Bigelow "Outgunning the Guys"

According to James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow's ex-husband and biggest rival for this year's Academy Award for Best Director, the 58-year-old director of The Hurt Locker is fascinated by war and conflict. But she also takes pride in showing that she can "outgun the guys." "She's got more game than most of the male directors that are out there," the director of Avatar told Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes Sunday night.


Bigelow's film, the violence of which has surprised a lot of people because its director is female, will never be mistaken for a so-called "chick flick." It's an unabashed portrait of war and machismo. As the film's star, Jeremy Renner, told Leslie Stahl in the same 60 Minutes segment, "It's through her eyes that she sees, not her mammaries."


Vindaloo Against Violence

curry_afp226b.jpgLast week in Melbourne, more than 17,000 hungry and concerned citizens ordered Vindaloo at their local Indian restaurant in an effort to protest against the racism faced by Indian students in the city. Vindaloo Against Violence is the brainchild of Melbournian graphic designer Mia Northrop and on February 24, she encouraged anyone interested in supporting the rights of Indians in Australia (and worldwide) to demonstrate their concern using their stomachs (hey, the stomach is the way to the heart, right?).


Though this effort to raise awareness has garnered criticism for trivializing sensitive issues, most of the media response has been very positive. Sure, Northrop and her curry-loving cohorts didn't affect a legislative change, but they did create an opportunity for people to make a stand (however small) who may not have done so otherwise. Dining out at Indian establishments in a city that has been experiencing racial tensions sends a message that the Indian community is valued in Melbourne and that their mistreatment will not be tolerated. As Northrop herself said of the effort, "[It] signalled to the Indian media that Australians do not tolerate racially motivated violence or racism and that the vast majority of us respect our immigrant communities and value our cultural diversity. We do not want Australia's reputation to be marred by the racist actions of a few."


Non-Australians are also being encouraged to participate in Vindaloo Against Violence, so even if you aren't in Melbourne you've still got an excuse to eat some delicious cuisine for a good cause. More information here on how you can get more involved.


[Image: BBC]

PETA vs. Marc Sanford

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PETA's media strategy is as volatile and fast-changing as the last weekend leading to a close election. Anything can happen and it usually does. Almost as soon as my colleague Kelsey Wallace reported on their Tiger Woods campaign, they are already saying goodbye. A PETA source told The New York Post's Page Six: "We were contacted by Tiger's lawyers at IMG who kindly, but firmly, told us we were not authorized to use his image on the billboard, and would we desist. We agreed and have now turned the focus of our campaign to Mark Sanford."


Over the years, we have tried to get a bead on the organization's ways of breaking out from among the raucous din on the media landscape to draw attention to their message of animal rights. Our personal favorite was PETA's insidious, savvy plan to make George Clooney-flavored tofu -- "CloFu" -- to draw attention to foods in which no animal has been killed. While their message, to be sure, is noble, their tactics are sometimes -- how does one say this? -- controversial. Their "Veggie Love" video was seen as too racy for the Superbowl, and PETA's founder Ingrid Newkirk had to apologize for their "Save the Whales" billboard.


PETA's potential slogan for the upcoming Governor Sanford campaign? "Your dog doesn't have to go to South America to get laid." Out of 349 votes cast on the PETA blog, 47 % think "there are better people who PETA could choose for its campaign." What do you think? You let PETA know your thoughts by voting here, and be sure to let us know in the comments section as well!


[Image: SCGovernor]

Snowing the Economy

I'll admit that I was delighted to wake up Friday morning to several inches of pristine, untouched white powder outside my front door. After I forced open the gate leading to my three-flat home in Park Slope, I enjoyed an utterly silent walk through the pre-dawn light. It was one of those mornings that makes you feel like a kid again, full of wonder and content to trudge along with great effort through mounds upon mounds of freshly fallen snow.


But snowfalls like we received in New York City Friday morning can wreak havoc on our local economy, and prevent thousands of people from getting to work or even keeping their jobs. According to this report from CBS News, New York City has already spent the $41 million it had reserved for winter cleanup efforts, and it's not alone. Pennsylvania and Virginia are either near or over their annual budgets in snow removal.


