Cryano Agency

                  

                  On Friday, April 1st, HIFF had the honor to show the release of USA premier Cyrano Agency. Before coming over, it had already had local success in South Korea as well as receiving an Best Actor reward. For those who like contemporary romantic comedies this is highly recommended. The story is well written out and supported with good acting.

                  The story revolves this a small organization called Cyrano Agency which claims to have a 100% success rate at making people fall in love. The business was set up by a theater actor Lee Byeong-hun was a way to make some money. He has three additional people on his team that assist him on his jobs.

                  The story begins with a lovesick man, Kim Hyeon-gon, hiring the services of those at the Cyrano Agency to help him get a coffee shop worker Seon-ah to fall for him. Their normal method is to set up different situations and they then give him and/or feed him lines through an earpiece. However, other than the 'secret' instructions, they have pretty limited interaction between the two. In this episode, there is some pretty effective camera work. There is one scene where Kim Hyeon-gon is having a conversation out in the rain. Since he does not have an umbrella the rain on his face, coupled with the background music, gives the impression that he is sad; the rain are tears running down his face. Even though this operation is a success, the business still has financial problems so they still need to take other jobs. This necessity lead to the conflict which would partially drive the remainder of the film.

               
The second job comes from a fund manager, Lee Sang-yong, who has fallen for a member of his congregation, Kim Heui-joong. However, as this job is unlike the others before, Kim Heui-joong is Lee Byeong-hun ex-girlfriend, Lee is against them taking this job; this is not known to the time initially. Finally, he agreed to accept the job under the combined pressure of the rest of the time and the financial situation they are in.  At first there are no problems. But this would not go on forever, eventual past feels begin to interfere with the work.

 The church that they attend, the minister gives extremely long and boring sermons. In an attempt to impress Kim Heui-joong, Lee Sang-yong, she is kind of a rebel, would speak out and ask for a shorter time. At first it seems as if the plan succeeds extremely well. Then the twist, it is what is meant to happen. However, in reality did not follow what their idea. This is in part because of the lack confidence Lee Heui-joong addressed with.

 A scene later own which flashes back to explain the relationship Kim Heui-joong and Byeong-hun happened when she went to the data in the coffee shop. As the 'potential' couple is at their table, the Cyrano Agnecy is controlling the music in a back corner. When Lee Sang-yong goes to the toilet, Byeong puts on a song that had a special connection between him and his ex. this causes her to reflect on her past relationship.

Does they movie end with Byeong-hun taking his ex back or can he put aside his feeling and get her to fall for Lee. This is for you to see. While the movie is fairly serious, there are plenty of humorous scenes to lighten and entertain. One should see this movie.
Info: http://www.hiff.org/program/films/detail/cyrano_agency_2011

Hawaii Rail

Honolulu is building a rail in an effort to increase the effectiveness in transportation for West Oahu. The initial plan is to have the path run from Ala Moana past Pearl City and into West Oahu. 

There should be about  20 transit stops along the line,which is planned to effectively support the current transport system, TheBus. During the rush hour, you can expect a train to com once every three minutes. At this speed, it is hard to believe that they will ever completely fill up. During low points in travel, they wait time should only be ~10 mins. The price for the fare will be the same as that for the bus; $2.50 at this moment. The construction of this line, which broke ground on Feb. 22, 2011.

 “The elevated system will operate with precision and reliability. So, if you need to be at work by 8 a.m., you’ll arrive at work by 8 a.m., even if it’s raining or there’s a big accident on H-1”, said the Department of Transportation. More information can be found at www.honolulutransit.org

He's dead now...

                                                                                                     Source: NYT.com
  I found it fairly surprising that Osama bin Laden was just now kill. I thought that h should have died a while ago. Not much information has been released on how the operation went down. But, killing an unarmed man? While they say that he did have a weapon with in reach, can we really know that that is the real reason, or just some soldier taking justice into their own hands. For such a major operation, there seems to have been an insignificant amount of fighting.
     I do believe that it is appropriate that the photo of the body are not displayed, it would be glorifying to death to much. I think that after the raid happened and bin Laden was killed, a burial at sea took place. No big deal or lasting remained remains behinds.
     While most is sincere, Obama honoring the victims of 9/11 may be in part a public relations move.

Question For All:

What would you want your last words be?

Change for Cuba?

                                                                                    Photo from CNN

In 2006, Fidel Castro turned over the presidency to his brother Raul Castro. A surprise move came Tuesday when Castro appeared again in public and elected his brother to succeed him as head of the Cuban Communist Party. The Communist Party in the the only legal party in Cuba. A Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a close ally to Raul, was elected from the number 2 position. Restrictions are slightly decreasing in Cuba as residents would be allowed to sell and buy house and cars.
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-=One Language=-

If there only one language, without any variations on it, the world would be much better off. People would never have problems caused through misunderstanding. Since everyone could communicate, the people would see the world as a much larger place. Their would be no language barrier between people that would separate the transfer of ideas. How many times have you gone to a new country as wished you knew how to speak their language. With only one speech this would not be a problem. With the unnecessary of learning additional languages, more space of the brain could be used to learn more useful knowledge. However, if one language is nominated to fill this spot, people would still cling to their current knowledge. To solve this problem, either time travel or massive re-indoctrination of the populous.

As long as people continue to speak in tongues, problems will arise...

