By the way, I read an interesting article of “24 hours” community newspaper the other day.
It is about “Modern Love.”
Is monogamy really the best answer?
It reads like this:
Sue Johnson is a psychological professor at the University of Ottawa and after decades of neuroscience research into human emotion, claims that just like the bond parents have with their offspring, monogamous love makes sense as a survival code.
According to Johnson, humans are not wired to face the world alone.
Our brains are designed to use the people we love as physiological and emotional safety cues to make the world a safer place.
To quote Johnson, “Secure attachment—having one other person you can count on as an adult—is related to almost every index of good functioning, happiness and health.”
Johnson says that social isolation can be detrimental to our health, citing increased risk of anxiety, strokes and heart attacks as side effects to loneliness.
Johnson claims that because we no longer live in small, close knit communities, “People now often depend on romantic love as their main source of social support.”
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She explains that the trouble with polyamorous relationships is they don’t fulfil our physiological bonding need to have “one person that we depend on, that we come first with.”
From: diane@vancouver.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com
Date: Tues., Mar 25, 2014 7:03PM
Pacific Daylight Saving Time
Hi my smiling Bohemian, Kato,
Thanks so much for the above article.
… sure hope you make a good friend of Mari when she moves to Vancouver.
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Interestingly enough, I did read that article by Sue Johnson and do believe she’s on to something.
Actually, I’ve always believed that we are stronger together in this world with another to call our partner.
Having said that, though, some folks seem to do just fine.
I have a girlfriend who has been single for years & years and seems to be as happy as punch.
She has many and varied interests, a few friends, lots of peace & quiet and wants nothing further.
So, for her, it’s a good life indeed.
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For me, I too like my alone time, but also seem to need the presence of another loving person.
So for me having a boyfriend, but not actually living with him, even though he dearly wishes it, seems to be the answer of the moment.
How about for you?
Are you having some thoughts about your new friend and what that might mean to your life?
Hope so, actually … might just be what the doctor ordered, as they say here in Canada.
Thanks again,
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Love, Diane
So, Diane, you too like your alone time, but also need the presence of another loving person, eh?
Most definitely. How about you, Kato?
Well … in Japanese, “human being” is written as “among people (人間).” So it is obvious that you can’t live alone. In this sense, anyone needs the presence of another loving person, I suppose. But some people need the presence of more than one loving person.
Polyamorous relationships, huh?
That’s right. By the way, Diane, the article you read contains the following passage:
Although life is easier when you have someone rooting for you, I’m hesitant to agree that monogamy is the only answer.
Johnson’s theories discount the fact that humans can receive emotional support from other people besides their partner.
。。。
As for Johnson’s assertion that couples in monogamous relationships have more satisfying sex lives, I’m sure many polyamorous people would argue that their sex lives are just as fulfilling, meaningful and scorching hot as those of monogamous couples.
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。。。
Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha present scientific and anthropological evidence that humans evolved from small-scale, egalitarian societies where partners were often interchanged—therefore, pointing to the fact that monogamy maybe isn’t as “natural” as we have been led to believe.
However, I like to think that one of the byproducts of our evolution is personal choice.
Instead of trying to set ourselves into a set of binary categories, we should choose the relationship style that feels best to us at any given point in our lives whether that’s monogamy, polyamory or something in between.
Quite interesting, isn’t it? I like the idea that we should choose the relationship style that feels best to us at any given point in our lives whether that’s monogamy, polyamory or something in between.
Yes, yes, yes, … I agree with you, Diane. But some people are really moved to know that a certain couple are amazingly loyal to each other.
Oh … ? Are you sure about that?
Yes, of course. The other day, I viewed the following movie.
So, Kato, you want me to see this movie, don’t you?
Oh, yeeessss…, most definitely…’cause this is the kind of movies you’d love to see.
How do you know?
‘Cause I’ve been talking with you on the net since 2011.
No kidding!
Seeing those articles written in the past is believing! And believe me, Diane, you would cry for joy once you’re through the movie.
Well … if you say so, I’ll borrow the DVD from Joe Fortes Library. So, Kato, you value a loyal love more than anything else, huh?
Yes and no, I’d say.
Why is that?
It depends… You see, Diane, life is a matter of choice…
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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“The Lost Valentine” is an emotionally-charged excellent movie.
I cried when I saw Caroline come across the coffin of her deceased husband at Union Station.
Oh, what a heart-wrenching story it is!
But I loved it.
I’m pretty sure that you’d love it, too.
Please run to the nearest library or video rental shop, and borrow one of the DVDs.
I believe that you wouldn’t regret it.
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.
The film ends with Caroline, who has found peace and closure, seeing that the rosebush Neil had planted long ago in their garden has a new single bloom, the first in a long time.
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This incident seems to imply a long-lasting love, as she remembers her romantic moments with Neil in the same garden, to the sound of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” playing on the radio.
Yes, now, I know, but I didn’t know it when I viewed the above movie.
Changeling
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A changeling is a creature found in folklore and folk religion.
A changeling child was believed to be a fairy child that had been left in place of a human child stolen by the fairies.
The theme of the swapped child is common in medieval literature and reflects concern over infants thought to be afflicted with unexplained diseases, disorders, or developmental disabilities.
It is typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, elf or other legendary creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child.
Sometimes the term is also used to refer to the child who was taken.
The apparent changeling could also be a stock or fetch, an enchanted piece of wood that would soon appear to grow sick and die.
A human child might be taken due to many factors: to act as a servant, the love of a human child, or malice.
Most often it was thought that fairies exchanged the children.
In rare cases, the very elderly of the Fairy people would be exchanged in the place of a human baby, and then the old fairy could live in comfort, being coddled by its human parents.
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Simple charms, such as an inverted coat or open iron scissors left where the child sleeps, were thought to ward them off; other measures included a constant watch over the child.
D. L. Ashliman points out that changeling tales illustrate an aspect of family survival in pre-industrial Europe.
A peasant family’s subsistence frequently depended upon the productive labor of each member, and it was difficult to provide for a person who was a permanent drain on the family’s scarce resources.
“The fact that the changelings’ ravenous appetite is so frequently mentioned indicates that the parents of these unfortunate children saw in their continuing existence a threat to the sustenance of the entire family.
