Honda on the set of 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.
One unique and unusual
aspect of my current semester of grad school is I’m doing my first ever
independent study. Specifically, a study on several films directed by Ishiro
Honda, the lauded director of many Godzilla films. It took a little work to
convince my university’s resident film professor (and most reclusive man in the
English department) to do this with me, but he agreed. Not only that, but he
actually liked the first film I wrote about in this study, 1955’s Half Human, and said the cinematography
reminded him of Akira Kurosawa! I’m excited to be introducing him to films he
isn’t familiar with.
One fun thing about this
is I got to write my own syllabus for it. Here’s an excerpt:
Objective: The goal of this study is examine six films directed by Ishiro Honda and connect their stories to contemporaneous cultural and historical events in Japan. Films are never made in a vacuum, and knowing and understanding their original contexts is vital to appreciating them.
There will be a special focus on discriminated people groups in this study since half of the films being covered will involve such groups.
While Honda is best known for his Godzilla films, I will be focusing on several of his non-Godzilla genre pictures spanning a ten-year period that included what’s considered the “golden age” of Toho tokusatsu (special effects) filmmaking. Honda also directed dramas, war epics, and light comedies, but these films are sadly unavailable in the U.S. currently.
The films and related
topics I’ll be examining are Half Human/The Ainu; The Mysterians/Japan and the U.N.; Varan the Unbelievable/The Burakumin; Atragon/Japanese WWII holdovers and the
resurgence of Japanese nationalism; Matango/Japan’s
newfound opulence;and Frankenstein
Conquers the World/The
Hibakusha.
This came about because I
wanted to fill a few credit hours and make the research I’m doing for my new
podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault,
count as school credit. Because why not?
There are reasons why
grad school might be the best thing in my life right now. J
I will be tabling at a small
convention, and I have applied to table at another local author event. Both
will be in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The first will be Fantasticon Fort Wayne, which is being held September 21-22, 2019. Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel and my co-author on the 42 books, will also be there, but we’re not tabling together. The con announced that they would be selling five heavily-discounted tables last week, so I jumped at the opportunity. I wasn’t sure I’d snag a table, but I got lucky (or was “blessed,” if you’re the religious type). I’ll be selling and signing my books (although Eric will be selling the 42, so get them from him) and promoting my upcoming podcast The Monster Island Film Vault, which is launching September 25.
According to the
convention’s website,
Fantasticon is a mid-size show created for true comic book and pop culture collectors and fans. The fans that come to our shows are true collectors that are looking for those rare items for their personal collections. Most leave very satisfied as we pride ourselves on having great dealers and artists at our shows. If you collect it, you will find it at a Fantasticon Show.
Fantasticon is proud to have a presence in multiple cities throughout the mid-west. Currently we are in five different cities, in three different states including Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
We also, are very proud of the fact that our admission price is the lowest of any other comparable shows. And the cost for being an exhibitor or artist at the Fantasticon is far less than any comparable comic cons out there.
While I haven’t received a
confirmation yet, I have applied to table to table at the annual Local Author
Book Fair, which will be held November
30, 2019, from 10am-4pm at the main branch of the Allen County Public Library. Find
out more info here
on ACPL’s blog.
Today’s blog will be a
little personal and a lot
theological. This isn’t new for me, but if you’re not interested in such
things, I won’t mind if you skip it. However, it’ll tackle a cautionary tale of
a writer’s influence. In this case, Joshua Harris.
For those who don’t know, Harris wrote and published an infamous book at age 21 in 1997 called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It was an instant sensation, selling over a million copies. Unfortunately, as the trailer for Harris’ recent documentary on the book’s influence says, “The best-seller became the Bible for Christian romance.” He wrote a follow-up a few years later titled Boy Meets Girl since by that point he’d gotten married.
The cover to his infamous book, which was published in 1997.
Fast forward two decades. In 2016, Harris announced that he regretted writing the book because of the influx of letters he’d received from people who were hurt by his advice. He realized, among other things,
In trying to warn people of the potential pitfalls of dating, it instilled fear for some—fear of making mistakes or having their heart broken. The book also gave some the impression that a certain methodology of relationships would deliver a happy ever-after ending—a great marriage, a great sex life—even though this is not promised by scripture.
The poster for Harris’ new documentary.
This is prompted him to make the aforementioned documentary, I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and take this book and the sequel out of print.
Things got worse last month. He announced on his Instgram that he was divorcing his wife. A few days later in another post, he confessed,
I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.
