Film: Binta and The Great Idea by Javier Fesser

A delightful 30-minute film is Binta and The Great Idea by Spanish Filmmaker Javier Fesser. The film takes place in Senegal and is a real gem.

Film: West Bank Story by Ari Sandel

A very-well done 30 minute comedy musical film.

(Audio) Book: Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald (Broadway Books 2004)

In her twenties, journalist Sarah Macdonald backpacked around India and came away with a lasting impression of heat, pollution and poverty. So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she would return to India—and for love—she screamed, “Never!” and gave the country, and him, the finger.

But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of Sarah’s life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. For Sarah this seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it almost kills her, literally. Just settled, she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia, an experience that compels her to face some serious questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void. “I must find peace in the only place possible in India,” she concludes. “Within.” Thus begins her journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death.

Holy Cow is Macdonald’s often hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis and Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman on a mission to save her soul, her love life—and her sanity—can survive.

See Holy Cow. I listened to the Audio reading of this book, which was excellently read by Kate Hosking.

A-to-Z Guide to Political Interference in Science (Union of Concerned Scientists)

I am one of the signatories to the Scientists' Statement on Scientific Integrity.

See the clever, elegant and thorough A to Z Guide to Political Interference with Scientific Advice which documents why this is needed.

Film: Eva and the Fire Horse (directed by Julia Kwan, 2005)

This is a delightful film about youth, the coming-of-age of children of immigrants, imagination, and family. Highly recommended.

Video: Frontline: Living Old (Miri Navasky, Karen O'Connor, Nov 21, 2006, 60 min)

Producers Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor's touching and insightful documentary program for the PBS/WGBH Frontline series, Living Old, examines how the United States is coping with an increasing number of 85-year-old to 105-year-old seniors, who need assistance that in general, neither their children nor the medical community can provide.

Besides the interviews with the anging, their children, there are amazing interviews with numerous medical professionals.



This program is available for purchase on DVD. It can also be watched online, and you can learn more about the issues, at the program website.

Very highly recommended.

Book: American Theocracy (Kevin Phillips, Viking Adult, 2006, 480 pages)

This is an extended historical essay, very carefully researched, which explains how certain economic interests (especially big oil and financial services) are interacting with a Biblical worldview common among many Americans, and leading to all the symptoms which have led previous great powers to sharp declines after long periods of supremacy. Absolutely fascinating!

Film: Shut Up & Sing (Directed by Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck, Weinstein Company & Cabin Creek Films, 2006)

The filmmakers travel with the country music trio the Dixie Chicks for three years - from the peak of their popularity as the darlings of country music through the now infamous anti-Bush comment made by the group's lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003 and the political firestorm that resulted - raising questions about freedom of speech and the negative consequences it sometimes has.

As we see the resistance from country music radio stations in the US South to playing their music during the War in Iraq solidify, we see it begin to affect these artists and their manager; we also see them grow from just musicians into honest independent heart-felt citizens. Two of the Dixie Chicks are sisters who have been giving concerts since age 12; now in their mid-thirties, they decide they will not choose between self-censorship and their goal of Arena-scale musical tours.

Highly recommended.

Film: Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollack? (Picturehouse, 2006, Harry Moses)

This is a humous and compelling documentary! At one level it is about the art market. At another level it is about some amazing people. See it if you can.
Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollack?.

Film: An Unreasonable Man (about Ralph Nader) (Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan, 2006)

An Unreasonable Man follows the 40-year-long career of public interest attorney turned two-time Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader, bringing the insights of two dozen insiders who worked with him, for him, against him, and sometimes both for-and-against him at different times. The film is trying to explore several themes: What makes Nader tick? Are his recent Presidential runs advancing or detracting from the pro-citizen policies he articulates? How do third party candidates get treated by the press and by the two main parties? His most passionate defenders and his most ardent detractors are here, speaking candidly to the filmmakers.

Neither filmmaker had ever made a documentary, but this one is extremely thought-provoking... Try to see it when it comes to your town, or wait for the expected release on DVD in 2007.

Film: Encounter Point (2006, Ronit Avni, Just Vision)

is playing at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville NY on November 5 and November 6.

