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365days365movies · 4 years ago

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May 4, 2021: The Host (2006) (Recap)

NO NOT THAT ONE

Stephanie Meyer goddamn sucks. I realize that I’m not exactly the first person to say that, but she’s terrible. Not only is she not a good writer, but she also has some very disparaging views about science fiction and its fans, which led her to make her own science fiction book and film. ANd yeah...it’s terrible! No surprise there.

So, no, not the 2013 critical and commercial flop known as The Host. No, this post is about 2006′s The Host, AKA Gwoemul, AKA 괴물. I haven’t ventured to far into the world of Korean cinema, and with this film, my repertoire includes only the films of director Bong Joon-Ho. And if that name sounds familiar...it should.

Bong Joon-ho DESERVEDLY made headlines last year when his film became the first non-English language film to win for Best Picture, and the first time Asian writers won for best screenplay! His Oscar speech in accepting best director is genuinely one of the best and most sincere speeches I’ve ever heard from a director, and I love the dude.

Oh, and if you’re wondering which film it was, then, like me, you also really need to watch Parasite. And because I’m terrified of spoilers, I’m not gonna look for GIFs of that movie. Instead, I’ll put in a GIF of one of my favorite sci-fi films, and the only other Bong Joon-ho film I’ve seen.

God, I love Snowpiercer. And if this is anything like that, I’m probably going to love this movie. Now, I don’t really know much about this film, other than the fact that it’s a monster film. And if there’s any science-fiction subgenre more iconic than monster films, I don’t know it. Well...OK, aliens, robots, and more, but monster films are still a big part of the genre. But where does that begin? Is it here?

Definitely an argument you can make, since Frankenstein’s Monster is a creation of science gone wrong, from the book to the movie. Fun fact, Mary Shelley based it on a real-world experiment by Italian physiologist Giovanni Aldini, who used a corpse to illustrate the connection between electricity and muscles. Neat, huh? So, yeah, that’s a solid launching point.

But that’s more of a horror story. What about something a little more monster-y? Well, from the UK to Japan we go!

OHHHHHH YEAH, THAT’S THE GOOD STUFF

Toho’s 1954 film Gojira is one of the most classic monster films ever made, and singlehandedly launched the kaiju genre in Japan. And it’s really well-known that it was made as a response to post-World War II tensions about nuclear warfare. Which, in Japan, is kind of understandable, no? But nothing demonstrated the destructive power of science more than that moment in history.

So, Godzilla arrives. And the US also makes more monster movies, most of which take place in contemporary settings, making many of them lo-fi sci-fi. Now, some dipped into horror or fantasy, but the science fiction roots were there. Which eventually would bring us full circle to films where monsters were made and go loose. You know, like this:

It’s a franchise that defines the ‘90s, and lab-grown monster movies exploded around that time as well. At the same time, environmental concerns REALLY started to build by this point, and those concerns leaked profusely into film all over the world. And by the time we get to 2006...well, let’s get into it, huh?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

In a mortuary, a U.S. military doctor (Scott Wilson) instructs his assistant (Brian Lee) to dump bottles of formaldehyde down the drain of the facility, which goes directly into the Han River. The assistant protests, but the doctor insists, despite the risk of polluting the river. AAAAAmericans.

In the river about two years later, two fisherman see something strange looking in the river. Then, four years later, in 2006, a suicidal man is about to jump into the river, when he sees something dark in the water below.

Later that year, we meet Park Hee-bong (Byun Hee-Bong) and his son Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho), who run a food truck and snack bar near the river. Gang-du’s not exactly a hard worker, to his father’s chagrin. His daughter, Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung), is a student who comes home from school, where her drunken uncle Nam-il (Park Hae-il) comes to her chagrin. She and her father watch TV, where his sister Nam-joo (Bar Doona) can be seen competing in archery.

As he’s bringing food out to customers, he joins them in observing something strange and massive hanging off of the bridge. And at this point, I would be running the fuck away. Literally, the news just said that there was a body found with the legs missing, and these people are throing cans at it after it plunges into the water. One girl asks if it’s a dolphin. Mother...HAVE YOU SEEN A DOLPHIN BEFORE?

NOT THIS

Yeah, this thing just comes bounding along the shore, slapping people into the water with its tail, and batting aside others. Doesn’t look like its actively killing anybody yet, but it’s definitely hurting people at least. That is, until it goes into a trailer where a bunch of people have gathered, and appears to eat a bunch of them. So, yeah, dangerous.

Gang-du, to his infinite credit, actually attempts to confront and hurt the creature, with the help of Donald White (David Joseph Anselmo). And it works, but at the cost of the creature aggro-ing onto him. Back at the snack truck, his sister’s lost the title, much to the chagrin of Gang-du’s daughter and father. She goes outside in frustration, only to be thrown into the midst of the chaos with her dad. He grabs a girls hand in the chaos, only to find that it’s a different child entirely. And...unfortunately...

The creature grabs her with its tail, and leaps back into the river, disappearing. Fuck. Poor Hyun-seo, and poor Gang-du. Gang-du IMMEDIATELY goes to get her back, jumping into the river, but the creature takes her across to an island, out of reach. That night, an impromptu funeral is held for the victims, at which Hyun-seo is being honored as well. There, both Gang-du’s sister and brother also attend, and all four of the break down dramatically and publicly.

Nam-il blames his brother for letting her die, which is unfair, but understandable. The family eventually calms down and discusses the circumstances of Hyun-Seo’s birth and death, both of which were accidental. As they do, a man in a protective suit comes out, and asks who was at the river incident. Nam-il protests this, and asks what’s going on. The man doesn’t explain, and the room is instead gassed, as everyone is ushered towards the entrance.

In the process, Gang-du (stupidly) reveals that he was hit by some blood splatter. He’s immediately stuffed in a bag and kidnapped by the authorities. Meanwhile, the news reveals that the creature is carrying a virus, and anyone who has been in contact with it has been infected. Because of this, the entire family is taken to a quarantine hospital, which oddly has very few actual quarantine procedures in place. And additionally, Gang-du is feeling a bit itchy.

That night, in the hospital, Gang-du gets a call on his cell phone! It’s Hyun-seo! She’s alive! And she’s trapped, in a sewer somewhere near the river. Meanwhile, a group of men in protectve suits are outside patrolling the river. One man finds money on the side of the road, and goes to pick it up, only for the men to be attacked by the creature. But it’s then that we discover that the creature is not killing or eating people, but simply taking them own to its lair. Also in said lair is Hyun-seo, trapped and with a now dead phone.

The next day, the family tries to get an officer to look into the call, only for the officer to be, frankly, an absolute piece of shit to this grieving family. Gang-du tries to explain, and his explanation is ENTIRELY RATIONAL, but the officer and doctors are absolutely terrible about it.

