Animals that Start with E - Listed With Pictures, Facts

Let's Face It, Godzilla Is Pop Culture's Most Versatile Star

Time and again, the movies and extended universe material demonstrate that you can do whatever you want around Godzilla, but Godzilla remains Godzilla. Scream in terror at his arrival? Cheer because he's about to pound some other monster? Drive hard to the net? It doesn't matter. Godzilla is unchanged.

Thanks to his single-minded focus, the Big G can carry many cultural signifiers without being defined or overwhelmed by any of them. When, for example, Godzilla Minus One builds to its first atomic breath scene, viewers understand the weight of what they're about to watch, an echo of one of the worst atrocities in human history. When not even six months later, the camera zooms into Godzilla's glowing blue eye at the start of The New Empire, audiences cheer for the throw-down they're about to enjoy.

As these examples demonstrate, Big G offers storytellers an incredible range of possibilities, even more so than other flexible characters, such as Batman or James Bond. Whatever story you want to tell can be done with Godzilla in it, and probably improved.

In a key scene from The New Empire, Godzilla channels his inner Mega Man and receives an influx of power after defeating a fellow kaiju. In place of his traditional blue atomic hue, Godzilla starts to glow magenta, better matching the film's neon aesthetic.

The pink power version of Godzilla featured heavily in The New Empire's promotional campaign, much to the chagrin of some fans. Those same fans grew even more annoyed upon watching The New Empire and finding that the movie largely relegates Godzilla to playing Kong's sidekick.

And yet, every single time Godzilla charges on the screen is awesome. He smacks around his enemies with all the energy of a professional wrestler and we cheer every time. But the next time that a movie uses Godzilla as an allegory to a world-destroying existential threat, we'll scream in horror. And when Godzilla finds another lizard tyke to protect, we'll sigh in admiration.

Bath, Maine School Bus Gets Tangled In Live Power Lines

There was a scary incident that happened to a school bus carrying students to school on Monday morning in Bath. Luckily it was handled just as it should have been. Bath Fire & Rescue shared a post on their Facebook describing what they responded to that morning.

The school bus got entangled in some live low-hanging power lines which according to the photos, appear to have gotten caught on a strobing light on the rear roof of the bus. Everyone on the bus stayed right where they were, remaining calm until Central Maine Power arrived on the scene to safely remove the wire from the bus.

Bath Fire & Rescue gave the students kudos for handling the whole thing so well.

If you remember being taught about what happens when lightning strikes your car, this is basically the same concept, however, it's not rubber tires that protect you from the electricity as many people think. It's the frame of the vehicle.

According to I Drive Safely when a power line lands on a vehicle you are in, the electricity gets dispersed by the metal frame of the cat, which keeps people inside safe. You should stay in the vehicle and call 911, without touching the frame or any part of the vehicle that is metal.

If it's dangerous to remain in the vehicle due to something life-threatening like a fire, avoid touching the frame. Fold your arms and keep your body as compact as possible. Hop out, keeping your feet together and on the ground when you land. Stay clear of the downed powerline.

To the students on that bus, great job staying safe, and thanks to CMP for acting quickly to take care of the line.

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Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Review – It's Already Fallen

The MonsterVerse movies have always been a mixed bag. While the aforementioned Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic has frequently tickled this reviewer's nostalgia buttons, it is impossible to ignore the intentional simplicity (to use a diplomatic term) in movies like Kong: Skull Island or Godzilla: King of the Monsters. When director Adam Wingard took over the reins in 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, he removed all pretense. The human characters' scenes were cut to the bone and relied on stereotypes of stereotypes. But the monsters? They rarely appeared giddier, with Wingard replicating the crash-your-action-figures-together glee of late Shōwa era Kaiju movies from the Toho Studios of the 1970s—only with a 21st century Hollywood budget.

Watching Godzilla and King Kong throw fisticuffs at each other about every 30 minutes was a 12-year-old's dream, but now with the flair of a visual stylist who bathed the spectacle in chic neon pinks or yellows, and clean shots that took advantage of zero gravity environments in the Hollow Earth. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire attempts to replicate all those flourishes and tricks, right down to Godzilla even providing the hot neon pink in rustic settings like the Pyramids of Giza (his fins get a Barbieland glow up). The problem, however, is that we have to wait a long time for that Godzilla and Kong action.

Despite the film being a fleet 115 minutes, Godzilla x Kong drags where Godzilla vs. Kong skipped into its happy haymakers. The earlier film was a glorified fight night spectacle which saw the title characters get into a donnybrook at least once per act. By contrast, Godzilla x Kong keeps them apart and instead focuses far too much on limp comedy beats delivered by actors working from the worst script in the MonsterVerse saga (which is saying something), and Kong also befriending a proverbial Son of Kong as he battles another giant ape called "the Scar King."

While we appreciate the allusions to both the mostly forgotten Merian C. Cooper 1933 quickie sequel to King Kong, as well as Toho's own Son of Godzilla (1967), the tsunami's worth of CGI in Godzilla x Kong lacks the charm of Willis O'Brien's 1930s stop-motion or the goofiness of a kid in a rubber suit. When used right, digital effects can awe and overwhelm, but they rarely ever endear or beguile. And all the money spent on Godzilla x Kong's Hollow Earth giant apes sequences prove as inert and lifeless as the drama between Hall and Stevens doing their damndest with nothing.

So when even the giant monsters are boring for most of the running time, what are you left with?

One of the only thrilling sequences in Godzilla x Kong is the Row by the Nile where Godzilla, Kong, and a mysterious third party we cannot spoil get in a tussle with the Great Pyramid of Khufu as their squared circle. It's daffy, devastating to world history, and a return to the jejune appeal of Godzilla vs. Kong and many Toho classics. It is also literally Godzilla vs. Kong Redux. Similarly, there is then an immediate follow-up final Battle Royale at the Center of the Earth with more creatures duking it out than a Super Smash Bros. Online free for all. After 90 minutes of being lulled into a stupor, the climax makes for an extremely expensive alarm buzzer.

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