Posts (page 2)

Being that today is Groundhog Day, the big question this morning was... did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow??

NO!  He did NOT see his shadow so legend has it that we should expect an early spring instead of 6 more weeks of winter.

Not that it hasn't been feeling much like spring in this so-called winter... now, why doesn't this happen when we're in the throes of a harsh winter??? I'm sure people would be more welcoming of that kind of news instead of telling them what might be more or less a little obvious... Well, I'm sure the folks in the midwest must be relieved to hear this.

Anyways, I guess my plans of learning to ski/snowboard this winter might have to be reworked. Gotta hit those bunny hill slopes soon! 

Yesterday's train ride home was definitely a first.

Normally, when i'm riding the train at 10 pm all I want to do is either read or sleep - as I'm sure most of the other regular commuters would. And normally, I would be filled with disdain at being an IVER (involuntary eavesdropper) to the loud and at times drunken conversations of non-regular commuters who probably, unlike me, do not have to wake up 6 hours later.  Last night, though, was different.  in the midst of trying to read my magazine, a heated conversation calls my attention.  It was coming from across the aisle a few rows ahead from three people, 2 men and a lady seating on those seats that face each other.  It sounded like they were arguing, but upon listening closely, it seemed like they actually were not.  I strain to hear and catch the words: racial profiling and voting and checks and balances.  What the hell are these people talking about??? They don't seem to know each other..."I am a Republican and I am very conservative," one of the guys suddenly and passionately declares.  By now, they've caught the attention of nearly all the people around them... "I am all for the Patriot Act and for racial profiling," the Republican says. To this, his two counterparts - whom I deduced were probably not Republicans and apparently did not share the same fondness for the Patriot Act nor racial profiling - responded adamantly. Needless to say, they exchanged views and carried on until we reached Jamaica where the two men got off.  Before leaving, though, they all acknowledged that everything was cool with no hard feelings and how genuinely delightful their conversation was. One of them even remarked, "I would love to continue this conversation..." gosh, and I think there might have been an exchange of numbers.

The lady who was inevitably left behind was now being engaged by two other ladies seated across the aisle from her.  They must have commented on the just finished, socio-political discussion because she said, "I've never had this happen before," and went on to say how amazed and shocked she was.

I must agree.  This definitely is the first time I got treated to such an intellectually stimulating and informative spectacle on the train. It was surprisingly fascinating and it sure made that ride home a more interesting one.

Yatta!  Yes, everyone...

Letters from Iwo Jima is one of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture!!

As the nominations were announced, Letters from Iwo Jima also received nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Editing.  See complete list.

Nino didn't get the nom for supporting actor, but, hey... with Letters being nominated for Best Picture, does it mean Nino will be coming to LA????

Well, I'm off to check flights to LA for me and my sister...just in case. 

Good luck to the film and may they get all the awards they were nominated for!!  LIke I said in my review of Letters, I think it is a brave production and I think its message is really shining through and people are recognizing it!

Wesley Autrey.

If one drowsy morning -- or evening! -- I would perchance lose my footing and fall onto the subway tracks, he is the one person I am praying to be on the platform.  2 weeks ago he bravely jumped onto the tracks of the #1 train to save the life of a young man who had suffered a seizure and fallen off the platform. By lying on top of him and having the oncoming train whiz by overhead, his bravery and quick thinking saved both their lives.  If that weren't enough, he was with his 2 young daughters whom he left on the platform as he selflessly risked his life to save someone else's - a total stranger.

Other than the news coverage that he is receiving, it might not be surprising that Mr. Autrey and his daring act will somehow slip into quiet obscurity. Like a stuffed toy you've had since you were younger now hiding away in some closest that try as you might can't get rid off, you don't really need to see it but are comforted by the fact that it is there and that alone is enough to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling.  We know in the recesses of our memory that Mr. Autrey and what he did will always be there. And when we remember it, we will get that warm fuzzy feeling.  Or, if we want to have that warm fuzzy feeling - perhaps when after a really trying day, you sit next to someone on the train that doesn't seem to undestand "talk low, so no one will know" thus, making you an IVER(InVoluntary EavesdroppeR).  You can think back on Mr. Autrey and be assuaged by the fact that good people still and do exist.  That New Yorkers are really not as rude as people think them to be (but this is a totally different discussion altogether).