Changeling tales support other historical evidence in suggesting that infanticide was not infrequently the solution selected.”
SOURCE: “Changeling”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The movie is about a fairy child that had been left in place of a human child stolen by the abductor, isn’t it?
Yes, it is in a sense, but in the film, the fairly child is an another human child as I mentioned it in the following comment.
This is a 2008 docudrama directed by Clint Eastwood, based partly on real-life events: the 1928 “Wineville Chicken Coop” kidnapping and murder case in Los Angeles, California.
When her misssing child is found, the mother played by Angelina Jolie realizes that the boy is not her missing son.
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When she tries to demonstrate this to the police and city authorities, however, she is vilified as delusional and an unfit mother.
The film explores child endangerment, female disempowerment, political corruption, mistreatment of mental health patients, and the repercussions of violence.
The whole thing is just disgusting, but it is one of the finest works directed by Clint Eastwood.
Superb are the performances of the main actors.
I see… The movie is based on the actual kidnapping and murder case, huh?
Yes, it is. The actual case is as follows:
Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
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These murders were a series of abductions and murders of young boys that occurred in the city of Los Angeles and in Riverside County, California, between 1926 and 1928.
The case received national attention.
In 1926, Gordon Stewart Northcott, a 19-year-old Canadian-American chicken ranch owner, took his 13-year-old nephew Sanford Clark (with the permission of the boy’s parents) from the boy’s home in Canada.
After arriving at his Wineville, California farm, Northcott beat and sexually abused him.
In August 1928, Sanford’s older sister, 19-year-old Jessie Clark, visited Sanford, who was 15 at the time, in Wineville.
She was concerned about his welfare.
At that time, Sanford told her that he feared for his life.
One night while Northcott was asleep, Jessie learned from Sanford of the horrors and murders that had taken place at Northcott’s chicken ranch.
Jessie returned to Canada about one week after that.
Once in Canada, Jessie informed the American consul there about the horrors in Wineville.
The American consul then wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Police Department, detailing Jessie Clark’s sworn complaint.
Because there was initially some concern over an immigration issue, the Los Angeles Police Department contacted the United States Immigration Service to determine facts relative to Jessie’s complaint.
On August 31, 1928, two United States Immigration Service inspectors, Judson F. Shaw and Scallorn, visited Northcott’s chicken ranch in Wineville.
They found 15-year-old Sanford Clark at the ranch and took him into custody.
Northcott had seen the agents driving up the long road to his ranch.
Before fleeing into the treeline, he told Clark to stall the agents, or else he would shoot him from the treeline with a rifle.
During the next two hours while Clark stalled, Northcott kept on running.
Finally, when Clark felt that the agents could protect him, he told them that Northcott had fled into the trees which lined the edge of his chicken ranch property.
Northcott and his mother, Sarah Louise, fled to Canada but were arrested near Vernon, British Columbia on September 19, 1928.
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Sanford Clark testified at the sentencing of Sarah Louise Northcott that his uncle, Gordon Northcott, had kidnapped, molested, beaten, and killed three young boys with the help of Northcott’s mother (Sarah Louise Northcott) and of Clark himself.
Clark stated that, in addition to these three young boys, Northcott had also murdered a teenage Mexican boy without the help of his mother or himself.
Northcott had forced Clark to help dispose of the head of the Mexican boy by burning it in a firepit and then crushing the skull.
Northcott stated that he “left the headless body by the side of the road near Puente (La Puente, California), because he had no other place to put it.”
Sanford Clark said that quicklime was used to dispose of the remains and that the bodies (of Lewis and Nelson Winslow and of Walter Collins) were buried on the Wineville chicken ranch.
SOURCE: “Wineville Chicken Coop Murders”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wow… the whole case is gruesome and disgusting, isn’t it?
Yes, it is for sure.
Kato, how come you picked up the above movie in the first place?
Well… when I saw the movie, I immediately identified the boy’s mother with you.
No kidding!
Angelina Jolie plays this mother, who is a loving, strong-willed and self-disciplined woman just like you, Diane.
Are you serious, Kato?
Yes, of course, I am.
Well… I’ll book the DVD and see it to judge your saying by myself. Kato, what else do you recommend?
I like “The Men”, which I watched as the 1,274th movie.
This is a 1950 American drama directed by Fred Zinnemann.
It tells the story of a World War II lieutenant who is seriously injured in combat and the struggles he faces as he attempts to re-enter society.
The film marked Marlon Brando’s feature film debut.
Embittered by his condition, he refuses to see his fiancée and sinks into a solitary world of hatred and hostility.
Fighting the wishes of her parents, the coldness of a guilt-ridden society and her own self-doubts, it is Ellen (his fiancée played by Teresa Wright) who must force him to confront the reality of his condition.
Superb are the performances of Marlon Brando and Teresa Wright.
It is a gripping, emotionally-charged and thought-provoking serious drama.
How come you like the above movie?
Well… Teresa Wright is one of my favorite actresses.
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She takes a role as Ellen, who is a loving, strong-willed and self-disciplined woman just like you, Diane.
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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I really enjoyed watching “Carnal Knowledge,” which Kato viewed as the 1,278th movie.
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Do you know what “Carnal Knowledge” means?
Well… It is an archaic or legal euphemism for sexual intercourse.
The term derives from the Biblical usage of the verb “know”, as in the King James Bible and other versions, a euphemism for sexual conduct.
An example of this usage is in the first part of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, which describes how Adam and Eve created their first child: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with [the help of] Jehovah.” – Genesis 4:1.
As Kato jotted down in the above comment, in those days of the early 1970s, the general receptiveness by the public to frank discussion of sexual issues was sometimes at odds with local community standards.
A theatre in Albany, Georgia, showed the film.
On January 13, 1972, the local police served a search warrant on the theatre, and seized the film.
In March 1972, the theatre manager, Mr. Jenkins, was convicted of the crime of “distributing obscene material”.
His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
On June 24, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the State of Georgia had gone too far in classifying material as obscene in view of its prior decision in Miller v. California, and overturned the conviction.
Compared to the pornogrphic, this is far from obscene material, but the film simply depicts the things far from serious material.
With today’s general receptiveness in mind, however, I think this movie is a good entertaining piece.
In any case, I hope Kato will write another interesting article soon.
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.
I see… so after you watched, you jotted down the following comment, huh?
Produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, this is a 1995 American romantic drama based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Robert James Waller.
The story in the diaries reveals the impact the affair had on the lives of a farm woman and a National Geographic photographer.
The affair took place while her husband and children were at the state fair in Illinois.
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She almost ran away with him to travel the world with him.
After a wrenching period of decision-making, however, she decided to stay at the last minute after considering the bigger picture that includes the consequences leaving would have on the lives of her teenage children and husband, who was a good, loving man.
After all the photographer finds meaning and his true calling as an artist.
It also has deep consequences on the lives of her son and daughter, who are both experiencing marital problems.
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Their mother’s story helped them to find a sense of direction in their lives.
It is an old-fashioned love story with some meanings in terms of the present day context.
Superb are the performances of Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
Diane, have you seen the above movie?
Oh yes, I have. That was quite a popular movie back in those days of the late 1990s simply because the novel, on which the film was based, was a 1992 best-seller. Actually, 60 million copies were sold worldwide.
The Bridges of Madison County (Book)
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It is a 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller that tells the story of a married
but lonely Italian-American woman (war bride) living on a 1960s Madison County, Iowa farm.
While her husband and children are away at the State Fair, she engages in an affair with a National Geographic photographer
from Bellingham, Washington, who is visiting Madison County to create a photographic essay on the covered bridges in the area.
The novel is presented as a novelization of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fictional.
However, the author stated in an interview that there were strong similarities between the main character and himself.
The novel is one of the bestselling books of the 20th century, with 60 million copies sold worldwide.
It has also been adapted into a feature film in 1995 and a musical in 2013.
Publication history
It was originally published in the UK under the title Love in Black and White.
A sequel entitled A Thousand Country Roads was published in 2002.
It tells the remainder of the two main characters’ story after their four-day affair.
They never meet again, but their lives are interlocked until death.
In 2005, the trilogy was completed with High Plains Tango, which came about when Waller was writing “A Thousand Country Roads” and he realized he had two novels’ worth of material.
“High Plains Tango picks up the story of itinerant master carpenter Carlisle McMillan, Robert Kincaid’s illegitimate son, who settles in Salamander, S.D.
There his life becomes intertwined with two very different women and almost overrun by the threats of eminent domain.”
SOURCE:”The Bridges of Madison County”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sixty million copies, eh? Amazing!
Did you watch the movie on July 3 for the first time?
Yes, I did. Actually, I was quite interested in the movie when it was quite often talked about in those days.
Then why didn’t you view the movie back in those days?
Well, I could hardly imagine that Clint Eastwood would take such a melodramatic role. You see, he was quite famous as a “Dirty Harry.”
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He was also famous as a hard-boiled guy in Spaghetti Western or Italian Western such as “For a Few Dollars More” directed by Sergio Leone.
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I could hardly think that Clint Eastwood would play a protagonist as a ladys’ man in “The Bridges of Madison County.”
Is that the reason you didn’t watch the movie in the 1990s?
Yes, it is. His womanizer-image destroyed my appetite for the movie.
Then how come you watched the movie at this time?
Well, as Clint Eastwood gets older, I’m getting softer on his image.
So how did you like the movie?
As I jotted down the comment, the performances of Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep are superb. I was quite impressed by their acting. The film was made based on a true story, I guess.
No, I don’t think so. As noted in the above article of Wikipedia, the novel is presented as a novelization of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fictional.
I know, but look at the following article about the author.
Robert James Waller
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Robert James Waller (August 1, 1939 – March 10, 2017) was an American author best known for “The Bridges of Madison County”—an enormously successful book in 1993.
He was also a photographer and musician.
Life
Waller received his BA (’62) and MA (’64) from University of Northern Iowa (then known as Iowa State Teachers College).
He received his PhD in business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington in 1968.
Later that year he returned to UNI and began teaching management and economics, and in 1977 became a full professor.
He became dean of the College of Business in 1980 and retired from that position in 1986.
It was announced in 2000 that he made a “seven figure” donation to Indiana University.
Several of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list including 1992’s “The Bridges of Madison County” which was the top best-seller in 1993.
Both that novel and his 1995 novel, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, have been made into motion pictures.
Personal life
In 1997, his marriage of 35 years to Georgia ended in divorce.
An article in People Magazine noted, “The parallels between Waller’s life and his art (his Bridges heroine, farmwife Francesca, sacrifices her chance for happiness with a globe-hopping photographer in order to stay home and shield her loved ones from small-town scandal) haven’t been lost on the locals”.
Waller died on March 10, 2017, at his home in Fredericksburg, Texas.
He was 77 and had been battling multiple myeloma.
SOURCE:”Robert James Waller”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You see, the author was divorced in 1997. What do you think made the couple get divorced?
Well, nobody knows for sure. Besides, he’s been dead now. The secret was buried with him.
But the author stated in an interview that there were strong similarities between the main character and himself. That’s the reason the novel is presented as a novelization of a true story, which has obviously damaged his wife’s feeling. Therefore, the couple got divorced, I suppose.
In any case, that’s none of your buinsess, Kato.
I know, I know … But aren’t you curious about it? The above Wikipedia article says: The parallels between Waller’s life and Francesca’s life remains on the locals.
After all, it is anybody’s guess.
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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Well…, Francesca almost ran away with Robert to travel the world with him.
After a wrenching period of decision-making, however, she decided to stay at the last minute after considering the bigger picture that includes the consequences leaving would have on the lives of her teenage children and husband, who was a good, loving man.
When you view the movie, you might be surprised to see how much damage a scandal would cause in such a rural community in those days.
As a matter of fact, Robert noticed an alienated woman in a local cafe-restaurant when he dropped in.
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The woman sitting beside Robert (played by Clint Eastwood) was ignored by elder waitresses because of her extramarital scandal.
However, the younger waitress reluctantly took an order, but on a second thought, the woman decided to get out because the customers inside all stared at her with most treacherously despising gaze.
She just couldn’t stand it.
In those days, you could hardly ignore those contemptuous gazes.
Those rural communities were open in terms of scandal and rumors but closed and close-knit in terms of human relations.
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.
Written and directed by Isao Takahata in 1998 based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka, this animated war film depicts the lives of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko as well as their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War.
