Pop Culture Lunch Box

Punched in the Face By Brutal Realism

2010-09-07T23:13:00.004-04:00

It's great to see my friend Tim Getman getting better and better parts. He is firmly entrenched as a leading light in the formidable DC theater scene.

The production of Cherry Smoke at Silver Spring's Roundhouse Theater, of which he both stars and co-produces with Jessica Burgess (who helped produce my own Wiener Sausage: The Musical!), is a powerful exploration of the small-town psyche that accompanies extreme poverty and hopelessness.

Getman plays Fish, a miscreant boxer who can't get anything right other than beating other people senseless. Tangled amidst the sparse setting of ropes hanging from the ceiling, he does a pretty good job of abusing the minds of those closest to him as well.

Cherry is played with Huck Finn-like goodness by Julia Procter. A country tomboy, she loves Fish with all her heart, waits for months at a time for him to return from his frequent stints in lockup, and seems to turn to smoke without the hot breath and embrace of her soulmate.

Fish's little brother, Duffy (Cliff Williams III), and Duffy's wife Bug (Jjana Valentiner, a veteran of one staged reading of Wiener Sausage), help move Fish's story along. As Duffy narrates, he and his wife's ultimate normalness is an excellent contrast to Fish and Cherry's more passionate, but ultimately less sustainable, relationship.

The performances are top-notch and Burgess has done a lot with a fairly minimalist script. The story is eventually tragic, and by the end, the audience cares greatly about and sympathizes with four characters whom urban theatergoers likely have little in the way of commonalities.

**** out of ***** stars

When Mad Men Days Ruled the Advertising World

2010-08-28T13:42:00.004-04:00

The smash success of the TV show Mad Men has really opened up the nation's romanticism of the good old days of office life that included daily doses of martinis, cigarettes, and sex.

While it all sounds fun, it also sounds pretty exhausting. But somehow advertising legend Jerry Della Femina survived the 50s, 60s, and every decade since, and is still working and telling us about how the TV show looks like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm compared to those days when he was starting his own firm.

Della Femina begins his memoir, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, remembering how agencies in the 1950s "were broken down among ethnic lines. The Mad Men flourished in large Protestant ad agencies [and] monopolized all the large advertising accounts (cars, food, cigarettes, soft drinks, beer). The other, small accounts (dress manufacturers, shoes, underwear, small retail stores) were regulated to tiny, 'Jewish' ad agencies."

By the late 60s, the ethnic agencies, of which Della Femina had always been a part, had turned the tables and captured most of the primo accounts. The chairman of the Protestant Mad Men, David Ogilvy, even declared at a conference in 1968 that "the lunatics have taken over the asylum."

One example of the debauchery in the advertising golden age: "Thousands of people took part in the Agency Sex Contest. Everyone in the agency voted anonymously on ballots for the three people they most wanted to go to bed with. They were also asked to vote on the person of the same sex they would consider going to bed with. And, of course, there was the menage a trois category, in which they selected the two other people they wanted to go to bed with. Sometimes as many as 300 votes were cast.

"For one week [each year], the walls of the agency were covered with [sometimes nude] posters made by people who were campaigning for themselves." Winners shared hotel room suites for a weekend or a night and also were allowed to have sex on Della Femina's couch during a work afternoon.

Inception Plants a Pretty Good Story in My Head

2010-08-24T22:05:00.004-04:00

Inception is a good story that gets bloated with action-adventure on its way to a suspenseful ending.

Leonardo DiCaprio is his usual wonderful self, in a young Jack Nicholson, rich man's Christian Slater kind of way.

He plays a guy who can get into other people's dreams, but when he gets the final assignment of his career (which will supposedly allow him to go back to his children in America), he risks dragging down the "dream" team he assembles.

Ellen Page of Juno fame is the right actor to play the architectural designer of the dreams. She also slowly unfolds the complicated, creepy, and fascinating back story of Leo and his dead (or not?) wife, played by Marilon Cotillard. Leo's wavering commitment between his wife and his team, including good performances from Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, threatens their mission to successfully perform "inception," which means to place an idea in someone's head that could change their entire thinking and life course.

Director Christopher Nolan can't repeat the majesty of 2000's Memento, not that anyone could reasonably ask for such a feat. However, he assembles a formidable team to try. The problem is that he gets a little too big for his britches. I seriously almost fell asleep in the middle as Leo and crew went Bond with shootouts in the rain, high-risk mountain skiing, and a very long fall off a bridge in a van. Luckily there was enough meat in the story to make this worth seeing in the theater.

*** out of ***** stars (This would come in #10 on my list of the 14 best DiCaprio movies.)

White House Tour Follows Steps of First Ladies

2010-08-24T16:43:00.005-04:00

Eleven years living in DC and today I finally took my first tour of the East Wing of the White House.

Although I consider myself an eager student of U.S. presidential history, I hate to admit that the tour is just an OK experience. Probably the best things about the short walk are the historical photos in the entryway (including one of John Travolta dancing with Princess Diana and lots of White House pets), the inspiring glimpses of the backyard and the Jackie Kennedy Garden that frequently appear on the news, and the often recognizable furniture sprinkled throughout the half-dozen or so rooms on the tour.

