Three Hawai'i filmmakers will explore the art of samurai filmmaking, known as jidaigeki, next week at the Toei and Shochiku studios in Japan.

Aaron Yamasato of "Blood of the Samurai" and "Ninja EX," Gerard Elmore of "All for Melissa" and Christopher Yogi of "ACM" will participate in the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab Saturday through Oct. 1, creating short films, getting hands-on screenwriting experience and working alongside samurai directors including Takashi Miike of "Audition" and "Sukiyaki Western Django" and Mamoro Oshii of "Ghost in the Shell" and "The Sky Crawlers."

Short films created during the workshop will be considered for the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.

Yamasato's "Blood of the Samurai 2" had a screening yesterday at the Museum of Kyoto.

Only 20 international filmmakers, including 10 from Japan, are chosen for the workshops.

— Wayne Harada, special to The Advertiser

SPRINGSTEEN STILL GOING STRONG AT 60

Go ahead and wish Bruce Springsteen a happy 60th birthday today, but don't expect him to act like an old man any time soon.

"I think turning 60 is a milestone of some sort," says rock 'n' roll photographer Danny Clinch. "It sure makes people who are 45 like me look bad when he can run around on a stage for 3 1/2 hours a night."

Not only is Springsteen on the cover of AARP magazine, hundreds of educators, journalists, historians and fans are expected to descend this week on the Stone Pony bar in Asbury Park, N.J., and Monmouth University in West Long Branch for "Glory Days, a Bruce Springsteen Symposium."

Donna Dolphin, a professor at Monmouth University with expertise in American roots music, sees Springsteen as our national healer.

"In times of our greatest crisis, Bruce Springsteen speaks up for us and articulates our collective pain and suffering," says Dolphin. "He's becoming for us a great empathic educator."

BEATLES SELL 2.25 MILLION ALBUMS IN 5 DAYS

Nearly 40 years after breaking up, The Beatles are still breaking records for album sales.

EMI Group PLC says consumers in North America, Japan and the U.K. bought more than 2.25 million copies of the Fab Four's re-mastered albums in the first five days after their Sept. 9 release.

Most of the records were broken for most simultaneous titles in the top-selling charts by a single artist.

On Billboard magazine's pop catalog chart, for example, the band had 16 titles in the top 50, including all 14 re-mastered CDs and two box sets.

The Beatles' original U.K. studio albums were re-mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London over four years and released to coincide with the sale of "The Beatles: Rock Band" on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.