#tumblr blitzing the quality as usual

[tentacledwizard]

Nepeta :33 (wip)

[thebumblecee]

The 126 + food and drink

(With thanks to @thisbuildinghasfeelings for the food and drink list)

—

Bonus Cronut Carlos for @paperstorm

[monadoboy16]

Old Tech Blog 1: PlayStation Portable

Hello everyone, MonadoBoy16 here.  

Today, I am writing my first blog post on Tumblr.  In this case, it will be about an old tech that is a bit modern.  What happens when you combine a game system, a video player, and a Walkman, you get peak pre-smartphone portable media, the PlayStation Portable or PSP for short.  Introduced at E3 of 2003, released in Japan the next year, and in the US in 2005. Before the PSP came out we have the Tapwave Zodiac, which does similar things but was a failure.  Described by Ken Kutaragi as the Walkman of the century due to the system's multimedia capabilities.  The PSP is the only handheld game system to use optical discs, in this case, UMD (Universal Media Disc).  A UMD can be a game, video, or music video.  In addition, the latter two can also be played via a Memory Stick Duo.

However, what made the PSP so special is the menu known as the XrossMediaBar, or XMB for short.  That was first used in the PSX (a PlayStation 2 with a built-in DVR), and since then, Sony used that XrossMediaBar on various other Sony Electronics until 2011, including the PlayStation 3 for obvious reasons, the first-ever OLED TV, and some Viao computers.  How the XMB works is that rather than navigating the menu using a cursor, the menu is navigated by using icons.  Using left and right on the D-PAD change the categories, while using up and down to select the different media types.

In 2007, an updated version of the PSP is released, the PSP-2000.  Differences from the original include an improved D-Pad and Buttons, the former was raised in response to complaints, increased RAM and storage for improved loading times, and a video out port for hooking up to a TV (making this the first handheld console to hook up to a TV without any end-user modifications). But, for some reason, the Composite Cables do not work with games.

Then, the next year, Sony released the PSP-3000, a cosmetically updated version of the PSP-2000.  So, other than the Home (which uses the PlayStation logo), Start, and Select buttons being oval-shaped, a microphone, and improved contrast and aspect ratio, it’s the same as the PSP-2000. However, upon release, there were reports that it suffered interlacing problems, especially when things are in motion.

In 2009, Sony released the PSP Go.  A compact version of the PSP that has a sliding cover akin to certain cell phones of that era. It lacked a UMD drive and games have to be downloaded from the PSP store.  With that store closed in 2016, the PSP Go is useless outside of homebrew. As you can see, it was short-lived, but it did pave the way for digital-only game systems that don’t have an optical drive.  It did have some uses like being able to connect a PS3 Controller via Bluetooth and you can pause a game to return to the XMB without exiting the game, but that’s it.  However, two years later, Sony released the PSP Street only in PAL territories.  That one is the opposite of the PSP Go, it has a UMD drive, but no internet capabilities (because of it, it’s cheaper). It was also the last PSP model to be released, coming out about 2 months before the PlayStation Vita was released in Japan.

The graphics for the PSP is on-par with the PS2.  Because of it, it has console-quality ports of Pac-Man World 3, Blitz: The League (renamed to Overtime), and Madden NFL 2006.  Usually, these ports may have graphics that are lowered or have shorter levels, as the PSP port of Pac-Man World 3 has the latter.  Now, because there is only one analog stick on the PSP, 3d Platformers often map the camera controls to the shoulder buttons, games like Pac-Man World 3, Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters use the shoulder buttons for camera controls (outside of some things).  FPS games also have problems with that “one-analog stick” but, some games make up for it.  For example, the PSP port of Star Wars Battlefront 2 (OG) uses the face buttons for aiming the weapon while using the analog stick for movement, because of it, they mapped the Jump button to one of the shoulder buttons.  However, the most infamous game to suffer that problem is Ape Escape on the Loose, a remake of the 1999 PS1 Game.  What made the original game special is that it was the first game to not only take advantage of the DualShock controller but also REQUIRE IT due to using all of the face buttons and both sticks.  As you might expect, On the Loose is worse for obvious reasons.

