“STILL THE MOST AWESOME! Godzilla is pop culture’s grandest symbol of nuclear apocalypse!” – Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Wednesday, May 25th at 7:00 p.m. (one night only)
Regular admission prices
Loft Theatre, 3233 E. Speedway

35mm Presentation / Plus vintage “bomb scare” short film before the feature
Part of CINEMA ATOMICO: THE COLD WAR GOES TO THE MOVIES, co-presented by The Loft Cinema and The Titan Missile Museum

Tucson is home to the world famous Titan II Missile Base, the only publicly accessible Titan II missile site in the nation, so we’re teaming up with the Titan Missile Museum (this year celebrating its 25th anniversary) to bring the Cold War back to Tucson … at least on the silver screen.

On a sunny day and calm waters, a Japanese steamer sinks in flames when the sea erupts; a salvage vessel sent to the rescue disappears the same way; exhausted, incoherent survivors babble of a monster. Could it be…?

GODZILLA (aka “Gojira”) was the biggest budgeted film in Japanese history at that time, costing nearly twice as much as The Seven Samurai, released the same year. An enormous hit, it spawned 50 years of sequels, countless rip-offs, and a new genre: the kaiju eiga, or Japanese monster movie. Sold to an American distributor two years later, it was re-cut, re-arranged and atrociously dubbed, with added scenes (shot in Hollywood) of a pre-Perry Mason Raymond Burr observing the action from the sidelines. The re-titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters! still became America’s idea of a classic Japanese movie — and of ultra-cheesy movie-making.

But the original Japanese GODZILLA is one of the great films by a sci-fi master, Ishiro Honda (Akira Kurosawa’s close friend and occasional second unit director). The U.S. cut ran 20 minutes shorter, with another 20 snipped to make room for Burr, so that nearly a third (about 40 minutes) was shorn. The unrelentingly grim American version excised all of the film’s comic relief (including some astonishing Strangelove-like black humor) and censored its strong anti-H-Bomb message, turning it into a run-of-the-mill monster-on-the-loose picture.

The real (human) star of the movie is Takashi Shimura (best known for his Kurosawa roles, including the leader of The Seven Samurai and the doomed man of Ikiru), as a revered paleontologist who insists that Godzilla must be studied, not destroyed (he’s in the minority). This original Godzilla is truly terrifying — a 30-story Jurassic behemoth intent on destroying an exquisitely detailed miniature Tokyo — a tour de force by special effects genius Eiji Tsubaraya. Tsubaraya’s use of “suitmation” — the often-belittled “actor in monster suit” method — was due to time and budget restraints, but, in concert with noirish cinematography, his low-tech approach is still as thrilling as ever. A true classic.

Be scared. Many people mentioned this fictional “nuclear threat” after the huge 3/11/11 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan. Pray for Japan.

Since we have no ocean here in Tucson, it’s not likely one would find a message in a bottle floating in the sea. But today I did receive a “message” of aloha from as unlikely a source — an inaugural quarterly news publication called “The Arizona Grillzette”.

There I was waiting for my smoothie order at a fast food restaurant (starting with the large letter “M”) on Campbell Avenue in central Tucson when I happened to pick up a free news publication lying on the counter. It was the Spring 2011 Volume 1, issue 1 of The Arizona Grillzette, published by a company in town called Arizona Grill & Hearth.

But the amazing message was not on the front page (articles about BBQ Paradise, grilling steaks and a cool beverage), but on page 2, an article entitled “Working Together in The Spirit of Aloha” (with a photo of coral stones spelling out the word “ALOHA”, on a lava bed). Now that resonated with me, a “local girl” born & raised on the Big Island, and here are well-written excerpts from that article:

“The literal meaning of aloha is “the presence of breath” or “the breath of life.” It comes from “Alo” meaning presence, front and face, and “ha” meaning breath. Aloha is a way of living and treating each other wth love and respect. Its deep meaning starts by teaching ourselves to love our own beings first and afterwards to spread the love to others.”

It goes on to say “Aloha is living in harmony. When you live with the Spirit of Aloha, you create positive feelings and thoughts, which are never gone… “Aloha” means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return”… “Aloha
is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence.”

Wow, the person who wrote this must be Hawaiian or from Hawaii, but there was no by-line to the article. Who was this mysterious person who wrote this message?

I found this message timely for me, as I seem to have forgotten a bit of the “aloha spirit” which I grew up with in Hawaii, especially when working with U.S. Mainlanders and living here for years in Arizona.

So this article made me reflect again on what aloha means to me, and how to keep spreading it here in the SW desert. Mahalo nui loa (thanks very much) to AZ Grill & Hearth for the uplifting, meaningful message today.

Here’s my previous blog about “practicing aloha” (click here).

The rest of the publication (8 pages) is all about grilling, barbeques, recipes (even for grilled tilapia), with ads by various local businesses.

More info contact Arizona Grill & Hearth at 520-623-0924, 2600 N. Stone Avenue 85705, www.azgrillnhearth.com.

And keep spreading that “aloha spirit.”

Bollywood Dance Fusion

Monday May 23, 2011

4:00pm – 5:00pm

Location:

Valencia Branch Library

Large Meeting Room

202 W. Valencia Road (between S. 6th and S. 12th Avenues)

Tucson, AZ 85706

(520) 594-5390

See Bollywood Dance Fusion on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bollywood-Dance-Fusion/149616698388150

or Kiran Easwarachandran’s website: http://kirane.yolasite.com/. Kiran has been “dancing, choreographing and teaching Indian modern fusion dance for over 25 years. She also have some formal training in ballet and jazz and is certified in Nia Dance as a White Belt.”

There’s also some very lively videos online at her website, in case you don’t know too much about Bollywood dancing.

Bollywood Dance is a fusion of Western and South Asian types of dance that are exemplified in Indian cinema and theater. Bollywood is basically the “Hollywood of Bombay,” now known as Mumbai, and is the largest producer of movies a year in the world right now. I like to think of most Indian movies as a musical with playback singers, where sometimes the music, and dance, are more important and more popular than the movie story line itself- And thus the magic that is Bollywood Dance!

I happen to love Bollywood dancing (and watching Indian movies, one being Billu, which has terrific dancing scenes but also a good story line of friendship). So check out this free performance at the public library.

Some of Kiran's Bollywood dancers