LIN HAS CLASS/GROW UP ESPN & DESIGNER COLORS

TRYING TO BE TOO CUTE?

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

      Several things colluded to make the unfortunate racial slur of Jeremy Lin inevitable. Foremost is ESPN's penchant for  being cute or clever, which often they are neither.

      I've been an ESPN fan since the early Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman days. They were (are) clever and talented writers and broadcasters, but they've become role models that later generation of ESPN personnel have tried to emulate. Nothing is as good as the original and I fear that far too many ESPN studio talent have fallen into being characters or characterizations of the originals.  

      ESPN has apologized for the "chink in the armor" comment and headline. A writer has been fired and anchor Max Bretos has been suspended.  I believe Bretos when he said he meant no offense.  Same for ESPN, still it happened and it needed to be dealt with. 

      When I was a news executive I stressed that our broadcasters and our editorial process have a mind set to avoid even unintentional errors of judgement.

      Another issue of course is the silliness that so many media practitioners resort to.  Lin's sudden emergence as a star, and his historic presence have given his story saturation and in my opinion over coverage.  Add silly to poor judgement and the slur occurred.

      However, the valuable bottom line to this matter is Jeremy Lin himself.  He has evinced great class and dignity in saying he has forgiven and moved on. So should we all.  Still

I hope ESPN anchors and writers realize that when trying so hard to be cute and clever they occlude the reason most of 

us are watching-for the athletes, the competition and the highlights.  We are not there to see well dressed anchors fawn, peacock and prattle with puns and overwriting.  Cut to the chase.  You lads and ladies are merely our conduits to the action.

  DAY BOOK

DESIGNER COLORS
Spring blooms have come to California's Central coast.
For those of you still locked in winter,
enjoy the preview of what is on the way to you.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) OF FREUD, JUNG & COHEN

AT BEST ECLECTIC

REEL THOUGHTS

A DANGEROUS METHOD

     It's a David Cronenberg directed film and that says a lot.  Christopher Hampton did the screen play and that says more.

It is a brilliant script.  Intelligent, significant conversation and dialogue throughout.  The story line traces the relationship and separation of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, so by nature the plot line is intricate, nuanced and measured against reality.  

       Michael Fassbender as Jung, Viggo Mortensen as Freud and Kiera Knightly as Sabina Spielrein are superb, though Knightly is more than that.  She plays a woman in the throes of madness and does so vividly.  But her character comes under treatment of Jung and subsequently has a relationship with him and is healed.  She goes on to become a psychoanalyst of her own renown. 

       It is a lush period piece, beautifully shot and designed, and provides a glimpse into the nature of Freudian and Jungian schools of thought about mental illness and treatment. 

       I don't mean to be snobby, but this is clearly a thinking person's film, although entertaining as well as illuminating. 

SOMETHING ELSE FOR WEEKEND

 DEEP THINKING AND CONTEMPLATION

TWO VERSIONS OF LEONARD COHEN'S HALLELUJAH

#1

AND NOW ANOTHER VERSION

#2

Do you have a favorite?

Why the different interpretations?

DAY BOOK

The scenes of Yellow

 Oxalis and mustard have begun to spread over the 

Central Coast.

 Spring is here in California.

And the Friday Lunch Flash Mob continues to "enrich"

the weekly scene at San Simeon.

 Other than announcement signs

we've added a large umbrella.

Enjoy the weekend.

See you down the trail. 

WHERE MACHINES ARE NOT ENOUGH

NATURE RULES

     California is dotted with a network of machines out of time.  Equipment, sophisticated, rugged and played out. Once used to tame or cultivate the wild west, they languish now. Powerful they may have been but in the context of the nature they tried to civilize, they are like discarded kid's toys surrounded by a timeless vastness.

      The Carrizo Plain is such a place. Dry land grain farming and ranching was tried in the 1800's.  In 1912 they tried large scale mechanized farming.
     The fifty mile plain is bounded by the Temblor Mountains on the northeast and the Caliente Mountains on the southwest. The San Andreas fault snakes through the plain.
     One of the sunniest places in California, temperatures are often above 100 but skid below freezing on winter nights.
      It is desert dry and agriculture is a struggle.

      These shots are a kind of battle record.  When a farmer named Goodwin gave up the struggle in the 1940's he left his farm and implements to a conservancy with the stipulation they be left facing their work until they are claimed by the ages.  
     These are the skeletons of a hard fight.  In their decline
they create a marvelous art.  In these shots are a context,
a sense of place and time and a look at once marvelous and new technology.
     As always, the land will play the last hand.

See you down the trail.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND BOYS IN POLITICS & ALMOST HEAVEN

CRAZY SEASON

     Nothing is certain in politics.  I heard Eric Sevareid say that when I was a young reporter and it has stuck with me.

       Now Rick Santorum enjoys the GOP limelight in what

has been the craziest campaign season since I covered my first presidential election in 1968.

       I think a lot about the late Sevareid as I watch this 

season play out. The reporter/analyst was brilliant.

       "The difference between men and boys in politics is, and always has been, that boys want to be something, while the men

want to do something."  

                                          Eric Sevareid

        Those of you old enough may remember Sevareid as the  commentator at the end of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite through the '60s and 70's.

       He was one of "Murrow's Boys," the war correspondents who invented modern broadcast journalism as they covered

WW II.  Hired by Ed Murrow this band brought seriousness, analysis and intellect to daily reporting.

       Sevareid was famous for his "think pieces," as we used to call them.  Essays really.  He had been a roving correspondent after the war.  Once while covering the Burma China war his plane developed trouble and before parachuting to safety he grabbed a bottle of gin.

