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Festivity, Revels, and Nocturnal Dalliances
On Diabolique
Velvet Hustler
Posted on January 7, 2010 by Keith
Eight. Nine. Three. In the Japanese card game known as hana-fuda, it's the worst hand you can get. Eight, nine, and three — ya, ku, and sa. Japanese organized crime families adopted the name "yakuza" because of this hand. Because you need to be lucky to be a yakuza. Because you've drawn the worst hand if you cross them. Because winning with a ya-ku-sa hand requires the utmost skill at reading an opponent. Others may claim it's because it's bad luck that leads to a life of crime, or because yakuza are born losers. Or because in the Edo period, when the yakuza first emerged on the scene, they might have evolved at least in part out of the tekiya and bakuto social groups.
Tekiya were peddlers, but peddlers of the cheapest and shoddiest goods, like Sham-Wow and the medieval Japanese Snuggies. Often the goods were not only of poor quality, but were also stolen or illegal. They were one of the lowest social groups in Medieval Japan. But lower still were bakuto, the gamblers. Gambling was illegal, and those who engaged in it in as professional a nature as one can with something illegal invited the scorn of mainstream society. That many members of mainstream society didn't mind the occasional trip to a seedy gambling parlor (often set up in abandoned warehouses and temples on the outskirts of cities and towns) didn't stop them from looking down on everyone else who engaged in or made possible the vice, just as being gay doesn't stop a politician from spewing venomous anti-homosexuality propaganda. After all, we humans despise nothing so much as a practice we enjoy that is being enjoyed by someone other than us.
As groups were and still are wont to do, both tekiya and bakuto began to organize themselves. Tekiya organizations soon found themselves engaged in a number of administrative duties during markets and festivals, such as assigning space for peddlers and collecting administrative fees. Once administration and money came into play, so did the need for private security — you couldn't trust the government to run your security, after all, considering how much of what was being bought and sold was illicit in nature. And once you're collecting money and manning your own security details, you have further need administrative structures — who charges what, who gets paid what, who answers to who. And hell, while you have your security patrolling the local market during a festival, you might as well also use them to encourage merchants — both legitimate and shady — to pay a little extra for the protection services.
Similarly, bakuto operated in a shadow world where a lot of money was involved, and where the potential for violent confrontation — with cheaters, with drunks, with overly pious locals — meant that recruiting your own private security details was essential. And with so much money changing hands, there is, once again, the need for administrators. And hey, gamblers lose money, so why not set up some way for a down on his luck card player to borrow a little should he find himself short one night? And then, naturally, you need the proper type of guy to go and collect on that loan should the hapless gambler prove unable or unwilling to pay back it back.
Did the Japanese organized crime underworld known as the yakuza come from one of these two groups? Sure, why not? But why stop at just two potential origins? Why not add in the kabuki-mono? "Crazy ones" — samurai who reveled in dressing in outlandish style, adopting crazy hairstyles, and speaking in an elaborate slang that practically became its own language. During the Tokugawa era, when Japan was in a state of relative peace and stability, the services of samurai, including the flamboyant kabuki-mono, were no longer in great demand. With no wars to fight, no shoguns to defend, many samurai became masterless mercenaries, or ronin, picking up work wherever they could find it. Less scrupulous ronin didn't mind if that work involved something rough and not the least bit legal. Could it be that this is where the yakuza come from? Or from some combination of the above three? After all, if you're looking to hire someone to protect your gambling hall or shake down local merchants, who better than a masterless samurai who needs the cash, understands loyalty, and already has his own sword?
But wait! There's more. Perhaps chafing at the unsavory characteristic of any of these potential origin stories, many yakuza claim their organizations descend from machi-yokko — servants of the town, who protected their villages from seedy ronin and other thugs who might aspire to create mayhem. These were the heroes who stand up for the poor and defenseless. The kind of misunderstood community heroes who would do something like, I don't know, organize massive and efficient relief efforts in the wake of a devastating earthquake while the government was still floundering about trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. That's exactly what happened in January of 1995, when the Great Hanshin earthquake ravaged the city of Kobe. The extensiveness of the damage wreaked havoc with official relief and emergency plans, but the Yamaguchi-gumi — a yakuza clan that has long called Kobe home — were more nimble in their ability to react, mobilizing to distribute food and medical supplies to people in desperate need. Hey, surely they're entitled to ask for the occasional "contribution" from businesses in exchange for that kind of service. Beats what you get for paying your taxes, right?
Sorting it all out is about like sorting out the true origins of the Freemasons, which is a bit funny, because unlike the masons (who, I know, are not a criminal organization) or Chinese triads, yakuza are not members of a secret society. Their identities are not guarded secrets. They usually have publicly known headquarters and go out of their way to stick out in a society that values not sticking out. And yet the story of their origin is absurdly convoluted, contradictory, and shrouded in uncertainty that it must make even the most deceptive of secret societies envious. Even ninjas have a clearer origin. As is always the case when history gets mixed up with folklore and outright bullshit, there's probably a piece of the true story in each individual tale. Certainly, the fact that yakuza ranks are still often referred to as tekiya or bakuto lends credence to the assertion that the organization evolved at least in some large part from those old social orders, as does the fact that protection rackets and illicit gambling have are and have always been two of the biggest businesses for the yakuza.
And yes, some of the men who became yakuza were probably ronin, and others were probably ronin hired to protect people from other ronin, giving some credence to the popular (with yakuza) idea that their organization has been a noble pursuit meant to shelter the weak from the brutal. But the magnanimous spirit of the yakuza is somewhat difficult to reconcile with some of the other common business pursuits of yakuza — including shopping for girls in China, where the one child per family and preference for boys has resulted in a lot of unwanted baby girls for yakuza to buy on the cheap, bring to Japan, and raise to be sex slaves. They also like to troll for gullible women in The Philippines as well, promising impoverished young women a better life in Japan, only to force them into prostitution.
And yeah, there's also the extortion and blackmail, and the unique yakuza style of shaking down major companies by buying up a small amount of stock, sending rowdies to the shareholders' meetings, then accepting payoffs to keep the yakuza troublemakers out of future board room meetings. But most people can roll with sticking it to big businesses; it's the human trafficking that seems particularly at odds with the yakuza image of themselves as crusading community heroes. I don't even think prostitution is particularly vile, nor do I think it should be illegal. But sex slavery is something entirely different, and forcing naive women or children into the sex trade is hardly becoming of a self-styled Robin Hood.
So there's what they say. There's what historians say There's what the police say. At this point, it's safe for me to say that sorting out a definitive origin story for the yakuza isn't going to happen in this article. Wherever they might have come from, the yakuza evolved a very structured society, with well-defined chains of command, initiation rituals, and behaviors. So let's fast forward to a more modern era, where our ability to sift out truth from hearsay and self-aggrandizing bullshit is a little easier. Post-war Japan was left in a disorganized quandary, with many battle-hardened young war veterans suddenly out of a job, just like the samurai of the Tokugawa era. Drifting, directionless, enraged, impotent, frustrated — these were the confused and angry young men who, with few other options, drifted toward the yakuza and established the third type of gang member: gurentai. Hoodlums.
Unlike bakuto and tekiya, both of which trace their origins back to feudal Japan, gurentai were a particularly post-war phenomenon, and like much in pot-war Japan, they were keenly influenced by Western pop culture. Gurentai owe more to Al Capone as they did to Chuji Kunisada, the John Dillinger of Japan's Tokugawa era. Chuji Kunisada, who may or may not have been an actual person, gained fame when he led his gang in revolt against a lord who was ruthlessly taxing and abusing the peasants and served as the oft cited example of the mythical noble yakuza of old. Even more than Al Capone, though, the new generation gurentai probably owed a lot to the popular American cinematic image of the gangster. In the years immediately after VJ Day, Japan was restricted from creating its own entertainment. Even as those restrictions were eased over time, Allied (well, American) overseers acted as censors over Japanese entertainment, making sure to disallow anything that was seen as too nationalistic, proud, or likely to get the Japanese all puffed up with ride and self-respect. If you ever wondered why the hell Japan did that silly mosaic censoring of their porn, that's a direct descendant of the MacArthur era oversight committees (why the hell they kept it in place, so long after the fact, though…). Since pop culture, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and since the Americans were de facto rulers of Japan during reconstruction, it was American pop culture that flooded in to fill the void. And thus was born the curious Japanese duality that has both affection for and resentment of Americanization.
