Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2003)

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Last Wednesday, alerted by Toho Studios on my Instagram feed, I put aside my distaste for indoor crowds* and toddled off to Albuquerque to see a special showing of Godzilla: Tokyo SOS. When I got there, I realized northern New Mexico was a perfect spot to watch a Godzilla flick: bomb references are everywhere, including the Fallout Trampoline Arena next door to the cineplex.

Screenshot_20230322_222450_Pokmon GO

After the interminable coming attractions the show started with something I didn’t quite get. Was It a prequel clip? How was this going to tie in? Is Gigan in Tokyo SOS, too? It was really cool though, so this morning I googled around to see if I could find out more. Indeed I could; my goog-fu is still adequate!

Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (… Gojira buiesu Gaigan Rekusu) is a 3D-animated Godzilla short film written and directed by Takuya Uenishi. It is a sequel to Uenishi’s 2019 fan film G vs. G, which he submitted to GEMSTONE’s Godzilla contest, winning the chance to work with Toho in an official capacity. It was screened during Godzilla Fest 2022 on November 3, 2022 and subsequently released on YouTube.*

Here it is in all its glory – if nothing else go to the 5 minute mark to see Gigan Rex power up. Watching in the theater, I didn’t notice that it was 3D animated. Part of the reason is that when I watch a movie, if I’m enjoying it I tend to immerse myself. There’s no little Roger Ebert on my shoulder analyzing things – it’s why I’d be a suck film critic. But the other reason is that Takuya Uenishi does a great job capturing the feel of Toho practical effects. Enjoy!

A musical observation… There are a couple of phrases (edit – the word I was looking fore is leitmotif – thank you Wikipedia) that put me immediately and directly into a cinematic universe. The first, obv, is Godzilla’s theme. And the second? Watch the last bit of Yojimbo.

*If I wasn’t stuffing popcorn into my face I was masked up for the duration of indoor time.

Chile Relleno diary no. 5

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I’ll post more about the fun we’re having in the Santa Fe area soon, but for now, I’m going to cut to the chase.

James (has no) Beard

Place: Rancho de Chimayo

Variety: Chile relleno entree.Two chile rellenos on top  of salsa, with rice, calabasitas and OMG FRY BREAD. Wow. Presenting the rellenos above rather than below the salsa meant that the breading was as crisp and hot as could be. The salsa and chiles were perfectly spicy and for folks who might find them too hot, there’s fry bread dipped in honey to cool your mouth down. Exceptional! I’m going back to try their combo plate before I leave the area.

Chile rellenos

And there was flan for dessert. Also extremely delicious.

Flan!

Rancho de Chimayo is tied with Chope’s for the best chile rellenos I’ve ever eaten. Yum.

Chile Relleno Diary entry no. 4

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I decided to head up to Ferndale CA yesterday for lunch. Last year I drove the Lost Coast loop: around the Mattole Road from Weott (more or less) to Ferndale. By the time I got around the loop it was late in the day and the weather had deteriorated; I took a quick look at Ferdale’s famous Main St. and headed back to camp. This year the loop is a no-go. There’s either a quarter mile or quarter acre (I’m clear about 1/4, but not so sure on unit of measure) slide between 101 and Honeydew on the south end of the Mattole Road. I wanted to get back to Ferndale, so a much shorter and easier drive up for lunch seemed like a good idea. I googled around and there was a promising looking Mexican place right in the center of town.

Main St., Ferndale

Off we went and when we got to Tuyas (the restaurant in question) there was a chile relleno special. Of course I ordered it.

Place: Tuyas, Ferndale CA

Variety: Chile relleno special. One chile relleno smothered in mole with beans, rice and homemade corn tortillas. Another A+ lunch experience. The mole was amazing – spicy, rich, complex and umami-delic! And the tortillas were an unexpected surprise – really excellent. I’ll return; even if there isn’t a relleno special, enchiladas with their corn tortillas and mole would be amazing, I’m sure.

Chile relleno special at Tuyas in Ferndale

Homemade tortillas

#FlowerReport, March 12, 2023

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Centuries ago, in internet time, my friend Alyssa started the Sunday Flower Report on twitter. It was and is a celebration of “the persistence of beauty and the beauty of persistence”; folks tweet pictures of whatever is blooming in their neck of the woods with the hashtag #FlowerReport and A retweets to all followers. I locked my twitter account last year at about this time in anticipation of Leon Skum’s purchase of the bird site and with that, my contributions came to an end. Alyssa can see my tweets, but RTing is right out. So I thought this Sunday I’d do a long overdue post on a day trip I took a month ago – a blog based #FlowerReport.

Way back when I was building naturalistic vivaria and keeping poison dart frogs, my go-to for orchids was Andy’s Orchids in Encenitas. It and the La Mesa RR layout were my 2 primary reasons for visiting the San Diego area and my gosh, it was worth it. It’d take thousands of photos to do the place justice – I only took a few. Here’s a slideshow, with orchid species names in the caption, where possible.

Andy's Orchids, Feb 2023