skjam

The Living Skeleton (1968) dir. Hiroki Matsuno (Japanese title: Kyûketsu dokuro-sen ("Blood-sucking Skull Ship")

Three years ago, the freighter Dragon King was lost at sea, with no survivors. Among those who apparently perished were ship's doctor Nishizato (Ko Nishimura) and his recent bride Yoriko (Kikko Matsuoka). Yoriko's twin sister Saeko (Kikko Matsuoka) still mourns them, though she sometimes gets the feeling that Yoriko is still alive as they could feel each other's emotions and sometimes she gets a faint twinge. Overall, Saeko is feeling much better these days. She's been taken in as a housekeeper for the Catholic priest (Masumi Okada) of a seashore village, and is being wooed by earnest restaurant/bar worker Mochizuki (Yasunori Irikawa). Saeko is seriously considering his offer of marriage.

But when Mochizuki and Saeko go scuba diving for fun, they discover what appear to be chained skeletons on the ocean floor. Spooky! That night, during a rainstorm Saeko spots a ship offshore that looks like the Dragon King and goes to investigate. The ship is seemingly derelict, and Saeko is able to find the ship's log, which confirms it to be the Dragon King. She reads it and learns what the audience already knows, that some of the crew turned pirate to steal gold bullion that was part of the freight, and murdered the remaining crew and passengers. Saeko also spots what appears to be her sister's ghost...

She returns to shore the next morning, exhausted and traumatized. Mochizuka and the priest tend to her, but get little information on what happened. The next day, Saeko vanishes, sending a postcard later saying she's heading to Chiba.

We now catch up with some of the pirates, who split the loot from the robbery and have different life circumstances. One became the successful owner of a night club, another blew all his money on booze and gambling and begs for handouts, a couple hold down respectable day jobs and have their investments earning interest, etc. One by one they see what appears to be Yoriko's ghost (or is it the living Saeko?) and meet horrible fates.

After various twists and turns, the surviving cast reunites aboard the Dragon King to reveal more secrets, and have the final confrontation.

This was another in the short-lived horror series made by Shochiku studios in the late 1960s. It's a slightly lower-budget movie shot in black and white, and with a few instances of dubious special effects. Also neither of the titles quite describe the movie; none of the skeletons are living, and no skulls suck blood.

But it's nicely atmospheric and often effectively creepy. It also isn't afraid to leave some things completely unexplained. If it's non-supernatural Saeko killing the pirates, how is she just appearing where they happen to be and pulling off the murders? (There's a particularly baffling one where the pirate dies in a private shower.) And what's up with those bats? And the fog? And how does the ship evade detection by anyone but plot-relevant people while it's within easy sight of the shoreline?

There's some decent music too.

Content note: Several violent deaths, some gory or body horror. A dog dies. Possible suicide. It's mentioned but not shown that Yoriko was raped. Implied cannibalism. Partial female nudity and skimpy costumes on exotic dancers. Male shower scene from behind. Dubious portrayal of Catholicism. Junior high students and up should be okay, younger or more sensitive viewers should have adult guidance.

I'd rate this movie as a decent watch for horror fans who like their films more spooky than visceral. Oh, and a special recommendation to fans of John Carpenter's The Fog, which this movie has some similarities to.

Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005) dir. Jun Awazu

In the near future of 2025, Earth's resources are running out, so the humans are terraforming Mars. While doing so, they discover a giant cocoon-like object and decide to take it home. Unfortunately for the crew of the Izanami and everyone else in Japan, the creature inside the cocoon wakes up during orbital re-entry. The spaceship crash-lands in Tokyo and now Negadon is loose.

Meanwhile, military officer Seiji Yoshizawa (Takuma Sasahara) is trying to convince his old mentor, Dr. Ryuichi Narisaki (Dai Shimizu) to come out of retirement to help advance the field of giant robotics. Dr. Narisaki has lost all interest in science and engineering since his greatest project led to the tragic accidental death of his daughter Emi (Akane Yumoto). They are interrupted by the crash.

As is standard for kaiju movies, the standard military forces can't even scratch Negadon as it rampages through the city. It's up to Dr. Narisaki to shake off his depression, activate his mecha, and expiate his guilt over Emi's death by saving the world.