Westerns. Gangster films. With nothing else to do, Japan suddenly found itself full of discharged Japanese soldiers who fancied themselves as cool, clever, and hardboiled as Jimmy Cagney. Sharp suits, dark sunglasses. As these men gravitated toward yakuza organizations, they felt ever more emboldened to flaunt their pop culture influences. And as they rose in number and stature, the traditional codes of honor and behavior that older yakuza liked to at least pretend guided their hand began to fall away, replaced by chaos instead of order and guns instead of swords. The era of the yakuza hoodlum had begun, and once established, there really wasn't any going back. This transition is the core story underlying the Battles Without Honor and Humanity film series.
Like a snake eating its own tail, just as real life strove to mimic pop culture, so too was pop culture becoming a reflection of real life. When Japan began to reassert its right to self-determination, and as the film industry began to rebuild, genres previously deemed taboo under the Americans (such as samurai films) began to re-emerge, and new genres were born. Among these new genres was the yakuza film. The early yakuza films were very similar to samurai films, often dealing with "honorable criminals" living by the strict yakuza code of chivalry (jingi). Many of these films were set in pre-war Japan and thus, even as the real post-war yakuza were increasing the ranks of the gurentai, the movies could look back through rose-colored lenses to a bell epoque era of noble outcasts and underdog heroes that probably never really existed. Among the earliest yakuza films was 1927's Chuji Tabi Nikki, based on the legends of Chuji Kunisada.
As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, the man who emerged as the face of the virtuous-but-flawed yakuza was a young actor named Oda Goichi, later rechristened Takakura Ken. Working primarily at Toei studios in a style of film that became known as ninkyo ("chivalry"), Takakura made some 180 movies, many of them clinging to a familiar theme and structure. Takakura Ken was the noble, old-school yakuza struggling to survive in a landscape that was fast changing. The movies not only reflected the situation faced by the real yakuza (Takakura himself grew up in Fukuoka, a hotbed of post-war gangland clashes), but was a mirror of the larger global social upheaval as the traditionalists of the previous generation clashed with the wild young upstarts of the 1960s. Around the same time, Nikkatsu was inventing something that would become known as the "borderless" action film.
Nikkatsu was Japan's oldest major production house. It was formed in 1912, when four smaller studios and some theater chains joined forces to found Nippon Katsudo Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company," abbreviated more simply as Nikkatsu. In the early days of Japanese cinema, they were one of the heavy hitters. During the war, a proposal was floated to merge Japan's ten motion picture studios into two. A counter proposal was made for three studios. Despite its venerable state, political fighting and shenanigans saw Nikkatsu get the shaft. They were undervalued and merged with two lesser studios, Daito and Shinko, to form Daiei Studio. However, Nikkatsu itself retained a separate identity purely as a film exhibitor. It turned out that, while Nikkatsu the studio may have been screwed, Nikkatsu the theater management company was in for a treat.
After the war, the state of Japanese cinema was poor. The few domestic films that did come out didn't really attract much of an audience. The Japanese movie going public was more interested in the polished, big budget product coming out of Hollywood. Nikkatsu happened to be the company distributing many of those films. The filmmaking industry started to recover in the 1950s, and Nikkatsu the theater chain decided it was time for Nikkatsu the film studio to be reborn. They began building new facilities, and the existing major studios of the time — Toho, Shochiku, Daiei, Toei, and Shin Toho — did their best to block the resurgence. But Nikkatsu simply had too much money. With new facilities, a thriving theater network, and studio execs willing to take a risk on the rising youth market, Nikkatsu began to lure both new and established talent into the fold. They concentrated primarily on romances, comedies, and period dramas. In 1956, the studio released Season of the Sun, the first of what would become known as the Sun Tribe movies. Bringing a modern attitude to controversial topics, as well as modern Hollywood techniques and production values, the Sun Tribe movies were the first huge hits for the new Nikkatsu, and young star Yujiro Ishihara became the face of Nikkatsu.
Unfortunately, the guardians of public morality came down hard on the decadence and youthful lustiness of the Sun Tribe films, and they soon passed out of favor. Nikkatsu struggled for a bit to find something new. They hit upon it in 1958, when Ishihara starred in two of director Toshio Masuda's new action films, Rusty Knife and Red Quay. The latter was a loose adaptation of the French film noir classic Pepe Le Moko (remade, almost scene for scene, as Algiers in the United States shortly after its release). Such action films proved quite popular, especially with young men off to college and looking for vicarious thrills. Nikkatsu didn't miss the hints. They kicked off an action-heavy production schedule that signaled the birth of borderless action.
Nikkatsu's new style of action film were dubbed borderless because they strove to adopt a truly international feel. Although American film noir is pegged as the obvious influence, in many ways it was the later distillation of that genre via the French New Wave that really proves to be the model for Nikkatsu borderless action. The French New Wave, best embodied by the films of director Jean-Luc Godard, took the tropes of American film noir and added a peculiar French quirkiness to them. Noir is traditionally a grim, depressing style of film full of doomed, depressed characters. When the New Wave adopted the cast-off American genre (and yes — I'm well aware of all the arguments about how film noir isn't a genre, but can we just roll with it for now?), they infused it with a world-weary sort of sarcastic smirking — not spoofing, exactly, but certainly doing something quirky with it. The fatalistic nihilism of noir was still present, but there was something more… well, more French about it. It was this incarnation of noir that really seemed to click with the Nikkatsu screenwriters and directors. In 1959, when Godard's Breathless was released, not only did borderless action writers and directors have a model for their films; so did actors, and that model, the man that so many Nikkatsu matinee idols seemed to imitate, was Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Borderless action cruised along for several years. Not all the films were big hits, but enough were (and many of those that weren't are still critical darlings these days) to keep Nikkatsu plugging away at the genre and creating a group of male stars who became known as the Diamond Line. However, in the middle of the 1960s, rival Toei began making their ninkyo movies, a style anchored by the incredibly popular Abashiri Prison movies, starring Takakura Ken and directed by Teruo Ishii. These new yakuza films still called back to American film noir and their French New Wave interpretation, but they were somewhat less arty. Maybe even less challenging, in a way. And also more popular as the decade progressed. Maybe the younger audiences could relate more to Takakura Ken's flawed man of honor struggling to survive in a modern world more than they could the samurai-yakuza of older movies, or even the doomed anti-heroes of borderless action's first wave. The Abashiri Prison movies were updates of the old style movies, concerned with codes of honor and yakuza esoterica more than surrealism or existentialism. Takakura Ken may go to prison, and he may end up back in prison, but there's something slightly more hopeful in the movies than in, say, the " no one gets out of here alive" bleakness of Nikkatsu's Cruel Gun Story. It was easier to identify with Takakura Ken's character, especially if you were young and Japanese. After leading the way for so many years, Nikkatsu found themselves scrambling to keep up with the new pace set by Toei.
The hook Nikkatsu had to use to lure audiences back was hipness. Although they appealed to a large audience at first, the Toei movies relied heavily on a nostalgia for the past — a nostalgia that was becoming somewhat unpopular with younger, hipper, more worldy youth. In essence, the same crowd that made the Sun Tribe movies so popular. Like AIP a few years earlier, Nikkatsu starting looking to make movies that were even more stylish, more modern, and hipper. An attempt to win audiences away from Toei movies by making those movies seem old-fashioned and overly sentimental. At the forefront of revamping Nikkatsu action films was the man who basically created the borderless action style in the first place: Toshio Masuda. He did it by tweaking what he already knew how to do. Quite literally. The films at the forefront of Nikkatsu's head-to-head with Toei were all remakes of Toshio Masuda's previous films, directed again by Toshio Masuda. Among these was a remake of his groundbreaking Red Quay, this time titled Velvet Hustler. Ha! And you thought we were never going to get to the actual review of Velvet Hustler.