       "Next to power without honor, the most dangerous thing

in the world is power without humor."

                                                         Eric Sevareid

        It would be a joy to see and hear Sevareid weigh in

on this campaign season. He never spared anyone from his critical gaze.

         "The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow.  Bigness means weakness."

          Here is a sample of the kind of thoughtfulness in

broadcast journalism, that many of us miss.  This is his

final commentary.

      "I'm sort of a pessimist about tomorrow and an optimist

about the day after tomorrow."

                                      Eric Sevareid

DAY BOOK
THE HIGH SIERRA

      With the first blooms of spring I begin thinking about our

next exploration of California. Like the magnetic north I am drawn to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Decades of globe trotting afforded me exposure to many wonderful places on this blue planet and I put the eastern side of the Sierra high on the list of exquisite.

      Folks have their favorite spots. One of mine is near Tom's place off the 395. From there you drive up to Rock Creek lake  at about 10,500 foot elevation.
      From the trail head you go up to a wide fan of lakes along either the Morgan or Mono Pass. These shots are taken
from a hike, mostly south of the Morgan Pass. 

      Our friend Ruth, who spent years hiking and exploring this region reminds us the scenes are similar to what 
we've seen in the Swiss Alps.  Gorgeous meadows, valleys, rugged rock walls, popular with technical climbers, pristine
alpine lakes, wild life, fresh air, quiet and true serenity.

 Box lake

Rock Creek Lake

Morgan Pass

Long Lake.
If your journeys ever afford you a chance to visit
the Eastern Slope of the Sierra, I suspect you too will
be in awe.
See you down the trail

SAY IT WITH A CARD? & A VINE UPDATE

BEHIND THAT CARD

 Yes indeed, a Happy Valentines day to you.

How many million cards do you think are being sent today?

 According to analysts, the greeting card industry

will be a $30.4 Billion generator by 2015.

Interestingly, greeting cards are considered a

subset of the stationary business.

 There in are seeds of concern.

Electronic greetings would seem to be a challenge.

But according to another analyst one of the major

 greeting card companies does less than $100 Million

in electronic sales as compared to the 1.6 Billion in annual company revenues.

It is said that two-thirds of all Americans have 

purchased and sent a greeting card at one time or another.

In our family however we have a long tradition of 

making the card, regardless of occasion.

How ever you express it, or receive it, we hope

there is a sense of love in your Valentines day.

VINE UPDATE

About that mysterious and rapidly growing vine I posted

yesterday, I should have checked with my daughter Katherine.  The naturalist, permaculture designer and land management expert that she is, informed me it is 

Cape Ivy, also known as German or Italian Ivy.

Delairea Odorata, I guess it has a seasonal odor as well,
is on the Invasive Species of California hit list.
It, like the Kudzu I compared it to, climbs over and dominates other vegetation.
As Bruce the Catalyst commented, "look out, here it comes!"
VALENTINE DAY BOOK

See you down the trail.

WILD THOUGHTS

WILD IS...

     Relative isn't it? Your wild could be my tame.  Defying convention, breaking the norm, pushing boundaries may be a staple of creative expression or political conviction or a departure into that area of shades of gray where "either/or" cease to exist.

     Madness, revolutionary, progressive, renaissance; they all cluster closely on a spectrum. Sometimes getting out of the lines leads to transcendence. Other times defiance of the
norm means aggression. 
     And in the long line of the hall of time, who can say
with a sense of permanence which it is or even where wild becomes convention?

      "For myself I hold no preferences among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. Bricks to all greenhouses! Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!"

Edward Abbey

A NORTHERN KUDZU?

      If you've visited the south you probably saw Kudzu, an 

invasive vine like specie that covers everything in its path.

Barns, walls, poles, fences, old cars or farm equipment are all swallowed by the advance of Kudzu.

      Well, Cambria may have a rival.

     This wild vine seems to be a little more laid back than the Southern Kudzu, but our varietal is spreading nonetheless.

      I've done a limited bit of research but I've not found some one who can identify it.  My best guess is California wild grape or a pepper vine.  If you know, please share it with us. 
      See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) EXTRAORDINARY THINGS TO SEE

VISUAL FEASTS

REEL THOUGHTS

ALBERT NOBBS

     An Irish tale unlike any I've seen, Albert Nobbs is a masterful work and may cause you to never see Glenn Close as you have previously.  To her role in a moment.  Close is credited with the screenplay, based on a short story written by Irish author George Moore, who died in the 1930's.  Close was also active, if not instrumental, in casting the crew.

      Now about her acting-extraordinary.  She plays the role of Albert Nobbs, a waiter/butler at a Dublin Hotel in the 19th Century. She portrays a woman, posing as a man and her work is alone a reason to see the film.  But there is much more.  

     Director Rodrigo Garcia has crafted a period piece that

speaks to the gender and sexual politics as well as the class awareness that stalk our 21st Century.  It is also about love, dreams and sacrifice told with an unmistakable Irish tone.

    Janet McTeer, who portrays Hubert Page, another woman passing as a man and Mia Wasikowska, a sort of love interest of Nobbs, are both superb. 

     Attention to detail and scenic design will please those of you who like historical drama.  This inde film is one of the best of the year and gives you an Irish tale of woe that you will remember.

SOMETHING ELSE YOU'VE PROBABLY

NEVER SEEN BEFORE

     This is one of those videos that came in a mass forward with the admonition, you've got to see this.  Yea, I know, those are the kind of words that make us all a bit dubious.

But here I am, posting it and telling you, you've probably never seen anything like this.  

How many of you would love to 

share a moment like this?

Enjoy the weekend, even if it includes a vicarious thrill.

See you down the trail.