We have UMD videos, which were sold at the same price as DVDs, but they usually have less content (like lack of special features) due to the UMD's smaller file size.  Then again, Sony did abandon special features for Superbit discs, the video is higher in quality hence the name “Superbit”.  I think the purpose of these UMD videos is to watch DVD-Quality video on the go (unless you have a portable DVD player).  Some UMDs can have special features and trailers.  Interestingly, the UMD release of Stealth came with a demo of the game Wipeout: Pure.  Most UMD videos were released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for obvious reasons.  UMD videos were discontinued in 2011.

Now here is a PSP collector’s guide: For the systems, I recommend you pick up the PSP-2000 thanks to its improved buttons and loading times, being a bit lighter, and having a video out-port (and I also recommend you pick up the 3000 model (unless if you can’t stand the interlacing problems).  Conversely, the model you should avoid is the PSP Go for obvious reasons.  For the UMDs, while the UMD videos are region locked, the games aren’t, so pick up any UMD game from any region.  The only catch is for the Japanese Games, the X and circle buttons for confirm and cancel will be reversed.

The PSP is succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in 2011 in Japan (as I mentioned before) and in 2012 in the US.  Learning from the PSP, the Vita has 2 analog sticks instead of one.  Like the PSP Go, it doesn’t have a UMD Drive, but it makes up for that by using physical games via game cards.  In addition, it has a touch screen and a touchpad.  However, its biggest flaw is it uses proprietary memory cards.  Why didn’t Sony use the already existing Sony Memory Stick M2 (which the PSP Go uses) instead of those memory cards?  The Vita was a flop compared to the PSP selling 80 to 82 million units.  Although it never gained the market share of the Nintendo DS.

Well, that’s it for today’s blog.  Don’t forget to follow me on this site or check out my discord server: https://discord.gg/Js86XCt7DM

[oh-hush-its-perfect]

Alex Fierro's Introduction Full Breakdown

Okokok so. This is going to go full English-professor mode, where I'm drawing conclusions that are gonna seem a little far-fetched. That's what's fun about media analysis! I can say something is a symbol, and even if I don't have enough faith in RR's competency to know if he meant for it to be a symbol, it's still true! That being said, a lot of these choices I'm sure are intentional, either at a literal or subliminal level. Page numbers are going to be used not to assert a kind of authority or whatever— this is a Tumblr post, not an essay— but to help readers find the pages I'm referencing in case they'd like to do some digging of their own. Also, this is going to be really long. Really sorry to anyone with ADHD; I might make an audiofile of this so you can get the information without having to read the whole thing. With all that, let's get into it!

To kick off, let's talk about Alex being in the form of a cheetah when she first meets Magnus. Of course, there's the obvious impact of him seeing her but only so breifly, as well as introducing the conflict between her and the rest of Hall 19. But that could have easily been accomplished by almost any animal. The choice of a cheetah being implicated implies two qualities of Alex that will be recurrent throughout the two books she's in: 1. She has a tendency to run away, as we'll later learn when she describes how she became homeless, and 2. To Magnus, she's elusive. She can't be caught or held down. The event that shows this so transparently is how Alex refuses to define their relationship at the end of the series, despite it clearly surpassing the normal bounds of friendship.

But the cheetah isn't the animal Alex is in the form of when Magnus first gets a good look at her; she's a weasel. Weasel's bring up all kinds of connotations: ferocity, slickness, a lack of charm. When we want to describe someone as an untrustworthy person, we call them a weasel. RR had Alex take this form to play up her comrades' feeling of distrust towards her. She could be a double-crosser. But paradoxically, the up-front and vicious mannerisms of a weasel also have a transperency. She does not try appealing to her Hallmate's sense of goodwill because she doesn't have anything to gain from it. So even though there is the implication that she might be an antagonist, there's also evidence from her actions and mannerisms that she isn't. The weasel's long and skinny frame also allow for a smooth transition into Alex's actual body, which is convenient.

