tend to listen
IF THIS WERE a Fox News program, the lead would read something like, “Some people say that the big guys never get respect. Well, those days have changed.”
And indeed they have for one specific big guy. The guy named Godzilla.
The fire-breathing movie monster, born in a nuclear accident and at various times both the ravager and protector of Tokyo, is joining Hollywood royalty with a star on the Walk of Fame.
A ceremony will honor the giant lizard, known in Japan as Gojira (a combination of the words for gorilla and whale), in front of Hollywood Boulevard’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Nov. 29, the world premiere of “Godzilla: Final Wars.”
The movie, the 28th in the series, will mark 50 years since Godzilla emerged from the sea in director Ishiro Honda‘s 1954 black-and-white classic.
Featuring a showdown with 10 monsters, old and new, bashing through tiny sets of Paris, New York, Shanghai, China, and Sydney, Australia, it will be the last time that Godzilla – played by an actor in a rubber suit – stomps through miniaturized sets before retiring.
“This movie will surprise and delight everyone, from longtime fans to first-time viewers,” Shogo Tomiyama, president of Toho Pictures Inc. promised.
Tokyo now on Cruise control
And in Japan itself, at least one American actor is a kind of Godzilla himself. Tom Cruise, 41, made another breakthrough. When he pressed his right hand into a mold of clay on Wednesday, he became the first foreign actor to have his hand print molded for a spot on a downtown Tokyo square honoring celebrities. His hand print is set to be transferred by the end of the month onto Tokyo’s Nemu no Hiroba, which features metal plaques with the hand prints and signatures of famous actors, much like Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
Strange things are afoot, TED
U2 frontman Bono is a social activist (which is not the same thing as an active socialist). The Irish rocker is one of three recipients of the inaugural TED Prize from the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference. Bono, Canadian photo-artist Edward Burtynsky and medical technologies pioneer Robert Fischell will receive $100,000 and the chance to have three wishes fulfilled by a group of world-class companies.
For insomniacs, the scene shifts
The late-night scene keeps changing, but at least Jimmy Kimmel will be around for another year. ABC has renewed “Jimmy Kimmel Live” through 2005. “I’m delighted that ABC has exhausted all other options and picked up mine for another year,” Kimmel joked.
Elsewhere, CBS lost “Late Late Show” Craig Kilborn in August. NBC has said that Jay Leno will leave “Tonight” in 2009 and be replaced by “Late Night” host Conan O’Brien.
Remember the Professor and Mary Ann
When the new TBS reality series, “The Real Gilligan’s Island,” premieres on Nov. 30, a new group will perform the old theme song. Grammy-nominated Bowling for Soup has recorded a remake of the familiar tune about that “fateful trip” aboard the ill-fated Minnow and its cast that included Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr. and Tina Louise.
Alicia’s playing the right Keys
Back in the real-world‘s hurricane area, Grammy winner Alicia Keys is set to headline January’s Barbados Jazz Festival in January. Keys will be joined by the likes of Gato Barbieri, Pieces of a Dream, Kaeko Matsui, Tito de Garcia and the Charles Flores Quintet featuring Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez and Giovanni Hidalgo.
The birthday bunch
Actress Joan Fontaine is 87. Actor Christopher Lloyd is 66. Actor Derek Jacobi is 66. Actress Annette Funicello is 62. Actress Catherine Deneuve is 61. Actor Jeff Goldblum is 52. Country singer Shelby Lynne is 36. Reggae rapper Shaggy is 36. Rapper Tracey Lee is 34. Drummer Zachary Hanson is 19. Actor Jonathan Lipnicki is 14.