Velvet Hustler is the story of a cocky, carefree Tokyo hitman named Goro (Nikkatsu action star Tetsuya Watari). When we first meet him, he casually steals a smart red convertible sportscar from an airport, pulls up next to a limo, and blows away the occupants before casually returning the car to the exact same parking spot at the airport and leaving town to lie low in Kobe. Goro expects to be back in Tokyo in six months, but a year later, he's still stuck cooling his heels in Kobe, waiting for the heat to die down. He spends most of the day sitting in a rocking chair on the docks, waiting for the foreign ships to dock so his crew of touts can pick up the gaijin men and spirit them away to associated nightclubs. Goro himself seems neither disappointed or enthused by his small-time pursuits. His only regret is that he can't yet go back to his beloved Tokyo. It's a sentiment he shares with Pepe Le Moko, stuck in The Casbah and forever dreaming of returning to Paris, the title character from the movie that originally served as the inspiration for this film's inspiration, Red Quay.
When he's not hustling tourists and enlisted men into hostess clubs, Goro fools around with a local girl (Kayo Matsuo, already a veteran of several Seijun Suzuki films and eventually violent samurai films like Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, Hideo Gosha's Hunter in the Dark, and Castle Menagerie, one of the most bizarre entries in the long-running Kyoshiro Nemuri series starring Raizo Ichikawa), verbally spars with a detective (Tatsuya Fuji, Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, Bloody Territories, and a bunch of the Stray Cat Rock movies) determined to arrest him for something, and hangs out in the coolest clubs in Kobe. And the Kobe underworld seems to have embraced the big city boy. He's aloof but not rude, cool but not condescending, and he treats his crew well.
In a way, he reminds me of a guy we met on the train from Osaka to Nara one day. He was a rocker, heading to the smaller city to sit at the train station and play his guitar. Why leave Osaka — arguably the epicenter for Japan's underground music scene — to play guitar in lazy little Nara? Well, in Osaka, he's just another Osaka guy, and the Osaka girls are so worldly and jaded. But in Nara, he's this weird big city guy. A little different, a little dangerous, and a whole lot cooler by comparison. We wished him luck as we went our separate ways. Later that night, as we were wandering about the town and getting the lay of the land, we happened by the steps outside the train station. And there he was, playing his guitar, sporting his pompadour and Creepers, surrounded by a group of fawning Nara girls. He waved us over — the ability to randomly hail Americans he just happened to know only increasing his cool quotient with the ladies. We did our best to help him keep up the game. He was, in hindsight, very much like Goro, a perfect blend of remote cool and approachable amiability. It's part natural, part an act — but the part that's an act is a very good act.
For Goro, though, despite the candy colors and cute girls, there's something shabby about it all. It's not bad, but it's not Tokyo. Things start to change for the happy-go-lucky hitman when a woman (Ruriko Asaoka from Asia-Pol) from Tokyo shows up in search of her missing fiance, a jeweler who happened to be dealing with Goro's Kobe bosses before he disappeared. Goro immediately sets his sights on bedding her, and she seems less than distraught about her missing fiance — though he also doesn't seem like she's going to be an easy target for Goro, no matter how much boyish charm he pours her way. Also in town is a smartly dressed man with a pencil thin mustache (Joe Shishido, who you probably know by now) and a keen, possibly deadly, interest in Goro. Pretty soon, our laid-back anti-hero has more people to peek at from under the brim of his rakishly tilted hat than he can keep track of, and at least a few of them are armed.
As with Red Quay, much of the plot — Goro's displacement, his longing for his old big city home, the determined cop shadowing his moves, the woman who shows up from that big city home to remind him of what he's missing — is adapted from Pepe Le Moko. But where Velvet Hustler differs dramatically from Pepe Le Moko is in its tone. In fact, it differs dramatically from Red Quay in that respect as well. Underpinning everything is a sense of melancholy, as you would expect to find in a film noir. But the look of the film is more French New Wave mixed with a swinging sixties spy movie. And Goro, with his hat forever tilted down over his eyes and a half-smoked cigarette permanently attached to his lower lip, is obviously being modeled after Jean-Paul Belmondo's character in Breathless. He's not as bizarrely twisted or confoundingly weird as characters you would find in Nikkatsu action movies from the same year directed by Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill, we'll get to you some day). He's definitely something snappier than the haunted, morose gangster one found in actual film noir, or even in the first wave of borderless action movies. If anything, he's like one of the leisure-loving Sun Tribe kids who suddenly finds himself adept at killing people but is never in any hurry to do anything other than take it easy. One gets the impression that despite being in stuck in Kobe, and unlike Pepe Le Moko, Goro actually enjoys himself from time to time.
One of his best scenes comes in a swinging nightclub. In the 1950s, Nikkatsu upped the sophistication ante by infusing their crime movies with a jazz club cool. Velvet Hustler maintains that but also works in more current influences: go-go dancers, mini-skirts, mods, mop topped pop bands playing in front of psychedelic backgrounds. Amid it all, as the youngsters are thrashing about like extras in a beach party movie, Goro begins to "dance." Every dancer comes to an abrupt halt as he does something that is basically slowly walking back and forth, slouch-shouldered, head hanging back like he's asleep, an expression on his face that might pass for a slight smile. His only concession to the traditional concept of dancing is a slight movement of his arms. Before too long, though, the entire club has fallen in line behind him. It's a simple but great little scene that reminded me of the Madison scene from Godard's Band of Outsiders. It also reminded me of something a friend once told me one night when we were young and trying to pick up girls at some Gainesville, Florida dance club: the coolest looking dancers are the ones who are completely un-self-conscious about how ridiculous they look.
Scenes like that will determine if you like this movie or not. To be honest, not a lot happens in this movie. If you are going in looking for smash-em-up fight scenes and big gangland shootouts, you're going to be lost. Velvet Hustler is largely about the mood, and enjoying the movie involves cozying up to the amiable, leisurely pace. This movie is absolutely a reflection of its main character: cool, laid back, not in a hurry to get to anywhere or do much of anything. But also, under it all, a bit lonely and lost. Goro is an easy character to like, even when he's being something of a bastard. Even though the movie begins with him assassinating the head of a rival crime syndicate, one quickly forgets why he's hiding out in Kobe. The fact that he steals a car and guns down two men on the highway shows that he's obviously a killer, but the almost flippant way he handles the rest of his life makes it hard to recall what he does for a living (we're never sure if he has a hand in the disappearance of the jeweler).
The protagonists from the first wave of Nikkatsu borderless action were doomed and depressed existentialists, and the protagonists from Toei's Kinji Fukasaku era were murderous scumbags. Smack dab in the middle of those two eras is Velvet Hustler, and Goro is a man who seems to have one foot in hardboiled pulp fiction and the other in a playful childlike innocence. And as I said, the tone fo the movie reflects Goro's personality. Where as later yakuza films would drag the sordid nature of yakuza business into the light, Velvet Hustler seems to occupy a world that is slightly seedy but also oddly innocent. Yes, Goro hangs out in a brothel and a hostess club, but we never see him or his gang engaged in abducting, abusing, or attacking any of the women, as would become common in later yakuza films (and as was common in actual yakuza behavior).
If the film succeeds because of Goro, then Goro succeeds because of Tetsuya Watari. Although he hoped to become an airline pilot, young Tetsuya couldn't pass the entrance exams for training. So he decided why the hell not try his luck at acting. He showed up for a "new faces" call at Nikkatsu and was actually discovered while he was lounging around in the studio cafeteria — I assume with the same nonchalant lack of urgency and aura of cool that he showed as Goro. Studio execs recognized his sly charm and boyish good looks, and before too long they were touting him as the next Yojiro Ishihara. Nikkatsu couldn't modeled their new find after their first huge young star any better if they'd set out to engineer the whole thing. Like Ishihara, Watari's first role was as the younger brother of a more established star. In the case of Ishihara, it was his real-life older brother; for Watari, it was Joe Shishido, in a movie where the duo play race car driving brothers out for some manner of revenge.
