TODAY was scheduled to be an OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Sew-Toe-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe” - https://otosotu.yolasite.com) filming day in JET Progress’ Studio Two – the “Carol Mylo” scenes. However, last night the principal actress playing Carol, Sakura Kai, came down with a cold, and this morning sounds like a burly security agent, rather than the Dominie-in-Grey for the entire Imperax.

What is a Dominie-in-Grey you ask? Screenwriter William Maltese working with...

JET Progress, an independent film production company in Hawaii, currently offers two multi-award-winning films: CLEAN WATER, COMMON GROUND, winner of two-Telly awards, The Indian Independent Film Festival, and Saudi Arabia International Film Festival, and WINNOWING, winner of 30+ international film awards and semi-finalist in the Hawaii International and Washington Film Awards — https://jet-progress.yolasite.com. CLEAN WATER, COMMON GROUND is a documentary on water quality, and WINNOWING is...

THERE are countless New Year traditions, but as I, actor Daniel S. Janik (aka author Raymond Gaynor) and my partner, actress Sakura Kai (aka author Setsuko Tsuchiya) represent a melding of Western and Asian cultures, one of our favorite New Year traditions is making mochi.

The “recipe” is quite simple: Make some rice, specifically mochigome (糯米), a short-grain glutinous rice. In general, the better the “quality” of the rice, the better the mochi. But that’s only half of what make...