Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.
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We finally saw the Fantastic Four movie. We liked it enough. Great design. Decent characterization. A lot of heart. I found the reliance on ϝԍɼԍboʁϝɑϝᴉou to be, if you'll excuse me, a bridge too far, even in a film this fantastic. The first plan using it seems absurd that it could be completed at all in time, even in this alt-reality. The second, in its original form, relied on the unspoken assumption that Galactus is a cosmic doofus who wouldn't see the obvious trap. And the implications of an essentially present day-ish earth having that tech? That would be a very different world "four years later."
But one thing boggled my mind. My wife immediately saw the connection, visually and thematically, between Galactus and Moloch. Obvious, once she said it, especially given the backgrounds of the FF's creators.* And yet, it never occured to me, certainly, and I can only find one article online discussing that connection, and it is of recent vintage.
Has anyone encountered this connection before?
Other thoughts on the movie?
*Not to mention the number of articles that have been written over the years about Superman's inherent Jewish/immigrant nature.
Way back when a contributor to the Captain's board noted that Galactus was designed to look like a Roman man of action, in contrast to the Watcher's philosopher or senator. Hence he has a skirt and bare legs (originally).
Galactus is an alien who wants to seal Earth's resources. In that respect, his debut tale could be a JLA story. But Galactus is imbued with a godlike character, and the story gets across the idea that he's from a higher league than us human beings. Kirby said somewhere that he believed there were greater beings than us out there. The story expresses this idea.
Elvis Presley made more than 30 movies, almost all of them awful, and I have seen about half of them. One of them I hadn't seen, until last night, was It Happened at the World's Fair (1963). Two "Kings" I can always count on: Elvis and Godzilla.
Elvis was a talented singer but a lousy actor. Unfortunately, he aspired, like Jethro Bodine, to be a "movie star." His place in music history is assured (by his pre-Army releases alone), but I can't help but think how great he could have been if he'd've concentrated on his singing career.
Richard Willis > Jeff of Earth-JJanuary 8, 2026 at 6:40pm
I recently discovered four films that were made for TV starring Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Moloch in Watchmen and many other movies and shows) as Sherlock Holmes. It’s rare in that he is the lead in these movies. Since Holmes tends to be an oddball in his world, Frewer is made for the part. He takes advantage of the Baker Street Irregulars, his gang of street kids who go anywhere and do anything. The four movies are scattered among the free streaming services. The first two movies have several versions, distinguishable by their dates.
Shamed (2025): You would want to check the date, as a number of films and documentaries have had similar titles. It's a disturbing, revealing true crime documentary about the man behind Creeper Hunter TV, who lived locally to me when he was operating, though we never met. Basically, he did a "gotcha" type YouTube thing where he lured alleged sexual predators online, in Canada and the U.S., and then posted the results. His efforts, which involved some deceptive and misleading methods that were bound to catch up at least a few people who were not predators, led to five deaths by suicide or overdose, at least two of whom were almost certainly innocent (and definitely innocent under the law). Another of these was, at the time, trying to deal with his attraction to minors so that he wouldn't end up abusing someone. Friends and families of the people who appeared on his show were harassed. People against whom the police could find no legal evidence lost their jobs.
His one hundred episodes resulted in three convictions—one of them, his own. The "Creeper Hunter" was convicted of extortion, criminal harassment, and producing child pornography. He also allegedly engaged in "revenge porn" activities with at least one former girlfriend (who appears in the documentary), though he faced no charges on these activities. She claims there were at least two more women who became involved with him and had their nudes posted without consent.
The documentary is uncomfortable to watch. A lot of the people who got tangled up with this guy, if it has to be said, were not good people. But Shamed raises a number of questions about the way we use and respond to the internet, and the ethics of vigilantism. Someone compares him unfavourably to Batman, noting that Batman gets real evidence before he goes after someone. This guy's standard seems to have been, "yeah, probably, and it'll make for views."
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Thanks for calling this to our attention. It's available on TCM streaming until Dec 31. Well worth a watch.
We stumbled over that last year.