Demotivational's

I am sure most people who are wasting their life brosing the someless pages on the internet have come across one of those humoring pages that conntect a headine to a photo followed by a interesting comment. While it could be said that there are some really clever one, the majority are fairly silly. People spends how many hours making them when they could be out benifiting the community at large. So, should you help your fellow man(or women) or continue to live out you life in humorous bliss.

If you want to continue on your downward spiral <Click Here>

Lybia

Following in the wake of the Egypt's successful protests, the people of Lybia took to the streets to protest the rule of Moammar Gadhafi. He responded with violence.  The USA, in concern of its citizens evacuate their embassy. Obama, speaking on behafe of the United States, among others stated that he [Gadhafi] needs to step down.
This Tuesday, Obama addressed the nation to speak in support of the military action that the States took to suppress action in Lybia. This action was because of the advances that the Lybian forces were completing. It is slightly ......  that he had to state that he [Obama] only acted after full support of Congress. The main areas that were attacked military aspects as well as creating a no-fly zone. It seemed to be of importance that their were no use of ground troops. It was also mentioned that the US were not alone in this venture; NATO will be taking a more active role after this. While I do slightly understand the reasons, I found it slightly annoying that Obama mention alot of countries as our closest allies.

Speech Transcript
Video of Speech

Japan

The earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, which barely effected use here in Hawaii, had dramatic effects within Japan. The problem extends beyond the initial cost of life. While these death are unfortunate, more significant problems were caused for Japan as a whole. A broad general problem that can be broken down into more precise areas is the destruction caused. People lose there homes, business are destroyed, can transportation becomes a problem. With wide spread destruction, sanitation becomes a problem. It becomes hard for people to find clean water; disease are also able to spread more rapid. One particular problem in this situation is in regards to the nuclear plant. With the explosions at the Fukushima and Onagawa nuclear power plant, radiation is becoming a risk. The US government are urging the citizen to evacuted if they are within a 50mile of Fukushima. To view an interative photo of the of before and after photo one should visit: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?ref=world. If you want to help out people in need you can donate to the Red Cross: https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras happened Tuesday. At first the success of the venture was threatened by weather; there were a few scattered showers in the opening hours. However, as I got darker the weather still improved. While there were so locations that had free breads, a "welcome" stand and a booth that had some really good saute'd alligator, one would have to buy the beads from a vendor. While some people did have masks on which were interesting, some went further and had entire customs. Not all really fit the scene; one man was wearing  custom of the Flash in sandals. Of course there were alcoholic beverages, however they did do a good job of regulating it; people of age could get a wrist band which indicated such. There were at least three different stages that had live music playing. While it was not as noticeable as the evening progressed, there was a significant presence of security officials.

Tee Shirt Design

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Continuation of trouble

The weeks have rolled by and the is still news of turmoil and demonstrations in the Middle East.  In some locations there is still hope of progress. The Bahrain's crown prince did announce that there were plans to meet with the opposition. Of course, just because the two sides meet, does not say that anything will be down about it.

Libya's situation is not improving much; with little change expected in the near future. The violent repression of protest lead to its removal from the UN's human rights council. The situation inside Libya is also affecting its neighbors. Refugees are pouring out of Libya and into Egypt and Tunisia. If the people are leaving, it reflects on back on the faith they have for their country.

For more information please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/middleeast/middle-east-hub.html?ref=europe

Demonstrations grow

In the recent wake of the unrest in Egypt, many other countries are beginning to experience similar problems. Each of them are having various degrees of success. Sudan seems to be on a turn for the better with the announcement that its leader on 20 years,President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, will not run for reelection. While this is suppose to be in support of democracy, we will need to wait till after to see in anything changes. The situation in Libya is getting worse. It appears that the president,  Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi will defend his rule till the end. This also impacts the rest of the world as oil prices continue to rise, nearing $4.00/gallon.

News

The situation in Egypt has just been resolved and it has already lost importance in the news. It was major importance when the protests were actually going, however now that the situation has played out not much more has been heard. How is the military doing with the governing of the country. In general, the military does not always know what is the best for the people. With the success in Egypt, protests have spread out as people see a chance for change for their own country. What will happen?

Aloha,

The weather is good again after a dreary day over on windward. It is amazing that it can be great in downtown Honolulu, with pouring rain on the other side of the mountain. And it was not the light mist like quality that there normally is. Rivers where running down the sidewalk by early evening.

Since the Superbowl was this Sunday a comment should be made about it. After the first half it was clear the only thing worth watching was the Advertisements. The best one, in my opinion, was the one for coke.

Till next time...

Movie: Act of War

I belive that this documentary over the the History of Hawaii was informative. However, just because they present good ideas do they have to be accepted at face value. While the truth may be their, it only really focises on the side of the oppresed. The side of the governing (white) party is not really addresses. However, they do do a good jod of playing on your emotions.

The use of old speeches and interviews, as well as voice over narration makes it effective. The interviews shows how the feeling currently are. The old speeches, while how they were presented was slightly annoying, were good in setting the tone for how it was back then. AAn additional downside that i think is that it film was to long. While it was not to bad I did begin to lose interest nearing the end.

The most effective part I think of the film were the current footage. Even though I do not think it was done in the best manner, it is some of the strongest proof that these issue are still surging.
Please vist: http://www.namaka.com/catalog/history/actofwar.html