LAPD Partners Caught In The Act

Above, the LAPD police car involved was similar to this one.

Back in the 1990s, I worked armed security patrol in-between insurance claim jobs. I had a permit to carry a .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolver while on duty.

I forget which security company I was working for when I came upon a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) squad car in the parking lot of a park in the North Hollywood/Sherman Oaks area. It was either AMSEC or Protection One I worked for at the time. 

The other day, a friend on Facebook jogged my memory of the incident I am about to describe. 

This is what happened:

I went to patrol the park's parking lot and in a far, dark corner, I saw a LAPD police car parked. A pair of bare legs sticking out the car window caught my attention when I first saw the police car. Driving closer, I saw one male and one female LAPD cops in the back seat of the squad car having "indoor Olympics". They got hit by my spotlight. The male cop got out and tried to give me a hard time. I just said, "Personally, I don't care. But we can have your watch commander deal with this." He backed off. During this time, the lady cop, a pretty blonde, was hurriedly getting dressed. I think the two were partners (in more ways than one).

I didn't bother to notify LAPD of the matter. I thought the officers were embarrassed enough. We all got a good laugh over this at the security company's headquarters. They all knew about it as I went "Code 6" (unit has arrived to location, conducting field investigation) with dispatch when I was approaching the police car. I don't recall if I had to submit a written report.

This kind of activity involving police officers isn't all that rare. All one has to do is Google it. 

Here's an example.

G-FAN: Best Thing To Do Is Subscribe

Above, the cover of G-FAN #135.

G-FAN #135 arrived in the mailbox today.

The cover is a familiar one to oldtimers (and younger fans), it is from the U.S. poster of Godzilla vs. Megalon featuring both monsters atop the New York World Trade Center towers (a scene that never showed up in the movie).

During my initial perusal of the issue, a letter caught my attention. I was by a reader who came across an issue at a newsstand while he was out-of-town. He was pleased to see it, but confessed that he didn't know G-FAN was still being published.

This reminded me of when I discovered G-FAN. It was in 1998 while I was in the Sherman Oaks, California Tower Records. I stopped at the magazine rack and spotted it and bought it. Prior to this, I was unaware of such a fan magazine.

Since some areas (like rural ones) probably don't carry G-FAN, the best thing to do is to subscribe.

G-FAN.com has a subscription page that reads:

G-FAN Magazine Subscriptions

Subscriptions to G-FAN magazine are available from Daikaiju Enterprises, ensuring that you never miss an issue. Subscribers are also treated to special contests, prizes and premiums. The price is only $25.00 for four issues or $45.00 for eight issues. Issues of G-FAN are mailed in a sturdy brown envelope with no mailing label placed on the cover and generally arrive in the mail before they hit the newsstands.

You can subscribe online with PayPal.

There, problem solved! 

To access the G-FAN subscription page, go here.

Trump/Back The Blue Rally In Los Angeles

At this writing, a rally to support President Trump, Back The Blue and 30th District Congressional candidate Mark Reed is in progress.

The mile-long rally started in the San Fernando Valley on Woodley Ave. south of Victory Blvd. and is proceeding south on the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) to the federal building in Westwood.

Thanks to Mark Reed for the video feed where I got these snaps:

Above, the rally being assembled on Woodley Ave.

Above and below, the rally heading south on the San Diego Freeway though Sherman Oaks.

Who says there's no support in California?

Godzilla, Guardian of the Universe

Above, the star. Photo: Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.

Thanks to yesterday being Memorial Day, I finally got out to see Godzilla at the ArcLight Cinemas in Sherman Oaks.

It was a 10:35 PM showing and there were only about a half dozen of us in the auditorium. Good! No distractions!

I'll start this out with the cinematography and the sound. Both were excellent. No complaints in either department from me.

Many critics complained that Godzilla doesn't show up until about an hour into the movie (I guess they weren't counting the prologue of the movie where Godzilla's spikes were prominently displayed). I found that this was not a problem as the first hour was quite riveting and added to the build-up for Godzilla's first full-body appearance. The first hour went by very quickly. There was no lack of monster action as the time was spent on M.U.T.O. and its escape from the former nuclear power plant in Japan.

When Godzilla made his first big entrance, I used a word in my mind that I haven't used in ages: Bitchen! Godzilla was very impressive!

At least Godzilla looked like Godzilla and acted like Godzilla, right down to his atomic breath!

Above, my ticket to Godzilla. A great souvenir until it fades.

As for the overall movie, it played like a Heisei Gamera movie (many have already noted this). At the end of the movie, I was almost expecting to hear Kow Otani's Gamera march. Gamera could have easily been substituted for Godzilla in this movie.

Besides the Gamera feel of the movie, much of it reminded me of Cloverfield as well (some of the music score reminded me of the ending theme from Cloverfield). Some shots of the M.U.T.O.s looked a lot like the Cloverfield monster.

The special effects were impressive, but I still prefer the "old school" method of using detailed miniatures.

During the Las Vegas sequence, an old Elvis Presley song was heard. I guess it means there were two kings in the movie.

Godzilla fan John DeSentis said that he liked the movie, but didn't love it. That also pretty much sums up my feelings about the movie. It is light-years better than the Sony/TriStar 1998 monstrosity. About the only thing the Sony/TriStar Godzilla got right was the monster's roar. I was not impressed with Godzilla's roar in this movie. It was blah to me.

Although Akira Takarada's scene didn't make the final cut, at least he did get listed in the ending credits.

Godzilla was entertaining and I recommend it. My grade: B+.