Luna Maya, Twitter, Paparazzi, and Prostitutes

One of the good things about not having a twitter account is that there is no temptation to vent one's frustrations and anger out into the public sphere. Perhaps on a little reflection Luna Maya might have thought twice about ranting that "infotainment are lower than prostitutes, murders!!! May your soul burn in hell!!!" I guess it is fair to say that she was not mincing any words there. But does she have a point?

To work this out one needs to consider the situation that preceded this little rant. Luna Is dating a singer of one of Indonesia's bigger bands, Ariel of Peter Pan fame. Ariel was married and has a beautiful young daughter (no where near as good looking as Will of course). There has been some suggestion that Luna is a home wrecker and it is her fault that Ariel split with his former wife. However, that was not the issue that sparked the most recent venting.

Luna's twitter account, lunmay, was shut down recently after the vent went public. Luna has apologized to her 123,952 followers for shutting down the account. I probably would not have had one in the first place if I was a star of the small and silver screens. Simply, tweeting that you are watching a movie is like a red rag to a bull and is certain to bring the paparazzi stalkers out in force.

As the story goes, Luna, Ariel, and Alleia (Ariel's daughter) went to watch the premiere of Ariel's first movie, The Dreamer (Sang Pemimpi) at EX Plaza. Now, my recollections of EX are that it was an excellent place for a little bit of celebrity spotting if that was your thing. In any event, little Alleia had fallen asleep during the movie and was being carried out by Luna.

This is where it gets really interesting. In the scramble for good photos and an interview one of the infotainment throng cracked little Alleia on the head with a camera. For a parent, even the girlfriend of a parent, this can certainly arouse some pretty heated emotions. If someone clocked Will in the head with a camera, then I would be tempted to grab the camera a clock the fella right back.

The lesson here is two-fold, Luna Maya had apparently agreed to an interview in the lobby once little Alleia was in the safety of the car. So, the gathered throng of infotainment journalists would have got their interview and obligatory shots if the had been a little more patient. the second lesson is do not vent your frustrations on Twitter no matter how justified you feel about it.

The spat, if the Twitter message can be called such, has escalated with the Indonesian Journalists Association threatening to take legal action against Luna for allegedly comparing them to prostitutes. The comparison to murderers was a little harsh, but the comparison to prostitutes probably is not so harsh.

In fact, it is probably a slur against all the prostitutes out there. Let's face it, infotainment journalists and photographers sell their assets to those willing to pay for it, similar to prostitutes. But, on a more serious note, the Indonesian Association of Journalists might also want to consider that one of their members was responsible for the assault of a child. My question would be, "does the Indonesian Association of Journalists really want to pursue this one?"

Most people might have an insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip and news, but most of these people would also balk at the idea that journalists need to assault and harm children in order to get their pound of flesh.

Maybe it is time that the government considered putting into place specific laws that protect celebrities from over-zealous infotainment journalists. And, perhaps it is also time that those that drive the market, infotainment publishers started to self-regulate what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to getting that all important shot or all important interview.

Public figures are what they are, but this does not mean that they forfeit all their rights to privacy because they have appeared in a film or worked as a presenter on TV.

It is time the infotainment industry got their collective act together and showed some class.

Maria Ozawa -- Victim?

You all know by now that the only reason I do posts on Maria Ozawa, or Miyabi as she is known affectionately by her fans, is that it gives me a reason to post some pictures of the young woman.

I have posted a few times, four to be exact, on Maria Ozawa and a film to be shot in Indonesia titled, "Kidnapping Miyabi". Besides getting to post some pictures of the young woman, there are also some interesting social and legal issues worthy of a bit of discussion.

On the social side of the equation, the questions of morality and profession are interesting. It would seem that the shenanigans that went on here say, once a porn star always a porn star. Seemingly, one never escapes their past. The film that Ozawa was to star in Indonesia was a comedy. It included no nudity and ultimately no sex scenes. This probably would have been disappointing to her many, many, many fans in Indonesia who have been snaffling up her DVDs for years.

On the legal front. It is worth discussing whether the Minister of Tourism and Culture has the power to issue directives that in essence blacklist certain individuals from entering the country. More specifically, can the minister issue a directive to a film production house setting out which actors maybe used in a film? Is this a sign of things to come as the new film law starts to see more vigorous enforcement?

The entry and exit of people to and from Indonesia is at the discretion of immigration. They are the front line enforcers in this field. Immigration works cooperatively with all parties. Most recently we have seen them work cooperatively with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) with respect to the furore that led to charges of a misuse of authority with respect to blacklisting a couple of businessmen from leaving the country.

Best case scenario is that the Minister of Tourism and Culture can approach the relevant authorities with their concerns and then immigration will consider whether a blacklisting is possible.

Even more interesting is the precedent that this sets in a broader sense. Maria Ozawa is not a criminal. She has broken no laws in Indonesia. She was being sponsored to star in a film, and this was by all accounts being done based on the prevailing labor laws and regulations.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Maria Ozawa has quite a following in Indonesia. And, that most people who did not know of her before, now do courtesy of the protests by the MUI and the FPI.

So, the question is, "has the government bowed to pressure from a vocal minority in preventing Miyabi from starring in an Indonesian comedy?" (Some might argue that she has already starred in a comedy -- the events surrounding whether or not she would make it to Indonesian shores)

Miyabi / Maria Ozawa and the FPI -- Pornography, Morality, and Comedy...

