Showing posts with label KPCC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KPCC. Show all posts

Thursday, 29 May 2014

The Los Angeles River renovation

Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly; Alice Walton (SCPR); Soumya Karlamangla (latimes.com)
los angeles river kayak paddle
Kayakers on clean stretch of the L.A. River (Alissa Walker/flickr.com/Creative Commons)
.
Alice Walton - Smiling
Alice Walton
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti will announce today the Los Angeles River is receiving $1 billion to rehab 11 miles of it [where it is not paved but is allowed to percolate into the ground]. 
 
Maven's Morning Coffee daily email for Thursday, May 29, about Southern California: 

Deva-tree, cows (Fernando R. Carvalho)
Rehabbing the river from downtown to Elysian Park is seen as the first step toward rehabilitating the entire 51-mile stretch of the river. The Army Corps of Engineers will recommend a $1 billion proposal to revitalize 11 miles along the Los Angeles River, which gives Mayor Eric Garcetti one of his first major political wins, reports the Los Angeles Times:

It was never a sewer, just flood control. A $1-billion proposal to restore an 11-mile stretch of the L.A. River received support from US Army Corps of Engineers this week (Jae C. Hong).
 
Mayor thanks president for "listening" on L.A. River project
Soumya Karlamangla (latimes.com)
Soumya Karlamangla
With new backing from the federal government, city officials celebrated a step forward Thursday for a $1-billion plan to revitalize a strip of the Los Angeles River.
 
Army Corps to recommend $1-billion L.A. River project
Recommended $1-billion project
After originally pushing for a cheaper $453-million plan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week that it now supports a more robust, $1-billion proposal that would widen the river and restore habitat along an 11-mile stretch north of downtown through Elysian Park.

Speaking in a grassy park beside the river, Army Corps Col. Kimberly Colloton said the decision not only recognized "the importance of the river to Angelenos, but it validates its place as a waterway of national significance." More
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Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Scary LA: LIONS! Don't visit this summer

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Ipagn28 (buzzfeed.com)
"I met some Los Angeles people once. I hated them." The Grumpy Guide to Life (Chronicle Books). See Grumpy Cat live, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, 6:00 pm, at Kitson, Santa Monica Place, Ste. 120 and Aug. 5, 2014, 6:00 pm in Las Vegas, Nevada (shopkitson.com)


L.A. with its own Himalayan foothills (Nat'l Forest) just behind the megalopolis (buzzfeed)


Sightings of big cats in our "Central" (Griffith) Park have been confirmed near the Hollywood sign. They are peaceful but not safe for children or crouchers. (Burma Charwoodland/Firstfire53/flickr).
 
According to the last census, Los Angeles is the Most Densely Populated Urban Area in the US. At nearly 2,000 more people per square mile on average than New York, we can’t compare Manhattan to Culver City and call it a day.
 
"Entering a space of privilege and prejudice"
Where does anyone think the traffic comes from? It’s people, commuting from one place to another. It has already been pointed out that due to the lack of a center, people move from where they live to where they work or play. It is a great expanse to cover, and most of it is covered in concrete and asphalt, which facilitates travel. It is actually just much more evenly distributed in terms of density than east coast cities.
 
A dozen Southern California fires rage destroying Pendleton military base. Arson, sabotage, Pentagon incompetence, Santa Ana winds? Mother Nature avoiding violence? (scpr.org)

 
Post-Native Los Angeles, Old Mexico
What L.A. really is is BIG. It’s massive. It's not a metropolis but a megalopolis. It is widely spread out, spilling into neighboring cities and counties...

