Brando: Sayonara (1957)

Brando and Miiko Taka in Sayonara

I love Japan, almost everything about it, which is probably why my perspective on Sayonara has changed from the first time I watched it, ohhhh, some odd 5 years ago. I understand the Japanese culture better now, enough to realize that Brando's character, Major Lloyd Gruver, is fortunate that he didn't insult the entirety of the nation with his passionate pursuit of a Japanese national.

The film takes place in 1951, a significant time because the war had only been over for a few years and there was still extreme tension between America and Japan. Brando approaches the character of Lloyd Gruver with his usual dedication to detail, which explains the Southern accent that has been deemed nearly flawless. Lloyd is stationed in Japan not because he wants to be there, but because a three star general, friend to his family, and father to the girl he's engaged to marry, wants him there. So, his tour in Korea is cut short and Lloyd finds himself in Japan. It doesn't take long for issues to arise between Lloyd and Eileen, played by the attractive Patricia Owens.

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Poor Paula

Paula Deen used a racial slurr. In the past. Her entire life is unraveling before her eyes because she dared use the N word. In the past! Is this any reason for her to lose the entirety of her livelihood in one fell swoop because she at some point used a racial slurr?

What has happened to America?! I am in no way excusing Paula Deen, but the poor woman has already apologized countless times, broken down on national tv pleading for forgiveness and the world is unwilling to forgive. What about the insanity of the Martha Stewart scandal where she actually performed an illegal act with her finances? She spent her few paltry years in jail and is now back to publishing, baking, decorating, etc., being as popular as ever, totally forgiven by society. But you mention the possibility that someone used a racial slurr and they must be spurned by America at large? This is insanity at its highest level!

Paula Deen has done nothing ILLEGAL! She said something incredibly stupid, but the last time I checked, stupidity was not a crime. If it were, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt would have been tossed in the slammer years ago! The woman is allowed her mistakes. If people were going to be perfectly honest about themselves, every single one of us has thought some unpleasant remark about someone from a different ethnicity! No exceptions!

And why? Because we're all sinners! Remember when Jesus informed the infuriated mob of ravenous Jews that anyone among them without sin could cast the first stone against the adulteress? You know what happened? The mob disbanded and everyone went home and the woman was forgiven by Jesus! We're all sinners!

This high and mighty protest against Paula Deen only proves to me how hypocritical American society is on the whole! They've blown this freakin' thing way out of proportion and I hope that someday, these people who say one ill word against her find their one error paraded on newspapers and television. Before we shake our finger at Paula's infinitesimal mistake, let's take a moment to remember our own and realize if we want to receive forgiveness, we should offer it!

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The Father Figure in The Closer & Major Crimes

Provenza and Sanchez in The Closer

Today, as I watched Julio Sanchez on The Closer break down in tears in his superior’s arms, my heart shattered for him. Sanchez is strong. He’s a fighter. He became a cop when everyone else in his neighborhood joined a gang. And his brother was killed because he was wearing a baseball cap. The baseball cap Julio had given him for his birthday only a month prior. And when he clings to Provenza, their relationship moves beyond mere coworkers and more into the realm of family. No one else knows quite what to say to Julio, how to be there for him, what to do, but Provenza just let him cry out the grief and guilt.

There’s this weird belief in American society that real men don’t cry. Well, you don’t get more masculine than Julio Sanchez. But being strong wasn’t what helped him start down that road to healing, it was the tears, the ability to let his emotions out, that helped him more than anything else. And that’s why I love Provenza. Oh, I know, he’s had somewhere in the realm of 4 marriages and failed at all of them. He’s a smartass and gets into loads of trouble at least once every season, always accompanied by Flynn. But he’s also the Daddy of the group. He’s the supporter, the healer, the listener, because deep down under that gruff, grouchy exterior, Provenza cares.

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Book Review: Deceived: Lured from the Truth by Melody Carlson

Deceived: Lured from the Truth by Melody Carlson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love how this series doesn't need to be read in order. A good thing since my library only owns the final 2 books for some reason. Totally weird.

While I wouldn't say Deceived is as good as Melody Carlson's final book in this series, it still packs quite the punch. Life is unpredictable and nothing is more unpredictable than those raging teenage hormones. Rachel is unsettled. Her parents have just divorced and her mom wants to start dating again. Their church split just like her parents did. Now she's at a summer resort working in an ice cream shop, trying to advance her dreams of owning her own restaurant.

