Diane Hypatia

Diane Hypatia

 

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Kato, how come you place my name right beside Hypatia?

Oh … Diane, do you know who Hypatia is?

Yes, of course, I know. 　She is a Greek philosopher renowned for her beauty, isn’t she?

Oh …, ma ma mia … ooh la la … What an astounding jack-in-the-box!

Kato, what makes you so flabbergasted?

You know, Diane, not many people go to church these days.

I know. 　I know. 　But I don’t blame them.

Why not?

…’Cause there are so many diversions people are occupied with. 　Going to movies is more exciting than going to church. 　Sitting in front of the computer screen is much more fun than sitting on a hard bench in the church.

So, Diane, you don’t blame me for not going to church nor going to Buddhist temple, do you?

No, I don’t. 　But why are you talking about church?

Well … you know, Hypatia was killed by a Christian mob. 　Since you’re a devoted Christian and regular church-goer, you might have known the tragic incidents in the early history of Christianity—the murder of Hypatia, in particular. 　That’s what I thought.

I see…, but, Kato, you aren’t a Christian, are you? 　How on earth have you come to know Hypatia?

Well …I borrowed a DVD called “Agora” from Vancouver Public Library.

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■“Actual Shelf Page”

I see… You viewed 237th DVD, didn’t you?

Yes, I did. 　It is a historical drama about Hypatia.

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■“Actual Catalogue Page”

You watched the above movie on May 2, and jotted down the comment in the above, huh?

Yes, I did.

Your comment is too long, Kato. 　How come you always write a long comment? 　Make it short and get to the point.

I was thinking about writing an article on this movie. 　That’s why I made it long so that you will know for sure what the movie is all about.

Instead of a long comment, the trailer will do a much better job, won’t it?

The trailer is too short. 　I don’t think you get a relatively full account of the story. 　Let me tell you the outline. 　I rewrite here the above comment with a number of still photos.

 

This is a 2009 historical drama directed by Alejandro Amenábar.
Rachel Weisz plays as Hypatia—a female mathematician, philosopher and astronomer in late 4th century Roman Egypt.

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Hypatia investigates the flaws of the geocentric Ptolemaic system and the heliocentric model that challenges it.
Surrounded by religious turmoil and social unrest, Hypatia struggles to save the knowledge of classical antiquity from destruction.
Max Minghella co-stars as Davus, Hypatia’s father’s slave.

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　　　Davus

Oscar Isaac plays as Hypatia’s student, and later prefect of Alexandria, Orestes.

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(Orestes sitting behind Hypatia)

The film starts in 391 AD.
By the end of the 4th century A.D., the Roman empire was on the verge of collapse.
Yet Alexandria, in the province of Egypt, still retained much of its splendor.
It boasted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the legendary lighthouse.
It was also proud of the greatest library on earth.

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The library was not only a cultural symbol, but also a religious one, a place where the pagans worshipped their ancestral gods.
The city’s long-established pagan cult was now challenged by the Jewish faith and a rapidly spreading religion until recently banned: Christianity.

After the storming of the library, many pagans converted to Christianity and Alexandria enjoyed a time of peace.
Hypatia continued her teaching and research, while her former disciples occupied important posts among the social elite.

The Roman empire finally split into two parts.
Many Christians saw this as a sign of the end of the world and decided to prepare themselves by living holier lives.
The story uses historical fiction to highlight the relationship between religion and science amidst the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism and the Christianization of the Roman empire.

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Cyril (Sami Samir)

The leader of the Christians, Cyril (Sami Samir), views Hypatia as having too much influence over Orestes and stages a public ceremony intended to force Orestes to subjugate her.
Hypatia’s former pupil, Synesius, now the Bishop of Cyrene, comes to her rescue as a religious authority counterweight, but says he cannot help her unless she accepts Christianity; she refuses.

Hypatia makes a personal discovery, theorizing that the Earth orbits around the Sun in an elliptic, not circular, orbit with the Sun at one of the foci.

Cyril convinces a mob of Christians that Hypatia is a witch and they vow to kill her.

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Hypatia among the mob

Davus tries to run ahead to warn Hypatia, but she is captured by the mob.
They strip Hypatia naked and are about to skin her alive until Davus persuades the mob otherwise, and they decide to stone her instead.
When everyone goes outside to collect stones, Davus secretly suffocates her to spare her the pain of being stoned to death and tells the mob that she fainted.
Davus leaves as they begin to stone her.

Hypatia’s mutilated body was dragged through the streets and burnt on a pyre.
Orestes disappeared, never to be seen again.

Cyril seized power of Alexandria.
Much later, Cyril was declared a saint and doctor of the Church.

Although none of Hypatia’s works survived, it is known that she was an outstanding astronomer and renowned for her mathematical studies for her conic curves.
1200 years later, in the 17th century, the astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered that one of these curves, the eclipse, governs the motion of the planets.
It is thought-provoking and quite fascinating!

 

Kato, how many more DVDs are you gonna borrow?

I’m trying to watch 1,001 movies in the library.

I see… So, the 1,001st movie will be “One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights),” huh?

You’re telling me, Diane.

Tell me, Kato, what impressed you most.

Well … I’d say Pharos—the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders.

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And, of course, Library of Alexandria.

The lighthouse and the library … is that all?

Well … lastly, not the least important … Hypatia herself … Her talent, beauty and the tragic death.

You see, Diane, she is the last philosopher of the Hellenistic Era. 　Cyril, the leader of the Christians, convinced a mob of Christians to kill her. 　And her death, I think, actually started the Dark Age in the Christian world.

Why did he want to kill her in the first place?

Well … I think Cyril viewed Hypatia as a threat to his own dignity and power. 　He must have understood that she was much smarter than himself.

So, Cyril’s inferiority complex and jealousy killed Hypatia. Is that it?

You’re telling me, Diane. 　Cyril was a self-righteous, bigoted and opinionated man—the kind of guy I hate most in the human history.

Kato, you’re quite mad with him because he killed the most beautiful woman at the time, aren’t you?

No, not really. 　Actually, I’m speaking on your behalf.

On my behalf?

Yes, I am. 　If Hypatia had survived, she would have educated more women, some of whom would probably have gone into politics and gained the right to vote.

Do you really think so, Kato?

Yes, very much so. 　Unfortunately, the Christian mob killed Hypatia, and the coming of other intelligent and politically-powerful women died with her. 　Women had to wait for 1500 years to obtain the right to vote.

1500 years?

Yes, Hypatia was killed in 415. 　The American women voted for the first time in 1920. The Japanese women voted in 1946.

Kato, are you a feminist?

Yes, of course, I am.

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【Himiko’s Monologue】

 

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC.

The most prominent of these, the versions by Antipater of Sidon and an observer identified as Philo of Byzantium, comprise seven works located around the eastern Mediterranean rim.

The original list inspired innumerable versions through the ages, often listing seven entries.

Of the original Seven Wonders, only the Great Pyramid of Giza (the oldest of the ancient wonders) remains intact.

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In any case, I hope Kato will write another interesting article soon.
So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

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If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

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■“First Love”

■“Fright on Flight”

■“Boy’s Movie”

■“From Summer to Eternity”

■“Sōseki & Glenn Gould”

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■“Dream Dream Dream”

■“In Search of Your Footprint”

■“Little Night Music”

■“Merry X’mas”

■“Happy New Year!”

■“Long live Diane!”

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■“Mona Lisa”

■“Flu Shot”

■“Selfish TD Bank”

■“Talk with Mozart”

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■Climate of Doubt

■Glory of Death

■Big Mystery

■Hitler and Trump

■Hot October

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Hi, I’m June Adams.

Woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office.

Limited voting rights were gained by women in Sweden, Finland and some western U.S. states in the late 19th century.

International organizations were formed to coordinate efforts, especially the International Council of Women (1888) and the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (1904).

In 1893, New Zealand, then a self-governing British colony, granted adult women the right to vote and the self-governing British colony of South Australia did the same in 1895, but also permitted women to run for office.

Australia federated in 1901, and women acquired the right to vote and stand in federal elections from 1902, though uneven restrictions on Aboriginal women voting in national elections were not completely removed until 1962.

The first European country to introduce women’s suffrage was the Grand Duchy of Finland, then part of the Russian Empire, which also produced the world’s first female members of parliament in the 1907 parliamentary elections.

Norway followed, granting full women’s suffrage in 1913.

In most Western countries, women’s suffrage came after World War I, with some important late adopters being France in 1944 and Switzerland in 1971.

If Hypatia had survived, women might have gained the right to vote much earlier.

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Look at Lady Hugo

 

Look at Lady Hugo

 

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Kato, who is Lady Hugo?

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Diane, have you ever heard of Victor Hugo?

Yes, of course I have… He is one of the world-famous French writers, isn’t he?

So, you know about him, don’t you?… Actually, I’ve written an article about him and his famous novel.

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■『パリの日本人』(A Japanese in Paris)

It is written in Japanese… So, unfortunately, you cannot read it… Anyway, in the above article I talked about his famous novel—“The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” 　Diane, have you read the novel?

Yes, I read it a long time ago.

By the way, Diane, have you watched the following movie?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Trailer (1939)

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No, I haven’t, but I viewed the following musical:

 

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So, Diane, you like musicals, eh?

Yes, I do… Talking about Victor Hugo, is he famous even in Japan?

Oh, yes! 　When I was a kid, I read a story about the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean.

 

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Did you like it?

I didn’t like it too much, but one scene was clearly implanted into my mind.

What kind of scene is that?

Well… Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a certain town. Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him.

 

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The town’s police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean’s incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.

 

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How old were you when you read it for the first time.

I was ten or eleven years old, I suppose.

So, you were an avid reader, eh?

No, not really… in those days, the story of Jean Valjean was quite popular among the children of my age… so, naturally it interested me to a great extent.

Kato, have you watched the movie lately?

Not recently, but I watched it a few years ago.

 

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■“Actual Page”

 

So, you watched it on April 8, 2016, huh? … How did you like it?

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I wasn’t impressed so much as I read the original story.

Talking about Lady Hugo, is she related to Victor Hugo?

Yes, of course, she is the youngest daughter of Victor Hugo.

 

Adèle Hugo

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(28 July 1830 – 21 April 1915)

 

Adèle Hugo was the fifth and youngest child of French writer Victor Hugo.
She is remembered for developing schizophrenia as a young woman, which led to a romantic obsession with a British military officer who rejected her.
Her story has been retold in film and books, such as “The Story of Adele H.”

Childhood

Adèle Hugo was raised in a cultured, affluent home in Paris, the youngest child of Adèle (née Foucher) and Victor Hugo, France’s most famous writer.

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Adèle Foucher

Adèle enjoyed playing the piano, and was known for her beauty and long dark hair.
She sat for portraits by several well-known Parisian artists.

In 1851, the Hugo family moved to the island of Jersey, after Victor Hugo was forced into political exile.
The family remained on the Channel Islands until 1870.
It was in Jersey that Adèle met Albert Pinson, the object of her obsession.

 

Illness and pursuit of Albert Pinson

Signs of mental illness became apparent in Adèle in 1856.
Adèle became romantically involved with a British army officer, Albert Pinson.

Pinson proposed marriage to Adèle in 1855, but she rejected the proposal.
Adèle had a change of heart, wanting to reconcile with Pinson, but he refused to be involved any further with Adèle.

Pinson continued his military career, being sent to the Sixteenth Foot Regiment in Bedfordshire in 1856, where he seldom saw Adèle.
Pinson then went to Ireland in 1858, upon promotion to lieutenant, where he was stationed until 1861.

Despite Pinson’s rejection, she continued pursuing him.
Pinson developed a reputation for living a “life of debauchery”.

Adèle followed him when he was stationed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1863.
Adèle’s family worried for her well-being, and tried to track her whereabouts by letters.

In 1866, Pinson was stationed to Barbados, the British colonial center in the Caribbean region.
He completely abandoned Adèle when he left Barbados in 1869.
Adèle did not find her way back to France until 1872, and in the interim, the Hugo family was unable to track her activities.

The mystery of Adèle’s life in Barbados may have been revealed in an anonymous letter to the editor—signed only “P”—published in the New-York Tribune on May 27, 1885.

The head of the Catholic mission in Trinidad, Cathonoy, gave a similar account of Adèle’s wretched situation in Barbados in a letter dated September 8, 1885.
He relates an incident where he met a Barbadian woman of African descent, named Madame Céline Alvarez Baa, who requested that a mass be said for Victor Hugo after news of the author’s death.

