So for most of this past week, I’ve had to work 13 hour days since we’re short one staff member at SVA. Which means that I’ve mostly been sitting around surfing the web for hours and hours. It’s not healthy to say the least, hence why, even though my bronchitis is gone, I still can’t get rid of my nasty cough. But thankfully, there’s been tons of shit to dig through…
… I know this must be super old news, but I just found out that the newest Godzilla flick, Godzilla Final Wars (which is basically another Destroy All Monsters, which has him fighting virtually every other big rubber monster out there) which opens up tomorrow, is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura! This could be pretty fucking awesome. Granted, his films are all style and no substance, but replace the actors with rubber monsters and I don’t think anyone will really notice. As someone on the GAF put it best, “I hope there’s a scene where the camera rotates around Godzilla and another character for a minute like in his other movies. That NEVER gets old!”
But it gets better! Apparently, uber design-smith Kyle Cooper is working on the movie’s credits. Plus, there’s rumors that Hideo Kojima might be contributing in some unspecified manner. Kojima, as you all know, is the man behind Metal Gear Solid. You might all recall that it was Kitamura who re-directed the cinematics in Twin Snakes (too bad that game didn’t turn out so hot).
Though for most people, the big draw will be seeing the original Godzilla face off against the American version, which can be best described as a CGI abortion on the big screen. In the movie he’ll be called “Zilla.” Here’s some more info taken from a translated article from a few months back:
FW Update: Godzilla vs Zilla
Translation by Jim Figurski and Takashi Matsuda, August 27, 2004
Source: Sponichi
For the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla series, in the movie finale FINAL WARS, the American Godzilla will be making an appearance. The X-seijin who plan on conquering the earth, create and release a murderous kaiju called Zilla in Sydney, Australia. An all-out battle unfolds between Zilla and Godzilla. In this dream battle between the Japanese and American Godzilla, Kitamura said with confidence, “I wanted to do something that nobody would expect.”
The American Godzilla has a gigantic head, a long tail that makes you think of a lizard and thin limbs. After 6 years since its debut, it?s been revived. Now he challenges the Japanese Godzilla for the title of “Godzilla”.
Even in Japan, Godzilla (98? American version) was a hit, taking in around 30 million dollars. However, there was a controversy about the design regarding the pros and cons of it. Director Kitamura is one of the critics too, and says he can watch and enjoy the American Godzilla if he keeps in mind that this is not the real Godzilla. In order to have the Japanese Godzilla protect his own namesake, the American Godzilla was selected to do battle with him.
The production staff makes sure the rights to use Godzilla are exclusive to Toho. In America there are imitation products on the market that have the name”Zilla.”Producer Tomiyama has the ability to get rid of these products if he chooses to. Tomiyama thinks that the American Godzilla is a representation of these imitation products therefore he named the American Godzilla in FINAL WARS simply “Zilla”. The significance of this perfectly suits this kaiju who has had the word “God” taken out from the name “Godzilla”.
When Zilla appears in Sydney, humanity?s last hope is a revived Godzilla who is beneath the ice in Antarctica to do battle with it. The details of the battle are under wraps, but the Sydney street will be decimated. Kitamura, who studied film direction in Australia, said it would be an honor to have Godzilla destroy his second home.
“I want to compete with America. I want to overwhelm the American Godzilla (which is a symbol of CG) with the Japanese technique of suitmation,”says Kitamura. In the movie, Godzilla is made from a suit, and Zilla is made from CG. “I?m putting in the movie what people all over the world want…Zilla. I want to reach the height of the series and return Godzilla back to being strong and cool again. There are times also when Godzilla behaves affectionately and humorously which I think will make Roland Emmerich laugh if he sees this movie,” Kitamura says with confidence. FINAL WARS opens December 4th.
… Check this out: a Karate Kid musical.
Seriously, this shit has to stop. How many times this year alone have we seen yet another 80′s movie turned into play to cash in on nostalgia. I suppose I would object if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone in these productions weren’t so fucking actor-ish. I’m all for colorblind casting, but having this guy as Mr. Miyagi is pretty fucking ridiculous…
Plus this guy looks way too much like Billy Zane….
Actually, I’m sorta of a fan of the guy, but the world only needs one Billy Zane.
… Remember that really cool commercial for the transforming car that I linked to a whiles back? Well here’s an article about it. And would you believe that everything was computer generated? Those environments look insane.
Then a person showed me this, which is also pretty damn cool. Hey, it’s the guy from Appleseed!
… Everyone, meet my new hero. Or is it maybe this guy? Sorry, but it’s definietely this guy:
… So this week I stumbled across some new chiptune musicians. First is YMCK. And by digging around their site, I came across Blasterhead, Covox, MIDR2 (who has a great cover of the main tune in the Goonies game), and the very awesome GOTO80.
… Also this week, my friend (and future collaborator) Barry has a new book that just came out this week. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to be a super-hero, but doesn’t know how.
… In video game news, the original PlayStation turns 10 today. Holy shit do I feel old. Plus, check out this killer screen shot from Lumines. Dear God does it look beautiful.
… As for the rest of the week, nothing too exciting to report. Last night, I taught Kitty how to do soul brother handshakes (she’s originally from the far east). Today, there was a pretty interesting conversation with my boss and coworkers regarding people who masturbate in public, which lead into a conversation into mole people. On, and I did see some women in bikinis toss around a beach ball on 23rd Street the other day.
… And I really don’t like to talk about too much personal personal stuff here, but I guess you can say that MK & I are “official.”