Because nobody’s listening, the family manages to escape from the hospital in order to try and save Hyun-Seo, and they hop into a van, taking it and running. This is a good place to mention that, despite this being a monster movie, it's also...weirly funny sometimes. Like, that whole scene is pretty great. After bartering with a group of gangsters for supplies (and after Hee-bong basically gives away all of his credit cards), the group manages to get a map and a new car. But they pretty quickly get stopped at a checkpoint into the city, and are nearly caught, but manage to escape and get to the riverfront. Once there, they begin searching the sewers to find Hyun-seo. And I gotta say; this may be an extremely dysfunctional family, but they’re a devoted family all the same.

Of course, that eventually gives way to arguments within the sewer itself, but that’s interrupted by a noise heard somewhere around them. They fire at it, using weapons obtained from the gangster but conclude that it was nothing. What it actually is is two brothers, older Se-jin (Lee Jae-eung) and younger Se-joo (Lee Dong-ho), homeless kids who are foraging the sewers in the abandoned city. But, of course, they eventually run into the creature, which attacks them. Meanwhile, an asleep Hyun-Seo dreams of dinner with her family, only to be woken up by the arrival of the creature, who deposits the bodies of the two boys in the sewer with her. Se-joo has survived, but Se-jin hasn’t, sadly.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family is gathered at their snack bar for the night, and prepares to set out or the morning. The to younger siblings appear to not give a single shit about Gang-du, but Hee-bong attempts to set them straight, talking about how he blames himself for the way Gang-du is now. However, the two just fall asleep during his speech. Poor Hee-bong. Also, he can apparently identify Gang-du’s health condition based on his farts because they spend so much time together, it’s dumb, and funny.

Also, poor the rest of them, because Gang-du wakes up to see the creature just waiting outside, watching them. Hee-bong fires at it, but the creature attacks and knocks over the bar. However, Hee-bong manages to hit it directly in the head, knocking it off, but not killing it. The family goes out to finish the job, but it runs away before they can kill it. They run after it, and are almost completely out of bullets. Hee-bong volunteers to go after it himself, but in the process...

Hee-bong doesn’t make it. The creature kills him, and the commotion attracts the military to their location. Gang-du is again captured, while Nam-il and Nam-joo escape, only to later be separated regardless. Meanwhile, the virus kills Donald White, the sergeant from earlier, and it continues to spread across Korea. To kill the creature, the government plans to release a chemical into the river called Agent Yellow, which feels...controversial.

Nam-il meats a colleague, “Fat Guevara” (Yam Pil-sung), who is easily able to provide a location for Hyun-seo using the number, which the cop earlier insisted was nearly impossible to do. Plus, both the sergeant and Gang-du encountered the creature together, and he seems to be just fine. Which probably means that something very wrong is happening now. Even worse, though, is the fact that Guevara’s appeared to trap Nam-il, as a massive reward is sought for his arrest. A gang of people surround hi, with the plan to capture him, but he VERY cleverly escapes by causing an electrical short, and AFTER having found Hyun-seo’s location! Nice, man! He takes off, now knowing exactly where his niece is.

Nam-joo, meanwhile, is literally living inside of the snack bar, and she gets a text from Nam-il with her location. He tags out, and she tags in, running to the location where the call came from. But she immediately runs into the creature, which knocks her down and unconscious. She manages to call Gang-du, who is currently about to be sedated. Now knowing where his daughter is, he tries to escape, only to be tackled by the doctors. He tells them where she is, but they don’t appear to listen. More importantly, the anesthetic doesn’t appear to work, much to the confusion of the doctors. Something is verrrrrrrry wrong here.

An American doctor (Paul Lazar) comes, and asks what’s wrong, and he tells him exactly what’s wrong. However, despite his words SEEMING to be heard, they once again call him crazy and delusional, and decide to give him a lobotomy to isolate the virus once and for all, like FUCKING ASSHOLES. Turns out that the virus? Yeah, it doesn’t exist whatsoever! It doesn’t exist even a little bit! Which means that this entire thing is a wild goddamn goose chase for a virus that DOESN’T FUCKING EXIST!!!

And the best thing is that Gang-du, despite not actually knowing English, still understands the words “no virus”, and know he fucking knows! However, because he knows, they now have to give him a lobotomy. Fuck me, man. Panicking, he cries for them to stop, and cries for his daughter, who’s still alive in the sewer.

Speaking of, Hyun-seo and Se-joo are bonding in the sewer, as they work to make a rope from things they find there. But in the process, they’re attacked by the creature, who know is actively eating the bodies, and presumably other people. Whoof. They manage to escape, but barely.

Back with Gang-du, who’s just gone through the lobotomy, which...hasn’t worked at all. Holy SHIT. Not sure what the hel is UP with this dude, but that’s a question in and of itself. He escapes by taking a nurse hostage, threatening them with a syringe of his blood, full of a virus that doesn’t exist!

Nam-il wakes up at the same time, not accompanied by a homeless man (Yoon Je-moon), who agrees to take him to the bridge to find Hyun-seo. In the sewer, the two kids have survived, and the creature appears to be asleep. Like a GODDAMN BOSS, she runs up the creatures back, and jumps onto a rope that she had made, and that was hanging far out of her reach. Unfortunately...the creature catches her with its tail. Fuck. It sets her down, and...lets her go? But as soon as she runs, it attacks bother her and Se-joo.

Just then, Gang-du gets to the lair, and uses the rope to climb down. Below him is a pile of bones, and no kids to be seen. The creature goes by, and Hyun-seo’s hand is dangling out of its mouth. And once again by coincidence, that’s when Nam-joo wakes up and reunites with her brother. The creature runs to the waterfront, only to be greeted by...a crowd? They’re gathered there to protest the release of the dangerous chemical into the river.

It all collides at once. The creature swims towards the crowd, Gang-du runs towards the creature, Agent Yellow is released over them both, causing the creature to faint. Gan-du runs up and grabs the bodies of his daughter and See-joo from its mouth, apparently too fucking late. Shit, man. This would’ve been avoided if they just HELPED him. Fuck. He carries her body away as more chemical is released onto the flailing creature, and the chemical causes everyone else in the area to violently hemorrhage as well. Meanwhile, Nam-il and Nam-joo arrive to see their deceased niece, grieving all over again. It’s...fuck, man, it sucks.

And Gang-du is fucking PISSED NOW. He grabs a street sign and attacks the injured creature, fueled by pure rage. Nam-il joins in with Molotov cocktails as it runs away. The homeless man douses it with gasoline, and that makes it easier for Nam-il to set it on fire...until he drops the bottle. And then, Nam-joo uses it to light an arrow on fire, hitting the creature with it, and setting it ablaze. It runs to the water, only for Gang-du to stab it through the head with the street sign, finally killing it in revenge for his father and his daughter. Fucking bad-ASS. And also quite tragic, given the circumstances.

And despite the tragedy, there is one happy circumstance: Se-joo lives! In fact, Hyun-seo died saving his life, like the real goddamn hero of this story that she is. Fuck. That’s terrible, but I’m happy that her sacrifice wasn’t in vain. From here, we fast-forward to the winter, where a clean-shaven and well-kept Gang-du is is now caring for Se-joo. The news is on in the background, but the two ignore it, happily eating together after the ordeal they’ve been through.