And there are A LOT of people there, too, distributed in hundreds of communities, living in any number of configurations, speaking hundreds of languages (the L.A. Almanac says 224). More

After the earthquakes and the toxic petroleum street spill, there were some fires.
3) Everyone is in the Industry
Traveling up Beachwood Canyon to the old Hollywood sign, circa 1932 (weirdca.com)

Hollywood sign with 8-ft. long nocturnal predator lurking in the dark (Maya Sugarman)
On ridge above the lights of Los Angeles, a male cougar labeled P-22 made his way from the Santa Monica Mountains to Hollywood's Griffith Park -- an island of habitat surrounded by homes and freeways (Steve Winter/National Geographic/scpr.org)
Preliminary DNA evidence shows that P-32, one of three cubs recently born in the Santa Monica Mountains of the City of Los Angeles, is inbred (National Park Service/SCPR.org)
Not fit for cat food -- massive LA fish die off over the weekend. Rat poison runoff? (LAT)
Know why L.A. has so much smog? So the God can't see what we're doing down here.
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    Monday, 12 May 2014

    Corrupt police go on trial in Los Angeles

    Grab her! She's wearing a wire! She's wearing a wire! She's wearing an underwire bra!

    She's packing some kind of baggies with gel... Drugs, drugs! It's not sexual assault if I'm wearing a badge. (Occupy My Boobs/lareviewofbooks.org/Ben Ehrenreich et al./tumblr)
    MA woman with the sense to record her cop encounter on her cell phone is now facing felony wiretapping charges for not informing them. (What if they had broken the law on tape?) Karen Dziewit was drinking outside an apartment building. Residents complained that she was yelling at them and refused to calm down. More
    (RELATED: "Lawsuit: Cops shoved ‘sharp object’ down teen’s throat, killing him")
    .
    LA jail scandal: 1st of 20 indicted sheriff's deputies faces trial
    Staff Photos
    Rina Palta (KPCC)
    The first of 20 [criminal] deputies charged in a sweeping investigation into corruption and civil rights violations in L.A.'s county jails goes to trial today.
     
    James Sexton is charged with obstruction of justice related to an incident involving an [L.A. Jail] inmate working as an FBI informant.
     
    According to prosecutors, a group of deputies learned an inmate at Men's Central Jail, Anthony Brown, was working as an informant for the FBI. The FBI was investigating [police] corruption -- such as deputies smuggling contraband into the jails -- and civil rights violations that included deputies beating inmates.
     
    Turn around, I beat your faces, m-f'ers!
    [This would amount to felony assaults under color of uniform, conspiracy, gang affiliation in that Sheriff deputies have formed a criminal gang among themselves, attempted murder, witness tampering, and torture of captives, which is a "crime against humanity" in the eyes of the International Court of Justice even if condoned by American courts].
     
    LA Sheriff Corruption
    US Attorney Birotte, LA FBI's Lewis (AP)
    Prosecutors say when deputies learned Brown was an informant, they interviewed him, took his cell phone away, and "fudged" records to make it look like he had been released from jail.

    Meanwhile, Brown was being moved from jail to jail under a false name [kidnapping, false imprisonment, conspiracy, witness tampering, falsification of records].
     
    Sexton is accused of helping falsify records, keeping watch over the hidden inmate, and denying access to FBI agents who arrived at the jail to talk with Brown.
     
    You want Tibet, S.O.B., I'll give you Tibet!
    He later approached the FBI with his concerns over the episode, but nevertheless was charged as part of a larger obstruction of justice case against seven deputies allegedly involved in hiding Brown.

    Sexton's defense attorneys are expected to argue that he was following orders from higher ups [criminal conspiracy], that he was unaware he was being investigated when he cooperated with the FBI, and that he did not intend to obstruct justice, as evidenced by his later cooperation with federal authorities. 

    The remaining six deputies in the case are expected to go to trial when Sexton's trial concludes. LISTEN (0:51 secs)

    COMMENTARY
    Open season on a defector in Big Bear, LAPD Officer Dorner, serial killer (scpr.org)
    .
    Police state
    Sheriff Lee Baca stepped down abruptly earlier this year, not to avoid charges being brought against him or anything...but, well, sort of to avoid charges. He was seen recently walking around as a free man attending the blessing for Pasadena's planned Armenian Genocide Memorial, which ironically commemorates a holocaust and torture perpetrated by Turks while he as Sheriff for term after term perpetrated crimes against humanity with impunity. He didn't know. How would a boss know? It must have been "rogue elements" under him. Yeah, that's it! The other police did it! He can't be held responsible for covering up for them...if he can prove he didn't know. Yes, sure, maybe he should have known, but if he can prove that he did not... Well, now we see why he had to leave office. If he were charged and held, a standing Sheriff would be thrown in the very jail system he runs. And what kind of justice is there in that? If he gets thrown in one he ran, well that's more acceptable to keep up the front that Los Angeles police are here to serve and protect everyone. They are here to "protect" only a very few and to "serve" banking interests and other conservatives who give them money. And taxes from citizens don't count. They just don't, so don't try to bring that up.

