Harry Potter: A Musical?

Yes…fans have made musicals either using the musical from old and new standards and even not so famous musicals as well as using original lyrics. Love Harry Potter and Gilbert and Sullivan? There’s a musical for you. A phan of Phantom and Potter? There’s a musical for you. How about Lerner and Loewe? Or Rodgers and Hammerstein or even Sondheim. There’s a musical for you. Check out my article at Examiner.com.

Milongas by area (Los Angeles and OC)

East Los Angeles and San Bernardino County milongas

San Fernando Valley milongas

San Gabriel Valley milongas

West Los Angeles milongas

What You Need to Know About SPAM

Talking about the kind of SPAM that you eat, did you know some sell for $10? Did you know there’s a SPAM museum with free admission. Did you know SPAM helped save the British during the war? Suddenly, I understand that line in “Spamalot.”

The Samurai Re-Imagined Is a Limited View

I understand that art museums are trying to reach out to the average person, to the younger generation and just to people who don’t generally come through their doors. For Japanese art, heck for Asian art, two words will lure the curious: samurai and geisha. To an increasing number of Americans, another word can be added: anime. Thus it is easy to see why the exhibit: “The Samurai Re-Imagined, “ curated by Julian Bermudez, at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena through August 9, 2009, came about.

The geisha objectifies and exalts a small percentage of the female population of Japan–so much so that it has come to represent Japanese women in general. This is a case of the foreign eye adopting a minority to represent the majority. What would Freud think of that? Can we call it geisha envy or just male stupidity?

The samurai, likewise, was confined to a small percentage of the general population. They were de-activated in the Meiji era although the Imperial Army adopted some of the samurai system for their imperialistic goals. There has been an attempt to hijack the image of the samurai and merge it with the Japanese business man, but that ploy has been more successful in convincing foreigners than the actual Japanese.

Yet if you’ve read the biography of Saburo Sakai you’ll know that even during World War II and after, some samurai families continued to value certain samurai moral codes. We’re not talking about that really awful Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai,” because there were other samurai thereafter and that was only one of the many historical and cultural problems although they were not as flagrant as that “Memoirs of a Geisha” movie.

First, it is not clear what audience the curator, Julian Bermudez, is attempting to reach. The samurai re-imagined by whom? The nebulous west? Does that include Western countries outside of America? Wasn’t there a French movie called “Le Samourai”? Didn’t this 1967 movie directed by Jean-Pierre Melville with Alain Delon go on to influence other movies such as Jim Jarmusch’s 1999 “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”? Like Delon, Forest Whitaker played a loner, an assassin by trade who lives by the samurai code.

Yet that is the interior life of a samurai. Bermudez focuses on the exterior life. In the introductory paragraphs leading into the exhibit, there is a promise made but it isn’t fulfilled. Manga are defined by genre, including the shonen (aimed at young boys and men) and shojo (aimed at young girls and women).

The exhibit mentions ninja girls and bugeisha and “girl power,” but what we really get is one hanga of Tomoe Gozen and segments of “Kill Bill” and a movie poster from that Quentin Tarantino flick.

Tomoe Gozen predates the Tokugawa period, presumably living between 1157 and 1247. She is mentioned in the “Tale of the Heike,” meaning that she was a female samurai warrior during the Genpei War (1180-1185). She served under a cousin of Minamoto Yoritomo, Minamoto Yoshinaka, who defied Yoritomo. Yoshinaka was defeated by Minamoto Yoshitsune and Minamoto Noriyori. She does appear in several anime and manga, including “Usagi Yojimbo” where the character Tomoe Ame is supposed to be based on Tomoe Gozen.

Tomoe Gozen hasn’t not been proven to be a real historical figure, but if she was, she would have belonged to the Kamakura period. During that time, there was another woman who actually ruled, Masako Hojo (1156-1225). She was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo and the mother of the second and third shoguns. She is the only woman and the only person to have an era named specifically after her. Despite this, she is not mentioned. Bringing in the Kamakura period might have benefited viewers because some of the anime and manga draw from the muscular active figures and stances of anime and manga seem to hark back to that period of art as opposed to the more serene peaceful imagery and statues of the Heian period.

