Friday Film Buff: Sworn Brotherhood

The Mafia is a subject that has fascinated American movie culture for decades from the original Scarface to The Godfather films to Goodfellas, the strong family bonds, strict code of honor, and violent retributions are pretty much a guarantee of box office sales.
A similar crime organization that is far less well-known is the violent and highly traditional Yakuza of Japan, who adhere to a code of honor as strictly as the Samurai to Bushido. The Yakuza have appeared in some American films like Black Rain and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill franchise, but it is more prevalent in Japanese cinema, just as our Mafia films are here.
One of my favorite American-made films about the Yakuza is the aptly-titled The Yakuza (1974) directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura. The script was written by brothers Leonard and Paul Schrader and fetched the then-unheard-of price of $325,000. Since it wasn't my money, I'm not really in a position to say that it was worth it, but I will say it's pretty darn good.
The story follows Harry Kilmer's (Mitchum) return to Tokyo where he had been stationed as an MP in the Marines after World War 2. A friend's daughter has been kidnapped by a Yakuza gangster in retaliation for a business deal gone bad, and the friend (Brian Keith) wants Kilmer to use his connection with an old associate (Ken Takakura) to get the girl back.
I think that this is a fascinating look into the Yakuza underworld as well as a fine action film. There are some great fight sequences as well as stirring emotional drama. I think the film is very respectful of both the Japanese and Yakuza cultures, but I'm not an expert. If there are any experts out there who've seen this film, I'd be curious to hear your insights.
The Yakuza is not a film that immediately comes to mind when mentioning Robert Mitchum or Sydney Pollack films, but I really think it should. Ken Takakura is known as "the Clint Eastwood of Japan" and with good reason. His performance is simmering.
I had some difficulty finding a trailer for this film - like I said, it's not well known - but I did find that a fellow fan on YouTube had made his own trailer for the film, in the modern Hollywood-style. It's pretty cool:

Theatre Thursday: Revelations

Yesterday was dance legend Alvin Ailey's birthday. He would have been 80 years old. Though Ailey himself passed away in 1989, he is very much alive in the body of dance he created during his lifetime. I'm not going to write a lot of biographical information here or even attempt to describe his breathtaking style and enduring message through dance. You can go to Wikipedia or do a Google search for that. I thought it more appropriate to allow the legacy of Alvin Ailey to speak for itself, as it always has: through dance.

The above video is from, I believe, a 1982 performance of Ailey's groundbreaking Revelations. The uploader andithankyou2 has also put the other sections on their YouTube page along with many more examples of great dance performance.

Wildlife Wednesday: The Fast and the Furious

I really try to avoid hyperbole. I think it is greatly over-used on the internet and even in everyday conversation. One person I follow on Twitter (tentatively) describes every other link he posts as "Amazing!" I understand that there's a bit of salesmanship involved, but I really do think that superlative words and phrases should be reserved for those things that really deserve them. I rarely refer to something as "amazing" unless it amazed me or I think it will amaze you.
So, when I tell you to check out this amazing video of a cheetah defending her cubs from a lion, you can bet that I mean what I say.

I've had cheetahs on the brain for the last week or so. First, there's these very cute pictures on Zooborns.com of the cheetah cubs recently born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and, second, my friend Randy Diamon, a local actor here in Denver, told me about his favorite charity organization, the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which I wrote about recently on my other blog.
Cheetahs are among the smaller of the big cats. They're built for speed rather than brawn, and they can hit speeds of up to 70 mph.

Zoom-zoom.
There are an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 in Africa and maybe about 200 living in small populations in Iran. Outside of captivity, that's it - bringing the cheetah population down about 88-90% from what it was a century ago.
Luckily there are organizations like the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Defenders of Wildlife working to preserve cheetah populations in their native habitat. You can visit their respective websites to see what they are doing and how you can help.
Here's one more cheetah video - a cute one this time. Cheetah cubs learn to hunt from their mothers, but how do you teach orphaned cheetah cubs to hunt?
Like this:

Tuesday Tunes: Shiny Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to singer, songwriter, film producer, and activist Michael Stipe, best known as the frontman of legendary alternative rock band R.E.M. Like most fans of Michael Stipe and R.E.M., I am often moved by Stipe's incredible vocal stylings and his surreal lyrics (when they can be understood, that is.)
 If we go way, way back to 1983, we can see Stipe and company making their television debut on Late Night with David Letterman, performing a song that - at the time - had no title apparently, but we now know and love as "South Central Rain (I'm Sorry.)"

