June Birthdays

It's June! Time to say Happy Birthday!

Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

-Birth Name: Noriyuki Morita

-DOB: 6/28/1932

-Where: Isleton, California

-DOD: 11/24/2005

-Where: Las Vegas, Nevada

-He was known for playing slightly odd or unusual characters

Nicholas Latifi

-Birth Name: Nicholas Daniel Latifi

-DOB: 6/29/1995

-Where: Montreal, Canada

-His father is an Iranian-Canadian businessman named Michael Latifi

Ronnie Wood

-Birth Name: Ronald David Wood

-DOB: 6/1/1941

-Where: Hillingdon, United Kingdom

-He and singer Rod Stewart were part of The Faces, a band consisting of former members of The Small Faces

Charlie Watts

-Birth Name: Charles Robert Watts

-DOB: 6/2/1941

-Where: London, England

-DOD: 8/24/2021

-Where: London, England

-He originally trained as a graphic artist prior to becoming a musician

Nicko McBrain

-Birth Name: Michael Henry McBrain

-DOB: 6/5/1952

-Where: London, England

-He recently had a stroke, which affected his playing

Ian Paice

-Birth Name: Ian Anderson Paice

-Where: 6/29/1948

-He is the only original member of Deep Purple who has served in every lineup since the band's formation in 1968

Johnny Depp

-Birth Name: John Christopher Depp II

-DOB: 6/9/1963

-Where: Owensboro, Kentucky

-He has suffered with near sightedness since birth and is nearly blind in his left eye. He states it cannot be corrected with surgery

Noah Wyle

-Birth Name: Noah Strausser Speer Wyle

-DOB: 6/4/1971

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He stated his least favorite scene on ER was when he had to do mouth to mouth resuscitation on a dog

Linda Cardellini

-Birth Name: Linda Edna Cardellini

-DOB: 6/25/1973

-Where: Redwood City, California

-She appeared on an episode of the TV game show The Price is Right in 1994, winning a fireplace

Shogun (2024-206)

This TV program centers around the samurai of ancient Japan

Summary

-A mysterious ship from Europe is found stranded in a Japanese fishing village. Meanwhile, Lord Yoshii Toranaga finds secrets that could tip things his way and destroy his enemies

Cast

-Cosmo Jarvis: John Blackthorne

-Hiroyuki Sanada: Yoshii Toranaga

-Anna Sawai: Toda Mariko

-Tadanobu Asano: Kashigi Yabushige

-Yuki Kedoin: Takemaru

-Takehiro Hira: Ishido Kazunari

-Hiroto Kanai: Kashigi Omi

-Yuki Kura: Yoshii Nagakado

-Shinnosuke Abe: Buntaro

-Saeko Kimura: Mariko's Lady in Waiting

-Tommy Bastow: Father Martin Alvito

-Hiromoto Ida: Lord Kiyama

-Kengo Hashimoto: Ishido's Gray Kosho #1

-Yutaro Ryan Oka: Toranaga's Gray Kosho #1

Did You Know?

-John Blackthorne was based on a real historical figure named William Adams. Adams spoke a good number of languages, including Portuguese

-Traditionally, the home where the Emperor resided, was considered the capital. From the years of 794 to 1868, the Emperor resided in Heian-kyo, which is modern day Kyoto. After 1868, the seat of the Japanese government and Emperor's home was moved to Edo, which was later renamed Tokyo

-A woman married to a samurai would receive, as a wedding gift, a small dagger called a kwaiken

-The Samurai were armed with two swords: the longer, more iconic Katana (long sword) and a smaller Wakizashi (mid sword). The Katana was used by the foot soldiers, who would use it to attack from a distance. The Wakizashi was a shorter sword used for close combat situations and as a backup in case the katana was rendered unusable. The Wakizashi was even used to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) is needed. There was also a third weapon, a Tanto (dagger). This was used for combat and seppuku as well

-While the samurai were away at battle, the women married to the samurai and the women of the villages were trained in combat to protect the home and village

-The word samurai means "servant". They actually referred to themselves as "bushi", meaning "warrior"

-Cathay is the older name for China

-Hatamoto means "under the banner" or "near the banner", in reference to their literal position on the battlefield and position to their lord. This closeness also applies off the battlefield and represented a strong trust in all matters. It also references an advisor, or even a high-ranking samurai in areas like diplomacy, trade, foreign policy and battlefield tactics. William Adams, the man Blackthorne is based on, began as an advisor to Tokugawa, advising him on trade and diplomacy. Eventually, he earned the title of Hatamoto, which gave him a lot of influence in matters, especially foreign policy

-Traditionally in Chinese, Japanese and Korean custom, it was customary to put family name first. However, starting in the 19th century, Japanese began adopting the practice of given name first and family name second. In 1875, the government created the Family Register Law, making it required for all Japanese to register their family name for tax purposes

-Hiroyuki Sanada performed all of his own stunts

-This series is based on a novel of the same name by James Clavell. Many of the characters on the program are based on real people