Whoof. That’s The Host, or Gwoemul! And yeah, that’s one hell of a movie, I tell you what. For a monster movie, it’s quite dramatic, and they don’t try to humanize the monster AT ALL. And honestly, I really like it! A Pyrrhic victory at the end, but nothing wrong with that! I’ll elaorate a bit in the review! See you there!

#the host 2005 #bong joon-ho #song kang-ho #byun hee-bong #park hae-il #bae doona #go ah-sung #gwoemul #괴물 #science fiction may #sci-fi may #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #korean cinema

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anime-dub-transcripts · 2 years ago

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Hetalia: World Series Episode #11 Transcript

This episode has China counterfeiting, Romano's strategy for fighting Britain, Italy and Romano hating British food, and Japan becoming Italy.

Japan: Oh no. I am pleased that our products are selling well, but manufacturing can’t keep up with demand. What do I do?

China: JAPAN! Why don’t you let me help you? I can make your products, but instead of telling people they’re mine, I pretend they’re yours and the customers will never find out.

Japan: Augh…

China: Augh!

Japan: How many times have I told you that counterfeiting is no way to build an economy? And blah blah blah blah blah blah…

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Romano: Okay, dum dum, listen. I’ll teach you a surefire strategy for fighting that Britain.

Italy: Hey, thanks, bro!

Romano: It’s very simple. When you meet the enemy, just show him you don’t want any bloodshed. That way if he shoots you, everyone will think he’s the bad guy, euh? And that’s all I know.

(Italy: Ahhhh…uohhh…)

{Caption: British Soldier}

Romano: Please don’t bazooka my face! I’ll surrender! I’m so sorry!

Italy: Ahuh…Romano, what’s this? You think I could borrow it?

Romano: Huh? Uh…that’s a bus.

Italian soldier: The British troops are advancing!

Italy: ROMANOOOOOO!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Romano: Hetalia!

{Caption: Hetalia}

China: Japan gave me this precious little stuffed pussycat toy kitty! It’s so fluffy!

{Caption: China’s Boss}

China’s boss: Hey, doesn’t that cat’s face look a little freaking goofy to you?

China: Uhoh? Is there some portent of evil in its eyes, O great one?

China’s boss: Woahhhhhhh…

China: Ehan…ehan…

China’s boss: Whateves, broseph; cat just need mouth.

Cat: Love me?

China: AAH! AAH! You messed up!

China’s boss: You realize I am dragon, don’t you? Stuffed kitty no hurt me.

(China: AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH!)

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China: Hetalia!

{Caption: Hetalia}

Italy: Aahuh! Oh, hi. That’s strange; how did you get caught before me?

Romano: SHUT YOUR FACE! THIS WHOLE DISASTER IS YOUR DAMN FAULT, JERK!

Britain: You stow that potty talk this instant!

Romano: AAAAAAHHH! I’m really sorry, Britain, sir!

Italy: Sir?

Romano: He’s the one with the potty mouth, he’s Italian! I promise I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please stop trying to break our spirits with your boiled beef.

Italy: I’ve had enough of this!

(Romano: I’m really sorry, so please don’t hurt me anymore!)

Italy: Why don’t you feed your blood pudding to me?

(Romano: I’ll do anything, I tell you!)

Romano: Don’t listen to him.

Britain: Yes, um, today I was going to serve fish and chips though.

Narrator: It’s rumored when British soldiers became the prisoners of Italian troops, they didn’t want to leave because the food was so much better.

Britain: Hello, friend. I don’t suppose you’d consider lending me your chef for a bit.

France: I wouldn’t even leave you the man who makes our dog food!

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Britain: Hetalia!

{Caption: Hetalia}

Italy: GERMANYYYY!

Germany: Hm?

Italy: Japan said that he wants to stay with me for a few days to do some sightseeing!

Germany: Oh? I didn’t realize you had an interest in being a tourist.

Japan: I love to take my camera everywhere I go, and because of my shortness, it allows me to see higher in case I want to take pictures of women and invent a wacky game show.

{Caption: Impatient}

Germany: Stop that. Stereotypes are for brainless dummkopfs.

(Dummkopfs: Idiots/Fools → German)

Italy: He’s right, but we better get outta here ‘cause Godzilla’s coming! Come on, run!

Japan: Gojira?!

(Gojira?!: Godzilla?! → Japanese)

Japan: Mr. Germany, thank you. Where did you see him? Was he big?

Germany: Well, I hope Japan doesn’t have too horrible of a time with that buffoon. Hm.

{Caption: A few days later…}

Italy: Hey, Germany! Japan and I are back from our little vacation!

Germany: Hm? That’s good. I hope Italy’s culture wasn’t too offensive. Now---uah!

{Caption: Japaaaaaan}

Japan: So good! The pizza was magnifico!

(Magnifico!: Magnificent! → Italian)

Japan: And the women were so pretty it made my heart yay!

Germany: Auhhhh…

(Japan: Yummy!)

Germany: HEY! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU PUT THE REAL JAPAN?!

(Italy: AAAAAHHHH!)

Italy: That’s him, I swear! We just went sightseeing and ate together like we would normally do!

Germany: THEN WHAT MADE HIM BECOME SO FREAKY?!

Japan: Pastaaaaaaa!

{Caption #1: Italians are infectious!}

{Caption #2: Or rather, it’s just that Japanese are easily influenced…}

{Caption #3: But Germans are Germans no matter where they go}

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Italy: Japan, your soup is cool! It looks like it was made from outer space things!

Japan: Yes, that’s quite close. Ugh, that’s echizen jellyfish.

China: You can’t tell the Western world all our food secret!

Italy: What are all of these white things in this red jelly brick thingy?

Japan: Oh…

China: If you tell him truth, I will never forgive you.

{Caption: To be continued}

#anime #anime transcripts #anime dub transcripts #hetalia #hetalia dub transcripts

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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Anime in America Podcast: Full Episode 2 Transcript

Hello, and welcome to another fine transcript of Crunchyroll's new Anime in America podcast! Those in need of a different way to access and enjoy the podcast, as well as those looking to research further or simply take note of some interesting facts that were mentioned, we've got you covered on an episode by episode basis. Following up on the episode 1 transcript, we've got one for the second, so enjoy it in full below!

The Anime in America podcast, hosted by Yedoye Travis, is available on crunchyroll.com, animeinamerica.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Episode 1 Transcript: In the Beginning There Was Fansubs

Disclaimer: The following program contains language not suitable for all ages. Discretion advised.

[Lofi Music]

As I made very clear in the last episode, it was once a massive undertaking just physically getting anime from Japan to the US. Just imagine if I told you in 2019 that you had to go anywhere but your own couch just to watch anime. You would call the police.

Once anime was here physically, it still involved an insane time commitment from fans just to make it intelligible to American viewers. Whether it was painstaking hours encoding text onto video, or being tricked into live translating for your friends; in short, it was impossible, and yet people did it, so we have them to thank, at least partially, for the huge presence of anime in the modern zeitgeist.