Add to this the number of people who've been laid off because they couldn't make the commute to work, and as a result have had to apply for unemployment, and it becomes clear that one person's winter wonderland is another's winter hell.


Daniel Radcliffe's PSA for Gay Teens

alg_radcliffe.jpgDaniel Radcliffe, the actor we've watched grow up in his role as Harry Potter, has just filmed a PSA to speak out against homophobia towards gay teenagers. The 20-year-old star says that growing up around actors, it never occurred to him that there was anything wrong with being gay. "Some men were, and some weren't," he explained to the press last Friday.


And then he went to school, where he, just like Harry Potter, found all manner of cruelty and prejudice. "I had never encountered it before, he said. "It shocked me. I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals," he added. "Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it."


The PSA was filmed as part of the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention initiative named for a 1994 Academy Award-winning short film about a young gay boy who attempts to take his own life. The project has worked since the 1990s to raise awareness about depression among GLBT teenagers and provide support for them during those tumultuous, confusing years that can be bad enough without adding conflict over sexual identity to the mix.


The announcement was filmed last week and is scheduled to air sometime this spring.


[Image: NYDailyNews.com]

PETA vs. Tiger

Looks like the folks at PETA are up to their old tricks again, and this time the focus of their attention-getting, issue-obscuring campaign is none other than media anti-darling Tiger Woods. Unless you've been hiding under a soundproof rock since Thanksgiving (lucky!), you'll recall that Woods is in hot water with his fans and endorsers due to the uncovering of his many extramarital affairs and alleged sex addiction. Well, the PETA people recall it too, and they came up with this billboard as a way to capitalize on the media frenzy:


alg_peta_tiger-woods.jpg


The original plan was to display the billboard in Woods' neighborhood of Windermere, Florida. Ostensibly so that people will spay and neuter their pets, though if you ask me that message is lost in the sensationalist nature of the campaign (and was kind of a stretch to begin with - who calls their pet a "little tiger"?).


Well, there's been a change of plans. According to yesterday's LA Times blog, Woods' lawyers have put a stop to the billboard and a spokesperson for PETA says the campaign is "on hold at this time." Given PETA's history of legal issues and apologies when it comes to offending their audiences and using celebrity images without permission, one has to wonder if they knew this reaction was coming.


Now don't get me wrong - I'm all for spaying and neutering pets. But to equate the reproductive status of a house cat with the current Tiger Woods scandal is a little much in my opinion. A human being, whose actions have hurt his family as well as the women involved (and his fans, and his staff, and his endorsers, etc.) shouldn't be made an example for the pet owners of his community, and he shouldn't be neutered, either (though there are undoubtedly a few people out there who wish he would be). Honestly, is anything about this billboard actually prompting you to get your pets fixed? Or is the focus somewhere else? (Like on Tiger Woods and his sexploits, perhaps?)


Since PETA gets into hot water, well, just about every time they launch a campaign, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew this one would fail from the start and just ran with it for the media attention. And hey, I guess it worked. Kind of.


What do you think? Was this billboard too much?


[Image: New York Daily News]

Where Are the Stimulus Funds to Keep Public Transit Operating?

transitservicechanges.jpgSo far in the New Depression, declining Detroit automakers and a mythical high-speed intercity rail network have both received billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds. According to the American Public Transit Association, buses, streetcars, subways, elevateds, and commuter trains run by U.S. public transit operators provided 10.2 billion trips in 2007, the latest year for which annual data is available. That number is no doubt higher now that many cash-strapped Americans are relying on transit as a cost-cutting measure. So why are so many of our nation's transit providers cutting back service this year?

The answer is multifold, but not surprising. Sales and gas-tax revenues, which historically have funded bus and rail transit service in many American cities, have plummeted in the past two years along with the economy. Most transit providers are finding it hard to maintain existing service, much less provide additional service for new riders seeking a break from the cost of car ownership.

Making matters worse, beginning in the 1990s, the federal government stopped providing operational funding for transit in cities with populations greater than 200,000. And lest you be fooled by the billions of transit-aimed stimulus monies that actually have filtered down around the country, they're all for capital projects, allowing transit agencies to buy vehicles and build stations that they can't necessarily afford to operate.