Of course, the “Seven Samurai” and Gundan are mentioned as well as the samurai in space. That gets you to “Star Wars.” Some of the children watching the video sequences didn’t quite get the references. And it is confusing.
The 1954 “Seven Samurai,” of course, brought America “The Magnificient Seven” in 1960. Now gunslingers are samurai. Actually, it Kurosawa’s 1958 “The Hidden Fortress” is considered the precursor or cinematic godfather of the 1977 “Star Wars.”

Here again what is missing is the 2002 “The Twilight Samurai” (“Tasogare Seibei”) by Yoji Yamada which shows the life of a low-ranking samurai. This was not a small film. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and won 12 Japanese Academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. The beautiful film was given good reviews by Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times.

In an interview I had with the director, he said he was tired of seeing the glamorous image of the samurai. He wanted to show the truth, a new sort of realism. Yamada wrote the screenplay based on novels by Shuhei Fujisawa.
Instead, we get “Kill Bill” which is essentially a Chinese revenge drama set in Japan. What makes Bill and the rest of the slashers samurai?

What about the animation of Hayao Miyazaki who often chooses a female protagonist. Certainly one expected to see something about “Princess Mononoke,” but Miyazaki’s animation is totally left out of this exhibit although these anime were wildly popular in Japan and America.

Perhaps the greater question is how does the curator define samurai. The seven samurai in Kurosawa’s film were ronin. So was Yojimbo and thus Usagi Yojimbo. The concept of the loner is contrary to what the samurai represented with in the Tokugawa system. The samurai life was confined by duty and honor. Likewise, the samurai is represented by the actors in ukiyoe, usually Kabuki. The samurai class openly supported Noh, not Kabuki. This is the samurai as represented for the consumption of the masses, not the samurai themselves. The themes were often about the double suicides, the competing forces of aijo (romantic love) and giri.

It should be pointed out that the play, “Chushingura,” was important because at the time, such feelings of duty and honor had been losing ground and so this was a revival, perhaps even a nostalgic one of the bushido code. “Chushingura” is the name of a fictional account for the revenge of 47 ronin. Although officially ronin, they considered themselves loyal vassals to their lord even after his death (which is what made them ronin). The historical events took place in 1701. The act of revenge took place two years later. The puppet play called “Kanadehon Chushingura” was first performed in 1748 yet in order to avoid censorship by the Tokugawa shogunate, the events were set a few centuries earlier. The kabuki play sets the events in the Muromachi period (1333-1568).

“Twilight Samurai” represents the samurai class as what they had become during the later Tokugawa era. Although poor, Seibei is still bound to his lord and loyal. He is a fine swordsman and will end up dying in a war. The kind of samurai that Bermudez looks at in anime and manga is superficial and he also doesn’t indicate how this comes to terms with the Western vision of the salaryman as the new samurai in the English language business rhetoric of the 1980s or the manga “Salaryman Kintaro.” He also conveniently forgets the image of the samurai, very kabuki-esque, in the cult classic “Brazil.”

For those interested in Japan, manga or anime and samurai, this exhibit is simplistic at best and misleading at worst.

Talking to the Man Behind the Tiger: Rajiv Joseph

You can’t believe everything you read online. Take the Wikipedia entry for Rajiv Joseph. When he play opened in May, the Wikipedia entry read:
Rajiv Joseph (born June 16, 1974) is an American playwright and substandard dentist.

Somewhere there may be a dentist with the same name. Joseph, when contacted via email was quite clear about it. If he were a dentist, he would be substandard. As a playwright he is above the usual standard, having won a Paula Vogel Playwriting Award in 2008 for emerging playwrights. His play “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” was chosen as one of two outstanding plays.

Joseph was gracious enough to answer a few questions via email.

When a Little Fox Had Bette Davis Eyes

Did the mores of an era change the plot line and themes of the 1939 Lillian Hellman play “The Little Foxes” when it was made into a black and white movie in 1941? As the central character, Bette Davis scored and her portrayal of the woman who lets her husband die so that she can have the upper hand in a financial deal with her brothers ranked 43 in the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Best Villains of American Cinema. Yet with the change of perceptions of what women are and can be, perhaps it is time for a remake.

The film emphasizes the helplessness of women–white and black and the black people. Addie shows some resentment in her comment about people who take advantage of other people and people who stand by and watch, but she takes no action against Regina. We understand that people like Horace, including the black people who work under him and we understand that these same people dislike Leo, but we do not see any suggestion that they would do anything contrary to what they have been told to do. In this respect, Addie’s comment also applies to all the black people and not just Horace, Birdie and Alexandra.