We finally saw the Fantastic Four movie. We liked it enough. Great design. Decent characterization. A lot of heart. I found the reliance on ϝԍɼԍboʁϝɑϝᴉou to be, if you'll excuse me, a bridge too far, even in a film this fantastic. The first plan using it seems absurd that it could be completed at all in time, even in this alt-reality. The second, in its original form, relied on the unspoken assumption that Galactus is a cosmic doofus who wouldn't see the obvious trap. And the implications of an essentially present day-ish earth having that tech? That would be a very different world "four years later."
But one thing boggled my mind. My wife immediately saw the connection, visually and thematically, between Galactus and Moloch. Obvious, once she said it, especially given the backgrounds of the FF's creators.* And yet, it never occured to me, certainly, and I can only find one article online discussing that connection, and it is of recent vintage.
Has anyone encountered this connection before?
Other thoughts on the movie?
*Not to mention the number of articles that have been written over the years about Superman's inherent Jewish/immigrant nature.
Way back when a contributor to the Captain's board noted that Galactus was designed to look like a Roman man of action, in contrast to the Watcher's philosopher or senator. Hence he has a skirt and bare legs (originally).
Galactus is an alien who wants to seal Earth's resources. In that respect, his debut tale could be a JLA story. But Galactus is imbued with a godlike character, and the story gets across the idea that he's from a higher league than us human beings. Kirby said somewhere that he believed there were greater beings than us out there. The story expresses this idea.
IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR:
Elvis Presley made more than 30 movies, almost all of them awful, and I have seen about half of them. One of them I hadn't seen, until last night, was It Happened at the World's Fair (1963). Two "Kings" I can always count on: Elvis and Godzilla.
Elvis Presley made more than 30 movies . . .
Correxion: Elvis Presley made one movie thirty times.
Elvis was a talented singer but a lousy actor. Unfortunately, he aspired, like Jethro Bodine, to be a "movie star." His place in music history is assured (by his pre-Army releases alone), but I can't help but think how great he could have been if he'd've concentrated on his singing career.
P.S.: Today (Jan 8) was his birthday
I recently discovered four films that were made for TV starring Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Moloch in Watchmen and many other movies and shows) as Sherlock Holmes. It’s rare in that he is the lead in these movies. Since Holmes tends to be an oddball in his world, Frewer is made for the part. He takes advantage of the Baker Street Irregulars, his gang of street kids who go anywhere and do anything. The four movies are scattered among the free streaming services. The first two movies have several versions, distinguishable by their dates.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000)
The Sign of Four (2001)
The Royal Scandal (2001)
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002)
Shamed (2025): You would want to check the date, as a number of films and documentaries have had similar titles. It's a disturbing, revealing true crime documentary about the man behind Creeper Hunter TV, who lived locally to me when he was operating, though we never met. Basically, he did a "gotcha" type YouTube thing where he lured alleged sexual predators online, in Canada and the U.S., and then posted the results. His efforts, which involved some deceptive and misleading methods that were bound to catch up at least a few people who were not predators, led to five deaths by suicide or overdose, at least two of whom were almost certainly innocent (and definitely innocent under the law). Another of these was, at the time, trying to deal with his attraction to minors so that he wouldn't end up abusing someone. Friends and families of the people who appeared on his show were harassed. People against whom the police could find no legal evidence lost their jobs.
His one hundred episodes resulted in three convictions—one of them, his own. The "Creeper Hunter" was convicted of extortion, criminal harassment, and producing child pornography. He also allegedly engaged in "revenge porn" activities with at least one former girlfriend (who appears in the documentary), though he faced no charges on these activities. She claims there were at least two more women who became involved with him and had their nudes posted without consent.
The documentary is uncomfortable to watch. A lot of the people who got tangled up with this guy, if it has to be said, were not good people. But Shamed raises a number of questions about the way we use and respond to the internet, and the ethics of vigilantism. Someone compares him unfavourably to Batman, noting that Batman gets real evidence before he goes after someone. This guy's standard seems to have been, "yeah, probably, and it'll make for views."
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