We Don't Need No Stinking Trails! Redux

At the end of my day of geocaching in Roanoke with friend Scott this past weekend ("We Don't Need No Stinking Trails!" Saturday, August 23, 2025), my total lifetime number of geocache finds stood at 15,999. At the time, I hadn't been paying much attention to how much the trip was adding to my total, so I guess it was serendipitous that it provided me an opportunity to choose a location to hunt my 16,000th geocache.

Mind you, from Martinsville, I have to travel pretty danged far to find any caches, period, since I've been at this for...good lard!...over eighteen years. I ended up setting my sights on the Roanoke area again, specifically Explore Park, southeast of the city. It's an extensive, forested area with numerous trails and, let me tell you, lots, lots of elevation changes. The park maps indicated that getting from one cache to another via the winding trails oftentimes led one far, far from one's destination before heading back to it.

As you might infer, my trek today involved a lot of bushwhacking, so let's suffice it to say that I got my numbers, I found some cool stuff (including a Bigfoot-themed gadget cache, although, sadly the gadget was no longer operational), and now I'm so blinkin' tired I'm close to falling over, much in the way that Droolie falls over.

Ah, but it's all part of being a geocacher and reaching a new milestone. I'll take it because if I can't hike and cache, I'll be very unhappy.

Next milestone...17,000, and who knows how long that will take. Just hope I live to see it.

GMK—"You Big Bully!"

I created a little diorama this morning, inspired by Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), and added a few effects using Photoshop. Here's both the color and black & white versions. I've found myself partial to the B&W versions of most of these, as they convey a more atmospheric scene.

It always struck me as kind of shameful that Baragon is left out of the title, since he's my favorite of the monsters in the film. Here, Godzilla is the NECA 6-inch figure, and Baragon is the 4-inch figure from the smaller-scale Mezco Destroy All Monsters set.

We Don't Need No Stinking Trails!

Trails? We don't need no stinking trails!

Last night, friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) came up from Asheboro so we could get an early start on a geocaching trip to Roanoke this morning. He brought bourbon. So...there was bourbon for most of the evening. We did take a bourbon break to have dinner at the nearby Third Bay Cafe, which has THE best burgers in town, if not pretty much anywhere. Then there was bourbon.

 

We got up and hit the road pretty early. Once in Roanoke, we put in 4.5 miles of rugged geocaching, mostly up and down the sides of Mill Mountain. The photo above is the "before" picture. By the end of it, I didn't have the strength left to hold up my phone and snap an "after" picture (partly because I'd used my already failing arm and hand muscles to feed myself a delicious brisket sandwich at Mission BBQ). 

Hey, the shortest distance between two points, and all that. Trails. Ha!

(Maybe we should have taken the trails.)

Late addendum: I just realized that, after today's outing, I am one cache shy of my 16,000th find. Wowz.

L: A bona fide Bigfoot track! R: A friendly box turtle spotted along our trek

A nice view of Roanoke in the distance

L: A new bike trail under construction—looks challenging; R: Cripes, we're only halfway there!

A nice stream flowing through Fishburn Park

MechaGodzilla 2 Takes a Stroll, Night Fight, and the Very Happy Angilas Family

I picked up an additional set of city miniatures the other day, as well as some miniature trees (all 1:300 scale). So, I decided to put together a couple of more dioramas and photograph them. Some of these have turned out particularly dramatic in black & white, including the one below, which I call "Night Fight." It's the SH MonsterArts 2002 Godzilla (Godzilla Meets MechaGodzilla) and the SH MonsterArts 1972 Gigan figure. I'm particularly keen on how the lit-up buildings turned out.

Also below is the color version of the Angilas family shot; I posted the black & white version the other day.

As with all of these compositions, there are numerous elements, including the miniatures—premade buildings, building kits I put together, and handmade elements such as signs, traffic signals, power poles, etc., and Photoshopped backgrounds. I've needed some diversion lately to keep from going off the rails, and this stuff has been just the ticket. Enjoy.

Feeling A Bit Fugue Devilish

I was feeling a bit Fugue Devilish, and since it's been a while, I figured I'd holler a little about Fugue Devil: Resurgence, which came out from Black Raven Books back in 2022. It's a beautiful, 377-page volume featuring cover art by Daniele Serra, still readily available in ebook, trade paperback, and hardback. It contains a dozen of my scariest tales, including my novelette, "Fugue Devil," and its sequel, "Eye of the Devil." This right here is stuff you need to know:

"If you know about the Fugue Devil, it knows about you.
If you see the Fugue Devil, it will come for you."