There's something immediately disarming about Watari. He slides into the role with such ease, and brings such easy charm to it, that you forget he's an actor. Movies are full of good actors who you can always tell are acting (Sean Penn, for example). You can tell they're putting on a show. Watari, here, turns in a performance in which he's a good actor you can't tell is acting. Perhaps it's because Goro himself is putting on a bit of an act. It could also be because Watari's interest in being a movie star was decidedly lacking when he became a movie star. Inexperienced at the craft when he was recruited out of the cafeteria, he was told to simply act naturally. Whatever the case, the success of the entire movies is on his slumped shoulders, and he never lets it slide. Rarely is there such perfect synergy between a lead actor, a script, and a film's art direction.
Yes, art direction. People love to criticize certain movies as being an exercise in style over substance. I prefer to think of certain films as presenting style as substance. I just don't see style and substance somehow being different or mutually exclusive things. Is a film more honest when it has a good script and a half-assed style? Film brings multiple forms of expression to the table, and I'm just not comfortable assigning rank or a hierarchy of importance to those elements. Like Mario Bava, director Toshio Masuda and art director Takeo Kimura painstakingly craft every angle, every background, every color to communicate a certain ambiance that is every bit as vital to the story as the script and the actors. Masuda worked as a screenwriter and assistant under Inoue Umetsugu, who I know more for his work after he moved to Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio than i do for his Japanese films. But it seems like a common chord in most of his films is a fondness for big set pieces. The man could stage a nightclub scene like no one's business (except maybe Jess Franco), and his taste in such things defined the official nightclub that would show up, with only minor tweaks, in tons of films from both Japan and Hong Kong during the 1960s.
While Umetsugu lost himself in swirling lights and exquisite cocktail fashion, it was Masuda's job to connect the dots in the screenplay, to make sure that there were relatable, human elements in between the jet setting clubs and colorful production numbers. Although they were very different (probably because they were very different), Masuda and Umetsugu complemented each other well. When Masuda was promoted to director, he brought with him a style that was very much a melding of his and his mentor's. Velvet Hustler is a great example. It revels is flashy club scenes full of multi-colored lights and mod gals in go-go boots dancing wildly, and there are visits to sophisticated and stylized restaurants. Joe Shishido's hotel room is a blindingly garish hurricane of lavender and purple. But amid the colors, the sets, and the clever use of shadows and lighting, Masuda embeds quiet, occasionally quirky human moments that give the film an inviting sincerity and warmth. You really feel like you are hanging out with these people. A lot of that comes from the script, but it's just as important that the style of the movie communicate itself to you, because it's an important part of understanding the world of Velvet Hustler.
Just as Masuda pays attention to every detail of the film's style, so too does he pay attention to the other characters. No one gets to coast or turn in a bad performance. Watari we already know carries the film, but he's not left out in the cold all alone. Joining him is an able and accomplished group of Nikkatsu supporting players. Tatsuya Fuji is low-key but effective as the cop determined to put Goro in prison. We're never entirely certain why he's chosen to become so obsessed with Goro. The Tokyo gangster lives a pretty simple, harmless life in Kobe. A little mischief, sure, but nothing to really rile up such single-minded determination in the inspector. In Pepe Le Moko, the local inspector was obsessed with catching Pepe because he wanted to both show up the sneering big city cops from France and because Pepe himself was one of the most notorious criminals in the world. But not Goro. It seems like Goro was pretty small-time, if capable, when he was in Tokyo.
It could be that the motivation for Tatsuya Fuji's obsession with the suave young killer is rooted in jealousy. The two men seem to be roughly the same age, but where Goro leads a carefree life of whiskey, women, and goofing off, Fuji's Detective Uzu carries himself with an air of conservative tedium more befitting for an older man. It seems like it might be less Goro's crimes that infuriate Uzu than it is the freewheeling lifestyle and easy cool the hip young gangster flaunts. Director Masuda maintains that these weren't really crime or yakuza films as much as they were "youth" films or "youth in rebellion" films, and Goro is definitely at least as much decadent Sun Tribe as he is yakuza killer. He is the post-war embracing of Western swingin' sixties culture. Uzu is the more traditional, more repressed young man. It's clear in a few subtle scenes that he envies Goro — most notably in the way the two men interact with Ruriko Asaoko's Keiko. Uzu is awkward and official around her, even as he tries to be more casual and seem cool. And then up will ooze Goro, making quips and come-ons with no self-consciousness at all. You can almost imagine Uzu going home to a sterile apartment to reheat food on a hotplate while he curses the fact that Goro will be going home to everything Uzu can't have. And in that frustration we might be able to find the reason he places so much importance on arresting Goro.
Or it could be that I'm just full of crap, and Uzu just really takes his job as defender of the law seriously and doesn't like these flashy Tokyo punks coming to his town to hide out. Whatever the unspoken back story may be, Fuji gives an able performance. The fact that he is somewhat aloof even when it seems like he's trying not to be makes him much more interesting to ponder than if there was some clumsy spelling out of why he is the way he is. Fuji himself would go on to become a much bigger star during the era of Nikkatsu New Action in the 1970s, becoming a fixture in the Stray Cat Rock films, among other work. There's some irony in the fact that a man who plays such a stiff and cautious character here would grow to notoriety playing punks, bikers, and gangsters. There's perhaps even more irony in the fact that the actor is best known internationally for playing one-half of the sex-crazed doomed couple in In the Realm of the Senses.
Ruriko Asaoko and Kayo Matsuo also fulfill roles ported over from Pepe Le Moko — the anti-hero's local love interest, and the sophisticated woman who represents everything the anti-hero lost when he had to flee his home. As was the case in the French original, both women are more symbols than they are actual characters, but that's because we see them through Goro's eyes, and he can't help but think about what each one represents. He enjoys Yukari's company, maybe even loves her, but his dissatisfaction with Kobe can't help but manifest itself for him as an associated sense of dissatisfaction with the woman from Kobe. The two share a great scene where he tries to explain to her the difference between him not liking her versus just being tired of her. Kayo Matsuo could have played the character with petulant childishness, as is all too often the go-to style, but while she has her pouty moments, we also see her act very much the woman. Matsuo the actress isn't going to let you forget that Yukari the character is someone worth falling in love with.
Keiko, on the other hand, represents everything Goro lost when he left Tokyo — or everything he thinks he lost. It's obvious that Goro, like many people, views his previous life through a somewhat rosy filter. Just as he can't see Yukari as anything other than Kobe, Keiko is Tokyo for him, and it's more what she represents to him that he falls in love with than it is the woman. Despite hardly knowing each other, Goro becomes obsessed with romancing her simply because she is his one link to the past, and her presence is both a salve upon and a painful prodding of his ultimate loneliness. Asaoko turns in a more subtle performance than Kayo Matsuo, but only because her character is somewhat more complex. Just as Goro is torn between his affection for Yukari and his obsession with Keiko, Keiko herself is torn between Goro and… well, it's hard to say. Certainly not her missing fiance, who was never the result of a relationship forged by love. Maybe Uzu, or what Uzu represents. She has no romantic interest in the cop, but it seems like she lives a life with one foot in Uzu's world of tradition, responsibility, and aloofness and one foot in Goro's world of nightclubs, hijinks, and casualness.
Oh yeah, Joe Shishido is in there, too. You'd think that given the fact that the man is known for playing one of the weirdest characters in one of the weirdest yakuza films of all time, we'd have something to say about him other than, "he fulfills his responsibilities well." But really, that's all he does. His character is rarely on-screen,a nd when he is, his job is mostly to smirk and lurk in the background. This is Watari's show, after all, and Shishido is just along for the ride.