As Alex transforms into her usual human form, Magnus describes her as "a regular human teen, long and lanky, with a swirl of dyed green hair, black at the roots, like a plug of weeds pulled out of a lawn" (pg. 50). That simile at the end is of particular interest. Let's compare it to another time Magnus describes Alex's hair, in Ship of the Dead: "Her hair had started to grow out, the black roots making her look even more imposing, like a lion with a healthy mane" (pg. 136). By contrasting these two different examples, we can see the development of Magnus and Alex's relationship. The first time he sees her, he thinks of her hair as something nasty— note the word choice "weeds." Later on, though, he becomes more affectionate towards her, more complentary. The immedient negative reaction is less his actual impression, though, and more the reaction he expected to have based on everyone else's reaction to Alex.

Her clothes are equally as interesting; as Magnus describes it, Alex wears "battered rose high-tops, skinny lime green corduroy pants, a pink-and-green argyle sweater-vest over a white tee, and another pink cashmere sweather wrapped around the waist like a kilt" (pg. 50). Aside from the obvious fact that this outfit is a) bizzare, b) fire, and c) Alex's signature colors, which add a layer of style to what can otherwise be a somewhat boring series fashion-wise (excuse me, Blitz), the outfit reveals a crucial facet of Alex's backstory in a kind of subtle way. These are expensive clothes, like the Stella McCartney dress in Alex's room. Note the mention of fabrics (corduroy, cashmere) and patterns (argyle). These indicate wealth and status. Even the high-tops; shoes like that don't come cheap. But I'd like to return to the very first word of the section: "battered." Alex's wardrobe show-cases a proximity to wealth, but also shows that that proximity has been strained and lengthened, maybe for an extended period of time. Alex dresses like a rich person, but she isn't one. Least, not anymore.

The last word of that outfit-introduction is also of interest: "kilt." At the current moment, Magnus thinks that Alex is male. No one has indicated otherwise to him. Everyone has been referring to Alex with he/him pronouns. Samirah called Alex her "brother" (pg. 29). His first thought in seeing what he at first perceives as a guy with a jacket wrapped around the waist is That looks like a kilt. This thought tells us about Magnus: despite being open and accepting, he still has some lingering notions of gender conformity from his years in wider American society.

Magnus also indicates that the outfit "reminded me of a jester's motley, or the coloration of a venomous animal warning the whole world" (pg. 50). This is rather self-explanatory, but it's still worth noting that Magnus sees the outfit as something bizzare, strange, and even perhaps comical. This places Alex at odds with the other people Magnus has met. It also reveals that Magnus has zero fashion sense. But we already knew that.

After finishing up staring at the ensemble, Magnus finally gets around to actually looking Alex in the face. First Magnus says that he "forgot how to breathe" (pg. 50), which, yeah, relatable. This is justifed by saying that Alex has the same face as Loki, but the very same sentence that asserts that that's the case also suggests an alternative reason: Alex has "the same unearthly beauty" as her father. Here we can see the beginnings of Magnus's attraction to Alex, though at this point, he still has a lot of internalized homophobia. Though there's certainly some truth in that Magnus was unnerved by Alex's resemblance to Loki, the idea that Magnus pointed out that Alex was pretty without elaborating on that thought until about a chapter later— after he was informed that Alex was presently a girl— can tell us a lot about how Magnus perceives sex and beauty.

