Ever since Godzilla (or, Gojira, as he is known in Japan) crawled out of his radioactive birthplace to cut a swath of destruction through Tokyo, he has claimed a place alongside King Kong and others in the movie monster pantheon. He is the third most recognizable Japanese celebrity in the United States, and his fan base continues to grow as children today prove his enduring appeal. Now, Bill Tsutsui, a life-long fan and historian, takes a light-hearted look at the big, green, radioactive lizard, revealing how he was born and how he became a megastar. With humorous anecdotes, Godzilla on My Mind explores his lasting cultural impact on the world. This book is sure to be welcomed by pop culture enthusiasts, fans, and historians alike.The event runs from 6:30 to 9:00 pm in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room (map).
Are you graduating soon? Wondering what your next adventure could be? Learn about the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program. It is a great opportunity for college graduates to work in Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) or Coordinators for International Relations (CIR).JET alumni will speak from 5:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).
Come join Taiwanese Student Association for a fun and chill slumber party movie night. We will be watching La Grande Chaumière Violette (紫色大稻埕). This is a tv show on Netflix, so you’re welcome to binge on it after we show the first episode.
The film is the prolific auteur, Takashi Miike, at his most fun and anarchic, a noir-tinged yakuza film blending genres in the story of a young boxer and a call girl, who fall passionately in love while getting innocently caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one night in Tokyo.It will play at one of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers cinemas---Regent Square or Harris Theater---though showtime and ticket information has not yet been announced.
Early in Shinya Tsukamoto's film "Tetsuo: The Iron Man," a character identified only as a metals fetishist (Mr. Tsukamoto) scours a junkyard, slices open his thigh and sticks a piece of scrap metal into the wound. Gasping in ecstatic agony, he lurches into the street where he is nearly run over by a car driven by a white-collar worker called the Salaryman (Tomoroh Taguchi).. . .
While shaving the next morning, the Salaryman notices a metal spike growing in one cheek. It is the first sign of his gradual transformation from a human being into a walking metal scrapheap of rusty metal plates, dangling cables and a rotating metal drill that extends from his groin.
"Iron Man" makes little sense as a story, but it is driven by a perverse sense of humor. As the Salaryman's transformation proceeds, it becomes increasingly hard for him to differentiate between his waking state and nightmares in which he is attacked by machinery.Tickets are now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).
Set in the mid-90’s, the film tells the story of Billie, a troublemaker from the big city, who finds herself exiled to San Isidro to live with her spinster aunt who is also the town’s religion teacher. Determined to change her ways and get through the last year of high school without incident, Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes Billie out of her shell. They soon fall in love but things get complicated when Emma finds out that she’s pregnant. Together, they explore the fleeting nature of love and life on this journey of growth, laughter and music.The movie plays on October 12 at 3:00 pm at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville (map). Tickets are available online.
