{"id":127,"date":"2019-07-19T18:25:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/?p=127"},"modified":"2019-07-19T18:25:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:25:08","slug":"g-fest-xxvi-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/19\/g-fest-xxvi-post-mortem\/","title":{"rendered":"G-Fest XXVI Post-Mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Nathan Marchand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello, kaiju lovers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The logo for G-Fest XXVI. (Official website<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m delighted to say that\nG-Fest XXVI was the best one I\u2019ve attended yet. While I\u2019m still a bit of a noob\nto this convention (this was my third year), I was once again impressed with\nthe con-goers\u2019 friendliness and family-like atmosphere. The best part was the\nsheer amount of support and recognition I received. A few people recognized me\nfrom my time on Kaijuvision\nRadio<\/a> (which, contrary to some reports, I am the co-creator of that show).\nI seem to have made an impression on this fan community. I never expected that\nto happen. I like a lot of things besides Godzilla and kaiju, but it\u2019s here\nthat I\u2019ve made some of my biggest strides of late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you didn\u2019t come here\nto hear me gush. You want to know what happened that weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brother Jarod and I\nleft early Thursday morning and drove three hours from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to\nRosemont, Illinois. We listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park<\/em> (a long overdue read for both of us, and an appropriate\none for this con) on YouTube as we went. Sadly, we were at a slight disadvantage\nbecause we had to stay in the Comfort Inn and not the Crowne Plaza (where the\ncon was held), but there was a shuttle service to G-Fest, and we got a free\nbreakfast every morning. Can\u2019t go wrong there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first order of business\nafter unpacking my 2003 Subaru Legacy (which I named Tatsumaki<\/a>) was the\nfilm screenings at the Pickwick Theatre. It was there we met up with my\nfriend\/fellow writer\/co-panelist Danny DiManna, author\/creator of the Godzilla Novelization\nProject<\/a>, and his entourage of family and friends and went to the first of\ntwo double features at 1pm: Godzilla\u2019s\nRevenge<\/em> and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed\nMonster<\/em>. We were a bit late to the first one, but our RiffTrax-style\ncommentary entertained everyone around us. Ghidrah<\/em>\nwas fantastic on the big screen. Every time I see an older film\u2014even those from\nas recent as the 1980s\u2014I see how much better their old-fashioned special\neffects look because this was how they were meant to be seen. It was the dubbed\nversion, but the print was gorgeous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Jarod and I\npartook of my G-Fest tradition: Thursday dinner at Giodano\u2019s, a chain of pizzerias\nthat serves true Chicago-style pizza. We split a small deep-dish, which I\nfinished first because Jarod was still learning how to attack such thick pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by the\nsecond double-feature: The X from Outer\nSpace<\/em> and Godzilla, Mothra, and King\nGhidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack<\/em>. I\u2019d never seen the former, so I\nwas unprepared for how (unintentionally?) hilarious it was. For one thing, it\nhad the worst dub I\u2019ve ever heard. Me and another guy riffed it the entire\ntime. He had one joke that made me double over in my chair. In one of the worst\nhull breach in space scenes I\u2019ve ever seen, a character gets sucked butt-first\ninto the hole and gets stuck. In defiance of physics, his comrades pull him out\nand patch the hole. My fellow riffer said, \u201c\u2018You saved the ship!\u2019 \u2018You bet your\n@$$!\u2019\u201d GMK was, thankfully, subtitled, but the subtitles weren\u2019t entirely\naccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday started bright and early. Jarod and I rode the shuttle there and collected our badges and programs. I met with Danny, and we wandered down to the Kennedy Room to prep for our panel, Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters, at noon. I took Jarod to the orientation at 11am and went back down at 11:30am. People kept pouring in, especially after the orientation. I don\u2019t know if it was because of it being one of the first panels of the con, the subject matter, or the pre-con hype leading up to it (it was mentioned by at least two podcasts beforehand), but the room was packed. Danny\u2019s girlfriend, Tori, had to be our usher to find seats for people. I\u2019ve never seen that room get that full in all my time at G-Fest. It was thrilling. We weren\u2019t able to go through all of our material, and I wasn\u2019t able to play my podcast trailer for everyone, but it was a resounding success. We want to host another one next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you missed our panel\nor want to watch it again, here\u2019s the video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n