But there’s a lot more to localizing than just taking Japanese words and turning them into English words. In practice, localization means making whatever changes are necessary to make a show marketable to the local audience. Using the language of that audience is a good start, but it doesn’t encapsulate the full scope of the practice from a marketing standpoint.

Of course, over the years, people have severely misunderstood the extent to which changes actually need to be made, and so there are good examples of localization and then there are times when the producers decided Americans can’t grasp the concept of a rice ball and Pokemon ends up full of unnecessary jelly donuts.

This is Anime in America, brought to you by Crunchyroll and hosted by me, Yedoye Travis.

[Lofi Music]

If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, there are plenty of things in the American lexicon that you would have never guessed were from Japan. In fact, the 60s gave us a lot of anime that wasn’t recognizably Japanese, and this was because both Japanese creators and American distributors thought that maybe Japanese IP wouldn’t be the easiest sell immediately after World War II. So they just made it not Japanese. Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy began a lasting trend in anime of heavily anglicized characters that minimally reflected the culture they came from, and were therefore believed to be more marketable to western audiences.

[Music from Astro Boy plays]

By the 80s though, as we inched further away from wartime tensions, anime became more acceptable in its unedited state, attracting American distributors who wanted to capitalize on the space opera craze following the release of Star Wars. In fact, by this time, the cultural exchange between Japan and the US was already starting to blossom, with an agreement between Marvel and Toei that brought a successful tokusatsu adaptation of an American series to Japan in 1978. That series was Spiderman.

[Japanese Spider-Man opening plays]

And for reference, tokusatsu is a Japanese word that literally means “special effects,” so tokusatsu in its simplest form is just that--a live action show where some of the stuff is not real. For specific examples, think Ultraman, Kamen Rider, the Super Sentai series, which I’ll get to in a second, or something we’re all familiar with--the classic foam rubber Godzilla that came long before the tiny headed Bryan Cranston version.

[Godzilla roar from GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA]

Marvel and Toei’s deal was made before Dragonball Z became Toei’s crowning achievement, and long before Marvel joined the Disney family and fell into constant conflict with Sony over the very same property. The deal gave each party rights to use the other’s characters in any way they saw fit, and in fact, Toei originally planned to make Spiderman a secondary character to mythological Japanese prince Yamato Takeru. They eventually backtracked and left Spiderman in his primary role, but then they did all this other weird shit with it. They threw out Peter Parker entirely, and so Spiderman’s alter ego became Takuya Yamashiro, a motorcycle racer who gets injected willingly with blood from the spider alien Garia, giving him spider powers and allowing him to carry on Garia’s fight against the evil Professor Monster.

[Japanese Spider-Man opening continues]

I’m sorry, what? They also gave him an arguably unnecessary giant robot named Leopardon, a concept Toei would later incorporate into their Super Sentai series, which you may not know by name, but is actually one of the most popular American series of all time, with literally billions of dollars in toy sales in its first 8 years.

[Opening theme of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers begins to play]

And if you’re thinking “Hey what if I’m too dumb to Google that?” Well that is what podcasts are for. Even though I guess you had to Google�� this podcast to find it.

Not knowing Super Sentai doesn’t make you dumb, it just makes you American, and THAT makes you dumb.

[Power Rangers theme continues]

But only for systemic reasons that can be broken down in one of many other podcasts. But In this one, I’ll just accept your manufactured ignorance and move on.

[Power Rangers theme continues to “Go go, Power Rangers!”]

You might know Super Sentai by its American name, Power Rangers, who you might know by the aforementioned giant robots--known as Zords--or by the first iteration’s problematic color coding of its main characters: blue for boy, pink for girl, yellow for Asian girl, black for black boy, and red for lead boy. Later colors would include white for Native American played by white guy, and green for all the money they made in spite of this.

Power Rangers is an American localization of Super Sentai originally adapted by Saban Entertainment in 1993 using entirely new footage and storylines interwoven with battle scenes from the original series, and I don’t know if it’s better or worse that the American cast was decided after the costumes were made, but I do know that it’s not surprising.

The Power Rangers are undoubtedly the most popular Saban property, having sold over $6 billion in toys for Bandai in its first decade on the air, and Saban have continued to adapt Super Sentai series beginning with Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger in 1993, all the way up to Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters in 2019.

The rights have changed hands a couple times, with a brief stint at Disney, before returning to Saban in 2010, and ultimately to Hasbro in 2018, in case you thought the series was created to do anything other than sell toys. Power Rangers has since been distributed internationally and chaotically redistributed in Japan using the original voice cast, and I can’t begin to explain to you how that works legally, but as an actor, all I can say is take the two checks and run before they figure it out.

I bring all this up as an example of what can happen when international properties are used to their full potential. It gets confusing at times, when you get into the weeds regarding licenses and producers or the fact that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was banned in Malaysia for supposedly promoting mighty morphine to kids--real fact, look it up--but ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, all parties involved, at least on the corporate level, made money and built up pretty rock solid brand recognition.

In contrast, let’s talk about Harmony Gold.

[Lofi Music]

Harmony Gold is an American television production company and real estate developer lol whose founder, Frank Agrama, narrowly escaped prison just a few years ago, and whose Wikipedia page contains an alarming number of references to famously corrupt Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. And I don’t mean in passing. I mean in 1976 Frank Agrama sold broadcasting rights from Paramount pictures to Berlusconi’s Mediaset company, which at the time was just starting, but years later was found in a study by the American Economic Association to have made young Italians more vulnerable to populist rhetoric and therefore more likely to vote for Berlusconi who, for reference, would later be convicted of soliciting sex with minors, for which he would later be acquitted because why wouldn’t you be able to do that? And I’m not saying Frank Agrama is responsible for, or in any way directly involved in any of the +20 legal battles Berlusconi has been through, I’m just that he definitely was and in fact his home was raided in 2006 in connection with an Italian investigation claiming that he had inflated prices of the rights he originally sold to Mediaset so that, through means I do not understand, Mediaset could pay huge dividends to its top executives. And Frank only avoided jail time due to a technicality based on his age.

Of course, all this info is better suited for a way more in depth political conspiracy, and maybe famous pedophile podcast? But the fact that Harmony Gold is so deeply rooted in the dealings of a massive propaganda empire run by an egomaniac really sets the stage for why everyone seems to hate them so much.

So what is Harmony Gold as it pertains to this story? Well, as I said, it began in 1983, four years after Frank took a trip to France, where he met and agreed to partner in distributing international film rights with Paddy Chan Mei-Yiu and Katherine Hsu May-Chun, two businesswomen from Hong Kong, the former of whom is the owner of the Wiltshire Group of Companies. And I’d like to think the two of them held some significance before the events in this episode, but if they did, they’re SEO game is trash, cause all searches yield results after the year 1979 when Chan founded the Hong Kong-based Harmony Gold and Frank founded Agrama Film Enterprises in LA, only establishing Harmony Gold USA a few years later.