Curious to know the reason for Madame Baa’s interest in Victor Hugo, Cathonoy asked questions, and learned that Madame Baa had given Adèle shelter when she was abandoned on Barbados, where she was known as “Madame Pinson”.

Adèle had been found wandering the streets, talking to herself, detached from her surroundings.
Madame Baa took the initiative to take Adèle to her family in Paris.
Adèle was then left in medical care.
A grateful Victor Hugo reimbursed Madame Baa for her expenses.

 

Erotomania

Adèle’s obsession was a manifestation of erotomania.
Along with her other symptoms of mental illness, including hallucinations, Adèle’s condition indicates schizophrenia.

The illness appeared in other members of the Hugo family.
Victor Hugo’s brother Eugène was also schizophrenic.

She was ultimately sent to live in a mental institution for the affluent outside Paris.
She remained there until her death.
Out of Victor Hugo’s five children, Adele was the only one who outlived him.

Much of what is known about Adèle’s life and her pursuit of Pinson comes from her diaries and letters.
Adèle kept a journal while she lived on Jersey and Guernsey, which she titled Journal de l’Exil (Diary of the Exile).
She stopped keeping a diary by the time she landed in Barbados, due to her mental deterioration.

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SOURCES: “Adèle Hugo”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

How come you picked up Adele Hugo all of a sudden?

Well. . . I viewed the film: “The Story of Adele H.” a few years ago.

 

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■“Actual List”

 

So you’d watched 1,636 movies by May 2017, hadn’t you?

Yes, I had.

So, Kato, you’re a flick maniac, huh?

You’re telling me… Look at Number 1624 in the above list.

So you watched “The Story of Adele H” on May 1, 2017, huh?… How did you like it?

I loved viewing it, which is a quite amazing movie.

 

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■“Actual Page”

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Kato’s Comment

 

This is a 1975 French historical docudrama directed by François Truffaut, based on Adèle Hugo’s diaries.

It shows the life of Adèle Hugo, the daughter of world-famous Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer leads to her downfall and insanity.

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Her father places her in an asylum in Saint-Mandé, where she lives for the next forty years.

She gardens, plays the piano and writes in her journal.

Adèle Hugo died in Paris in 1915 at the age of 85.

Although it is an heartbreaking drama, the film almost appears like a dramedy when Adèle views the show of a greedy hypnotizer.

At the time I laughed my head off to death.

Superb is the performance of 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani as Adèle Hugo.

 

Did you really laugh your head off to death?

Well… of course, I exaggerated a bit, but the scene appeared quite hilarious… You should view the movie.

I think I’m gonna book the DVD.

You’d better hurry… Four people are still waiting…

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【Himiko’s Monologue】

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Well…, have you ever watched the movie of the Jean Valjean story?

If you speak Japanese, there is a Japanese version.

Here it is.

The following movie was made in 1950.

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Jean Valjean is played by Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲 1889-1973) who starred in Japanese, American, French, German, and British films.

Hayakawa was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the silent era of the 1910s and 1920s.

He was the first actor of Asian descent to find stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe.

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His broodingly handsome good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood.

During those years, Hayakawa was as well-known and popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, although today his name is largely unknown to the public.

In any case, I expect Kato will write another interesting article soon.

So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!

Bye bye …

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If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

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■Ramen Boom

■from Korea

■Omakase@Sushi

■Crocodile Meat

■Killer Floods

■Climate of Doubt

■Glory of Death

■Big Mystery

■Hitler and Trump

■Hot October

■2018 BC Ballot

■Bach Collegium Japan

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■Dolly the Sheep

■Golden Shower

■Cleopatra

■Strange Love

■Quartet

■Unknown Tragedy

■World War B.C.

■Mystery of Dimension

■Call Girl Mystery

■Typhoon & Emperor

■Popes@Spotlight

■Fireflies

■Richard III

■Savage vs. Civilized

■Submerging Island

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Hi, I’m June Adams.

Kato is a real movie lover, who tries to watch 1001 movies.

As a matter of fact, he has already accomplished his goal.

 

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■『Actual List』

 

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Kato watched “The Arabian Nights” or “One Thousand and One Nights” as his 1001th movie.

You might just as well want to view it.

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The stories in “the Arabian Nights” were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa.

The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār and his wife Scheherazade and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves.

The stories proceed from this original tale.

Some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord.

Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.

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From Gyoda to Vancouver

From Gyoda to Vancouver

 

 

Subj:
Hello from Gyoda!

 

From: barclay1720@aol.com
To: diane03760@vancouver.ca
Date: Sat., October 1, 2011 12:42:32 AM

Hi, Diane. How’s it going?

I’ve been enjoying the stay in my hometown.
It’s like summer again.
Hot and humid. Awful!

But I cannot complain because my hometown is so sweet.

You might ask how sweet…

So I’ve written an article about it.
Please click the following link:

 

■“From Canada to Japan”

 

I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.
Your truly skinny tourist,

Kato

 

Subj:I miss you!

From: diane03760@vancouver.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com
Date: Tue, Oct 4, 2011 8:25 am

Hi Kato,
Well… you snuck out of town when we weren’t looking, didn’t you?
Hope you’re having a good time in your home town.

 

 

I WILL look at the article and video clips, probably tomorrow and I’m excited to see it.
I’m rushing off now to the VIFF.

 

 

Here’s sexuality.

An open mind is advised!

 

It’s always one of the highlights for me and I’ve been known to see 24plus movies in a two week span … not so many this year, though.
I can’t keep up the pace! So far so good.

I told Sylvie you were in Japan and she wasn’t surprised at all.
I’ll tell her you’ll be back at your post on October 28th.
…most likely we’ll all be here like always.

By the way, Kato, a friend of mine sent me the following video clip:

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of

9/11 Resilience

 

The 9/11 attack happened a long time ago, but it is always a thought-provoking incident.
I hope the above clip will give you an inspiration or two.

In any case, have fun in your home town, kiddo,
Thanks again,

Love, Diane ~

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Diane, are you enjoying the film festival in Vancouver?

Yes, of course, I do…I always enjoy it to the bone.

So, have you seen lots of sexiuality movies?

Kato, you’re preoccupied by sex, aren’t you?

No, not really…since you’ve pasted the salacious video clip in the above mail, I thought you had seen many sex-related movies.

Well…they say, an open mind is advised, but there aren’t many sex-related movies. 　Kato, are you inetersted in sex-related movies?

I wanna watch movies like “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t see such a movie, but there are so many interesting films. 　I wish you wrere here in Vancouver. 　Kato, are you enjoying the stay in your home town?

Yes, of course, I am…My hometown, Gyoda, is definitely sweet to me.

 

Gyōda (行田市)

 

 

 

Gyōda is a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 87,089, with 33,570 households and a population density of 1,292.70 persons per km².
The total area is 67.37 km².

The city was founded on May 3, 1949.
On January 1, 2006 the village of Minamikawara, from Kitasaitama District, was merged into Gyōda.

Transport

Gyōda Station (JR East Takasaki Line)
Gyōdashi Station (Chichibu Railway)

Sakitama Kofun Park

Sakitama Kofun Park is a 300,000-square-meter historic park dotted with large ancient tombs, including a tomb of ancient potentates on Mt. Maruhaka-yama, one of the largest round burial mounds in Japan.

 

Maruhaka-yama

 

At Mt. Shogun-yama, a 91-meter-long burial mound that is square at the head and rounded at the foot, there is a display room of its interior where the stone cave hut and excavated articles have been restored to their original conditions in the 5th to 7th centuries.

Every spring, residents celebrate a fire festival, which symbolizes the myth that the ancient goddess of Japan gave birth in fire.

 

Ancient Lotus

 

Gyoda City is proud of its ancient lotuses that grow in the Kobari Marsh.

The seeds of ancient lotuses here, estimated to date back 1,400 to 3,000 years, were found by chance during excavation for the building of a waste disposal facility.

After a few thousand years of dormancy, they awoke and germinated.

The large pink blossoms bloom only in the morning for about a month from mid-July after the close of the rainy season.

 

Ancient Lotus Park

 

Oshi Castle (Oshi-jo) was built by the daimyo Narita Akiyasu near the end of the 15th century.
It was considered impregnable, and was built using the natural levee of the surrounding marshlands and river.

When it was attacked by the army of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who ruled Japan in the latter half of the 16th century) it was besieged by over 20,000 soldiers.
The castle did not fall even when it was flooded by water drawn in from the nearby river.

After that it was rumored that the castle had been able to withstand the flood because it floats on water.

The largest turret in Oshi Castle is Gosankai Yagura, although it was demolished in the latter half of the 19th century when political power changed from the Edo shogunate to the Meiji government, due to its condemnation as a symbol of the samurai.
The existing turret was reconstructed in 1988.

 

Culture

 

Gyōda is renowned for its Jeri Furai or fried jelly.
This is a local speciality consisting of fried bean curd, carrots, onion, and potato.

There are many shops which sell it around town, especially during the warmer seasons.

 

 

Gyōda is also quite well known for the making of traditional tabi socks, worn with kimono.
Gyoda still makes half of the tabi made in Japan.

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SOURCE:Gyōda, Saitama
From Wikipedia
PICTURES from the Denman Library

 

I wish I could see ancient lotus flowers, which are so beautiful.

Yes, indeed, the flowers are so charming, and the people living in Gyoda are proud of the ancient flowers.

Kato, I’m wondering if you’re actually in Japan now.

Are you thinking that I’ve told you a fib?

No, not really, but I feel you’re somewhere in Vancouver.

What made you think so?

Well…I just feel your presence somewhere anound here.

That’s because you’ve always been thinking of me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ….

I wish I were in your home town to see lotus flowers together.

Oh, yes, Diane…you’re in Gyoda.

Nonsense! I’m in Vancouver now. 　The Pacific Ocean is between you and me, Kato.

Yes, but you are with me. 　Whenever you feel like being in Japan, view the following video clip:

 

【Himiko’s Monologue】

 

 

Wow! Did you see the VIFF video clip?

I think it’s a bit obscene and salacious.

 

Here is a trailer for another famous sexy movie:

Emmanuelle 1 – Ouverture

 

My heart throbbed like mad while I watched the above clip.
Sexuality is one thing; romance is another.

Come to think of it, I’ve never met a decent man in my life.
How come I’m always a loner?

I wish I could meet a nice gentleman at the library in my town as Diane met Kato.
Well, they say, there is a way where there is a will.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

(juneswim.jpg)

■“First Love”

■“Fright on Flight”

■“Boy’s Movie”

■“From Summer to Eternity”

■“Sōseki & Glenn Gould”

(biker302.jpg)

■“In Search of Your Footprint”

■“Little Night Music”

■“Merry X’mas”

■“Happy New Year!”

■“Long live Diane!”

■“Mona Lisa”

■“Flu Shot”

■“Selfish TD Bank”

■“Talk with Mozart”

ィ～ハァ～♪～!

メチャ面白い、

ためになる関連記事

■　『きれいになったと感じさせる

下着・ランジェリーを見つけませんか？』

■　『ちょっと変わった　新しい古代日本史』

■　『Livedoor Blog – 徒然ブログ』

■　『面白くて楽しいレンゲ物語』

■　『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

■　『今すぐに役立つホットな情報』

■　『　○　笑う者には福が来る　○　』

 

Hi, I’m June Adames.

I like Sylvia Kristel’s Lady Chatterley.

Talking of Sylvia Kristel, you might as well remember Lady Emmanuelle.

 

 

Emmanuelle 2: L’antivierge

Sylvia Kristel (1975)

 

Well…if you love to visit Paris,

please enjoy the Paris theme:

Sous le ciel de Paris

by Édith Piaf

I like Chanson Française (French song).

How about you?

Kato also love Édith Piaf,

but he considers Juliette Greco’s

“Sous le Ciel de Paris” much beter.

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Juliette Greco

I believe Yves Montand’s “Sous le Ciel de Paris” is the best of all.

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Yves Montand

I love Paris, but Vancouver isn’t bad at all.

To tell you the truth, Vancouver is a paradise to me.

 

 

ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

Covent Garden

Covent Garden

 

(covent01.jpg)

(dianesun.jpg)

 

Subj:What a dangerous method!

That surely made me think it over.

(danger06.jpg)

 

From: diane@vancouver.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com
Date: Fri, Feb 10, 2012 5:49 pm.
Pacific Standard Time

Hi Kato,
My truly romance-loving Taliesin,

Thanks so much for all of this.
I’m going to save it so I can savor it all carefully when time allows.