Of course, Alex's eyes are given special attention. She has cool eyes; what can I say? But I'd like to focus in on how Magnus here depicts Alex's heterochromia as "completely unnerving" (pg. 50). Again, let's contrast this with how he describes them after getting to know Alex a little better in Ship of the Dead. In Chapter 3, Magnus describes "[Alex's] dark brown eye and his amber eye like mismatched moons cresting the horizon" (pg. 25). Once again, this shows the development of their relationship— but this time, it's in a much more personal way. Eyes are the windows to the soul; they are culturally important and biologically important in inter-personal connections. In you look into someone's eyes, you're giving them your full attention, and you're implying a kind of closeness. The way that Magnus describes Alex's eyes in the second passage is downright intimate. At this point, he is in love with Alex, and it is clear when contrasting the two descriptions.

As my last point, I'd like to discuss Alex's first words on page: "'Point that rifle somewhere else, or I will wrap it around your neck like a bow tie'" (pg. 51). First of all, Alex saying this with a "perfect white smile" (pg. 51) on his face implies that she is used to being threatened. She is not afraid of being shot; she counters the promise of an attack with a promise of her own. This pleads the question: why is Alex accustomed to violence? What events of her past or qualities of her life have brought her to this point? The threat itself reveals Alex's trauma from being genderfluid in a society with rigid gender norms, as well as her antagonistic relationship with her father. Magnus makes a comment that Alex "might actually know how to tie a bow tie, which was kind scary arcane knowledge" (pg. 51). Like Alex's wardrobe, the idea that she may have experience in high-class fashion also implies her former status as a rich kid.

I could go on. I could break apart Alex saying "'Pleased to meet you all, I guess'" (pg. 51). There is a wealth of information in this short page span that tells us things about Alex Fierro in the present moment, quietly demonstrates things about her past, and characterizes the narrator Magnus Chase. This passage is also effective in hindsight in marking the progress of Magnus and Alex's relationship.

But I'd like to take a step back and look at not the pieces, but the whole picture. Alex Fierro gets a full page of pure description— her outfit, her face— and about a chapter of introduction. This comes after several chapters of build-up. Alex Fierro is an important character you need to keep your eyes on. Alex Fierro is emotionally significant to the main character, Magnus Chase. Alex Fierro is one of the most developed and well-rounded characters that Rick Riordan has ever written— heck, she's one of the best characters in middle-grade books period. The extended emphasis on her and her alone tells us exactly what role she's going to play in this story: she's the star.

[yaldev]

As of today, we’re celebrating: 365 Yaldev posts, 4 years of this nonsense, and being exactly 7 years behind Beeple!

CELEBRATION:

365 posts! That’s one year of Yaldev! Well, if I had been writing one every day, which I absolutely haven’t.

It continues to be the case that looking back on posts even from less than a year ago, I think “man this sucks,” and I either know how to improve it at least a little bit while I’m there, or I can’t stand to even look at it and I just have to escape from it. I don’t feel too much pressure to fix the bad posts at this point; as of today, Yaldev’s been going for exactly four years now (if you skip leap days :thonk:), and in a sense it’s chronicled my progress as a writer during that time. Some entries have been modified since them, some changed entirely except for the name and art chosen. I think it only makes sense that reading through it in storyline order will be like traveling through different points of my creative skill, in much the same way as it means traveling through different points of Beeple’s art quality.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL UPDATES:

People I know in real life are bugging me to start a Patreon. It’d certainly be reasonable to start one now that I’m four years in, but I can’t justify setting one up without:

A more consistent creative output than I’m currently hammering out, so I’m not taking your money for less utility than I’m giving you

Something to offer patrons without compromising the project for non-patrons

Existing interest from some of my audience in throwing cash at me (dance, monkey!)

A possible solution to the first one is setting myself a bar: if I don’t write at least X words by the end of the month, I don’t receive anyone’s money for that month. Hopefully that makes people feel more comfortable backing someone inconsistent, since they’ll still receive their benefits during the down periods but not have to spend anything. For the second, I have ideas for what to offer, but they’d have to be on top of my current output rather than replacing it, so at present I can’t really work ahead on them without detracting from the main project. It’s hard juggling part-time school, full-time job, getting enough sleep, Yaldev, another creative project I have a stronger obligation to, a paper I’m writing for a conference, relaxation, and generic life stuff. That said, I could be happily coerced into making a Yaldev a higher priority if I have a financial obligation to a couple supporters. The real question is whether there’s any interest in that. I worry that when the project has gone on as long as it has, interest actually decreases over time if it’s seen as old news. On the other hand, maybe older followers have a sense of being with me since the early days, like they’re invested in this ride as well. I have little clue.