Harmony Gold USA’s first project was a miniseries depicting the life of Shaka Zulu--chief of the Zulu people from 1816 to 1828--which a 1986 piece in the LA Times said reduced Shaka and the Zulu people to violent barbarians, noting that the story was mostly told through the perspective of an Irish doctor and not Shaka Zulu himself and basically challenged its audience to ask what would have come of South Africa if it weren’t for the intervention of white settlers.

So if the series can be summed up in a word, I guess that word would be “controversial,” only because Frank himself staunchly denied that the film was racist at the time, despite claims from South African literature professor Mazisi Kunene that it was “like Hitler doing the history of the Jews.”

And long story short, these are the people that made Robotech.

As is the case with Power Rangers and most other series brought to the US, the main hurdle in localizing for an American audience is the content itself, whether that means it violates some perceived standard of acceptability, or more simply that Americans misinterpret the intended audience and end up repackaging a show with very adult themes to be marketed to kids, which may explain why I’ve seen Endless Waltz about a dozen times and couldn’t tell you a single detail of the story.

[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing - Endless Waltz theme plays]

In the case of Robotech, however, the biggest hurdle was American syndication laws. When Carl Macek was hired to adapt anime for Harmony Gold in the mid-80s, he immediately settled on Super Dimension Fortress Macross, as I mentioned in the previous episode--and had they followed their original plan, it would have been the first legal anime home video release in the US. But they abandoned that plan and decided to air it on TV, and American rules required that a syndicated show be able to run at a minimum of five episodes a week for 13 weeks, because as we all know artists are at their most creative when they have strict production minimums, like an 8 episode anime podcast, to give a non-specific example.

So, in similar fashion to Japanese Spiderman and Power Rangers, Carl Macek took the rights he had and did whatever the fuck he wanted. Macross had aired weekly in Japan for only 36 episodes, so Carl took two unrelated giant robot series--Genesis Climber MOSPEADA and Southern Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, the longest title I’ve ever heard--and he just tossed them in with Macross like an undergrad student using 15-point periods in a 12-point essay. And he made a hit. Robotech was hugely popular at the time and plenty of people will tell you it was their first window into the world of anime as a whole. But beyond that, Harmony Gold didn’t really have a lot of success.

There were spinoffs, including the aforementioned Robotech: The Movie, which was shown in 1987 at the Animation Celebration Festival, where Jerry Beck worked with a man named Terry Thoren, who refused Jerry’s requests to pick it up for further distribution, yet another person who viewed it as a “Saturday morning cartoon,” and first of all, I have to stress that you can watch cartoons on any other day. Yu-Gi-Oh! played on Sundays, I don’t know what this Saturday morning shit is. I don’t know where it comes from. But I digress.

In probably one of the most significant events in early anime history, Jerry Beck and Carl Macek met during the screening of Robotech when they both snuck off to watch the crowd’s reaction, and realizing how excited the audience was, they immediately decided to team up and establish Streamline Pictures, where they were committed to producing anime dubs that were true to their source material, preserving all the original music and sound effects, and producing more faithful translations, and I can’t stress enough how insane it is that that was revolutionary, but it was at the time and they, along with contemporaries like RightStuf, set a precedent that anime was most valuable when it got to just be anime. I can’t say with 100% certainty that Jerry’s boss would have been more receptive to anime if he had seen Macross in its original form, but I am also dumb, so take everything I say with a big grain of salt.

Regardless, looking back at Harmony Gold’s reputation in comparison to Carl Macek the man, all signs suggest he left at about the right time. Carl only lasted long enough to produce 85 episodes of the original Robotech, along with the way way way lesser known Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years, also adapted from unrelated series Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia, both by Leiji Matsumoto, both of which were comprised of 42 episodes, which I probably would have confirmed in advance if I had already gone through the trouble of combining three whole series into one, but that’s just me, a person whose experience informs his actions. Of course, given the success of Robotech, I’m sure Carl was very optimistic about his ability to crank out another successful chopped and screwed anime, so I can’t really blame him for overlooking that, but Harlock ultimately didn’t perform nearly as well as its predecessor.

Carl also attempted a Robotech sequel, Robotech II: The Sentinels, of which only three episodes were produced before it was canceled. And that’s kinda where Harmony Gold as a legitimate institution went out the window. Carl left to start Streamline, and you can so clearly picture the alternate timelines branching out from that point in history. Streamline was the antithesis to Harmony Gold in just about every way. Its first projects were theater screenings of Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Twilight of the Cockroaches, and it’s unclear whether they were officially a company at that time, but that’s kinda where Streamline’s illegitimacy ends. They opened the first Streamline Pictures office in 1989 and took off from there, while Harmony Gold was offloading employees to none other than Saban Entertainment, which may explain that company’s almost identical production strategies in Power Rangers.

I think taking a quick look at Harmony Gold’s website can give you a lot of perspective on the direction they’ve gone in since Carl left. And I encourage you to pull it up and follow along as I break this down, cause it’s hilarious. First of all, it looks like it was designed by Frank Agrama himself. From the soft 90s fonts to the basic flash animation, if you asked someone who had never heard of Harmony Gold to describe this website, I’m confident they would peg this as the work of an African immigrant trying to convince his parents he’s doing well in Hollywood. From left to right, the home menu lists “Theater,” a good enough start, considering they do own and operate the Harmony Gold Preview House in Hollywood. It then moves on to “Entertainment,” a category under which the word “theater” might fall under some circumstances, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, considering it is a specific space after all.

Dead center, directly under their logo where you’d never expect it, is “Robotech” which, again falls under “entertainment,” the most entertaining thing about it being that if you click on it, it just redirects you to a better website, Robotech.com, where you can find all the merchandise and modern web design that frankly just wouldn’t make sense on Harmony Gold’s main page. Just to the right of that is, quite ironically, a hard left turn to “Real Estate,” which redirects to HarmonyGoldProperties.com, and I’ll admit perspective is key here because the phrase “Harmony Gold kinda fell off and started doing real estate” sounds way worse than “Yo my landlord produced the Shaka Zulu mini-series, that’s crazy!” But that’s neither here nor there. Finally, one more space to the right, you’ll see “About Us,” and your impulse might be to say “No I think I’ve seen enough,” but there’s so much useful information in there like the fact that Tobey Macguire is attached as a producer on the live action Robotech, which I’m only adding in hopes that you’ll respect the deep commitment required to bookend this long setup with Spiderman-related content.

[Japanese Spider-Man theme returns]

So all that might seem very unfair to Harmony Gold and Robotech, especially considering they served such a key role in introducing so many American fans to anime. Why should you care what their website looks like if they’re responsible for one of the greatest anime adaptations of all time? Well it’s not really about what they did at the time that fans are uptight about. It’s all about how they’ve conducted themselves since. The key difference between Streamline Pictures and Harmony Gold really comes down to their emphasis on money.

