October Horror Movie Challenge: Gamera (1965)

 Tonight is my oldest son's birthday, and he wanted to watch a Kaiju movie. We have seen all the Godzilla movies and wanted to see something from the same era. To our mutual surprise, we had never seen the first Gamera movie. So tonight it is giant, flying atomic turtles! 

Gamera (1965)

Some airplanes carrying atomic weapons fly over the Arctic. One crashes, explodes, and awakens Gamera, "The Devil's Envoy."

And we are off.

There is no question that Gamera owes a lot, ok everything, to Godzilla. Atomic weapons awaken a giant prehistoric monster, conventional weapons are useless, and Japan once again finds itself being stomped by something enormous. But Gamera quickly establishes his own personality. He breathes fire, feeds on energy, and, most importantly, can pull his limbs into his shell and fly like a gigantic spinning UFO.

That alone was worth the price of admission.

The practical effects are a lot of fun. Miniature cities, tanks, jets, explosions, and plenty of buildings wait to be smashed. Some effects work better than others, but I have always had a soft spot for this kind of physical monster filmmaking. Gamera feels like he is actually there because, in a very literal sense, something really is standing in those miniature streets knocking things over.

It's silly. It doesn't always work. But I love it all the same. 

Another key difference from Godzilla is Toshio/Kenny, the turtle-loving boy who becomes convinced Gamera isn't really evil. Gamera even saves him at one point, planting the seeds for the much more child-friendly direction the series would take later. In this first movie, though, Gamera is still dangerous. People die, buildings burn, and nobody really knows what to do with him.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that Tetsuya "Tetsu" Hayashida wasn't based on the "annoying" kid from all these Kaiju movies.  

Eventually humanity comes up with Plan Z, which is basically: if we cannot kill the giant flying turtle, shoot him into space.

Sure. Why not?

I enjoyed this more than I expected. It is not as polished or as ominous as the original Godzilla, but it has its own weird charm. The moment Gamera pulls everything into his shell and spins off through the sky, you know exactly what kind of movie you are watching.

My son wanted giant monsters for his birthday.

Gamera delivered.

NIGHT SHIFT and Jackson Connections

Ah...yeah. Maybe not this time. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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Happy Birthday to me!

 Yesterday (June 13) was my birthday! We went out to eat, I got some more parts for my various computer projects, including a new GPU for my main game computer. But I also got some other RPG-related gifts.

The new Star Trek Adventures Starter Set.

I am disappointed that Starfleet Academy was canceled and that Doctor Who is on an extended hiatus. So I am planning a Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover. And just to be "that guy" I want to set it during the Later Discovery/Starfleet Academy era after the Burn (32nd Century) and in the Ncuti Gatwa/Fifteenth Doctor era. I adore both Sylvia Tilly and Ruby Sunday.

In fact, I really like this idea. It also gives me a chance to do something that the Fifteenth Doctor never got the chance to do...fight some Daleks. 

And a REAL Trapper Keeper for all my Jackson, IL, notes and character sheets. 

So the birthday was good, and I still have Father's Day coming up.

Birthday Call!

 Not really a "Mail Call" Tuesday, but rather a "Birthday and Father's Day Call!"

Look. I am at an age where I don't really want much. Some time with my wife and kids is really what I want. So my oldest, on his day off as a professional chef, spent his day cooking for me. He smoked salmon and red snapper for me. Fried cod, walleye, and catfish with chips, and he baked me a strawberry pie with strawberries from my wife's garden.

I also got some new game books!

Tales of the Valiant, I have talked about already. The Unexplained is an older Fudge game of the Supernatural and one of the few modern horror games I don't own a physical copy of. I am going to do some more with it later this year when I shift my focus from Fantasy RPGs to Urban Fantasy RPGs. 

My wife ordered Daggerheart for me as well, but since it is sold out everywhere I have to wait.

Here are all the other goodies I was treated to.

Perfect homemade strawberry pie.

Homemade strawberry pie!

Fish and chips!

Fries (and later steak fries) in my dad's old fish pan

Fried Cod and Walleye

Smoked Scottish and Atlantic Salmon

Smoked Red Snapper

That huge frying pan had belonged to my dad, and it is at least 60 years old. He gave it to my oldest because I named him after my dad, and Liam LOVES fish. I sent my dad pictures over the weekend, and he said he had found a worthy successor for it. It is large enough for an entire gallon of oil. It is cast iron and weighs a ton. 

Having grown up with my dad frying fish in that pan and now my son doing the same, really was the best part of my father's day. 

Mail Call: Vecna Returns

 It's Tuesday, let's see what I have in the mail from the week. It was my birthday two weeks ago, and Father's Day, so I splurged and bought myself some Print On Demand titles from DriveThruRPG.

I am starting an AD&D 2nd Edition game with my oldest and I thought these might be fun. He is running the 5e Vecna adventure for his own group and he has used Vecna, or at least the Critical Role version, in his Tal'Dorei campaign as well.

The adventures make for a loose trilogy that spans the 1990s and AD&D 2nd Edition. From Greyhawk, to Ravenloft, to system agnostic (more or less).

• Vecna Lives!
• Vecna Reborn
• Die Vecna Die

Again, I am reading these and thinking of a universe-spanning adventure. Add in some elements from the 5e adventure and then bits from 3e and 4e for the hell of it.

OR. I could put the same effort into my "Necromancer" adventures. The Necromancer largely fills the same role in my games as Vecna. 

In any case, I am happy to have all of these now.

Mail Call (of sorts) Tuesday: Birthday and Father's Day gifts

 This is a bit late, but one of my birthday gifts finally came in.

I got the three core D&D 5 books in Spanish. I have been taking Spanish all year and wanted an RPG to read. So my wife an kids got me these. The Player's Handbook was back ordered and I just got it. 

Now to practice my Spanish some more!

For Father's Day, in addition to having some of the best smoked food and strawberry pie my kids have ever made for me I got this ridiculous toy.

Yup. A 3.5" USB floppy drive for my retro computers. I have to decide now if I want to mount it or leave it free to use elsewhere.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my Birthday!

 My oldest spent his day off smoking ribs and brisket for me.

My youngest made me a strawberry pie with strawberries picked from my wife's garden.

I also picked up some D&D-related gifts for myself. A Hellfire Club t-shirt (from Stranger Things).

And a 6" custom Skylla figure.  She looks pretty good with the rest of my Skylla figures and minis. 

I got some other stuff too. A new hard drive for my computer project. A new Dremel for various projects around the house.

Speaking of computer projects, my new one is taking a bit longer, but I am getting there. Had to remove the old CRT faceplate so I can replace it with an LCD.

Still debating which OS to go with on this one.  I kinda want to go with Ubuntu Linux.  My CoCo uses Debian Linux, but I am betting I'll have the processing power to go with Windows.  Either way, I really want a program language IDE on it. Maybe Python.

So Happy Birthday to me!