The East Wing is essentially the president's living quarters while the West Wing consists of working offices. The current East Wing was added to the White House in 1942 primarily to cover the construction of an underground bunker, now the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Around the same time, Theodore Roosevelt's coatroom became the movie theater.

Rosalynn Carter, in 1977, was the first to place her personal office in the East Wing and to formally call it the "Office of the First Lady." The first ladies have continued to similarly use the East Wing ever since.

Weird, Wild Weather: A Preview of Global Warming’s Effects

2010-08-24T11:24:00.003-04:00

Nice article that appears at The Nature Conservancy's blog and in The National Journal. It is based on talking points that I drafted so that when all these crazy weather events like in Russia and Pakistan happen, our experts are always ready to talk about how weather relates to global warming. Enviros have not always spoken so convincingly on this in the past, at least not as convincingly as Big Oil lobbyists.

Have you been paying attention to the weather lately? How could you not?

After two months of record-breaking heat and withering drought, Russia is finally getting some relief. But not before extreme weather stoked wildfires that blanketed Moscow in choking smog, contributed to thousands of heat-related deaths and drownings, and shriveled one-quarter of the country’s wheat harvest.

Torrential monsoonal floods are still ravaging Pakistan, forcing as many as 20 million people from their homes and provoking concerns about political instability in an already unstable region.

Right here in the United States this summer, we have suffered heat waves and witnessed downpours — as much as 10 inches in just 12 hours — that flooded towns and took lives in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma.

Coincidence? Probably not. Weird weather is giving us a preview of what climate change means for people.

All around the world, we are seeing hotter hots, wetter wets and drier dries. These extremes, in turn, are resulting in destructive wild fires, choking air pollution, ravaging floods, lost crops, lost homes and lost lives.

Data released from the U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Climatic Data Center shows that June 2010 was the warmest month of June globally since record-taking began in 1880.

It was also the 304th month in a row in which average worldwide temperatures have been above the 20th century average. There is no question that our world is warming.

We are just left to wonder when, where and how the consequences will be felt. Warmer air makes for wilder weather because it holds more moisture. As warmer air masses move across the landscape, they can pick up more water from the ocean, from lakes and from the soil, creating drier conditions for crops and evaporating water supplies.

Eventually, what goes up must come down, as moisture-laden air unleashes deluges of precipitation – such as the torrential snows the East Coast experienced this past winter.

This is probably the point where I am supposed to remind you that any single weather event cannot be definitively linked to climate change. But that’s not the point. If climate is what we expect and weather is what we get, we need to start changing our expectations.

Record high temperatures are being broken twice as often as record lows; you would expect them to be equal if climate were steady. According the U.S. Global Change Research Program, over the last 50 years, heavy rainfalls in the Northeastern United States have increased 67 percent, and snowpacks in the Western United States are melting up to three weeks earlier.

These sorts of climate changes are serious business. Heat waves hurt air quality and threaten people’s health. Droughts shrivel crops and dry up water supplies. Floods wash away communities. As the news of the last few weeks has made so vivid, extreme weather costs money and costs lives. Climate change increases the odds that we will experience more wild weather and then suffer the consequences.

With so much at risk, we need to act now to stabilize the climate and safeguard our communities:
- We need policies that immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions and wean us off heat-trapping fossil fuels and onto clean, low-carbon energy sources.
- We need to invest in protecting the world’s remaining forests that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide clean water and other valuable benefits.
- We need to help make nature more resilient to change so that people can keep counting on it for food, water, jobs, and protection from storms and floods.

We may not be able to control the weather, but, by strengthening nature, we can help reduce the odds that it will get more extreme.

Hanna-Barbera's Top 13 Cartoons

2010-08-24T00:05:00.009-04:00

My recent discovery of Family Guy led to this: a list of my favorite cartoons from the best animation shop in history. It all began with a pair of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio directors (William Hanna and Joseph Goldwyn) creating a cartoon called Tom and Jerry in 1943.

13. The Smurfs
12. The Magilla Gorilla Show
11. The Yogi Bear Show
10. Charlotte's Web (film)
09. Richie Rich
08. The Jetsons
o7. Fantastic Four
06. Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics
05. Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
04. Super Friends
03. Jonny Quest
02. The Flintstones
01. Family Guy*

* Not technically a Hanna-Barbera production, but the creator worked there before hitting it big with this show.

Family Guy Adds New Chapter in Animation's Hilarious History

2010-08-23T21:20:00.006-04:00

How have I never been into Family Guy? With its lightning-fast plot lines and witty vignettes mocking pop culture, I can barely call myself the Pop Culture Lunch Box Guy until I've given myself an education in this cartoon. A true slice of Americana for our times.

Already eight seasons old on the FOX network and like The Flintstones and The Simpsons on steroids, Family Guy is the story of the Griffins (father Peter voiced by the show's creator and former Hanna-Barbera animator Seth MacFarlane, mother Lois, dog Brian, and kids Stewie, Meg voiced by That '70s Show's Mila Kunis, and Chris voiced by Dr. Evils's son Seth Green).

Just to help you imagine how funny this show is: Last year, Family Guy was the first animated show nominated for an Emmy for best comedy series since The Flintstones in 1961. Not even The Simpsons could ever do that.