[Lofi Music]

Jerry Beck told us repeatedly that he and Carl’s work was something they did because they wanted to see anime in American movie theaters. They did that and they were defunct by 2002 which, if you look at a rough timeline of how anime got to where it is today, is the perfect amount of time to help set the industry in motion and then just let inertia take over. Streamline produced dubs to get them out and then relinquished the rights to those properties, most notably handing the rights to Studio Ghibli distribution over to Disney in 1996.

Harmony Gold on the other hand have notoriously kept a vise grip on the rights to Robotech and its underlying IP and clearly have no plans of letting go any time soon. If you Google “Harmony Gold,” the search results are not kind. A lot of them come from Reddit, which should give you all the information you need, but the SparkNotes version is that Harmony Gold has used their rights to Macross and adjacent titles to box out any lookalikes, copy cats, or most notably, the original Macross itself, from setting up shop comfortably in the US, and knowing their relationship with Berlusconi’s Mediaset in Italy, it’s not really surprising that their actions would mirror those of a European propaganda machine, the only difference being that Robotech was popular, but certainly not the only thing you could watch in the 80s. So they really only managed to corner the market on what they *sort of* owned.

For context: Harmony Gold were given rights to SDF Macross, Southern Dimension Cavalry Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada from Tatsunoko Production in 1984 and, as we now know, Carl Macek was charged with editing and scripting these series into the 85 episode arc of Robotech. Simple enough so far, but of course it gets worse. Robotech was first released in 1985 and it’s since been declared that Harmony Gold maintains the rights to the Robotech brand in perpetuity, to do with whatever they so choose, and yet they’ve also held onto the rights for all its constituent properties for the past 34 years, renewing them once in 1998 and again in 2002, which pushed the expiration date to March 2021, and in all my research, I haven’t seen a single viable reason for why they need to last that long. In short, they ain’t doing shit with them, and yet, at Anime Expo 2019, they announced once again, that their rights would be extended indefinitely.

As I said before, Harmony Gold started production on Robotech II: The Sentinels, which was canceled, ending Carl Macek’s tenure, and they did later produce Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles in 2006, which according to their own website, is incredible. But other than that, what do they really need those rights for? At first glance, it looks like they’re whole MO is just to litigate competitors out of existence, which thankfully they haven’t always had the power to do. But if you take a closer look, that doesn’t have any affect on their approach. It really seems like they’re just holding onto their one successful property for the sake of brand recognition and money. I mean if you Google the words “Harmony Gold lawsuit,” the number of results are very telling.

Really, outside of almost certainly tossing out my rental application when I lived in LA, it seems like Harmony Gold does nothing but litigate. And to be honest, I can’t say that I really understand all the details of their legal troubles, of which there are so so many, but let’s see if I can sum it up without staring at my notes for an hour.

Basically, I want to say around 2003, it was determined by a Japanese court that Tatsunoko Production may have never had the power to hand the rights to Macross over to Harmony Gold in the first place, because they apparently didn’t have the approval of their co-producers Studio Nue and Big West in Japan, and technically the rights to 41 of the original character designs still belong to Big West. But because we are America and our word is law, and because we renew our anger about Pearl Harbor only when it is convenient, a different judge said “fuck everything Japan stands for” and I guess that ruling was ignored in the US and a judge determined that Harmony Gold has the rights to use Macross for some period of time just short of forever. A 2016 case between HG and Tatsunoko, in which the latter claimed Harmony Gold was sublicensing Macross without paying royalties, was ruled in favor of Harmony Gold but also dialed back the whole perpetuity thing and upheld the 2021 expiration date on their Macross license, and that date held until July of this year, when Harmony Gold’s deal with Tatsunoko was extended for another, as of yet undisclosed amount of time, that is presumed to be another 35 fucking years.

To sum up all the implications of this very confusing, three-headed dog of a case, basically Harmony Gold’s rights to Macross have a very shaky foundation, but they objectively own Robotech at least and can do with that whatever they want, as long as any sequels they produce use original designs outside of the original 41 that were dubiously given to them without Big West’s permission. Also Harmony Gold was somehow given all distribution rights for original Macross footage outside of Japan, but they still need permission from Tatsunoko to actually exercise those rights, which Tatsunoko seem unwilling to do for a company that sued them as recently as three years ago. I wonder what that’s all about. Also, because the grounds by which Big West actually owns those characters is so confusing internationally, Tatsunoko will probably just keep renewing Harmony Gold’s license just to say “fuck you” to Big West, while still never letting Macross see the light of day aside from Blu-Rays shipped directly from Japan, which conveniently have English subtitles because they know exactly what they’re doing.

This whole mess, paired with the fact that fighting an American ruling from overseas is prohibitively expensive and not in your favor, means that Studio Nue and Big West are heavily discouraged from pursuing their rights to a show they don’t really believe has an audience in the US anyway, so even if they could win, the likelihood of them trying is very slim. But because Harmony Gold has nothing to coast on aside from their production from 1985, they’ve been reduced to filing suits against anyone who even looks at an original Robotech design, which so far includes Hasbro, who incorporated an also shakily acquired Macross design into their Transformers line because they had no Robotech licenses and Macross didn’t exist here at the time, and also Piranha Games, a Canadian video game designer who believed they had legally acquired the designs from Big West for their Battletech game series. Unfortunately, Harmony Gold disagreed and another confusing lawsuit began.

The weirdest thing about all this is that, as important as Robotech is, a lot has happened in the anime world since then, and Harmony Gold don’t seem interested in branching out into any of those other ventures. They’ve been acquiring IP throughout the years but haven’t produced anything of note since around 2006, although a live action Robotech has been licensed to Warner Brothers, but even that feels weird since Pacific Rim already happened, but I guess another lawsuit can settle that. I don’t know.

Watching the steps Harmony Gold have made since canceling The Sentinels really adds a lot of perspective to just how big a bullet Carl Macek dodged by leaving, and granted he had since gone back and was working with them again when he passed away, but the potential damage to his reputation had come and gone by that time. Of course, he is still a controversial figure considering his creation is still at the root of this whole conflict. But he is also responsible for introducing a whole generation of viewers to anime for the first time, and his work at Streamline Pictures, where he helped bring so much untouched anime into the mainstream, more than makes up for keeping one, albeit very important, series out of the public eye.

The legacy of Akira and its Studio Ghibli dubs, in my opinion, makes Streamline a much stronger contender for valued contributors to anime history, and the fact that they only made money by putting out a quality product makes it that much better, not to mention the fact that they were so content to pass on licenses when their time was up. In fact, according to most fans, knowing when to pack it up is really the one thing Harmony Gold could have done to save their reputation. That said, Streamline has thrown a lot of fuel on one very divisive fire over the years, whether intentionally or not.

That fire, of course, is the sub vs. dub debate, which has driven a wedge in anime fandom for years. There are the people who believe there is never a reason to watch dubbed anime and there are the people who work from home, writing anime podcasts, and don’t have time to learn Japanese just to feel superior to casual fans.

