Michael Hopcroft

One of the Toho conventions from the older movies is that sometimes hostile aliens (usually very Japanese-looking because the budget had gone into the kaiju) manipulate or mind-control the kaiju to use as a weapon against Mankind. Whether it is out of a demand for power (one possible subplot is for the aliens causing the rampage to show up and say "Serve our Great Empire and we will get rid of the kaiju for you!", although I don't recall them ever using it). Thus the rampages become much more directed until the control is broken and the aliens are driven away, at which time the kaiju cease to be weaponized and become significantly less hostile. The Toho films eventually came up with the concept of Monster Island -- a place where the various kaiju can be relocated and live in peace away from mankind bothering them in hopes it will be vice versa. it actually works for the most part unless the system is interfered with. The JSDF in those films, once they got the message that they can't really hurt Godzilla, are actually able to adapt pretty well. Their weapons (tanks, aircraft, that sort of laser thing), while they won't kill a kaiju, will slow it down when used with sound tactics. That gives time for the bulk of the population of an approaching city to evacuate into shelters or the countryside - which means that while buildings and infrastructure are destroyed people are significantly safer than they would be otherwise. I'll have to wait to see if the kaiju in this movie are animalistic or malicious. And a lot of the released clips are about the survivors of Godzilla's first attacks dealing with the fact that there are a lot more monsters out there...

It's considered a sort of cult classic.

Q: Oh look, he showed up just like he said he would in the challenge note! What do you think of that, Inspector? A: You ain't never had a friend like me, or any other kind of friend.

To get into the territory of a campaign where Gojira exists, along with several of the other kaiju -- how doe sit change things for everyone else? At any time, without warning, some whopping great beast can wade into town, level everything, and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of people without the slightest trace of malice. They do not need to plan attacks; it's as close to random as you can get Some cities will be left alone for decades, but some will be hit so often that they don't have time to build anything back up, or even to dispose of the dead and keep alive as many of the survivors as they can save. If there is nothing the humans can do to the kaiju, and they can only hope kaiju start taking each other down, a new reality has set in and humanity will become extinct if it doesn't adjust. How do you relocate civilization to somewhere the kaiju can;t reach them and still provide enough food for all the survivors into the next century? Are there some who will take it as a judgment on Mankind and respond accordingly by attempting to annihilate those humans they see as to blame? How do the survivors cope with the PTSD that must be nearly universal by then? Would there be a wave of suicides?

Taxman

I have seen Hamlet and Macbeth adapted to graphic novels. It's challenging and, like the plays themselves, there are several different ways and themes with which to "produce" the adaptation. I think Peter Shaffer's theatrical masterpiece Equus would make a fantastic graphic novel.

It's been a long time since I saw that play. And all the error at the time did was prolong the series. The Red Sox could still have won Game 7 and the Series, and didn't. And without Buckner's bat the Sox wouldn't even have been there.

Horses at California's Santa Anita Racetrack are dying at an alarming rate -- 26 since the start of the season in December. Santa Anita is the sport's most famous venue on the West Coast of the United States. The Santa Anita Derby is one of the best-known bellweather races before the Triple Crown run, and Santa Anita is set to host this year's Breeder's Cup program. But horse racing is controversial today, with some considering it cruel. When a human breaks a leg, they put their legs up for a few weeks then go into rehab. When the bones in a horse's legs break, it's "bye-bye horsie" -- they simply cannot survive that sort of injury, and unless the deed is done quickly it's a lingering and hideously painful demise. There is also no doubt that the sport is declining in terms of attendance for normal race programs. Churchill Downs can still fill the stands for the Kentucky Derby, but most tracks in the United States have had to scramble to survive in these times with multiple options for anyone who wants to gamble away their hard-earned pay.

And hopefully nobody was in the car. Hulk not know. Hulk not care. Hulk's world consists of things to be smashed and things to use to smash those things. Hence the obsession throughout much of the comics of the military, federal agents, and just about everyone else trying to hunt down and contain the Hulk -- and the only reason they didn't seek to kill him is that nothing they had would do the job. Hence the dilemma of the fundamentally decent Bruce Banner trying at all costs to contain his inner beast before the mayhem grew to unthinkable proportions. (There's a line in the first Avengers about Banner being in such despair over his fate that he thought his only way out was to shoot himself. Hulk spit out the bullet, and it is not specified what he did to the gun.) In the '70s TV series, Hulk was not as powerful (due to the limits of 1975 effects on a TV series budget), but Banner still feared the beast inside. In one episode, a scientist tried to reassure the fugitive researcher that the Hulk was an extension of Banner's own inner fury, and that since Banner would never knowingly kill a human being neither would the Hulk. I should also note that it was anger or outrage that triggered the transformation -- Banner went Hulk when his values and morality were deeply offended by injustice or cruelty. As a homeless fugitive, Banner saw a lot of injustice and cruelty... There is a lot of meat to these questions, which should probably be addressed in another thread.