Anyways, unlike the j-pop idols that i spend so much time trying to get updates about and are dying to meet, Mr. Autrey will get none of that attention.  He won't have forums and websites setup by fans in his honor...there won't be rumors in the discussion threads of a possible place to get a glimpse of him walking down the street... there may not even be a discussion thread solely dedicated to him.  It would be shocking news to me, too, if someone started selling photos of him on ebay...  and why not?  Mr. Autrey has done something that really is truly amazing.  And it is truly no less inspiring than the stories I've heard about my so-called 'idols'.  Surely, other actors/idols have done great humanitarian things...and it is easy to be enamored by the fact that these people from such high stature would come down their lofty lairs and take the time to help the poor, the elderly, the disadvantaged, the handicapped.  But are they really risking anything by doing so?  If anything, it might even help them get good exposure and they just stand to gain more. I doubt that Mr. Autrey was thinking of all the rewards he now received when he lept off that platform. And yet, he still did it.

So, this is why I have devoted this one page and this one long entry just for Mr. Wesley Autrey.  That even though he may not get his own blog community, he will have this, my little tribute.  Because, God forbid, if someone should fall from the platform that i'm standing on and i can see a train approaching, I wouldn't know what I would do.  Would I have done what he did? I would love to say, yes, and I would want to have helped, but, honestly, I really don't know.  I would never have even thought of squeezing underneath the train. Seriously.

Granted that he is a Navy veteran making him somewhat more predisposed to knowing what to do in such situations, the fact is he still did it.  He could have not jumped and saved that young man's life. He had his 2 daughters to think off... but, thankfully, he did.

Mayor Bloomberg remarked that Mr. Autrey, "makes us proud to be New Yorkers". And I am. Thanks to you, Mr. Autrey, for being a hero, our hero.  You may not have saved as much lives as Bill Gates in Africa, but all it usually takes is just one. One person to inspire a whole other group of people.  And now, maybe the LIRR can add that to their Watch the Gap campaign...that if you do fall into the gap... don't stand up. Stay down and you might be able to save your life (altough i really don't think there is enough of a gap underneath the electric and diesel trains to crawl under).  Joking aside... at least people are now aware of what they can do when they get into a similar situation.  Possibly, one day in the near future, another news story will break about some good samaritan that did the same thing Mr. Autrey did and was able to save another person from an untimely death.  The young man that Mr. Autrey saved may consider himself lucky.  But I think we should all consider ourselves lucky that Mr. Autrey did what he did.  We always find help in the most unexpected places, and because of Mr. Autrey they may be in more places now.

Thank you.

*Spoiler alert!  May contain some spoilers.

Last December 14, 2006, my brother, sister and I were fortunate enough to watch Letters from Iwo Jima. Thanks to the special screening sponsored by the New York Observer and to my sister who woke up early and braved the coldest day in December to get the tickets, we got to see our Nino's movie before the scheduled screening on December 20.  Admittedly, my sister and I are Arashi fans and, needless to say, we wanted to watch the movie because Nino (Ninomiya Kazunari) was in it… even then, I was also intrigued by the movie’s story.  I didn’t get to watch Flags of Our Fathers, of which, Letters was the companion film, but Flags didn’t appeal as much to me.  With Letters, however, it was offering a different perspective -- one that I had yet to hear about and I was eager to find out what it would be.

Having spent my early years in the Philippines , I learned about the various atrocities of the Japanese as they occupied the country during WWII. It was so close to home that it was really hard to ignore.  And the Japanese did get a bad rap because of that war… even if they were not at all involved or didn’t want to be involved in it.   After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, numerous Japanese (two-thirds of which were Americans) in the West Coast of the United States were put in “internment camps”.  Newly released photos by some photographer, a courageous lady whose name escapes me at the moment, tasked by the government to take pictures at the camps show us how quickly the lives of these Japanese-Americans were changed just because they were of Japanese ancestry.  Whether they supported the war or not had little bearing compared to them just being Japanese. While the aim of the government was to have the pictures be proof of the “humane treatment” at the internment camps, our photographer’s pictures reveal a starkly deeper story.  She gave these people a human face, a story, and a depth that went beyond race and color into a sadness that would strike any human being at the core.