Velvet Hustler defined the direction of Nikkatsu action films for the next few years. Masuda himself named it as one of his favorite of his films, as did Tetsuya Watari. It has held up remarkably well, being just kitschy enough to be memorable but not so kitschy that it actually becomes kitsch, if that makes any sense. And I think that's because it doesn't forget to give us human characters and situations instead of relying purely on candy-colored cabarets and posh sixties style. There's something timeless and appealing about Watari's happy-go-luckly but subtly melancholy character, and the fact that the movie doesn't heap on the pathos and overwrought emotion in huge dollops makes it more believable, more relatable, and far more effective.
Watari himself would find himself slotted in as one of the new members of the rotating Diamond Line. But as the studio entered the 1970s, things were starting to get difficult again. Once again, Nikkatsu was vying with Toei for the youth market. At the same time, the real world of the yakuza was undergoing a dramatic shift as more and more "thugs" entered the ranks. What's more, many of those yakuza were involving themselves in the film industry — not just in the predictable role of shady producers and embezzlers, but as actual screenwriters and inspirations. In 1968, Toshio Masuda and Tetsuya Watari teamed up again for Gangster VIP, the first in a long series of movies based on the memoirs (however full of bullshit they may have been) of real-life yakuza Goro Fujita. Around the same time, a gangster named Noboru Ando took it a step further by not only having his memoirs turned into a series of movies, but by also starring as himself in those movies.
These movies brought a harder edge to things, and more streetwise authenticity. This also meant that it was getting harder to champion the noble yakuza, the sentimental yakuza, even the suave and stylish yakuza. Real-life yakuza were too in the face of modern society, and modern society was all too aware of how there seemed to be a lot more stupid scumbag yakuza than there were whistling, poetic yakuza. In an effort to keep pace with an increasingly disillusioned society, Nikkatsu launched its New Action style. Now, the characters were angrier, more violent, more directionless, more hedonistic. This was the era of Stray Cat Rock and Sonny Chiba's Street Fighter (quite possibly the most powerful representation fo the complete and total dissolution of morality, honor, and sympathy).
Then Kinji Fukasaku started cranking out yakuza movies over at Toei, and that was the nail in the coffin for the storied Nikkatsu action film. Fukasaku's films, usually starring lean and mean-looking Bunta Sugawara, were as much a game-changer as the borderless action films had been when they made their debut. Gone was the Nikkatsu sense of style and artiness, replaced by a documentary-like cinema verite style that was perfectly suited for the type of story Fukasaku was telling. Hectic, desperate, uncomfortable. Where as the Nikkatsu films had looked to film noir and the La Nouvelle Vague for inspiration, the new style Toei films were looking to police dossiers and newspaper reports. As such, they have a much more clinical, less feeling approach. And the men in them — gone are the wistful Goros, the quirky Joe Shishidos. The yakuza of Battles Without Honor and Humanity were vicious, backstabbing thugs, flailing cowards, rapists, and rabid animals. We were a long, long way from Velvet Hustler's Kobe.
The Toei movies were a reflection of public disgust and fascination with the ever-seedier truth. Nikkatsu just couldn't compete, not even with their New Action line, though they had a fair number of hits and made a star out of tough female action star Meiko Kaji. Nikkatsu phased out action films as the 70s progressed. Their stars sought work elsewhere as the studio concentrated almost exclusively on what became known as "romantic pornography," or simple "roman porn." Many of these sex films still bear the unmistakable Nikkatsu stamp, a certain artistic ambition and talent far beyond what the smutty subject matter demanded. But that had been the case with Nikkatsu action, as well.
Velvet Hustler isn't the most famous of Nikkatsu's gangster films. That honor definitely goes to Branded to Kill, which was a huge flop and an embarrassment for the studio. Although Velvet Hustler was released on VHS in the United States, it remains MIA as of this writing on DVD, even as other Nikkatsu action films find their way into the limelight and the period of rediscovery (or first discovery, for many) blossoms. I guess it's understandable that such an amiable, happy-go-lucky film would get lost in the shuffle between earlier, more serious action films like A Colt is My Passport and later, more outrageous action films like Branded to Kill. Well, here's hoping it gets its day in the sun (for that matter, where's Red Quay?) once again, because it's really a great film. It's a wonderful example of just how good, how forward thinking, exploitation and b-movies can be. Plus, it's just really fucking cool.
Release Year: 1967 | Country: Japan | Starring: Tetsuya Watari, Ruriko Asaoka, Kayo Matsuo, Tatsuya Fuji, Ryotaro Sugi, Joe Shishido | Writers: Kaneo Ikegami, Toshio Masuda | Director: Toshio Masuda | Cinematographer: Kurataro Takamura | Music: Hajime Kaburagi | Original Title: Kurenai no nagareboshi | Alternate Titles: Crimson Comet, Like a Shooting Star
tagged with 1960s, Japan, Nikkatsu, Ruriko Asaoka
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Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet.
Shelled out for a proper copy of my favorite #JohnWoo film. This one has been treated poorly on home video in the US, either not released at all or only available on that dreadful old Tai Seng tape with random scenes chopped out so they could fit it on one laserdisc. Here's hoping that some day it gets the @criterioncollection or @arrowvideo treatment some day. . #hongkongcinema #vietnamwar


This is a set of 24 mini thank you cards. I hand cut these from white card stock. The cards are 2" by 2". The top front of each card is covered in a brown paper with multi-colored butterflies. The bottom half is covered in a pink plaid paper.. Across the center is a band of hot pink adhesive card stock paper. The hand stamped message "Thank you" is also attatched to the front of each card. These are blank inside and do NOT come with envelopes. A cute way for online seller to send a personal note of appreciation in with their orders. Or use them to say "thank you" to anyone any time.


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Creating Future Imaginaries through Indigenous AI
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Keynote Speaker: JASON LEWIS, Concordia University
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Jason Edward Lewis' multidisciplinary research and creative practice has been central to developing Indigenous media art in North America and worldwide, establishing a vital conversation about the interaction between Indigenous culture and computational technology. His contributions comprise scholarly writing, art making and technology research, as well as his leadership of the Initiative for Indigenous Futures and his creation of the Indigenous Futures Research Centre. A digital media theorist, poet, and software designer, Lewis is currently University Research Chair in Computational Media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary and Professor of Computation Arts at Concordia University. At Concordia he also serves as Special Advisor to the Provost on Indigenous Spaces.
Lewis spent a decade working in a range of industrial research settings, including Interval Research, US West's Advanced Technology Group, and the Institute for Research on Learning, and, at the turn of the century, he founded and ran a research studio for the venture capital firm Arts Alliance. After joining Concordia in 2002 he founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media to explore computation as creative and cultural material. His work has been featured at Ars Electronica, Mobilefest, Elektra, Urban Screens, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, and FILE and recognized with the Robert Coover Award for Best Work of Electronic Literature, two Prix Ars Electronica Honorable Mentions, several imagineNATIVE Best New Media awards, and six solo exhibitions. His research interests include emergent media theory and history, methodologies for conducting art-led technology research, and the use of digital and networked technology by Indigenous communities. Lewis is the lead author of the award-winning essay "Making Kin with the Machines", lead organizer for the groundbreaking Indigenous Protocol and Artificial Intelligence Workshops and editor of the resulting Position Paper.
Lewis is an ISO-MIT Co-Creation Lab Fellow and a former Trudeau Fellow and Carnegie Fellow. In addition to his Stanford degrees, Lewis holds an M.Phil. in Design from the Royal College of Art. He was born and raised in Northern California.
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Passion conquers fear as a young Dane becomes an unlikely world champion surfer from "Cold Hawaii".
Shorts | Snowglobe | Hand.Line.Cod.
Strong family bonds, camaraderie and the birth of a Danish surf community in what today is known as 'Cold Hawaii' set the stage for this meditative portrait of a life lived for the ever-changing ocean.
Snowglobe takes the viewer on an epic journey through mountain waters. One man travels back to the water source for a child's dropped toy – wading through cold currents and flying among snowy peaks – to awaken the conscience of humanity, so we can all perceive the fragility of our precious mountain water resource.
