|
Kokua Line June Watanabe |
City film venue shows
edited, formerly R fareQuestion: Who selects the movies for Sunset on the Beach? I was shocked to see that on Mother's Day, the listed movie was the R-rated, sexually explicit movie "Love Actually," starring Hugh Grant. We didn't attend the event, but my mom, sister and I saw that movie at a theater. In our opinion, that is definitely not family fare. The "F" word was used more than once, there was raunchy toilet humor, and most disturbing was the graphic sexual simulation of a nude couple. Does the Mayor's Office view the movies beforehand and/or edit them? If the movie was edited, did they put a notice that it was edited so that parents wouldn't buy the video or DVD and be shocked by the X-rated (in our opinion) scenes?
Answer: Nothing inappropriate for family viewing was shown.
The city does not and will not show R-rated films at Sunset on the Beach or any other city function, said Vicki Borges, the mayor's executive assistant.
"We show films that have been edited to a 'PG' or for a general audience, such as the movie shown on Mother's Day," she said.
That version of "Love Actually" was rated ED-R (Edited-Restricted).
The city doesn't do any of the editing. Instead, the movies that it screens come from the studios and comply with the Motion Picture Association of America's rating standards for family viewing, Borges said.
"These edited versions have been deemed acceptable for a general audience -- it is the same film version shown on airplanes or on network TV," albeit not cable, such as HBO, she said.
Borges said that all this is stated at the beginning of the movies.
The Managing Director's Office chooses the films to show, with assistance from the director of the Honolulu Film Office, Borges said.
Q: City crews restructured the curbs along Palolo Avenue to make them accessible to the handicapped. But the "Kikilia Place" street sign is gone! Is there a way to replace it? Also, how can we get a "no parking" sign installed at the corner of Kikilia Place and Palolo Avenue? There is a curve on Palolo Avenue that makes it very hard for the petite and the elderly to see around cars that are always parked right up to the corner. That blind corner can be very dangerous when merging onto the road since many people speed down Palolo Avenue.
A: We passed your sign request on to the city and note that the sign has since been replaced.
In the future, call the Department of Transportation Services, 523-4125, for missing signs; the Department of Facility Maintenance, 484-7644, for signs that are knocked down or damaged.
Transportation Services is also the department to contact about getting a "no parking" sign installed.
You should present the department with a petition showing that a "strong majority" of nearby residents support a no-parking restriction and that you have the support of the neighborhood board, as well.
Once support is determined, the department would conduct a field study.
|
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com