I’m especially grateful for the summary of how “The Piano” ended.
I suppose Alistair finally came to the sad conclusion that Ada would not ever love him like she loved (or was attracted to) Baines and possibly he felt badly for inflicting such a permanent injury.

I think if he had made a bit more effort from the start and displayed some affection towards Ada, the outcome may have been quite different.

Truly, he would have been a better match for her, I think; rather than her ending up with an illiterate tattooed native fellow.
Ah, but attraction? … who knows?!
Thanks again, though; I did want to know how it all wrapped up.

A Dangerous Method

2011 Official Trailer

Back to the Dangerous Method, I think the situation with her father would not necessarily be one of love (doubtful, really) or true hate, but somewhere in between.

Because she felt turned on the time he beat her, in her mind the association was formed between violence and sex—an association that, even though she was an intelligent woman, seemed to persist.

Perhaps she rose about it eventually, and it did seem she married a rather straight fellow eventually and was at least marginally happy.
Such interesting creatures we are, true?

A Dangerous Method

 

(danger03.jpg)

 

A Dangerous Method is a 2011 historical film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel.

The screenplay was adapted by Academy Award-winning writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method: the story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.

The film marks the third consecutive and overall collaboration between Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen (after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises).

This is also the third Cronenberg film made with British film producer Jeremy Thomas, after completing together the William Burroughs adaptation Naked Lunch and the J.G. Ballard adaptation Crash.

A Dangerous Method was a German/Canadian co-production.
The film premiered at The 68th Venice Film Festival and was also featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot

Set on the eve of World War I, A Dangerous Method is based on the turbulent relationships between Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, Sigmund Freud, founder of the discipline of psychoanalysis, and Sabina Spielrein, initially a patient of Jung and later a physician and one of the first female psychoanalysts.

---

SOURCE: “A Dangerous Method”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think Jung was happy with his marriage as well; both Jung and Sabina had a close working association, both were exploring the mind and its workings, so they had a lot in common to start; the affair, the sex, the violence was an exciting secret and additional turn-on for both of them, but not truly necessary for their long-term happiness.
That’s just my take on it.
Perhaps I’m out in left-field.

 

(hara112.jpg)

■“Electra Complex”

(February 10, 2012)

 

Wow! Thanks again for all this,
I’m looking forward to reviewing the entire message later,
Have a good weekend, kiddo,

I’m going to a Homelessness Workshop tomorrow at Christ Church Cathedral with Judy Graves, the city’s “voice” for the homeless in Vancouver, a woman who has sacrificed her life, really, for those in need.

 

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As part of the Cathedral’s soup kitchen team, they wanted to give us a greater insight into the situation and look at possible solutions or at least ways to further help the needy.

Love, Diane ~

(dianelin3.jpg)

Love, Diane ~

 

(foolw.gif)

Subj:Hi, Diane

Have a great time

in London!

(diane25.jpg)

 

Date: Sun., Feb. 26, 2012 4:11 PM
Pacific Standard Time
From: barclay1720@aol.com
To: diane3760@canada.ca

Hello, Diane,

I’m so glad to know that you’ll visit London.
I was over there about 15 years ago.
I wish I could go there with you again.

some day… some day… ha, ha, ha, ha, ha …

I’ve been reading many books regarding “Madame Butterfly” since I received your last mail about “A Dangerous Method.”
I was too busy reading those books to write my articles in English.

How come Sabina went through kinky sex life?

I read a book titled “Butterfly” written by Paul Loewen.

 

(butterfly2.jpg)

 

According to the author, Paul Loewen lived in Heidelberg during the World War II.
One day, while listening to a record of the opera “Madame Butterfly,” his mother became upset unusually.

When she calmed down eventually, she revealed the secrets of her upbringing.
A Japanese women who became a model of Madame Butterfly had, in fact, a daughter, not a son.

The girl would later married a German doctor who had been a consultant at a hospital in Tokyo.
Four years later she gave birth to a baby boy.
That woman is his mother and the boy is the author—Paul Loewen.

 

(maiko17.jpg)

 

That’s what the preface says.

When Loewen learned that the daughter of the so-called Madame Butterfly was his mother, he had a strong interest in the true story of his grandparents.

After the World War II, he had the opportunity to visit Japan in the United-Nations-related work.
In Nagasaki, he discovered the memoirs and letters of the late Pinkerton.

Because the contents of the notes and letters were decadent and sexual, they were not published at the time.
However, in the wake of the death of his mother in 1976, he decided to publish by editing the materials discovered in Nagasaki as well as the diary of Sharpless obtained in the United States in order to reveal the true story of his grandparents.

 

(puccini7.jpg)

 

In the past years, many researchers have tried to find the model of Madame Butterfly of the opera.
Did the model ever exist?
If so, who was she?
This mystery has not been clearly elucidated until now.

Although the discovered materials are certainly suspicious and indeed lacking in credibility, Loewen’s literary Work-up seems quite effective in the sense that the reader really looks forward to the mystery and wants to solve it.

 

(puccini2.jpg)

 

The story begins when Kate (Kathryn Hamilton) and Henry Pinkerton were still young lovers.
Kate is a woman who combines the elegance of demeanor equipped with extraordinary intelligence and breathtaking beauty as well as delicate sensibility.

I’ve found several common traits between Kate and Sabina.
That’s why I’ve been reading the related books in order to get insights into Kate’s as well as Sabina’s mind.

Well…so much so that I’ll write an article about it, and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.
I’ll send another mail to you while you’re enjoying your journey in London so that you will be able to read as a bit of refresher.

In any case, please have a great time in London, learn as much as possible, and experience a great deal of adventure and romance. 🙂
I’m looking forward to hearing fascinating and inspirational stories from you.

Your truly travel-loving Taliesin,
Kato

 

(denman01.gif)

🙂 with love

How long are you gonna stay in London?

A little bit shorter than two weeks.

Well…better than a couple of days. 　

I wish I could stay over there for a whole month.

Why not?

This time I’m not alone.

Oh…? 　With your boyfriend?

Oh no. A group of seven.

I wonder if the group has something to do with the Cathedral’s soup kitchen…and, you guys are gonna help homeless people in London.

Don’t be silly, Kato…not like that. 　We’ll enjoy sightseeing and learn cultural differences…something like that.

I see. 　In any case I hope you’ll have a great time in London.

Thank you, Kato. 　Why don’t you join us?

Oh no, I can’t. 　I’d rather stay in Vancouver. 　As I said, I wanna hear fascinating and inspirational stories from you. 　I’m pretty sure you’ll have some adventures and romances over there. 　Will you not?

Don’t be silly, Kato. 　I won’t disturb other people in my group.

You don’t have to disturb other people. 　What I’m saying is that the whole group should be able to have some adventures and romances in London.

Like what?

Like…ah…streaking in front of the Parliament.

 

(diane25.jpg)

 

Don’t be foolish, Kato. 　I’m a Christian. 　I shouldn’t be running naked in any public place.

I thought you were open-minded.

Be serious, Kato. 　Streaking has nothing to do with open-mindedness. 　I think I should behave like a decent Canadian.

Good for you, Diane.

By the way, Kato, you mentioned that you went over to England 15 years ago.

Yes, I did.

What part of London do you recommend me to see?

Covent Garden.

 

Covent Garden

 

(covent01.jpg)

 

It is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin’s Lane and Drury Lane.
It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as “Covent Garden”.

 

(covent06.jpg)

(covent05.jpg)

 

Lighting Design Madame Butterfly

At Royal Opera House

 

 

The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centered on Neal’s Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theaters and entertainment facilities, including the Theater Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.

Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic.

After the town was abandoned, part of the area was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was referred to as “the garden of the Abbey and Convent”.

The land, now called “the Covent Garden”, was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552.
The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul’s.

The design of the square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew.

A small open-air fruit and vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654.
Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theaters, coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in.

By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes.

 

(covent04.jpg)

 

An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler’s neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organize the market.

The area declined as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market.

By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms.

The central building re-opened as a shopping center in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.

Covent Garden, with the postcode WC2, falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancreas.

The area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in London.

 

Covent Garden at night

---

SOURCE: “Covent Garden”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How come you recommend this part of London?

Well… you see, it was once a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes.

Don’t be silly, Kato. 　Why should I visit the once notorious red-light district?

I don’t mean, you should streak on the street of Covent Garden.

Kato!…tsk, tsk, tsk … you, naughty brat!…you’re preoccupied with streaking, aren’t you? 　Do you really want me to run naked in London?

Oh no … Londoners would be more than happy to see you run naked, but the reason I recommend Covent Garden is Royal Opera House.

Why is that?

You see… As I wrote in the mail, I’ve been reading many books regarding “Madame Butterfly” since I received your last mail about “A Dangerous Method.”

So what?

Well…”Madame Butterfly” is an opera created by Giacomo Puccini.

Puccini was an Italian composer, wasn’t he?

Yes, he was.

How come you brought up Royal Opera House and Puccini together?

A good question … Puccini had a romance with Sybil Seligman at Royal Opera House.

 

(sybil12.jpg)

Sybil Seligman

 

Who is Sybil Seligman?

Puccini met her on his business trip to London. One of his friends introduced her to the composer, who at once liked her because she was beautiful and full of inspiration.

Was she married?

Yes, she was. Puccini could convince his wife that his friendship to Sybil was of a purely intellectual nature.

Did his wife believe it?

Well… yes and no. His wife, Elvira, was suffering from an inferiority complex for not being educated or interested in matters of art. Although she didn’t believe it 100%, Elvira had no other option. So she accepted Sybil as Puccini’s artistic counsel and confidant because Elvira herself was never able to be.

I see. That’s how their romance started, isn’t it?

That’s right. Sybil was Puccini’s friend, confidant and lover for more than 20 years, suggested topics and translated dramas and literature for Puccini who barely spoke an English word. Sibyl translated Oscar Wilde’s “A Florentine Tragedy” for the composer, who nearly turned it into a first third of the planned trittico but then decided otherwise. Later, Alexander v. Zemlinsky adapted it and turned it into “the Florentine Tragedy.”

What is the romance you’re talking about, Kato?

Well… Puccini and Sybil got out to the theater at Covent Garden every night.

 

(covent03.jpg)

 

David, Sybil’s husband and businessman, didn’t like music, and didn’t like Puccini at all, but he pretended to like him while her husband had allegedly countless affairs. Sybil didn’t care because she enjoyed seeing operas with Puccini. Later she told her friends that those night-outs with Puccini were the happiest years of her life.

How about Puccini?

Of course, he never forget those inspirational evenings.

How come you’re so sure about it, Kato?

‘Cause one of those nights, Puccini saw with Sybil “Madame Butterfly”—a play dramatized by David Belasco. Puccini loved it and decided to turn it into his opera.

【Himiko’s Monologue】

(himiko22.gif)

“Madame Butterfly” is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

 

(puccini2.jpg)

 

Puccini based his opera in part on the short story “Madame Butterfly” (1898) by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco.

Puccini also based it on the novel Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by Pierre Loti.

According to one scholar, the opera was based on events that actually occurred in Nagasaki in the early 1890s.

The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on February 17, 1904, at La Scala in Milan.

It was very poorly received despite the presence of such notable singers as soprano Rosina Storchio, tenor Giovanni Zenatello and baritone Giuseppe De Luca in the lead roles.

This was due in large part to the late completion and inadequate time for rehearsals.

Puccini revised the opera, splitting the second act into two acts and making other changes.

On May 28, 1904, this version was performed in Brescia and was a huge success.

Between 1915 and 1920, Japan’s best-known opera singer Tamaki Miura won international fame for her performances as Cio-Cio San.

 

(butterfly3.jpg)

 

Her statue, along with that of Puccini, can be found in the Glover Garden in Nagasaki, the city where the opera is set.

In any case, I’d like to meet my “Romeo”—a decent man in my future life.
How come I’m always a loner?
I wish I could meet a nice gentleman at the library in my town as Diane met Kato.
Well, they say, there is a way where there is a will.

I hope Kato will write another interesting article.
So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

(hand.gif)

(renge62e.jpg)

If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

(renge63.jpg)

(juneswim.jpg)

■“First Love”

■“Fright on Flight”

■“Boy’s Movie”

■“From Summer to Eternity”

■“Sōseki & Glenn Gould”

(biker302.jpg)

■“In Search of Your Footprint”

■“Little Night Music”

■“Merry X’mas”

■“Happy New Year!”