The show has been accused repeatedly of plagarism, but that's really the whole point. The show uses culteral icons at ever turn and its very essence is that it's a take on our wacky American ways. I'm watching Season One: Disc One, which, in the first two episodes, already lampoons Star Trek, E.T., and CHiPS, to name just a few.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me if I want to see all the episodes. Luckily, the first episode starts with no back story and it appears to make no difference whether I watch episode #3 or episode #100 next.

Hulu's got a bunch of full episodes here. If there are any of you out there who haven't seen the show, check it out.

****1/2 out of ***** stars

Better Words Needed: Will Somebody Please Explain Global Warming?

2010-08-22T23:12:00.000-04:00

This is my last weekly column for NetGreen News. This retires a nice little run of 15 or so environment columns because NGN is ending its text-only blog and opting to become a video-only site. Should be interesting to see if they can become a major source for environmental video footage for mainstream media outlets. I wish them the best.

North Carolina is my favorite state. I love the Tarheels. I love the Eastern Carolina BBQ found at great restaurants like Wilber's, McCall's, and Parker's. The beaches, mountains, and Research Triangle are all tough to beat.

And I don't hold it against the citizens of the state that only 13 percent of voters there could identify “cap and trade” as legislation that would impact environment or energy policy. The findings were recently reported in a poll by the Civitas Institute.

Some other interesting findings in the poll:
- Fifteen percent of voters thought cap and trade was somehow foreign-trade related.
- Of the 13 percent of voters who were informed about the contents of the legislation, 7 percent negtively thought it would mean higher taxes on energy, while only 6 percent said it would help protect the environment. That's strange, even though it doesn't surprise me.
- Weirder still: unaffiliated voters were somehow more informed about the issue than members of either party. Seventeen percent of unaffiliateds were able to identify it as an environment or energy issue.

All this tells me that, once again, the environmental movement has not done a good job of framing the issues. Global warming, speaking more broadly, would probably be solved by now if it had been couched as a technological or military issue. We have no problem investing in those areas, but we're much slower to preemptively fund big environmental problems that might take years to eventually come back and haunt us.

Many environmental groups jumped quickly into trying to sell a policy called cap and trade. But most of the focus was on trying to influence big business and politicians. When those groups finally failed to fully embrace the idea, environmentalists realized they had forgotten to speak to the public about the importance of this economic policy mechanism.

Not that economic policy mechanisms are ever easy to sell to the American public. Family, friends, daycare, PTO meetings, a few minutes of NPR, and American Idol each battle for time in the mind of Americans each day. There's not a lot of room left for global warming. And there's understandably little room left for cap and trade.

No matter what you think of the merits of such a plan (and there is considerable debate in the environmental community), cap-and-trade credits would be much more palatable if it had a warm and fuzzy name like "clean air credits" and/or "delicious water certificates." Can you imagine a factory getting a seal of approval with something like that? It would be a pretty nice patch to have on the homepage of the website.

For now, for better or worse, we're stuck with the ghost of a good idea with a terrible name called cap and trade. And no national policy whatsoever to deal with global warming. Makes me want to go back to thinking about eating some Wilber's BBQ in Goldsboro.

Blogwatch: Who's the Dirtiest Congressman?

2010-08-17T09:31:00.009-04:00

Very impressive new website by all the big guns of environmental protest-advocacy, like Bill McKibben's 350.org, Greenpeace, MoveOn.org, and others.

The site is called Dirty Energy Money and allows you to see how much energy and oil industry money has been accepted by politicians and companies. It also lets you search by zip code.

By the looks of this graphic, you would think climate-hoaxer Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma would be the "dirtiest" coal-funded politician. But no, he's only number three. I'm sure he'll get his staff right on rectifyin' that.

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Hot Tub Stupid Machine

2010-08-15T22:30:00.005-04:00

I knew Hot Tub Time Machine would be overwhelmingly stupid, but I was unprepared for the lack of laughs.

The movie serves as a vehicle for Rob Corddry, who had mostly so far been a bit player in movies like Old School, W., Semi-Pro, and Blades of Glory. Although he was brilliant in his four years at The Daily Show, Corddy is far from that here, even if he supplies the bulk of HTTM's very few laughs.

Craig Robinson (who is great in The Office) and John Cusack may be likable characters, but they both are stuck with writing that leaves them sleepwalking here. Cusack is nowhere near the inspired actor he was in Better Off Dead, which, along with Hot Dog The Movie, led the pack for greatest 1980s ski comedies.

With all its 80s imagery and references, this movie aspires to be cute and adorable like The Wedding Singer, but perhaps the big-hair mullets and neon-colored outfits have become so cliche that they're just not that funny anymore.

Clark Duke should be funny in a McLovin or Jonah Hill sort of way, but he's given virtually no funny lines. Same goes for Chevy Chase as the hot-tub repairman and Crispin Glover as the one-armed resort employee.

Hot Tub Time Machine isn't a total waste of time if you like really silly comedies, but it misses a lot of chances to be much funnier than it is.

