Love, Love, Love
THE MORNING BRIEF, Vol. IV, #24 (June 11, 2001) -- How do you like it? How do you like it?
CONTENTS
You say you want
an execution?
Driving Tip #4
Advertising, Sony Style
(Shave, Shave, Shave) Shave Your Booty
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Swiffer - On it
Red vs. White
Food and Ambience
Hierarchy of Trees
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FLICKAGE: "Moulin Rouge"
FLICKAGE: "With Friends Like Harry"
TOONAGE: Fantastic Plastic Machine @ Fais Do Do
Club Bits
Counting Lakers' Flags
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SIX DISK CHANGER
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UPCOMING
CONCERTS
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CONTRIBUTIONS
YOU SAY YOU WANT AN EXECUTION... >>> By the time you read this, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh will have gotten his in Terre Haute, IN. As if having to spend a weekend in Terre Haute isn't enough, McVeigh will begin the week sucking down enough poison to kill him dead in recompense for his horrendous deeds committed back in 1995.
I do not support the death penalty, even in cases such as this where the punishment certainly seems warranted. I agree with the view that the states and our flawed judicial system should not be in the business of killing people. In this case, it seems that one death in exchange for 168 is hardly justice.
The world will not miss Mr. McVeigh, or his bullshit, ex post facto rationale for being a fuckuole. Maybe as social catharsis there is value for some. But how do you deter one who gives no value to his own life, much less the lives of others, by threatening to take that valueless life away? It's an end-game destined for failure, merely rallying others to his public defense, making him a martyr. Let him rot away in a cell somewhere. No fuss, no muss. Just eternity in Terre Haute. That'll teach 'im.
DRIVING TIP #4 >>> You pretty much want to leave about a 10,000 foot cushion between yourself and the car in front of you.
ADVERTISING, SONY STYLE >>> Here's a funny one: ad execs at Sony Studios thought it would be a good idea to pump up the lukewarm reviews for their shittiest films by making up their own reviewer from a little known Connecticut newspaper. Shockingly, their made-up Connecticut reviewer, David Manning, thought "Hollow Man" the heir apparent to "Gone With the Wind." Tiny flaw in their little scheme, while the reviewer was invented, the newspaper, the "Ridgefield Press," was real.
Now Sony's busted, facing a lawsuit from several moviegoers, and an investigation for fraudulent marketing practices. Going to have an uphill battle proving no fraud here. I don't know about you, but this is enough to make me seriously doubt the integrity of some advertisers in this world. For it's part, Sony is giving the employee perpetrators a slap on the wrist. Wonder if they were just following orders?
SINGING TRICK >>> Next time you're doing karoake...singing in the shower...in your car, try this little switcheroo for smoother transitions: instead of singing the word "shake," substitute "shave."
SWIFFER - ON IT >>> Those of you who know me know well that I'm not a big cleaner upper. Rather than spend X hours of my lifetime cleaning things up, I'd rather spend X minutes not getting things dirty, and mop up the rest as needed. To that end, I'm eternally grateful for Swiffer. Besides its catchy name and spiffy lime green packaging, it allows me to snag stray particles that a lifetime spent not spilling can't catch. Now that there's wet Swiffers, making my life even easier. They even do finished hardwood floors. Killer! You can also slather the dry ones with Murphy's Oil Soap or whatever. Very swift.
WHITE OR RED, PART DEUX >>> Still red. Unless you're all the way white.
REST HOMES DEMYSTIFIED >>> Here's the deal...it's all about the food. And the ambience. There's scientific proof that residents are healthier when both are better.
HIERARCHY OF TREES >>> Leaves are shiny, get all of the attention, bring home the solar bacon.
But when the roots have something to say, every fucking branch better be listening.
FLICKAGE: "Moulin Rouge" >>> Baz Luhrmann wants to make it impossible for you to hate his new, epic, musical, "Moulin Rouge." It's about truth, beauty, freedom, etc. Music, music, music. Most of all, it's about love. You don't hate love, do you? Are you not human? Love is like Oxygen. Love is a many splendored thing. All you need is love.
Mr. Luhrmann's third film doesn't suck, although it takes a good run at it. Rather, it's a good deal of fun, and a solid attempt at cross-breeding "Grease" with "Titanic". Will it play in Peoria? Perhaps. Folks are likely to leave the theatre singing, or screaming, or both. I feared the worst for about 30 minutes, enjoying the scenery and the musical references, concerned that all of the visual wizardry was a compensation for no substance.
There's there there. Beneath the zippy editing, the sly pop music references, the endless close-ups of Nicole Kidman which border on dotage, the movie has heart, and soul, and a loop-the-looping story that's quite good fun. The target demo - women 18 to 40 - will eat it up like non-fat yoga. They'll see it eight times, buy the soundtrack, and the DVD. And it will be a hit overseas. Not a unanimous hit, but a hit nonetheless.