In any event, if a Patreon goes up, I absolutely won’t be shoving it in people’s faces at every opportunity, since I’m not in a position of financial need and money was never the point of this. The main project would continue to be 100% free, and benefits would only be for additional goodies; nothing you can currently see would be moved behind a paywall.

STATISTICS:

This is the fun part, lads! Get ready for some stats and some commentary!

Total Stories: 365

As should be obvious, all numbers are only for the point at which I'm writing this post. These only include the posts that are canon and which I wrote.

Project Age: 1460 Days

Exactly four years! I think it’s a fun coincidence that it lined up with the 365th entry.

How Long You Have to Wait, on Average, For the Next Post: Approximately 4 Days

My output has slowed down since the last update. Feelsbad, but I don’t hear much complaining and I hope that higher quality makes up for lower quantity. Even still, I’m trying to blitz through my to-do list and speedrun my coursework to make more time for this. I hope to eventually bring that down to 3.5, for an average of two posts per week across the project's history.

Readers Across All Platforms: 536 (107 on Tumblr, 135 on Facebook, 140 on Instagram, 154 on Reddit)

Howdy y'all! Thanks for being here and reading my steadily-improving crap. I really struggle with talking about my creative projects in real life, including Yaldev, primarily out of a self-trained instinct to shut myself up about it on the understanding that nobody cares—especially not other creative types, since we're all too invested in our own creation to pay much attention to others. I've been trying to overcome that, and you're helping me just by being here to read. That tells me there's potential in this and that it's something that at least some people genuinely want to see. Artists shouldn't attach their sense of self to their creations, but I can't help but feel validated through that.

At the same time, I do often fear that mine is the sort of content that just gets a like tossed at it for the pretty visuals on the way down the endless content scroll, without having made a real impression on anyone or created a lasting memory. I'll probably always have that worry, which comes as much from a disdain for general Internet culture as anything else. Late in 2020 I took a step away from social media, and I’ve only partially returned, with the result that scrolling through newsfeeds takes up much less of my time than it used to. Feels good. I’d encourage you to do the same, but then you wouldn’t be seeing my own crap as often. :^)

Stories Per Reader: Approximately 0.68

Makes it sound like a decent growth rate, if on average I'm getting one new follower per story half the time, and two new followers the other half of the time. I guess "good growth rate" is somewhat subjective and depends on your goal, but for me, having a tangible unit of increase for each feels good.

It’s actually a lot more variable than that, of course. Usually a given entry will either attract no new followers because I only put it up in my own spaces, or it’ll draw in a few if I post it to a space for content like mine.

Total Word Count: 89,721

I typically operate under the assumption that most novels are about 75k, while sci-fi and fantasy novels tend to be longer since their authors are physically incapable of shutting up, putting them at around 100k. We’ll definitely reach that, and it probably won’t even take that long.

Average Story Length: Approximately 246 words

The 245-255 range is what feels good to me. Part of Yaldev’s appeal compared to books, in theory, is that if you’re consuming it the normal way, you’re getting it in bite-sized chunks as part of your scrolling experience. So I theoretically prefer to keep them on the short side, even if in practice I actually go ham and write stuff that’s quite long. The average here is really being dragged by 100-word posts previously being a lot more common than they are now.

STORY PLANS GOING FORWARD:

So the most recent entry, Gemstones as Mana Sources, was Beeple’s art from February 15, 2014. Today’s exactly 7 years from then, so I actually have an easy bar now for whether I’m catching up to the dude or not. 