    (DemocracyNow.org, May 12, 2014)

    (InfoWars) Dr. Steve Pieczenik: "Shutdown the corrupt CIA and DHS [Department of Homeland Security] because both are incompetent and psychopathic!" Alex Jones agrees.

    PHOTO: Andre Birotte, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, at podium, and Bill Lewis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Division, right, take questions on the five criminal cases filed against 18 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies as part of an FBI investigation into allegations of civil rights abuses and corruption in the nation’s largest jail system, during a news conference in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. The FBI has been investigating allegations of excessive force and other misconduct at the county’s jails since at least 2011 (AP/Nick Ut).
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    Sunday, 27 April 2014

    Byzantine History Made Easy (audio)

    Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Marc Haefele, John Rabe (Off-Ramp)
    Archangel Michael (Buddhist Sakka, King of the Devas), 1300-1350 AD, Constantinople, tempera and gold on wood (Gift from Istanbul, Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens).

    Byzantium: Heaven and Earth and Constantinople, too
    Buddhist Messiah Maitreya (WQ)
    What civilization lasted 1,100 years, almost into Columbus’ time, that hardly anyone thinks of as a civilization? Byzantium.

    It was a Yelp-5-Star civilization that bridged ancient times to modernity. And it’s now showing at both of the Gettys in Los Angeles.
      
    First the Romans took over the Greeks. Then, 800 years later, the Greeks took over the Romans. [Messianic Buddhism-influenced] Christianity came into the mix, and the result was the magnificent Byzantine Empire, which once spread from North Africa all the way to Crimea (Ukraine).

    • Greco-Buddha, Gandhara
      Greco-Indian Buddhist empires: Bactria, Seleucid, Sogdia, Gandhara
    • Ancient Greece: the Buddhist monk and King Menander I (Milinda) In the land of the Bactrian Greeks, there was a city called Sagala, a great center of trade. Rivers and hills beautified it, delightful landscapes surrounded it, and it possessed many parks, gardens, woods, lakes, and lotus-ponds. Its ruler was King Milinda (Menander I), a man who was learned, experienced, intelligent, and competent, and who at the proper times carefully observed all the appropriate Brahminical rites, with regard to things past, present, and future. As a disputant he was hard to assail, hard to overcome, and he was recognized as a prominent sectarian teacher. One day, a large company of Buddhist saints (arhats) living in a well-protected spot in the Himalayas sent a messenger to Ven. Nagasena. He was dwelling at Asoka Park in Patna. They asked him to come, as they wished to see him, to have him go dispute the Greek king. 
    While Western Europe was collapsing during the Dark Ages, Byzantium was a world center of art, literature, and culture. Yet, its story is largely forgotten in the deep dark gap between ancient and modern history.
    "Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections" is at the Getty Villa through August 25. "Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroads" is at the Getty Center through June 22, 2014.
      Aphrodite, 1st century (NAM)
      In a bid to remedy this, the Getty is hosting a rare doubleheader called Heaven and Earth. The art from several Greek museums is on display at the Getty Villa, while the manuscripts are at the Getty Center. This has never happened before. Nor has any art of the past millennium ever been shown at the classically dedicated Getty Villa.
      Why now? Not that the recovery of the civilization of Greeks who called themselves Romans isn’t much overdue. But the new consciousness or awareness of this rich and tumultuous Byzantine culture seems to spring from Greece itself.
       
      Buddha, 1st century (Guimet)
      “It was always there,” said Peter Poulos, an American-born official of the Bernaki Museum. “There are wonderful Byzantine churches all over Athens, built over almost every ancient pagan temple.”
      But in recent years, modern Greece has rediscovered this mighty culture that endured far longer than the glory that was Classical Greece. Byzantium continued that glory. That’s one reason Modern Greece wants to share this heritage to the world.