Like "Rouge's" two-star crossed lovers, this one's in danger of veering out of control at almost every turn. That it never fully leaves the tracks is testimony to some admirable risk-taking by Mr. Luhrmann, and the brass-balled Fox exec who gave this film the green light. An original movie musical starring two actors not known for their singing. Corny, corny, corny, and quirky, but it works. Good thing it's about love. Love. Love is all you need.
FLICKAGE: "With Friends Like Harry" >>> Sheer tedium. After a brilliant credits sequence, one hour of inexplicable set-ups followed by another hour of stillness posing as a psychological thriller. There was no psychology, zero character development, and even fewer thrills. Spent the first half trying to like it, and the last half wishing it was over. When it was, we were relieved to have spent only two good hours of our lives on this winner of 8 French Academy Awards. It felt like 10. Hours, that is. I suggest you don't go see this film, or the Americanized re-make commissioned by Miramax. What were they thinking? "Jean de Florette" feels like "The Matrix" by comparison. Six thumbs down.
TOONAGE: Fantastic Plastic Machine @ Fais Do Do >>> Musicologist DJ Tanaka aka Fantastic Plastic Machine is famous for combining new sounds, beautiful noise, and obscure dance music from the 70s and 80s into a unique Bubble Gumbo great for chilling out or serious dancing. His music, spun at Fais Do Do last Wednesday was all that and more: lots of good moments from the new album, "Beautiful," bits and pieces from earlier Fantastic Plastic LPs, and plenty of new sounds. The only disappointment was the mixing. Weak transitions, a tendency to let the songs go on too long, and a general inability to build momentum prevented the whole from equalling the sum its parts. Music = 9; Mixology = 3; Overall = 7.
CLUB BITS >>> Good run of live music beginning on Thursday going for about 10 days. Conga Room has a few good ones coming up, especially Mad Professor on 6/19. The Palace back on the map with Doves and Tricky on consecutive nights. House of Blues always has something cooking, with Guided by Voices and Thomas Mapfumo next week. Neville Brothers/Steel Pulse could be the show of the summer. Whisky comes through with an interesting one: Stereo MCs on a new date in July. And three consecutive nights of Widespread Panic at the Wiltern could be just the jolt this city needs.
COUNTING LAKERS' FLAGS >>> Good to see the Angelenos come together over something that isn't a disaster or civil unrest. Showing a little Laker Pride. Maybe it was a good thing that Philadelphia won Game 1. Making sure everyone pays attention. A sweep would have been prodigious, but perhaps a bit boring. And this city has a zero tolerance policy regarding boredom. Fun to watch the Kobe/Shaq and Iverson/Dikembe match-ups. Two of the best inside/outside combos in NBA history, I think. Doesn't look as if it's going seven, but I wouldn't mind if it did. You know, a little drama.
@ @ @
SIX DISK CHANGER >>> For the long ride to and from the desert:
1. Joe Henry, "Amor"
2. Soulstice, "Illusion"
3. Air "10,000 Hz Legend" (trippy!)
4. Wagonchrist, "Musipal"
5. Jacksons, "Nutbirds, Jailbirds, Songbirds"
6. Nikka Costa, "Everybody Got Their Something"
7. Various, "Sonic Yohimbe"
@ @ @
Have a great week!
Your pal,
David.
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Congratulations, Mom, for 27 outstanding years as an educator, administrator, and principal!!! Your ideals have set the best kind of example, and your hard work has made a real difference. Very, very proud of you!!!
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The Morning Brief can be read each wwweek @ www.smmirror.com -- in the Web Stuff section.
You can also find prior Briefs at www.morningbrief.net if you've got the time. Or load it up from www.avantgo.com and take your Briefs to go.
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DISCLAIMAGE >>> Please feel free to forward The Morning Brief to whomever you like. If you do, in part or in segments, or if you'd like to re-publish, please copy me or just let me know. Thanks for reading!
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Notable shows in and around Southern
California.
Highly
recommended shows this color.
Red
alert; must see!