It turns out a profoundly gripping, haunting and achingly sad anti-war drama.
Are you saying that the above movie has something to do with “The Two Popes”?
Oh no. . . I chose it simply because I read the original short story written by Akiyuki Nosaka. . .
I see. . . Is the story well-known in Japan.
Yes, it is. . . Actually, Nosaka won the Naoki Prize for best popular literature for this story and “American Hijiki”, which was published a month before. . . Both short stories along with four others were bundled as a book in 1968.
Then Isao Takahata directed the anime based on the short story, huh?
That’s right. . . The film was released on April 16, 1988, over twenty years from the publication of the original work.
I see. . . How does it go?
It goes like this:
Grave of the Fireflies
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PLOT
On 21 September 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, a teenage boy named Seita dies of starvation in a Kobe train station.
A janitor sorts through his possessions and finds a candy tin, which he throws into a field.
The spirit of Seita’s younger sister, Setsuko, springs
from the tin and is joined by Seita’s spirit and a cloud of fireflies.
They board a train.
Some months earlier, Seita and Setsuko’s house is destroyed in a firebombing along with most of Kobe.
They escape unharmed, but their mother dies from severe burns.
Seita and Setsuko move in with a distant aunt, who convinces Seita to sell his mother’s silk kimonos for rice.
Seita retrieves supplies he buried before the bombing and gives everything to his aunt, save for a tin of Sakuma drops.
As rations shrink and the number of refugees in the house grows, the aunt becomes resentful of the children, saying they do nothing to earn the food she prepares.
Seita and Setsuko leave and move into an abandoned bomb shelter.
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They release fireflies into the shelter for light.
The next day, Setsuko is horrified to find that the insects have died.
She buries them in a grave, asking why they and her mother had to die.
As they run out of rice, Seita steals from farmers and loots homes during air raids, for which he is beaten.
When Setsuko falls ill, Seita takes her to a doctor, who explains that she is suffering from malnutrition.
Desperate, Seita withdraws all the money in their mother’s bank account.
As he leaves the bank, he becomes distraught when he learns that Japan has surrendered.
He also learns that his father, a captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy, is most likely dead, as most of Japan’s navy has been sunk.
Seita returns to the shelter with a large quantity of food, but finds Setsuko hallucinating – she assumes that a few marbles she finds are the previously mentioned Sakuma drops, and offers Seita rocks, thinking she had just made rice balls.
Seita hurries to feed her, but she dies as he finishes preparing the food, and she herself falls asleep.
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Seita cremates Setsuko’s body and her stuffed doll in a straw casket.
He carries her ashes in the candy tin along with his father’s photograph, and though his death is never explicitly shown again, it can be assumed this is where everything ends for them.
Seita and Setsuko’s deceased spirits arrive at their destination, healthy and happy.
Surrounded by fireflies, the siblings rest on a hilltop bench overlooking the skyline of present-day Kobe.
SOURCE: “Grave of the Fireflies”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
… seems like a sad story.
Yes, it is. . . You might cry if you see it.
Anyway, I’d like to watch the film.
You can see the trailer here.
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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The following clip is a live-action TV drama of “Grave of the Fireflies”, made by NTV in Japan.
It was produced in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Like the anime, the live-action version of “Grave of the Fireflies” focuses on two siblings struggling to survive the final days of the war in Kobe, Japan.
Unlike the animated version, it tells the story from the point of view of their cousin (the aunt’s daughter) and deals with the issue of how the war-time environment could change a kind lady into a hard-hearted woman.
It stars Nanako Matsushima as the aunt, as well as Mao Inoue as their cousin.
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Wnat do you think about the above movie?
You don’t like a war-time story, do you?
Well… here’s a mood-changing clip just for you.
Gess what?… You can now laugh to the last tears.
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Mr. Mathane
In any road, I expect Kato will write another interesting article soon.
Kato watched “The Arabian Nights” or “One Thousand and One Nights” as his 1001th movie.
You might just as well want to view it.
(1001nite.jpg)
(1001nite10.jpg)
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.
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
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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.
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 ~
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Love, Diane ~
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Subj:Hi, Diane
Have a great time
in London!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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🙂 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.
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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
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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】
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“Madame Butterfly” is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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?
I see…so you added a comment on July 26, didn’t you?
Yes, I did. Seventeen people jotted down their comments, and ten of them, including myself, have written their comments since April 8, 2011.
Are you saying the DVD is so popular?
Yes, I am. Look at the current borrowing record below.
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I see… There are thirteen copies, but none of them are available… It’s in a big demand, isn’t it?
Yes, it is.
Two copies are located at Joe Fortes Library, aren’t they?
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I’ve asked the librarian to keep at least two copies so that you could borrow at any time.
No kidding!
But you see, both of them have been checked out. What a pity!
So, Kato, you really want me to view the DVD, don’t you?
Yes, I do. If you take a look at the following trailer, I’m pretty sure, you would more than likely dash to the library to hold it.
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Memoirs of a Geisha trailer
Wow! …seems quite fascinating!
Yes, it is.
Kato, tell me about the outline.
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The film, set in Japan during the 1930s and 40s, tells the story of Chiyo Sakamoto, who was portrayed by Suzuka Ohgo as a child and by Zhang Ziyi as an adult.
Chiyo is a poor, young Japanese girl who has been sold along with her older sister Satsu into a life of servitude by her parents when she is nine years old.
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Chiyo is taken in by the proprietress of a geisha house, Mother (Kaori Momoi), but Satsu is rejected and is sold to another house in the “pleasure district” of the Hanamachi.
At the okiya (geisha house) she meets another young girl named “Pumpkin” (Youki Kudoh).
Both girls are sent off to geisha school but Chiyo dishonors the okiya by attempting to run away.
Instead of training to become a geisha she is given manual labor to do to pay off the debt of her purchase.
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One day while crying in the street, the young Chiyo is noticed by the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) and his geisha companions.
Chiyo is afraid to make eye contact with the Chairman, who says “Don’t be afraid to look at me.”
He then buys her an iced sorbet (kakigōri) and gives her his handkerchief with some money in it.
Inspired by his act of kindness, Chiyo resolves to become a geisha so that she may one day become a part of the Chairman’s life.
She spends the money, not on food, but on prayer, wishing to see him again.