** out of ***** stars

Music Reviews In 3 Words or Less: Volume 21

2010-08-14T16:05:00.005-04:00

The Henry Clay People - Somewhere on the Golden Coast (2010)
Pavement as PartyMusic
Touchstones: Pavement meets The Hold Steady
***** out of ***** stars

Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' (2010)
Twitchy honeyed hookfest
Touchstones: Camera Obscura meets
***** out of ***** stars

The Wannadies - Be a Girl (1999)
Happy Swede pop
Touchstones: Gigolo Aunts meet Dillon Fence
***** out of ***** stars

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (2010)
Jaunty death symphonies
Touchstones: David Bowie meets Interpol
**** out of ***** stars

Beck - Andy Warhol (Record Club) (2009)
Can't-go-wrong VU covers
Touchstones: Beck meets Velvet Underground
**** out of ***** stars

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (2010)
Muddy FM-radio takes
Touchstones: The Move meets The Frogs
***1/2 out of ***** stars

Devo - Something for Everyone (2010)
Goofy Devo-trademarked synthrock
Touchstones: Kraftwerk meets The Dickies
**1/2 out of ***** stars

Women - Women (2008)
Mind-hurting psyche buzz
Touchstones: Animal Collective meets The Zombies
** out of ***** stars

Novel, Part #14

2010-08-14T13:06:00.002-04:00

Rock star Rory is in the middle of trying to convince Paul's dad to let him become one of his roadies. For the rest of the start of the book, go here.

But Rory calmly broke in. “I know it sounds crazy, but Paul here is a rare find. The people who tend to cling to these rock n’ roll tours can be real losers and I want to get it right. I want to have a really strong business team around me so I can worry about writing great, entertaining music while being surrounded by people - friends - who I like and can trust.”

I have to admit that Rory was beginning to make an admirably sensible argument.

My dad was still clearly fighting the urge to throw both Rory and his only son out the front window. “But he’s got a job, and he wants to turn his lawn mowing into a business. Why would he want to give that up?”

“Yeah,” added Ernie distantly and dumbly.

We all looked over at him. He sensed our glares and pleading looks, and realized we were actually waiting for his rationale. When this happened, he turned his head towards us and left his eyes on the TV, “Graig Nettles just hit a homer.”

This moment, I forever thought, softened my dad a little.

“We’re doing very well, Mr. Andrews,” Rory resumed. “We can pay Paul better than what he would make owning his own company, he can get to see the world some and see how it operates outside of Papersville, and he’ll get to meet a lot of extraordinary people who may just help him discover what it is he wants to do with himself as he grows up.”

“Yeah Dad, I really think it’s a great opportunity, and Rory’s really got a lot of confidence in me, even though we only met yesterday.”

“I just think I know people pretty well,” Rory added, as if closing the case.

Dad looked like he had plenty of questions for Rory, but he stopped himself short and said, “I’ll have to discuss it with your mother, Paul. It is a very kind offer, Rory.”

With that, we all stood up, except for Ernie, who at least surprisingly looked up. Rory thanked my dad for his time and said he had to head back to New York City tomorrow to plan for a tour starting in two weeks, but that the Andrews could take all the time they needed in making a decision. He was amazingly courteous for a rock star, even my dad must have noticed.

“Pretty neat havin’ that Cocksure in the house,” Ernie said to my dad after it was just the two of them remaining.

“Yes. He certainly wasn’t what I would have expected,” my dad said. “I would have to be crazy to let my son work for a bunch of rock n’ rollers, wouldn’t I?”

“I s’posse you would have to be. Got a point though. Paul would prolly meet some pert interestin’ folks.”

“Hmmm.”

The Who Lose Their Monopoly on The Kids Are All Right

2010-08-10T23:34:00.004-04:00

Several levels of family drama consume the new indie flick The Kids Are All Right. The film takes viewers through intense and uncomfortable situations that dig pretty deeply into showing why marriages can be such fragile agreements between two human beings.

I would be surprised if Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore aren't nominated for Academy Awards. Ruffalo (whom I really like and am surprised that he hasn't been in more really good movies; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the only one that comes to mind) is the sperm donor to Moore and her wife, played by Annette Bening. Moore has been in too many great movies to mention, has been nominated for best actress four times, and may seriously take home her first win this winter.

Although I really wanted to see Inception or one of the silly comedies currently in theaters, this ended up being a really good choice for date night this past weekend.

***1/2 out of ***** stars

Strange Sun Pop for Cali Kids

2010-08-04T23:31:00.001-04:00

The T.A.M.I. Show kicks off with a collage of teenagers living a sun-pop California lifestyle before launching into a captivating 1964 rock show recently restored to video.

Chuck Berry is the first performer before Gerry and the Pacemakers join him mid-song on stage to segue from his version of "Maybelline" into their own version. It's unbelievable how animalistic the fans were for rock, as the constant teen-girl screaming drowns out some of the songs, but not Gerry's strange facial expressions or Chuck's St. Louis cool.

The Beach Boys in their candy-striped shirts, with Brian Wilson on bass and Mike Love on vocals, is legendary. "Surfer Girl" is one of the most beautiful pop songs (and great to sing to your babies as a lullabye) and watching rather than just hearing them perform it is a pleasure.