Set in the coldest waters surrounding Newfoundland's rugged Fogo Island, Justin Simms' short film Hand.Line.Cod. follows the "people of the fish" – traditional fishers who catch cod by hand, one at a time, using only hook and line. Their mission? To drive up the price of fish. After a 20-year moratorium on North Atlantic cod, the stocks are returning. These fishers are leading a revolution in sustainability, taking their premium product directly to the commercial market for the first time.
Simms takes viewers deep inside the world of the brave fishers returning to the traditional methods that hold tremendous hope for our future and the sustainability of fish stocks.


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This New Helmet Can Do 360° HD Streaming Video And Help Riders Avoid Getting Hit
Sean MacDonald
Bell Helmets and 360Fly are looking to shake up the action camera world by joining forces to offer the first helmet with an integrated camera. The 360Fly camera shoots 360 degrees (clever name, I know), and will bring a host of other features your GoPro can't touch.
For those of you unfamiliar with the 360Fly camera, it shoots in 360 degrees, which allows you to drag the video to see any angle you want. Here's an example of Supercross rider Chad Reed riding with one (put your cursor on the video, click, and drag):
Pretty cool, right? This one isn't the best resolution, but you can see some non-moto ones here that show more of the camera's applications here.
In addition to having a camera in your helmet, and not sticking off the helmet like the one that allegedly contributed to Michael Schumacher's injuries, this one has a few other tricks up it's sleeve that will be rolling out with its release or soon after.
For one, it has both Bluetooth and wifi connectivity, which will make it not only easy to transfer pics and video to your phone or computer, but also allow professional, commercial, and other advanced users to live stream 360 degree HD content.
It also has a feature called AutoPilot tracking, which Bell and 360Fly claim "allows users to track and follow the main subjects in their videos, making it easy to create dynamic edits with the rider at the center of it all." I reached out to Bell for clarification, and they said the lens will focus on where the bulk of the action is happening but not track certain riders.
They also say it will have benefits when it comes to safety, as it should pick up and focus on motion approaching from outside the rider's field of vision. This all sounds like a lot of marketing speak for something that likely won't be very noticeable, and will be one of the main things we dive into more as these see production and we get something to test.
Finally, and most importantly, the camera also has a Collision Avoidance Alert function, which will sense and notify the rider of oncoming dangers outside of the rider's field of vision. The Skully and new BMW HUD helmet claim to offer a similar feature, but the Bell system will have to rely on sound instead since it doesn't have a screen.
I have some pretty massive doubts about reaction times and loud, shrill noises, but we'll have to leave that for a later discussion once some people have ridden with the thing.
The helmet will also have GPS sensors, so the video will have geotagged locations, as well as a barometer/altimeter. Bell say the battery will last about two hours, so make sure to charge it between track sessions or to wait to turn it on until you get to the canyons.
Currently, Bell has plans to offer versions of the new Bell Star and new Bell Moto 9 Flex. Prices haven't been announced yet, but with those helmets coming in around $600 and the camera itself at about $400, it'll likely be pretty pricey. Good news is Bell says the camera will actually be detachable, so you'll be able to use it for other applications as well - which helps justify the price a little bit.
Photos: Bell
Contact the author at sean.macdonald@jalopnik.com. Follow Lanesplitter onFacebook and Twitter.
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UncleWalty
Per your recent article, shouldn't we consider Skully vaporware until they actually produce a commercialized offering?


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Images of Old Hawaiʻi
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You are here: Home / General / Thomas Square
July 30, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment
Thomas Square
On January 22, 1850, the King's Privy Council addressed "Another suggestion to set apart a day for marking out the boundaries of the square on the Plains of Waikiki to be called by the name of Admiral Thomas was also approved of by vote." (Privy Council Minutes, January 22, 1850)
Then, on the anniversary of sovereignty restoration that year, "At sunrise a gun was fired, His Majesty's large standard was hoisted at the Palace, the Hawaiian ensign on the Fort, on the Hill, and on all Hawaiian vessels."
"At eight o'clock all the Foreign Consuls displayed their flags. The foreign vessels in port hoisted their ensigns, and some of them were beautifully decorated with flags, private signal, pendants, &c."
"Amongst them all, was conspicuous HBM's schooner Cockatrice, being dressed out with great taste, and having the Hawaiian ensign flying from the fore, during the day."
"The merchant's offices, warehouses, stores, and shops were more generally closed, than during any preceding anniversary."
"It being generally known that it had been the King's intention, had health permitted, to have ridden out in state, to the plain, and there given the name of Thomas Square, to the exact spot on which the gallant admiral of that name, restored his Flag, numerous parties on horseback, during the day, visited the spot." (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)
"The restoration of the Hawaiian Monarchy in July 1843 – ending the five-months-long illegal seizure and occupation by the Englishman, Lord George Paulet – created the chief, and indeed the only, notable site in Kulaokahu'a."
"The exact locale – the future Thomas Square – leaped into history with, literally, a bang. On the morning of July 31, two pavilions decorated with greens and a flagstaff stood on the plain east of town."
"On the street line to the west, tents from warships in port punctuated their arid surroundings. A thick mat of rushes paved the line of march. Thousands waited for the ceremonies of the day."
"At 9:30, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas of the British navy called on the King to sign official documents. A half hour later, several companies of English sailors and marines were drawn up on a line facing the sea, with an artillery corps on their right."
"Admiral Thomas and his staff arrived in the King's state carriage, while the Monarch himself came on horseback, accompanied by the household troops. The artillery honored His Majesty with a 21-gun salute."
"At a given signal, the British flag officer bowed his colors; the British flag was then lowered and the Hawaiian flag raised amid salvos, first from Thomas's HMS Carysfort, then from English and American warships, merchantmen and whalers, and finally from the Honolulu fort and the Punchbowl battery."
"A great cheer arose as the wind caught the folds of the Hawaiian flag. Admiral Thomas read a long declaration, after which marines, sailors, and artillery passed in a review witnessed by Commodore Lawrence Kearney and officers of the USS Constellation. Hawaii's sovereignty had been restored." (Greer)
Later, the Kingdom was looking for ways to replenish a budget shortfall. "In its search for additional funds, the official eye rested on Kulaokahu'a, also called the Waikiki Plain or just The Plain."
"This unpalatable stretch of real estate sprawled between the American mission and Makiki Stream. An area which an overheated promoter might have referred to as one of sweeping vistas, Kulaokahu'a was best known for dust storms and impressive nothingness."
"It was so empty that after Punahou School opened in July 1842, mothers upstairs in the mission house could see children leave that institution and begin their trek across the barren waste. Trees shunned the place; only straggling livestock inhabited it." (Greer)
The government proposed to raise funds by selling lots in Kualokahu'a and placed an advertisement in the Polynesian, "Building Lots – The Minister of the Interior is prepared to sell or lease Building Lots between Honolulu and Waikiki, on application being made according to law. [Nov. 14,1846]"
"In advance of this announcement, the government had built three roads with arched stone bridges. The former were extensions of King, Young, and Beretania Streets; the bridges spanned Makiki Stream. At about the same time certain lots were surveyed and numbered".
"These preliminary sales hardly constituted a stampede. At this rate, great civilizations might have waxed and withered away ere the Waikiki Plain became a blooming, peopled suburb." (Greer)
"Hoping to project a more urban image of The Plain, government decreed that after May 4, 1850 no horses, cattle, or other animals could run at large there. The creatures thus addressed could not decipher this message, and more than 30 years later agents were being appointed to take up strays."
"As 1853 ended, the lots were 'not in demand,' a phrase repeated by Bishop in April 1855. Apparently Kulaokahu'a's desert environment transmitted dry rot to land values there."
"Bishop wrote in 1856 that he had sold his two lots at auction for $25 each. Kulaokahu'a plots were in mid-1858 almost worthless, only two or three of all sold having been improved."
"In the early 1850s, some ceremonies celebrated the Restoration, but the practice faded away. As a recreational mecca, the dusty waste of the Square had the pull of a sauna in the Sahara. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser in 1864 called for a public park."