When I started this project, I began with his art from July of 2014 and then started moving forward. I got to about September 2015 before I decided that I wanted to go hardcore and go through all his art from the very beginning, at which point I warped back to his art from the very beginning in 2008, and started going through it in chronological order. I think I made that shift back in 2019, and now we’re getting back to the era of his art that I actually started this project with. All of this is to say that soon you’re probably going to notice an uptick in the art quality, either to something new if you’re new, or to what it was like in the Good Ol’ Days™ if you’ve been following this for a long time. As mentioned earlier, I no longer feel super bound to what I’ve written before: I prefer maintaining consistency, but some threads not being tied up and some contradictions are fine. I think the biggest one is that the state of magic’s legality in the Ascended Empire has never been made super clear, but I’m actually okay with that. I know that in the Imperiomancy entry I mentioned how its use by officials varied depending on who held power in government, and magic as a whole could be an even more complex issue that varies by time as well as region. I unironically think that Yaldev is the kind of world that has room for headcanon, so while I’ll try to fix egregious errors, you’re also quite justified in having your own handwaves for my screwups.

I don’t have any updates for any of the storylines really, except for the stuff with Inzohm and the Lone Traveller, for anyone keeping up with that: consider all of it to be in rough-draft at the moment. It’s the kind of long-con story that I really can’t coherently tell the way I do with the rest of Yaldev, so everything I write for it is more like notes that I can later on collect, shuffle, remix and rewrite until it’s semi-coherent. Turns out that Yaldev has helped me develop a number of skills as a writer, but telling better character-driven narratives isn’t one of them—partially because my chosen process, medium and inspiration-artist doesn’t lend itself too well to such stories.

Thanks for being here. What I always wanted as a kid was for other people to be as excited about my worldbuilding as I was, and while I doubt I've hit that extent with Yaldev, I hope my work's had some impact on you, or that it has parts you remember and enjoy. If you have any questions or comments you’ve been too shy to put elsewhere, feel free to drop them here! If not, just stick around and I’ll see you again at post number 400!

[bog-o-bones]

Today I received three Blu-Rays from bootleg website Showa Video. Since they are a relatively unknown website in the greater kaiju community, I thought I’d do a review of the releases I bought from them. Check it out in the Read More link below!

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 & TrueHD 5.1

Extras:

Trailer

1970 Champion Festival cut

8mm Promotional Footage for��Mothra (1961)

Storybook Gallery w/ narration

Interview with Yuji Sakai

Behind-the-scenes photo gallery

Concept Art/Storyboards feature

(Assumed) Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Discs: 1

Audio:  Japanese LPCM 2.0. TrueHD 5.1, & Dialogue-less track (Sound FX and Score only)

Extras:

Trailer

1971 Champion Festival cut (re-titled Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: The Greatest Battle on Earth)

8mm Behind-the-scenes footage (HD) (Narrated in Japanese)

Interview with Haruo Nakajima

8mm Promotional footage

(Assumed) Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese 2.0 & 5.1, AIP/Titra dub, International dub

Extras:

Rare Media Blasters commentary by Steve Ryfle & Ed Godziszewski from recalled DVD/Blu-Ray

Trailer

1972 Champion Festival cut (re-titled Godzilla: The Grand Blitz Operation)

Interview with Yukiko Kobayashi

Storyboards & Designs by Yasuyuki Inoue

Three narrated storybooks

8mm Promotional Footage for Atragon (1963)

8mm Promotional Footage for Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Theater program gallery

Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

For those who don’t know, Showa Video is a bootlegging website that sells unofficial copies of various unreleased Japanese science-fiction movies and television shows. The selection is mind-boggling and at times, it’s hard to not fawn over the releases they have. Not to mention, a flat $6.75 shipping rate (U.S. only) is quite a deal. Arguably their greatest “line of products” is their Toho Godzilla Blu-Rays which are bootleg copies of the Japanese Blu-Rays released by Toho. The bootlegs are almost entirely the same as their Japanese counterparts but with the added bonus of English subtitles which the genuine copies do not have. These subtitles appear to be direct translations as opposed to dubtitles usually found on official releases. 