Billy of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas leads some catchy songs that sound like British Invasion meets Elvis. And he's strange to watch, acting more like a politician, with all his winks, waves, and perfect hair and suit.

"Baby Love" by The Supremes features some particularly weird and basic moves by the backup dancers. But the dancers are a pop-culture early-60s lesson through much of this film.

James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Lesley Gore and others are loads of fun, but the main stage goes to The Rolling Stones. Keith Richards actually runs out onto the stage and then plays with exciting and peppy-cool enthusiasm. Their six songs plus the four Beach Boys tunes makes this a must-view for rock fans.

****1/2 out of ***** stars

Covering Great Songs

2010-08-04T21:12:00.004-04:00

Music website The A.V. Club has a great little project going on. They came up with 25 classic songs and had 25 different bands/solo performers go into a small room to play them one-by-one.

I particularly love the Fruit Bats' version (below) of "One on One" by Hall and Oates. Not many can pull that off!

Also check out Superchunk covering The Cure and Ben Folds nailing an Elliot Smith tune.

A Hopefully Growing Awareness to the (Very Real) Climate Problems in Africa

2010-07-31T09:30:00.000-04:00

Here's my latest weekly column from NetGreen News.

It is crucial that we begin to take "climate change" out of the abstract future and find cures for the Earth's ills now rather than sometime in our grandchildren's grandchildren's generation.

Perhaps the worse-than-dirty-toilet-like toxic stews brewing in the Gulf, in China, and in the Chesapeake Bay are not enough to stir developed-country citizens into action. But, even still, we've got nothing on the problems faced by "global weirding" (a more apt term than the poorly descriptive "global warming") for most Africans.

Increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events in the backyards of Africans are destroying their abilities to depend on natural economic harvests from their land, lakes, and oceans. While the U.S. and other supposedly advanced nations argue over public opinion and political inaction, Africans are beyond tipping points and need to take real measures. The main problem is their lack of relevant, useful information that speaks directly to them.

Hopefully this changes a bit with a major report just released by the BBC World Service Trust and the British Council at the Africa Talks Climate Conference. The current mindset, the report authors found, from their interviews with more than 200 opinion leaders throughout the continent, is that Africans have a wealth of perceptions about the voluminous cases of extreme weather patterns, but very few connect it to the outside world's discussions of climate change.

Most, notably women and people in rural areas, attribute the impacts to the "will of God." Many attribute it to a form of divine punishment, which sounds eerily like public opinion in Africa at the onset of the HIV/AIDS catastrophe.

Terminologies about climate change have not translated well from the global stage to local areas in the 10 countries studied thoughout Africa. Most consider tree cutting and bush burning as greater causes to their troubles than the rest of the world's addiction to the harvesting of coal on land and water and the burning of it into our global and shared air.

There is real chance for politicians, global assemblies like the United Nations, artists, environmental non-profits, militaries, development organizations, and others working on the ground in Africa to begin speaking to Africans about ways to alter their daily activities in order to adapt to the ever-growing climate catastrophe.

Teenbeat Records Blasts DC

2010-07-28T16:42:00.002-04:00

The Teenbeat Records 26th Anniversary Show at DC's Black Cat was a fabulous tribute to one of the world's truly underrated (and arguably DC's finest ever) record labels.

Mark Robinson is the label chief. While his albums with bands Unrest, Flin Flon, and Air Miami have mostly been outstanding, his performance on this night (July 10) was the same but surprisingly less jangly and more rocking than on record.

He played with all three versions of Unrest (the high school, college, and professional ones). Despite how geat the other label-mate bands were earlier in the evening, it was clear why Unrest was and always will be the head honchos of Teenbeat (although I've always had a very soft spot for Aden and Eggs as well).

There were many highlights to this DIY show, with a band called The Ronettes having a blast with songs they claimed to have not played or practiced in 15 years. They had a pair of jokey girls on bass and guitar and a big-haired male standing up while playing drums. A bald former high-school teacher of (I think) Robinson sang about his troubles a capella between band sets. And Versus was melodic and loud. And cool.

For more, check out my friend Fran's photos and article on DCist here. I attended the show with him, Meg, Jason, and Nicky.

Despite Setback, the Senate Should Press Forward to Pass Climate Bill this Year

2010-07-26T13:13:00.003-04:00

The lack of blog posts recently is somewhat the result of starting a new job at The Nature Conservancy. It could also be the result of - it's just too darn hot to blog in DC in the summer! Anyway, here is the first writing I've had the pleasure to help draft at the Conservancy. It also appeared at the National Journal's website. Unfortunately, it's about how climate legislation failed to be enacted by the U.S. Senate last week.

It is now clear that the Senate will not act on climate change before it adjourns in August for its end-of-summer recess. This is deeply disappointing for the many of us who have been working long hours over the last year-and-a-half to help design legislation that would greatly improve the lives of all the world’s citizens.

There will be lots of time for reflection, re-examination and, regrettably, some recrimination, but let me take this moment to make the case that the Senate can find a way to press forward. A bill may not be ready for Senate debate next week, but with the active engagement of the president, the deep reserve of talent in his administration, and senators from both sides of the aisle, it can be done this year.

