Praise Patton

Patton Oswalt may be the least likely Renaissance man.

The celebrated comedian, TV writer, voice actor and TV and film actor can now add memoirist to his cache.

In “Zombie Spaceship Wasteland,” out early next month, Oswalt offers a collection of essays inspired by eccentric relatives, his experiences working at a movie theater, a passionate defense of Dungeons and Dragons, and even a parody of the vampire trend, in comic-book form.

The title? It refers to Oswalt’s theory that young boys’ minds are drawn only to zombies, spaceships or wastelands (he was partial to the latter, which explains why he’s constantly mining our wasteland of pop culture and fatty foods for comedic inspiration).

Oswalt, whom you may already know from his frequent “Comedy Central” appearances, or work on “The King of Queens,” “Ratatouille,” and, in a startling change of pace, last year’s “Big Fan,” will read from his new book — and take your questions — on Jan. 8 at the Warsaw in Greenpoint.

“When we saw that Patton had a memoir coming out I was like, Oh my gosh, we have to have him,” said Jenn Northington, event manager at Greenpoint’s Word bookstore, which is organizing the event. “It’s an amazing book. It should be a good time.”

Patton Oswalt at Warsaw [261 Driggs Ave. at Eckford Street in Greenpoint, (718) 387-0505], Jan. 8 at 5 pm. Tickets $25, and include a copy of Oswalt’s new book. For info, visit www.wordbrooklyn.com.

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'Battel' of epic proportions

By Meredith Deliso

On Friday, all-out war will be waged at Warsaw.

The Greenpoint venue will be home to one of the most bizarre spectacles around — Kaiju Big Battel — on Oct. 15.

This endlessly silly competition is where the WWF meets Godzilla. Monsters are pitted against each other (kaiju means “mysterious beast” in Japanese) in tournament-style performances that are a tongue-in-cheek hybrid of American pro-wrestling and Japanese monster movies. 

Competitors range from Dusto Bunny, a giant gray rabbit, to Kung-Fu Chicken Noodle (left, and in the video below), a soup can with legs who’s “Mmm, mmm, bad!” As they fight for world domination, the arena is littered with a crumbled cityscape to help give the illusion of larger-than-life mayhem rampaging through the streets.

Providing the night’s soundtrack will be indie rockers Poison Ivy League. Hey, they even throw in a comic book reference for good measure, too.

Kaiju Big Battel at Warsaw [261 Driggs Ave. at Eckford Street in Greenpoint, (718) 387-0505], Oct. 15 at 7 pm. Tickets $18 in advance, $20 at the door. For info, visit www.kaiju.com.

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Kaiju Big Battel! Live anime monsters duke it out in Brooklyn

Wrestling and anime fans, get the best of both worlds this spring when the next Kaiju Big Battel comes to Brooklyn.

The live monster mash, which features tournament-style performances of a surreal hybrid of American pro-wrestling, Japanese monster movie mayhem and lowbrow pop culture, will also be in 3-D when it plays out at the Greenpoint venue Warsaw on April 3.

Since formed about 10 years by the Massachusetts-based Studio Kaiju, Kaiju Big Battel has gone from an underground phenomenon to a touring event that sells out clubs nationwide as fans clamor to watch characters like Steam Powered Tentacle Boulder and Uchu Chu the Space Bug duke it out in the rings in what the New York Times describes as “equal parts competitive spectacle, performance art and manga-style cartoonish whimsy” (unsurprisingly, it’s very popular among teenage boys).

The Warsaw has been a site of some of the most legendary “battels” since 2002, and more epic battles are expected this time around as Neo Teppen, a secret-powered Martian, will face intergalactic pest Uchu Chu for the Kaiju Championship.

The multi-media event typically features video installations, monster movie props, a towering “Danger Cage” and a crushable miniature cityscape the monsters battle in and on that makes for some choice weapons.

When the mayhem comes to Brooklyn, the borough’s own Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears, a Brooklyn-based quintet that follows in the psychedelic tradition of rock and roll legends like the Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra, will also be performing. Known for their theatrical, costumed shows, they will be sure to fit right in.

For those uninitiated, here’s a brief backstory to bring you up to speed on the cast of characters: courtesy of Studio Kaiju: Kaiju Big Battel is a modern conflict of epic proportions. Planet Earth is under threat: scattered throughout the galaxy is a monstrous mob of maniacal villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, city-crushing monsters that are waging war against one another.

Presiding over this mayhem is the Kaiju Commissioner, an enigmatic human-arbiter appointed by a clandestine cadre of world leaders to regulate Kaiju rage. If the Kaiju Commissioner doesn’t do his job perfectly the entire world could get caught in the crossfire.

Currently, the Kaiju Universe maintains an active roster of approximately 50 monsters, including a factory-worker-turned-soup-can called Kung-Fu Chicken Noodle, a dirty hare-sage dubbed Dusto Bunny, a loser sea beast known as Call- Me-Kevin, and a despicable, square-headed mad scientist known as Dr. Cube. In addition to the Kaiju Commissioner, a few privileged humans also get a piece of the action, including Referee Jingi, a mustachioed official who enforces fairness and civility in the ring, Davio Salbino, an urban renewal expert who reconstructs crumbled cityscapes between Battels, and one tuxedo-wearing, mouth-running MC, Louden Noxious.

Experience the show live when Kaiju Big Battel in 3-D comes to Warsaw (261 Driggs Ave.) April 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20. The event is all ages. For more information, visit www.kaiju.com.

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