News, Appearances, Blog

Gen Con 2019 Post-Mortem

My table at Gen Con 2019.

Another Gen Con has come and gone. As usual, it’s a working vacation for me, but it’s also the biggest show I do every year. I haven’t heard attendance numbers yet, but I’m sure it’s comparable to the years with 60,000 attendees.

Calling it a “working vacation” was more accurate than ever this year. Due to some last-minute financial setbacks, I didn’t have much spending money, so I couldn’t make it to many events or buy new games. Couple that with the fact that I wouldn’t leave my table for more than an hour at a time from 10am-6pm most days, and I spent most of my time in the dealer hall. My friend and co-author Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel, would slip away and play some games throughout the day. In other words, I did all the work, and he had all the fun. (Just kidding, Eric!)

I wasn’t able to get to Indianapolis (or “Indy,” as we Hoosiers call it) until late Wednesday night, which did throw a monkey wrench into the weekend, but that’s what happens when you have other commitments right up to the convention. I stayed at the Sheraton with Eric and his friend Matt Gort (and yes, he has cosplayed the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still), which was a 10-15 minute walk from the Indiana Convention Center. I went to the ICC to get my event tickets, but even at 11:30pm, the line went on forever. So, I decided to wait until the next day.

I scrambled to get into the dealer hall to set up in Authors Avenue before 9am when I thought the VIGs (Very Important Gamers) would come in before everyone else like in years past, but that didn’t happen. There was no early access; everyone came in at 10am. I realized I could’ve gotten my tickets then. That would’ve been nice to know. I’m pretty sure I was told this was still happening this year. Oh well.

The game Horrified.
Who needs a “booth babe” when you have bearded Waldo? 😛

I spent the whole day in the dealer hall since I was unable to get my event tickets. I joke every year that I need a “booth babe,” but Eric cosplaying as a bearded Waldo might been even better. While financial setbacks left me with little spending money for the show, I did wander into the play test hall and tried Horrified, a new cooperative board game themed around the Universal Horror Monsters. My fellow players and I managed to defeat Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The day ended with what became my nightly routine with Eric: playing the amazing game Unmatched, which saw an early release at Gen Con. It’s the glorious lovechild of Heroscape and Star Wars: Epic Duels, two of our favorite games.

Eric and I with a fellow Starfleet officer.

Friday was much the same as Thursday, although I was able to slip away for one writing seminar at the Writers Symposium. Eric and I both did Star Trek cosplays, with me as Capt. Kirk and him as Cmd. Riker. That evening Eric and I had dinner with a guy (whose name escapes me now, sorry!) who was curious about Nerd Chapel and our work. I (and eventually Eric) then spent the evening at the Love Thy Nerd meet-up, where I played Dice Throne Adventures. I was a barbarian, so I made sure to crush my enemies and see them driven before me. 😛

Speaking of Star Trek, I met Chris Spurgin from Five Year Mission, who gave me a free copy of their latest album for recognizing him. Score!

The upcoming game Deliverance.

Saturday was all work. I wanted to go to one writing seminar, but I was too busy in the hall. I expected as much. It’s usually the busiest day. Afterward, me and Eric’s friend Darrin joined us at the InnRoads Ministry meet-up. There was food (including homemade pretzel bites that were my crack for the evening), fellowship, prizes, and of course, games. I learned about a spiritual warfare-themed dungeon crawl fantasy game called Deliverance, where players take on the roles of angels fighting demons in a church. However, we spent our time playing Unmatched and showing it to InnRoads’ leader, Michael. The evening was capped with Darrin, Eric, and I returning to the Sheraton for one more game of Unmatched. (By the way, I won every Unmatched game I played and Eric lost all of his. I felt bad).

The banner that welcomed attendees to the worship service.

Sunday began with the Christian Gamers Guild’s worship service, which is always a highlight of the weekend. It’s not often I’m in a room full of fellow Christian nerds worshipping God. I was then in the dealer hall from 10am-4pm. Eric and Gort left early, so I alone was left to tear down and return everything to my car (which was in the cheapest parking garage I could find). The shelving I brought was too cumbersome, so a pair of Good Samaritans from Texas named Jim and Kathy helped me get everything there. I never would’ve made it myself. I gave them free books as a thank you, although Kathy had to insist that they take them.

Trogdor the Board Game!!