6.12.01 - Paul Simon and Brian
Wilson @ Greek Theatre
6.13.01 - Paul Simon and Brian Wilson @ Greek Theatre
6.14.01 - Pete Yorn @ Roxy Theatre
6.14.01 -
Doves @ The Palace
6.15.01 -
Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
6.15.01 -
Tricky @ The Palace
6.16.01 - Dido w/Travis @
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
6.16.01 - Brideprimer @ The Joint
6.16.01 -
Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
6.17.01 - Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
---
6.19.01 - Mad
Professor @ Conga Room
6.20.01 - Guided by Voices @ House of Blues
6.21.01 - Robert Earl Keen @
The Roxy Theatre
6.22.01 -
Mark Eitzel @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
6.23.01 -
Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks Unlimited @ House of Blues
6.23.01 -
Timo Maas @ Spundae/Circus
---
6.27.01 - Phil Lesh @ Greek Theatre
6.28.01 - Michelle Shocked @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance
Series)
6.28.01 - The Incredible Moses Leroy @ The Troubadour
6.29.01 - Red House Painters @ The Troubadour
6.29.01 - Radiohead @ Santa Barbara Bowl
7.01.01 - Ani
DiFranco @ Universal Amphitheatre
7.01.01 - Cesaria Evora &
Bebel Gilberto @ Hollywood Bowl
7.01.01 - DJ Spooky @ The Troubadour
---
7.05.01 - Shuggie Otis @ El Rey Theatre
7.05.01 - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers @ MOCA at the
Geffen Contemporary
7.06.01 - Shuggie Otis @ El Rey Theatre
7.06.01 - Spearhead @ Conga Room
7.07.01 - Dick Dale @ Roxy Theatre
7.08.01 - Mint Royal @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
---
7.09.01 - The Posies @ The Troubadour
7.11.01 - Air
@ The Mayan
7.12.01 - Air @ The Mayan
7.12.01 - Trey Anastasio
(Phish) @ The Greek Theatre
7.13.01 - Sophie B. Hawkins @ Conga Room
7.14.01 - Ivy
@ The Mint
7.15.01 - Buena Vista Social
Club @ Hollywood Bowl
---
7.19.01 - Transglobal Underground @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance
Series)
7.19.01 - Craig David @ El Rey Theatre
7.19.01 -
Poncho Sanchez @ MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary
7.20.01 - Sade @ Verizon
Wireless Amphitheatre
7.21.01 -
Stereo MCs @ Whisky a GoGo
7.22.01 - Sade, Youssou
N'Dour, Rachid Taha @ Hollywood Bowl
---
7.23.01 - Sade @ Hollywood Bowl
7.26.01 - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers @ Santa
Monica Pier (Twilight Dance Series)
---
7.30.01 - Yes @ Hollywood Bowl
8.01.01 -
Toots and the Maytals @ House of Blues
8.01.01 - The String Cheese
Incident @ The Greek Theatre
8.02.01 - Lagbaja @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance Series)
8.03.01 - War @ The Greek Theatrez
8.04.01 -
Neville Brothers/Steel Pulse @ House of Blues
8.04.01 - Brian Setzer w/Joe
Strummer @ Greek Theatre
8.05.01 - Area:One (Moby, New Order, Tmo Maas) @ Glen Helen
Blockbuster Pavilion
---
8.06.01 -
Roxy Music @ The Greek Theatre
8.08.01 - The Iguanas @ Conga
Room
8.07.01 -
Roxy Music @ The Greek Theatre
8.09.01 - Buckwheat Zydeco @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance
Series)
8.12.01 -
Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo @ Hollywood Bowl
---
8.14.01 - Depeche Mode @ Staples Center
8.16.01 - Venice @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance Series)
8.16.01 -
Mose Allison @ MOCA at the California Plaza
8.17.01 - Eric Clapton @
Staples Center
8.18.01 - Yellowman @ House of Blues
8.18.01 - Eric Clapton @ Staples Center
8.19.01 - Erykah Badu @ The Greek Theatre
---
8.20.01 - Aerosmith @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8.22.01 - Aerosmith @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8.23.01 - Reverend Horton Heat @ Santa Monica Pier (Twilight Dance
Series)
---
10.02.01 - Janet Jackson @ Staples Center
10.06.01 - James Taylor @ Hollywood Bowl
_________________________________
HAVE YOU ever reconsidered? HAVE YOU done something on the spur of a moment? HAVE YOU eaten anything extra yummy? HAVE YOU found a haven? HAVE YOU considered moving to a new climate? HAVE YOU got an axe to grind? HAVE YOU taken a deep breath lately?
RE: ENERGY OPTIONS >>> Statement by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein - On the Bush Energy Plan.
"For Big Oil and other suppliers, the Bush Energy Plan is a dream come true. But among those most left behind are the people and businesses of California who have been under siege by electricity and natural gas marketers bent on gouging every cent they can from a broken energy market that the Bush Administration has refused to help remedy.
This lengthy document will not provide one more kilowatt to California this summer, prevent one less minute of blackouts, or keep one less dollar from being transferred from California into the hands of the Texas-based energy producers.
In fact, it is largely a bible for long-term energy production and not even a pamphlet for the urgent short-term actions needed to help us get out of the crisis.
