MeccaGodZilla - ISA VIOLET feat. DJ Hibi Bliss (Official Music Video)

[Destroy All Headphones®] MeccaGodZilla – ERROARS 2.2: Metal Sakura

 

MeccaGodZilla's ERROARS 2.2: Metal Sakura is eighteen tracks of neck snappin', boom-bappin' G-funk. And I don't mean "G" as in "gansta", kiddies. I mean "G" as in... "Gojira". Or maybe it might be much more accurately described as eighteen tracks of E-funk, as in "electronic" and "experimental". Or how about eighteen tracks of I-funk? As in "instrumental" and "intergalactic", or...

Yeah, it's just that difficult to categorize this joint. And this is because ERROARS 2.2: Metal Sakura is all of those things and more. But it should also be mentioned now that the album is also quite good. (Which, by the way, is another adjective that begins with the letter "G".)

If your ears are tuned in to the next level-ish frequencies of music makers like Flying Lotus, DJ Spooky, MeLo-X, and others, then do yourself a big, fat favor and check out MeccaGodZilla's ERROARS 2.2: Metal Sakura. [Sample: "ISA AMBER", "Raye 6.4" and "3rd Ai"] 

Darryl “King of Rock” McDaniels rocks comic book shops this fall with the ‘DMC’ graphic novel

Since 1983 (wayyy back in the day), when the cover of Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk" 12-inch single hopped from record shop shelves with the pop art-influenced style of a Marvel comic book, and the fictional graffiti writer Ramo explained to the young b-boy Lee in 1984’s Beat Street that he learned to draw by tracing from the pages of DC comics, it's been ‘overstood’ that the hip-hop generation grew up reading, and loving, comic books.

From memorable lines in the 1984 song “Jam On It”, which vividly detail a make-believe sound system battle between Superman and the funk-rap group Newcleus, to comic book and graffiti artist Lamour Supreme (Zen the Intergalactic Ninja) applying his distinctive art style to the cover of 2013's Wu-Tang affiliated album Czarface, it seems that hip-hop has never passed up on the chance to 'show and prove' its love of the comics genre. And this never-ending love affair comes full circle again this fall with the release of the much-awaited graphic novel DMC.

DMC is the inaugural title slated for fall release from Darryl Makes Comics, the upstart publishing imprint founded by Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of the pioneering rap trio Run-DMC. The book is the realization of a childhood dream for the legendary rapper who once proudly boasted in a verse “I’m DMC, I can draw!” (The lyric can be heard in its proper context, along with its rhythmic, back-and-forth rhyme components, in the closing verse of the title song on 1985's platinum-selling album King of Rock.)

DMC, however, didn't dust off his pencils to illustrate the eponymous graphic novel he wrote with Damion Scott (Batgirl) and Ronald Wimberly (Prince of Cats). The art for each of the book's five chapters were neatly divided between the skilled drawing hands of Chase Conley (Black Dynamite), Jeff Stokely (Six-Gun Gorilla), Felipe Smith (Peepa Choo), Mike and Mark Davis aka the Mad Twiinz (Black Dynamite, Boondocks) and Shawn Crystal (Uncanny X-Men). Chris Sotomayor (Birds of Prey) handled the coloring, and the cover was drawn by comic book legend Sal Buscema with graffiti legend MARE 139, and inks by veteran inker Bob Wiacek.

The all-star lineup of talent pooled from the old school and new school worlds of comic book art, graffiti writing and TV animation ensures that DMC will be a one of a kind graphic novel worthy of the iconic name of a hip-hop legend. To learn more about the project, including a detailed synopsis and a glimpse at preview pages from each chapter, scoot over to the Previews website by clicking here. And if that link isn't enough to quell your excitement until DMC finally hits the shelves on October 29th, make sure to visit the official Darryl Makes Comics website by clicking here.

Monster Island Daydreams – The Art of Kiska Zilla

You've never met an artist like the appropriately monikered Kiska Zilla. That's because Ms. Kiska is like some crazy figment of the still somewhat immature (male) imagination. A haunting phantasm returned from some ancient, afternoon daydream. You know, the kind of chick that even the above-average-type guy couldn't begin to imagine actually exists. So he sends his mind off pacing into the sometimes-visited confines of the Make-A-Dreamgirl® workshop to make her up himself. 