It'll get you, all right. If you don't believe me, ask Droolie!

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Order Fugue Devil: Resurgence at Amazon.com

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There's a Kaiju in the City!

SH MonsterArts 2004 Godzilla

There's a kaiju in the city! He's so big, and he's so pretty!"

A couple of new acquisitions: SH MonsterArts figures of the Godzilla: Final Wars Godzi, and the 1972 Angilas (the more technically correct name, which I much prefer; I don't give a flip that the silly suits at Toho decided to spell it "Anguirus"; I'd even go with Angurus, as it was originally referred to in the Americanized Godzilla Raids Again, a.k.a. Gigantis - The Fire Monster). Between writing projects and lots of house/yard maintenance, I've been working on some dioramas to up the fun factor with these guys.

More to come later.

SH MonsterArts 1972 Angilas taking a stroll

Had a nice visit with the Angilas family (Kayodo 1968 resin kit, Bandai 1955 figure, SH MonsterArts 1972 figure). Lots of smiles to go around.

Flawed

I have no illusions about the "greatness" of this country. We've done great things, and we've done terrible things. There's never been a "perfect" time in our history, and there never will be; we are, after all, simply human. But I tell you, I want MY country back, and by MY country, I mean one that never heard of, much less approved of, Donald J. Fucking Trump. While it's true that he's more a symptom than the root cause of where we stand in the world, he — and behind him, his fascist puppeteers — are absolutely responsible for opening the floodgates and making it not just okay but laudable to be an utter piece of shit and willing to advertise that fact to the world at large.

In no way, shape, or form am I a perfect person. I realize that I'm flawed, sometimes beyond my own ability to believe. But through thick and thin, every single day, I carry with me the fact that I was raised to be a decent human being, and whatever my failings, I could never, not in a billion years, embrace the sheer awfulness of Donald J. Fucking Trump and every last soul in his administration. To my mind, supporting this regime and being a decent person are mutually incompatible.

And if that's a personal flaw of mine, then by god, I'm okay with it.

Moratorium on Blurbs

Until I determine that I can manage the load again, I'm putting a moratorium on offering blurbs. I've had so many requests for them in recent days that I can't keep up. So, until further notice, I'm afraid I'll have to just say no. Thanks for your understanding, and I really do appreciate writers and editors thinking of me. Till then....

Ouch!, Riverbend Ramble, and a Bunch of Aged Geocachers

Yep, there's a geocache at that wreck you see above. I think I can safely say it's one of the most unusual settings for a cache I've seen in quite a while. It was placed by friend and fellow geocacher, Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom), whose birthday happens to be today. To celebrate, he and his wife Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda) hosted a caching event at the Freeway Dining Room in Reidsville. It was a fun event, with damn good food and quite a few cachers in attendance.

Afterward, I teamed up with friends David & Diana (a.k.a. David & Diana), Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Night-Hawk (a.k.a. Tom) and Rhodorooter (a.k.a. Dave), for a little ride up the road to Danville, where a few relatively new caches awaited our attention. Our primary target was Riverbend Ramble (GCB9J29), a six-stage multi on the Danville Riverwalk Trail, which both Night-Hawk and I had made some progress on a short while back, but we had failed to solve the clues to reach the final stage. This time, with invaluable assistance from David & Diana, we were able to decode the necessary keys and find the cache. It turned out to be great fun, all the more so because the temperature finally turned somewhat more tolerable (87℉ rather than triple digits, and there was an occasional almost-cool breeze).

 

We successfully hunted a couple of others nearby, and then I dragged my near-exhausted self back home. This evening, I'll be in my regular seat on the Sunday evening  Lovecraft eZine Podcast, which will feature John Langan talking about his new fiction collection. He will be appropriately heckled.

 

Laters.

Fortifications

WHEW! I've spent over a week playing concrete mason every morning, as so much of the old stuff around the house has broken away, some quite severely. A couple of buckets of Quikrete down and probably enough sweat to fill them both (it's not exactly chilly outside). It does feel like I've spent an awful lot of time heading back and forth to Lowe's lately...

 

I have a little more touching up to do, but I think the most extensive work is finished. And yes, I'm keeping myself very well hydrated, thank you so much.

 

Everything else out there is certainly keeping hydrated. Every day for almost a month now, we've had big rains, frequently with accompanying thunder and lightning storms, and all that water is washing away tons of the topsoil around our place. As a result, a couple of trees have fallen in the surrounding woods, one of which came down partially in the driveway. Thankfully, it didn't do any damage to the house, although there's still quite a few nearby that could...