I won’t go over audio or video on these reviews as I’m not particularly well-versed in film quality know-how so I’d be lost in my element trying to compare the quality to Region 1 DVDs or any other releases around the world. From my own viewing, the films look great on Blu-Ray. I’ve read some reports that on Toho Blu-Rays, colors like black and blue tend to be washed out during night scenes and that it’s recommended to adjust your TV settings accordingly. This was apparent on the Showa Video releases and it’s not a huge deal to me personally as I am always fiddling with my TV’s visual settings. The audio was also of good quality on these releases, the voices are clear and there isn’t any hissing found on films like Godzilla (1954).

Now on to the main attraction (and the reason most Godzilla fans are interested in these releases): special features! Yes, it’s true; the Japanese Blu-Rays come packed with all kinds of bonus material that puts their American counterparts (both DVD & BR) to shame. The most prominent feature found on all three releases is the inclusion of the Champion Festival cuts of the films. Here is a wonderful article on the Champion Festival if you do not know what it is. Basically, these are “kiddie matinee” versions of the film that Toho released in the late 60′s/70′s that are edited to be shorter and sometimes even feature new titles. These cuts have never been released on Region 1 DVD and it’s a real pleasure to finally see them in their entirety. I did not check if these cuts of the film feature subtitles, but I do not think that they do. Regardless, their inclusion is great for those who are interested in the history and different versions of these films.

But what is probably the best out of all three discs is the 8mm Behind-the-Scenes featurette on the Ghidorah disc. This feature is not only in pretty good quality for such old footage, it’s the only actual film footage I’ve ever seen of BTS for the Showa-era. To see Ghidorah in his early stages of creation as well as a rare public appearance by Haruo Nakajima in the 1964 suit is an absolute treat and well worth the $15 asking price for the Blu-Ray. I only hope that there is someone out there who is willing to translate the commentary on it so we can learn more awesome BTS details about one of the greatest films in the Showa era.

Some other noteworthy features were on the Destroy All Monsters disc, most notably the inclusion of the Media Blasters commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski. It’s a shame that this was taken off of the disc before shipping as the information in it is astonishing and well worth a listen. It’s made me appreciate DAM a lot more. Another awesome inclusion is the original AIP/Titra Studios dub of the film, which is how it was released in America. This dub was previously unreleased on home video (the ADV VHS contains the arguably inferior International dub) until the release of the Media Blasters DVD/Blu-Ray which has become considerably rare these days.

Other extras include a strange feature which is basically a slideshow of vintage storybooks from the late 70′s (maybe?) with voiceover narration. I’m unsure as to what exactly this is, but the artwork is reminiscent of those weird crossover images that are passed around on Tumblr a lot these days. Then of course, you’ve got your standard photo galleries, interviews (in this case, Yuji Sakai, famed Godzilla sculptor, Haruo Nakajima, and Yukiko Kobayashi, the lead woman in Destroy All Monsters), and standard trailers. There appears to be Japanese-language audio commentary on the Mothra and Ghidorah discs, but from what I tried, I can’t get either to work. I don’t think this is a fault of Showa Video, it’s probably something I’m doing wrong myself.

Overall, Showa Video may sell nothing but bootlegs, but I’ll be damned if these aren’t some of the best bootleg discs I’ve ever owned. They all come in high-quality cases with colorful and wonderfully printed artwork (which themselves are just awesome in their design). I highly recommend anyone who is impatient with companies like Classic Media or Universal to give in to the underground bug and purchase some of Showa Video’s releases. They are manufactured on-demand so stock will never run out. I’m honestly considering selling my R1 Godzilla Blu-Rays so I can replace them with these bootlegs, they are that good.