It seems there are always plenty of people about looking for a controversy to jump into, and if there is not one available to jump into, then make one up. This is the Miyabi controversy. Maria Ozawa goes by the stage name of Miyabi. She is a porn actress, and apparently she is pretty good at what she does. However, she is now looking to branch out and test her acting skills in more mainstream films. She has recently done a slasher / horror film in Taiwan. And, she has signed on to do a comedy in Indonesia, Kidnapping Miyabi.

The premise of the film seems a little silly to me; several horny blokes who have probably "choked" the proverbial chicken one too many times, and when they learn that Miyabi happens to be in Indonesia they set out to kidnap her. You never know, it might work. It will undoubtedly be popular because there are seemingly a whole lot of Indonesians who are familiar with her previous work, and those that were not so familiar with it, are sure to be now.

Anyways, the fact that a Japanese porn star is coming to Indonesia to play a role in a comedy film has irked the usual suspects. The MUI has come out and said that allowing her to come to Indonesia in any capacity to play a role in a film is going to destroy Indonesia's image overseas (I have written about that here and posted a few pictures for your viewing pleasure). Perhaps the MUI might want to have a look a little closer to home to gauge what sort of image destroying material is floating around. Stoning adulterers is probably not a big winner in the image stakes.

To add to the MUI's protests, the Islam Defenders Front or Fron Pembela Islam (FPI) assembled some of their devotees and staged a protest in front of the offices of Maxima Pictures. Maxima Pictures are the ones that are going to shoot and produce the film. It would seem that FPI's beef is that Miyabi is the destroyer of morality. Once again, he who is perfect may cast the first stone. Considering, the number of Indonesian IPs that have swung by this particular blog in search of Miyabi pictures and links to her films is testament to a rather large Indonesian following.

It seems that the FPI would be conducive to the film going ahead if Miyabi was replaced with another actress. Presumably one without any porn on her resume. But, seeing the premise of the script seems to be based on Miyabi having fame as a porn actress then perhaps FPI is lobbying for an Indonesian porn actress to take up the role. Maybe Maxima Pictures could change the name to Kidnapping Jade Marcella.

Maxima entertained the protesters by agreeing to meet with their leader, Habib Fahri Jamalullail, of the Jakarta Branch of FPI. However, the FPI left about 15 minutes later somewhat disappointed, as Maxima refused to say that they would abide by the demands of the FPI and cancel any agreements with Maria Ozawa with respect to her appearing in the film.

Not to be deterred, Fahri is prepared to go to the airport and "intercept" her arrival. Sounds a little bit extreme, it also sounds a little bit scary, and it sounds somewhat illegal to be intercepting foreigners arriving legally into the country.

Fahri is concerned that Miyabi has violated religious prohibitions by doing what she does for a living. Unfortunately, being a porn actress per se does not prohibit one from entering the country, particularly when one considers that she will not be making any porn films while she is here. It is probably forbidden to watch porn films as well. However, this does not seem to stop everyone. Once again, it seems that there are quite a few Indonesians with a voracious appetite for porn, and for Miyabi in particular.

In any event, and the FPI protests aside, according to Maxima it is still not clear if and when Miyabi will be arriving. Apparently, there have been a few bureaucratic issues arise that are still to be sorted out.

With respect to the protests, Maxima is considering relocating the shoot out of Jakarta, perhaps to Bali, or going further abroad still and shooting the film overseas. This is sad because the shooting of a film and the subsequent post-production are normally fairly big contributors to the local economy where the film is shot.

Not that I am inclined to watch the film anyway, but I do hope that Maxima sticks to its guns and shoots the film with Miyabi / Maria Ozawa in the lead role and playing herself.

In any event, the post lends itself to some gratuitous posting of pictures.

Enjoy!

More Maria Ozawa (AKA Miyabi) and Her Non-Porn Film Career...

I am a sucker for site visitors, not. But, I could not but help noticing that my blog stats as they relate to visitors searching for particular material and visiting certain pages highlighted that there are a lot of people out there searching for Maria Ozawa and Miyabi. It is also worth noting that the majority of these are from Indonesian IPs.

It seems that Mari Ozawa, the Japanese porn star with Japanese - Canadian heritage, courts as much controversy in keeping her clothes on as she does taking them off. However, this is probably because more people would prefer to see her with her clothes off.

Nevertheless, it appears that Miyabi might be trying to construct a non-porn film career. "Kidnapping Miyabi" is her second clothed film (some might say mainstream film, but who am I to judge) after last year's "Invitation Only", a Taiwanese slasher / horror film.

Now, Kidnapping Miyabi has a very basic story line, Miyabi is in Indonesia as a tourist where some infatuated undergraduates decide to kidnap her. The film has all the potential to become a porn flick. Let's face it these undergraduates are infatuated with Miyabi for one reason only; they have watched all her porno films and have probably self-gratified during a few of them, and on seeing her in the flesh, real life flesh, they figured they probably would not mind a few rounds themselves.

Admittedly, I have not seen the script, and I am unlikely to be bothered watching the film when it comes out. The whole premise seems a little silly to me. Maybe I am just getting old, but there is probably a reason why big name porn stars have not been able to successfully cross over into mainstream films. Perhaps Ron Jeremy or Traci Lords have a view or two on this. But, it seems that for most porn stars they lose their allure and charm when they have their gear on.

Although, to be fair to Lords, she has appeared in a number of mainstream movies and TV shows, such as Tommyknockers, Married...with Children, and MacGyver, among others. Ron Jeremy has also done some non-porn stuff that has tended to capitalize on his porn star fame like: Fuck: A Fuckumentary.

So, to all my happy Miyabi searchers, this one is for you.

Enjoy!