This short film (less than half an hour including credits) is notable for being one of the first all-CGI movies, with a tiny crew. To help with the limitations of the software at the time, it's presented in a deliberately retro grainy and low-resolution style, hearkening back to the early Godzilla movies. The story is stripped down to bare essentials. No long silent landscape shots, no comic relief, no romance subplot. It does what it needs to, and gets over. This comes at the cost of anything innovative or memorable about the plot or characters.

The movie is most impressive as a technical achievement. It shows off what can be done on a shoestring with the technology of the time. The voice acting is decent.

The ending song is a little dissonant--it's supposed to be a letter Emi wrote her father shortly before her horrible death, talking about how much fun she'd had on their day together. Cute graphics though. 

As so often with early CGI, this has aged badly. Most recommended to film history students, and diehard obscure kaiju movie collectors.

Samurai Rebellion (1967) dir. Masaki Kobayashi (Japanese title: Joiuchi--Hairyo Tsuma Shimatsu, "Rebellion--Receive the Wife")

The time: 1723-1727 C.E. during the Shogunate period. The place: The Aizu province ruled by Lord Matsudaira, a bit north of Edo. The person: Ichi (Yoko Tsukasa), daughter of a minor vassal. Ichi has been arranged to marry another vassal's son, but this is overridden by Lord Matsudaira (Tatsuo Matsumura). As Matsudaira has only one son, he needs a spare heir in case of unfortunate circumstances so that his clan does not lose their fief. He's set his eye on the pretty and healthy Ichi to be his mistress and bear his children. It's framed as a request, but you don't disobey the lord's wishes. Not and stay healthy anyway. When her betrothed is pushed into breaking off the engagement, Ichi has little choice to comply, despite finding Lord Matsudaira sexually repugnant.

Ichi bears a son. When she returns from her postpartum recovery, Ichi discovers that the lord has picked up an additional mistress, one who is happy for the opportunity. In other words, Lord Matsudaira could have had a consensual relationship all along, rather than forcing himself on Ichi. The young woman understandably loses her temper and gives Matsudaira what for.

Offended but not allowed to just kill her, Lord Matsudaira dismisses her from the castle and "requests" that Ichi be married off to Yogoro Sasahara (Go Kato), older son of escort group leader Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mifune), The Sasahara family isn't too keen on this. Isaburo has personal reasons for this, remembering that he was "requested" to marry into the Sasahara clan because their head wanted his superior sword skills to enhance their prestige, and as a low-ranking samurai he was in no place to refuse. His marriage with the nagging Suga (Michiko Otsuka) has been loveless, with just enough physical contact to create Yogoro and his brother Bunzo (Tatsuyoshi Ehara). Only Isaburo's stoic acceptance of what can't be helped has sustained the formal relationship for the last twenty years.

Isaburo tries to dodge the burden, angering Chamberlain Yanase (Masao Mishima) until Yogoro agrees to the match, based on his father's example of obedience. Yogoro and Ichi are married. Much to everyone's surprise, the actually quite nice Ichi and kind Yogoro hit it off, and the relationship becomes a deeply loving one. They have a daughter, Tomi, and Isaburo takes the opportunity to retire, as Yogoro has now shown himself a responsible adult.

A few months after Tomi's birth, word comes from Edo that Lord Matsudaira's older son has died. Ichi's son Kikuchiyou is now the heir, and it won't do for the heir's mother to be married to a lower vassal. (The other concubine apparently hasn't gotten pregnant yet.) Steward Takahashi (Shigeru Koyama) comes to "request" that Yogoro return his wife to the castle and her mistress status. This goes down as well as you'd expect, and leads to tragedy.

The director was already well-known for his prior films Harakiri and Kwaidan, but this was his first time working with legendary actor Toshiro Mifune, who also co-produced the movie. Apparently it took a lot of work in post-production to make all of Mifune's lines audible. He uses architectural details well to give many of the shots a claustrophobic, rigid feel. A particularly striking symbolic moment is Isaburo talking to Ichi in a raked sand garden about their possible responses to the situation. He moves off the paved path, and his footprints spoil the symmetry of the lines.