Chiyo, now a young woman, is taken under the wing of Mameha, who has forgiven her for her actions as a child.
Under Mameha’s tutelage, Chiyo becomes a maiko (geisha in training) and then takes the name of Sayuri, the most famous geisha in all of Gion, Kyoto.
Hatsumomo becomes Sayuri’s rival and seeks to destroy her.
Through her work as a geisha, Sayuri reunites with the Chairman and longs to catch his attention, but instead has to lead on the Chairman’s friend and business partner Nobu, who falls fast for her.
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Sayuri and Chairman
Sayuri grows in popularity and Hatsumomo spreads lies and rumors to ruin Sayuri’s reputation.
Meanwhile Mameha starts a bidding war for Sayuri’s mizuage which will make her a full geisha.
Sayuri gets named the lead dancer for the Spring Dances, where she dances wonderfully and catches the attention of bidders, including the Baron (Mameha’s lover), who invites Sayuri to his house for a party, gives her a kimono then, as he finds her so beautiful and believes he deserves a look, forcefully strips her.
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Sayuri, Mameha, and Baron
After the party Mameha hears what happened and believes that the Baron took Sayuri’s virginity, and claims that Sayuri’s bids may not come through if she is found to be “worthless.” Sayuri cries and tells Mameha that nothing happened and she is not worthless.
That night the bid is finally placed by an elderly doctor known as Doctor Crab, for 15,000 yen—the highest mizuage bid in history. Mother then chooses to “adopt” Sayuri as the heiress of the okiya, a title that Pumpkin and Hatsumomo had been longing for.
Mameha tells Sayuri later that the bid was down to two people, Dr. Crab and the Baron, but Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of her feelings for the Baron, despite his bid being even higher. When returning home, Sayuri finds Hatsumomo in her room, who found the Chairman’s handkerchief and attempts to burn it, but unsuccessfully.
Sayuri and Hatsumomo fight and accidentally start a fire, and finally to her breaking point, Hatsumomo purposely begins to burn the rest of the house and then leaves, knowing she has reached the bottom.
Sayuri’s prosperous life is then cut short by the outbreak of World War II and while the safety of Sayuri and Mameha is ensured by the Chairman, they must endure a life of hard labor.
Sayuri and Mameha are separated, with Sayuri going to the hills to work for a kimono maker.
After the war, Sayuri is reunited with Mameha, and they become geisha once more to impress an American Colonel that are going into business with Nobu and the Chairman.
Sayuri meets back up with Pumpkin who is now a risqué, flirty escort/prostitute (trying to act like geisha) and goes on a trip with Nobu, the Chairman, Pumpkin and the Americans to the Amami Islands.
While they are conversing in a hot spring, Sayuri participates in the game ‘Truth and Lies’, starting to explain the “story” of how, when she was a little girl, a ‘handsome man was kind enough to buy me a cup of sweet ice’.
Before she can continue, the Chairman interrupts and changes the subject, clearly uncomfortable with her statement.
Afterwards, the Colonel attempts to “hire” Sayuri for “services”, but is rejected.
Nobu saw the incident and confronts Sayuri (with the impression that they had made an arrangement) finally confessing his feelings and that he wants to be her lover.
Sayuri is distraught and devises a plan to humiliate herself with the Colonel in front of Nobu.
She arranges for Pumpkin to bring Nobu by an abandoned theater at a predetermined time, and “stumble” upon Sayuri and the Colonel making love.
But, because of her secret resentment of Sayuri for being adopted by Mother, Pumpkin brings the Chairman instead, claiming to Sayuri, “Now you know how it feels”, Sayuri believes that the Chairman is lost to her forever.
A few days later Sayuri discards the Chairman’s handkerchief by throwing it off a cliff above the sea, and later receives a call to go to the teahouse.
While waiting, Sayuri expects Nobu to arrive, but instead the Chairman comes where he finally reveals to her that he knows she is Chiyo by saying, “Don’t be afraid to look at me, Chiyo.”
He tells her that he was responsible for sending Mameha to her so that she could fulfill her dreams of becoming a geisha.
Sayuri finally reveals her love to the Chairman, which she has been harboring for over fifteen years.
(Pictures from the Denman Syndicate Library)
SOURCE: “Memoirs of a Geisha (film)”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So, Kato, it’s a love story, isn’t it?
Yes and no.
What do you mean, Kato?
Well… it may be a love story on the surface, but I’d say, it’s rather a life story in the sense that Sayuri (Chiyo) keeps a 15-year love and romance in her heart despite all the difficulties.
I think any girl could have her dream for 15 years.
You’re right, Diane, but it’s hard for an ordinary girl to keep it for 15 years—let alone a geisha.
Why is that?
When Sayuri said to Mameha that she wanted to realize her dream, Mameha replied, “We’re here by destiny and have no other options but to live like a bird in a cage. No free love!”
I understand what you mean, Kato. But Sayuri discarded the Chairman’s handkerchief by throwing it off a cliff above the sea, which means Sayuri abandoned her dream once and for all, didn’t she?
Yes and no.
What do you mean by that, Kato?
Look at Pumpkin! She looks like a bird out of a cage, but she has actually downgraded herself to a risqué, flirty escort/prostitute. Sayuri, however, keeps her lifestyle deep inside desipite the hard times.
I see…but I wonder, Kato, how come you’ve brought up “Memoirs of a Geisha” in the first place?
Well, Sayuri reminds me of you, Diane.
You must be kidding!
You’re well self-disciplined like Sayuri.
Oh…am I? What makes you think so?
As you know, I’m writing this article in Joe Fortes Library. There are quite a few people who talk on the cell phone. In Japan, people don’t talk on the cell phone in the bus and the train—let alone in the library.
Really?
Simply because the conductors announce, “Please don’t talk on the cell phone.” So do the librarian. But here in Vancouver, people resort to their own common sense.
I see … You’re right. I’ve noticed that some people don’t seem to have common sense.
Once I’ve seen you talking on the cell phone in front of the library entrance, and then you turned off the phone before entering the library. And I’ve never seen you talking on the phone in the library. By the way, I don’t have a cell phone. He, he, he, he, he, …
But even here in Vancouver, other folks don’t talk on the cell phone in the library. I’m not the only one who has common sense in Canada.
You’re right on, Diane. But there is a big difference between you and others.