And while standing before the dry erase board at M-A-D, said above average guy's mind marks out an outline that gradually becomes fleshed out into a slim, hoodie wearin' honey with tattoo-inked arms. A very odd sort of woman who treasures comic books and who adores Japanese daikaiju flicks. One who intricately doodles rifle-carrying Care Bears and crazed scientists in her "sketchbook of doom." And who can bomb the crap outta' warehouse walls with gorgeous graffiti. A creature as seemingly fictitious to our existence as a #@$%ing unicorn; an artist like the distressingly real Kiska Zilla, a talent too monstrously cool to be true.

[Book Report] Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is a lot more serious than it looks

Do not be fooled by the nonsensical-looking title or by the sugary sweet image of a sailor suit-clad schoolgirl wearing a moo cow headdress and a...mechanized udder. Johnathan Clements' Schoolgirl Milky Crisis (2009) is actually serious business.

Well, as serious as a 400-page collection of writings on the multi-million dollar businesses of Japanese animation, manga, and giant monster flicks can be.

From the pastel-colored front cover to the pastel-colored back cover, Clements fills the pages of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis with informative glimpses into the overlapping realms of Asian popular entertainment that most fans from the West will only get to dream about.

From the pampered life of an anime voice actress to the anime industry-crushing ambitions of a film studio owner from China––to the surprising censorship-related reasons why "tentacles" became so prevalent in anime erotica and several thought-provoking conversations with some of today's best-known makers of animation in Japan, Clements covers three continent's worth of fascinating territory.

The writing is well informed, engaging and immensely educational. But that should probably be expected from the very same author that gave fandom the Anime Encyclopedia, right? Highly recommended.

Akira Ifukube – King Kong vs Godzilla (Main Theme)

Music by Akira Ifukube
Montage by CCM

Toho Master Collection DVD Releases Show Masterful Attention To Detail

Hey there.

Thanks for visiting.

The pulse-pounding post you're probably here looking for has been remixed and remastered with updated history and new pix. You can find the updated post by clicking here.

Gamera Gashapon Figures by Konami*

Since his 1965 film debut, Japan's giant flying turtle Gamera has been a monster movie fan favorite second only in popularity to Godzilla. In the US during the 1970s, Gamera flicks often provided Saturday matinee "creature feature" fare for kids across the country. In recognition of 40-plus years of such monster mashing mayhem, Konami Toys has made kawaii (cute) 3" versions of Gamera and four of his best known bad guys. Choose between Gamera, Guiron, Viras, Zigra and Gyaos. Get 'em from fine vinyl vendors like destructiontoys.com!

*Originally published in Kung Fu Grip! #1 (2004)

Mill Creek's 'Gamera Legacy Collection': A DVD box set for the serious giant monster movie collector

This review is from: Gamera Legacy Collection (DVD)

A few weeks prior to its April 29th release date, I was browsing around on Amazon and learned that the release of a new Gamera box set was right around the proverbial corner. I was excited by this news and pleased to see that Mill Creek was responsible for the production of this DVD set. Those folks have given hardcore Japanese giant robot show fans like myself excellent collections of old tokusatsu (special effects) programs like Super Robot Red Baron, Iron King and, best of all, Ultraman.

Having first seen them as rentals, for many years I had wanted to have in my library the Heisei era Gamera films that were made between 1995 and 1999. Prior to their inclusion in Mill Creek’s Gamera Legacy Collection, those films had been previously released in a super affordable Gamera Trilogy Blu-ray box set, also produced by Mill Creek. I, however, don’t own a Blu-ray player and wasn’t ready to scoot out to get one just so that I could finally have the aforementioned films in my video library.

As it often does, though, the heavenly virtue that is patience paid off and I now have all three of the 1990s Gamera films in DVD format. But I also have a whole lot more, and all for a really great price. In addition to those films, Mill Creek’s Gamera Legacy Collection gives me all eight of the Showa era Gamera films made between 1965 and 1980. As a kid growing up in Chicago in the 1970s, I had actually only seen four of those on TV.