Also an obvious theme is Isaburo's fighting style, as described by his best friend, border guard captain Tatewaki Asano (Tatsuya Nakadai). When pressed, fall back, if pursued, fall back again, until the moment comes to switch to offense, then wait for the moment where the opponent makes a mistake to end the bout. He's been pursuing this policy in his personal life as well, so it's a bit of a surprise to his wife and his superiors when he stands his ground at this final outrage.

This story takes place during a peaceful time in history, and there's surprisingly little violence for a samurai film for most of the run time. At the beginning, a sword is only used to slice a straw dummy, and it is mentioned that Isaburo and Tatewaki have been deliberately avoiding a sparring match. There's a brief moment of fisticuffs when Lady Ichi loses her temper, but the serious violence is all in the last half hour as no way can be found out of the social traps. And then it's a bloodbath.

Another thing that struck me was the cowardice of most of the superiors. The lord doesn't make his requests directly, but sends underlings. And those underlings will try to pass the responsibility down the ladder rather than face the unpleasant reactions they know they're going to get. Tatewaki manages to rules-lawyer his way out of one such assignment because he agrees with Isaburo, but eventually is forced into a position where he cannot avoid fighting his friend.

The soundtrack is also good, relying on instruments appropriate to the time period, and diegetic whenever appropriate.

Content note: Sword and gun violence, usually fatal but not particularly gory. Suicide. Domestic violence. Implied marital rape. Peril to a child. Breastfeeding. Due to the nature of the social conflicts and the length of the movie, I'd say older teens on up.

A well-made samurai tragedy with an unusually strong focus on the central female character's emotions and concerns. Strongly recommended to those can handle that it is, yes, a tragedy.

Sword of the Beast (1965) dir. Hideo Gosha

It is 1857, towards the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Commodore Perry's ships have forced Japan to open its ports, and social change is rippling across Japan. Yuuki Gennosuke (Mikijiro Hira) thought he was going to help bring reform, but instead wound up killing his clan's "counselor." Now he's on the run from the official's daughter Misa (Toshie Kimura), her fiancé Daizaburo (Kantaro Suga) who was once his best friend, and a vendetta squad from the clan.

Reduced to a fugitive "beast", Gennosuke narrowly escapes several bad situations before being sheltered by a farmer named Gundayu (Takeshi Kato). This is not a selfless act. Gundayu has a get rich quick scheme based around illegal gold panning on a mountain that's Shogunate land. Getting caught means the death penalty, so he needs a confederate skilled in combat. Gennosuke agrees as he will need money to leave the district and disappear.

They're not the only ones to have this idea, as there are several other poachers on the mountain. The most formidable is Jurata Yamane (Go Kato) who with his wife Taka (Shima Iwashita) has been prospecting on behalf of his clan for the promise of promotion to a full retainer with a decent salary. He's killing anyone who finds them, but time is running out before the Shogunate patrols figure out what's going on.

This was Hideo Gosha's second film, after Three Outlaw Samurai (see my earlier review), and you can see definite improvement in his directing skills. He's gotten the hang of the difference between shooting for television vs. movie screens. It takes a while before we can assess Gennosuke's character as we first see him already on the run and having thrown away his honor as a samurai. The flashbacks are out of order, concealing important details of his motivations.

Gennosuke is contrasted with several other "beasts" on the mountain, and the varying levels at which they've thrown away the trappings of civilized behavior. There are times when sticking to what honor or the orders you've been given demands is crueler than acting on natural impulses, but too far into the latter and you become worse than a beast.

Yamane is the mirror that Gennosuke truly sees himself in, as he learns that the stranger's clan leadership is no more trustworthy than his own. Reform will come, but not from any of the characters in this movie. There are survivors, but none of them can go home.

Good use of scenery, especially the small river most of the action takes place near or in. The action scenes are decent.

Content note: Several swordfights, mostly lethal, not particularly gory. A couple of more brutal murders. Domestic violence. Rape (off camera), implied nudity. Consensual extramarital sex is discussed but not carried out.

Overall: A good enough samurai revenge tragedy. It's solidly put together and easy to follow despite the flashback thing. Recommended to fans of samurai movies.

