Playwright | Joshua James

It’s not much, but it’s a lot cheerier than the international news these days-

I’m coming back, slowly but surely.

Pardon me again for not blogging, and there may yet be another blog pause.

I had a few perfectly witty social commentaries poised for publishing, and then a cyclone hit Burma, killing thousands. The Burma government hijacked the aid that was sent which resulted in countries refusing to send more without assurances the aid would go to those that need it.

And now an earthquake of massive scale has killed tens of thousands in China.

I don’t know anything that I could possibly write that would adequately address something so terrible.

I know most folks are usually more worked up about who just got voted off of what reality show and, to be honest, most of the time, I ain’t that different from them.

But damn, man, I can’t help but feel most anything I do, other than caring for my son, is simply trivial in the face of world events.

I remember when I was a teenager and the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, that was like the most terrible tragedy any of us could imagine.

Now that sad event wouldn’t even register compared to most of what’s gone on the last eight years, just in terms of natural disasters. Just the natural disasters of the world alone - discounting the political ones - just the sheer number of recent hurricanes, tsumanis, earthquakes, cyclones and tornadoes and the like of the last ten years leaves me feeling terribly sad and insignificant.

And racked with worry over my son.

I’ll snap out of it soon, probably, and will go back to posting narcissistic social commentary, fart jokes, baby pictures and flaming film reviews few people care about, I’ll be back . . . but until then I’m gonna be offering prayers to Buddha.

Above note Kai with new mother, Samurai Lady, and her own mother, just last month. Happy Mother’s Day!

Now that I’m a parent, my respect for my own mother has catapulted from, “thanks ma, you’ve been cool to have given birth to me,” to “Holy Frackin’ Shite, Ma, how in the name of all that is holy did YOU DO THIS?!”

I call her up every week and marvel about it. She also did it back in the day where the wife did everything, EVERYTHING, on her own, care for the baby, cooking and cleaning, shopping, all that (no slur on Pops, that was just how folks thought it was done back then) and she did it without help from her parents or my dad’s parents. Twenty-four seven, mom was on duty.

The Samurai Lady and I tag-team Kai responsibilities and still it’s a LOAD sometimes beyond comprehension.

My mother did it (as did my mother-in-law, pictured above) on her OWN. That blows my mind. And they didn’t have internet, either.

Above is a picture of my mother and I* in Iowa a few years back, when I took the Samurai Lady back home to meet my family. And here is my brother and I with Ma.

Had I known then what little I know now, of parenting, I think I would have got down and kissed her feet every day.

So honor your mothers, kids. They deserve it.

*This is when I was doing the Muay Thai and regularly shaved my head, because it seemed like the thing to do when one does Muay Thai, and convenient, too.

Kai is able to pull himself up to a sitting position now. And he’s beginning to crawl.

But he still prefers for US to come to HIM upon his command, rather than the other way around.

It’s good to be King, heh.

I grew up on this stuff, and I think it should be played non-stop over loudspeakers in both the House and Senate, as that those ass-clowns seemed to have forgotten why they’re there - to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

Sing it with me - “We the people . . . in order to form a more perfect union!”

H/T to Crooks & Liars.

From my friend Steve -

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it George W. Bush.
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you. “Do you really want to get rid of George W Bush?”
6. Firmly Click “Yes.”
7. Feel better?

GOOD - Tomorrow we’ll do Cheney

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” - George W. Bush

Some good things happened to good people whilst I was on a break, and I missed noting them on the blog.

So here tis:

My friend Ian’s film LA BLUES is now available on DVD, so please add it to your queue now! More info here L.A. BLUES DVD RELEASE on Ian’s blog, and in addition, Ian has found himself a father again, so stop by and wish him the best!

My friend Lou Carbonneau appeared on Law & Order two weeks ago, in Jesse Martins last episode, in a great part. He kicked major ass, and also landed a dream role in a film (can’t say more than that). Let’s hear for Lou!

Blogger and Playwright Matthew Freeman has been getting rave reviews (including the Times) for his latest play, WHEN IS A CLOCK, so you should go see it but you gotta act fast because this is the Final Week of Performances for When is a Clock and at the very least, go to his blog and congratulate him.

Congratulations, dude!

My buddy Adam Rothenberg’s new movie TENNESSEE premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and kicked major ass. He rocked it, folks, rocked it old school, too.

My playwright mentor, Naomi Wallace, had a new show premiere at the Public Theatre. It’s called FEVER CHART and it’s still running. Please attend, if you can. And luckily for me, she was in town and we got to see each other.

My fellow playwright James has a show opening called COLORFUL WORLD that looks totally and completely awesome . . . it’s opening like, any minute now, go to his blog for info and see the show. I’m a big fan of James.

I’m sad to say I don’t get out much these days to see plays or movies, the baby and the writing schedule tends to eat up the minutes and hours like you wouldn’t believe (I’m not even really following the NBA Finals, and if not for DVR, wouldn’t know what was happening on LOST or THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, which is very unlike me) so if I missed your show or event, please forgive me.

And if you had anything really cool happen to you that deserves Kudos, please leave it in the comments and let me know, because I’m sure I’m missing some worthy achievements, shout it out, folks!

Over the blogging break, there was a private reading of a screenplay I’ve written and for awhile it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to attend it, then at the last minute time opened up and was able to go.

It went very well and the folks behind it assembled a talented killer cast. Even though it wasn’t a public reading, I wanted to list the people involved because they were so great.

SPINNERS by Joshua James
Directed By Nick Corley
Casting By Marci Phillips

With: MAGGIE LACEY (Our Town w/ Paul Newman) CHRIS STACK (The School of Rock & The Undying) ADAM ROTHENBERG (Mad Money) ROBERTA MAXWELL (Brokeback Mountain) ATO ESSANDOH (Blood Diamond & Garden State) LOU CARBONNEAU (Six Degree’s & Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead) CHUCK BUNTING (Sex and the City) DAVID FURR (Evening & Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf w/ Kathleen Turner) DIANE DAVIS (Filthy Gorgeous) DAVID DEBLINGER (A Price Above Rubies & Jonny Zero) CLYDE KELLEY (The Dead One) KATHRYN FAUGHNAN (The Forgotten )

Don’t forget to share anything cool in the comments!

TOO FUNNY!

H/T to Isaac.

Monday Movie Madness and Unheralded Cool Movies You Should Know About Be Back!

However, it’s gonna be short and sweet for the next few weeks, as that time is crunched and crinkled.

This week’s selection: My Bodyguard

This is on my mind because of a film named Drillbit Taylor which came and went for about five seconds a few weeks ago, which had roughly the same story-line. I say roughly because, well, other than the bodyguard part, and high school, I don’t think they were much alike.

Because My Bodyguard is a simply awesome flick, one of the best teen films of the eighties.

Wait, that’s a challenging statement. Let me offer up some context.

Now there’s no doubt that John Hughes RULED the eighties when it came to films for teens, no argument there - he went on a run that began with 1983’s SIXTEEN CANDLES and ended, for my money, with SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (already covered earlier on this column) in 1987 - he also made some cool movies for adults (PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES) and for the whole family (HOME ALONE) but his five year run of teen movies in the eighties still reverberates throughout our culture today.

No argument. Hughes was the king. Hughes was the man.

But before John Hughes, there was My Bodyguard, which did Hughes before Hughes actually did Hughes, and with a heavier dose of realism to boot. Set in Chicago, like many a Hughes flick, featuring a bunch of young, talented actors (Chris Makepeace, Matt Dillon, Adam Baldwin and including a very young Joan Cusack, who would later appear in SIXTEEN CANDLES) who don’t seem to be acting but just seem to be smart, flip and tragic, this is a must see film for anyone who loves THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

The story of My Bodyguard is simple. A rich kid (Makepeace) is transfered to a rough public school in Chicago and a gang of young bullies immediately start taxing his ass (led by Dillon, fucking awesome as a mean kid, and believable too) as they do all the weaker children.

He can’t go to his father (Martin Mull, also great) and being a smart kid, he figures out a method to prevail. He hires the one kid in school, a big border-line nut-job, that everyone is afraid of (Baldwin, very good) to be his bodyguard.

It works at first, and the two kids, the rich kid and the delinquent, begin to get to know each other.

Then it gets complicated.

I don’t want to spoil it, but the ending is especially satisfying, and better than most movies.

Okay, gotta run. Check out My Bodyguard today.

Thus endeth Monday Movie Madness.

Go here for previous selections of Daily Dojo Unheralded Cool Movies You Should Know About.

While I was on a blogging break, we had a couple of sad departures on both sides of the Naka-James family.

My Uncle Raymond passed away just near the end of March. Below is small part of his obituary.

Raymond Clare Brend
1952 – 2008
Raymond Brend, the son of Edward Raymond (E.R.) and Anne (Tasler) Brend, was born October 18, 1952 at his parent’s farm home and passed from this life March 28, 2008 at the same farm home. He lived his life to the age of 55 years, 5 months and 10 days.

Casket bearers were John Kavanaugh, Jeff Miller, Joe Minnehan, Dennis Hardy, Mike Wiederin and Rick Pearson.

I was able to see my Uncle Raymond and Aunt Phylis the last time I was in Iowa in 2003, and while we weren’t very close, I do know he was a doting father to his children - his first grandchild was born just a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure his spirit lives on in his grandson.

I also think it’s something special that he lived nearly his whole life in the farmhouse he was born in, many farmers have strong ties to their land and community, and many will miss him.

On the Naka side of the family, The Samurai Lady’s Grandmother on her mother’s side also passed away in March.

We called her Osaka Grandma (a title proudly inherited at Kai’s birth by The Samurai Lady’s mother) because that’s where she lived, and she was an energetic and humorous presence in her family. She was Kai’s great-grandmother and unfortunately they were not able to meet in person.

Every visit to Japan we spent much time with her. Often we would visit her apartment in Osaka along with the various children and cousins, sit down with snacks and chat away the afternoon while she bustled about and teased us.

She was in her mid-eighties and her health had been poor for quite sometime. It’s a sad loss for us and her entire family, they will miss her very much.

Here is a picture from the Buddhist ceremony for Osaka Grandma Kai and The Samurai Lady participated in when they were in Japan.

Here is a picture of me and Osaka Grandma at her apartment. As you can see, she’s less than five foot tall but almost all of it is smile and good humor.

Funny story about me and Osaka Grandma.

My wife and I were married in Japan. At our wedding reception, we posed for individual pictures with everyone from both sides of the family (most of whom I was meeting for the very first time) and while this was being done, The Samurai Lady’s brother Mas filmed the whole thing. There was many family there, so it took awhile.

When it was time for her picture with us, Osaka Grandma put her arm around me, much like she does in the above picture.

And while cameras flashed, she reached around and pinched me right in the tush.

On camera, you can see me visibly jump.

I leaned down to the Samurai Lady’s ear and whisper:

Josh: Your grandma just pinched me in the butt.

SL: Really?

We both glance down at Osaka Grandma. She looks up at me, grins and winks.

I can’t help it. I start laughing. My wife’s grandmother pinched my ass in front of the whole family and smiled when she did it.

It’s one of my fondest memories.

Rest In Peace.