Godzilla, like Conan and Tarzan, is in the Marvel Universe
Posted: September 1, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Comic Books, Conan, Godzilla, Illustration, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Tarzan Leave a commentJapan Literally Just Made Godzilla an Official Japan Resident & Tourism Ambassador
Posted: December 10, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, Entertainment, Global, Japan | Tags: African Press Organization, Anime News Network, China, Godzilla, Japan, Lindsey Patterson, Movies, Shinji Higuchi, Toho, Tokyo, United States, World War II, Yutaka Takenouchi Leave a comment
Image by Flickr
Lindsey Patterson writes: Japan has made a bold move, making Godzilla an official resident. It’s unknown if Godzilla sightings will be a daily occurrence, however, many local businesses wouldn’t mind. It’s believed by many that fortune follows any place that is destroyed in a Godzilla film. Hopefully, they’re providing room and board for him as well because nobody wants to rent to a monster that’s always destroying cities. There has been no comment from Godzilla’s new neighbors but it’s suspected that his destructive life has been left behind, only to be utilized for his film career. Making Godzilla an official resident of Japan could be seen as claiming Godzilla, their own creation, and letting the United States know that they are only temporarily borrowing the idea for a couple of movies.
Born in 1954, it’s taken long enough for his residency paperwork to go through. Shinjuku also made copies of Godzilla’s residency plaque, for the first 3,000 fans that demanded proof of his residency.
The plaque of Godzilla’s residency reads:
“Name: Godzilla
Address: Shinjuku-ku, Kabuki-cho, 1-19-1
Date of birth: April 9, 1954
Date of becoming a Shinjuku resident: April 9, 2015
Reason for special residency: Promoting the entertainment of and watching over the Kabuki-cho neighborhood and drawing visitors from around the globe in the form of the Godzilla head built atop the Shinjuku TOHO Building.
Previous visits to Shinjuku Ward: 3 times; Godzilla (1984), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah(1991), Godzilla 2000 Millennium (1999)”

Image by Flickr
Shinjuku, a neighborhood in Tokyo, is home to Toho Cinemas. Toho Cinemas, the company that makes the Godzilla movies, erected a giant Godzilla head on their building, which is sure to make for some amazing Japan tour pictures. It is complete with glowing eyes and claws, making it stand out against the night sky. Not only is there a giant Godzilla head, but it’s animated as well. He roars and comes equipped with Atomic breath, too. Soon after the Godzilla head was erected, a ceremony was held, naming Godzilla the local Tourism Ambassador for the area and even awarded a plaque of appreciation. Surely, Godzilla plays an active role on day-to-day lives in the area. Japan tour guides won’t be complaining either. It’s likely that assigning Godzilla these new responsibilities will ensure higher tourism rates for the Shinjuku area, and possibly all of Japan.
It’s unknown if this move is related to the impending release of The first Japanese Godzilla movie in 12 years, but it’s likely that it is. Toho is planning on releasing the new Godzilla movie throughout Japan in 2016. It will be the first Japan produced Godzilla film since 2004 and should be expected to be a huge hit. The United States is planning an American Godzilla movie, to be released in 2018, it’s second attempt at taming the monster that Japan has perfected. The American Godzilla film did create a resurgence in fan support, making 3.2 billion yen ($26 million USD) in Japan alone and a whopping 57 billion yen ($470 million USD) worldwide. Toho is quoted as saying that they will be making “a film that will not bow down to the Hollywood film,” and is expecting to blow fans away graphics made possible by more recent technological advances. It isn’t surprising that Toho is not planning to link the new Japanese Godzilla film to the one made in the United States. The new Japanese Godzilla will stand alone. Does this mean that the cheesy style of the old Godzilla movies will be lost forever? Maybe. The styling of the new movies has not been released but, taking all things into consideration, fans will likely have to revisit their old favorites if they desire the original Japanese Godzilla feel.