• John Blackthorne: William Adams
• Ferreira: Horatio Neretti
• Father Martin Alvito: Joao Rodriguez
• Yoshi Toranaga: Tokugawa Ieyasu
• Toda Mariko (Maria): Hosokawa Gracia or Akechi Tama
• Toda Buntaro Hirokatsu (Husband of Mariko): Hosokawa Tadaoki
• Toda Hiromatsu (Toranaga's Kara or Second in Command / Father of Buntaro): Hosokawa Fujitaka
•  Ishido: Ishida Mitsunari
• Onoshi: Otani Yoshitsugu
• Kiyama: Konishi Yukinaga / Takayama Ukon
• Sugiyama: Maeda Toshiie

-A naginata is a long pole with a sharp curved blade at the end. It was used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. This traditional Japanese blade was also used by warrior women in nobility. The word translates into "reaping sword" or "mowing down sword". It can be between 1-3 feet long and is sharpened on one side. It was believed this weapon evolved from a tool used for farming

-The executive producer of this program is Michaela Clavell, the daughter of author James Clavell

-Leprosy, which is now known as Hansen's disease, was a deadly disease described in ancient customs. It's an infectious disease results in severe, disfiguring skin lesions and nerve damage in the arms, legs, lungs around your eyes and other parts of the body. It's spread through airborne respiratory droplets, such as coughing and sneezing. It is curable and treatment in the early stages is done through multi-drug prophylactics. If left untreated, the disease can progress and result in permanent disabilities. There were some cases where the virus was so common that those afflicted were exiled to colonies like Molokai in Hawaii or Carville, Louisiana in the US

-Elizabeth I was the ruling Queen of England during the period this program takes place

-Both Hiroyuki Sanada and Nestor Carbonell appeared in the 2004 series Lost, but didn't share any scenes together

-This program reunites both Tadanobu Asano and Hiroyuki Sanada after their 2021 film Mortal Kombat

-This is the first non-English TV program to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. It's also the second to be nominated after the 2021 program Squid Game

-Despite his character requiring a translator during his interactions with John Blackthorne, Hiroyuki Sanada is fluent in English

-Despite his character requiring a translator during his interactions with John Blackthorne, Tadanobu Asano is fluent in English

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

This is one of the more famous films Chow Yun-fat has starred in. Originally, Jet Li was supposed to have the main role, but there personal reasons and a scheduling conflict and he couldn't do it. So the role went to Chow Yun-fat instead

Summary

-When a young Chinese warriors steals a sword from a famous sword maker, she escapes and falls in love with a mysterious man and together they embark on a romantic adventure

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Li Mu Bai

-Michelle Yeoh: Yu Shu Lien

-Ziyi Zhang: Jen

-Chang Chen: Lo

-Sihung Lung: Sir Te

-Pei-Pei Chang: Jade Fox

-Li Li: May

-Suying Huang: Auntie Wu

Did You Know?

-Michelle Yeoh spent a year prior to filming this movie so she could learn to fluently speak Mandarin

-The actors in this film did all of their own stunts. Any wires holding them up were removed digitally

-The title of the film refers to a Chinese mythology quote referencing "hiding your strength from others"

-When Ang Lee approached Michelle Yeoh, he told her this would be like the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, only with martial arts

-During filming, Michelle Yeoh had torn her ACL and had to be flown to the United States to have it repaired. She returned to filming at different times to film the non-action scenes until her knee had recovered

-The swords and other weapons were made in Taiwan. Ironically, Taiwan is the country Ang Lee was born in and the swordsmith who made the weapons was actually Lee's neighbor in Tainan, Taiwan

-During an interview with TIME Magazine, Chow Yun-fat described speaking in Mandarin as "It's awful". He had to do 28 takes of shooting on just the first day alone because he had great difficulty speaking Mandarin

-All four of the main stars of the film spoke Mandarin with different accents. Chow Yun-fat spoke it with a Cantonese accent, because Cantonese is his primary language. Michelle Yeoh spoke it with a Malaysian / English accent, Ziyi Zhang spoke it with a Beijing accent and Chang Chen spoke it with a Taiwanese accent

-In the opening scene showing Ziyi Zhang, the embroidered dress she wore took two months to make. It required four highly skilled embroiderers

-The action choreographer on this film is Yuen Woo-ping, who is responsible for choreographing the fight scenes and is also responsible for the choreography in the 1999 film The Matrix and its follow-ups

-While it appears that Ziyi Zhang's character is highly skilled in performing martial arts, in real life she had never undergone any formal studies of martial arts. She used dance techniques to learn her moves as if they were a dance instead of a fight

-As part of her training, Ziyi Zhang also learned calligraphy

-Chow Yun-fat was shown a mockup of what he would look like with a shaved head before he agreed to cut his hair down to the scalp

-The scenes filmed in the Gobi Desert were interrupted by rain constantly

-Jet Li was originally offered the role of Li Mu Bai, but had made a strict promise to his wife Nina Li Chi that he would be with her through the pregnancy of their first child

-This is the first martial arts film for Chow Yun-fat

-Director Ang Lee found the intensity and stress of this movie to be so high he had once again resumed smoking

-Michelle Yeoh didn't speak Mandarin at all. Chow Yun-fat speaks it, but his primary language is Cantonese. Yeoh had to have help from Mandarin-speaking crew members phonetically. Her Malaysian accent can be heard throughout the film. Native Mandarin speakers thought Chow Yun-fat's accent was overdone and strained

-Jet Li was offered the role of Li Mu Bai, but instead he chose to appear in the 2000 film Romeo Must Die instead. Hong Kong singer / actor Leon Lai was offered the role, but turned it down. Finally it was offered to Chow Yun-fat, who accepted it

-Ironically, the film was released in the year 2000, which, in Chinese astrology, is the Year of the Dragon

-For the English language dub, there was extra care taken to ensure that the voice actors' roles and wording matched the original lip movements almost exactly

The One (2001)

A sci-fi film starring Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham

Summary

-Set in a world of Multiverses, where everyone has a version of themselves, two Multiverse agents track down a rogue criminal killing alternate versions of himself, to become stronger. The only thing stopping him from becoming "The One" is a humble LASD office

Cast

-Jet Li: Gabe / Yulaw / Lawless

-Carla Gugino: T.K. / Massie Walsh

-Delroy: Roedecker / Attendant

-Jason Statham: Funsch

-James Morrison: Aldrich / A World Inmate #1

-Dylan Bruno: Yates

-Richard Steinmetz: D'Antoni

-Harriet Sansom Harris: Nurse Besson

Did You Know?

-In the scenes where Jet Li appeared to be fighting himself, this was done with a stuntman with a similar physical build to him. The stuntman's face was painted green with CGI dots so Jet Li's face could digitally replace it later

-Jet Li uses two particular styles of kung fu here. For Yulaw, the "evil" one, he uses what is called Xingyi Quan, or "Mind-Form-Fist". It's seen as a very linear style meant for offense. Gabe is seen using what is called Bagua Zhang, or "Eight Trigrams Palm". This is known for open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are considered two of the three main styles of Chinese kung fu, with the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi)

-The 2001 TV program Scrubs is filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center - the same "University Medical Center" featured in this movie, where Gabe is going to get his MRI 

-In the film's initial shootout, the guns used by the LAPD in the Anubis Universe were M4A1 carbine assault rifles equipped with an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. At the time, the M26 was a relatively new experimental shotgun being developed by the United States Army by C-More Systems. It was not available to the public. These were prototype weapons being used and were loaned to the film set by the C-More Systems company. It was done under a promotional agreement that required them to be returned to the company after production was completed

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was initially supposed to have the main role, but he had made plans to star as The Scorpion King in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. At the time, this film was listed as Untitled Sci-Fi Project. When Jet Li came in, it was retitled The One

-When Yulaw is driving around in a car he had stolen, he is fiddling with the radio, trying to find music. The 4th song he comes to is "Sinner" by Drowning Pool. When the film was released in Asia, it was changed to Linkin Park's "Forgotten"

-Jason Statham and Jet Li would appear together once again in films such as 2007's War, 2010's The Expendables, 2012's The Expendables 2 and 2014's The Expendables 3. Jet Li would play a character called Yin Yang

-Both Jet Li and Carlo Gugino had movies come out the same year before signing on to do this one. Carla Gugino starred in Spy Kids while Jet Li starred in Kiss of the Dragon

-When Delroy Lindo's gas station attendant character calls the police, after reporting violence, he describes the appearance of one of them as "a Chinese man". All he would know is that the person in question was of eastern Asian appearance. The attendant was trying to guess whether the man was Chinese or Japanese and assuming that he was Chinese, as the larger population instead of a general description

The Corruptor (1999)

This is one of my favorite films

Summary

-An Asian NYPD detective is trying to stop drug trafficking and corruption by immigrant Chinese Triads with the help of his partner, but things get difficult when the Triads attempt to bribe the policemen off the case

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Nick Chen

-Mark Wahlberg: Danny Wallace

-Ric Young: Henry Lee

-Paul Ben-Victor: Schabaker

-Jon Kit Lee: Jack

-Andrew Pang: Willy Ung

-Elizabeth Lindsey: Louise Deng

-Brian Cox: Sean Wallace

-Byron Mann: Bobby Vu

-Kim Chan: Benny Wong

-Marie Matiko: May

Did You Know?

-Kim Chan plays a character named "Uncle" Benny Wong in two films: this film and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

-Originally, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen (Chow Yun-fat) walked in on Henry Lee being fed grapes by May, the scene called for May to be performing oral sex on him. Chow Yun-fat stated he would not continue his relationship with May after seeing this. The scene was changed to a more friendly scene of grape feeding instead

-Originally Ethan Hawke was supposed to play the role of Danny Wallace, played by Mark Wahlberg. Unfortunately, production had ended to accommodate Chow Yun-fat's production schedule

-Initially, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen finds out Danny Wallace is working with Internal Affairs investigating him, the scene called for Chen to go into the bathroom and knock a hand dryer off the wall and smash a mirror. It was changed to Chen doing a sort of deep breathing instead because the previous idea was deemed an American response and, since Chinese culture is so heavily present in the film, deep breathing was more appropriate