Why should the Senate act this year? There are many reasons, but here are three:

1) The science keeps getting stronger. And the risks are increasingly more clear. A report released last week by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that humans are changing the atmosphere and oceans to such an extent that we are entering a new geological epoch, called the Anthropocene. What does this mean for us? Today’s hottest summers will be the future norm. And, with only a 2 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature, 3-5 times more forest land in parts of the American West will burn each year.

2) America’s place in the world is at stake. For more than 3 generations, the world has looked to the United States to lead on major international issues. As the country with the world’s largest economy, and the one that has produced more carbon emissions than any other, the rest of the planet anxiously awaits a commitment from us on climate change.

That may be changing though. Increasingly, developed countries are looking to China for partnership, trade and even leadership on climate. And ironically, the Chinese press just reported that the country is moving forward to impose a domestic carbon trading scheme in order to meet its 2020 commitments.

3) The economy needs it – in the short run and the long run. Clarifying the rules of the road on carbon will drive innovation and stimulate investment, helping the economy get back on track. These days, most business leaders realize that something will have to be done about climate and energy. The question is, what? Until that question is resolved, investment dollars will sit idle or, more likely, go to other countries.

Take a look at this recent quote from Lew Hay, CEO of NextEra (formerly FPL Group), one of America’s largest utilities:

“We need some certainty about the economics. Are we going to have a price on carbon and, if so, what’s it going to be?”

He argued that the current uncertainty “puts a lot of investment dollars on the sideline,” adding that while FPL Group is hoping to spend up to $18 billion on nuclear power plant development, it will be difficult to proceed with the investment without greater certainty over the legislative landscape.

These are 3 reasons for the Senate to press forward, and for ordinary citizens to demand that it do so. But can it?

Yes, and here’s why:

First, an unprecedented coalition of businesses, labor, conservation and faith-based organizations has been clamoring for action. This isn’t just about the environmental movement. Electric utility and other CEOs have been vociferously arguing for carbon limits, so they can begin investing rationally with a long-term orientation. These business leaders prefer a legislative solution to the regulatory approach rather than the continued uncertain trajectory under an abandoned policy.

And let’s not forget that the House has already completed its work – more than a year ago, in fact. Senate passage of a bill, even a scaled-back one, would allow Congress to move forward with a conference and reconcile the two bills later this year.

Two more ingredients could be helpful to keeping this effort going through the hot days of summer: a visibly engaged President Obama and a visibly engaged public reminding political leaders that their future is at stake.

(image: Climate protesters, by Flickr user Steve Rhodes. Used under a creative commons license.)

What Is Obama's Plan for Energy Independence?

2010-07-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

Here is this week's column for NetGreen News. All my columns are here.

We hear the term "energy independence" all the time, but what would it really mean for the U.S. to rely less on the global economy for our prodigious energy appetite?

Unlike the isolationism and post-apocalyptic survivalism that seem to be the focus of the anti-government, anti-globalization crowds, there are some obviously fundamental common-sense positives to energy independence.

Federal and private money aimed at clean energy start-ups is one of the paths upon which Barack Obama has been most vocal. As with many climate- and energy-related issues, this direction will not see true reflections in new jobs and economic recovery for several years. So while that might not help the president's re-election chances, solar power, electric vehicles, and a recent $11 billion investment in smarter grids are the correct choices for him to be preaching.

Along with the grid funding, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
will eventually provide more than $70 billion on tax credits and direct spending for programs involving clean energy and transportation. That includes $6.3 billion for state and local energy improvements, $5 billion to weatherize low-income homes, and $4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient.

Plus, the new National Fuel Efficiency Policy for cars produced between 2012 and 2016 will require an impressive average fuel efficiency of 35.5 mpg by 2016.

So Obama is introducing many welcome and important steps on the road to energy independence, especially in comparison to George W. Bush. His contributions included "thinking about energy independence" and exploring domestic natural-gas production.

"Energy independence" is good goal, but also an obviously ridiculous one. We will never be 100 percent independent, and if we were, it would probably mean a lot of suffering and Glenn Beck-like apocalyptic scenarios. With the term hijacked in a "drill baby drill," all-or-nothing fashion, it is finally time to stop using the term altogether.

"Domestic energy reduction" is a lot less flashy, but it is much closer to what people are trying to say when they talk about energy independence. And since nobody wants to reduce our iPhone-loving energy use, it is great that governments at all levels throughout the U.S. are thinking about how to do it for us.

The Passage: Can't Wait to Keep Turning These Pages

2010-07-15T22:06:00.009-04:00

I had to buy my late-summer-fiction novel on Kindle because I was number 310 on Montgomery County's waiting list for it. No doubt this is a major smash, what with Ridley Scott already rumored to direct the film version.

The Passage: A Novel, by Justin Cronin (pictured), reminds me of Stephen King's masterpiece, The Stand, in its ability to bring many great characters together in an end-of-the-world scenario. Some of the clues to the world I'm entering include a New Orleans that has finally been wiped out by Hurricane Vanessa, the ascent of Jenna Bush as Texas governor, a gas-depot bombing in Secaucus, a subway attack in L.A., "that Minneapolis thing, and all the rest, and, of course, whatever happened in Iran or Iraq or whichever it was."