Naturally, she meets a boy. This boy is from Australia with that absolutely to-die-for accent, and Rachel falls head over heels in a matter of days. When Josiah invites her out to visit his church, Rachel is impressed with the teaching and the conservative values of the congregation. It's only when she loses her job and decides to stay with the congregation, who amazingly all live on the pastor's property, that Rachel realizes she may have just gotten herself involved with a cult.

Melody Carlson's Secrets series strives to teach its readers to think for themselves and not be caught off-guard or unawares by the enemy. In Enticed, the heroine gets caught up in a human trafficking ring because she trusted the wrong people. In Deceived, the heroine makes a similar mistake compounded with the fact that she's a weak Christian who lacks knowledge of the Scripture and so is easily lead astray.

I admit that this story is a little harder to swallow than Enticed. No teen girl I know would think wearing long "granny" dresses and living on a ranch with 100 other people is normal for a church congregation. So the concept is a little far-fetched, but hey, I'm assuming this type of deceit happens because the last time I checked, America is still rife with cults. Deceived, despite lacking the emotional wallop of Enticed, still manages to instruct young women, and any reader really, in the way they should go, looking to God's teaching first and foremost and not being lead astray by false prophets.

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Brando: The Wild One (1953)

Marlon Brando & Mary Murphy in The Wild One

I like rebels, or at least the idea of the rebel as Hollywood depicts it. Marlon Brando really started the trend, followed by the all-too short life and acting career of James Dean. Dean often attributed his look in Rebel without a Cause to Marlon Brando's reckless behavior in The Wild One from 1953. You could even say that there wouldn't have been a James Dean if Marlon Brando hadn't first blazed the trail to the ideal rebel.

Rebels are scary because they thumb their noses at society's demands and expectations. In his "other" life, Johnny Strabler is an normal citizen. But on the weekend, he's the leader of a biker gang that heads out on country roads seeking something to sooth their restless nature. In The Wild One, Johnny's gang literally takes an entire town hostage, partly because Johnny's reluctant to leave, partly because of external circumstances where they can't leave, and partly because a rival gang shows up raring for a fight.

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Being an ISFJ - Part Two

Yes, Samwise Gamgee is an ISFJ

 I know that someone must be reading these ISFJ posts because they're getting hits, so I hope they're useful to you. :) If you have any questions, just post a comment. Or if you've got something you wish I would cover, let me know.

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Book Review: Enticed: A Dangerous Connection by Melody Carlson

Enticed: A Dangerous Connection by Melody Carlson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this book up this morning and finally set it down before heading to work tonight, having finished the whole thing in a matter of hours. It's one of those stories where you just can't stop reading because you're terrified of what might happen to the heroine, and you HAVE to know the conclusion before doing anything else!

When young Christian teen Simi dreams of becoming a model, she never imagines getting herself caught in such a vicious trap as human trafficking. But that's precisely what happens. She doesn't take the proper precautions to fulfill her dreams, moves too fast, and before she knows, it she's been kidnapped to be sold to the highest bidder. Simi pleads with God to spare her and rescue her, strengthening her faith throughout the difficult ordeal she experiences. Will God be faithful and send her an ever-present help in trouble?

I have only one complaint, that of an inconsistency where Simi's hands are tied and then in the same scene they're not tied anymore and she accepts a cup of water. That's it, my one complaint, and certainly not enough of a grip to warrant bringing the rating down from a 5. Melody Carlson is renowned for her books that instruct Christian teen girls to utilize wisdom when making their choices. I have always appreciated her for this tendency, but this is the very first book I've read in her Secrets series, and now I'm dying to read more. I love how she doesn't sugar-coat the nastiness of the world, but neither does she describe all of the nastiness with imagery. She goes just far enough to get the point across, and no farther.

Every Christian teen girl needs to read this book. I may not be a teenager anymore, but Enticed made even me more aware of the dangers that lurk in the online scene. The Lord calls His children to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. We can't just leap into anything and everything because it sounds good. If Simi had done her due diligence and researched the so-called "modeling" company she signed up for then she wouldn't have ended up in such a deadly situation. It's a great message to teen girls everywhere to be wary.