■“Long live Diane!”

■“Mona Lisa”

■“Flu Shot”

■“Selfish TD Bank”

■“Talk with Mozart”

(surfin2.gif)

(bare02b.gif)

Hi, I’m June Adams.

The Royal Opera House, often referred to as simply “Covent Garden”, was constructed as the “Theater Royal” in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd.

During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theater was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theater Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London.

In 1734, the first ballet was presented.

A year later Handel’s first season of operas began.

Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premières here.

It has been the home of The Royal Opera since 1945, and the Royal Ballet since 1946.

The current building is the third theater on the site following destructive fires in 1808 and 1857.

The façade, foyer and auditorium were designed by Edward Barry, and date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive £178 million reconstruction in the 1990s.

 

(roh100.jpg)

(roh110.jpg)

 

The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheater gallery.

When you have a chance to stay in London, why don’t you visit the opera house?

You may see some celebs in one of the boxes.

 

(dogs17.gif)

 

ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

 

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

(renge730.jpg)

■『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

 

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

(renge500.jpg)

(girlxx.gif)

Victorian Prudery

 

Victorian Prudery

 

(lily2.jpg+heartx.gif+bustle03.png)

No panties, please!

(gyozui02.jpg)

In the first place, the Japanese women used to wear no panties—let alone, brassiere.
Men wore a loincloth while women wore “koshi-maki(腰巻)” or something like petticoat.

(koshima3.jpg)

Women in

“koshi-maki(腰巻)”

In 1919 the headmaster at Ochanomizu girls’ high school forced his students to wear panties or drawers.
After graduation, however, 90 percent of those students stopped wearing panties simply because they abided by the prevailing customs.

One of the reasons why the Japanese women started to wear panties is to have experienced some major disasters, one of which was the Great Kanto Earthquake that took place in 1923.
Another disaster was the fire that happened at the Shirokiya Department store in 1932.
The shoppers involved in the accident tried to escape the fire using a rope along the exterior of the building.

However, the female shoppers didn’t wear panties.
A great number of onlookers watched the escaping women, who hesitated to jump down because of their sense of prudery.
If the female shoppers jumped down, the hem of their kimono would flare up and their private parts would expose themselves to the eyes of the curious onlookers.
Instead, the women preferred burning-to-death to exposing their private parts.

Since this fire, the Japanese women started to wear panties.

(translated by Kato)
(pictures from the Denman Library)

---

206 page
“When did the Japanese feel ashamed of nakedness”
by Akira Nakano;
published by Shincho-sha(新潮社)
on May 25, 2010

Quoted in :
“Unwashed Panties and
Good Gals in Bed”
(August 25,2011)
『生パンツと床上手』に掲載

(diane02.gif)

Kato, are you serious?

(kato3.gif)

Yes, of course, I am. I’m not joking nor jesting.

But I can hardly believe that those Japanese women preferred death because of their prudery.

You believe it or not, Diane, it is supposed to be a historical fact. The fire at the department actually happened and many female shoppers died due to their prudery.

Amazing!

Yes, it is indeed, but that prudery had been imported by the Westerners—the British, the Americans and the Germans.

How do you know?

Look at the following picture!

 

(shimod2.jpg)

Public bath house in Shimoda

around the 1850s

 

Jeez. This is a picture of mixed bathing scene, isn’t it?

Yes, it is. Actually, this picture was painted by Wilhelm Heine, a German artist.

 

Wilhelm Heine

(heine3.jpg)

Full name: Peter Bernhard Wilhelm Heine

He was born on January 30, 1827 in Dresden,
and died on October 5, 1885 in Lößnitz bei Dresden.
He was a German-American artist, world traveller and writer.

Heine studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Dresden and in the studio of Julius Hübner.
Then he continued his artistic studies for three years in Paris.
He returned to Dresden getting work as a scene designer for the court theater and giving painting classes.

He fled to New York in 1849, following the suppression of the May Uprising in Dresden in which he participated.
In this he was aided by Alexander von Humboldt.

He set up his artist studio at 515 Broadway, and soon established his reputation as an artist.
After meeting the archaeologist and diplomat, Ephraim George Squier, Heine was invited to accompany him, as an artist, on his consular duties to Central America.

Proceeding ahead of Squier, he collected and recorded indigenous plants and animals and compiled notes for future publications.
Until Squier arrived, Heine stood in as consul, negotiating a commercial agreement between the Central American countries and the United States, which he delivered to Washington.
The record of this expedition was published in 1853 as the Wanderbilder aus Centralamerika.

While in Washington, he met President Millard Fillmore and Commodore Matthew Perry, and was selected from among several score of applicants for the post of official artist to the Perry expedition to Japan.

 

(perry2.jpg)

Commodore Matthew Perry

Nominally attached to Perry’s expedition as an Acting Master’s Mate in the United States Navy, Heine visited Okinawa, the Bonin Islands, Yokohama, Shimoda and Hakodate during 1853 and 1854.

Tokyo (Edo), however, remained closed to the members of the American expedition, and Heine was not to visit the city until 1860, when he returned to Japan as a member of the Prussian Expedition.

The sketches he produced of the places he visited and the people he encountered there, together with the daguerreotypes taken by his colleague Eliphalet Brown Jr., formed the basis of a official iconography of the American expedition to Japan which remains an important record of the country as it was before the foreigners arrived in force.

---

SOURCE: “Wilhelm Heine” Wikipedia
PICTURES: from the Denman Library

So, when the German artist visited the public bath house in Shimoda, the Japanese didn’t feel ashamed of their nakedness at all, did they?

No, the Japanese at the time didn’t care about their nakedness at all.

Amazing! 　What a big change between the 1850s and 1930s.

Yes, it was a big change, yet the Westerners—the British, in particular—also experienced a big change.

Oh…? 　What change?

Well…, Diane, please read the following passage.

 

Foreign prejudice

against bathing

 

Foreigners coming to Japan was amazed to witness the mixed-bathing scene in Japan.
Why is that?
Well…, if you want to understand their wonder, you should know their prevailing common sense at the time.

First of all, the Western approach to nudity was quite different from the Japanese.
For example, the British at the time abided by the Victorian prudery.
During the Victorian era, the British must not expose their naked bodies.

There are some episodes about those strict social codes.
One episode goes like this:
A newly-wed husband was stunned to death when he saw the pubic hair between his wife’s legs for the first time.

Another episode goes like this:
Even the glimpse of an ankle of a piano leg was scandalous so that it was covered with tiny pantalettes.

 

(piano90.jpg)

 

 

(piano91.jpg)

 

Such being the case, the British were stunned to death when they saw the Japanese men and women bathe together naked.

Besides, the Western bathing custom was quite different from the Japanese.
In much older times, the Westerners took a bath and mixed bathing was also found in Europe.

(mixed2.jpg)

However, when the medieval plague went rampant, spread the rumor that “the heat and water caused a rift to the skin and the plague slip into the body through the rift.”
Because of this rumor, the bathing custom became obsolete.
Some historians believe that most European women in the 18th century died without taking a bath for their lifetime.

Most Westerners had this kind of prejudice when they visited Japan in the 1850s.
Even in 1897, other historians say, “some French women never took a bath for their lifetime.

---

(translated by Kato)
(pictures from the Denman Library)

---

Pages 30 – 31
“When did the Japanese feel ashamed of nakedness”
by Akira Nakano;
published by Shincho-sha(新潮社)
on May 25, 2010

Quoted in :
“Nudity and Censor”
(August 29,2011)
『ヌードと写真狩り』に掲載

 

I can hardly believe that French women in 1897 never took a bath for their lifetime.

Only some of the French women didn’t, I suppose. 　Some historians say that perfume was introduced for that reason.

What reason, Kato?

Well…if you didn’t take a bath for years, your body would naturally spread a killing odor, wouldn’t it?

Oh, my goodness…don’t tell me that, Kato. 　Besides, I’m suspicious about the piano leg story.

If you doubt, please read the following passage.

 

Victorian prudery

 

Clothing covered the entire body, we are told, and even the glimpse of an ankle was scandalous.
Critics contend that corsets constricted women’s bodies and women’s lives.
Homes are described as gloomy, dark, cluttered with massive and over-ornate furniture and proliferating bric-a-brac.

Myth has it that even piano legs were scandalous, and covered with tiny pantalettes.
Of course, much of this is untrue, or a gross exaggeration.

Corsets stressed a woman’s sexuality, exaggerating hips and bust by contrast with a tiny waist.
Women’s ball gowns bared the shoulders and the tops of the breasts.
The jersey dresses of the 1880s may have covered the body, but the stretchy novel fabric fitted the body “like a glove”.

There is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous.
Pianos and tables were often draped with shawls or cloths—but if the shawls hid anything, it was the cheapness of the furniture.
There are references to lower-middle-class families covering up their pine tables rather than show that they couldn’t afford mahogany.

The piano leg story seems to have originated in Captain Frederick Marryat’s 1839 book, Diary in America, as a satirical comment on American prissiness.

Victorian manners, however, may have been as strict as imagined—on the surface.
One simply did not speak publicly about sex, childbirth, and such matters, at least in the respectable middle and upper classes.

However, as is well known, discretion covered a multitude of sins.
Prostitution flourished.
Upper-class men and women indulged in adulterous liaisons.

 

Victorian Women

(bustle7.jpg)

 

Some people now look back on the Victorian era with wistful nostalgia.
Historians would say that this is as much a distortion of the real history as the stereotypes emphasizing Victorian repression and prudery.
Women were not allowed to swim, for it would be frowned upon as “bad etiquette”.
Women also had to wear special suits to ride bikes.

Also notable is a contemporary counter-cultural trend called steampunk.
Those who dress steampunk often wear Victorian-style clothing that has been “tweaked” in edgy ways: tattered, distorted, melded with Goth fashion, Punk, and Rivethead styles.
Another example of Victorian fashion being incorporated into a contemporary style is the Gothic and Classic Lolita Fashion culture.

 

Victorian Women

and Prostitution

---

SOURCE:　”Victorian fashion”, Wikipedia
PICTURES: from the Denman Library

London In The 1920s

---

Queen Victoria’s

Diamond Jubilee (1897)

 

You see, Kato, there is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous.

I see that, Diane, but in those days, people did not speak publicly about sex, childbirth, and such matters, at least in the respectable middle and upper classes. 　I believe, this is the prevailing social atmosphere of the Victorian era. 　Don’t you think so, Diane?

Yes, I understand what you mean. 　Nowadays, people talk about sex anytime and everywhere.

Talking about mixed bathing, we have Wreck beach in Vancouver. 　Some men and women go naked on the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

Yes, I know that, Kato. 　And you used to be one of them, I guess.

How do you know, Diane?

Because I notice some of your articles about nudity when I did some search on the Net.

 

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■“The Search Result at Present”

 

So, how about you? 　Have you ever been to the nude beach?

I’m a born Christian, you know, and proud of having a decent prudery.

Oh, yeah…? 🙂

Anyway, prudery seems to change as time goes by, doesn’t it?

Yes, it does. 　You’re right on, Diane.

【Himiko’s Monologue】

(himiko22.gif)

 

Wow! I’m ashamed of being stark naked in the public.
Maybe, I’m old-fashioned.
But yes, I’m proud of having a bit of decent prudery like Diane.
Nudity is one thing; romance is another.

Come to think of it, I’ve never met a decent man in my life.
How come I’m always a loner?
I wish I could meet a nice gentleman at the library in my town as Diane met Kato.
Well, they say, there is a way where there is a will.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

(hand.gif)

(spacer.gif+betty5de.gof+bike33.gif+bety5d.gif)

(cleo005.jpg)

■“Cleopatra”

■“Queen Nefertiti”

■“Catherine de Medici”

■“Catherine the Great”

(mata02b.jpg)

■“Mata Hari”

■“Sidonie Colette”

(monroe92.jpg)

■“Marilyn Monroe”

■“Hello Diane!”

■“I wish you were there!”

■“Jane Eyre”

(dogs17.gif)

■“Jane Eyre Again”

■“Jane Eyre in Vancouver”

■“Jane Eyre Special”

■“Love & Death of Cleopatra”

■“Nice Story”

(sushi82.jpg)

■“Scrumdiddlyumptious”

■“Spiritual Work or What?”

■“What a coincidence!”

■“Wind and Water”

■“Yoga and Happiness”

■“You’re in a good shape”

(joy001.jpg)

■“Hellelujah!”