Tampopo (1985) dir. Juzo Itami

Truck drivers Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and Gun (Ken Watanabe) get hungry on a long haul, and stop at Ramen Lai-Lai, a failing restaurant. To be honest, the food's not all that good, but Goro gets into a fight with local drunk Pis-Ken (Rikiya Yasuoka), who's being rude to the proprietor. Pis-Ken has several helpers, and Goro wakes up the next morning being tended by the owner of Lai-Lai, a widow named Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto). She inherited the shop from her late husband, but was not involved in running it before, so has no real clue how to make ramen. Being outwardly gruff but a big softie inside, Goro decides to help her turn the place around.

Back in 1985 in most of the United States, ramen was dried noodles in bricks or cups consumed primarily by college students and the desperately poor. The idea that it was an actual main dish that could be made well was a revelation to me. And there was nothing like this movie on the market at the time in America or Japan. (Though it is clearly descended both from American Westerns and the Japanese "Truck Yarou" films about two truckers who wind up involved with people's lives.)

While the main plot is Tampopo learning basic and advanced techniques for making good ramen, and gaining the confidence to take charge of the restaurant business, there's a subplot about a gangster in a white suit (Koji Yakusho) and his mistress (Fukumi Kuroda) enjoying food together before his inevitable violent death. There's also several mini-stories, like the junior business executive who completely fails to read the room when he makes a better French cuisine order than his superiors, and the mother who rises from her deathbed to cook one last meal for the family.

This is a comedy, but there are many heartfelt moments, such as the homeless foodies giving a musical farewell to their "sensei." This rewatch so many years later, with my life experiences, caused me to tear up more than once.

Goro is the sort of fellow who wears his cowboy hat even in the bathtub; he's very much the Western drifter. He tried settling down once, but couldn't make it work, and his wife took the kids with her. He and Tampopo are clearly attracted to each other, and it's a bit sad that he must ride off when his work is done.

But the underlying theme of it all is that food is good. The final image is of an infant suckling at its mother's breast, the simplest human expression of providing food.

Content note: fist fights, female nudity, kinky sex. Animals are killed for food. A dentist scene may be uncomfortable for some viewers.

This is seriously one of the all-time great movies, and I highly recommend it. Be sure to have snacks on hand if you can't get the good ramen.

Lady Snowblood (1973) dir. Toshiya Fujita

Yuki (Meiko Kaji) was born in prison, the result of her mother Sayo (Miyoko Akaza) seducing multiple guards in order to get pregnant. Sayo's husband and son had been murdered, and herself raped and tortured, by four criminals as a byproduct of the criminals' scheme to defraud their fellow villagers of a small fortune. After the gang broke up, one of the criminals kept Sayo with him as a slave, only to have her murder him the moment his guard was down. Confined to prison for the rest of her life, Sayo decided to have a child who could pursue her vengeance.

Twenty years later, we catch up with Yuki, now an assassin under the trade name Shurayuki-hime (the "Lady Snowblood" of the title.) She takes out a gangster that's been trying to extort the Beggars' Clan on behalf of clan chief Matsuemon (Hitoshi Takagi) in exchange for him using his connections to track down the remaining three criminals, Banzo Takemura (Noboru Nakaya), Okono Kitahama (Sanae Nakahara) and Gishiro Tsukamoto (Eiji Okada).

Banzo's fairly easily found as he's wasted his money and become an alcoholic gambler whose daughter Kobue (Yoshiko Nakada) has to work as a prostitute to support him. But Gishiro's trail ends at his tombstone (lost at sea) and Okono seems to have vanished. In frustration, Yuki lashes out at the tombstone, attracting the attention of muckraking journalist Ryurei Ashio (Toshio Kurosawa). He gets Yuki's backstory from the priest Dokai, who trained her in the ways of combat, and becomes her ally.

This leads to a confrontation with Okono, but will Ryurei's own secrets doom both himself and Lady Snowblood?

This movie is loosely based on the manga of the same title by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura. It trims out most of the side missions Yuki goes on for cash, all of the lesbian encounters and simplifies the main plot a bit for time and closure. This gets it down to a reasonable 97-minute runtime. But there's still room for flashbacks and some interesting juxtaposition of live action and manga graphics. I especially liked the theatrical "fake ending" complete with dropping curtain.