Oh…? What is it?
You’re a well self-disciplined woman driven by romance—just like Sayuri. Look at the following map!
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So, Kato, are you saying that I’m driven by romance and adventure?
Oh yes! If you read the follwoing articles again, you’ll certainly know what I mean.
Kato, are you saying that we are destined to meet like Sayuri and Chairman?
Well…Look at the above map! … What I’m saying is, East meets West, you know…you and me…Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, …
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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In the early stages of Japanese history, there were female entertainers called saburuko (serving girls), who were mostly wandering girls whose families were displaced from struggles in the late 600s.
Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings.
After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto or 京都) in 794 the conditions that would form Japanese Geisha culture began to emerge, as it became the home of a beauty-obsessed elite.
Skilled female performers, such as Shirabyōshi(白拍子) dancers, thrived.
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Shirabyōshi(白拍子)
In any case, I hope Kato will write another interesting article soon.
So please come back to see me.
The story was so fscinating that I thought all the geisha actresses were Japanese.
Actually, the three leading actresses (Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh) are non-Japanese.
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Zhang Ziyi (playing Sayuri)
They were put through the 6-week “geisha boot camp” before production commenced, during which they were trained in traditional geisha practices of musicianship, dance, and tea ceremony.
One of the teaching stuff is Liza Dalby, who was the first western woman to become a geisha in the 1970s.
Kato, how come you’ve brought up a shocking image?
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Diane, do you remember what we talked about the last time?
Yes, we talked about an upcoming Vancouver earthquake, didn’t we?
Yes, you’re telling me.
Cascadia Subduction Zone
M9 Earthquake Imminent
(Documentary)
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Vancouver Earthquake
Amazing! … Unbelievable!
Seeing is believing, isn’t it?
But I don’t think we’re gonna see this mega earthquake in our lifetime.
Well… according to many seismologists, a super quake occurs every 300 to 400 years in Cascadia. And chances are we’ll see one giant quake pretty soon since the mega quake hit Vancouver on January 19, 1700.
Kato, I think you’re worried too much.
I don’t think so… you know something Diane?… I’ve been watching many movies… Last night, I watched my 857th movie.
Well… Diane, I wanna get into this movie, but I’ve almost forgotten viewing “Orgasm Inc.”
Why is that?
…’Cause the shocking images of “Aftershock” have remained in the back of my mind ever since.
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I see… your mind has been inprinted with the above images, hasn’t it?
Yes, it has. The movie “Aftershock” still stands out in my mind.
What is the movie all about in the first place?
Well, “Aftershock” is a 2010 Chinese disaster-drama directed by Feng Xiaogang. The film depicts the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. It is a major box office success, and has grossed more than US$100 million at the Chinese box office. The story goes like this:
Aftershock
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In 1976 Tangshan, Li Yuanni lives in a small apartment with her husband and their twins Fang Deng and Fang Da.
Li tells her husband, Fang Daqiang, that she wishes to have one more child, and they get into the back of their truck after putting their son and daughter to bed.
Suddenly the ground shakes, and buildings begin tumbling down.
Running back to save their children, Li is pulled back by her husband, who runs ahead of her and is instantly crushed.
Their house collapses, trapping her two children.
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In the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, a rescue team informs Li that her twins are trapped together under a slab of concrete.
Lifting the slab in any way will kill one of her children.
Heartbroken, she decides to save her son, Fang Da.
The girl, Fang Deng, survives and wakes up later to find herself among several dead bodies.
Assumed to be an orphan, Fang Deng is adopted by a military couple.
She refuses to speak, but eventually opens up and bonds with her adopted parents (Wang Deqing and Dong Guilan).
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Ten years later, Fang Deng (renamed to “Wang Deng” after taking on her adoptive father’s surname) is accepted into medical school and moves away, where she meets a graduate student, Yang Zhi, and begins an intimate relationship with him.
In Fang Deng’s third year of study, her adoptive mother falls ill.
Before dying, she asks Fang Deng to use the money they saved to find her real family.
Fang Deng finds out she is pregnant, and despite being pressured by Yang to get an abortion, she refuses to abandon her baby.
She secretly drops out of university and loses contact with Yang and her adoptive father.
During that period of time, Fang Da grows up with his mother.
The earthquake claimed his left arm, leaving him physically disabled.
Rather than taking his university entrance exams, Fang Da opts to make it on his own by transporting people with his bike.
He leaves his mother in Tangshan and moved to Hangzhou, and eventually becomes the boss of a successful travel agency.
He marries and has a son, named Diandian.
After a four-year absence, Fang Deng goes back to see her adoptive father with her daughter, also named Diandian.
She apologises to her adoptive father and reconciles with him.
On New Year’s Eve, Fang Deng tells her adoptive father that she is getting married to a foreigner and will be emigrating to Vancouver, Canada, with her daughter.
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In 2008, Fang Deng sees the earthquake in Sichuan on television.
She immediately volunteers to join rescuers and returns to China.
Fang Da has also decided to help in the rescue efforts.
While taking a break, Fang Deng overhears Fang Da talking about the Tangshan earthquake.
She reunites herself with her brother, and they both decide to visit their mother.
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At first, Fang Deng is angry at her mother for abandoning her.
Later, after realising the remorse, emotional agony and guilt that her mother had gone through, she forgives the latter.
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SOURCE: “Aftershock (2010 film)”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So, the heroine immigrated to Vancouver, huh?
Yes, she did. Her husband is a Canadian lawyer living in West Vancouver.
Really? What a coincidence? So, Kato, that’s why you think a super quake like Tangshan Quake may take place in Vancouver, huh?
Yes, it might happen… Anyway, Diane, you should borrow the DVD and be prepared mentally for the upcoming Vancouver quake.
Well … maybe I’ll see “Aftershock” after watching “Orgasm Inc.”
That’s a good idea.
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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Have you ever been to Vancouver?
It is a beautiful city—one of the best cities in the world.
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Beautiful Vancouver
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Kato says that Vancouver is a paradise.
As you know, however, nothing is perfect, nobody is perfect.
So no city is perfect.
However, no matter what disaster hits the city, I wish, Vancouver remains to be a beautiful city.
In any case, I hope Kato will write another interesting article soon.
This is a 1969 French documentary directed by Louis Malle.