I think Letters from Iwo Jima does just that.  It gives our nameless “enemies” a human face and a story.  That while we may be on different sides of the battle, a human being is a human being… as Shylock, so aptly says in the Merchant of Venice, “…if you prick us, do we not bleed?...”  We are all the same.  A mother in the US is praying for her son’s safe return home, just us a mother in Japan is doing the same.  A father fighting in the war would always be dreaming of his children and when he is going to see them again – be he American or Japanese.  It seems so simple, both of these two camps just want the same thing, yet they still end up fighting against each other…

This is the dichotomy that, for me, was working in the movie.  While the seemingly opposing forces may ultimately want the same thing for themselves personally, they are torn by their other duty, namely, to their country.  Saigo, who so happens to be played by Nino and whose name so happens to mean “last” in Japanese, embodies this internal conflict.  All he wants is to get back to his wife and the baby daughter he has never seen. But then, he comes across to his other comrades as being unpatriotic and unwilling to fulfill his duty to his country.  But what is duty?  This was a question that was raised so many times in the movie.  When Saigo asks Shimzu, “Are we more useful to our country alive or dead?”  or when Baron Nishi reads the letter from the young American soldier’s mother telling him, “to do what is right because it is right,” or when Shimzu gets released from being a Kempetei because he didn’t think it was right to kill that family’s dog.  Even more directly, when Kuribayashi was asked by the wife of his friend, an American Army officer, if he would fight against him should Japan and America go to war.

But then, if I may add…what does it mean to be a coward?  Is it really cowardice to do what is right?  Or on the other hand, must bravery just mean dying for your country and leaving your wife by herself and your children without a father?  Of course, there is definitely some pride in being able to fulfill this duty.  And no doubt, every family who has lost a loved one who was fighting in a war to defend our freedom and way of life deserves to be proud of such an accomplishment. But what does war mean?  Must countless lives and families be torn apart because of it?  Is war really necessary?

May be, may not.  But the movie forces the viewer to ask this question and examine closely what may or may not be the answer.  And I think this is the power of this movie.  In making people think about the other casualties of war.  Not just of the ones on the field but all the other lives connected to them.  Actually, I think it may just well be in its ability to make people think about war itself: past, present or future.  I mean it is definitely an excellent movie, very well made.  And Ken Watanabe’s acting is definitely superb.  Nino and Ihara do a good job too.  Even the lighting and the cinematography, the nearly black and white color, highlighting the bleakness and murkiness of the situation just add to the factors that make it such a wonderful production.  

While some have criticized the film for being Americanized or inaccurate, I think it is still a brave production.  I think, too, the accolades the film has received and continue to receive are hopefully a testament to the same things I had written about here.  Again, there are some things that should not be overlooked, as some survivors from the Bataan Death March are well aware…but as A.O. Scott writes in the New York Times, war does have the effect of dehumanizing both sides to be able to effectively carry out their duty. 

And this is what saddens me most about war… it does bring out the worst in all of us.  What’s even more sad is that as the actual Letters from Iwo Jima (which the book and the movie are based on) reveal, these people we were fighting were just like us.  That from beyond the grave and similar to those pictures from the Japanese Internment Camps that just resurfaced, we discover that these people not only had a human face, but also a story and tells us of a universal sadness that strikes us to our core.

So... finally...  My first blog post!

Now that that's out of the way...

To all who will read, I hope you enjoy.  This blog will chronicle my musings and ramblings -- mostly about anything that comes to mind.  Although, hopefully, with the new year, it will help me chronicle the year as it passes. I have a lot of things that I am hoping to do this year( like starting my blog )...And come year-end, I pray that I will be looking back at an eventful year.  Comments are definitely welcome; but let's all play by the rules, okay?  :)