[Image by Flickr]
It’s understandable why Godzilla is so dear to Japan. He is the embodiment of many historical moments that have effected Japan. He symbolizes the feelings that Japan had after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, being a mutation caused by nuclear testing in the Pacific. Despite the serious undertones of his origin, Godzilla has received several awards, including the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award and a star in Hollywood. It’s no wonder that’ during his residency and Ambassador ceremony, it was said that he is “the pride of Japan.
It’s unknown how much Godzilla’s salary has been effected by becoming Tourism Ambassador but he must be making movie star wages in Japan and the United States. Surely, he will be a lot busier this day, making movies, attending ceremonies, and possibly making the occasional appearance for Japan tourists, because why would anybody make a trip to Japan if seeing the great Godzilla isn’t a guarantee, right?
Happy Birthday to Godzilla, King of the Monsters, who Debuted Today in 1954
Posted: November 3, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Japan | Tags: Adventure, Cinema, Godzilla, Horror, Monsters, Movie Posters, Movies, Poster Art, suspense, Thriller Leave a comment31 Days of Horror, Vol. 4
Posted: October 29, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Adventure, Cinema, Classic Cinema, Godzilla, Hollywood, Horror, King Kong, Los Angeles, Movies, Mystery, Thriller, video, vintage, Warner 1 CommentLike many great things, it all begins with an ape.
Like many great things, it all begins with an ape. Earlier cinema may have included some oversized spectacles in the past, but it was the arrival of King Kong that created a whole new genre of horror—the giant monster movie. A smash success, Kong had few imitators until Ray Harryhausen, a protégé of Kong Special Effects master Willis O’Brien, adapted Ray Bradbury‘s The Lighthouse and brought forth The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (included in this earlier edition of our “31 Days of Horror” series).
Now the giant monster genie was truly out of the bottle, where it soon spawned parallel veins of monster movies. In the States, we explored our Cold War anxiety with a series of atom age monstrosities, while in Japan filmmakers used Godzilla and his fellow Kaiju (“strange beast”) to initially explore the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before taking a ’60s super heroic turn. And now, with the recent announcement of 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong from Legendary and Warner Bros., those two veins become one again!
This groundbreaking achievement in movie-making is not just a supreme icon in the realms of the films of the fantastic, it is rightly regarded as one of the best movies of all time, period. On a mysterious and dangerous island, a film producer captures a giant ape and brings him back to New York in the hopes of capitalizing on his prize.
Son of Kong (1933)
Released the same year as King Kong, sequel Son of Kong is a tribute to the prodigious skills of Willis O’Brien and company. The film opens on the day after King Kong fell, and Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), is facing financial ruin. Fleeing back to the South Pacific, Denham meets Hilda Peterson (Helen Mack), and the two find themselves again stranded on Skull Island, where Denham finds an unlikely, lovable ally in the Son of Kong. This lost treasure is coming to Blu-ray on October 27, both on its own or as part of Warner Home Video’s new Special Effects Collection.
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Lightning struck again when the team behind King Kong reunited to create another towering ape: Mr. Joseph Young. This simian may be shorter, but the SFX are just as Kong-sized. A slick nightclub owner (King Kong veteran Robert Armstrong) discovers the giant ape frolicking in Africa as the beloved pet of a young girl (Terry Moore). He brings both to Hollywood as a floor-show sensation, until some no-goods ply Joe with booze and the blitzed behemoth goes bonkers. Available on Blu-ray October 27, either on its own or in Warner Home Video’s new Special Effects Collection.
Them! (1954)
After The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms proved to be an enormous breakout success for Warner Bros., ever-capable director Gordon Douglas was tasked with delivering up “another Beast.” Although marketed in a similar fashion, the film that Douglas and his team delivered ended up being a whole other sort of giant monster movie—and an even bigger success. Part police procedural, part character drama, part military, Them! is 100% a Warner Bros. picture of the 1950s—and its stature only increases with age (no wonder it makes its Blu-ray debut October 27 and also appears on the Special Effects Collection Blu-ray set). Starring James Whitmore, James Arness and Edmund Gwenn, Them! begins in New Mexico with a child wandering in shock, a ransacked general store, and a battered corpse full of enough formic acid to kill 20 men. It ends with an epic struggle in the 700 miles of storm drains under Los Angeles.