 

To top it off, we need to have some gutter work done as well, as the existing ones haven't been able to keep up with these blasted deluges.

 

As they say, it's always something....

But It's a Dry Heat!

They're not very strange.

You know, as "dry" as the alien hive the space marines infiltrate in Aliens (1986); that kind of dry heat. The intrepid Two Old Farts (friend Diefenbaker—a.k.a. Scott—and I) got together this morning at Tanglewood Park, just southwest of Winston-Salem, NC, to hunt a few geocaches (sadly minus our favorite short women geocachers, Fishdownthestair—a.k.a. Natalie—and Cupdaisy—a.k.a. Debbie, for they were indisposed—a.k.a. chickened out). Scott and I put in well over six miles on the trail in temps that reached the very high 90s, with a heat index of 106℉, so I suspect we sweated off a few pounds of otherwise healthy brain cells. Whew! We found seven caches, all of them a lot of fun. And we both survived, at least until we parted company after lunch. I dunno about later.

Speaking of lunch, we found a mighty good one at Ma'Luz Mexcican Grill (formerly MiPueblo). Street tacos are one of my most profound weaknesses, and their brisket street tacos almost had me swooning. Or maybe that was the margarita.

Nah, it was the tacos.

Last night, we hosted our regular Supper Club, with friends Terry & Beth and Joe & Suzy in attendance. I made Thai Basil Chicken, one of my staple dishes. Since we don't have any Thai restaurants nearby anymore, when we want Thai food, I head for the kitchen...

T'was all good. Imma fall over now.

Brugger caught the Supper Club crowd in its native environment.

Happy Hedorah Day

1971 Hedorah vs. 2004 Hedorah

It's the Smog Monster's birthday, so here's a double-dose for you in the photo above. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (a.k.a. Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster) came out in Japan on this day in 1971 and was released in the United States in February 1972 (and I saw it at the drive-in theater on its opening night). The photo above is a Photoshop/diorama I put together a while back using a couple of the figures I've collected. I've been on a real daikaiju kick recently, mainly because I'm kind of on a daikaiju kick all the time. I guess I've had the fever a little more than usual due to the release of friends Ed & Steve's Godzilla: The First 70 Years, which I wrote about here just the other day.

I have not been a collector of much of anything for a few decades, but when I did collect things, it was daikaiju- and anime-related goodies, mostly back in the 1980s, during my days of living in Chicago. But two or three years back, for reasons unknown, I got monster figure fever, and so, little by little, I found myself collecting daikaiju again—mostly Toho monsters. Then I decided to create some dioramas, enhanced with Photoshop. Most of the ones I've done are quick, down-and-dirty efforts so that I don't waste valuable writing time playing around. However, I can't say that I haven't enjoyed the hell out of composing some of these beasties.

Therefore, I'm gonna post a bunch of them here, just for shits and giggles. If you like giant critters, then maybe you'll find these enjoyable.

My earliest diorama(s)—Godzilla and Anguirus (or Angilas, as I much prefer), which were Kayodo resin kits I built in 1985; in 1992, I built myself a miniature city out of cardboard, and these are a couple of the photos I took back then.

MechaGodzilla, Anguirus, King Seesar, Godzilla (sort of reproducing a publicity shot from Godzilla vs. MechGodzilla, 1974)

An S.H. MonsterArts figure of Gigan (Godzilla vs. Gigan, 1972)

Godzilla and Angilas (Godzilla Raids Again, 1955)

Baragon, from Frankenstein Conquers the World, 1965), roaming about in my neighborhood!

MechaGodzilla 2, Titanosaurus, and Godzilla (Terror of MechaGodzilla, 1975)

Gorosaurus (from King Kong Escapes, 1968)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Godzilla vs. Hedorah, 1971)

Godzilla and MechaGodzilla II slugging it out at Ferrum College! (Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, 1993)

Shin Gomess (Shin Ultraman, 2022)

Godzilla meets Megalon for a serious talk (Godzilla vs. Megalon, 1973)

A hell of a thing to wake up to! (Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, 2002)

A diorama I created today, using 1:300-scale miniatures and some Photoshopping (Godzilla 2000, 1999)

And another one using the same miniatures as above (Godzilla 2000, 1999)

A Storm-Defying Cookout — HA!