■“Ecclesiophobia”

■“Uncorruptible”

■“Net Travel & Jane”

■“Net Love”

■“Complicated Love”

■“Electra Complex”

■“Net Début”

■“Inner World”

■“Madame Riviera and Burger”

■“Roly-poly in the North”

■“Amazing Grace”

■“Diane in Paris”

■“Diane in Montmartre”

(engbay02.jpg)

■“Diane Well Read”

■“Wantirna South”

■“Maiden’s Prayer”

■“Bandwidth”

■“Squaw House and Melbourne Hotel”

■“Tulips and Diane”

■“Diane in Bustle Skirt”

■“Diane and Beauty”

■“Lady Chatterley and Beauty”

(surfin2.gif)

ィ～ハァ～♪～!

メチャ面白い、

ためになる関連記事

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■　『きれいになったと感じさせる

下着・ランジェリーを見つけませんか？』

■　『ちょっと変わった　新しい古代日本史』

■　『面白くて楽しいレンゲ物語』

■　『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

■　『今すぐに役立つホットな情報』

■　『　○　笑う者には福が来る　○　』

(yoko150.jpg)

■『夢とロマンの横浜散歩』

■『下つきだねって言われて…』

■『銀幕の愛』

■『パリの空の下で』

■『愛の進化論』

■『畳の上の水練（２０１１年３月１５日）』

■『軍隊のない国（２０１１年３月２１日）』

■『士風と「葉隠」（２０１１年３月２３日）』

■『アナクロニズム（２０１１年３月２７日）』

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Hi, I’m June Adames.

I’m surprised to read about the Victorian prudery.

These days, I quite often see nudity in magazines and movies.

When you see Madame Emmanuelle in the film,

you cannot avoid nudity.

(sylvia16.jpg)

Emmanuelle 1 – Overture

---

Emmanuelle 2: L’antivierge

Sylvia Kristel (1975)

Well…nudity is one thing; romance is another.

I believe, the capital of romance is Paris.

If you love to visit Paris,

please enjoy the Paris theme:

(paris32.jpg)

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Edith Piaf

You can find some Japanese musicians in Paris.

Fujiko Hemming also likes Édith Piaf

who sings “Sous le Ciel de Paris.”

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Édith Piaf

I like Chanson Française (French song).

How about you?

Kato also love Édith Piaf,

but he considers Juliette Greco’s

“Sous le Ciel de Paris” much beter.

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Juliette Greco

I believe Yves Montand’s “Sous le Ciel de Paris” is the best of all.

Sous le Ciel de Paris

by Yves Montand

I love Paris, but Vancouver isn’t bad at all.

To tell you the truth, Vancouver is a paradise to me.

(vanc700.jpg)

(dogs12.gif)

ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

(renge730.jpg)

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

(cafe80.jpg)

(girlxx.gif)

Odd Couple

Odd Couple

 

(cage004.jpg)

(cage002.jpg)

 

(2004ft.gif)

Subj:Hi, Kato…

“The Birdcage” was hilarious.

Date: Mon, Dec 19, 2011 6:51 pm.
Pacific Standard Time
From: diane3760@canada.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com

Hi Kato,
How’s it going with you?

I read your article.

(dizzy2.jpg)

■“Auntie Sleepie”

(December 13, 2011)

Fascinating information in the above article!
I actually think I know the mysterious and inspirational lady you’re talking about.

She looks very much like the photo you displayed and she comes across as intelligent but disturbed at the same time.
Something must have happened to her that affected her more rational behavior, or at least that’s how it seems.

I certainly know about Kurosawa as he’s been famous and very popular here in Canada now for some time.
The movie “Throne of Blood” looks a bit too gory for me, though.

(kumo905.jpg)

More of a man’s film, I’d say.
Interesting story, for sure.

Are you keeping busy … too busy sometimes?
My boyfriend and I went to the Playhouse Theater on Saturday night and saw a hilarious play “La Cage aux Folles.”

 

(play001.jpg)

(play002.jpg)

I had seen the movie years ago and then there was remake apparently with Robin Williams.

(cage004.jpg)

The Birdcage (1996)

(Movie Trailer)

 

The movie was better, but the play was still quite marvelous.
Preparing now for Christmas.
Maybe I’ll get to Joe Fortes before that time. Hopefully.

Gotta run,

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Love, Diane ~

 

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Subj:Hi, Diane

What a big crook!

(angel03.gif)

Date: Tues., Dec. 20, 2011 10:11 PM
Pacific Standard Time
From: barclay1720@aol.com
To: diane3760@canada.ca

Hi Diane,

I’m glad to know that you’ve been happily preparing for the big event—X’mas!
Well…, I’m not a Christian, so X’mas is not such a big event in my life.

However, watching X’mas trees always makes me happy and puts me into a festival mood.

(xmastree2.gif)

Your big crook reminded me of James Herriot’s sheep story, in which a dying sheep is miraculously saved simply because she has been sent into a long sleep with a drug so that she couldn’t feel pain at all.

Pain and fear would give anyone a bad effect.
That’s what James Herriot said in the story.
Well, at least, your big crook gave me a bit of laugh, which made me happy. 🙂

By the way, the mysterious woman showed up in the afternoon with a DVD today.
She always puzzles me.
What is she doing?
She doesn’t have to sit at the online computer at all if she wants to view DVDs.

An offline computer will do.
How come she always sits at the online computer at the same time?
Some day, I might as well ask her.

(sylviex.jpg)

Sylvie had appeared 20 minutes earlier than you did.
You just missed her.
As usual, she seemed happy and satisfied with herself. 🙂 he, he, he, he, he,…

Well, I’ve just written a story about the “Titanic” movie and my own Titanic-like romance.
Please click the following link:

 

(titanic13.jpg)

■“Titanic @ Sendai”

(December 20, 2011)

I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Your truly romantic Taliesin,
Kato

(denman01.gif)

🙂 with love

 

(2004ft.gif)

Subj:Hi, Kato…

Please come to see the play.

Date: Wed, Dec 21, 2011 11:27 pm.
Pacific Standard Time
From: diane3760@canada.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com

Hi, Kato.
Yes, it’s a lovely crook isn’t it?
I’ll have to send you some photos of the cast when we’re in full regalia.
I’ve got an awesome shepherd’s outfit which I pretty well put together myself, and the rest of the group are really fun and committed to the play.

Of course, if I had got to be one of the three Kings it’d be an even better costume with more glitter and such, but what’s a girl to do.
You’ve got to dress for the role you’ve got.

 

(maria05.jpg)

 

As it turns out, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is really sick and I’ve been substituting for her as well as playing my simple role as a shepherd, so it may turn out I get to do both roles on Christmas Eve.

Such fun I haven’t had since grade school, really!
It’s just filled me with such happiness.

We’ll perform the play at 5 PM on Dec. 24th.
Kato, come to my church & see for yourself, just for fun, why don’t you?

 

(dizzy2.jpg)

 

By the way, I’m so fascinated with this mysterious lady.
You really should approach her and get to know her, if only to explain to her she can watch her DVD’s without booking time on the computer.
She’d probably bless you for this.
Let me know, okay?

Thanks for this information.
I’ve not got time right now but SOON I’ll peruse it.

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Love & Blessings,

Diane ~

(diane02.gif)

Kato, how come you didn’t come to my church to see the play?

(kato3.gif)

It was down-pouring. 　Too wet to go out.

I don’t think so. 　It was drizzling, but not definitely down-pouring. 　You should’ve come to see the play.

Anyway, I had a good laugh when you showed up at Joe Fortes Library with that giant crook. 　That was more than enough for me. 🙂 He, he, he, he, he,…

(angel03.gif)

Don’t be silly, Kato…I didn’t show up like that.

In any case, I could easily imagine how the play would go. 　So instead, I was looking for some funny X’mas video clips for a X’mas article.

You’re not dependable. 　You don’t show up or you come too late…always like that.

Talking of the play, Diane, you went to the Playhouse Theater to see “La Cage aux Folles,” didn’t you?

Yes, I did. 　Did you, Kato?

No, I didn’t…but I viewed the “Birdcage” DVD, which you mentioned in the mail.

Oh, did you? 　I think the movie is better, but the play is still quite marvelous.

La Cage aux Folles

 

It is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman.
Based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret, it focuses on a gay couple: Georges, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his romantic partner and star attraction, and the farcical adventures that ensue when Georges’s son, Jean-Michel, brings home his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents to meet them.

The original 1983 Broadway production received nine nominations for Tony Awards and won six, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book.
The success of the musical spawned a West End production and several international runs.

The 2004 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival, the 2008 London revival garnered the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
The 2010 Broadway revival was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

La Cage aux Folles is the only musical which has won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice and the only show that has won a Best Production Tony Award (Best Musical or Best Revival of a Musical) for each of its Broadway productions.
A National Tour, based on the 2010 revival, will begin in October 2011 with George Hamilton as Georges and Christopher Sieber as Albin.

Synopsis

Georges, the master of ceremonies, welcomes the audience to his St. Tropez drag nightclub, “La Cage aux Folles”.
The chorus line known as Les Cagelles appear and introduce themselves to the audience.
Georges and his “wife”, Albin, have lived happily together for many years in an apartment above La Cage with their black “maid” Jacob.
Albin is a drag queen and the star performer of La Cage aux Folles under the alias of “Zaza”.

As Albin prepares to perform, Georges’ 24-year-old son Jean-Michel (the offspring of a confused, youthful liaison with a woman named Sybil) arrives home with the news that he is engaged to Anne Dindon.
Georges is reluctant to approve of Jean-Michel’s engagement, but Jean-Michel assures his father that he is in love with Anne.

Unfortunately, her father is head of the “Tradition, Family and Morality Party”, whose stated goal is to close the local drag clubs.
Anne’s parents want to meet their daughter’s future in-laws.
Jean-Michel has lied to his fiancée, describing Georges as a retired diplomat, and he pleads with Georges to tell Albin to absent himself (and his flamboyantly gay behaviors) for the visit.

Before Georges can break the news to him, Albin suggests that they hurry back to La Cage to make it in time for the next show.
They arrive in time and Albin takes the stage once more as Zaza.
While Albin is performing, Georges and Jean-Michel quickly redecorate the house.

Georges finally tells Albin of Jean-Michel’s plan and expects Albin to explode with fury, but he remains silent.
Albin then re-joins Les Cagelles onstage and tells them to leave.
He then begins to sing alone in defiance of Jean-Michel, stating that he is proud of who he is and refuses to change for anyone.
He angrily throws his wig at Georges and departs in a huff.

The next morning, Georges finds Albin after his abrupt departure and apologizes.
He then suggests to Albin that he dress up for dinner as macho “Uncle Al”.
Albin is still upset, but reluctantly agrees to act like a heterosexual for Jean-Michel.

Back at the chastely redesigned apartment, Georges shows “Uncle Al” to Jean-Michel.
Jean-Michel doesn’t like the idea and expresses his dislike for Albin’s lifestyle.
Georges angrily reminds Jean-Michel of how good of a “mother” Albin has been to him.
They then receive a telegram that Jean-Michel’s mother Sybil is not coming and Anne’s parents arrive.

Hoping to save the day, Albin appears as Jean-Michel’s buxom, forty-year-old mother, in pearls and sensible shoes.
The nervous Jacob burns the dinner, so a trip to a local restaurant, “Chez Jacqueline”, belonging to an old friend of Albin and Georges, is quickly arranged.

No one has told Jacqueline of the situation, and she asks Albin (as Zaza) for a song, to which he hesitantly agrees.
Everyone in the restaurant begins to take part in the song, causing Albin to yield to the frenzy of performance and tear off his wig at the song’s climax, revealing his true identity.

Back at the apartment, the Dindons plead with their daughter to abandon her fiancé, for they are appalled by his homosexual parents, but she is in love with Jean-Michel and refuses to leave him.
Jean-Michel, deeply ashamed of the way he has treated Albin, asks his forgiveness, which is lovingly granted.

The Dindons prepare to depart, but their way is blocked by Jacqueline, who has arrived with the press, ready to photograph these notorious anti-homosexual activists with Zaza.
Georges and Albin have a proposal: If Anne and Jean-Michel may marry, Georges will help the Dindons escape through La Cage aux Folles next door.
The Dindons do so, dressed in drag as members of the nightclub’s revue, and all ends well.

Audition for

“La Cage aux Folles”

SOURCE: “La Cage aux Folles”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Was the playhouse packed?

Oh, yes, it was with a lot of people. 　We really enjoyed the play. 　How about you, Kato?