It explores the poorest part of the city.
One-third of the population, or 1.5 million people, lived in 3,500 unregistered squatter-occupied and 2,011 registered slums.
The authorised slums (with access to basic services like water, latrines, trash removal by the city) can be broadly divided into two groups—bustees, in which slum dwellers have some long term tenancy agreement with the landowners; and udbastu colonies, settlements which had been leased to refugees from present-day Bangladesh by the Government.
The unauthorised slums (devoid of basic services provided by the municipality) are occupied by squatters who started living on encroached lands—mainly along canals, railway lines and roads.
Some living conditions are unimaginable and nauseating.
You might get sick and feel like throwing up.
The above comment sounds quite interesting, doesn’t it?
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:
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.
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.
Kato, tell me about the title—From Summer to Eternity. What on earth is it?
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What do you think it is?
I’m asking you, kiddo.
I’m pretty sure you’ve got some idea.
I don’t have any idea. That’s why I’m asking you, Kato. So, don’t waste my time and yours. Just tell me about it.
Diane, do you remember I showed you the video clip of “Summer of ’42” the other day?
Summer of ’42
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The film flashes back to a day that 15-year-old “Hermie” (Gary Grimes) and his friends – jock Oscy (Jerry Houser) and introverted nerd Benjie (Oliver Conant) – spent playing on the beach.
They spot a young soldier carrying his new bride (Jennifer O’Neill) into a house on the beach and are struck by her beauty, especially Hermie, who is unable to get her out of his mind.
They continue spending afternoons on the beach where, in the midst of scantily-clad teenage girls, their thoughts invariably turn to sex.
All of them are virgins: Oscy is obsessed with the act of sex, while Hermie finds himself developing romantic interest in the bride, whose husband he spots leaving the island on a water taxi one morning.
Later that day, Hermie finds her trying to carry bags of groceries by herself, and helps get them back to her house.
They strike up a friendship and he agrees to return to help her with chores.
Meanwhile, Oscy and Hermie, thanks to a sex manual discovered by Benjie, become convinced they know everything necessary to lose their virginity.
Led by Oscy, they test this by going to the cinema and picking-up a trio of high-school girls.
Oscy stakes out the most attractive one, Miriam (Christopher Norris), “giving” Hermie her less attractive friend, Aggie (Katherine Allentuck) and leaving Benjie with Gloria, a heavyset girl with braces.
Frightened by the immediacy of sex, Benjie runs off, and is not seen by Hermie or Oscy again that night.
Hermie and Oscy spend the entirety of the evening’s film attempting to “put the moves” on Miriam and Aggie.
Oscy pursues Miriam, eventually making out with her during the movie, and later learns her ways are well-known on the island.
Hermie finds himself succeeding with Aggie, who allows him to grope what he thinks is her breast; Oscy later points out Hermie was fondling her arm.
The next morning, Hermie helps the bride move boxes into her attic and she thanks him by giving him a kiss on the forehead.
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Later, in preparation for a marshmallow roast on the beach with Aggie and Miriam, Hermie goes to the local drugstore.
In a painfully humorous sequence he builds up the nerve to ask for condoms.
That night, Hermie roasts marshmallows with Aggie while Oscy succeeds in having sex with Miriam between the dunes.
He is so successful he sneaks over to Hermie and Aggie to ask for more condoms.
Confused as to what’s happening, Aggie follows Oscy back, where she sees him having sex with Miriam and runs home, upset.
The next day, Hermie comes across the bride sitting outside her house, writing to her husband.
Hermie offers to keep her company that night and she says she looks forward to seeing him, revealing her name is Dorothy.
An elated Hermie goes home and puts on a suit, dress shirt and heads back to Dorothy’s house, running into Oscy on the way; Oscy relates that Miriam’s appendix burst and she’s been rushed to the mainland.
Hermie, convinced he is at the brink of adulthood because of his relationship with Dorothy, brushes Oscy off.
He heads to her house, which is eerily quiet.
Going in, he discovers a bottle of whiskey, several cigarette butts, and a telegram from the government.
Dorothy’s husband is dead, his plane shot down over France.
Dorothy comes out of her bedroom, crying, and Hermie tells her “I’m sorry.”
The sense of empathy triggers her to channel to Hermie some of her loneliness.
She turns on the record player and invites Hermie to dance with her.
They kiss and embrace, tears on both their faces.
Without speaking, and to the sound only of the waves, they move to the bedroom, where she draws him into bed and gently makes love with him.
Afterward, withdrawing again into her world of hurt, Dorothy retires to the porch, leaving Hermie alone in her bedroom.
He approaches her on the porch, where she can only quietly say “Good night, Hermie.”
He leaves, his last image of Dorothy being of her leaning against the railing, as she smokes a cigarette and stares into the night sky.
At dawn Hermie meets Oscy and the two share a moment of reconciliation, with Oscy informing Hermie that Miriam will recover.
Oscy, in an uncharacteristic act of sensitivity, lets Hermie be by himself, departing with the words, “Sometimes life is one big pain in the ass.”
Trying to sort out what has happened, Hermie goes back to Dorothy’s house.
Dorothy has fled the island in the night and an envelope is tacked to the front door with Hermie’s name on it.
Inside is a note from Dorothy, saying she hopes he understands she must go back home as there is much to do.
She assures Hermie she will never forget him, and he will find his way of remembering what happened that night.
Her note closes with the hope that Hermie may be spared the senseless tragedies of life.
Final Scene
SOURCE: “Summer of ’42”
From the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yes, now I remember… I love the lovely soundtrack.
Is that all?
What do you expect me to say, kiddo?
Well …, what do you think about Dorothy?
She seems to be a nice woman to Hermie.
Diane, do you really think so?
Yes, I do. What’s wrong with my opinion about Dorothy?
I thought you were Christian.
Yes, I AM. My goodness, you think I said something wrong, don’t you?
Well …, Dorothy is a married woman. In Christianity, a married woman shouldn’t share the bed with other men except her husband. It’s an example of fornication—a sin.
Kato, are you a Christian, too?
Oh no, I’m not. As I told you before, I believe in the traffic cop of the universe.
Earth Rotation & Revolution
around a moving Sun
You know what, Diane? … The Earth is travelling around the Sun at a speed of 29.78 km/s—that is, 107,200 km/h!