Old Dude, Samaire, Bob, Brugger, & Yvonne

For at least the past month, our southern Virginia weather has been fucking insane. For most of my life, this has been a temperate area, rarely suffering extreme weather, but now it's absolutely tropical. 100% humidity and in the mid- to high-90°F range every morning, and powerful, oftentimes damaging storms later in the afternoon/evening. Rinse and repeat (literally) every single day. It's never been like this here in my lifetime, and though there's naught one can do about the weather (especially since the Orange Fuckturd has basically declared climate change a hoax), I'm absolutely over it. It's wreaking havoc on our house, and the constant, excessive water is eroding away all the topsoil, particularly around the trees that surround our lot (any one of which might take us out if it falls — and a lot of trees have fallen in the neighborhood in the past few weeks). Not to mention there have been several record-level, damaging floods in this region (though at least they haven't reached scale of the recent Texas disaster, which killed people and ruined livelihoods).

 

So, when friend, fellow writer, and publisher of Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Samaire Wynne, invited Brugger and me, as well as friends Bob & Yvonne, to an afternoon cookout at her place, we all wondered whether the weather would simply up and squash our plans. But we nonetheless decided to proceed, and — despite the weather's earnest efforts — we had a hell of a fine, fun gathering. Yep, it dumped rain, and it hit us with thunder and lightning, but we persevered. Samaire had a large stand-up canopy that we braced to keep the wind from sweeping it away, and, fortunately, it kept us — and our feast — safe from the rain and generally comfy (excepting, of course, the 90°F temps and 100% humidity). We had some fabulous burgers, chicken skewers, egg salad, pasta salad, drinks aplenty, and other goodies. It felt like a much-needed balm for the raw nerves we've all felt over the past days, weeks, and months.

 

It's going to be a busy week, with some serious home repair/maintenance to do as well as a fuck-ton of writing (I've got two novels in the works as we speak). I hope we don't get washed away or flattened before this most unloved season is over and done with.

Godzilla: The First 70 Years

I've written at length, on this blog and elsewhere, about my lifetime passion for Godzilla and daikaiju in general, particularly regarding my involvement in the very early days of giant monster–themed fanzine publishing (most recently with "Early Daikaiju Fandom Strikes," June 19, 2025). It was by way of creating Japanese Giants when I was a teenager, back in 1974, that I met lots of other daikaiju fans, most notably Bill Gudmundson and Ed Godziszewski, both of Chicago. We subsequently became good friends, and they took up the torch to keep Japanese Giants alive after I discovered I did not have the financial resources to keep it going on my own. When I moved to Chicago in 1983, we three Japanese Giants Guys became officially known as "THE Japanese Giants Guys," and Ed, bless him, financed and oversaw the magazine for many years, up through the early 2000s. It was during his proprietorship that he became well-acquainted with numerous executives and staff members at Toho Studios, and he not only traveled frequently to Japan for business, he trampled his way onto the studio set on numerous occasions, including during the filming of Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) and others. (Okay, he didn't really "trample" anything, but he got there!)

Ed's passion for tokusatsu led him to become a bona fide giant monster film historian, and his scholarly approach became most evident in the last few issues of Japanese Giants. He and frequent collaborator Steve Ryfle became regular providers of commentaries on the DVD releases of numerous daikaiju films, and they also wrote the informative and downright fun documentary about the making of Godzilla, Bringing Godzilla Down to Size, which originally appeared in 2008 as a bonus feature on the Classic Media DVD release of Rodan/War of the Gargantuas. In 2017, they penned a comprehensive biography of frequent tokusatsu film director Ishiro Honda, titled Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa.

Godzilla: The First 70 Years is Ed and Steve's ultimate tribute to and study of the Godzilla films, from the 1954 original to 2023's Godzilla Minus One. This volume is truly Godzilla-sized—over 400 pages, weighing in at 6-plus pounds, featuring hundreds of rarer-than-rare photographs (many taken on the sets by consummate Godzilla fan, writer, and occasional actor Norman England), and exhaustively researched text. Director John Carpenter, a longtime Godzilla aficionado, and actress Megumi Odaka, who played psychic Miki Saegusa in six of the Heisei-era Godzilla films (1989–1995), provide forewords recounting their long experiences with Godzilla. Producer Shogo Tomiyama closes out the book with an insightful Afterword.

I have pored over the pages of this big volume, though I've barely scratched the surface of the text. It's going to take some serious time to read in detail, but I'm looking forward to it more than I've looked forward to reading anything for quite a long while. Knowing Ed and Steve and their writing styles—both informative and engaging—I can't imagine that I'll be anything other than thrilled.

 

The retail price is $75, but for the moment, it can be purchased on Amazon.com for $60. Right now, it's ranking as the #1 seller in numerous categories. For any Godzilla fan, THIS is the book for you. Get it. Get it now!

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Godzilla: The First 70 Years
at Amazon.com

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