One storyline: Amy Harper Bellafonte goes from being just a little girl from Iowa to "the one who lived a thousand years." Amy's mom, Jeanette, ends up as a prostitute and shoots a frat boy who got a little too demanding one night. Jeanette finally realizes one day that she's not a good mother for Amy and leaves her with a nun named Lacey in a Memphis convent.

A second storyline: A guy named Lear is sending emails to a guy named Paul Kiernan from a scientific trek through the Bolivian forests, where most of the crew is being brutally murdered by bats and other inexplicable freakishness.

A third: A short African-American named Anthony Lloyd Carter sits on death row in East Texas for the murder of a Houston housewife and mother of two named Rachel Wood, whose lawn he was regularly hired to mow. Then FBI agents Brad Wolgast, older and tormented by his ex-wife's remarriage, and Doyle, a young former farmboy from Indiana, arrive to tell Carter they can get him out. Part of the deal to get him out has something to do with terminal cancer patients who went into the Bolivian jungle and grew back their hair while regained the energy of teenagers.

There is obviously some vampire or Noah-lived-for-950-years action going on here. Likewise, it will surely take me some time to finish this book, but when I do, I'll be back here with a full review. For now, I can't wait to keep turning pages of The Passage.

Novel, Part #13

2010-07-12T21:54:00.002-04:00

The novel's two main characters, young Paul and rock star Rory, hatch a plan to work in cahoots. For the rest of the start of the book, go here.

Chapter 7

“This might be tricky so try and let me do most of the talking,” Rory said, as we walked up the front lawn of my family’s little house two blocks from the center of town, which consists of a tavern, a grocery store, and the diner we had left five minutes ago. The day after Rory’s concert at the record plant, we had met again for lunch to discuss a plan Rory had hatched, and which I was extremely excited to make happen.

When we walked into the house, it was the same as it ever was on a Sunday afternoon. Ernie Snimes was installed on the couch and my dad was at an awkwardly comfortable angle in his recliner. The Yankees’ game was on and the smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air. For some reason I was a little taken aback by the scene, even though I should have known better. Something didn’t look like it forebode well for Rory’s plan.

Introductions were made and my dad, thankfully, seemed somewhat pleased to have a celebrity in his living room, albeit a minor one in his eyes. Ernie just nodded to Rory and me and mostly kept his eyes on the tube. In those days, to befriend a strange older man didn’t seem as taboo as it would nowadays. Bringing him home to meet the parents was still a little unusual, but not necessarily suspect.

“Mr. Andrews, I got to talking with Paul down at the record plant and I was really impressed with his work ethic. He did a superior job making it the nicest factory lawn I’ve ever had the honor of playing. We talked some more down at the diner and I’m positive I’d like to bring him on to work for me some of the time when it’s possible for him to do so.”

My dad looked interested in the proposal and motioned him to go on. I couldn’t quite tell if Ernie was listening. In fact, I couldn’t tell if even the ballgame was registering with him. He looked, frankly, a little dumbfounded and I distinctly remember that I was kind of wishing he weren’t there.

“What did you have in mind?” my dad asked.

“I do a lot of touring around the northeast and he could help carry my equipment around and load it on and off the stages."

“He’s not even 14 yet! How is he going to help you while he’s in school?”

“I would pay to fly him to our shows on Friday nights. He could travel with us on the weekends, get his homework done on the bus, and I’d fly him back Sunday nights in time for bed and school the next morning.”

This got Ernie’s attention. He looked up and stared at Rory as if he were a ghost. It also looked like his mouth was about to form a “but …” I was looking at Ernie because I couldn’t bear to watch my dad’s reaction. At least my mom was out grocery shopping.

“Now look here …,” my dad started.

A Quick History of Public Relations

2010-07-09T14:13:00.004-04:00

U.S. President Thomas Jefferson allegedly invented the term "public relations" in an 1807 address to Congress. But it wasn't until World War I that PR became an official profession.

This history is presented in Dierdre Breakenridge's book PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences, a good read on the basic fundamentals of the profession.

Ivy Lee, who worked with the Rockefellers and is regarded as the founder of crisis communications, created the first press release in the early 1900s. He envisioned it as a way for companies to be able to communicate to their important audiences and subsequently receive feedback based on the distributed content.

Edward Bernays, famous for his 1930s campaigns to convince the public that green was the most fashionable color and Dixie Cups were the only sanitary drinking option, is the other father of modern PR. Whereas Lee was more the practical-tools man, Bernays was the theorist. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, he was inspired by Freud's ideas about the "irrational, unconscious motives that shape human behavior. He viewed PR as an applied social science influenced by psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to scientifically manage and manipulate the thinking and behavior of an irrational and 'herdlike' public."

Bernays said, "PR is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures, and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."

Breakenridge finds that Bernays' theories greatly influenced many companies on PR 1.0. She claims that the next wave of successful companies and other influencers will adapt to the PR 2.0 environment detailed in her book.

Most of those 2.0 answers lie in the realm of social media, which facilitates "listening and, in turn, engaging people on their level. It forces PR to stop broadcasting and start connecting. Monologue has given way to dialog. No BS. No hype. It's an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level without insulting everyone along the way. PR will become a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and Web marketing."