      The Getty Villa has on show more than 160 ikons, sculptures, and other works of art, many of which illustrate Byzantine art’s connection to... The intricate passages of this great art through the medieval world were indeed truly byzantine. Some of the most fascinating stuff here shows the Byzantine effects on the art of Central Asia [land of the Shakyas, the Buddha's relatives]... LISTEN
      LAPD Crime scene photos
      Charles Manson (LAPD photo archives)
      Punk Rock is Dying (sort of)


      RIP Mike Atta: Hardcore punk founder, guitarist for OC band
      John Rabe (Off-Ramp/SCPR.org)
      The Middle Class may have invented hardcore, an important genre of punk rock, but to say they invented it implies intent.
      "It's not like The Middle Class guys, who were all teenagers at the time, like 15-17, who had barely discovered punk, and kinda taught themselves to play. What they had heard was that punk was loud and fast, and be kind of crazy. So with that in their heads, they just started playing loud and fast, there was nobody around to tell them, 'Hey, you're playing too loud and too fast!'" - Chris Ziegler, editor and publisher of LA Record.
      In any case, this group of teens from Santa Ana (Orange County) was doing something nobody else was doing, and they were successful and influential. LISTEN
      • Off-Ramp is a lively weekly look at Southern California through the eyes and ears of radio veteran John Rabe (from Pasadena's KPCC FM). News, arts, home, life... covering everything that makes life here exciting, enjoyable, and interesting.
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      Thursday, 24 April 2014

      Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (video)

      CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Larry Mantle, Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (AirTalk/SCPR.org SOAD;
      Hollywood Armenian Genocide Commemoration March (youngarmenians.com)
      Armenian waves national flag along with Syrian national flag during a march north of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Ottoman Turkish genocide against the Armenian people on April 24, 2013 (AFP/Getty Images).
        
      (BBZ/SOAD) System of a Down "Holy Mountains." Hitler once said, "No one remembers the Armenian Genocide" thereby offering a rationale for another mass killing that the world would tolerate by looking the other way.

      Little Armenia, L.A. protest (latimes.com/KTLA)
      Thousands commemorated the 99th anniversary (2014) of the Armenian genocide on Thursday, with several high-profile events scheduled across Southern California. The observances come just days after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to Armenian descendants of the massacre -- an atrocity that Turkey still refuses to describe as a "genocide." 

      (youngarmenians.com)
      Roughly 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 amid the chaotic collapse of the Ottoman Empire. With among the largest Armenian diasporas in the world, Glendale and East Hollywood will host a number of events Thursday, including a rally expected to draws thousands to Hollywood Blvd. in Little Armenia. A separate demonstration is planned for outside the Turkish consulate on Wilshire Blvd. in L.A., where the prime minister’s recent comment will likely be a hot topic. “We do not see this as being something that is an adequate and appropriate acceptance of responsibility for the international crime that had been committed,” Berdj Karapetian, chairman of the Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America, told the Glendale News-Press in response to Erdogan’s comments. More

      That Armenian Genocide Thingy
      WQ interviewee at NUU
      Today, Wednesday April 24th, marks the annual remembrance day for the estimated 1.5 million Armenians who died in the former Ottoman Empire, present day Turkey.
       
      President Obama's official statement for Armenian Remembrance Day did not include the word "genocide" despite his 2008 campaign promise to recognize the deaths of Armenians as such. 

      "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides," Obama said in 2008. "I intend to be that president."
       
      Several California legislators including Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Adam Schiff called on Obama to use the word "genocide," but so far the White House has resisted.
       
      Why is using the term genocide still a politically touchy subject?
       
      Is the US concerned about preserving its strategic relationship with Turkey? What would be the political fallout if the president did use it? How is this omission seen by the local Armenian and Turkish communities? LISTEN (17:44)

      The first genocide of the 20th century
      (PBS) This 2006 television documentary exploring the Ottoman Empire killings of more than 1,000,000 Armenians during World War I was broadcast by most of the 348 PBS affiliate stations on April 17, 2006. Because of the controversial nature of the subject in Turkey, PBS attempted to give both sides a voice and produced a four expert panel discussion to be aired immediately afterwards. However, due to intense lobbying efforts by Armenian groups and some members of Congress, the follow-up panel discussion was cancelled on a third of the stations broadcasting the documentary over concerns of offending human rights groups and the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors.