Overall Ratings:

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964): 4.9 stars. This would’ve gotten a perfect five if it included the American cut.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964): 4.9 stars. This would’ve gotten a perfect five if it included the American cut.

Destroy All Monsters (1968): 5.0 stars

[butyouvealwaysbeenthecaretaker]

!!! Thank you for your answer-- I've been reading basic stuff about Fisher and talking about him with my friend who's into theory stuff. Which I don't know a ton about. But I am leftish and into cultural criticism and enthusiastic about rock music rn, lol. And I was like, wait, isn't the sort of thing that Caretaker dude on Tumblr's all about? But I am still feeling a sort of buzz of exploration and possibility about his work-- do you know where to start?

I am impossibly delighted

I would start with Ghosts of my Life. It's a collection of essays about movies and music, but it's got a definite Mood, and also gently introduces some of his politics.

I would also recommend getting into his influences; because what he's communicating is less of an idea than a feeling. Both Ghosts and The Weird and the Eerie are essentially reading lists, so if an essay appeals to you definitely seek out the original source.

My personal faves being, obvs, The Caretaker (albums to start with: An Empty Bliss is his classic. Haunted Ballroom and Persistent Repetition are also good. I find some of his work on amnesia a lot harder to get into). And Sapphire and Steel, which is available on YouTube. They can be watched in any order and the classic episodes are 2 and 6, but 1 is also very good.

(Because his references are so important to him, there is def a socialisation process. ie he mentions in On Vanishing Land that the wartime radar operators would have danced to Al Bowley on the lawn. It's not a casual reference: Bowley is on the Shining soundtrack, and that soundtrack inspired the Caretaker, and he has a whole post about Bowley on his blog, because he died early on in the Blitz so has this haunted quality. You rarely *need* a reference to understand his point, but it usually makes it more *rich* because you're following his web of connections)

On Vanishing Land can be heard on YouTube. He went for a walk with Julian Fisher on an evocative coastline, and the album is a psychogeographical monologue over sounds. It's fantastic. It's a great introduction to his frequency, as well as good listening in its own right, real headphones on a rainy bus music. He wrote The Weird and the Eerie in the same period, and it talks more about some of the references in Vanishing Land, and examples of both weird fiction and eerie fiction.

I found his political books difficult to get into initially. Then the world disabled me more, and I was suddenly an anti-capitalist. His politics reads as quite...studenty? Idk. Protest everything!  So I found that offputting at first, because there is a lot of post-9/11 rage & anti-Blair/anti-Cameron writing which is like - ok, but what are you for? But now I've got more background from other Left wing sources about what a Left wing future could be, I've come back to those essays with a new eye. Similarly, I don't follow his philosophy, but other writers I admire (i mean, I'm talking about birlinterrupted) have criticised Zizek & others he mentions which make me think they also have a student edgelord character that I'm wary of.

Capitalist Realism is short, and outlines his key theory: that we believe there is no alternative to capitalism. He's more of a mood than a theory guy, so I actually find the bits of that in Ghosts of my Life more effective. Like, "capitalism is like the Sapphire and Steel episode where everything is looping" is where he's most at home as a thinker; I think he struggles to articulate this very real thing he's identified in more concrete/theoretical ways. But I think it's probably Necessary if you want to Do his work, and you may get more out of it than me.

The book K-Punk is his collected blog posts. It's difficult, and I wouldn't make it your first purchase. But I dip into it every now and again, and I'm working my way into his politics through it. I feel bad that this political writer, his politics is the thing I struggle with but *shrug*. I'm very new to the Left, and my instincts are that one shouldn't start with Fisher for a Left 101.

The blog is still online. Fisher's medium was The Blog, just as Peyps was The Diary. I dip into this too - it's really not something you can archive binge. But like if you type in a topic you know he's into, you can find his scratch notes on it, like that post about Al Bowley: http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/ There's also the slightly more formal  https://k-punk.org/ -it's got play lists! And thats's important because music is important to his thing.