The Black Scorpion (1957)
A lean budget goes a long way when the master of movie miracles, Willis O’Brien(King Kong), is on hand to deliver up the SFX. After unexpected seismic activity unleashes a swarm of stupendous scorpions from the bowels of the earth, a pair of geologists leads the vanguard tasked with dispatching them back. Co-starring Richard Denning (Creature from the Black Lagoon) and pin-up queen Mara Corday (Tarantula).
The Giant Behemoth (1957)
The horrors of the Atomic Age threaten Britain when thousands of lifeless fish wash up on its shores and fishermen are found dead at sea. Two scientists investigating these mysteries discover something far more frightening than their worst nightmares: a giant, radioactive sea creature horribly mutated by the effects of radiation staggers from beneath the ocean depths bringing death to every living thing in its path. Even worse, they realize the monster is heading for London! Read the rest of this entry »
Billiken Godzilla: Model Kit Box Art
Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Japan | Tags: Godzilla, graphics, Models, toys, vintage Leave a commentBilliken Godzilla, 1954 (Model Kit Box Art)
Japan’s Toho to Produce New ‘Godzilla’ Movie
Posted: December 7, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, Entertainment, Japan | Tags: Aaron Johnson (English actor), Academy Award, Cinema of Japan, Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Japan, Setagaya, Toho, Tokyo, World War II 1 CommentTOKYO — Mark Schilling reports: Ten years after “Godzilla: Final Wars,” the last Toho Godzilla movie, trampled across the screen, the Japanese studio is gearing up to make another film featuring its iconic character.
The movie is scheduled to begin production in the summer of 2015 and bow theatrically in 2016, Toho sources have revealed. Details, including director and cast, have yet to be announced.
The inspiration is the success of Gareth Edward’s 2014 “Godzilla,” which earned $525 million worldwide and JPY3.2 billion ($26 million) in Japan, with Toho and Warner Bros. Japan co-distributing.
Toho has launched what it calls the Godzilla Strategic Conference (Godzi-Con), a committee of studio executives and directors whose aim is to reboot the Godzilla brand, including the new “Godzilla” pic. Read the rest of this entry »
Sensationsfilmen: Godzilla
Posted: November 7, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Cinema, design, Fire-Breathing, Godzilla, Horror, Illustration, Poster Art, Thriller, typography, vintage 1 CommentThe impossible anatomy of Godzilla
Posted: May 16, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Cruise ship, Godzilla, Kaiju, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Mothra, Popular Mechanics, Toho 1 CommentThe impossible anatomy of Godzilla

Godzilla Remake Rebuke
Posted: May 14, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Gareth Edwards, Godzilla, Japan, Return of Godzilla, Roland Emmerich, Toho, Twitter, United States Leave a commentGodzilla-an attempt to disguise a screenplay’s idiocy by blanketing it in unremitting dullness http://t.co/W81jYWPh79 pic.twitter.com/WBST42CovX
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 14, 2014

[VIDEO] Godzilla 2014 Trailer With 1954 Gojira Footage
Posted: May 7, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, Education, Japan, Mediasphere | Tags: Arts, Bryan Cranston, Godzilla, Japan, Legendary Pictures, Monster, Toho, YouTube 1 Comment
Made in Japan: Vintage Godzilla
Posted: May 6, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment, Japan | Tags: Comic Books, Comics, design, Godzilla, Horror, Illustration, Sci-fi, Science fiction, toys, typography, vintage 1 CommentNeo-Vintage Poster of the Day: Inequality, King of Fictional Monsters
Posted: February 1, 2014 Filed under: Comics, Economics, Humor, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Comics, Democrats, Godzilla, Humor, Marxism, Obama, Progressivism, propaganda, Sci-fi, White House 1 CommentAmericanPowerBlog – Inequality Godzilla h/t Dead Citizen’s Rights Society