Yo, Dollface and I finally went and saw Cloverfield yesterday, and we both agreed it was AWESOME. In my opinion, it was everything the lame-ass 1998 American Godzilla movie should have been. It was monstrous in scope and horror, the characters were vivid and human, the script was transparent, the special effects were seamless and amazing, the story was an intimate blend of the microcosmic and macrocosmic. And it took place in my beloved New York City! When this comes to the second-run theaters, we are definitely going to see it again.

Other than music that plays in the background at the party in the beginning of the film, the only soundtrack is over the end credits, entitled "ROAR! (Cloverfield Overture)." This galvanizing piece was an obvious homage to early Ifukube Godzilla music and other classic monster flicks, so I naturally had to stay and listen to the whole thing. Marvelous. Highly recommended. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you catch it before it leaves the big screen.

Since I generally finish my assigned web development tasks much faster than the generous amount of time allotted, I am ending up with too much free time. Time that could probably be spent more wisely. Instead, I start wondering, Who would win in a fight between Godzilla, the Hulk, and the Transformers?

The first consideration that springs to mind is that the Hulk, by definition, is The Strongest One There Is™. Just so we're clear, I'm not talking about the "able to bend steel bars and barrel through brick walls" Hulk ...

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This was my last weekend of indulgent, jobless freedom before I start my new job tomorrow. It was a very excellent weekend, too, thanks to my loving Doll of a wife, replete with many treats both mentionable (breakfast in bed, Star Wars, comic books, expensive dinner) and unmentionable (swanky hotel, hubba hubba and, I tell ya, hubba). I can say no more.

On the topic of weekend activities, I recommend that you do not waste your time viewing Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It is not so much "bad" as silly, dumb, illogical and pointless. The movie is simply too unsophisticated for anyone older than 9 years of age. By subtle contrast, the film Ghost Rider is, in fact, bad. Very bad. The stupidest movie I have seen in memory. Fit only for stupid 9 year olds.

I got some new computer speakers. They are so awesome, I think about them randomly when walking down the street and I smile warmly. I highly recommend the Creative Labs I-Trigue® 2.1 Speaker System (3300). They sound great with everything from Fantômas to The Alan Parsons Project.

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I recently watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and found it to be a very concise, plain-spoken and compelling presentation of the causes and effects of global warming. Of course, as a reader of Discover magazine and science news — and as someone who doesn't have their head completely up their ass in denial — I was already aware that global warming was real and caused by humans. I really recommend watching it.

I also recently re-watched Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. I think the two started jumbling together in my head:

(click for larger view)

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PLUS, another reason why Mechagodzilla is really the anti-Godzilla — as opposed to just being another commonplace mechanical clone — is this: in America, Godzilla's second appearance in film is titled Godzilla Raids Again, but the original Japanese title is Gojira no Gyakushû, translated as "Godzilla's Counterattack"; reciprocally, Mechagodzilla's second starring vehicle, now known domestically as Terror of Mechagodzilla, bore the original Japanese title Mekagojira no Gyakushû, or "Mechagodzilla's Counterattack". You see?!? You see the parallel?!?

So, I'm giving in and buying the 8-inch die-cast metal posable Mechagodzilla from Bandai, with it's spinning and removable head and flight mode, etc. He looks awesome. But buying him from an American importer is financially imprudent. So I'm purchasing him from Amazon.co.jp for about 40% of the US sale price. I'm shipping him to Brian in Tokyo to ferry back to me when I see him in May. Brian has not witnessed a single kaiju attack since moving to Tokyo last July, which is frankly somewhat surprising. But then, I've never seen Spider-Man, and I've been in NYC for over a decade.

Bizarro. Zoom. Wario. Faker. NegaDuck. If you've been keeping up, then you know I love my opposite villains, the dark reflections of our most illustrious heroes! [Respectively: Superman, Flash, Mario, He-Man, Darkwing Duck.] But... what about mechanical doubles? Most every comic book, cartoon or video-game hero has at some point faced a mechanical version of themselves created for the nefarious purpose of either: a) destroying the hero; b) impersonating the hero to commit crimes and besmirch their good name; c) seduce the hero's mistress; or d) all of the above. (Usually the latter.)

He-Man's evil duplicate, Faker, fits this archetype quite well, but in general, we don't consider just any Monday morning mechanical double as a hero's opposite. No, a clockwork doppelgänger must have some additional special personality, circumstance or other significance to truly gain a polar status as compared to our hero. And this is what brings us... to Mechagodzilla!

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In case you don't know, I direct a musical group called The Monster Project. We do "art rock" arrangements of monster movie themes, e.g. Godzilla, Dracula, 80's slasher icons, etc. For example, listen to our version of the overture to Godzilla vs Mothra.

Anyway, we performed last weekend. Two 30-minute sets with a brief intermission. We even distributed a programme for the audience. Over 40 paying attendees. It was really well-received. I play with some great guys, too — a septet, we are — so it's always fun just to hang out.

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