No kidding! … 107,200 km per hour? That’s 244 times as fast as the fastest car on Earth.
That’s right!
So what’s got to do with Providence?
You see, Diane, the Earth travels at a speed of 107,200 km/h! Yet no traffic accidents have taken place in the universe since the human beings appeared on Earth, where there are so many traffic deaths everyday.
So, you’re saying, there must be a traffic cop in the universe, and this cop is Providence.
The Innocent (Italian: L’innocente) was the last film made by Italian director Luchino Visconti.
Based on a novel by Gabriele d’Annunzio, the story is set up in the 19th century Italy.
Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini) is a wealthy Roman married to Giuliana (Laura Antonelli).
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Tullio Hermil & Giuliana
But Tullio lives a double sexual life with a possessive and aristocratic mistress (Jennifer O’Neill).
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Teresa: Tullio’s mistress
Half into the story, Tullio rekindles his love to Giuliana when the couple visits a villa where they met for the first time, then makes love with fervor.
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I’ve found one peculiar aspect when the couple make love.
Giuliana’s underarm hair is not shaven, though it is more common in much of the Western world today for women to shave their underarm hair regularly.
So I assume that it was rather common in the 19th century Italy for even aristocratic women to have their underarm hair intact.
Anyway, after learning that Giuliana is having a torrid affair of her own, he becomes tormented by her fidelity and descends into madness.
It is really interesting and fascinating.
So, Kato, you were attracted to the woman’s underarm hair, weren’t you?
Yes, I did, but I’m NOT talking about the woman’s underarm hair today. I’d rather like to talk about the life of Jennifer O’Neill.
What about her life?
Just read the following excerpt, will you?
Jennifer O’Neill
O’Neill has been married nine times to eight husbands.
She married, divorced, and remarried husband number six.
At one point, she was married to four different men in four years.
At age 44, she married husband number seven sooner than any other actress, sooner than Zsa Zsa Gabor (who was 63), Liza Minnelli (59) and Lana Turner (49), making her the youngest “most married” Hollywood celebrity.
The August 23, 1993, issue of People magazine reports that a friend of O’Neill’s says that the actress obtained the (Texas) annulment of marriage number seven (Neil L. Bonin – after less than five months) “… because she felt stifled.”
O’Neill has three children from as many fathers, a daughter (Aimee) by her first husband whom she married at age 17, and a son (Reis Michael) from her fifth marriage and another son (Cooper Alan) from her sixth marriage.
At age 34, O’Neill suffered a gunshot wound.
Police officers in the Westchester County town of Bedford, New York, who interviewed the actress, said that on October 23, 1982, she shot herself accidentally in the abdomen with a .38 caliber revolver at her Bedford mansion while she was trying to determine if it was loaded.
She describes many of her life experiences, including her marriages and career, to her move to her Tennessee farm in the late 1990s in her 1999 autobiography Surviving Myself.
O’Neill says that she wrote this autobiography (her first book) “… at the prompting of her children.”
In 2004, O’Neill wrote and published “From Fallen To Forgiven,” a book of biographical notes and philosophical thoughts about life and existence.
The actress, who had an abortion after the divorce from her first husband while dating a Wall Street socialite, became a pro-life activist and a born-again Christian in 1986 at age 38, counseling abstinence to teens.
Concerning her abortion, she writes:
I was told a lie from the pit of hell: that my baby was just a blob of tissue. The aftermath of abortion can be equally deadly for both mother and unborn child. A woman who has an abortion is sentenced to bear that for the rest of her life.
O’Neill continues to be active as a writer, inspirational speaker, fundraiser for the benefit of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States.
She has also served as the spokesperson for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, a non-denominational, non-political, non-profit organization dedicated to post-abortion healing and recovery.
O’Neill works for several other charitable causes as well, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa International and the Arthritis Foundation.
As a breast cancer survivor she has also been a former spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.
She has also hosted a one-hour television special for World Vision shot in Africa concerning the HIV epidemic.
In addition, she remains actively involved with her childhood love of animals and horses, sponsoring the Jennifer O’Neill Tennis Tournament to benefit the ASPCA, and fund-raiser for Guiding Eyes for the blind.
O’Neill purchased a horse farm in Tennessee called “Hillenglade Farm” where she runs a non-profit organization as a ministry and retreat for girls and young women.
SOURCE: “Jennifer O’Neill”
From the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wow! She has been married nine times to eight husbands. I wish I could live long enough to get married nine times.
Well…, the thing is, she became a pro-life activist and a born-again Christian in 1986 at age 38 after an abortion and divorces.
So what’s got to do with Eternity?
You see, Diane, one can achieve more if you live long—if not to Eternity.
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【Himiko’s Monologue】
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Wow! Jennifer O’Neill has been married nine times to eight husbands.
What do you think?
I’ve never been married.
What’s wrong with me?
I know there is an old saying:
Where there is a will,
there is a way.
I have a strong will to marry a nice gentleman, however, there seems to have been no way for me to get married so far.
Well …, I don’t live long enough to find a better gentleman, I suppose.
In any case, I hope Kato will write another interesting article soon.
So please come back to see me.
O’Neill was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the granddaughter of a Brazilian bank president, and the daughter of a famous Brazilian businessman, Oscar D’ O’Neill.
When she was 14, the family moved to New York City.
On Easter Sunday, 1962, O’Neill attempted suicide because the move would separate her from her dog Mandy and horse Monty—“her whole world”.
That same year, she was discovered by the Ford modeling agency and put under contract.
By age 15, she was gracing the cover of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen and other magazines, earning $80,000 a year in 1962 working as a fashion model in New York City and also working in Paris, France, and dating older men.
She saved up her modeling fees and bought a horse, Alezon, who balked before a wall at a horse show, breaking O’Neill’s neck and back in three places, and giving her a long period of recovery.
She attended New York City’s Professional Children’s School and the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan.
Later, she moved on to films and worked in a number of television movies and series.
In 1968 O’Neill landed a small role in For Love of Ivy.
In 1970 she played one of the lead female roles in Rio Lobo starring opposite John Wayne.
She is most remembered for her role in the 1971 film Summer of ’42, where she played Dorothy Walker, the young widow of a pilot shot down and killed in World War II.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Denman Blog2 