The standout performance is by Meiko Kaji as the title character. Her penetrating stare sells Yuki as someone who has only vengeance on her mind, but isn't crazy about it, being instead methodical and enjoying small moments of beauty or kindness when she can have them.

I liked the rich use of color, and am impressed that the director managed to bring this film to completion on time and on budget, with a minimum number of retakes.

The Criterion Edition version I watched came with interviews of both Koike, the manga's writer, and Norio Osada, the film's writer. Koike mentions that the series was his first time writing a female protagonist, and that ruthless female assassins were rare as a character type in manga back in the 1970s. Osada meant his script to be a done-in-one standalone movie (the ending is ambiguous as to whether Yuki survives) but warmed to the idea of a series when he saw how well the sequel did. And then there was no series.

Content note: As expected of a samurai revenge drama, lots of violence, with spurting blood and mutilation. Rape, but also consensual on-screen sex (clothed). Brief female nudity in a non-sexual context. Alcohol abuse. Prostitution. What is either a gang of corrupt police officers or a gang impersonating corrupt police officers torture a prisoner. Suicide.

Overall: A compelling, well-made film that I am not surprised has a loyal fan following. The violence and rape, however, mean it's definitely not for everyone.

Ponyo (2008) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Brunhilde's father, Fujimoto, is a sorcerer in love with the sea, in the person of the Ocean Goddess. He has long abandoned the land and no longer considers himself human. He'd prefer that Brunhilde and her sisters stay safe under his protection forever in the depths of the sea, but Brunhilde playfully wanders off to explore. She's accidentally trapped in a glass jar and washed toward the shore, where she's found by a human boy named Sosuke. Sosuke breaks the glass and frees her, cutting himself, and Brunhilde tastes his blood.

Sosuke names the odd-looking goldfish he's found "Ponyo," which she decides she likes better than Brunhilde. Sosuke and his mother Lisa live on a cliff by the shore. Lisa works at the senior center which happens to be next to Sosuke's kindergarten. Sosuke's father Koichi is a ship's officer, and his duty means that he won't be home on the day scheduled. Sosuke and Ponyo bond a bit before her father comes and takes her home.

Back at the undersea laboratory, Fujimoto learns that Ponyo would rather be on land with Sosuke. And she's developing a more humanoid body! Apparently, tasting Sosuke's blood has activated her latent human DNA. In a panic, Fujimoto swallows some of the elixir that fuels his magic, and forces Ponyo back into goldfish shape. As soon as her father turns his back, however, Ponyo is freed by her sisters. In a series of mishaps, Ponyo gets a huge dose of Fujimoto's elixir, which allows her to assume a fully human shape. It also prematurely sets off a spell her father was preparing for far in the future, sparking off a typhoon.

During the typhoon, Ponyo reconnects with Sosuke, who instantly accepts that she is the same person as his beloved goldfish. The children bond, but the world is in danger. (No one dies though.)

This Studio Ghibli film is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", but takes it in a very different direction than most other adaptations. Ponyo is very much not silent or suffering while on land, and the stakes are rather higher than just her happiness. Her relationship with Sosuke feels more real than many Prince/Mermaid forced happy endings.

As always with Ghibli movies, it looks gorgeous, with a special concentration on water effects and sea life. Ponyo's transformations are cool to see.

Some interesting bits with names: Sosuke addresses Lisa by her given name, and also the women at the senior center, without honorifics. I don't think I've seen that from a child his age in any other Japanese media. And while Fujimoto is dismayed at Ponyo's choice to change her name, he respects it (and her mother instantly accepts it.)

This one's more on the "small child" end of the "family movie" spectrum; youngest viewers will be able to appreciate it, as will their parents and grandparents, but I suspect many teenagers will find the movie "babyish."

Content note: Some of Ponyo's transformations look painful.

Recommended for families with small children and Ghibli fans.

Zebraman (2009) dir. Takashi Miike

Strange things are afoot in Yokohama, possibly involving aliens. Defense Agency workers Oikawa (Atsuro Watabe) and Segawa (Koen Kondo) are assigned to go undercover and investigate. But they aren't the protagonists of this story.