As part of the fundraiser for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Stipe and Chris Martin of Coldplay recorded a cover of one of my favorite songs: Joseph Arthur's "In the Sun."

And, finally, today I wanted to share a fun video from Sesame Street where Michael Stipe changed the lyrics of R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People" to the Muppet-ready "Furry Happy Monsters."

Happy Birthday, Michael.

Monday Motivator: Perfection

I am always very moved by the story that I like to call "Shaya at the Bat," and Wayne Dyer included it in his book, The Power of Intention. In this video, Dr. Dyer reads the story to a live audience.

Everyday in our lives, we strive toward some level of perfection: perfection in our jobs, perfection in our relationships, and perfection in what we create. Often, that perfection is an image we've seen in a movie somewhere (a fictional movie), and we're not even sure how satisfying it will be if we ever manage to get it. What's more, we find ourselves engaging in a lot of less-than-perfect behavior in our pursuit of those images.

In the story of Shaya, we are exposed to a different idea of perfection. Nine of those boys lost a game that they could have won. The perfection they sought when they put on their cleats that day was not the perfection that they got. They got something better.
What I get from Shaya's story is that perfection doesn't have to be some light at the end of the tunnel - some far-off goal that must be achieved. Perfection can be in the flowers and shiny pebbles along the way, and our own perfection can be in the way that we appreciate those things when we come upon them.
I'm not saying to you that you should give up on your dreams and goals, I'm just saying to find some perfection today, too. It's there if you look for it.

Superhero Sunday: Alouette, Je Te Plumerai

That would be Peregrine, there, under
 the yellow speech bubble. Zut!

Not much is known about the French superhero Peregrine from Marvel Comics. He came into play during the 1982 Marvel Cross-over mini-series Contest of Champions in which heroes were collected from Earth to fight in a contest for . . . oh, I don't know, rare stamps or something. With a shortage of international heroes in the Marvel Universe, superheroes like Le Peregrine were created to show that this was a global happening. There was also a young lady from Ireland calling herself Shamrock whose super-power was . . . really, really good luck. (Not kidding.) Her superhero career ended some years later when she broke her leg and figured her luck had run out. (Blimey!) Also, I think those kids finally stole her marshmallow cereal.

At least he doesn't have a pencil-thin
mustache and a beret.

Spiffy costume, though, lassie.

When the contest was over, we didn't see much of Peregrine until he was asked to join Silver Sable's Wild Pack - a kind of super-powered INTERPOL. He is basically an incidental character in the Marvel universe. Writing French characters is not really Marvel's strong suit. They pronounce things like "zat" instead of "that," exclaim "sacrebleu!" a lot, and - though I can't confirm this - probably have an inexplicable fondness for Jerry Lewis. Also "peregrine" is not a French word, so the fact that he was called "Le Peregrine" in Marvel's version of France was inaccurate. (In French versions of the comics, he was called Le Faucon Pèlerin, meaning "Peregrine Falcon.") Peregrine Falcons are indigenous to many countries in the world, including France, so they did at least get that much right.
Peregrine's alter ego Alain Racine is a writer born in Moulins, France, but little else is known of his origin.

His suit allows him to fly through the use of an anti-gravity belt (really need to get me one of those) and jet turbines beneath his glider wings, so, no, he does not have to flap his arms continuously. He is an expert at the martial art of savate, also known as French kick-boxing, but possesses no actual super-powers . . . apart from body odor and rudeness, no doubt.

Save the World Saturday: The Weight of Water

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines water in this way:
wa·ter: the liquid that descends from the clouds as rain, forms streams, lakes, and seas, and is a major constituent of all living matter and that when pure is an odorless, tasteless, very slightly compressible liquid oxide of hydrogen H₂O which appears bluish in thick layers, freezes at 0° C and boils at 100° C, has a maximum density at 4° C and a high specific heat, is feebly ionized to hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, and is a poor conductor of electricity and a good solvent
I have a much simpler definition:
Water is life.
Over 37, 000 children under the age of five in the world die every year as a result of unsafe water and unsanitary living conditions.
Charity: Water is an organization that was brought to my attention by my good friend Erica of Digital Dimensions (aka @Ekwoman). Here is a video that explains a little more about what they do and why they do it:

I encourage you to read some their informational page as well.
You can help. There are a number of ways to get involved and, of course, you can donate as well. In fact, Erica has extended her personal fundraising campaign, so please drop in on her Gifts With Meaning 2.0 page and give a few bucks toward the cause.
If one of your resolutions for 2011 is to be more charitable, I can't really think of a better place to start.