When they were released roughly a decade ago, I bought the Alpha Video releases of Gamera the Invincible, Attack of the Monsters, Destroy All Planets, and War of the Monsters, which completed my small collection of the four versions I once saw on TV as a kid. And, since I already owned those, I was pleased to learn that Mill Creek was releasing all of the Gamera films in the original Japanese with subtitles, since the pangs of youthful nostalgia had already been satiated by the Alpha Video releases.

Also, I think I’m becoming something of a purist when it comes to foreign films. This first only applied to American remakes of foreign titles, but it now lends itself to old movies that I first saw as dubs. As such, the DVD issues that I find myself liking most are those that, like some of the recent Godzilla issues, feature two discs that provide the original Japanese and also English dub of a film. This way, whether I’m feeling snooty or nostalgic, I have a version that will feed either need.

I’m also quite aware, too, that the visual masters for the American English dubs aren’t always available for licensing. Taking into consideration that maybe not all of the eleven films included in this collection have even been dubbed into English, I applaud Mill Creek for just releasing them in their unadulterated form. I’ve always wanted to see all of the Gamera films and now I have them in their pure form for a price that I would have happily paid just for three of them.

Yes, Mill Creek has done it again, daikaiju fans, by releasing yet another great collection that will please the hardcore fans of Gamera who also happen to be…literate. The picture quality on the older films in this collection is the very best I’ve ever seen, considering now what is very noticeably lost in the DVD transfers of the old Americanized versions. It’s almost like seeing these movies for the first time. The sound quality and the subtitles are also top-notch, contrary to any reviews posted to Amazon that may whine otherwise.

Read the fine print

At the time that the review that precedes this posting was written to be shared on Amazon, there were a handful of critics -- probably true blue impulse buyers -- whose 3, 2, and 1-star ratings were dragging down the overall product rating on a DVD release that I thought deserved much better.

The main gripe of the negative-leaning critics -- who apparently also had to be among to the very first in line to buy the DVD collection when it came out in April -- was that the films featured were all in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. And most Americans, as we all know, really have this thing when it comes to watching foreign language films with subtitles. "I don't want to read a movie", is the now-seemingly mandatory mantra of this crowd.

But their dislike of reading subtitles must also extend to simple product descriptions as well. Had any of those savvy spenders spent a measly 30 seconds reading the information provided by Amazon on the product page, they could have made an informed decision, instead of buying first and then negatively critiquing later a product that didn't live up to their own ill-informed expectations.

When I was a boy, one of my favorite cautionary punchlines was the one that warns us to read the fine print. But as an adult, all too often I find myself wishing that people would read the not-so-fine print too. 

The Harimaya Bridge – the fine art of storytelling

Even without knowing in advance that filmmaker Aaron Woolfolk was heavily inspired by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa, something about his debut feature THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE called to mind films by Kurosawa like DREAMS and RHAPSODY IN AUGUST. It's nothing on the surface of the movie that can be quickly interpreted or discerned. It's something much more subtle and nuanced that comes through in the very natural pacing of the story and the sensitive development of its characters. It also seems to come through in the deep level of attention that Woolfolk, like his cinematic inspiration, pays to the sumptuous rural settings chosen for this film that reflect the Japan of old through modern eyes–as opposed to the country's more often seen urban environs. All this, however, isn't meant to say that THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE, Woolfolk's first feature, is a flawless masterpiece. It isn't. But it is a very masterful directorial debut that is often as visually stunning as it is emotionally stirring. With a fantastic cast that includes Ben Guillory, Saki Takaoka, Misa Shimizu and Danny Glover (also the film's producer), THE HARIMAYA BRIDGE is a densely layered portrait of the extended human family that touches on a complex variety of themes, including romantic and familial love, bigotry, loss, sorrow, discovery, tradition, and the unexpected bridges that can lead us to redemption and forgiveness. I highly and enthusiastically recommend this film. SP