And while the Bush Energy Plan is focused primarily on increasing the supply of oil, gas, coal and nuclear power, it appears only belatedly to have examined the value of energy efficiency, renewable fuels and conservation.
At a time of rising gasoline prices, increasing fuel efficiency is the single most effective action we can take to limit our reliance on foreign oil, save consumers at the pump, and reduce global warming.
Just by closing the SUV loophole, as I proposed in a bill with Senator Olympia Snow, we could save one million barrels of oil a day, reduce oil imports by 10 percent, and prevent 240 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. The time for action is now, we don't need endless studies.
But perhaps the most egregious flaw in the Cheney Task Force report is the failure to address the energy crisis on the West Coast, the worst such crisis in a generation. In California we are at the precipice. Federal help is urgently needed to ensure a reliable and stable electricity supply free of price gouging and market manipulation.
The North American Electric Reliability Council predicts 260 hours of rolling blackouts - an average of 20 hours a week - because of a power shortfall that could be as much as 5,000 megawatts during periods of peak demand.
The State has already approved 15 new power plants, including nine that are now under construction and four that will be online this summer or fall. Nearly a dozen more are in the pipeline and six new "peaker plants" will be online this summer. Over the next four years, that's 20,000 megawatts of additional electricity, according to Governor Davis, enough for 20 million residents. But we need Federal help until these plants can begin to come online.
Already one major utility has gone bankrupt, another is at the edge. Companies are closing because of exorbitant energy costs, and the economic ramifications for the State's and the nation's economy are foreboding.
The wholesale cost of electricity for California has escalated dramatically from $30 a megawatt two years ago to more than $300 a megawatt this year, with price spikes climbing to $1,900 or more. And the annual cost of electricity for California has jumped from $7 billion in 1999 to $28 billion in 2000 and is estimated to cost $70 billion this year.
The two things the Federal government could do - and should do - immediately are:
* establish temporary wholesale price caps or cost-based rates in the Western region until new sources of energy can be brought online; and
* restore the price cap on the transportation cost of natural gas, which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lifted on a two-year experimental basis in February 2000, and has led to natural gas prices being three times anywhere else in the nation.
Unfortunately, the President and his task force have been driven by ideology, ignoring the fact that the energy market is broken in California and ripe for gaming by generators and marketers. Action by the Federal government is needed now. Unfortunately, in this regard, the Bush energy plan is a failure."
-- forwarded by Amy Seidman.
RE: SENATE TO THE DEMS >>> Fascinating, albeit a bit biased to the right...but not that far off the mark I think.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95000556
-- Rick Gianvecchio.
RE: RUNNING FOR A GOOD REASON >>> It's hard to believe that I, non-runner extraordinaire, am training for the Honolulu Marathon with a very worthy organization, the AIDS Marathon Training Program. In order to participate, we are asked to raise money and awareness for AIDS research and vital services including food, housing assistance, and health care.
These days, people seem to be breathing a bit easier about AIDS because of the medical progress we've made. Why then, are people still dying by the thousands in our country?
Twenty years ago this month, the first cases of AIDS were identified in Los Angeles, and for the next ten years, AIDS was considered a plague that predominantly affected the gay community. With the incredible commitment to education and prevention, I am heartened to say that the numbers of gay men contracting AIDS has declined since its peak in 1992.
But AIDS is now taking shape in other ways, in other communities.
Today, people living with HIV and AIDS also include women, teens, children. Their numbers are on the incline. One in five AIDS cases in the US is a woman who has contracted the disease via heterosexual contact.
Moreover, the disease has socio-economic implications. The poor, the young, the disabled have less access to AIDS education, health care and the medical protocols to keep AIDS at bay. And while the stigma is reduced in the gay community, in communities of color and in poor communities, the stigma keeps people from seeking diagnosis or treatment. And that can only lead to more and more infection by people who are not getting tested, or worse, keeping their disease a secret and passing it on.
During this training period, I will log over 500 miles in the name of continued AIDS research and programs, especially in these halcyon days of medical progress, to try to raise awareness that there are many disadvantaged people who are still very much in need.
Please consider running. In addition, please help me raise both awareness and money.
You can contribute in many convenient ways. The best method is by going onto the AIDS Marathon website, www.aidsmarathon.com.
(1) On the home page, click "sponsor a runner now!"
(2) On the next page, select a location &endash; click "Greater Los Angeles"
(3) The final page will get you to the information page on which you fill in amount and my info (Song Oh 0435) in the appropriate boxes
Or simply reply to this email and let me know that you'd like to contribute, and I will send you a postage pre-paid envelope and a form for your convenience.
I thank you in advance for your compassion and generosity. I will be proud to run on your behalf for this very important cause.
-- Song Oh (songoh@yahoo.com).