Gamera: MST3K (1991) Review

An epic battle between Sandy Frank’s version of the 1965 giant monster classic and the occupants of the Satellite of Love completes my review trilogy of the first Gamera movie. Love is found amidst carnage when a giant turtle meets a young boy named Kenny and the world conspires to keep them apart. Expect explosions, inventions, voodoo, and robot abuse when Mystery Science Theater 3000 first encounters Gamera – for the second time!

Most Americans associate Gamera with Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) if they even have a clue what the flying turtle is. If it were not for Sandy Frank’s particularly bad dubs of those old monster films, it is questionable whether or not MST3K would have become as big as it did. Thanks to a sale at Amazon, I ended up getting my hands on the box set of those episodes for less than half price a mere week after whining I couldn’t afford it. Maybe I should whine publicly more often?

For the storyline of the movie, please consult my reviews of the original film and the American version.

 

If you are not familiar with the show, MST3K featured a janitor launched to a space station by mad scientists where he was forced to watch “cheesy movies” as part of experiments. To alleviate his loneliness, the janitor named Joel built robots to be his friends. It is all an excuse to riff on and mock bad movies for laughs.

This classic episode opens with Joel (Joel Hodgson), Crow (Trace Beaulieu), and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) warming up in preparation for the next experiment, or film as we would call them. While the lone human stretches, the bots go through vocal exercises. Yes, it is sheer lunacy, which is what this show is all about, so go with it. Just relax, like the theme says…

Some Guitar Fun

A video from a father and son duo I am friends with. It has been a trip watching Chris Jr. move from drums to guitar and then evolve as a player. The kid has a lot a talent and learns it all by ear.

"Just Because" is a fun tune and this noodling around turned out well, I think:

Health 9-17-2012

I despise colds. ‘Nuff said.

Bleach Ep. 19: Ichigo Becomes a Hollow!

The mini training arc continues, Bleach style. Slapstick comedy mixes with an intriguing dive into Ichigo’s very soul when his quest to regain his lost powers takes a very dark turn. Will he survive his training? More importantly, will he survive being abused by little kids?

I think everyone has had one of those days where they have found themselves restrained in a magical straightjacket and subjected to torment by small children. I hate when those happen, they are real downers. So when saw Ichigo go through the events of this episode I empathized deeply with him.

But it is Rukia who gets the short end of the stick, both in events and screen time. The episode opens with Renji freaking out when he finds out Rukia will be executed and his captain, her brother, approves of this. Byakuya may be a pretty boy by anime standards, but his personality is cold to say the least. There is not a trace of positive emotion shown toward his sister and the whole encounter leaves her in a deep funk while she tries to let go of all emotions like a proper noble woman. That is all we get to see of her.

While she is in a black hole of despair, Ichigo is in a hole of his own.

China Doesn’t Just Copy Electronics: The J-21

The military aviation world got a surprise a couple of years ago when the Chinese government took the wraps off of the J-20 stealth fighter, but that is nothing compared to what just showed up. Roughly in the F/A-18 Hornet size range and possibly a competitor to the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, it is clearly derived from stolen data from Lockheed and subcontractors of the F-22A Raptor program. That is a scaled down F-22 if I have ever seen one with a radome more like the F-35. The proportions made a lot of us on the Net think it was a Photoshop at first, but I had a pit in my stomach when I studied the photos and better ones came out.

I knew our defense programs has been thoroughly compromised by the Chinese, but seeing the tangible results has been an unpleasant experience. As far as cyber security goes, our most classified and protected programs are in the hands of a hostile foreign government. It makes you wonder if the federal government is competent at anything at all.

Meanwhile, China continues to push claims on disputed territories with no fear of being countered.  With the continued aggression in the Pacific against neighboring countries, is it any wonder an arms race has begun in the region?

Odds and Ends 9-15-2012

It baffles me that certain movies are not out on Blu-ray or took many years to get issued, such as Lawrence of Arabia. Having obtained a minty used copy of the special edition DVD set of The Right Stuff and watching it last night, I can’t understand why there is no Blu-ray of it. It is a stupendously beautiful looking and sounding movie that deserves the full high definition treatment. It also is the shortest over three hour movie I have ever watched. By watched, I mean repeatedly over the years.

While I like my Iview Cypad 7” Android based tablet, I do need more horsepower. The Google Nexus was a disappointment in my view, since it has no HDMI out or memory card slot. The new Kindle Fire HD 7” looks terrific, but still lacks the slot and leaves you tied to Amazon’s proprietary store. Even with that, it is the current top candidate for a replacement. Ainol, a Chinese manufacturer, has a new tablet, the Novo 7 Fire, that has everything I want, but there are some early technical problems involving overheating. Its specs beat both the Nexus and Fire HD, so if they work out the difficulties, that is the one I would like to get.

After many years, Black Mesa rolled out yesterday. Black Mesa is a mod for the Source engine that recreates much of the original Half Life with all the bells and whistles of newer technology. I did a short run as far as the highly annoying jumping the crates level and have to say the wait was worth it. The attention to detail is simply amazing and the voice acting isn’t bad at all. There is a possibility they may do the Xen levels later, but hardly anybody liked those. I can’t wait to get into the fire fights and see how they are executed.

Making Faith Godly

Making a challenge when teaching Sunday school has its consequences. This post is one due to the fact that I have to live up to the challenge I delivered to the men in my class to write about their faith this week. Diaries, journals, wives' diaries, letter, mother's diaries, blogs, or whatever it took were part of my request.

 

So here I am, writing about my faith. It is more rambling than I would like due to being written during a hectic day yesterday and a very tired day today.

 

Faith is the first critical step towards finding salvation through Christ. Yet there are different kinds of faith, from the material to the spiritual. Only the most paranoid have no faith, though I suppose they do have faith in the idea that the world is out to get them. Simply having a belief in something unseen (ref. Hebrews 11:1) is not religious in itself, as was pointed out by the class during a lesson I taught in Elders Quorum this past Sunday.

No, there is more to it than that. So I find myself contemplating my faith in God and whether or not it is a Godly faith.