs classic tokusatsu films started with scripts penned by the Showa era creative teamâs unsung heroes, Shinichi Sekizawa and Takeshi Kimura. Join Nathan Marchand (professional writer and co-creator of Kaijuvision Radio) and Daniel DiManna (creator/author of the Godzilla Novelization Project) as they explain how these polar opposite storytellers revolutionized the kaiju genre.
Friday 12pm (Kennedy Room): Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters Saturday 3pm (Ballroom 1): Godzilla: King of the Monsters Saturday 4pm (Kennedy Room): The Art of Kaiju Writing
You spent 42 days finding the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, and now Nerd Chapel founderEric Anderson and I are proud to unveil the amazing cover art by Ruth Pike-Miller for the next step in your journey: The New 42: God Terraforms All Things.
The one constant in the
universe (besides the fact that everything freezes) is change. Good change, bad
change, and everything in between. Even in our favorite nerd/geek franchises.
DC Comics is (in)famous for hitting the cosmic reset button every few decades.
The movie theatre is full of re-imaginings of nostalgic entertainment. Even
video games arenât immune to this. But now you may feel like God Himself hit
that reset button on your life. Has it left you lost and confused? Take heart!
God wants to give you a new direction. In these pages you will learn how to
navigate change with the help of a scarred samurai, some heroic robots, and the
worldâs most famous kaiju, among many others.
Your next 42-day quest awaits!
The grand book release will be at Muskecon in Muskegon, Michigan, on March 23, 2019. Eric and I will be selling and signing copies. The book will then be available as a paperback and e-book on Amazon.
Be there or be square!
A Man from Another Time Exploring Another Universe