In a post-Civil Rights movement world, a movie might explore different ways of portraying the black people and women, perhaps even making Regina more sympathetically a product of her times.

For the full article visit Examiner.com.

Remember the European Holocaust: Plays and Movies

With the recent fatal shooting of a museum guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, there is reason to revive and remember a sad chapter in history. The 39-year-old security guard Stephen T. Johns probably did not expect to be killed by an elderly man when he opened the door for him and most people would have probably thought the elderly 88-year-old James Von Brunn a harmless old man at first glance.

Yet Johns, who we’ve heard little about in the news, is dead and von Brunn is expected to live. Von Brunn wrote: “The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do. Jews captured America’s money. Jews control the mass media.”

According to a Washington Post article, Johns was called “Big John” and characterized as a gentle giant, a man who stood over six-feet tall. He left behind an 11-year-old son and had recently remarried. He had spent a year in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Johns had opened the door for von Brunn to let him in. For those that don’t know, Johns was African American. The attack wasn’t entirely unexpected: the guards had asked for protective vests earlier, but the vests were not issued.

The tragedy should remind us all that there is a reason to remember the European Holocaust and the failure of people, including Americans to act.

For a list of plays and movies I think everyone should see, go to my Examiner.com article.

How Low Can You Go? Hackers Go After a Collie Rescue

Hackers hit a new low.

In my search for a new collie companion, I noticed that Minnesota Wisconsin Collie Rescue web site had been hacked by someone or group identified as root xp10.

The Minnesota Wisconsin Collie Rescue is a small non-profit organization that is now being flooded with homeless collies, some given up due to the current economic situation.

Do date they have found homes for 45 collies and 1 steer. The 1 steer part really cracks me up, but I guess herding dogs like collies do love herding animals.

They currently have 27 dogs available or soon to be available.

How heartless can you be to hack into a small non-profit that helps the helpless? Pretty shameless.

Boston Court: “Courting Vampires” Is an Intriguing Revenge Fantasy

Fans of “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” and the more recent “Twilight” series will not be pleased. This world premiere play by Laura Schellhardt doesn’t titillate by using vampires as a supernatural excuse for female sexual desire, but instead turns an angry, accusatory stare at men who prey on women in a way that is both unfair to men and women. Older sister, Rill Archer (Carey Peters) seeks revenge for her sister Nina (Maya Lawson) when she contracts an incurable and terminable STD. Bo Foxworth plays every man–from doctor to lawyer to helpless father as well as the various lovers. Kurt Boetcher’s scenic design deserves special mention. Jessica Kubzansky directs at Boston Court.

For a fuller review, go to my Examiner.com column.

Guillermina Quiroga Workshops at Caltech

GUILLERMINA QUIROGA
CALTECH WORKSHOPS
May 14 & 17, 2009
Pasadena

http://www.tango.caltech.edu/

Famous worldwide for her technique and imagination, Guillermina is a revolutionary teacher. She won the first Tango contest of the city of Buenos Aires just a year after she started dancing 17 years ago! She has since performed in Tango x 2, been principal dancer for Mariano Mores’ orchestra, dancer with the US and Europe tours of Broadway’s Forever Tango, exclusive principle dancers with Julio Iglesias’ Tango world tour, and performed in Tango Magic and Tango Argentino in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Thursday, May 14 at Winnett Lounge (2nd Floor)
9 to 11 pm – “Giros Technique for Men & Women I: Getting a true grasp of the basics” (Adv Beginner & Intermediate)

Sunday, May 17 at Winnett Lounge (2nd Floor)
8 to 10 pm – “Giros Technique for Men & Women II: Adding Embellishments” (Adv Beginner & Intermediate)

Workshop Admission:

Caltech Students w/ID: $5/one; $10/two

Caltech Affiliates & other full-time Students w/ID: $10/one; $15/two

Regular: $20/one; $35/two

Please bring your ID. Discounts apply to full-time students only.

Directions:
http://ballroom.caltech.edu/directions/
Caltech, 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena 91125
Enter Winnett Lounge through the stairs on the East side of the building.

Parking:
NO STREET PARKING in Pasadena after 2am. NOTE the California Blvd. parking structure is underground, please enter the driveway. Please park in the other campus parking lots. All campus parking areas are FREE and open to visitor parking on weekends and after 6 pm on weekdays.