I didn’t see the play, but the “Birdcage” is quite an amusing movie. 　Nathan Lane, who played as Albert, is a funny guy—actually, the funniest homosexual I’ve ever seen in my life.

Funniest? In what way?

Well…, he was eating at the table with Robin Williams. 　He picked up some slimy stuff with a fork, but couldn’t manage to hold it, and dropped it. 　In doing so, he overreacted in such a hilarious way that I laughed to death. 　He was really a drag queen in the true sense.

I cannot recall such a funny scene.

Anyway, if someone with homophobia see the movie, he or she might change his way of thinking about homosexuality.

Kato, are you a homosexual?

Diane, are you trying to insult me?

Oh, no, I’m quite serious and curious.

Do I look like a drag queen?

Oh, no, you don’t. 　But I’ve noticed that a wildest-looking man sometimes turns out to be a homosexual.

I’m not against homosexuality, but acting like a drag queen is the last thing I want to do.

You know, Kato, there are quite a few anti-gay activists in Vancouver.

I know that. 　So the Vancouver School Board is taking an anti-homophobia policy, using film and video to engage youth and educators on issues related to homophobia.

How do you know?

I saw the sign board the other day.

(homo001.jpg)

Where did you find it?

Of course, in Vancouver. 　Look at the map in the background.　　Don’t ask me such a foolish question.

So the school board is providing anti-homophobia programs, isn’t it?

I suppose so. 　If I was one of the school trustees, I would propose that each student should see “The Birdcage” so that all the students would laugh off homophobia. 　What would you say, Diane?

Maybe a good idea. 　I agree with you.

【Himiko’s Monologue】

(himiko22.gif)

 

Wow! … What a funny drag queen!
As you know, a drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining.
There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once.

Drag queens also vary by class and culture and can vary even within the same city.
Although many drag queens are gay men, there are drag artists of all genders and sexualities who do drag for various reasons or purposes.
Women who dress like men for the same purpose are known as drag kings.

I hope Kato will write another interesting article.
So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

(hand.gif)

(renge62e.jpg)

If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

(renge63.jpg)

■“Hello Diane!”

■“I wish you were there!”

■“Jane Eyre”

(rengevan.jpg)

■“Jane Eyre Again”

■“Jane Eyre in Vancouver”

■“Jane Eyre Special”

■“Love & Death of Cleopatra”

■“Nice Story”

(rengfire.jpg)

■“Scrumdiddlyumptious”

■“Spiritual Work or What?”

■“What a coincidence!”

(girl202.gif)

■“Wind and Water”

■“Yoga and Happiness”

■“You’re in a good shape”

(girl122.jpg)

■“Hellelujah!”

■“Ecclesiophobia”

■“Uncorruptible”

■“Net Travel & Jane”

(girl100.jpg)

■“Net Love”

■“Complicated Love”

■“Electra Complex”

■“Net Début”

■“Inner World”

(chiwawa5.gif)

■“Madame Riviera and Burger”

■“Roly-poly in the North”

■“Amazing Grace”

■“Diane in Paris”

■“Diane in Montmartre”

(ebay5.jpg)

■“Diane Well Read”

■“Wantirna South”

■“Maiden’s Prayer”

■“Bandwidth”

■“Squaw House and Melbourne Hotel”

(vanc700.jpg)

■“Tulips and Diane”

■“Diane in Bustle Skirt”

■“Diane and Beauty”

■“Lady Chatterley and Beauty”

■“Victoria Prudery”

(sylvia16.jpg)

■“Diane Chatterley”

■“From Canada to Japan”

■“From Gyoda to Vancouver”

■“Film Festival”

■“Madame Taliesin”

■“Happy Days”

■“Vancouver Again”

■“Swansea”

(vansnow2.jpg)

■“Midnight in Vancouver”

■“Madame Lindbergh”

■“Dead Poets Society”

■“Letters to Diane”

■“Taliesin Studio”

(kimo10.jpg)

■“Wright and Japan”

■“Taliesin Banzai”

■“Memrory Lane to Sendai”

■“Aunt Sleepie”

■“Titanic @ Sendai”

(surfin2.gif)

(bare02b.gif)

Hi, I’m June Adams.

I saw “The Birdcage” too.

It was indeed hilarious.

The Birdcage met with mixed reviews ranging from praise to condemnation in both the mainstream press and the gay press for the portrayals of its gay characters.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praised the film for “going beyond the stereotypes to see the character’s depth and humanity.”

The Birdcage opened on March 8, 1996 and grossed 18 million dollars in its opening weekend, topping the box office.

By the end of its 14-week run, the film had grossed 124 million dollars domestically and 61 million internationally, coming down to 185 million worldwide.

So it became quite a popular movie.

If you happen to visit a library in your neighborhood, you might as well borrow the “Birdcage” DVD and view it.

I’m pretty sure you’ll laugh to death.

(dogs17.gif)

ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

(renge730.jpg)

■『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

(renge500.jpg)

(girlxx.gif)

Lady Hugo

 

Lady Hugo

 

(adele802.jpg)

(adele803.jpg)

 

(diane02.gif)

Kato, who is Lady Hugo?

(kato3.gif)

Diane, have you ever heard of Victor Hugo?

Yes, of course I have… He is one of the world-famous French writers, isn’t he?

So, you know about him, don’t you?… Actually, I’ve written an article about him and his famous novel.

(stdenis1d.jpg)

(paris104b.jpg)

(paris102c.jpg)

■『パリの日本人』(A Japanese in Paris)

It is written in Japanese… So, unfortunately, you cannot read it… Anyway, in the above article I talked about his famous novel—“The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” 　Diane, have you read the novel?

Yes, I read it a long time ago.

By the way, Diane, have you watched the following movie?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Trailer (1939)

(hunch05.jpg)

 

No, I haven’t, but I viewed the following musical:

 

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So, Diane, you like musicals, eh?

Yes, I do… Talking about Victor Hugo, is he famous even in Japan?

Oh, yes! 　When I was a kid, I read a story about the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean.

 

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Did you like it?

I didn’t like it too much, but one scene was clearly implanted into my mind.

What kind of scene is that?

Well… Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a certain town. Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him.

 

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The town’s police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean’s incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.

 

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How old were you when you read it for the first time.

I was ten or eleven years old, I suppose.

So, you were an avid reader, eh?

No, not really… in those days, the story of Jean Valjean was quite popular among the children of my age… so, naturally it interested me to a great extent.

Kato, have you watched the movie lately?

Not recently, but I watched it a few years ago.

 

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■“Actual Page”

 

So, you watched it on April 8, 2016, huh? … How did you like it?

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I wasn’t impressed so much as I read the original story.

Talking about Lady Hugo, is she related to Victor Hugo?

Yes, of course, she is the youngest daughter of Victor Hugo.

 

Adèle Hugo

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(28 July 1830 – 21 April 1915)

 

Adèle Hugo was the fifth and youngest child of French writer Victor Hugo.
She is remembered for developing schizophrenia as a young woman, which led to a romantic obsession with a British military officer who rejected her.
Her story has been retold in film and books, such as “The Story of Adele H.”

Childhood

Adèle Hugo was raised in a cultured, affluent home in Paris, the youngest child of Adèle (née Foucher) and Victor Hugo, France’s most famous writer.

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Adèle Foucher

Adèle enjoyed playing the piano, and was known for her beauty and long dark hair.
She sat for portraits by several well-known Parisian artists.

In 1851, the Hugo family moved to the island of Jersey, after Victor Hugo was forced into political exile.
The family remained on the Channel Islands until 1870.
It was in Jersey that Adèle met Albert Pinson, the object of her obsession.

 

Illness and pursuit of Albert Pinson

Signs of mental illness became apparent in Adèle in 1856.
Adèle became romantically involved with a British army officer, Albert Pinson.

Pinson proposed marriage to Adèle in 1855, but she rejected the proposal.
Adèle had a change of heart, wanting to reconcile with Pinson, but he refused to be involved any further with Adèle.

Pinson continued his military career, being sent to the Sixteenth Foot Regiment in Bedfordshire in 1856, where he seldom saw Adèle.
Pinson then went to Ireland in 1858, upon promotion to lieutenant, where he was stationed until 1861.

Despite Pinson’s rejection, she continued pursuing him.
Pinson developed a reputation for living a “life of debauchery”.

Adèle followed him when he was stationed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1863.
Adèle’s family worried for her well-being, and tried to track her whereabouts by letters.

In 1866, Pinson was stationed to Barbados, the British colonial centre in the Caribbean region.
He completely abandoned Adèle when he left Barbados in 1869.
Adèle did not find her way back to France until 1872, and in the interim, the Hugo family was unable to track her activities.

The mystery of Adèle’s life in Barbados may have been revealed in an anonymous letter to the editor—signed only “P”—published in the New-York Tribune on May 27, 1885.

The head of the Catholic mission in Trinidad, Cathonoy, gave a similar account of Adèle’s wretched situation in Barbados in a letter dated September 8, 1885.
He relates an incident where he met a Barbadian woman of African descent, named Madame Céline Alvarez Baa, who requested that a mass be said for Victor Hugo after news of the author’s death.

Curious to know the reason for Madame Baa’s interest in Victor Hugo, Cathonoy asked questions, and learned that Madame Baa had given Adèle shelter when she was abandoned on Barbados, where she was known as “Madame Pinson”.

Adèle had been found wandering the streets, talking to herself, detached from her surroundings.
Madame Baa took the initiative to take Adèle to her family in Paris.
Adèle was then left in medical care.
A grateful Victor Hugo reimbursed Madame Baa for her expenses.

 

Erotomania

Adèle’s obsession was a manifestation of erotomania.
Along with her other symptoms of mental illness, including hallucinations, Adèle’s condition indicates schizophrenia.

The illness appeared in other members of the Hugo family.
Victor Hugo’s brother Eugène was also schizophrenic.

She was ultimately sent to live in a mental institution for the affluent outside Paris.
She remained there until her death.
Out of Victor Hugo’s five children, Adele was the only one who outlived him.

Much of what is known about Adèle’s life and her pursuit of Pinson comes from her diaries and letters.
Adèle kept a journal while she lived on Jersey and Guernsey, which she titled Journal de l’Exil (Diary of the Exile).
She stopped keeping a diary by the time she landed in Barbados, due to her mental deterioration.

---

SOURCES: “Adèle Hugo”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

How come you picked up Adele Hugo all of a sudden?

Well. . . I viewed the film: “The Story of Adele H.” a few years ago.

 

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■“Actual List”

 

So you’d watched 1,636 movies by May 2017, hadn’t you?

Yes, I had.

So, Kato, you’re a flick maniac, huh?

You’re telling me… Look at Number 1624 in the above list.

So you watched “The Story of Adele H” on May 1, 2017, huh?… How did you like it?

I loved viewing it, which is a quite amazing movie.

 

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■“Actual Page”

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Kato’s Comment

 

This is a 1975 French historical docudrama directed by François Truffaut, based on Adèle Hugo’s diaries.

It shows the life of Adèle Hugo, the daughter of world-famous Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer leads to her downfall and insanity.

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Her father places her in an asylum in Saint-Mandé, where she lives for the next forty years.

She gardens, plays the piano and writes in her journal.

Adèle Hugo died in Paris in 1915 at the age of 85.

Although it is an heartbreaking drama, the film almost appears like a dramedy when Adèle views the show of a greedy hypnotizer.

At the time I laughed my head off to death.

Superb is the performance of 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani as Adèle Hugo.

 

Did you really laugh your head off to death?

Well… of course, I exaggerated a bit, but the scene appeared quite hilarious… You should view the movie.

I think I’m gonna book the DVD.

You’d better hurry… Four people are still waiting…

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【Himiko’s Monologue】

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Well…, have you ever watched the movie of the Jean Valjean story?

If you speak Japanese, there is a Japanese version.

Here it is.

The following movie was made in 1950.

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Jean Valjean is played by Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲 1889-1973) who starred in Japanese, American, French, German, and British films.

Hayakawa was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the silent era of the 1910s and 1920s.

He was the first actor of Asian descent to find stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe.

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His broodingly handsome good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood.

During those years, Hayakawa was as well-known and popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, although today his name is largely unknown to the public.

In any case, I expect Kato will write another interesting article soon.

So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!