"The unfenced and unimproved Thomas Square could have been made into an ornament of the city and a lever to raise property values around it. But this decorative hoist did not materialize. Nine years later, some small prospect of a park appeared." (Greer)
"Honolulu now had a paper park in a paper subdivision."
"But events move slowly in this Kingdom, except in the way of contracting debt, and for a long time Thomas Square was only a name."
"In 1882 the Legislature appropriated a small sum of money for the improvement of Thomas Square, and every session since then money, in scant supply, has been voted for the same object." (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 7, 1887)
"Very fortunately the control of Thomas Square was given to the Hon. A. S. Cleghorn, whose knowledge of landscape gardening is only equalled by his desire to beautify all public parks and grounds about Honolulu."
"In the sixties little or no attention was paid to it, and it was soon overgrown with weeds. About 1875 I took charge and had the Square laid out and piped for water, and also had a band stand erected." (Cleghorn; Thrum 1909)
"The Banyans now growing there are from 'Ainahau,' while most of the other trees are from the Government Nursery. There were crotans planted round the band stand and also in clusters about the grounds." (Cleghorn; Thrum 1909)
"The square of seven acres had been laid out to scale in circles and half circles by the Hon. Robt. Stirling, and Mr. Cleghorn worked upon these plans."
"Walks were laid out; valuable trees, flowering shrubs and flowers were planted, and an untiring supervision was given to the work, until today Thomas Square, at a trifling expenditure of money, is one of the most agreeable places of public resort to be found anywhere in the world compressed into the same limited space on a dead level."
"But this did not suffice. Mr. Cleghorn, when the grounds had been sufficiently improved, went around among his friends in the city and raised sufficient money to build a grand stand for the band and provide seats for several hundred people in the grounds."
"The grand stand was erected by Mr. F. Wilhelm, and is in every respect an improvement upon that in Emma Square. It is about double the size of the latter, and has a ceiling and sounding board."
"There are thirty-four seats on the ground, ten of which are iron, recently imported from England. The remainder are of wood and were made to order here. They are fixtures."
"The seats were placed in position yesterday. Hon. Mr. Cleghorn personally superintended the distribution of the seats, which afford shade during the day and an opportunity of enjoying the music by night. As a convenient and agreeable resort for all classes of citizens Thomas Square will be found unrivalled."
"A wide path, close to the outer fence on its four sides is being opened, so that pedestrians may enjoy the luxury of an agree able promenade instead of walking along the dusty road."
"The Royal Hawaiian Band, as already stated, plays at Thomas Square for the first time this evening. We bespeak a large and enthusiastic attendance."
"Only one word of warning: do not touch plant or flower. These are grown for public gratification and should be held sacred. Let persons in charge of children remember this." (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 7, 1887)
In 1925, a Joint Resolution of the legislative session set aside Thomas Square as a public park and placed it under the management of the Park Board of the City and County of Honolulu. It remains this today. It was recently refurbished by the City and a statue of Kamehameha III erected.
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Kawaiahao Church in 1885-Look towards Diamond Head
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1843 (July) – May 1845 Early version of the present flag
Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Place Names, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Ka La Hoihoi Ea, Paulet, Thomas Square, Admiral Thomas, Sovereignty
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UN ECOSOC Financing for Development forum : Minister Samaraweera shares Lanka's experience in inclusive growth
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the UN ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum in New York.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera shared Sri Lanka's experience in inclusive growth at the Ministerial Financial Dialogue at the UN ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum in New York
Minister Samaraweera represented Sri Lanka at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development (FfD) last week.
It was convened by the President of ECOSOC, Inga Rhonda King.
Participating in the Ministerial Financial Dialogue Panel Discussion on 'Promoting Inclusive Growth Reducing Inequalities', the Minister shared with the FfD, measures taken in Sri Lanka towards this end, including details of the 'Enterprise Sri Lanka' concessionary loan scheme which was launched in mid-2018 to create 100,000 young entrepreneurs especially in the villages.
The 2019 FfD Forum, as the centre-piece of the FfD follow-up process has a dual task to: review the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in the past four years; and forge consensus among increasingly divergent views and spread policy know-how to advance implementation against rising economic and non-economic risks.
It is expected to build momentum towards the first quadrennial high-level dialogue on financing for development, which will take place in September 2019, back-to-back with the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Speaking at the General Debate of the FfD, Minister Samaraweera outlined the measures taken by Sri Lanka including in the 2019 Budget to address challenges in sustainable and equitable development.
The Minister said that financial commitments are increasingly challenging for countries such as Sri Lanka that are subject to significant fiscal constraints, and emphasised the need for international cooperation including support measures to prevent and mitigate the debilitating impact of climate change in vulnerable economies.
The Minister called for greater public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives globally, to ensure achieveing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Minister Samaraweera met the Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta H. Fore, and discussed matters on financing for Early Childhood Development (ECD).
The Minister also participated in an interactive dialogue with representatives of the UN Peacebuilding Commission on the invitation of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office.
Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) Mano Tittawella, Chairperson of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Saliya Pieris, and the Chairperson of the Office for Reparations Dhara Wijayatilake were also present.
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This is the season for all things summer. Days are gorgeous and flowers are blooming. It's also getting warm enough for some cold treats, at least in southern California anyway. This veggie strawberry bunny popsicles recipe is a fun and cute way to get vegetables in.
How do I get my kids to eat vegetables? You know kids hate vegetables. Sometimes I even get asked about how to get veggies into husband's meals! So I created this recipe. Give these strawberry bunny popsicles a try. There are no green veggies in sight, but not to worry it's still packed with cauliflower!
Yes, you heard me right. I put frozen cauliflower in it! The fiber rich vegetable makes smoothies creamy and gives this cold delight an extra boost in nutrition. Best of all, the fruits in it overpower the cauliflower's flavor, so you can't taste it. I've also add a fantastic creamer I recently discovered.
If you prefer to serve it as smoothie you can, although I would probably do half almond milk half creamer. You can use regular popsicle molds or use this bunny popsicle mold. If you want to freeze three at a time you can use these bunny molds, it' slightly different but close!
Furthermore, if you desire a much sweeter popsicle, you can add a pitted date or more honey and blend it in. You can also make it vegan by using maple syrup.
Note: When first blended it is much sweeter to taste than when frozen, so you might want to overcompensate.
Looking for more cold healthy treats? Try this Healthy Drumstick Ice Cream Recipe!


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Home/Bangalore
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August 5, 2013--LAGRANGE, Ill. – Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) is pleased to announce the delivery of six meter gauge, international heavy-haul locomotives to Ferronor, representing over 50 years of technology advancements since the first EMD locomotive model GR12 was delivered in Chile.
"We are pleased that Ferronor selected the EMD GT46AC locomotive. The increased productivity and performance of our AC traction represents the latest in EMD technology. Compared to a six-axle DC locomotive, the AC traction system provides approximately 40 percent more tractive effort, allowing locomotive unit replacement and much improved life cycle cost," said Billy Ainsworth, EMD chief executive officer.
To improve emissions and fuel economy, the 4,500 brake horsepower GT46AC locomotive offers a 16 cylinder 710G3C engine with electronic unit injection; variable speed cooling fans and traction motor blowers that optimize cooling while limiting parasitic load; and a split cooling radiator system. The self-steering trucks provide improved curve negotiation and wheel wear. To monitor the health of the locomotive, the IntellitrainTM system provides remote access to locomotive operation and performance, and the EM2000TM microprocessor control system provides complete self-diagnostics.
The GT46AC furthers the long and successful reputation of the GT series of locomotives, recognized for leading quality and performance in the rail industry around the world.


FIREBALL, an adjuvant designed for glyphosate and dicamba based herbicides. The EPA has approved FIREBALL as a tank-mix for Monsanto's XtendiMax Technology. FIREBALL includes a water conditioner, non-ionic surfactant, drift agent, defoamer, spreader-sticker and acts as a penetrant. Water conditioning agents are one of the diverse advantages of FIREBALL, blocking antagonistic hard water ions. FIREBALL's drift agent maximizes on target weed control. The spreader-sticker and penetrant increases herbicide performance by accelerating uptake and improving utilization.