Instead, the focus is on third-grade teacher Shin'ichi Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa), who is not good at his job. He's unpopular with the students, who take it out on his son in bullying. Ichikawa's wife is probably cheating on him, and his teenaged daughter Midori (Yui Ichikawa) is stepping out with an older man. His one joy is secretly cosplaying as his favorite childhood superhero, Zebraman. He's shocked but happy when new transfer student Shinpei Asano (Naoki Yasukochi) turns out to also be a fan of the obscure (it was cancelled after seven episodes) show, and it does not hurt that Shinpei's mother Kana Asano (Kyoka Suzuki) is an attractive widow who works as a nurse.

Things take a turn for the weird when Ichikawa decides to show his recently completed costume to Shinpei one night, gets lost, and runs into the Crab Killer (Akira Emoto). This nutter wears a rubber crab on his head and uses scissors to attack women and pesky witnesses. To Ichikawa's complete surprise, as soon as he's attacked, he suddenly has the skills to defend himself, just as though he actually is Zebraman!

Ichikawa soon learns that somehow, he is in fact Zebraman and the old show was a prediction of the future. He gets into the role, but there's a catch. The final unaired episode ends with Zebraman dying and the world falling under alien domination!

This movie is an affectionate parody of Japanese tokusatsu superhero shows, but also is a good example of the subgenre. Fortean Times magazine is treated as though it's a respectable scientific journal, a cheesy kids' show from the 1960s predicts the future, the military's go-to response to the alien threat is a nuke, and a Bush is still in the White House in 2010. In particular, there's never any explanation of Ishikawa's developing superpowers. Fate says there must be a Zebraman, so there is a Zebraman.

The cinematography shifts to match different eras of Japanese superhero shows as well as "modern" film.

The acting is...okay. The characters are largely "types", especially those that have become possessed by aliens.

Content notes: As expected from a Miike movie, there's a bit of body horror and over the top violence. Some male nudity in a non-sexual context. Oikawa insists on holding hands with Segawa in public as part of their cover story of being a gay couple, and one of Ishikawa's fellow teachers is transphobic. Underage sex is implied but not shown. The English dub has more swearing.

Overall, a fun movie for fans of Japanese superheroes, which should also be enjoyable by American superhero fans.

Electric Dragon 80,000 V (2001) dir. Gakuryu Ishii

Dragons exist, at least in the hearts of men. The man called Dragon Eye Morrison was struck by lightning while climbing a power tower as a child. This caused damage to his "reptile brain", which controls violent impulses. The doctors tried electroshock therapy, but this just amped up his ability to create excessive bioelectric energy. Boxing to blow off his violent urges also didn't work, as he couldn't stop throwing punches after the fights. The only thing that seems to bleed off enough energy is playing the electric guitar.

Nowadays, Morrison scrapes by as a lost pet finder who specializes in lizards, and has a collection of his own. Apparently lizards find him soothing and vice versa. But there is someone who does not want to leave well enough alone. Thunderbolt Buddha, another lightning survivor, is determined to force a confrontation!

This short film (less than an hour) is shot in black and white, and is obviously trying to evoke a particular style of movie, but I'm not enough of a cinephile to know the exact reference. The soundtrack is primarily electric guitar with heavy distortion. There's lots of symbolic shots of animals and weapons, and the overall effect is trippy.

Thunderbolt Buddha's motivation is vague at best. He appears to be an electrician by day, moonlighting as some sort of assassin, but his reason for attacking Morrison is...personal? Something about wanting to prove his electrical gifts are stronger maybe? And sometimes his right and left body halves are in conflict?

This movie's much more about the experience than any semblance of plot or characterization and is enjoyable on that level. Because it's so short, you may want to find another short film as a double feature if you're having a movie night.

Unlike last year, there were no big surprises on Thursday morning, so I was able to get off to the convention in good order, despite again mistaking which bus goes all the way to the end of the line.

Registration and Harmonic Convergence (the music room) switched locations this year, and since I had my pre-registration card handy, that went smoothly. I never did spend much time in the music room, so I can't say if it sounded better than the previous location.

