John

Memory sort of serves so I know that I attended some sort of large high school journalism conference in 1975 and that each of the lead Los Angeles Times arts critics talked to large groups about their job and then took questions. Hillburn was already the lead music critic at the Times. I got a look at him, but I did not attend his talk. My best guess is that it was because Charles Champlin (then the lead movie critic) talked during the same time period and I definitely saw and heard him. He talked about how few good movies were being released and suggested he might move over to reviewing books because there were a lot more of them released during any given year and, presumably, a lot more that were worth reccommending to readers as worthy of the expense in cash and time. Hillburn liked Springsteen and The Clash early so he’s all right by me. I did not live in Southern Califorina from 1976 to 2000, but I was often here for holidays and I generally found the year-end polling in which all the numerous music critics participated very informative.

As to film reviews, the last of the few lengthy reviews I committed to paper dealt with the first film in The Trilogy. A great deal of it was given over to complaints about the screenplay adaptation. I also included a lengthy explanation of what I would have done differently had it been my film to write and direct. After listening to the DVD commentaries for Fellowship and seeing the other two movies, I’m even more confirmed in my view that, as good as they are, the three Lord of the Rings movies aren’t all they could and probably should have been and that is primarily because of “safe” (in movie terms) adaptation choices.

Anyway, I mostly read reviewers to see if we saw the same film and sometimes to see how much they know. We would probably never have known that Roger Ebert hadn’t seen The Sons of Katie Elder if there hadn’t been a Four Brothers.

Dmac—

I had no idea…

http://www.hbo.com/corpinfo/international.shtml

…but then I usually don’t.

tibald—

I might agree, but then the two biggest game players I know are also the two biggest moviegoers I know.

…

The Seven Bushido Virtues…

http://www.takase.com/MartialArts/Bushido/Bushido.htm

There is a link there to an online edition of Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido, The Soul of Japan. I last read it while in college (it was assigned) so I think I’ll read it again while I know where it is.

Best.

Imagine being out of the closet in the Middle East? Who would have thought? But there it is -

“THE FIRST HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, CAIRO, EGYPT”

This is not a joke. I kid you not. Check it out yourself. The Arabic TV station that carried the news also has a website with comments, and some are in English.

Your story does capture some lingering essence of Bushido. Bushido was not a specific codified set of commandments. It didn’t reside in a single tome or scripture. It was a way of life, an unwrittten, yet clearly undertood, set of social rules and expectations that developed over centuries. It’s references were in thousands of books, poems, but mostly by the examples set by the previous generations of ethical samurai. It could not be conveyed by any classroom instruction, rather it was emparted by the day to day living and training of the samurai class. It was ephemeral and real at the same time. It had roots in Buddhism, Confuscism (both imported to Japan and modified for the Japanese sensitivities)and developed into a set of aesthetics and ethics that guided right behavior. With the abolition of the feudal system, the samurai as a class was ended along with its lifestyle. Without this total cultural environment to sustain it, Bushido withered away.

This is not to say that the samurai were pacifists, far from it – they were hard men, warriors and did many things that would seem cruel to modern eyes. But they were also men of refinement and self discipline who would not condone the wanton slaughter of innocents. They held their honor dear and would never shame themselves or their families.

The so-called Bushido of WWII was more of a propaganda and indoctrination of conscripts mostly of peasant ancestry (samurai never amounted to more than 5% of Japanese population at any period.)

There’s a book titled “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by a guy who was one during WWII. In childhood, he was greatly inflenced by his grandfather, a retired samurai.

After sinking an American ship, he informed his crew that it was proper to show respect for the Americans they had just killed, since “they died for their country.”

On a ligher note, there’s this

http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/2005/08/greatest_movie_.html

Agree with you wholeheartedly regarding HBO’s influence in this country, but wondering if you (or anyone out there) can provide foreign subscribership for same.

I realize that while they may have some reach outside of our borders, the majority of markets outside of the US are still probably in their early stages regarding HBO (unless SkyTv carries it on their systems, which of course could make a big impact worldwide).

The French would most likely think Six Feet Under a brilliant depiction of the modern American Nuclear Family, but then we discussed a similar theme earlier regarding Alan Ball’s American Beauty.