For anyone unfamiliar, there’s been a debate raging for as long as anime fandom has existed over whether real fans should watch anime with subtitles or with English voice actors. I would personally like to plant my flag in the ground and say that if you don’t speak Japanese, it doesn’t matter. The argument I hear most often is that the Japanese voice acting is just better, and to that I say: how the fuck do you know? If you don’t speak the language, there’s no way you can discern good Japanese voice acting from bad English. If you can, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you speak Japanese. So good luck with your new job at the UN, I guess. Congratulations.

Also, just consider a point Roland Kelts made to me: that the Japanese artists themselves, in many cases, prefer fans to watch the show in their own language so they're not focused on reading while the art they worked so hard on is just passing by. Also, consider a point made by me: that subtitling eliminates the need for voice acting and editing jobs and, and as we learned in the previous episode, subtitles can be done with a very quick turnaround and a small team. So what I'm saying, is that dubs create jobs and stimulate the economy in the countries where they're produced, so regardless of how you feel, they are a necessary evil.

Also, back to a legitimate point by Jerry Beck: people who don't already watch anime aren't really interested in reading subtitles. To return to the argument on what goes into localizing anime, the whole point of the process is to sell it to a new audience, and part of that process is presenting it to them in their own language, which is exactly why Streamline Pictures only produced dubbed anime--to attract new fans to something that doesn’t feel threatening or antagonistic, which anime fandom often does. So sure, you can individually decide that you prefer to watch anime with subtitles. Maybe you have a lot of free time, I don’t know. But maybe take into consideration that when you have an elitist attitude about who’s a “real” anime fan, you’re not only being a weirdo edgelord, but you’re also keeping anime away from fans who are just as deserving as you are which, I would argue, makes you the Harmony Gold of people.

Harmony Gold itself has maintained its loose grip on the anime industry by exploiting people’s interest in a single franchise, knowing that a lack of access to the original Macross and related merchandise will inevitably drive people to their Frankenstein version of the original product. Meanwhile, Big West and Studio Nue have effectively given up fighting for it because the legal fees would be prohibitively expensive to reclaim a franchise that has technically never had an audience outside of Japan anyway. And the fact that companies like this survive because of legal confusion, while the Streamlines of the world come and go, is a travesty and ultimately only hurts the anime industry. And my point is that if you force subtitles on new fans, you are as bad as that.

This has been another episode of Anime in America. Come back next week, when we’ll be diving into the first anime conventions to hit the United States.

[Lofi Music]

Thank you for listening to Anime In America, presented by Crunchyroll. If you enjoyed this, please check out Crunchyroll.com/animeinamerica for free anime, with ads, or get a 14-day free trial of Premium.

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This episode is written and hosted by me, Yedoye Travis, and you can find me on Instagram at ProfessorDoye or Twitter @YedoyeOT. This episode is edited by Chris Lightbody and produced by me, Braith Miller, Peter Fobian, and Jesse Gouldsbury.

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ruberduckzilla · 7 years ago

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Tagged by @challahbackboy technically. Not a direct tag.

Nicknames: Don’t have one.

Gender/pronouns: Male, he, him.

Star sign: Cancer

Height: 6ft or 6ft 1″, Can’t remember

Time: 01:08 AM GMT

Birthday: July 15th 1992

Favorite bands: Jefferson Starship, Aerosmith. Recently gotten into HAIM.

Favorite solo artist: Amy Winehouse, Duffy, VV Brown.

Song stuck in your head: Love Shack, B52s

Last movie you watched?: Event Horizon

Last show?: Star Trek Discovery and Orville

Why did you create your blog?: I Don’t know. A Friend suggested it, then it became a place to vent, but then it was just a place to reblog random fucking shit. Then @teathewaygodintended convinced me to show a little flesh and now look at me, I’m practically popular.

What do you post?: Initially venting about how shit life was. Now stuff about Tech, Selfies and Gaming.

Last thing you googled?: Restaurants in Liverpool and Quantum Vacuum Thruster

Other blogs: I... can’t think of someone.

AO3: Erm I don’t have an Archive of our Own account.

Do you get asks?: Nope. Well. I get “Statements” but only had 3 or 4.

How did you get the idea for your URL?:

Ruberduckzilla was a character in some old advertisements for Oasis drink from Coca-Cola. He was a “Godzilla” sized rubber duck. I started calling it someone I knew who always got called a duck for some reason.

Followers: 140

Following: 43

Average hours of sleep: 7-12

Lucky number: 13, for some reason in Friday 13th I generally have good luck.

Instruments: I can’t play any. I like the piano though but could never get the hand of it. Can’t read the sheet music, may as well be an ancient language no one can decode.

What are you wearing?: My Work uniform. On a night shift.

Dream trip: Japan, Canada, Scotland, Crete.

Favourite food: Chinese, Italian, Japanese

Significant other?: I don’t know to be honest :/ I hope sometime.

Last book I read: ‘Dreamweaver

Top 3 fictional universes: Star Trek, Babylon 5, Fallout.

I don’t know who to tag...

#Hey look it's about me #me #can't be arsed tagging people #enjoy reading about random shit about me

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oselatra · 7 years ago

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48 hours in Eureka Springs

The coolest little town in Arkansas.

Founded in 1879, in the days when spring waters with purported healing properties were the better-than-nothing treatment for most medical ailments, Eureka Springs became a resort boomtown. Around 4,000 people eventually lived there, with the moneyed folks building magnificent hotels, mansions and Victorian cottages that still cling like orchids to the rocky slopes of the valley where Eureka Springs sits.

With modern medicine quickly denouncing the idea of healing waters as quackery, the town's fortunes faded. That actually turned out to be a good thing, however, as the seclusion of sleepy Eureka for much of the 20th century largely trapped its unique architecture and character in amber. In recent decades, Eureka has reinvented itself as one of the most liberal and welcoming cities in Arkansas, a very blue speck in deep red Carroll County. For over 10 years, the city has stood at the vanguard of LGBT rights, hosting twice-yearly "Diversity Weekends," establishing a domestic partnership registry in 2007 that allowed same-sex couples to officially record their unions, recording the state's first legal same-sex marriage at their tiny courthouse in May 2014 and voting overwhelmingly in 2015 to pass an ordinance that protects LGBT residents and visitors from discrimination. Far beyond its Christian-themed tourist trap past, Eureka is a true destination now, with romantic lodging, great shopping, fine dining and events most every weekend. There's plenty to do and see.

Day 1

Settle in

Eureka Springs is known for its unique and historic lodging, making it the perfect spot for a romantic getaway. You can't go wrong with the Crescent Hotel, the elegant, circa-1886 showplace perched on a mountain above the city. Also lovely, and right in the middle of the city's historic downtown, is the Crescent's sister hotel, the Basin Park Hotel at 12 Spring St., which features balcony dining, shopping just steps from the door, and relaxation at Basin Spring next door. For more adventurous lodging, try the luxurious Treehouse Cottages, headquartered at 165 W. Van Buren St. Situated at two locations in Eureka, the eight Treehouse Cottages feature cabins built 22 to 26 feet off the ground, with each including amenities like whirlpool tubs and kitchenettes. For a REALLY unique overnight, how about staying in a facsimile of a hobbit house based on those in the "Lord of the Rings" books and film series, or cottages that evoke the feel of being in the world of Harry Potter? Eureka Springs Treehouses, Castles and Hobbit Caves (online at estreehouses.com) feature all the whimsical lodging you can stand, evoking medieval castles in the air, grass-covered cabins with round doors and windows and cavern-inspired lodgings of rustic stone.