The first panel I was on was "Diversity in Comics", starring Dwayne McDuffie (perhaps best known to the general public for his work with Static.) Also appearing was M. Nicholas Almand, creator of "Razor Kid." I seized the moderator position (with the permission of the other panelists) and mostly spent my time getting out of Mr. McDuffie's way, as he was clearly the most experienced with trying to get diversity into comics.

I'd also prepared a handout on comics that did diversity well--I hope a few of them got kept. Most of the discussion was nothing new to anyone who's seriously looked at diversity issues in comics, but there were a few people there who hadn't done that yet, and I hope they learned something useful.

Then it was off to the Crowne Plaza so I could register, drop off my clothes, and rush back downstairs for the next shuttle back to the Sheraton. Still frustrated by the fact that you can look directly across the freeway from one to the other, but it's a couple of country miles to actually get there.

The shuttle was somewhat delayed, which was something of a pattern for the next four days. But I still managed to get back in time for the Mark Time Radio Show (a little off this year) and opening ceremonies. The pass-around game was "the Cone of Shame", which those of you who've seen "Up" will recognize.

After that, I attended a panel on "The Horrible Humor of Joss Whedon." Got to see lots of Whedon-related hall costumes.

I made a short round of party rooms and then retired for the evening.

Unlike last year, my hotel room faced the parking lot, and the opaque curtains, unlike the ones at the Sheraton, turned out to be mere decorations, so the light level in the room was a bit much. Turns out I can't sleep wearing a mask, or at least not without being much much more tired, so it was a while before I dropped off.

First panel next morning I attended was "Free Online Games." I got a long list, and plugged "Billy vs. Snakeman."

A bit later, I was on the panel for "Gaming Etiquette." That was a mix of handy tips and horror stories. (When the *player* is using his hand crossbow to make his points, it's a bad thing.)

Then it was time for "Humor in Superhero Comics", which had the presence of Christopher Jones, the creator of ConVergence's mascot Connie, and artist on "Batman Strikes" and "Dr. Blink, Superhero Shrink." Lots of fun discussion of favorite funny bits.

I spent some time at the "Shiny New Anime" panel, but left early as I'd seen most of the clips at the last convention, and I wanted to get autographs from the Cinematic Titanic cast (formerly the MST3K cast.) In line I met a fellow who'd come all the way from northwest Canada specifically for the CT folks, this being his first SF convention ever. We whiled away our wait time by discussing conventions and I told him about some of the fun stuff to do. (Most of which does not require drinking alcohol, but some of which is presumably enhanced by it.)

Next up, it was time for the "Old Time Radio" panel, and the moderator graciously allowed me to open the panel with my prepared "radio announcement" bit. I got applauded for it, which is a nice feeling! One of the panelists had started working as a radio station engineer back in the 1950s, so he had some very interesting stories to tell. Other than that, it was mostly plugging favorite shows, and suggesting places to acquire OTR at least semi-legally.

And my fourth scheduled panel of the day was "Manga & Graphic Novels", where we talked about the differences and similarities of US and Japanese comics. I ranted a bit about the cancellation of Shojo Beat--while admittedly I wasn't always impressed with it, it did fill an important niche in the market.

Last panel attended for the evening was "Fan Fiction", which had as always a number of fanfic authors on it, some of whom have done this panel numerous times. The topic drifted off into slash perhaps a bit too often, but otherwise it was an interesting and informative discussion.

I had almost no time for parties before retiring, and was only halfway through the House of Toast line before I had to bolt for the entrance.

Saturday morning I attended the "Death of Saturday Morning Cartoons" panel. They're not completely dead, but they're in pretty sad shape at the moment, when most stations would rather show infomercials.

Next up, I was on the "Justice League" panel, again starring Mr. McDuffie, and also including Daniel Wallace, who helped write the DC and Marvel Encyclopedias. Naturally, the majority of questions fell to Mr. McDuffie again, and we drifted off into the sad state of the comic book industry overall for quite a while. I was moderator for this one too.

Afterwards, Mr. McDuffie was in the AV room, doing live commentary on a couple of the cartoon episodes he wrote. I'd seen the JLA appearance in Static Shock before, but not the JLU episode "Epilogue." Some tidbits about the former--it was originally pitched as a Teen Titans appearance, but their show wouldn't be airing yet by the time it was scheduled, and as you can imagine, there would have been some serious character design issues. And it wasn't an attempt to boost Static's street cred, but the other way around, since the Static Shock show was the second-highest rated cartoon at the time.