Wanting a little downtime before the two-hour drive back to Fort Wayne, I met up with Darrin, his wife Michelle, and one of their friends. We tried to find a meet-up but were unable to find them, so we set up in the lobby and played “Trogdor the Board Game!!” As a fan of the Homestar Runner website, I loved it. I’m happy to say we won—everything was burninated!

With that, I drove home.

It wasn’t the best year of the con (my fellow authors and I have some things we want to discuss with the managers of Authors Avenue), but it was still a good time.

To see more photos and such from Gen Con, check out the Twitter pages for myself and my upcoming podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault.

Did you go to Gen Con this year? What did you see/do/play? What’s your assessment of this year’s show?

Video, Blog

G-Fest XXVI Panel – The Art of Kaiju Writing

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. 😛

The Monster Island Film Vault
Website: http://monsterislandfilmvault.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonsterIslan…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMonsterIsla1

Neil Riebe: https://www.amazon.com/Neil-Riebe/e/B…

John LeMay: https://www.amazon.com/John-LeMay/e/B…

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G-Fest XXVI Report: The Best One Yet!

(Originally posted here on the Monster Island Film Vault website).

The logo for the con. (Official website).

Hello, kaiju lovers!

I’m delighted to say that G-Fest XXVI was the best one I’ve attended yet. While I’m still a bit of a noob to this convention (this was my third year), I was once again impressed with the con-goers’ 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 it’s here that I’ve made some of my biggest strides of late.

But you didn’t 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. Can’t 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: Godzilla’s 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 film—even those from as recent as the 1980s—I 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 Giodano’s, 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. I’d never seen the former, so I was unprepared for how (unintentionally?) hilarious it was. For one thing, it had the worst dub I’ve 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 I’ve 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, “‘You saved the ship!’ ‘You bet your @$$!’” GMK was, thankfully, subtitled, but the subtitles weren’t 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 don’t 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. Danny’s girlfriend, Tori, had to be our usher to find seats for people. I’ve never seen that room get that full in all my time at G-Fest. It was thrilling. We weren’t able to go through all of our material, and I wasn’t 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, here’s the video:

I spent the rest of the day attending a few more panels, including G-pardy tryouts (didn’t 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 kids’ 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 I’ve 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, “That’s a lot of fish!” (My apologies to everyone who was present). The best part was when we all sang along with the new cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” 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. Here’s the video of that:

After that was The Art of Kaiju Writing, which I’ve been on every year I’ve gone to G-Fest. (What’s crazy is I got on it in 2017 five minutes before it started—but that’s 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 hasn’t 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 didn’t want to go and wanted to see Monster Zero at the Pickwick, and since I didn’t 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 didn’t 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.

I can’t wait for G-Fest XXVII!

Blog

FOMO: The Fear of Missing Out

An illustration of FOMO. (Image taken from here). .

I’m a self-admitted “story junkie” 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.), it’s difficult to keep up with these “story hobbies.” I tend to go through phases where I do one hobby more than the others. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of books and not playing many video games. The thing is, I can’t keep up with everything. While many of my fellow gamers are playing all the latest titles, I’m playing games that are at least two or three years old. Meanwhile, I’ve fallen behind by at least a month on the current TV shows I’m watching. While I often go to the cinema once a week (especially during the summer and holiday seasons), I don’t always see a movie its opening weekend. Then I feel like I’m falling behind and won’t 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 don’t have enough years left in my life to read every book or watch every movie that everyone is supposed to consume.

The anxiety I’m speaking of—which can also apply to attending events and social activities—is called the “fear of missing out” (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 Titanic’s 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 can’t 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 that’s 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, it’s okay to be a little behind, to a miss a few things so one can prioritize what’s important to him. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way, and honestly, I’m okay with it. I don’t have to be on the forefront of everything I’m interested in. I can go through phases where I’m more up on some things than others. I’d 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 I’m 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!

Blog, Guest Author

Family in the Endgame

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 other’s 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 wasn’t 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 “a suit of armor around the world” in Age of Ultron; who implored Captain America to stay on his side during Civil War. Now, it was time for, “I told you so.” Captain America had left him and wasn’t 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 he’s also beaten and almost out of health points. Tony doesn’t 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 “helpmate,” and so God creates a wife for him. God then tells them to “be fruitful and multiply” (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 Abraham’s 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 “be still and know that I am God.” 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, Tony’s 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 Scott’s 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 didn’t need “a suit of armor around the world,” but we did need an armored knight to accept the winning blow for the world. Nothing is more Christ-like than that.  