Catch some brunch

Eureka Springs is definitely the place to slow down and sit a spell, and if you aren't enough of a morning person to rise and shine early enough for a proper breakfast, Oscar's Cafe, at 17 White St., is perfect for a leisurely not-quite-breakfast, with a front porch that's perfect for sipping coffee and a nice breakfast and lunch menu.

Shop, shop, shop

While Eureka Springs has long been known for its antique shops, the selection of chic boutiques has definitely taken an upswing in recent years. The first stop if you're in town for a romantic getaway has to be The Fine Art of Romance at 60 Spring St., a lingerie and more store that features one of the most elegant selections of perfumes,adult items and boudoir fashions in the state, plus a nice selection of erotic art and books. If you're on the prowl for quirky antiques and local art, try Mitchell's Folly, an antique store and art gallery at 130 Spring St. that features a truly eclectic and even eccentric variety of vintage items and fine art.

Get some lunch

All that walking up and down the steep streets of Arkansas's "Little Switzerland" should mean you're ready for lunch. The fairly new Grotto, at 10 Center St., partially in a natural cave in the side of a mountain, has developed a devoted following among locals with its menu of wood-fired grilled items and its spelunker ambiance. It's open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch (and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. for dinner). If diner food is your thing, try the venerable Sparky's Roadhouse Cafe, at 147 E. Van Buren St., which features a big menu of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, salads and other items, with over 100 beers available to wash them down.

Grab some coffee (or an afternoon beer)

There's no Starbucks in Eureka Springs (thank God), but you can get a java jolt or an afternoon drink at Brews at 2 Pine St. It has a nice menu of coffee drinks, and — as the name suggests — does double brew duty with a good selection of Arkansas-made craft beers. There's a nice selection of local art, too. Brews is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., so early or late, you can find the beverage that best suits your mood.

Get closer to your spiritual side

No trip to Eureka is complete without a stop at the mammoth Christ of the Ozarks, 937 Passion Play Road, which consists of a vaguely boxy, seven-story concrete Jesus forever waiting for Godzilla to give him that promised hug. How many times has Big JC's weird pose been emulated by bored vacationers for a funny photo? Uncountable, but it's definitely high on the roadside kitsch meter. For a more refined walk on the God side, visit the lovely St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, 30 Crescent Drive, just below the Crescent Hotel. Completed in 1909, the lovely stone church has the distinction of appearing in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" because, thanks to the hilly terrain of Eureka, the entrance to the church grounds is through the bell tower. The grounds are open and lovely day or night, but we prefer the frisson that a nighttime stroll gives. If you'd rather go more secular with your ponderings about the nature of the universe, you can always head for the famous Inspiration Point at 16498 State Highway 62 W, featuring commanding, beautiful views of the countryside.

Dinner bell is ringing

If you've got time to wait a bit, you should try to get a table at local favorite Ermilio's at 26 White St. Situated in a former home near the Crescent Hotel, the Italian restaurant is easily the most popular in the city, but operates solely on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reservations. Once on the waiting list, though, you'll have plenty of time to rub elbows with other diners in the cozy upstairs bar or on the front porch. If you're looking for a romantic dinner, try Le Stick Nouveau, a small French restaurant below the New Orleans Hotel at 63 Spring St. Featuring such signature items as duck a l'Orange and escargot, it's been getting rave reviews and fills up quickly, so reservations are encouraged.

Get your Scooby Doo on

With the craze for all things paranormal, Eureka Springs is a natural for looking for things that go bump in the night. Buttressed by a visit from the cable reality show "Ghost Hunters" some years back, the Crescent Hotel does a booming business with its ghost-themed tours of the building. Visitors will hear of the various alleged ghost sightings in the basement, which once served as a morgue when the hotel was used as a hospital, and "Michael," supposedly the ghost of an Irish worker who fell to his death while the hotel was being built in the 1880s. If that's not enough spooks for you for one night, The Basin Park Hotel also offers ghost tours.

Day 2

Tuck in again

Another local favorite, Mud Street Cafe at 22 S. Main St., features great coffee and a big slate of breakfast foods, including pancakes, hash browns, croissants, wraps, muffins, scones, bagels and more, plus omelets in seven varieties. For something a little more exotic, try The Oasis at 37 Spring St., which bills its cuisine as "Ark-Mex," with Mexican-inspired huevos for breakfast.

More shopping!

If you're looking to get in touch with your inner kid, stroll on in to Tee Rex Toys at 34 Spring St. A Willy Wonka-esque shop full of unique T-shirts, games, books, children's toys, vintage items and more, it's the fruit of the wonderful brain of Jayme Brandt, a local artist and designer who looks at the world with a poet's eye. Also, if you love the toasty feel of a pair of warm socks (and some uber-specific shopping), stop by the For Bare Feet store at 35 Spring St., which features thousands of pairs of socks in all styles and colors, including specialty socks for sports fans and designs taken from popular culture.

Visit Fay's little chapel in the woods

While in Eureka, both praying types and architecture lovers (we're not saying those two can't overlap) are honor bound to genuflect at architect Fay Jones' magnificent Thorncrown Chapel, a lithe, light-strewn construction of angled wooden beams, glass and stone situated on state Highway 62 about two miles out of town. Considered one of the top 10 American architectural masterpieces of the 20th century by the American Institute of Architects, the chapel is the crown jewel of Jones' storied career.

Visit Lake Leatherwood

The biggest city park in Arkansas, Lake Leatherwood City Park, at 1303 County Road 204 north of town, is a 1,610-acre oasis in the mountains, built around the shining 86-acre Lake Leatherwood, created by the dam the WPA built on West Leatherwood Creek in the early 1940s. With over 25 acres of trails and plentiful birds and wildlife, the park is the perfect place for a long stroll, a hike, a bike ride, fishing or canoeing.

Dinnertime!

Now that you've walked off all those calories from lunch and dinner, you're ready to chow down on some real Neanderthal fare. Take a drive out to Gaskin's Cabin Steakhouse, at 2883 state Highway 23 N, about three miles out of town. Started by a former bear hunter and the perfect mix of rustic and refined, Gaskin's is a carnivore's delight, with chops, prime rib and a variety of aged, hand-cut steaks, plus a great wine list. If a walk on the wild side is more your speed, head to the Cathouse Lounge at the Piped Piper Pub and Inn, 82 Armstrong St. Popular with the bikers who make their way to Eureka in droves these days, the Cathouse has a menu full of hearty fare to fill you up after a long day on your hog: the perfect pairing for cold beer and good times.

48 hours in Eureka Springs

#48 hours in Eureka Springs

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