There’s been a lot of talk in Christian culture about this, and understandably so. Harris’ influence was pervasive. I myself didn’t read his first book (I thought the idea was dumb), but I did read his second because I thought it had more legitimacy. I’m sure he gave most of the same advice. While I always balked at the idea of “not dating” and letting God providentially give you a spouse, these ideas became so common in the church, I think I absorbed some of them by osmosis. I was young and impressionable and hadn’t yet learned critical thinking skills (well, at least when it came to things espoused by other Christians). Do I count myself as one of the people hurt by Harris’ teachings? Yes, but I was hurt by his “splash damage” (to use a gaming term) and not directly wounded. I’ve been working hard to shed my old thinking for a long time.
Harris has admitted he’s a recovering legalist. He took the strict rules of the crazy, stereotype-creating spheres of homeschooling (#NotAllHomeschoolers) and made them mainstream. Legalism is always destructive. The problem is rules are easier to preach, teach, and enforce than comparatively nebulous principles. Jesus said to “love your neighbor.” That begs questions like, “Who is my neighbor?” and “How do I love them?” Rules regulate behavior. Principles guide motivations. That’s why Jesus spoke against legalism and “religiousness” more than anything else. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. He makes it clear that adultery is an action that stems from lust, which occurs in the heart. It wasn’t enough to stop the actions; the internal sin has to be quelled first.
Legalism frequently drives people away from Christianity. Such an emphasis is placed on rules that it robs churchgoers or young Christians of any joy. I’ve heard countless stories of this. I’m sure the seemingly extreme methods Harris advocated drove people away. It created not only tremendous pressure on young people, but an atmosphere of parental and liturgical tyranny and hypocrisy. Teens weren’t allowed to do the usually innocent things their parents did growing up. “Do as I say and not as I did.” Maybe those parents made mistakes and had good intentions, but as the old saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Knowing all of this, it’s no surprise Harris’ life has turned out the way it has. His personal brand of legalism wrecked many people, possibly led to his divorce, and eventually drove him to abandon Christianity. It took twenty years for it to happen, but those consequences caught up with him. Now more than ever the rotten fruit of Harris’ teachings and those of the so-called “Purity Culture” are being reaped. Personally, I think recent events have invalidated all of books (or at least his books on dating and courtship). Regardless, I do hope and pray he finds his way back to the faith.
This should give writers pause for concern. Your words have power. The power to influence. That’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” What we pen will guide and direct the hearts and minds of our readers. This is why parents often attack rappers, filmmakers, and video games after a school shooting: they think their products made kids go on murder sprees. (Perhaps that’s a bad example). My point is the knowledge and advice we share as writers, which in a way makes us teachers, creates culture and thoughts. Yes, we can’t control how people will respond to what we write and say, but we still yield tremendous power on our readers.
And as the late great Stan Lee wrote, “With power there must also come great responsibility.”
What do you think of the Josh Harris
news? Are you surprised? Why or why not? Did you read his books? How did they
influence you?
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.
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!
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.
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 aren’t 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
world’s 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.
It dawned on me that I’ve been on a lot more podcasts since the last time
I indexed them, so I figured I’d update that list for all of you. For most of
these, I appeared as a guest or guest host, discussing everything from
storytelling to video games to Godzilla (no surprise, right? Heck, I’ve kinda
become the “kaiju guy” in most of my circles, and with good reason).
Admittedly, there are few not listed here. I recorded a podcast with
Zachery Oliver for “Theology Gaming” that was lost when he had computer
problems. The same thing happened with “The Bestselling Fiction Podcast” hosted
by Dan Dynneson.
Titles with an asterisk (*) were on the original list.
Happy listening!
Kaijuvision Radio
This is a podcast I co-created with Brian Scherschell on “the appreciation of giant monster movies and the discovery of their historical and cultural value.” I was the co-host for season one (episodes 1-36 plus two interviews), but sadly I had to step down before season two. I’m proud of the work I did on the show, so I obviously I’d love it if all of you listened to it. Even if you’re not into kaiju but enjoy learning about Japan, it’s a great podcast to listen to. Here’s the website.
Geek Devotions
(NEW!) This is a ministry headed by Dallas and Celeste Mora—“a pair of devoted geeks devoted to letting people know they are loved”—that uses nerd culture as outreach. They have a podcast, Comm Talk, a YouTube channel, and a website. Dallas was one of KVR’s first fans and promoters, so he invited us onto the YouTube channel for an interview as part of King of the Monsters Month in October 2017.
The Weekly Hijack* A “spin-off” podcast from “Derailed Trains of Thought” that discusses TV shows. -Episode 27: Doctor Who – The Magician’s Apprentice – I discuss the season nine premiere of Doctor Who with Nick Hayden, Tim Deal, and several others. (Scroll through the episode listing to find it).