Blog

Why ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is Underperforming

(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 film’s 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. There’s been a lot of talk as to why, but I don’t think it’s just one thing but many working in tandem, and unlike he did in Godzilla: Final Wars, Big G couldn’t defeat all of these opponents.

  1. 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, KOTM’s 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 filmgoers’ 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 should’ve 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. could’ve learned something from that or the advertising for Endgame, which kept secrets from the audience. As it stands, some people probably felt like they’d seen the whole movie just from the trailers.

3. Niche Audience

Like it or not, kaiju films aren’t “mainstream.” The superhero genre managed to broaden its appeal, but kaiju have yet to do that. I don’t know why since there’s 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 don’t compare to the likes of Marvel fans.

4. Audience Doesn’t Know What It Wants

On a related note, the kaiju fanbase, at least in the States, can’t 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 there’s 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, he’ll 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. It’s 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 Universe’s 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. It’s been five years since Legendary’s Godzilla reboot. Yes, Kong: Skull Island came out in 2017, but it wasn’t marketed as part of the MonsterVerse. This stymied both recognition and momentum.

6. Critics’ Reviews…

While I previously wrote that review aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes have been given too much power, the fact remains that a film’s RT score can affect box office turnout. For better or worse, filmgoers will pay attention to the scores. It doesn’t always affect it, but it more often than not does.

7. …and the Fan Backlash

That being said, the fans attacking critics as hacks because of their negative reviews hasn’t boded well. While I can’t say for sure, many of their attempts to fight against the tide of bad reviews by saying, “It’s a Godzilla film! It’s supposed to be stupid!” isn’t 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 “make an A+ movie.” There were several reasons why this might’ve happened, but that’s 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?

Blog

Godzilla vs. Rotten Tomatoes: A Balanced Response

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 didn’t.

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 “hacks” who didn’t know what they were talking about, who just didn’t understand the genre or Godzilla. While many fans—including myself—said King of the Monsters wasn’t what critics claimed it was, others stamped their feet, crossed their arms, and said, “I like because it’s bad like all the other Godzilla films!”

Even Godzilla is shocked by his some of his fans’ behavior.

To be honest, I’m not all that surprised. These fans have spent years defending their enjoyment of giant monsters—or perhaps even hid it—when many people relegated such fare to schlock. That’d put a huge chip on anybody’s shoulders. While other “nerdy” genres like superheroes have gone mainstream, the kaiju genre is still trying to gain wide acceptance. I don’t know if it ever will. Regardless, I think much of this pushback from Godzilla fans stems from their defensiveness. Like many nerds, they’ve made their fandom a huge part of their lives, and when they think it’s being attacked, they see it as an attack upon themselves.

This isn’t to say that the fans don’t 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. “Tomatometer” scores can make or break a film now. At least, that’s what many movie executives fear. An aggregate of bad reviews could destroy the millions of dollars they invested in a film. That’s why they brag whenever one of their movies has a high RT rating. The problem is people aren’t engaging with the reviews; they’re just looking at the score and not reading what was said. They don’t realize that RT’s system a critic only has to answer a yes or no question—“Is it ‘fresh’?”—before posting a review on the site. A rating of three out of five will count as “fresh,” so even a “B-” or “C+” 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. I’m 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 don’t appreciate it. There’s some truth to that as I’ve 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 there’s too much time given to the monsters (I disagree, but I digress). Who wouldn’t pull their hair out? It doesn’t seem possible to please them.

But do fans know what makes a great kaiju film? I’ve often heard fans say that they want a film that’s 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 “knuckle draggers”). In some ways it seems hypocritical. They fight against non-fans labeling the films “trash” while advocating for movies that are empty spectacle. As one YouTuber put it, fans like the “social commentaries of the Japanese films, but when it comes to American films, they just want Godzilla to eat buildings and punch monsters.” I’ll be the first person to argue that there is substance—often profound substance—in these films. Even the so-called “silly ones.” That’s why it vexes me to hear such talk from fans. It’s especially annoying because they’re basically saying, “This movie is nonstop action with human characters I don’t care about, so I love it for the reasons critics hate it! Boo-yah!” It’s 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. It’s just that, for whatever reason—be it experience, education, position, or whatnot—we 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 “sarcasm sign” here). While fans have wanted to drop Oxygen Destroyers in critics’ laps this week, if their reviews had been positive, I have no doubt they would’ve 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 don’t. They enjoyed it based on their own criteria. One man’s trash is another man’s 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 it’s 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.

