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Godzilla To Retire (for now)
ackthpt writes "CNN is reporting that Toho, after 50 years and 28 films, will be retiring Godzilla (Gojira in Japan) after this years film. Toho has thought of retiring the venerable monster before, but after pulling the stops to make a special Best of Best this may be it (but you never know, particularly if it draws large audiences)"
Dear Blue Lobster:
I read that one of the largest crayfish ever found was 90lbs and 6 feet long. They found it in Louisiana in 1934 and named it Ol Papa Epice. They did not say, but I assume it would be a Red Swamp cray since they are native to that area. Does anyone know if this is true? I found this info at www.somaradio.ca/~minimalism/crawdad.html. I could not find any other info on it though. If anyone has any info on this please email me. It sounds crazy, but I dont know why it would be made up.
Thanks,
Daniel
Dear Gentle Sir:
Crayfish come in all sizes, some no larger than the top knuckle of your pinky and some larger than your average lapdog. Of course no one cares about the smallest ones when there are real monsters creeping around the dark corners of the world. Through time there have been some very large crayfish indeed, so let's look at a few examples of record-breaking crays.
Ol' Papa pic astounded Louisiana in 1934, but let's not forget that for publicity's sake the accepted measurement of 6 feet included his antennae. More accurate reports claim that the actual length from head to tail was 3 feet, 4 inches and weight was somewhere around 30lbs. Nonetheless these numbers are impressive since no other American cray reaches anywhere near these proportions. Since the species was never recorded doubts of authenticity suggest that the "cray" may have been a marine lobster introduced into a brackish swamp pool. DNA testing of the carapace has been inconclusive thus far.
In Borneo during World War II another creature waved its gargantuan claws into history. Bagaton (Kadazan-Dusun for "big jar") was found by Australian marines patrolling swamps. Measuring an amazing 4 feet, 2 inches and weighing 49lbs, Bagaton resembled marine lobsters from that region of the world but was caught in a freshwater pool. Taxonomists theorize that Bagaton is a marine species that had re-adapted to fresh water within the last several millennia. Again, lack of further scientific testing leaves us with more questions than answers, though the Bagaton corpse is still in relatively good condition for future research.
Prehistoric crayfish and lobsters handily beat today's record-holders for size and weight. Cruising the warm, shallow seas millions of years ago we find several bizarre specimens. Anomalocaris, a close lobster relative with lobster-like pincers but no body armor, actively swam and hunted food. It grew to lengths of five feet. Meganychus grew to lengths of eight feet and featured a set of claws that spanned four feet when fully splayed! Another genus, Gigaeurys, was almost as long as it was wide six feet and is thought to have been an evolutionary dead end that was as closely related to crabs as it was to true lobsters and crays.
Other, even larger, prehistoric fossils found off the coast of Japan inspired myths of the Ebira, a giant sea monster that guarded an island of treasure from the outside world. Thanks to the myths and the fossil species, this 20 foot long primitive lobster relative thought to be capable of vocalizations meant to stun prey eventually found its way into cinema in the 1966 Toho masterpiece Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. Sadly for crustaceanists everywhere Godzilla made short work of the giant lobster champion with his atomic breath.
Oh no, they say he's got to go!
Godzilla!
Seriously, I liked some of the newer films that they released. The costumes have gotten to the point where you don't have to work hard to get past the whole "man in a rubber suit" issue. The city models have also gained an incredible level of detail. It's a shame really, but hopefully in a decade or so they'll bring him back.
After all, you can't actually kill Godzilla. No matter what you may think you've seen or read, he always comes back again. He cannot die.
Godzilla lives!
"They told me it was impossible. I replied with maniacal laughter." http://www.mydailyrant.com/
Possibly, but might it not backfire? People might not want to watch the new one because what's the point, there won't be a sequel so why invest the time and all the emotion? Why make such a huge intellectual investment?
Maybe he feels that it's a fading and gradually unprofitable franchise and is just making these press releases to save face and die with some amount of self-inflicted dignity.
A harikari of the career, if you will.
The plots were,at best, flimsy. But the strange dubbing, the even stranger cast of characters, the
great miniature sets, throbbin music, and the lady with the big ears.
You gotta love these movies. Just rent one, with
a big bag of popcorn and a six pack. Sit back and
watch the "big fellow" destroy Tokyo.
My son, when he was very young, even came up with a dance called the Godzilla Stomp.
Just a quick note that the Japanese newspapers at work on the 3rd all had articles saying "5 to 10 years before another Godzilla movie." Heck... we even had the people that deliver yogurt drinks putting flyers stating such on every desk in the office. Japan: Gotta Love It.
Care to revise much?
The Japanese military was thrilled to go toe toe superweapon to superweapon with the Americans. The Japanese people obeyed the will and word of their God-King. (Don't forget unit 731 and their already weaponized biological arms)
And as much as Godzilla was about the aftermath of the atomic bombs it was also about the promis of an uncertain future technology might bring, for better or ill, only to be realized after the dye was cast, and of course the mercurial nature of US foreign policy.
US tests nuclear weapons, Japan suffers unintended results.
Godzilla was always and will always be a much more multifaceted expression of Japanese culture than "We got nuked! Wonder Movie Powers Activate! Form of: Self-Pity."
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
A few years ago I traveled to Japan. One thing that struck me about the place was just how skilled the model and set builders for the Godzilla movies had been. Their work was obviously a finely crafted copy of the real locations. Minus the destruction obviously the area was near photo copy of scenes from various such Movies.
I have a great respect for the motion picture skills of the teams who did these movies. Their stories and plots may have been a bit hokey but they definitely did a great job in entertainment and the quality of their work was excellent
Never Politically Correct ~ I prefer the facts If you don't like what I say, get a life, or comment yourself.
The original Godzilla movie we all (or a good number of us) know and love, with Raymond Burr, is an Americanized version. They deleted a lot of scenes, some of which were rather important for the message to get across. Does anyone know where an English language DVD of this could be found?
I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.