Michael Cera Tries to Be Superbad in Youth in Revolt

2010-07-10T00:04:00.004-04:00

Michael Cera was arguably the highlight of a lot of great things in the TV series Arrested Development. He may not be as lovable in his film career as he was in the role of "George Michael," but he's had a pretty good start.

Superbad, Juno, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist were all top-notch offbeat comedies (I still have yet to see Paper Heart and Year One). And now Cera gets his largest lead role as Nick Twisp in Youth in Revolt.

Nick lives with his loser mom and her truck-driving boyfriend (played with surprising tameness by The Hangover's Zach Galifianakis). They escape a problematic situation with some angry navy officers by moving to a religious trailer park, where Nick meets a flirtatious girl named Sheeni, played excellently by lovely newcomer Portia Doubleday.

The supporting roles are a mixed bag in the movie. Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta turn in less-than-usual performances. But Fred Willard is hilarious as a kooky next-door neighbor, Adhir Kalyan is good as Nick's friend, and Justin Long is solid as Sheeni's druggy brother. And the movie gets big props for featuring a great song ("Popular Mechanics for Lovers") by Beulah, one of the most underrated indie bands of the 1990s.

All in all, Youth in Revolt is a fairly minor film. But it's a cute love story and there is fun to be had in watching Cera try about as hard as possible to be the bad boy he'll never be.

***1/2 out of ***** stars

Economists Need Insights Into Nature to Save the Plundered Planet

2010-07-08T12:52:00.000-04:00

Here is this week's column for NetGreen News. All my columns are here.

I agree with a lot of what Paul Collier says in his new book, The Plundered Planet: Why We Must - And How We Can - Manage Nature for Global Prosperity. He proposes an alliance between economists and environmentalists that works to disregard and discredit "ostriches" who plunder the world and "romantics" who seek to preserve all the world's natural resources.

"A number of environmentalists in the developed world are wary of the spread of global prosperity, arguing that it would wreck the planet. Conversely, in the poorer countries of the world, many people are wary of environmentalism, seeing it as an attempt by rich countries" to get richer.

"The romantics are right that we are seriously mismanaging nature and that our practices are indefensible. The ostriches are right that much of what is said about nature is ridiculously pious, casting the rich world as the villains and the rest of the world as their victims. But they are also each half wrong. Both will take us to oblivion, albeit by different routes."

Collier, an adherent of economist Lord Nicholas Stern, believes any economic models should be deemed failures if they neglect to eradicate poverty with an ethical approach to the natural world. He claims to write The Plundered Planet for all the people who are neither ostriches nor romantics.

One major area of concern: the demand for raw materials has driven up the prices of natural resources and food, which has triggered a new scramble for Africa. China's arrival on the African scene has been largely welcomed by Africans who don't have a preconceived notion of the Chinese as colonizers. The rich countries, and former colonizers, view China's arrival there as an undermining of governance reforms of extractive industries.

"The opportunity that nature presents to the countries of the bottom billion [most impoverished people] is the enormous value of their natural assets." The sale of carbon rights is one path to create "new natural assets." Since Lord Stern's review was issued in 2006, global warming has "slammed into the economic mainstream." That said, economists still treat nature as they do any other asset, which is "to be exploited for the benefit of mankind."

For true success, the next economic models must introduce what has traditionally been a fundamental oversight: "nature is special. Our rights over the natural world are not the same as our rights over the man-made world. Economists need that insight."

Oil Companies Supply the True Kings of Developing Nations

2010-07-04T01:21:00.004-04:00

During the past 20 years, the price of oil has gone from $7 to $147 and the Gulf of Mexico, for one, has been transformed into a place that had been "classified as an area where inadequate technology prevented new oil from being found."

Along with dramatically rising oil prices and tech advances since 2003, mergers and acquisitions made by major players like Exxon CEO Lee Raymond and BP's Lord John Browne have "created a new arrogance and blindness toward the oil-producing countries, alienating their governments from granting the oil majors access to their reserves."

This topic is explored through an interesting overview of the landscape of corporate oil deal-making in Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century, by Tom Bower.

Rex Tillerson of Exxon was negotiating to acquire Yukos, which owns 20 percent of Russia's vast oil reserves. But while Tillerson and Raymond remained oblivious to Russian culture and sensitivities and "saw a greenfield site," Lord Browne of BP was well versed in Russian history and Vladamir Putin's ambition to use oil as a tool for reasserting Russia's role as a superpower.

Despite Exxon's ignorance, Putin has had no problem playing along with their game and bowing to every whim of oil leaders. He opened Moscow's Baptist church on a Saturday to allow Raymond's wife Charlene the chance to pray before they had to hurriedly return to the U.S. And when Charlene wanted to revisit a store to buy some wooden sculptures, the store was determined to be in a dangerous area and arrangements were made to set up merchandise in a comfortable private display area in a safer spot.

This kind of elaborate set-up for the comfort of oil leaders is replicated throughout the world. The impoverished nations in Africa, Asia, and South America have wealthy resources that are only realizable with Western marketing, organization, and technology. So company CEOs from BP, Exxon and other oil conglomerates are the true kings when they come to visit local leaders.