I’m gonna have a lot more to talk about on the King of the Monsters G-Fest panel than I thought.

What do you think? Is Rotten Tomatoes helping or hindering films, filmgoers, and/or film criticism? How so?

Review, Blog

Lost and Now Found: A Review of “Kong Unmade” by John LeMay

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 “lost films” of the granddaddy of all kaiju, King Kong, with Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island.

While Kong’s 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. It’s 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 would’ve been a “midquel” 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 would’ve 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 rematch—cleverly titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla­­—was written that would’ve had Kong become a surrogate father to a lost infant. And that’s just a few examples!

Essays on these lost films aren’t all that’s in this new volume. There are “bonus reviews” and “development of” 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 Glut’s Tor films and what would’ve been an animated sequel to King Kong Lives featuring Kong’s son (who would’ve 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 don’t get a full-length chapter, they’re included in one of the book’s several appendices.

One improvement over LeMay’s 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 don’t have captions, it isn’t apparent that they’re 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, “This book has been discarded by the Skull Island Public Library.” They’re 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 could’ve been edited and proofread a bit better, but this is coming from someone who spends a lot of time editing in his work, so it’s hard for me to miss.

For fans of Kong, kaiju, film history, and/or LeMay, this is a must-read!

Five Stars out of Five.

Blog

Living with Imposter Syndrome

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 doesn’t remember the Beatles, so he takes credit for their songs to get rich and famous. In other words, he’s 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.

To see the full comic strip, go here:
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7054961/what-it-feels-like-to-have-imposter-syndrome .

This is called Imposter Syndrome. In a nutshell, it’s the fear that one doesn’t deserve their accolades and accomplishments and will exposed as a “fraud.” That’s how I felt after getting A’s on both of my final papers this past semester—which were about kaiju and superheroes—because I thought they either weren’t 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 I’m an “excellent teacher” given my success as a graduate teaching assistant.

You’d think I’d read/hear all of this and say, “I must be good at this school thing,” but instead I make excuses for why it’s not that impressive. Those include 1) my aforementioned inferior grades in undergrad, 2) people saying the university I’m attending isn’t that hard (there was once a joke that said its acronym stood for “I Paid For What?!”), and 3) feeling like I’m not as well-read as others and have to hide the fact that I haven’t 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 is—if I may take the risk of being a little vulnerable—I’ve struggled with self-confidence most of my life. Even if my performance and/or ability was exceptional, I felt like it didn’t measure up to people’s expectations. I could and would still be rejected, and I frequently was. As I grew older, I started playing the “comparison game,” and since I tended to befriend really intelligent people, I felt like I was the “dumb one” in the “smart group” (not realizing that this still made me smarter than most people). I mean, when you hang out with Nick Hayden, who I’ve described as an intellectual One-Punch Man (he got a nearly perfect score in two years of Greek classes—and he took it for fun!), it’s hard to think your knowledge and writing is up to snuff. (What’s 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 isn’t recognized as a mental illness, although many of its symptoms, like depression, are seen as such. Those can be treated, but that won’t cure it. A pill can’t 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, it’s 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?

News, Appearances, Announcements, Blog

My Toho Screenwriter Panel was Accepted by G-Fest!

It’s been a while, hasn’t 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 you’ve been following me on social media, though, you know that I’ve picked up on writing Hope’s 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 summer….

A few months ago I wrote that I would be going to G-Fest XXVI but as a panelist and not a vendor. I’ll once again be part of “The Art of Kaiju Writing” panel and joining the panel discussion of the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters. More importantly, though…

Promotional image for G-Fest XXVI. (Courtesy of www.G-Fan.com).

I’M 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 studio’s 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.

Here’s the description of the panel you’ll see in the convention program:

Most of Toho’s classic tokusatsu films started with scripts penned by the Showa era creative team’s 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.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about doing this. Danny is a tremendous writer and one of the most infectiously enthusiastic fans I’ve ever met, so it’ll be a great presentation. Be there or be square!

Here’s my panel schedule:

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

Learn more about G-Fest here.

A Man from Another Time Exploring Another Universe