Pacifica Riptide

Bag It: The Film; Get Plastic Propaganda Out of Our Schoolbooks

Thanks to Ian Butler and Lynn Adams for the following messages:

Bag It has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. What started as a documentary about plastic bags evolved into a wholesale investigation into plastics and their effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our bodies. If you missed the recent screening at Owen Hall or the PCT broadcast, you can probably get the film on Netflix or elsewhere online. Also, please take action on the message below about the plastic industry's outrageous propaganda inserted into schoolbooks.

CLICK FOR TRAILER/PREVIEW OF BAG IT FILM

MESSAGE FROM ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA

We know plastic bags are terrible for the environment. They pollute our oceans and beaches, harm wildlife, and contribute to the Pacific Garbage Patch — that toxic soup of trash swirling off our coast that's grown to be twice the size of Texas. So why does California's new environmental curriculum include a section on "The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags"? Because lobbyists for the American Chemistry Council — the same front group that spent millions to defeat the statewide bag ban last year — convinced school officials to include it. [1]

What’s next? A lesson on the benefits of mercury in our diet? Please tell Governor Jerry Brown to keep polluters’ propaganda out of our kids’ textbooks. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle [1], parts of the textbook "were inserted almost verbatim from letters written by the chemistry council. The additions included: ‘Plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. They take less energy to manufacture than paper bags, cost less to transport, and can be reused.’ ”

It’s no surprise that plastic-bag makers want to convince the next generation of Californians that their product is “eco-friendly.” But it’s the resposibility of school officials to make sure they get the facts:

The Pacific Garbage Patch — a toxic soup of swirling trash off our coast — has grown to be twice the size of Texas. In this zone, plastic outnumbers plankton by as much as 6:1.

Scientists are increasingly concerned about the toll plastic pollution takes on wildlife, who can choke, suffocate or starve to death if their stomachs become filled with plastic

While plastic breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, scientists believe it may never biodegrade.

Please tell Governor Brown to make sure plastic-industry propaganda is removed from kids’ textbooks immediately. Thanks for standing up for our ocean and environment.

Dan Jacobson
Environment California Legislative Director

P.S. Help spread the word by posting this to Facebook and Twitter.

[1] “Plastic bag lobbying group influences curriculum,” Susanne Rust, California Watch, San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2011, page A-1.

Spy Kids Movie Opens in 4-D: Scratch-and-Sniff Card

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD: 4D ELEMENT EXPLAINED
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
August 17, 2011
"Spy Kids: All The Time In The World In 4D" is upping the ante when it comes to multiple dimensions. Robert Rodriguez's fourth installment in his Spy Kids franchise, which stars Jessica Alba and Jeremy Piven, hits theaters Friday, where it will be available in 4D. So what exactly can moviegoers expect from the added dimension? The experience actually will feature "Aroma-Scope," a sort of scratch-and-sniff feature that allows audiences to not only watch but also smell along with the movie. What happens is, moviegoers will get a postcard that includes eight numbered squares, according to the Los Angeles Times. When a number pops up on the screen, viewers will know to scratch that particular square, releasing a scent. The feature will propel each moviegoer's "nose first into the fourth dimension," Rodriguez said. But let the scratch-and-sniffer beware: The director said he came up with the idea to add the feature to the latest Spy Kids after inhaling the smell of Alba's baby's diaper. But, he added, the audience has the ultimate control over whether they want to inhale whatever scent awaits. "The nice thing about cards is, if you don't want to smell you don't have to," he said. "You're doing it by your own willpower." Additionally, the extra feature isn't adding anything to the ticket price above the 3D.

Human Planet

 

The Porcelain Unicorn

 

Dennis Willis: Flick Nation II @ Florey's Books

Florey's Books invites you to read local author and film critic Dennis Willis' new book Flick Nation: 2010 Movie Yearbook, 2nd Edition, his latest compendium of more than 650 capsule movie reviews, including Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Shutter Island, Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After, Robin Hood, Sex and the City 2, Splice, and dozens of direct-to-DVD titles not covered in other books. Willis also provides entertainment industry analysis, with subjects ranging from the explosion of 3D movies, Oscar's hits and misses, Hollywood's obsession with rebooting franchises, and Blu-ray's identity crisis. The 2ND EDITION is the most current movie book available, with coverage of the 2010 summer movie season. Flick Nation is an indispensable viewing guide with attitude! For more information about Dennis and his book, check out his websites:

http://flicknation.ning.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flick-Nation/122239341197?ref=ts

Florey's Book Co., 2120 Palmetto Ave., Pacifica, 650-355-8811, open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day!

http://www.floreysbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/floreysbooks
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pacifica-CA/Floreys-Book-Co/141885967885

Remembering Playland at the Beach: The DVD

You can buy a DVD of the documentary film Remembering Playland at the Beach from Playland-Not-at-the-Beach Museum, 10979 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito on weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $20. Or you can order it for $25 with a credit card by calling 510-232-4264, extension 24. The preview DVD sold at the Balboa cinema premiere did not include extras that are now in this full-length DVD.