Bye bye …

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If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

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■Life or Death

■Way to Millionaire

■Adele Hugo

■Middle Sexes

■Romance@Madison

■Hacksaw Ridge

■Eight the Dog

■Halloween@Shibuya

■Chef Babette

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■Ramen Boom

■from Korea

■Omakase@Sushi

■Crocodile Meat

■Killer Floods

■Climate of Doubt

■Glory of Death

■Big Mystery

■Hitler and Trump

■Hot October

■2018 BC Ballot

■Bach Collegium Japan

■Dolly the Sheep

■Golden Shower

■Cleopatra

■Strange Love

■Quartet

■Unknown Tragedy

■World War B.C.

■Mystery of Dimension

■Call Girl Mystery

■Typhoon & Emperor

■Popes@Spotlight

■Fireflies

■Richard III

■Savage vs. Civilized

■Submerging Island

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Hi, I’m June Adams.

Kato is a real movie lover, who tries to watch 1001 movies.

As a matter of fact, he has already accomplished his goal.

 

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■『Actual List』

 

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Kato watched “The Arabian Nights” or “One Thousand and One Nights” as his 1001th movie.

You might just as well want to view it.

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The stories in “the Arabian Nights” were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa.

The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār and his wife Scheherazade and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves.

The stories proceed from this original tale.

Some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord.

Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.

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ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

(renge730.jpg)

■『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

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Bird in a Cage

Bird in a Cage

 

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Subj:Hi, Kato…

“The Birdcage” was hilarious.

Date: Mon, Dec 19, 2011 6:51 pm.
Pacific Standard Time
From: diane3760@canada.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com

Hi Kato,
How’s it going with you?

I read your article.

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■“Auntie Sleepie”

(December 13, 2011)

Fascinating information in the above article!
I actually think I know the mysterious and inspirational lady you’re talking about.
She looks very much like the photo you displayed and she comes across as intelligent but disturbed at the same time.
Something must have happened to her that affected her more rational behavior, or at least that’s how it seems.

I certainly know about Kurosawa as he’s been famous and very popular here in Canada now for some time.
The movie “Throne of Blood” looks a bit too gory for me, though.

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More of a man’s film, I’d say.
Interesting story, for sure.

Are you keeping busy … too busy sometimes?
My boyfriend and I went to the Playhouse Theater on Saturday night and saw a hilarious play “La Cage aux Folles.”

 

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I had seen the movie years ago and then there was remake apparently with Robin Williams.

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The Birdcage (1996)

(Movie Trailer)

 

The movie was better, but the play was still quite marvelous.
Preparing now for Christmas.
Maybe I’ll get to Joe Fortes before that time. Hopefully.

Gotta run,

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Love, Diane ~

 

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Subj:Hi, Diane

What a big crook!

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Date: Tues., Dec. 20, 2011 10:11 PM
Pacific Standard Time
From: barclay1720@aol.com
To: diane3760@canada.ca

Hi Diane,

I’m glad to know that you’ve been happily preparing for the big event—X’mas!
Well…, I’m not a Christian, so X’mas is not such a big event in my life.
However, watching X’mas trees always makes me happy and puts me into a festival mood.

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Your big crook reminded me of James Herriot’s sheep story, in which a dying sheep is miraculously saved simply because she has been sent into a long sleep with a drug so that she couldn’t feel pain at all.

Pain and fear would give anyone a bad effect.
That’s what James Herriot said in the story.
Well, at least, your big crook gave me a bit of laugh, which made me happy. 🙂

By the way, the mysterious woman showed up in the afternoon with a DVD today.
She always puzzles me.

What is she doing?
She doesn’t have to sit at the online computer at all if she wants to view DVDs.
An offline computer will do.

How come she always sits at the online computer at the same time?
Some day, I might as well ask her.

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Sylvie had appeared 20 minutes earlier than you did.
You just missed her.
As usual, she seemed happy and satisfied with herself. 🙂 he, he, he, he, he,…

Well, I’ve just written a story about the “Titanic” movie and my own Titanic-like romance.
Please click the following link:

 

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■“Titanic @ Sendai”

(December 20, 2011)

I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Your truly romantic Taliesin, Kato

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🙂 with love

 

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Subj:Hi, Kato…

Please come to see the play.

Date: Wed, Dec 21, 2011 11:27 pm.
Pacific Standard Time
From: diane3760@canada.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com

Hi, Kato.

Yes, it’s a lovely crook isn’t it?
I’ll have to send you some photos of the cast when we’re in full regalia.
I’ve got an awesome shepherd’s outfit which I pretty well put together myself, and the rest of the group are really fun and committed to the play.

Of course, if I had got to be one of the three Kings it’d be an even better costume with more glitter and such, but what’s a girl to do.
You’ve got to dress for the role you’ve got.

 

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As it turns out, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is really sick and I’ve been substituting for her as well as playing my simple role as a shepherd, so it may turn out I get to do both roles on Christmas Eve.

Such fun I haven’t had since grade school, really!
It’s just filled me with such happiness.

We’ll perform the play at 5 PM on Dec. 24th.
Kato, come to my church & see for yourself, just for fun, why don’t you?

 

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By the way, I’m so fascinated with this mysterious lady.
You really should approach her and get to know her, if only to explain to her she can watch her DVD’s without booking time on the computer.

She’d probably bless you for this.
Let me know, okay?

Thanks for this information.
I’ve not got time right now but SOON I’ll peruse it.

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Love & Blessings,

Diane ~

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Kato, how come you didn’t come to my church to see the play?

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It was down-pouring. 　Too wet to go out.

I don’t think so. 　It was drizzling, but not definitely down-pouring. 　You should’ve come to see the play.

Anyway, I had a good laugh when you showed up at Joe Fortes Library with that giant crook. 　That was more than enough for me. 🙂 He, he, he, he, he,…

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Don’t be silly, Kato…I didn’t show up like that.

In any case, I could easily imagine how the play would go. 　So instead, I was looking for some funny X’mas video clips for a X’mas article.

You’re not dependable. 　You don’t show up or you come too late…always like that.

Talking of the play, Diane, you went to the Playhouse Theater to see “La Cage aux Folles,” didn’t you?

Yes, I did. 　Did you, Kato?

No, I didn’t…but I viewed the “Birdcage” DVD, which you mentioned in the mail.

Oh, did you? 　I think the movie is better, but the play is still quite marvelous.

La Cage aux Folles

 

It is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman.
Based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret, it focuses on a gay couple: Georges, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his romantic partner and star attraction, and the farcical adventures that ensue when Georges’s son, Jean-Michel, brings home his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents to meet them.

The original 1983 Broadway production received nine nominations for Tony Awards and won six, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book.
The success of the musical spawned a West End production and several international runs.
The 2004 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival, the 2008 London revival garnered the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.

The 2010 Broadway revival was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
La Cage aux Folles is the only musical which has won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice and the only show that has won a Best Production Tony Award (Best Musical or Best Revival of a Musical) for each of its Broadway productions.

A National Tour, based on the 2010 revival, will begin in October 2011 with George Hamilton as Georges and Christopher Sieber as Albin.

Synopsis

Georges, the master of ceremonies, welcomes the audience to his St. Tropez drag nightclub, “La Cage aux Folles”.
The chorus line known as Les Cagelles appear and introduce themselves to the audience.
Georges and his “wife”, Albin, have lived happily together for many years in an apartment above La Cage with their black “maid” Jacob.
Albin is a drag queen and the star performer of La Cage aux Folles under the alias of “Zaza”.

As Albin prepares to perform, Georges’ 24-year-old son Jean-Michel (the offspring of a confused, youthful liaison with a woman named Sybil) arrives home with the news that he is engaged to Anne Dindon.

Georges is reluctant to approve of Jean-Michel’s engagement, but Jean-Michel assures his father that he is in love with Anne.
Unfortunately, her father is head of the “Tradition, Family and Morality Party”, whose stated goal is to close the local drag clubs.

Anne’s parents want to meet their daughter’s future in-laws.
Jean-Michel has lied to his fiancée, describing Georges as a retired diplomat, and he pleads with Georges to tell Albin to absent himself (and his flamboyantly gay behaviors) for the visit.

Before Georges can break the news to him, Albin suggests that they hurry back to La Cage to make it in time for the next show.
They arrive in time and Albin takes the stage once more as Zaza.
While Albin is performing, Georges and Jean-Michel quickly redecorate the house.

Georges finally tells Albin of Jean-Michel’s plan and expects Albin to explode with fury, but he remains silent.
Albin then re-joins Les Cagelles onstage and tells them to leave.
He then begins to sing alone in defiance of Jean-Michel, stating that he is proud of who he is and refuses to change for anyone.
He angrily throws his wig at Georges and departs in a huff.

The next morning, Georges finds Albin after his abrupt departure and apologizes.
He then suggests to Albin that he dress up for dinner as macho “Uncle Al”.
Albin is still upset, but reluctantly agrees to act like a heterosexual for Jean-Michel.
Back at the chastely redesigned apartment, Georges shows “Uncle Al” to Jean-Michel.

Jean-Michel doesn’t like the idea and expresses his dislike for Albin’s lifestyle.
Georges angrily reminds Jean-Michel of how good of a “mother” Albin has been to him.
They then receive a telegram that Jean-Michel’s mother Sybil is not coming and Anne’s parents arrive.

Hoping to save the day, Albin appears as Jean-Michel’s buxom, forty-year-old mother, in pearls and sensible shoes.

The nervous Jacob burns the dinner, so a trip to a local restaurant, “Chez Jacqueline”, belonging to an old friend of Albin and Georges, is quickly arranged.
No one has told Jacqueline of the situation, and she asks Albin (as Zaza) for a song, to which he hesitantly agrees.

Everyone in the restaurant begins to take part in the song, causing Albin to yield to the frenzy of performance and tear off his wig at the song’s climax, revealing his true identity.

Back at the apartment, the Dindons plead with their daughter to abandon her fiancé, for they are appalled by his homosexual parents, but she is in love with Jean-Michel and refuses to leave him.

Jean-Michel, deeply ashamed of the way he has treated Albin, asks his forgiveness, which is lovingly granted.

The Dindons prepare to depart, but their way is blocked by Jacqueline, who has arrived with the press, ready to photograph these notorious anti-homosexual activists with Zaza.

Georges and Albin have a proposal: If Anne and Jean-Michel may marry, Georges will help the Dindons escape through La Cage aux Folles next door.
The Dindons do so, dressed in drag as members of the nightclub’s revue, and all ends well.

Audition for

“La Cage aux Folles”

SOURCE: “La Cage aux Folles”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Was the playhouse packed?

Oh, yes, it was with a lot of people. 　We really enjoyed the play. 　How about you, Kato?

I didn’t see the play, but the “Birdcage” is quite an amusing movie. 　Nathan Lane, who played as Albert, is a funny guy—actually, the funniest homosexual I’ve ever seen in my life.

Funniest? In what way?

Well…, he was eating at the table with Robin Williams. 　He picked up some slimy stuff with a fork, but couldn’t manage to hold it, and dropped it. 　In doing so, he overreacted in such a hilarious way that I laughed to death. 　He was really a drag queen in the true sense.

I cannot recall such a funny scene.

Anyway, if someone with homophobia see the movie, he or she might change his way of thinking about homosexuality.

Kato, are you a homosexual?

Diane, are you trying to insult me?

Oh, no, I’m quite serious and curious.

Do I look like a drag queen?

Oh, no, you don’t. 　But I’ve noticed that a wildest-looking man sometimes turns out to be a homosexual.

I’m not against homosexuality, but acting like a drag queen is the last thing I want to do.

You know, Kato, there are quite a few anti-gay activists in Vancouver.

I know that. 　So the Vancouver School Board is taking an anti-homophobia policy, using film and video to engage youth and educators on issues related to homophobia.

How do you know?

I saw the sign board the other day.

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Where did you find it?

Of course, in Vancouver. 　Look at the map in the background.　　Don’t ask me such a foolish question.

So the school board is providing anti-homophobia programs, isn’t it?

I suppose so. 　If I was one of the school trustees, I would propose that each student should see “The Birdcage” so that all the students would laugh off homophobia. 　What would you say, Diane?

Maybe a good idea. 　I agree with you.

【Himiko’s Monologue】

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Wow! … What a funny drag queen!
As you know, a drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining.
There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once.
Drag queens also vary by class and culture and can vary even within the same city.
Although many drag queens are gay men, there are drag artists of all genders and sexualities who do drag for various reasons or purposes.
Women who dress like men for the same purpose are known as drag kings.

I hope Kato will write another interesting article.
So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!
Bye bye …

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If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

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■“Hello Diane!”

■“I wish you were there!”

■“Jane Eyre”

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■“Jane Eyre Again”

■“Jane Eyre in Vancouver”

■“Jane Eyre Special”

■“Love & Death of Cleopatra”

■“Nice Story”

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■“Scrumdiddlyumptious”

■“Spiritual Work or What?”

■“What a coincidence!”

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■“Wind and Water”

■“Yoga and Happiness”

■“You’re in a good shape”

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■“Hellelujah!”

■“Ecclesiophobia”

■“Uncorruptible”

■“Net Travel & Jane”

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■“Net Love”

■“Complicated Love”

■“Electra Complex”

■“Net Début”

■“Inner World”

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■“Madame Riviera and Burger”

■“Roly-poly in the North”

■“Amazing Grace”

■“Diane in Paris”

■“Diane in Montmartre”

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■“Diane Well Read”

■“Wantirna South”

■“Maiden’s Prayer”

■“Bandwidth”

■“Squaw House and Melbourne Hotel”

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■“Tulips and Diane”

■“Diane in Bustle Skirt”

■“Diane and Beauty”

■“Lady Chatterley and Beauty”

■“Victoria Prudery”

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■“Diane Chatterley”

■“From Canada to Japan”

■“From Gyoda to Vancouver”

■“Film Festival”

■“Madame Taliesin”

■“Happy Days”

■“Vancouver Again”

■“Swansea”

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■“Midnight in Vancouver”

■“Madame Lindbergh”

■“Dead Poets Society”

■“Letters to Diane”

■“Taliesin Studio”

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■“Wright and Japan”

■“Taliesin Banzai”

■“Memrory Lane to Sendai”

■“Aunt Sleepie”

■“Titanic @ Sendai”

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Hi, I’m June Adams.

I saw “The Birdcage” too.

It was indeed hilarious.

The Birdcage met with mixed reviews ranging from praise to condemnation in both the mainstream press and the gay press for the portrayals of its gay characters.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praised the film for “going beyond the stereotypes to see the character’s depth and humanity.”

The Birdcage opened on March 8, 1996 and grossed 18 million dollars in its opening weekend, topping the box office.

By the end of its 14-week run, the film had grossed 124 million dollars domestically and 61 million internationally, coming down to 185 million worldwide.

So it became quite a popular movie.

If you happen to visit a library in your neighborhood, you might as well borrow the “Birdcage” DVD and view it.

I’m pretty sure you’ll laugh to death.

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ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

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■『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

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Bye Bye Trump

 

Bye Bye Trump

 

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Kato, how come you’ve lined up Hitler and Trump in the above?

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What’s wrong with that?

Well…, Hitler is long gone, but Trump is still alive, isn’t he?

Yes, he is… You’re quite right, Diane. 　Hitler committed suicide in 1945, but President Trump is still alive.

Oh my goodness… Kato, are you saying that President Trump will commit suicide?

Oh no… I don’t think Trump will ever commit suicide… He isn’t that type of man, but somebody might assassinate him.

 

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Kato, you’d better not post the above picture.

Why not?

A CIA man might abduct you as a prospective assassin and put you into the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for torture, and you’ll more than likely be dead soon or later.

You gotta be joking.

No, I’m dead serious. As a matter of fact, hundreds of Arabic people were detained over there after the 911 terrorist attack. According to a 21 June 2005 New York Times opinion article, an FBI agent was quoted as saying, “On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times, they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 24 hours or more.”

 

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Oh no! … That sounds awful and disgusting… I don’t want to urinate and defecate on myself.

If you say so, Kato, don’t post such an incriminating picture like the above.

Diane, you’re terrifying me to death.

Anyway, Kato, are you saying that there’s something in common between Hitler and President Trump?

Yes, I am… That’s the reason I put both men on the top.

Tell me, then, what is in common between both of them.

Actually, I read a wikipedia article the other day and came across the following passage:

Hitler’s Rise to Power

 

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The Great Depression provided a political opportunity for Hitler.
Germans were ambivalent about the parliamentary republic, which faced challenges from right- and left-wing extremists.
The moderate political parties were increasingly unable to stem the tide of extremism, and the German referendum of 1929 helped to elevate Nazi ideology.

The elections of September 1930 resulted in the break-up of a grand coalition and its replacement with a minority cabinet.
Its leader, chancellor Heinrich Brüning of the Center Party, governed through emergency decrees from President Paul von Hindenburg.
Governance by decree became the new norm and paved the way for authoritarian forms of government.

The NSDAP rose from obscurity to win 18.3 per cent of the vote and 107 parliamentary seats in the 1930 election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.

Hitler made a prominent appearance at the trial of two Reichswehr officers, Lieutenants Richard Scheringer and Hans Ludin, in late 1930.
Both were charged with membership in the NSDAP, at that time illegal for Reichswehr personnel.
The prosecution argued that the NSDAP was an extremist party, prompting defense lawyer Hans Frank to call on Hitler to testify.

On 25 September 1930, Hitler testified that his party would pursue political power solely through democratic elections, which won him many supporters in the officer corps.

Brüning’s austerity measures brought little economic improvement and were extremely unpopular.
Hitler exploited this by targeting his political messages specifically at people who had been affected by the inflation of the 1920s and the Depression, such as farmers, war veterans, and the middle class.

Although Hitler had terminated his Austrian citizenship in 1925, he did not acquire German citizenship for almost seven years.
This meant that he was stateless, legally unable to run for public office, and still faced the risk of deportation.

On 25 February 1932, the interior minister of Brunswick, Dietrich Klagges, who was a member of the NSDAP, appointed Hitler as administrator for the state’s delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin, making Hitler a citizen of Brunswick, and thus of Germany.

Hitler ran against Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential elections.
A speech to the Industry Club in Düsseldorf on 27 January 1932 won him support from many of Germany’s most powerful industrialists.
Hindenburg had support from various nationalist, monarchist, Catholic, and republican parties, and some Social Democrats.

Hitler used the campaign slogan “Hitler über Deutschland” (“Hitler over Germany”), a reference to his political ambitions and his campaigning by aircraft.
He was one of the first politicians to use aircraft travel for political purposes, and used it effectively.

Hitler came in second in both rounds of the election, garnering more than 35 per cent of the vote in the final election.
Although he lost to Hindenburg, this election established Hitler as a strong force in German politics.

Hitler lost the presidential election, but in the subsequent National Assembly election in July 1932 the Nazi Party won the vote rate of 37.8% (18.3% at the time of the 1930 election) and gained 230 seats (107 seats before the election).

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Source: “Adolf Hitler”
Free encyclopedia Wikipedia

 

In Germany where the economy deteriorated rapidly due to the Great Depression of 1929, a large number of unemployed people overflowing in the town, and the social situation became unrest and unstable.

So what?

Well…, likewise, USA in general, Detroit in particular, had a large number of unemployed people overflowing in the auto-industry district.

 

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Are you saying, Kato, history repeats itself?

You’re telling me, Diane… As you see, the Great Depression provided a political opportunity for Hitler, who was eventually elected as president… In the case of Trump, he took an advantage of the frustration of most blue-collar workers and anti-establishment unsatisfied white-collar people as a political opportunity and win the presidential election… That is, both men were elected as president as the result of democratic process.

I see…

Once Winston Churchill said that democracy was the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that had been tried from time to time.

 

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In other words, Hitler who is regarded as a bad guy worldwide was also elected by democratic election. 　Likewise, despite the prediction of the so-called intelligent people, Trump was elected as President of the States.

If you say so, Kato, every person who was elected president of the United States after the war was also chosen by the democratic election.

You’re telling me, Diane… But there is a big difference between the presidential elections after the war and the election where Trump was elected.

What is that?

Remember Winston Churchill who said, “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” 　Democracy works alright when the existing society is stable and people’s values ​​are shared, and in a relatively gentle state where a crazy event does not occur and certain functions can be fulfilled.

Are you saying, Kato, the States was unstable at the moment?

Yes, I’d say so… As in Detroit, the American society was unstable and confusing in a way at the time… So, as Hitler was elected by democratic elections, Trump also was elected president contrary to the media’s expectation, since the United States was in the socially disturbing period, just like when Hitler’s Nazis made a leap forward.

I see…

As in today’s American society, when society gets into a turmoil, it is easy for demagogue-type leaders like Hitler and Trump to step up and win the popular votes.

Why is that?

Well, in such a society people don’t really care about what is right. Instead, Trump talk about what people want to hear… Indeed, those blue-collar workers rejoiced in listening to Trump’s uncompromising speech, rather than politically correct speech of the American Establishment (including Hilary Clinton).

 

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In Nazi Germany, Germans were enthusiastic about Hitler because Hitler talked about what they wanted to listen.

 

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Of course, there were citizens with good sense in America too! 　So, they objected to Trump becoming President!

 

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However, they were a minority. Most people are those blue-collar workers and anti-Establishment unsatisfied white-collar people who love the way Trump talks.

I see… So Trump was elected president in 2016, huh?

That’s right…just like Hitler won the election and became German demagogue-type leader in those days… But there is a hope.

What kind of hope is that?

Well… Here’s a newspaper article:

Trump wants Attorney General

to investigate source of

anonymous Times op-ed

 

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By John T. BennettCQ-Roll Call

Fri., Sept. 7, 2018

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Friday his Justice Department should launch an investigation into what government official penned an anonymous New York Times Op-Edis job.

The op-ed claimed a large cadre of officials across the government are working hard to stifle his most extreme policy whims.

It also alleged that early on, senior officials toyed with using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

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DIGITAL SOURCE: “The StarMetro”

So, at least, there is a sensible man in the Trump administration, huh?

Yes, …looks like it. . . And eventually, in the 2020 election, most American people regained some sense and realized what kind of man Trump really was.

I’m glad Trump is leaving the White House.

Well, . . . the whole world seems much obliged to see him leave before he makes war to create his Great American Empire.

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【Himiko’s Monologue】

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What do you think?

Do you really think that there are so many unsatisfied and anti-Establishment workers in the States?

Well… even so, I hope Trump would never become another Hitler.

By the way, if Hitler had won the war, what kind of world do you think we could see?

Here’s one such possibility.

 

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In any road, I expect Kato will write another interesting article soon.

So please come back to see me.

Have a nice day!

Bye bye …

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If you’ve got some time,

Please read one of the following articles:

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■“Glorious Summer”

■“Biker Babe & Granny”

■“Genetically Modified”

■“Tyrannosaur”

■“Love@Magic”

■“Yellow Ball”

■“Welcome Back”

■“Forbidden Love”

■“Merry X’Mas”

■“Heaven with Mochi”

■“Travel Expense Scandal”

■“Love@Redemption”

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■“JAGEL”

■“JAGEL Again”

■“Say NO!”

■Happy Gal in Canada

■Roof of Vancouver

■Aftershock

■Whiplash

■Sex Appeal

■Better Off Without Senate

■Fire Festival

■Sweets@Paris

■Scary Quake

■MH370 Mystery

■Putin’s Way

■Trump @ Vancouver

■Otter & Trump

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■Changeling

■Fiddler on the Roof

■Flesh and Bone

■Maiden’s Prayer

■Romeo & Juliet

■Trump @ Joke

■Halloween in Shibuya

■Trump Shock

■Happy New Year!

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■Life or Death

■Way to Millionaire

■Adele Hugo

■Middle Sexes

■Romance@Madison

■Hacksaw Ridge

■Eight the Dog

■Halloween@Shibuya

■Chef Babette

■Ramen Boom

■from Korea

■Omakase@Sushi

■Crocodile Meat

■Killer Floods

■Climate of Doubt

■Glory of Death

■Big Mystery

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Hi, I’m June Adams.

Kato is a real movie lover, who tries to watch 1001 movies.

As a matter of fact, he has already accomplished his goal.

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■『Actual List』

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Kato watched “The Arabian Nights” or “One Thousand and One Nights” as his 1001th movie.

You might just as well want to view it.

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The stories in “the Arabian Nights” were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa.

The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār and his wife Scheherazade and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves.

The stories proceed from this original tale.

Some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord.

Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.

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ところで、愛とロマンに満ちた

レンゲさんのお話をまとめて

『レンゲ物語』を作りました。

もし、レンゲさんの記事をまとめて読みたいならば、

次のリンクをクリックしてくださいね。

■『愛とロマンのレンゲ物語』

(renge730.jpg)

■『軽井沢タリアセン夫人 – 小百合物語』

とにかく、今日も一日楽しく愉快に

ネットサーフィンしましょうね。

じゃあね。

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