      Killing on an industrial scale, it occurred in 1915 within the now collapsed Ottoman Empire. More than 1,000,000 innocent people were massacred in the event.

      Ottoman-Turk soldiers marched people through the Syria desert, depriving them of food and water with the intention killing them (like U.S. soldiers did to Native Americans). The same soldiers sexually assaulted and raped young Armenian girls. And although the Allied powers of WW I knew what was going on, no substantive help was provided to victims.
       
      Where does Israel, busy working on the Palestinians, stand? With Turkey

      Today the Republic of Turkey denies that a "genocide" took place. Only 20 countries officially recognize the event for what it was -- including Italy, France, Canada, and Russia. It is noteworthy that the United States and Israel are not listed among them, even though official documents called it a genocide, and then-U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan mentioned it in a public address.

      "Like the genocide of the [Christian] Armenians before it, and the genocide of the [Buddhist] Cambodians which followed it -- and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples -- the lessons of the [Jewish] Holocaust must never be forgotten..." Pres. R. Reagan
       
      Nowadays a massively popular California Armenian-American rock band does more to spread the word than practically any other source. System of a Down is widely known for songs expressing their views on the Armenian Genocide and the criminal U.S. "war" on terror. 

      Who cares about truth when business with Turkey is at stake?

      In a statement, lead vocalist Serj Tankian has said:

      Filipino gun club
      Filipino gun culture has deep roots
      "The constant, ridiculous denial of the Armenian Genocide, by not only Turkey but by consecutive U.S. administrations, made me aware of the world of disinformation and injustices around the globe. The Armenian Genocide was the first major genocide of the 20th century, and many people believe that had the Ottoman Turkish been punished for their crime of genocide after WWI, that Hitler would not have ventured his own."
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      Friday, 18 April 2014

      Sexy Easter film reviews: Heaven is real

      CC Liu, Irma Quintero, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; SCPR/FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and critics Tim Cogshell, Henry Sheehan, Charles Solomon

      Jesus has a pony?
      Let's give this pony to Jesus to ride in on.
      (SPE) Based on a book by a Christian minister whose 11-y.o. son died (had an NDE), went to a heaven -- perhaps the celestial World of the Four Great Kings (Catumaharajika Deva Loka) or the Thirty-Three (Tavatimsa), and returned to tell about it.

      Jesus rides in on an ass, the keychain
      The boy (who is based on Colton Burpo) reports that Jesus is white with a tunic and a beard and swears he has a pony, just like his father expects heaven to be. It's an Easter miracle! Or it could be that visions of "heaven" (sagga) during a near-death experience accommodate our views and expectations, as reported by the spirit Seth (Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul) as channeled by Jane Roberts -- whether those expectations are heavenly or hellish.

      St. Issa's Jewish Heaven on Earth
      Happy Patriots' Day, Mass. Happy Holy Week, Christendom. The New Testament says Jesus rode in on an ass (WARNING: do not click!), butt this is not what the Bible's author(s) had in mind, nor this. 

      SCPR reviewers talk about the week's new film releases including Greg Kinnear in "Heaven is for Real," H2O in "Watermark" (about dams, their consequences, and our relationship to water), Johnny Depp as Him or a computer program or virus in "Transcendence," flagging Woody in "Fading Gigolo," Jane Goodall in "Bears," Kristin Wiig, Hailee Steinfeld, Guy Pearce, and Nick Nolte in "Hateship Loveship," money-thriller "13 Sins,"  "Hank and Asha," Japanese animation from "Short Peace," Marlon Wayans in "Haunted House 2," and more. LISTEN

      Wanna? - What, hunt for 'shrooms? (CH)
      Holy water on Holy Week comes to a head on Easter, which is based on a sacred entheogenic mushroom forage rather than bunny egg hunt. These practices are Pagan throwbacks. Yet that does not stop Catholics, Christians, and some Eastern Orthodox adherents from wanting more coverage. Well, Hollywood is obliging. And that is rarely a good thing for truth, accuracy, or the long run. So first the nice movies then the perverted sexy ones:
       