Then off to "Farewell David Tennant", as the panelists reminisced about their favorite Tenth Doctor moments and looked forward to the last few Tennant appearances.

That was followed by "Writing Horror in the Age of Saw." The panelist were mostly horror writers, natch. One thing pointed out was that the literary horror market and movie horror audience are actually not as overlapping as the SF literary and movie audiences. Which causes some difficulty for the horror writers when they attend horror movie conventions. The important thing, panelists agreed, was that you don't need to put in gore if the story doesn't call for it, but you shouldn't skimp on the gore if the story *does* call for it.

And "Silent Movies Worth Your Time", with several suggestions of merit, though it can be awfully hard to find one projected at the proper speed. While in theory the final lost reels of Metropolis have been found, the film stock is in such awful shape that it may not be restorable.

I skipped the Masquerade to check out the Cinema Apocalypse room, which showed "Ip Man", a heavily-fictionalized biography of the man who would eventually teach kung fu to Bruce Lee. It's pretty good, but the version shown did not subtitle the intertitles that gave historical background, so I couldn't spot more than what year the next scene was taking place. (Mind you, "the Japanese invade" was pretty obvious from the action.)

I had just enough time to finally get some toast (and for some reason sushi) from the House of Toast before I needed to be ready for the shuttle bus. Which was then ten minutes late as it had swung by the megamall first. The other passengers were interested by the costumed people hanging out and smoking.

Sunday morning, I packed up and checked out of the Crowne Plaza, and after breakfast in the Consuite went to the anime room to watch the Detective Conan movie. It wasn't too much of a mystery, although one minor recurring character was a red herring. (Behavior very odd for that person.)

I picked up my winnings from the Art Show and Silent Auction (since several items are scheduled as birthday/Christmas presents, I won't talk about them here.) Speaking of the art show, I've said in the past that I don't really buy a plain photograph of a nude woman as SF/fantasy "art." I've come to the conclusion that just slapping a color filter on it (with a "fantasyish" caption) isn't really that much more of a qualification. Having her hold a sword is more of a step in the right direction.

The first panel I managed to drag myself to was "Tieflings are Not a Player Race", an examination of 4th Edition D&D. As you might guess from the title, this was not a completely optimistic panel, though it was admitted that the latest edition is a fine miniatures tactics game. (And as one of the folks in Alarums & Excursions mentioned, it simulates the Voltron Blazing Sword Effect well.)

After that, "Epic Storyline Fatigue", with the encyclopedia writer mentioned above. Please let "Final Crisis" be it for line-wide universe reboot events for a while, okay DC?

I dropped in on "TV Shows on DVD and Blu-Ray", which had a bunch of release dates. Sadly, you should probably stock up now while you still can, as it looks like discs are on their way out to be replaced with digital media.

And finally, my last panel, "What's Wrong With Japan?" As moderator (yes, again, let's face it, I like being moderator), I declared that the title of the panel was incorrect, and it would be "Different and interesting things about Japanese culture" instead. No one got up to leave the room, which I was pleased by. We had several people who'd spent extended periods in Japan, thanks to teaching jobs. (Our token Japanese-American panelist admitted he'd only gone for brief vacations.) After the first general question, "One thing you find interesting about Japan not directly connected to manga or anime", the anecdotes easily filled the time with minimal need for more prompting.

Between all of this, naturally, I spent a lot of time greeting and conversing with old acquaintances, making new ones ("Wait! I know you, you're on the internet!") and people watching. My nephew had managed to get the weekend off at the last moment, and got to see his first SF convention ever--perhaps he'll post about it in his own LJ. (hint, hint :-)

Sadly, the Sheraton itself was not running shuttles to the airport or Mall this year, so I skipped closing ceremonies to be able to catch the bus downtown. Still, I had a grand old time. (Next year, I do need to have a room in the hotel proper or Sofitel.)

And this morning, I went in to have my filling installed. Still can't bite anything until the crown is put in later this month.