Film: 51 Birch Street (Doug Block, Copacetic Films, 2006)

51 Birch Street is a documentary that wasn't set out to be made until after 90% of the footage was shot for other purposes. Filmmaker Doug Block had been capturing little bits of video at all the usual family events, and decided to continue doing some of this with his retired parents at their home in Port Washington, New York. But a series of unexpected events leads him to learn, at age 50, some things about his parents that he had never known.

As he learns more about their lives, he captures a great deal about the dynamics of marraige, life in the suburbs, cultural shift over 60 years, all seen through what happened from his parent's immediately post-World War II courtship through a move to Florida at age 83.

What makes this such a powerful film is the honesty of his parents, their friends, his sisters, his spouse, and especially of Doug himself. This is a film that most people will identify with. Very highly recommended.

Film: Quinceanera by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmorland (Sony Pictures Classics, 2006)

This is a film about 3 months in the lives of young Mexican-American teenagers in Los Angeles, and about the awkward transitions made as they dabble with sexuality, see classism, and are drawn towards materialism and modernity while their more traditional parents distrustfully judge their move away from tradition. The need for acceptance and understanding by these teenagers is paramount, and often it is found in the most surprising places.

The powerful music and the fabulous acting are what make this such a compelling and touching film. For a story blending coming of age and the immigrant experience, you are well advised to see
Quinceanera.

Colorado resort operator to invest heavily in wind power

CNET News.com reprinted the August 2, 2006 report by the New York Times on the Vail Resorts decision to support wind-generated power going into the national grid equivalent to all electric power they use. Renewable Choice Energy will act as agent on behalf of Vail Results. See Colorado resort to invest heavily in wind power, and Ski with the Wind.

June 17-18: Clearwater Festival - Croton-on-Hudson, New York

I highly recommend attending this music, story-telling, arts, food, dance and environmental event


.


A few opportunities to volunteer at the festival will remain open -- make sure to apply ASAP.

Film: An Inconvenient Truth takes on the Climate Crisis and What We Can Do

An Inconvenient Truth (2006, Participant Productions, directed by Davis Guggenheim, featuring former-US Vice President Al Gore) is an engaging presentation of

1. the evidence that human-induced climate change is already well underway,


2. what causes it,


3. what is consequences would be if climate change is allowed (by inaction) to continue accelerating, and


4. what steps (many rather easy) are feasible for individuals, businesses and governments to take to slow it.

It sounds dry, but because of the fabulous footage from all over the world, animations, and the personal history that Gore recounts, showing how this topic came to seem to him as a major moral issue, this is a compelling and important experience. (The film includes scenes from some of the 1000 talks at Universities and to Civic Groups that Gore has given on this subject since being denied his bid for the Presidency in 2000).

A portion of the film proceeds are being donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection. Very very highly recommended.

Film: The Real Dirt on Farmer John by Taggart Siegel (2005)

THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN (2005, 82 min) by Taggart Siegel is the award-winning true story of third-generation American farmer John Peterson’s hero’s journey of success, tribulation, failure and rebirth, through his childhood in the ‘50s, the tumultuous ‘60s, the hippie-influenced ‘70s, and the farm-crisis ‘80s, culminating in his transformation-based creation of a biodynamic, organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm serving 1500 families in the Chicago area with weekly fresh produce.

John Peterson's honesty, breadth of perspective, and his good fortune to have film clips from many of the periods of his life all make this an amazing story. The film has won many many awards. Very highly recommended.

US Congress to Vote on COPE Telecom Bill - Net Neutrality At Stake!

Costa Rica Rainforest Canopy Adventure

Dream Forest Canopy near Quepos/Manuel Antonio lets you travel above the rainforest, sliding along zip lines between raised platforms. My cousin Maurice is one of the company principals. I haven't done this myself, but it sounds amazing.

Concerts: Holly Near & John Bucchino

Singer/Songwriter/Activist Holly Near and Songwriter/Pianist John Bucchino are on tour, and I was fortunate enough to hear their fabulous concert in Manhattan. Recommended!