      Watermark
       
      Water is precious but treated poorly.
      (TD) Beautifully weaving together diverse stories from the USA and Mexico (Colorado river, etc.), Canada, India and Bangladesh (Ganges), China (Yangste and the largest human construction in history), and around the globe, this documentary shows in stunning detail humanity's relationship with water through the ages. It expresses the magnitude of our need for this rapidly vanishing resource. By showing the various roles water plays in all of our lives, this breathtaking and haunting doc paints a vivid portrait of our planet, illustrating the magnificent force of nature that is being depleted before our eyes. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, released in April 2014.

      Bears

      Disney Ambassador Jane Goodall (BT)
      (CM) "Bears" is in theaters today from DisneyNature not for Easter but for Earth Day. In an epic story of breathtaking scale with the help of super heroine Jane Goodall, this new True Life Adventure "Bears," which showcases a year in the life of two mother bears as they impart life lessons to their impressionable newborn cubs. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and they emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting -- but risky -- as the tiny cubs' playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches.  The brown bear families must work together to find food, while staying safe from predators in the wilderness, including an ever-present wolf pack.

      Short Peace

      Short Peace (ショート・ピース Shōto Pīsu) is a compilation of four short anime films produced by Sunrise and Shochiku. The films were released in Japanese theaters in July 2013 and will be screened in North America in April 2014. Sentai Filmworks have licensed the films for North America. A video game based on the series, Rinko Tsukigime's Longest Day, released in Japan as Short Peace: Tsukigime Rinko no Ichiban Nagai Hi (ショートピース 月極蘭子のいちばん長い日), was developed by Crispy's Inc. in collaboration with Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda, and published by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3.


      The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
      Let's live on a tropical island, like in the Tropic of Cancer maybe (zeitgeistfilms)

      Sexual intrigue, tropical love, and utopia
      Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor and his mistress start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the sexual exploits of the Galapagos' "Adam and Eve," others flock there -- including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Clashing personalities are aggravated by the island community's lusty free-love ethos. And when some of the islanders disappear, suspicions of murder hang in the air leaving an unsolved mystery that remains the subject of local lore even today. To bring this extraordinary story to life, newly unearthed home movies of these original back-to-nature drop-outs, testimonies of modern day islanders, stunning HD footage of native flora and fauna, and powerful voice performances are interwoven. Macabre yet inspiring, "The Galapagos Affair" is a gripping parable of adventure and utopian dreams gone awry. This biography/documentary (NR) is directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Josh Radnor.
       
      Fading Gigolo

      Hey, they weren't my biological daughters
      (MC) Accused child molested (WQ) Woody Allen made a movie about a threesome, prostitution, and a Don Juan gigolo? No, some John did. He just co-stars. Synopsis: Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray as "manager," the duo quickly find themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money. (Featuring John Turturro, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Woody Allen, and not directed by an accused pedophile whom Scarlett Johansson defends as unindicted and Mia Farrow condemns as unconvicted).

      Under the Skin



      Earth boys are easy, and I'm a bad deva.
      REVIEW: Shelly and J.S. talk about crude sex goddess Scarlett Johansson's role in Johnathan Glazer's film, and Scarlett chimes in, too. What is great about this very creepy "alien sex fiend" movie is that a lot of it was filmed with unsuspecting men using hidden cameras. They don't know this is Johansson, and they don't know it's a movie. She picks up hitchhikers and kills them. But they're happy to get in the car because a beautiful female is doing the inviting. One is reminded of a certain yakshini who recently made the news (FTZ).

      Nymph()maniac

      "Nymphomaniac: Volume II" from Denmark and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg is directed by Lars Van Trier co-starring Shia LaBeouf and Willem Dafoe. It is the continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life as it delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

      Transcendence
       
      We love Will power! - Me, too, kids.
      Depp as Dr. Will Caster examines the promise and threat of AI (artificial intelligence) as he works to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments make him famous, but they also make him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. As they attempt to destroy "Will," they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed -- to be a participant in his own transcendence. Should his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, stop him? Can they? Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a what seems an omnipresent quest for power.
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