Lost In Space

1) I loved Lost in Space when I was a kid.
2) Lost in Space came out as a movie in 1998, that fabled year. Despite it being pretty bad, I liked it and it came out during my peak geek period.
3) I'm pretty excited for the latest version which had a teaser released today
4) I'm really just not in the mood to blog properly today so... this is sort of cheating but it's still content so it totally counts!

Shin Godzilla!

After waiting for far too long I got my hands on Shin Godzilla, the Japanese Godzilla reboot.

It is a very strange movie in that it was both fantastic and rubbish at the same time. The effects were, being typically Godzilla, initially terrible. But as the movie progressed and Godzilla took his full form they became quite awesome (there's a scene when Godzilla is hit by several bomb ladened trains and it just as awesome as that sounds). And, as this was an attempt to show how the modern world would react to Godzilla's emergence, there's none of the cheap get-out "It's so dark you can't really see Godzilla" shots (looks at Legendary's Godzilla with gentle scorn). This is the Godzilla we needed. 

Storyline wise it is a bit of a let down. It's actually, basically, a political drama. Even allowing for the Japanese culture, the characters are very staid and dull. However... not only does it touch on the pain of nuclear catastrophe and harking back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki (in keeping with the original Godzilla) but also it has some pretty cutting remarks on the relationship of Japan to the rest of the world. 

I'm, coincidentally, reading Embracing Defeat which sort of suggests the "Allied" (US) occupation of Japan never ended. This movie plays to those themes and strikes a, to an outsiders ears, nationalist pose. Nationalism has a strong history in Japan and it is amazing to think that they've allowed themselves to be very much a client state of the US into the current era despite that, often worrying, nationalist streak. Anyway... it is very interesting to see those themes played out on the screen even if there's a tinge of concern. 

See... Godzilla isn't just a silly monster flick. Sadly, despite some promise in this movie under the brutally dull script, there is unlikely to be a sequel any time soon due to the agreement Toho has with Legendary who are bizarrely constructing their Monsterverse around their own version of Godzilla

Take away scene: seeing the wave Godzilla creates wash in to Tokyo carrying with it boats. A terrifying image in the way of the 2011 tsunami.

Ready Player One

So yesterday I did a quick look at my Second Life. There is a reason I returned to SL and that reason is even geekier than SL itself. Ready Player One.

About two years ago I read Ready Player One and instantly thought of Second Life. But Jim has installed Linux on my laptop and, being an idiot, there was no way I was going to figure out how to install SL on to that laptop. So it was quickly forgotten again. Then back in May I was reading it a second time when I got a nice bonus come through and I bought myself a new (Windows) laptop.

And that is how I got the addiction back. Now, of course, I was aware a movie was coming up but I was sceptical as to how good it'd be. However the trailers have impressed me and now I totally excited for it! It looks fantastic!



The level of detail, in terms of geeky references, totally matches the (at times annoying) level found in the book itself. Can't wait, check out this video which shows some of the awesome 80s stuff coming our way!

Como te gusta mi pinga

Brings back nice memories of watching Trick when I was but a young lad.

Roy Scheider Dies At 75

I was very sad to hear that Roy Scheider has died. Jaws and Jaws 2 are in my top twenty favourite movies of all time, with Jaws somewhere in the ever changing top three. Roy Scheider MADE those movies. Without him they would have been soulless pap.

Not only that but he also starred in one of my favourite series back when I was small... Seaquest DSV.



He shall be missed!