GET MORE INFO HERE

No Country for Illegals: Coen Films Boycott

BY CHARLIE CHIGURH

Major and minor Hispanic, Latino, and Mexican-American organizations pushing for illegal immigration reform have learned from an inside source in the Arizona Legislature that the inspiration for Arizona's “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” (Senate Bill 1070) was none other than the film that garnered three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and four Academy Awards: No Country for Old Men. While critics heaped praise on the film, Arizonans were appalled to discover exactly how dysfunctional the border had become, and the wheels were set in motion to clamp down on illegal border crossings. As one legislator proclaimed, “If Tommy Lee Jones can't handle the crime flowing over the border, then we've got a problem of monumental proportions. In every other movie, he's been a successful lawman bringing law and order to his films, but in this one the bad guy gets clean away. And as far as we know, he's still out there terrorizing the community."

Finding out that the illegal-immigrant community had been betrayed by the Hollywood elite after decades of caring for their lawns; working in their kitchens; cleaning their luxurious Bel Air, Brentwood, and Hollywood Hills homes; not to mention raising their children and walking their dogs; major and minor Hispanic, Latino, and Mexican-American organizations are calling for a worldwide boycott of Coen films and all films featuring actors who also appear in any Coen films. This, of course, raises the hackles of John Goodman fans, not to mention several diehard Steve Buscemi worshipers.

The Coen brothers, somewhat bemused by what they characterize as a misdirected political attack on what they consider an inspired work of cinematic art, maintain that everyone involved in this brouhaha has made a geographical mistake, since the film is set in Texas, not Arizona. They also point out that Javier Bardem is Spanish, not Mexican. Activists retort that in the U.S. Census, people of Hispanic, Latino, and Spanish origin are lumped together, therefore the Anton Chigurh (Bardem) character demeans people of Hispanic, Latino, and Spanish origin. The Coens say that Bardem's character Anton Chigurh is definitely not a Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish name. They say that on Anton's census form, he checked the box “No, not of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.” For the question on race, he checked “Some other race.” In the box asking “What is that group?” he wrote “Ask the Coens.”

How all of this will play out is anybody's guess. And when President Obama was asked at his latest press conference whether he supported the boycott of Coen brothers films, he replied that while presidents don't do boycotts, they also don't not do boycotts, coming right down the middle of this muddle, proving once again that the president is nothing if not nimble.

Remembering Playland at the Beach

Linda Peebles reports that she and her husband Dave recently saw Remembering Playland at the Beach at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. Linda says, "For those of us who grew up in this area, it was fun to remember childhood moments spent there. David and I both had a couple of birthday parties there. After the film, one of the guys in the film who collected photos and memorabilia was there in the lobby. He sold photos and DVDs of the film. Quite a few folks bought the videos, including us. I plan to give it to my 89-year-old mother because she met my father at Playland at the Beach. My Aunt Vera worked at the Hot House, which is remembered for its delicious enchiladas. We were told today that one of the secret ingredients of the enchilada sauce was peanut butter!" 

 
 

Disney's OCEANS Movie

http://disney.go.com/disneynature/oceans/

Disneynature, the studio that presented the film EARTH, brings OCEANS to the big screen. Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud dive deep to show us this spectacular underwater world. Check your local listings for showtimes.

Up in the Air: A Movie for Desperate Times

Hollywood’s Brilliant Coda to America’s Dark Year
By FRANK RICH
On Christmas Day, Hollywood will blanket America with a most unlikely holiday entertainment. That’s when “Up in the Air,” the acclaimed new movie starring George Clooney, will spread from its big-city engagements to more than 2,000 screens. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate road warrior for a small, Omaha-based contractor hired to lay off employees for companies that prefer to outsource that unpleasant task. Ryan has fired so many people in so many cities that he is approaching a frequent-flier status unknown to all but a few Americans. CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY