Titanic

• Seventy years after his first appearance in the 1954 Japanese film Gojira, Godzilla has become a global star.
• Meanwhile King Kong, his gigantic Hollywood counterpart, has been circling the globe for a shade over 90 years.
• The two come together in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for the second time in the MonsterVerse film franchise, this time as unlikely partners protecting the Earth.

Nuclear Godzilla

• But by contrast, in the MonsterVerse, nuclear power stations and bombs are used routinely to “power up” Godzilla.
• Godzilla not only absorbs the nuclear radiation from a power plant, but also turns quasi-cannibal, killing the sea-serpent Titan Tiamat to absorb its power.
• Tiamat’s signature colour is pink, and so for the second half of Godzilla x Kong, Godzilla shines with rosy radioactive hues.

Kong goes subterranean

• In Godzilla x Kong, King Kong is in Hollow Earth searching for his lost species.
• In this way the film is something of a sequel to director Adam Wingard’s 2021 Godzilla vs Kong.
• In it, Kong discovers an enslaved giant ape community near the heart of the Hollow Earth, under the control of the Skar King.
• The city is burned, frozen and stomped on as Godzilla and Kong face off against their enemies.

Humour in Godzilla x Kong

• Among the beloved national landmarks reduced to rubble is the Coliseum, which becomes a giant cat bed for Godzilla.
• Aside from the Titans, Godzilla x Kong is largely populated by secondary characters from previous films, along with broadly drawn characters like Trapper, a dentist and vet for Titans (Dan Stevens on scene-chewing form).
• However, in Godzilla x Kong it seems like the Titans are finally the main attraction in their own movies.
• As Godzilla and Kong make themselves at home in semi-flattened cities all over the world, the global power of the MonsterVerse is hard to argue with.

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Rayna Denison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The purchase of Aera brings CRC's count of idle wells producing no oil from about 6,700 up to nearly 16,000 wells.
• The two companies avoid the costs of plugging them because the state charges very little in fines.
• The real play appears to be that CRC wants Aera's oil fields as a potential site to store carbon from unproven carbon capture programs.
• The state never required the two oil giants to put up the money to cover full plugging and remediation of Aera's wells.

• "We couldn't be prouder to welcome Dr. Robert Ballard as a 2024 Horatio Alger Member," said Terrence J. Giroux, executive director, Horatio Alger Association.
• "It is our utmost honor to present the Horatio Alger Award to these 11 outstanding leaders who have exemplified perseverance, passion and a deep appreciation for higher education," said James F. Dicke II, chairman, Horatio Alger Association and 2015 Horatio Alger Award recipient.
• Dr. Ballard and the Member Class of 2024 will be formally inducted into the Association on April 4-6, 2024, during the Association's annual Horatio Alger Award Induction Ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
• For more information about Horatio Alger Association and its Member Class of 2024, please visit www.horatioalger.org and follow the organization on Facebook , X , LinkedIn and Instagram .

• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231227451431/en/
  The 37th Global Music Huading Award marks the inaugural occasion for recognizing exceptional pop singers and groups worldwide following the 2023 brand upgrade.
• After an almost eight-year hiatus, the Huading Awards have resumed the process of honoring outstanding achievements in music.
• The famous Chinese singer Dao Lang won the prestigious award of Best Singer in Asia.
• “I believe that as the Huading Awards continue to grow, China should be able to create an international entertainment awards ceremony.