But what I love most is Simi's unrelenting faith. She has moments of fear and doubt, but she immediately turns those feelings over to the Lord. And because of her trust in Him, she is strengthened and can stand against the fear she faces.

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Brando: A Countess from Hong Kong (1966)

Marlon, darling, dearest, I love you, but you have never been, will never be, a comedic actor. You are not Bob Hope or Bing Crosby, so falling flat on your face makes the audience rather wince instead of laugh.

With that made perfectly clear, A Countess from Hong Kong still manages to be pretty cute. Sophia Loren plays a woman whose parents were Russian nobility and fled to Hong Kong during the uprising when Czar Nicholas and his family were murdered. She was born in Hong Kong, but her parents died when she was only 13. Her life has been difficult and sordid. One night she is introduced to His Excellency Ogden Mears, the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia played by, you guessed it, Marlon Brando. After a wild night of partying, Ogden wakes up in his cruise cabin with a hangover and no memory of the voluptous Natascha who so impressed him the previous night. She minces out of the closet, and he nearly falls over the bed in shock. The ship has set sail, Natascha has no passport, and he has no way of easily keeping his reputation and still getting Natascha off the ship unseen.

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Book Review: Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble

Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There are exemplary Christian historic romances and there are rotten ones. Blue Moon Promise falls somewhere in between. While Colleen Coble does not have the power to move her readers like Karen Witemeyer, she still develops likeable heroes and heroines. They're just not great, and not entirely memorable.

I like the heroine, Lucy, and I also like the hero, Nate. Colleen taught me that people can be married by proxy, as in Lucy and Nate's case, and it's interesting to watch their relationship develop. I wish that Colleen had more depth to her dialogue and descriptions, but even with the simplistic style she utilizes, she is still leaps and bounds ahead of many historic Christian writers. I heaved a sigh of satisfaction at the end, having everything neatly wrapped up, all of my questions answered. I still doubt some of the plot points, like Lucy's young brother Jed's amnesia regarding the circumstances of their father's death, but it didn't distract me that much from the story.

What did distract me was the lack of coherency. Lucy is in a constant state of doubt over Nate's feelings for her, even though they're pretty obvious to the reader because of his actions towards her. I love religious truth in my literature, but only if it is done well, and I admit that in Coble's work, the Christianity gets a little preachy and feels a little forced, especially the scene around the campfire on the cattle drive with Nate reading the Bible aloud to some of his cowboys. I just don't buy it.

Overall, Coble's Blue Moon Promise was an entertaining, fluffy read. It was one that I couldn't stop reading, so that says something at least. It's cute, but not one I would purchase although I am awaiting my chance to read the 2nd in the series.



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Marlon Brando: Hollywood's Classic Leading Man for June

Marlon Brando (as if you couldn't tell)

I've decided to try something new this summer, or rather, something old. Every month through August, I will pick a classic leading man. I will watch his films and write posts accordingly for each one that I see. Some may be only a few paragraphs long or they may be veritable essays of adoration depending on my mood and the impression I got from the film.

Yes, I am beginning with a favorite of mine, but that's not necessarily bad. Who knows, if this works and I enjoy it, I may keep it up indefinitely, branching out even for classic leading ladies. But for the month of June, I chose Marlon Brando.

Ahhh, Marlon Brando, was there ever a more perfect specimen of a man? When people hear his name, they immediately envision the classic Francis Ford Coppola film, The Godfather, and they would be quite right that Marlon's role as Vito Corleone is ground-breaking. However, Marlon acted for at least two decades before The Godfather came into existence. So, while I may write a post on Coppola's triumph, I am mostly going to revisit his films from the 50s and early 60s, those magnificent drool-fests of male perfection that I will love until my dying breath.

Which shall I watch first? Hmm, you'll have to wait and see. I'll just rifle through my 15 or so Brando films and pick one at random. Maybe I'll do eenie-meenie-minie-moe. Expect a post within the next few days!

All my posts done for Marlon Brando in June 2013. :)

1.  A Countess from Hong Kong 
2.  The Wild One
3. Sayonara
4. A Streetcar Named Desire
5. On the Waterfront
6. Guys & Dolls

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