In addition, in this model, it is appreciated that the machine heads are of superior quality, which allows a precise adjustment for the proper interpretive activity.
This model has a sweet and powerful sound. The saddle and the nut are made of melamine. A highly transmitting material of sound.


This year's Opening Day for Trails was the best yet—and we've got the photos to prove it. There were more than 150 official events across the country to celebrate Spring and officially kick off the trail season. Here are a few examples.
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Kick Off the Trail Season With Performance Bicycle on April 16!
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The date is set—the fourth annual Opening Day for Trails will take place on April 16, 2016. And with the momentum of the trails, walking and biking movement barreling full steam ahead into the new year, we expect this year's events to be bigger and better than ever.
From 50-year anniversaries in Wisconsin, to 150-mile bike/ped challenges in West Virginia, to the continued expansion of a 1,150-mile trail in North Carolina, there's a lot going on in the trail world these days. Learn more in our April Rail-Trail Roundup.
More than 17,000 people turned out across the nation to celebrate Opening Day for Trails on March 28, 2015. They had an awesome time...and we've got the great pics to prove it!


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Good Girls Go To Heaven, But Bad Girls Go Everywhere
Are you a bad girl? Do you rat your hair, pierce your ears, try a little tobacco? Do you sneak out after curfew, park in cars and shake your tail feathers at roadside dives? Can you size men up for the dopes they are and then play them like a fiddle at the annual saps convention? Is your philosophy of life that a low-cut neckline does more for a gal's future than a Harvard MBA?
If you answered "yes" to any of the above queries, you might be a tramp.
Lucky for you, Junk cinema Loves tramps. These gum-smacking bad girls have a rich tradition in bad movies. Whether played by Bette Davis, Mamie Van Doren or Peaches Paige, tramps enliven any flick they appear in.
The Golden Age of Tramps was from the 1930's to the early 1960's, before the sexual revolution and the pill. This was also the heyday of the Motion Picture Production Code, when Hollywood censors could be persuaded to allow illicit behavior on screen as long as the evil-doers were punished in the last reel and justice triumphed in the end. So, for example, Bette Davis in "Beyond the Forest"(1949) could emasculate her husband, have a wild affair, get pregnant, induce a miscarriage and commit murder as long as she dies of fever by the flick's end, which she does. Unlike the female lead in "The Last Seduction", tramps could never profit from their crimes.
Why, if tramps are so immoral, do Junk Cinema lovers like them so much? Because tramps are often the only fun people in the picture. Consider Claudette Colbert as Empress Poppaea in C. B. De Mille's "The Sign of the Cross" (1932). Saddled with a husband who would rather spend his time in the company of scantily clad slave boys, she's got nothing better to do than take milk baths and make goo-goo eyes at Roman hunks like Marcus Superbus (Fredric March). Naturally, a good time gal like Poppaea can't understand why Marcus would rather spend time with squeaky clean Christian girl Mercia (Elissa Landi)--and neither can we. Yes, Mercia is devout and loyal and long-suffering (her parents were covered in oil and set on fire to act as human torches, after all), but she's dry as dust. Never the less, Marcus joins her in the Colosseum to do battle with the lions rather than join Poppaea in one of her many milk baths. No doubt, the Empress mourned this dope very briefly and found any number of willing substitutes to scrub her back.
Another reason tramps are so popular in Junk Cinema is because they are smarter than the other cast members, especially the male cast members. Take Barbara Stanwyck in "Baby Face"(1933). She has no illusions about who she is and who is responsible for it. "I'm a tramp! And who's to blame? My father!" she screeches. Escaping to New York City for a better life, Babs heads over to the Gotham Trust Company and bluffs her way into an office job--even though she can't type.
"Do you have any experience?", the personnel clerk asks.
"Plenty," she replies.
Before long, Stanwyck is climbing the corporate ladder one man at a time. Among her conquests is a bit player named John Wayne. When a scandal involving Barbara and an ex-paramour threatens to topple the bank, Stanwyck negotiates an even cushier job for herself at their Paris branch. She appears to be living the high life with no regrets until the movie's tacked on ending has her forsaking it all for true love. Sure.
Tramps also have great dialogue. "Why do you think you're such a smoky something when you're just nothing painted blue?" growls Ann-Margret in "Kitten with a Whip"(1964). "My motor never runs down," Tura Satana proclaims in "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"(1966), "do you want to check under my hood?" "Just remember," tramp Terry Moore counsels in "Peyton Place"(1957),"men can see much better than they can think. A low-cut neckline does more for a girl's future than the entire Britannica Encyclopedia!" "Stop treating me like a saint," Mamie van Doren purrs to Russ Tamblyn in "High School Confidential (1958). "Relatives should always kiss each other hello and goodbye." "You're not too bright," Kathleen Turner observes about William Hurt in "Body Heat" (1981). "I like that in a man."
What makes a gal a tramp? That's complicated. Heredity can play a role: if your mom is a tramp, chances are you'll end up a tramp, too. Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones) in "Duel in the Sun" (1946) has a trampy saloon dancer for a mom, so it's a forgone conclusion she'll end up the same way. Joey Heatherton in "Where Love Has Gone" (1964) is saddled with tramp Susan Hayword for a mom, who brags to her cuckolded husband,"You're not the first today--I'm just getting warmed up!" Therefore, is anyone really surprised when Joey goes on trial for stabbing the stud mom was shacking up with? Or that both mom and daughter may have been having an affair with the guy? In "Claudelle Inglish"(1961) Diane McBain's mom Constance Ford actually encourages her daughter to be a tramp, especially after her high school boyfriend dumps her once they finally have sex. Then, after Diane refuses the advances of rich Claude Akins, Ford decides to run off with him herself. When Diane's pa wonders where his wife is, Claudelle gleefully informs him she's "down by the willows" with Akins, adding, "We watched them!"
Some gals become tramps because they are bored. That's Bette Davis' fate in "Beyond the Forest". Described as a "midnight gal in a nine o'clock town", Bette's stuck with a wimpy husband and a crummy house. "What a dump!" she famously declares. Then Bette takes up with a city slicker who promises to take her to Chicago. He later dumps her and leaves her pregnant. As one of Bette's neighbors observes, "It's tough on a girl like Rosa living in a town like this." To which her friend replies, "It's tough on the town".
Other gals think being a tramp will snag them a rich husband. In "The Carpetbaggers"(1964) Carroll Baker started out as George Peppard's girlfriend, but she immediately throws him over to marry his rich dad Leif Erickson, becoming his stepmother. "Peyton Places"s Terry Moore uses her tramp wiles on rich boy Barry Coe to the same effect. Later, when Coe dies in World War II, Moore confesses she was only being trampy because Coe liked trampy girls.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't address the social injustices that made some girls opt for trampdom. During the decades these films were made, the double standard was in full swing; any female caught having sex outside of marriage was automatically branded a tramp. A "reputation" was something women had to avoid, but men were encouraged to build. In "Claudelle Inglish", Diane McBain is ruined when she has sex with her high school sweetheart, but her ex, on the other hand, is in the free and clear to marry someone else and remains a citizen in good standing. As Joan Crawford points out in "Johnny Guitar" a man can lie, cheat and even commit murder, but "as long as he hangs onto his pride" he's still a man. However, "if a woman slips just once, she's a tramp."
A great many tramp characters came from poor families, had little educational opportunities and were stuck in low paying, dead-end jobs. If a gal became pregnant out-of-wedlock, she was stuck with the blame and the shame, but the father could easily deny paternity or skip out of town. People also didn't discuss self-esteem issues, co-dependancy or addiction.
But maybe that discussion is for another time. And maybe in the realm of Junk Cinema, tramps are perfectly comfortable with who and what they are. Maybe there's a lesson there.
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