Strangers and Aliens A show about faith, fantasy, and science fiction co-hosted by my buddy Ben Avery, who’s a comic writer
Theology Gaming University* A show about Christianity and video games.
–Podcast #58 – Video Games Inspiring Other Media – Theology Gaming – My friend Eric Anderson and I discuss video game adaptations to other media with host Zachery Oliver. –Podcast #62 – I discuss why gamers replay video games they’ve already played with host Zachery Oliver and TGU regular Bryan Hall. –TG Sessions #9 – Cheapness (I.e., You’re Not Special) – Zachery Oliver and I discuss what makes certain things “cheap” in both single-player and multiplayer video games. –TG Sessions #10 – Batman’s Fifty Shades of White Privilege – Remember when this video made me a troll magnet? I also incurred the wrath of trolls about an essay I wrote for TGU. Zachery Oliver and I discuss all of this. –Podcast #72 – One in a Mijinion – I join Zachery Oliver and Roberto Iraheta 20 minutes in, and in our ramblings we set out to solve a very important mystery: What the heck is an Infinity Mijinion? (In case you don’t know, that’s a Mega Man boss).
Forever Classic Podcast (NEW!) This is a show
that “seeks enlightenment through video games” started by my former colleague
Alex McCumbers (from my GigaGeek Magazine
days). Here’s their main website.
–Episode 11: Kaiju Games With Nathan Marchand –
Remember what I said about being the kaiju guy? Anyway, Alex invited me on to
talk about two of my favorite things: giant monsters and video games. We
discuss existing kaiju games—past and present—and what we think would make for
a great kaiju game.
Redeemed Otaku (NEW!) A podcast created and hosted by Bex Smith that seeks to “redeem your love for anime by turning to the truth found only in God’s Word.” Follow the show on Facebook and Twitter.
–42 – My co-author Eric Anderson and I are interviewed about our nerd/geek devotional, 42: Discovering Faith through Fandom. –Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters – Bex has me on to discuss/review part one of the Godzilla anime trilogy. Being that its kaiju and anime, it was the perfect crossover. –Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle – I return to Redeemed Otaku—this time joined by my fellow Godzilla fan Eric Anderson—to discuss/review part two of the Godzilla anime trilogy (that has a title weirdly similar to a class Star Trek episode). –Godzilla: The Planet Eater – In one of the best English-language analyses of the entire Godzilla anime trilogy, Bex, Eric, and I breakdown part three and put the other films into perspective. It truly is the best episode of Redeemed Otaku yet! (Don’t take my word for it—that’s what Bex said!)
This makes me miss having my own
podcast.
Do you have a podcast? What’s it
about? Would you be interested in having me on?
I
haven’t blogged in several months. Wow. Grad school (and other things) ate up
that much of my time. This shall be remedied!
I’m keeping it simple
today, but this is something I’ve been meaning to mention for a while. I have
several appearances scheduled for this spring and summer that I wanted to make
sure you knew about, True Believers. Keep in mind, though: This list is subject
to change. I could easily add (or subtract) more as the year progresses.
Regardless…
MuskeCon 3.0
A small and relatively
new comic and toy convention held in Muskegon, Michigan. I’ll be tabling there
next door to my friend/co-author Eric
Anderson. It’ll be a big deal because we plan to unveil our second
nerd/geek devotional, The New 42: God
Terraforms All Things, at the show. (More details to follow). The show will
be held March 23, 2019, from 10AM-6PM at
the Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor.
You can learn more about
the show on its Facebook
page.
G-Fest XXVI
I plan to make my third trip to America’s premiere Godzilla and kaiju convention, which will be held July-12-14, 2019, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. I won’t be tabling there, but I’ll be part of several panels, and I’ve applied to host my own (again, more details to follow). I’ll have books with me to sell, though, in case anyone wants to buy some.
Learn more about the show
on its website.
(Early bird pricing ends February 28!)
Gen-Con 52
It wouldn’t be summer
without a trip to Gen-Con! I make my eighth straight appearance to “the Four
Best Days in Gaming” Aug. 1-4, 2019, at
the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. I’ll be tabling in
their Authors Avenue, selling and signing books, as usual, but I’ll be making
the rounds to some events throughout the weekend, too. Hopefully, Eric Anderson
and many of my other friends/writers will be joining me.
So, on the last day of
2018, I’ve decided to look ahead to 2019 with a few important goals. I took
some much-needed big steps forward in 2018, and I want to keep that momentum
going. My creative goals include:
-Getting
one or two new books in print (the publishing industry could only be slower if
it was run by sloths).
-Write
a stand-alone novel…
-,,,to
get a literary agent (apologies to my readers who want those promised sequels
soon).
-Finish
my second and third semesters of grad school.