To answer that question, I would need to know what Snyder said.

Superhero worlds also tend to include super-engineering, where structures as large as entire cities can spring up in a few months than in our world would take years, if not decades, to complete. Villains do it, heroes do it, civilian and military entities do it. But yeah, if you don't have that level of engineering it's hard to sustain a livable world where there are hundreds of supers running around and fighting.

This has to be one of the most uplifting movie sequences I've seen in months. I know Valerian got no props in the USA (but I suspect it did better in other countries where the Valerian series is better-known), but if this scene is any indi9cation missing it might have been a mistake (though I can;t imagine anything, in any movie, following this up).

When they do blow apart the boulder, why would I not be surprised if they found a squashed coyote underneath it?

Auburn University athletics has lost their radio voice. Play-by-play man Rod Bramblett and his wife were killed in an auto accident over the weekend. Bramblett covered all three major men's sports -- football, men's basketball, and baseball -- and was there for such outstanding events as the Iron Bowl "kick six" (an unbelievable play when a missed field goal was caught in the end zone and run back for the game-winning touchdown) and the 2011 national championship win in football (over Oregon).

The climax of Argo is really, really intense when it comes to ratcheting up tension. It was literally white-knuckle stuff when I saw it in the theater -- and for a film based on actual history that's saying something. And to its credit, it viewed the Iranians as humans rather than painted devils. Yes, they did terrible, immoral things. Yes, their mindset was almost alien to the Westerners who had to deal with them. Yet their grievances were legitimate even if it led them to do something that still haunts both our countries today, almost 40 years later.

Come on and dress me! Dress me! Dress me in my finest array, 'Cause just in case you haven't heard today is do-mi-do day; Dress me in my silver garters, dress me in my diamond studs, 'Cause I'm going do-mi-do-ing in my do-mi-do duds! I want my undulating undies with the marabou frills; I want my beautiful bolero with the porcupine quills; I want my purple nylon girdle with the orange blossom buds; 'Cause I'm going do-mi-do-ing in my do-mi-do duds! Come on and dress me! Dress me! Dress me in my peekaboo blouse, With the lovely interlining made of Chesapeake mouse; I want my polka-dotted dickie with the crinoline fringe; For I'm going do-mi-do-ing on a do-mi-do binge! I want my my lavender spats, and in addition to them, I want my honey colored gusset with the herringbone hem; I want my softest little jacket made of watermelon suede, And my long persimmon placket with the platinum braid; I want my leg-of-mutton sleeves, and in addition to those, I want my cutie chamois booties with the leopard-skin bows; I want by pink-brocaded bodice with the fluffy fuzzy ruffs, And my gorgeous bright blue bloomers with the monkey feather cuffs; I want my organdy snood, and in addition to that, I want my chiffon Mother Hubbard lined with Hudson Bay rat! Dress me up from top to bottom, dress me up from tip to toe; Dress me up in silk and spinach for today is do-mi-do; Do-mi-do day! Do-mi-do day! So come and dress me in the blossoms of a million pink trees; Come on and dress me up in liverwurst! and Camembert cheese! Come on and dress me up in pretzels, dress me up in Bock beer suds; 'Cause I'm go-o-o-ing [step/kick/step/kick] do-mi-do-o-o-ing [more] In my do-o-o-o-o-o-mi-do du-u-u-ds

The finals are set. Golden State's sacrificial victim opponent is Toronto. I believe this is the first Finals appearance for a Canadian team. Which means they'll really make history in the unlikely even they win -- oh, never mind. The Warriors are going to devour their hopes because that's what they do.

How can a series where the protagonist is literally Satan possibly make itself family-friendly?

About damn time! It's a shame they didn't get around to this while Lee was alive. Unfortunately this is making me wonder about all those cameos. Although he seemed all right in those (and was really good as a voice cameo in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse) I'm wondering how much of the money for them he actually received and got to use.

Early

Q: Danny's coming over to play "Bouncy Bouncy Brachiosaurus" and he brought his own dinosaur! Can we get the giant trampoline ready so we can start right away? A: I really wish you had told me that wasn't a euphemism -- I got my hopes up for nothing.

"Goldie sent me."