The Big Guy Returns

Chairman Of The Board

The banner at the top shows a view towards the Bay this morning, as The Big Guy made his way carefully under the Golden Gate Bridge and began wading east through San Francisco Bay. As usual, most water traffic was halted until noon, but ferry service should resume shortly.

It's the 101st running of the Bay-To-Breakers here on May 20th, and Godzilla's participation has been a time-honored tradition since 1954.

As an avid jazz aficionado, Godzilla will be appearing at or near Yoshi's, beside the Oakland yacht harbor (there's a celebration of the music of Johnny Otis this evening), and is scheduled to address the graduating classes at UC Berkeley and Stanford while he's in the area. We're not sure how or where else he'll spend his time here, but he will be hard to miss.

The Big Guy is a UCLA graduate, and we understand Stanford has begged for mercy in advance of his appearance.

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Godzilla Did Not Come From Kansas

NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE AROOOOOOOO!!!

This is a panel from Incidental Comics, a Blog Out 'O The Midwest, which has comics and interesting stories from America's heartland. I like it, and recommend you try liking it, too.

Sadly, it is not accurate about the origins of Godzilla, but I'll let The Big Guy speak for himself:

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The Kids Are All Right

Big Guy Returns For BTB Weekend

The real Chairman Of The Board waded through the Golden Gate early this morning to make the annual Bay-To-Breakers -- if not a San Francisco Treat, it's certainly a tradition.

Anyway, that's what all the extra helicopters you see around are all about. We are, as always, happy to see him.

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Big Guy In The Big Sky

We're missing the Big Guy these days. I can think of half a dozen people and things he could be stepping on, right now.

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Monumental

The Big Guy In Bronze: His Monument In Tokyo.
(Photo: Copyright Jerome Limozin, courtesy of TrekEarth)

Not kidding; there is actually a statue of the Big Happy Fun Lizard™ in the Yurakucho district (close to the Ginza), in Tokyo.

Apparently, it has become Tokyo's version of the large standing clock in the lobby of the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, which became famous (due to clever advertising) as the spot to meet a date and then have a drink in the hotel's Compass Bar (when it was still in operation): Meet me under the clock at the St. Francis.

Well, in Tokyo, "Meet you at Godzilla!" is common.

I passed this along to the Big Guy, who of course knew about the statue (he couldn't make the unveiling), but was tickled that it's used as a social gathering place. He's trying to play down the frightening-monster-as-big-as-the-Chrysler-Building part of his image.


Another view of the statue (Photo: Photographer Unknown)

Ah, The Good Old Days

I was talking with Godzilla recently, and The Big Guy related a story about his great-grandfather I found interesting.

A lot of people believe that Godzilla is a mutant creation of 1950's nuclear testing, but in fact, Godzilla has always been with us. It's a role that's passed down from Father to Son in the Big Lizard family from Time immemorial; the current Godzilla inherited the job from his father, who succeeded his father before him, and so on.

To make a shorter story: Godzilla's great-grandfather was approached by the Cherokee Plains Indians in 1827, and asked if he wouldn't help them keep the emerging Frontier free of encroaching American settlers. A treaty was struck between them, but eventually the then-Godzilla declared it null and void when the Cherokee started outsourcing part of his duties to the Lakota and Crow People.

The Big Guy said he'd been reminded of this bit of family history when the following cartoon by Bizarro, also known as Dan Piraro, appeared recently:


[Copyright Dan Piraro, 5/17/09; Dist. By King Features Syndicate.]

Godzilla has enjoyed Piraro's work for some time, and suggests -- if you haven't already -- making a visit to Dan's site, which is also a Blogger creation.

Godzilla's Atonement: Big Movie Weekend

Tne long-awaited release of the director's cut of 'Atonement', which restores Godzilla to his rightful place in the film.

Among the restored scenes is the Alternate Ending (known in studio circles as the "Bambi Conclusion") where, as Vanessa Redgrave's character stumbles through a self-deluding apology, The Big Guy steps on her, then lets out a primal roar of triumph so familiar to fans of His seventy-odd films -- a much more satisfying ending in so many ways.

Last week, the newest take on Star Trek opened; this weekend, the Tom Hanks Full Employment Project continues with Angels & Demons. I read the book years ago and was staggered at what a poor writer Dan Brown is -- that work, at any rate, was hackneyed, riddled with cliches and caricatures. I remember skipping through the book to its last twenty or so pages and (once I knew how it had ended) finally, mercifully, closing it.

(And, just because we want to know how a story ends is no proof of the quality of the author's writing. It's the skipping to the last twenty-plus pages that's the giveaway.)

Recalling Brown's book reminded me of two things -- the first, that in other eras most popular novels were just as execrable, and long ago faded into complete obscurity even though their publication made some authors momentarily famous and financially comfortable.

The second is an exchange between Kirk and Spock in Star Trek V: The Journey Home. The pair are riding a bus across the Golden Gate Bridge; Kirk disparages late 20th Century American culture and mentions "the literature of the era: Jacquelyn Susann, the novels of Harold Robbins."

"Ah," Spock says. "The Giants."

That Wacky Big Guy

The Big Guy Arrives, Having Passed Under The GGB

The current banner is a shot from my apartment window earlier this morning. This might seem bizarre and singular where you are -- but here in the Wonderland that is San Francisco, watching Godzilla in majestic progression as he wades through the Golden Gate is pretty commonplace. Only the tourists really stop to gawk.

Watching him go under the Golden Gate Bridge is quite a sight. He's actually very careful about boats and shipping lanes, and the entire process takes about twenty minutes.

Apparently, the Big Guy is back this time to attend the Dalai Lama's appearance in Berkeley; he and the Lama were drinking buddies back in the day.

We've known The Chairman Of The Board from way back in the day, too: