Sunday Slices

1. The Descendants. I learned a long time ago when a book is adapted to the screen, shit can happen. But I also came to understand that film translations are another person's canvas. I give you my recipe. You bake the cake. Where I used chocolate; you adopt vanilla. And so it goes. I went to Alexander Payne's film loaded for bear. On edge, I waited for some annoying haole slip. A faux reference; a cultural misstep; an egregious representation...white actors for Asians. Elvis' Hanauma Bay. Yup, I was laying in the weeds shamelessly. And well, when you're not mining for diamonds, but thinking of coal sometimes the cosmic joke is on you. The Descendants in a rather astonishing cultural homage moves seamlessly through the Hawaiian archipelago chain like the proverbial hot knife through butter. It doesn't miss a beat. Kamaaina's distilled through a malahini's lens accompanied by an outrageous soundtrack...nicely done, Mr. Payne. Shaka, bro.

2. Growing up, my canine hero was Rin Tin Tin. I preferred the handsome black and tan markings to the pointy nosed collie on the other telly channel. Milking the popularity of Rinty, H'wood churned out and filled the Saturday matinee screens: Rinty come home. Rinty in the wild. And Rinty at war. I'll never forget the first time that I saw a shell shocked dog in a war movie. The sweet lovable canine hero developed Cujo like instincts. Now, 50 years later, there are reports of dogs serving in Afghanistan and Iraq suffering from PTSD. Vets are treating dogs who have developed troubling changes in personality after increasing exposure to explosions and gunfire; some of the canines become hyper, and aggressive, while others become shy and timid. 'Man's' best friend...

3. More canine. Reports out of Salt Lake, Utah of a duck hunter shot in the pelvic region when his dog stepped on his 12 gauge shotgun laid across the bow of his boat.
27 pellets of bird shot were discharged. Think his safety was on? I'm just saying...