Further, there's no clear national leadership to push for stimulus funds for public transit the way there was for high-speed rail. The reason for that is equally obvious: speedy, shiny, new-fangled, Euro-styled bullet trains are a lot sexier -- and much easier for politicians to point to as proof of progress -- than old, reliable, inner-city transit service.

Because no one's come to bat for public transit so far, in 2010 most major American cities stand to lose significant amounts of bus and rail service, leaving carless citizens stranded, worsening traffic congestion, and making it harder for people to get to work. Cutbacks are already under way. This month, Chicago lost almost 20% of bus service and 10% of 'L' train service. New York City has just approved its deepest transit cuts since the 1980s. Other areas with transit service potentially on the chopping block this year include Cleveland, New Jersey (statewide), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Washington D.C., among others. (As if that list of proposed cutbacks isn't long enough, see this T4America Google Maps mashup for many more.)

I'd offer some hope in this ongoing story of urban-mobility bloodletting if I could see any on the horizon. But another dry APTA legislative conference is likely not the answer. An emotional call-to-arms for American transit-riding voters asking their Congressional representatives to save their communal rides would be a much better idea. I wish we had a national leader willing to fight that battle. But that wish and $2.25 will get me my next ride on the Chicago 'L'.

As long as it's still running, anyway.

Beware the Chair

800px-Office_Worker_with_Two_Monitors.JPG.jpegOn Wednesday, I wrote about how the United States was ranked the laziest nation in the world by the Daily Beast, based on calorie consumption and television habits. And let's face it: as a nation, we're in pretty bad shape, too. When three out of five adults are overweight or obese, there's clearly something wrong with our national exercise ethos.


But what if I told you that it may not be just an aversion to exercise that's causing our collective waistline to grow a little each year? According to new research on sitting, the amount of time we spend in chairs may be as big a culprit as anything. In fact, the study says, even if you exercise every day, you're likely to negate those efforts to stay in shape by the amount of time you spend sitting down. Even standing still provides more of a full-body workout than you might realize: you have to tense your leg muscles, keep your back erect, and use your shoulders to maintain balance. Sitting, meanwhile, is begging for atrophy.


What to do? We need to work, right? And this study is relevant mainly to those whose jobs require long hours at a desk.


The author Philip Roth writes standing up, in a cottage off of his main house in Connecticut. I've always thought of this quirk as a manifestation of Roth's extremely active mind, and a reason for the vitality of his prose. Now I wonder if it might also be the reason that, at 76, he's still churning out a novel every year and looks as spry as he did at 60.


While you may not have the option to stand while you work, you can still get more exercise at your desk than you might know. Just standing up and walking to the water cooler or stretching during the commercial breaks can make a big difference. And a few times a day, try to heed this advice from Mr. James Brown:



[Image: MrChrome from Wikimedia Commons]

Americans Love and Hate Government


It is a story as old as the Republic: Americans love their country, but we have a problem with government. Some of us do, anyway. Organically-composed nations arise over time and are generally homogeneous, but the United States was founded upon ideas -- "life, liberty and the pursuit of hapiness" -- and against the tyranny of King George. This has resulted, occasionally, in what the social scientist Richard Hofstader has called "the paranoid style of American politics." Even during the 2008 presidential campaign, odd charges -- Obama will take your guns, Obama is a secret Muslim -- surfaced. Those very clever demagogues, the teabaggers, are even now taking advantage of this economically tense moment as President Obama can attest.


The President has often said that he never ran for office to be in the auto or banking industries -- and yet there he is. And here we are. CNN's Fareed Zakaria, whose GPS program remains the smartest hour on television, talks about our controversial love and hate of government.

Untangling Glenn Beck's Logic

You have to give Glenn Beck points for creative logic. In this clip from the Daily Kos, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show tries to make sense of Fox News's leading enfant terrible as Beck uses his "magic erasable truth board" to show how progressivism is a disease that's spreading across this country. Note Beck's distinction between "revolution" and "evolution." It's truly astounding. What's even more astounding is that to millions of Americans, Glenn Beck actually makes sense.


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